Beth Elkins, a native of Syracuse, began her training at the Center of Ballet and Dance Arts, under the direction of Deborah Boughton.  She furthered her studies at the New York State Summer School of the Arts in Saratoga Springs, and with the schools of Boston Ballet, and Milwaukee Ballet.  She performed professionally with Milwaukee Ballet, BalletMet of Columbus and Toronto’s Xing Ballet before coming to Buffalo.  Locally, she has performed with numerous companies, most notably Pick of the Crop Dance, Neglia Ballet Artists, Janet Reed & Dancers, and Buffalo Contemporary Dance.  Elkins has performed the work of Margo Sappington, Liz Lerman, Kathryn Posin, John McFall, Jean-Paul Comelin, and David Nixon, as well as Balanchine, Bournonville, Petipa and Perrot.  Beth has also danced leading roles by Mark Diamond, Jean-Pierre Bonnefoux, Septime Weber, Jessica Lang, Leslie Wexler and Elaine Gardner.

Elkins was Ballet Mistress for the Festival Dancers at the Chautauqua Institution’s Dance Department from 1996 to 2000, where her choreography was performed by the pre-professional dancers.  She directed the Chautauqua Regional Youth Ballet from 1997 to 2000 and choreographed numerous works on the students.  Beth has taught Pick of the Crop’s Seedling Company, and was on faculty at the American Academy of Ballet, Buffalo Inner City Ballet, and Neglia Conservatory of Ballet. 

In the Spring of 2006, Elkins launched Nimbus Dance with architect/artist Brad Wales.  The first show, a multi-media performance entitled Story of a Girl, was a choreographic collaboration at Gallery 164.  Beth is a Core Dynamics-certified Pilates instructor who owns and operates the Pilates Loft in Buffalo’s historic Allentown district.

Jennifer Golonka, a native of Buffalo, began her early training under the watchful eyes of Maris Battaglia and Karen Horst.  During this time she had the opportunity to perform with Pennsylvania Ballet and the Chautauqua Regional Youth Ballet.  She studied modern dance with Elaine Gardner and later danced with Gardner’s Pick of the Crop Dance, performing works by David Parsons, Laura Dean, Colin Conner, and Gail Gilbert.  In Gardner’s story book ballets, Golonka had the lead role in Cinderella and The Snow Queen.  She also performed with Neglia Ballet Artists and Buffalo Contemporary Dance.

Jennifer made the move to NYC in 2000 and began studying at Peridance and Dance Space (now Dance New Amsterdam). She has trained with Alan Danielson, Risa Steinberg and Graciela Kozak.  She also spent a year at the Martha Graham School studying under Marianne Bachmann and Peggy Lyman.  Jennifer has performed with Battleworks, Take Dance and Kris Storey.  She is a founding member of the Jessica Lang Project and is currently working with freshblood Productions. 

Jennifer spends her summers in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, teaching modern dance at Perry-Mansfield Performing Arts Camp under the direction of Linda Kent.  In the Spring of 2006, two passions (dance and politics) collided when she was asked to collaborate on Story of a Girl presented by Nimbus Dance.

Kerry Ring, a native of Buffalo, New York, trained in the Cecchetti Method under the direction of Norma Gelose.  She studied at such schools as the Joffrey Ballet School, the American Dance Festival as a “Young Artist” scholarship recipient, and the Paul Taylor school.  Kerry earned her BFA in dance from the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque and her MFA in dance performance and choreography from Mills College in Oakland, California.  She has performed with such groups as the Santa Fe Opera, Delta Festival Ballet, Nevada Dance Theatre, Bill Evans Dance Company, and Molissa Fenley and Dancers. 

Currently, Ring teaches dance at the Nichols School, D’Youville College, and the University of Buffalo.  She performs with Buffalo Contemporary Dance, and is a member of the Cecchetti Council of America.  Kerry has collaborated in all the Nimbus Dance performances to date.

Brad Wales is an architect, writer, videographer, photographer, super-8 filmmaker, and has designed and built more than twenty theater and dance sets in Boston, Princeton, Buffalo, London, and Edinburgh, Scotland.  His films have been shown extensively in Boston and Buffalo, as well as in Mexico City and New York City.  He co-founded Nuncio Flash Theater Company in Boston, a not-for-profit multi-media performance group that was in Residency at the Massachusetts College of Art in the mid-eighties.  Wales produced new shows for Axlegrease, Squeaky Wheel’s weekly public access cable show, in 1995 and 1996.  In January 2006, he launched Nimbus Dance with Beth Elkins.

Since 1997, Brad has been a Clinical Assistant Professor in the Architecture Department at SUNY Buffalo teaching a senior design studio in mixed-use urban housing.  In 2001, he set up the Small Built Works Project, a hands-on design-build program that has completed over twenty-five public art projects in conjunction with local community groups.  This work, which includes bus shelters, kiosks, a windmill, several sculpture parks, and the gut-renovation of El Museo Gallery, received the $25,000 NCARB Grand Prize in 2005 for the creative integration of education and practice.  The Small Built Works Project is featured in the November 2006 issue of the Journal of Architecture Education.  Wales graduated with a BA in Architecture from Princeton University.  He opened Gallery 164 in Allentown in 2003, showing 2-D and 3-D work, as well as environmental three-channel video and film installations. 

Brian Milbrand is a filmmaker, videographer, and performance artist.  He is a member of Termite TV and a founding member of Real Dream Cabaret.  Brian was a guest video artist in nimbus’ production of Story of a Girl and, for Allentown’s 2006 Infringement Festival, he curated Temporary Dream at Gallery 164.  His films and videos have been screened at NYC’s MOMA, Art Basel Miami, Artists Television Access, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Detroit Film Center, Hallwalls, Squeaky Wheel, Carnegie Art Center, Burchfield Penney Art Center, Athens International Film Festival, Video Mundi, and at the US Super 8 & Digital Video Festival.  Upcoming show venues include Stateless Cinema Hails and Regales the Chiefs and President's Day at the Black Cat in Washington, DC.  The Garden Walk Buffalo DVD (2006) was produced under the co-direction of Brian and Cheryl Jackson.  He is a Medaille College Multimedia Technician and the Technical Director at Squeaky Wheel.