Miral Kotb, artistic director of Miral and Dancers, studied dance at Barnard College while attending Columbia University. Throughout college she choreographed and performed for the student organization, Orchesis. She also spent one semester at Middlesex University, in London, England, studying the modern techniques of Graham, Cunningham and Humphrey-Limón. Upon graduation Miral was a student at The Merce Cunningham Studio and continues to take classes there. She is also trained in and performs belly dancing and folkloric dancing, and recently returned from her home country of Egypt, where she worked with members of The Reda Troupe. Miral has taken classes throughout New York, Houston, Montréal, London, Rome and Paris, and has taught in London and Frankfurt. She has danced for Nina Buisson, Jana Hicks, Nancy Meehan, The Wendy Osserman Dance Company, Scott Lyons, in The Logic of the Birds, part of the Lincoln Center Festival of 2002, and the off-Broadway play Aggripina.
	Lauren Engleman grew up in Canton, Ohio, where she trained with the Canton Ballet. She graduated in 2004 with a BFA in Dance magna cum laude from Ohio State University, and subsequently studied on scholarship with the Merce Cunningham Dance Company and Jennifer Muller/The Works. Since moving to New York in 2004 she has worked with Pat Catterson, Alyce Finwall, Brandon Colwes, and Ellen Stokes Shadle. In 2006, Lauren made her debut with the Metropolitan Opera Ballet in the First Emperor, and she currently dances with Christopher Caines Dance Company, Philippa Kaye Company and Murray Spalding/Mandalas. Ms. Engleman also teaches ballet for children, and is a certified Pilates instructor having taught at Broadway Dance Center and Steps. She is currently instructing at Physique 57. Lauren began dancing with Miral Kotb in 2005.
	Khiara M. Bridges is originally from Miami, Florida. She began her ballet training at the Miami City Ballet. She went on to train at the Atlanta Ballet, Dance Theatre of Harlem, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, and most importantly, with her mentor and coach, Kat Wildish. Since moving to New York City, Ms. Bridges has worked with a variety of companies and choreographers. Her credits include the Morgan Scott Ballet, Ballet Deviare, SeroS Contemporary Dance, Arch Dance Company, Lydia Johnson Dance, ASEID, Brooklyn Ballet and the Hartford City Ballet. When Ms. Bridges is not dancing, she is studying: she received her J.D. from Columbia Law School in 2002, and is, at present, a PhD Candidate in the Department of Anthropology at Columbia University. She is currently conducting research for her dissertation, tentatively titled, " Reproducing Race: An Anthropological Study of Race as a Process."
	Edgar L. Peterson, III was born in New York City and accepted into the New Ballet School (official school of Ballet Tech) at the age of 8. Edgar first performed with the Ballet Tech Company, formerly Feld Ballets NY, at the age of 14 as a student performer and later joined Ballet Tech as a company member performing at venues including Jacob's ­s Pillow, NJ Performing Arts Center, Kennedy Center, as well as the Joyce Theatre and Lincoln Center in New York City. Upon graduating high school, Edgar left the world of dance to continue his academic studies at Columbia University and pursued an internship at Standard & Poor's where he currently works full time. He has also performed with Dances Patrelle, and most recently worked with C. Eule Dance, and Christopher Caines Dance Company. Edgar is delighted to rejoin Miral and Dancers this season.
	Becca Zohar was born and raised in St. Paul, Minnesota where she trained extensively for 18 years in Ballet, Jazz, Tap as a competitive dancer at Larkin Dance Studio. She competed in gymnastics from the ages of 9 to 14 and performed in several NFL Halftime Shows with Barry Lather. At age eighteen, she moved to New York City to further her education in Film/Video Production at Marymount Manhattan College graduating in May 2004. She has toured as an assistant to a variety of choreographers to various dance studios and conventions around the country. She has choreographed for several dance schools in New Jersey where she has won national titles for her choreography in lyrical and modern. She was a featured dancer on MTV and also with Ten Foot Five Productions. She was a featured dancer in Glimpses at Mulberry Street Theatre in New York and Moodswings in the East Village with Miral & Dancers. She also danced with Lea Fulton for the 2003 DRA Remember Project at St. Mark's Church in New York. She continues to train and choreograph in New York and New Jersey. Becca is also a certified spinning instructor.
