Yin began learning dance at the age of three from her mother who was professionally trained in Classical Chinese dance. In her high school and early college days, she traveled to China over the summers and continued dancing with instructors from professional schools in Chongqing. Yin has also trained in classical and romantic ballet to further her technique.

She has taught at the CCCCA (cccca.org) since 1999 and left in 2013 to form her own company.  Some other schools she has taught for include: Chinese Academy of Cleveland (Shaker Hts, OH), Families with Children from China (Akron, OH), Chinese Culture Club (Euclid, OH), and workshops for the University of Akron.  Her studio is located in the Asian Services in Action office at 3631 Perkins Ave, Cleveland, OH.

Healing arts is how Barbara Barrett refers to dancing, singing, and nursing practice. Her dance training is in West African and liturgical methods. A long-time Cleveland Metropolitan School District RN, she is truly an artist at heart. In addition to being able to see her singing primarily jazz on local and occasionally national stages, she is dancer and choreographer for her small dance ensemble, How Excellent/Beyond Category, and coordinator/co-choreographer for the adult and children’s culture and dance ministries programs at St. Agnes Our Lady of Fatima Catholic Church. Well known for her experiences in West Africa, she is called upon across the Cleveland Diocese as well. In addition to her home base, other performance or ministry stages have included St. Colman’s Catholic Church, St. Mary’s in Bedford, Community United Methodist Church in Lorain, Church of the Savior in Cleveland Heights, The United Methodist Church Conference at Lakeside Conference Center, Southpointe Hospital, MetroHealth Main Campus, East Cleveland Theater, Tri-C Metro Campus, East Cleveland Library, and East Cleveland Community Theater. Barbara has been a teaching artist for ICARE, Young Audiences, Roots of American Music’s Stop the Hate Youth Sing Out, The Salvation Army’s spring break program, and CMSD after school programming. Some of Barbara’s teachers have included the late Baba Chuck Davis, Linda Thomas Jones, Sabrina Gregory, Talise Campbell, and Terrence Greene.

Jez is a middle eastern dance instructor and performer. She started studying Middle Eastern dance in 1997 and later began teaching workshops and seminars, followed by classes at Kent State and Cleveland State and eventually in her own studio.

Her study of music theory enabled her to recognize how to mesh movement to music and her innate ability to envision sound as movement earned her the position of choreographer for various dance troupes specializing in solos as well as group numbers which utilize her unique fusion of American tribal, Rom, and Cabaret Belly Dance.

Born and raised in Jackson, MS., Erin began her dance training at Ballet Mississippi under David Keary of the New York City Ballet. Her time at Ballet Mississippi afforded her a lot of opportunities, most notably the opportunity to travel to Sweden to perform for representatives of countries around the world. Erin graduated with a BFA in Modern

Dance from Belhaven University in Jackson, MS in 2011, where she studied under Laura Morton, Stephen Wynne, Cynthia Newland, and Caleb Mitchell throughout her academic career. She also studied under Steve Rooks and Randall Flinn during their residencies at Belhaven University and attended Alvin Ailey’s summer intensive in New York City.

After spending some time in New York City post graduation, Erin moved to Cleveland, OH in 2012 to continue her dance career as an Apprentice with Inlet Dance Theatre, where she was promoted to Company Member in 2014. Dancing with Inlet Dance Theatre has allowed Erin to perform in events throughout the region including Jacob’s Pillow Inside Out Series, Dance Showcase, DanceWorks, Pandemonium, IPAY, and in Inlet’s production of Center Of the Earth, world premiered in the Hanna Theatre. Touring with Inlet has sent her to various cities including Philadelphia, Cincinnati, Des Moines, and Houston. In addition to her vibrant dance career, Erin has gained teaching experience throughout the Cleveland metropolitan area, most frequently at Savelli’s Dance and Martial Arts, where she teaches ballet, modern, non-traditional partnering, improvisation, and pointe. Within Inlet, Erin teaches for the Inlet Trainee and Apprentice Program as well as for Inlet’s annual 6.5 week summer intensive. This is Erin’s sixth season with Inlet Dance Theatre.