Cohesion Dance Staff
Tanya W. Call
Founder & Artistic Director
A native of Helena, Tanya is the Founder and Artistic Director of Cohesion Dance Project (CDP), in Helena MT. She established CDP in 2012 with a welcoming spirit and a desire to provide access for all to experience the joys of dance and a broader spectrum of performance opportunities.
Tanya received her Master of Physical Therapy degree in 2000 and spent 14 years working as a pediatric physical therapist. She danced professionally, with various companies including Ricochet Modern Dance Theater, in Richland, WA and Keshet Dance Company in Albuquerque, NM where she also worked as the Outreach Coordinator and Rehearsal Assistant. While at Keshet, Tanya worked with a range of dancers from beginners to professionals in class and choreography and led their unique adaptive dance program for people with disabilities. She danced several lead roles in Shira Greenberg’s Nutcracker on the Rocks™, and experienced first-hand the powerful effect that mentorship and collaboration can have on every individual involved in a production. Tanya enjoys teaching modern/contemporary dance for all ages and abilities.
Jessica Partridge
Program Coordinator, Studio & Outreach Instructor
Jessica Partridge is a Helena native and has been involved in the Montanan dance and performing arts community for over 30 years. She has trained in a multitude of styles and genres including ballet, modern, jazz, hip-hop, breakdance and social dancing. She has worked as a teaching artist and guest artist in several studios around the state and with Cohesion Dance Project since 2020 as a modern, creative movement and adaptive dance instructor as well as in the school and community outreach program.
Dennis Deaton
Bookkeeper
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Sarah Dassinger
Studio Instructor
Sarah hails from Kansas, where her love of dance began at the age of four. She has danced all over and landed in Great Falls, Montana in 2010. She began teaching at Miss Linda's School of Dance and has collaborated with many musicians through different symphony's. She added teaching at the Creative Arts Center and now is very glad to also be a part of the Cohesion family. One of Sarah's favorite roles was the
Rat Queen in Nutcracker on the Rocks.
Laura Brown
Outreach Instructor
Laura Brown was born and raised in Helena Montana. She started dancing at Diane’s Danceworks mainly learning tap, jazz, and contemporary dance. Laura then met Tanya Call in 2013 and participated in the first Nutcracker on the Rocks here in Helena. She fell in love with modern dance after this production and continues to take classes at Cohesion. Over the last few years, she has also enjoyed helping and teaching some of Cohesion’s outreach programs and rehearsals for NOTR’s. When Laura is not dancing, she loves being outdoors, reading, and spending time with friends and family.
Diadra Goldes
Studio and Outreach Instructor
Diadra Goldes is a dancer, choreographer, and teacher originally from Kent, WA. At the age of 16 she was accepted into her first professional dance company. The following year, she began instructing. Diadra completed a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance from Western Washington University in 2011 and has since focused her career on dance education. Brain-Compatible Dance Education is one of her most prominent teaching influences. This approach uses strategies that create an environment in which the brain is ready, willing, and able to learn. She is also a Mental Wellness Certified Dance Educator. Diadra strives to provide stimulating, high quality instruction for her students. Her teaching philosophy is centered around helping every student develop a deeper relationship with their own bodies through the joy of dance.
Harley Hollibaugh
Studio Instructor & Facilities Assistant
Harley began dancing in the Helena community since she was five years old. She started dancing and being involved at Cohesion in 2023 and instantly fell in love with the community there. When she isn’t at the studio you can find her reading, hiking, probably dancing in the kitchen, and hanging out with her fur besties.
Julynn Wildman
Studio Instructor
Julynn was born and raised in Colorado where her early training with Between the Bones and Kim Robards Dance Company exposed her to modern, ballet, jazz, improvisation, and Feldenkrais method. She holds a BA in Dance and Anthropology from Bard College at Simon's Rock, and coursework in Interdisciplinary Arts and Media at Columbia College Chicago provided her with opportunities to perform and collaborate around Chicago, IL. She was brought to Helena, MT through a position with AmeriCorps and was thrilled to find such a generous, dancing community at Cohesion.
Amber Wilke
Studio & Outreach Instructor
Amber is a Helena native and mother of two. She has been involved extensively with Cohesion as a volunteer, student, NOTR cast member, mentor, and instructor with Cohesion's Adaptive Dance Outreach program.
BJ Allen-Prudden
Tech Assistant
BJ was born and raised in Helena, MT., and has been dancing since the age of 6. She began dancing with Cohesion in 2017 and joined their intern program in 2019. She's obsessed with the moon and her favorite flavor of anything is coconut.