	Jamy Hsu is from Houston and graduated from Columbia University in 2000. She has danced for Avila/Weeks, Eva Dean, H.T. Chen, Michael Mao, and Vertex Theater. She currently performs with Viewpointe, Christopher Caines, and the Metropolitan Opera Ballet.
	Dario Mejia studied dance at The Juilliard School, Minnesota Dance Theater Company, Metro State University and the Larkin Dance Studio. He has performed works by Julie Taymor, Mark Morris, Robert Battle, Stephanie Marini, Dwight Rhoden, Lise Houlton, Anthony Tudor, Scott Rink, Uri Sands, Sir Fredrick Ashton and Jose Limon. He has performed with the Minnesota Dance Theater, The Nevada Ballet, Larkin Dance Studio, Electrofuse, Ten Foot Five Productions, Music and Noise, Lundstrum Performing Arts, and at the Vikings half time show.
	Special guest Christian Frederickson will be playing viola for the upcoming show, With a Twist. and also performed in Miral and Dancers last show, Moodswings. Christian, violist, composer, and sound designer, is a founding member of Rachel's, an instrumental band with six albums on Touch and Go Records. Recent projects: "Veritas" at CSC; "365 Days/365 Plays" with SITI Co. at the Public Theater; "Girls Just Wanna Have Fund$" at the World Financial Center; "Hanjo" at Japan Society; "Fetes de la Nuit" Columbia Stages NYC; King Lear Point B Productions, Nashville, TN; The History of the World... Saratoga Springs, NY. Other credits: The Water Project Bowdoin College, ME; Christina Olson: American Model at P.S. 122; "systems/layers" with SITI Co. at Krannert Center and Utah State University.
	Special guest Ella Toovy will be playing cello for the upcoming show, With a Twist. Ella has performed worldwide in recitals and chamber music concerts in the United States, Europe, Asia, Latin America, as well as in her native country of Israel. Her playing met favorable reviews, noted for "possessing capacity of cantabile to great finesse so well balanced with sonority and expression" (Cuban daily newspaper) and described as "breath taking" (New Music Connoisseur). Her work was recorded for television and radio broadcasts internationally. Ms Toovy performed in New York's most prestigious venues such as Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, Merkin Concert Hall, and Steinway Hall. Festival appearances include the Kfar Bloom Chamber Music Festival, Cooperstown Chamber Music Festival, The Musica Viva festival, The Grandes De La Musica Festival, and the New York Summer Music Festival. An active chamber musician, Ella had founded the LINK ensemble, a mixed instrumental group with performing new and old chamber music in a variety of settings and instrumental combination. This season marks the group's inaugural season with several exciting performances and in Ico:Music series in Tribeca, the Roreich Museum on the upper west side, as well as concerts and residencies in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Ms. Toovy is on the cello and chamber music faculty of the Manhattan School of Music Pre-College Division, the New York Youth Symphony Chamber Music Program, the Lucy Moses School, and the New York Summer Music Festival. Currently a doctoral candidate at Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University at the studio of Mr. Jonathan Spitz, Ms. Toovy earned her MM from the Manhattan School of Music where she studied with Alan Stepansky, and a BA and a BM from the Academy for Music and Dance in Jerusalem where she studied with Shmuel Magen.
	Special guest Yukiko Tanaka will be playing piano for the upcoming show, With a Twist. "In short, a model performance" said New York Concert Review, about Yukiko's solo debut recital at Carnegie Weill Recital Hall held in December 2005. Her concert was totally sold out and passionately acclaimed by the audience. A native of Tokyo, Japan, she has been active as a piano soloist and a chamber musician and has performed in the United States, Canada, Spain, Italy, and Japan. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology from Utah State University, where she was honored as Student of the Year 1998, and received a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Music from Albion College, where she won many honors, scholarships, and the College Concerto Competition. Yukiko continues her studies with Maestro German Diez after completing her Master's degree in piano performance at the City University of New York Brooklyn College, where she was a scholarship student. Currently, Yukiko serves on the piano faculty of Long Island University-C.W. Post Campus. She is also a music minister at St. John's Church, NJ.