Tyra Rose
Founder, Artistic Director
Tyra Rose (she/her) is originally from Des Plaines, Illinois. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in dance from Webster University (magna cum laude, with honors), with an emphasis on modern dance, supplemented by training in ballet, jazz, aerial, hip hop, and Thai classical dance. In 2017, Tyra moved to Seattle to pursue her dance career and has since performed with Catapult Dance (Michele Miller), Rickety Sticks Dance Theater (Amy J. Lambert), Gender Tender (Fox Whitney), The Three Yells (Veronica Lee-Baik), Artistry in Motion (Juju Flores), and badmarmarDANCE (Marlo Martin). These collaborations have shaped her as a highly versatile artist and influenced her movement aesthetic as a choreographer. She is drawn to spirals, circles, swoops, and swirls that build into athletic movement.
Tyra’s choreography is inspired by the vulnerability and nuance of the human experience, transforming personal challenges into universal stories. For the past four years, she has been exploring her journey of recovering from addiction and all the complexities that come with it. She is thrilled to be presenting the final iteration of IMPULSE CONTROL.
Most recently, Tyra produced CERBERUS, her first self-produced show featuring work by herself, Nicole Flores, and Arinze Okammor. She developed her first full-length work through ANNONYArts (St. Louis) in collaboration with Corbin Hall, and has premiered shorter choreographic projects at dance festivals across the country, including Artica Fest (St. Louis), RAW: Natural Born Artists (Seattle), Full Tilt Dance Festival (Seattle), and BOOST Dance Festival (Seattle). Her work can also be seen frequently in eXit SPACE productions; she currently serves as Assistant Director of eXit SPACE’s pre-professional program (thePROGRAM) and teaches and choreographs full time for both the youth (YDP) and adult dancer (ADP) programs. Tyra has also worked for numerous studios across the Greater Seattle Area and views dance education as a critical component of her work as an artist.
In addition to dance, Tyra is a trained visual artist who spends her free time drawing and painting, with work that largely centers on the human body, movement, and dance. Her paintings are currently installed at Art Table Sea in Capitol Hill. Looking ahead, Tyra will be heading to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in August 2026 with Megan Moore and 3,2,1 to perform solo work.
Kohen Chin
Kohen Chin is a Seattle native and aspiring performing artist and dancer. He is currently a sophomore at Western Michigan University where he is pursuing his Bachelor of Arts in Dance as well as a Bachelor of Science in Exercise Science. While training trifocally in Ballet, Modern, and Jazz, he has had the opportunity to dance for choreographers including Marlo Martin, Arinze Okammor, Mike Esperanza, Annalee Traylor, Peter Chu, and more. Kohen is thrilled to continue working with Tyra Rose and WhipLash Dance for IMPULSE CONTROL.
Kate Henderson
Kate Henderson is a dancer currently based in Seattle, Washington. She relocated to Seattle after receiving a BFA in Dance and Minor in Anthropology from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in 2023. Since then she’s had the pleasure of performing in a variety of festivals and showcases, such as BOOST Dance Festival, Seattle International Dance Festival, Full Tilt, Propel, and STG’s Dance This. Henderson, in addition, has worked with artists such as Mike Esperanza, WhipLash Dance Company, Arinze Okammor, as well as the Guild Dance Company. She is thrilled to dive into the world of IMPULSE CONTROL once again, and can’t wait to be a part of sharing this poignant story in June 2026.
Sally J. Holloman
Sally J. Holloman is an aspiring performer and choreographer from Seattle Washington. Sally attended Dance Fremont until graduating high school in 2024. Since doing so, Sally J has taken on countless choreography commissions, dance gigs, as well as content creation/ behind the scenes work for different dance showcases across Seattle. You may recognize Sally’s work from her Instagram video creations: rehearsal montages for Rickety Sticks Dance Theater’s recent “This is a Drama Comedy.” Sally has choreographed for Full Tilt (2025), Dance Fremont’s Impact Dance Festival (2022-2025), Salt Shake’s 3..2..1 (2025), eXit SPACE’s Launch (2025), and eXit SPACE’s BOOST (2026). This is Sally J’s second time performing for WhipLash dance! Aside from dance, Sally enjoys engaging with literature, writing personal essays, and curating poetry, all of which she shares on her blog, The Slaughtered Lamb.
