Faith Waterman, Jazz Funk
Faith was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, but has lived in South Paris, Maine, since she was 4 months old. Dance has been an inspiration to her since she was 2. She was heavily inspired by Shirley Temple and loved to put on tap shoes, dresses and dance along. She also loved ballet and at the age of 2 she would put on ballet slippers, get her little ballet bar and mat, put in Bella Dancerella DVDs and learn all the positions and emotions that went into dance. Faith made several attempts to join dance classes when she was younger, but because she was sick often, the Shirley Temple and Bella Dancerella movies were her main source of learning. In sixth grade she started taking Jazz Funk class at Expansion Arts, taught by Sasha. From there she added Tap, Ballet, Modern, Jazz and Hip Hop. She’s been in a few Community Broadway Musicals as a dancer, and knows how important dance can be for one’s mental and physical health. In her 8 years of dance experience with many amazing local teachers, she’s ready and excited to apply all that she’s learned to teaching her classes.
Erika Lindstrom, Modern Jazz
Erika began dancing at 5 years old at Art Moves Dance Studio in Norway, Maine. As a teen, Erika trained three days a week, choreographed on her peers, put on a dance benefit show to raise scholarship funds for young dancers, taught residencies at local elementary schools, and completed Bates Dance Festival Young Dancers summer intensive. After graduating from Oxford Hills Comprehensive High School in 2008, Erika moved to Durango, Colorado and there she choreographed and performed with Dance Co-Motion, a project at Fort Lewis College. Throughout her adult life, she has been a member of Art Moves Dance Group and has regularly taken dance classes wherever she can. In 2017, she participated in a dance exchange in Natal, Brazil and spent one month training with Compahia de Dança do Teatro Alberto Maranhão and Grupo de Dança de Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte. Erika loves the challenge of dance class and is constantly working to improve her technique and artistry. After taking a break from dance during 2020 to 2022, Erika returned to dance at Expansion Arts Dance Studio and it felt like coming home. Erika’s favorite style of dance is modern jazz and she enjoys teaching classes that encourage dancers to connect their body, mind, and spirit.
Koley True, Jazz 1, Tap 1, Secretary
Koley is a Western Maine born and raised dancer. She has danced with Art Moves and Expansion Arts nearly her whole life and is thrilled to have joined the wonderful team of dance teachers at Expansion Arts. Throughout those years she has done many forms of dancing, and is currently focusing on Ballet, Modern, Tap, and Jazz.
Koley participated in the Cottage Street Creative Exchange to Brazil in April of 2019, where she and Sasha collaborated and performed with dance companies in Natal, Brazil. Outside of her dancing and dance teaching career, she is a staff member of Seguinland Institute; a gap term program for up-and-coming college students, a nanny, and a private caterer. She has also recently taken to the musical theatre stage, where she is now seeking dance focused productions to be involved in.
She attended the University of Maine at Farmington where she minored in psychology, and obtained degree in Early Childhood Education, concentrating on ages birth through five, and Kindergarten through Third grade. Koley teaches Jazz 1 and Tap 1, ages 6-8 at Expansion Arts.
Erika (center) dancing in Brazil with CDTAM. Photo by Paulo Fuga
Karianna Merrill, Creative Movement, Associate Director
Karianna Merrill is a jazz dancer and singer from Norway, Maine. She lives her life creatively
as an independent hairstylist at 62 Spring Street Salon in Auburn. In her free time, she loves
performing in community musical theater productions mainly at Community Little Theater in
Auburn. She earned her bachelor’s degree in Music Education from the University of
Southern Maine with a concentration in voice. She grew up dancing at Art Moves Dance
Studio in Norway from the age of three. Her dance classes are inspired by the teachings of
Debi Irons (Art Moves), Sasha Richardson (Expansion Arts), and Joanna Patterson (The
Moving Company).
Sasha Richardson, Director
Sasha started dancing at the age of 6 at a small dance studio in Western Maine and soon discovered that Dance was her passion. She graduated from Oxford Hills Comprehensive High School in 2005. In January 2009 she graduated with a Bachelors of Science degree in Dance and a minor in Psychology from Long Island University, Brooklyn Campus in New York City. There she studied with Dana Hash-Campbell, Nathan Trice, Alenka Cizmesija, Ted Levy, and Donna Uchizono among others. While at LIU she found her love for choreography, and her first piece was chosen to be shown at Dance Theater Workshop’s student choreography lab in NYC.
Sasha has spent her summers dancing at various intensives including Parsons Dance Company Summer Intensive in New York, NY, Art Moves Summer Intensive in Norway, ME and Bates Dance Festival in Lewiston, ME. She believes strongly in continuing to learn and grow throughout her entire career.
In May 2010 Sasha earned her license in massage therapy from Spa Tech Institute in Westbrook and continuously incorporates what she learned there into her dance classes. She has a private practice in South Paris, ME.
Sasha has taught at after school programs, choreographed for and performed in many community musicals. She taught Tap, Jazz/Variant, and Modern/Ballet Technique at Art Moves Dance Studio before opening Expansion Arts in 2015. She was able to take two trips to Brazil in 2017 and 2019 where she worked with Compahia de Dança do Teatro Alberto Maranhão (CDTAM) and Grupo de Dança de Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte alongside Debi Irons of Art Moves. She is so happy that these two studios can stay sisters and collaborators in Oxford Hills and beyond.
Sasha is incredibly thankful for all the friends and family support along her dance journey.