Hayley Keller
Hayley Keller (she/her) grew up as a gymnast and dancer in Grand Junction, Colorado before relocating to the PNW to continue her education at the University of Oregon. She trained at Shawl Anderson Dance Center in Berkeley, California before finding her home here in Seattle in 2020. She has studied under and performed works set by Adam Parson, Mike Esperanza, Shannon Mockli, Alana O. Rogers, and Marlo Martin, among others, and spent three years dancing as a member of Dema, a West African Dance ensemble led by Habib Iddrisu. Outside of performing, Hayley is both a dance educator and choreographer, specializing in teaching modern, floorwork, and inversions to dancers of all ages. Hayley is deeply invested in community and authenticity in all parts of her life and is always working to bring those values to the arts spaces she inhabits.
Evelyn Morrison
Evelyn Morrison began her dance training at Dance Fremont and later earned her BA in Dance from Oberlin College and Conservatory. Her dance study has taken her across the United States and abroad. Since returning to Seattle, she has performed with WhipLash, appeared in festivals including Seattle International Dance Festival, Full Tilt, and 12 Minutes Max, and presented her own choreographic work.
Maisy Neill
Grounded in community, collaboration, and contemporary practices, Maisy Neill is a multidisciplinary dance artist. She began her training in Los Angeles before moving to Seattle, where she obtained a Bachelor’s degree in Dance and Psychology at the University of Washington (2024). She is a recipient of the Evelyn H. Greene Endowed Scholarship for Artistic Promise (2023). In Seattle, Maisy has had the privilege of dancing for choreographers including dani tirell, Nia Amina-Minor, Beth Twigs, Rachael Lincoln, Arinze Okammor, and Alana Isiguen. Her choreographic work has been presented in Seattle International Dance Festival (SIDF), Seattle Theatre Group’s DANCE This, and BOOST Dance Festival, among others. This is Maisy’s last performance in Seattle before moving internationally to pursue a Master’s degree in Dance Performance at London Contemporary Dance School: The Place.
Leah James Russell
Leah James Russell is a dancer, choreographer, actor, and fire spinner driven by an insatiable curiosity for building freedom of expression through movement. Leah’s choreography blends contemporary dance styles, improvisation, and theater–crafting visceral, athletic, and emotionally charged journeys that explore the raw and tender corners of our shared humanity. Featured in festivals such as Converge Dance Festival, 12 Minutes Max, Newport Dance Festival and Seattle International Dance Festival, Leah views dance as a means for empowerment, transformation, and deepening connection to ourselves, each other, and the world around us.
Janae Walla
Janae Walla was born and raised in Kansas City, Missouri and graduated with a BFA in Dance from Cornish College of the Arts. This is her first show with WhipLash, and working with Tyra and this cast has been fun and inspiring. Janae is also a member of 11:11 dance collective and a guest artist for Karin Stevens Dance. She was a founding dancer and aerialist for Wingbeat Movement Arts in San Diego, and also performed as an aerialist for Voler thieves of flight in Kansas City. Since moving back to Seattle in 2024 some notable performances have been Sea Change Within Us at Seattle Art Museum, performing on the mainstage at Seattle Pride, Full Tilt, Coalesce Fest, and performing her own choreography in three iterations of Saltshake Productions 3…2…1! She has been teaching youth theatre and dance for over ten years and currently teaches at The Bertschi School and Village Theatre’s KIDSTAGE. Janae is a classically trained Pilates instructor, and when not dancing, can be found in the Pilates studio or with her dog. Thanks to my partner, Lyra, who has been in the front row of my performances since our day one.
Rosa Yin
Rosa Yin (she/her) is a multidisciplinary artist based in Seattle. She was born and raised in San Antonio, Texas, where she began dancing at age four. Throughout high school and college, she toured and performed as a dance soloist with world class color guard corps Crossmen DBC, Bluecoats DBC, Boston Crusaders DBC, and Origins IW. After moving to Seattle for graduate school studying environmental policy, she returned to dancing and has since been overjoyed with the rich friendships and community that she has found in the space. Following her participation in Tyra Rose’s CERBERUS, she is very excited to dance alongside her friends in IMPULSE CONTROL. Check out her ceramic work at @rock.star.pots or http://rockstarpots.com.
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