Erase Symposium Keynote Speaker:

Pam Nelson is a Licensed Professional Counselor, Trauma-Informed Yoga Therapist, and Certified EMDR Therapist who helps adult survivors of childhood trauma learn to access peace in body/mind and Reparent the wounded parts of themselves. Pam is passionate about sharing the knowledge gained from her own life-long relationship with trauma and anxiety plus 24 years working in the mental health field. She guides survivors in finding empowerment and authenticity through movement, breathwork, meditation, and mental health therapy. She uses modalities such as IFS-Informed EMDR and Somatic Parts Work in individual therapy sessions, and also offers online self-studies, an on-demand trauma-formed yoga video website, and therapeutic group programs. It is her mission to provide accessible resources so survivors may learn to live a life through joy, rather than fear.

Erase Symposium Somatic Movement Class:

In Somatic Movement class, we focus on gaining a deeper mind-body connection both by moving through space and in stillness. The class is rooted in Laban Movement Analysis, Bartenieff Fundamentals, and additional somatic practices and concepts such as early developmental patterning we learn from a very young age related to the anatomical structure and current functioning of the body, in addition to other somatic concepts. In this class we will explore and investigate bodily awareness and work towards gaining a greater sense of embodiment to both relax the nervous system and fuse the inner and outer worlds of the mover to work towards the somatic realization of meaning through movement. “Do my movement and my thinking have an intimate connection? First of all, I don’t think my body doesn’t think.”
-Trisha Brown

Class Instructor: Nina Madsen Puckett, RSME/T, CMA, LMT, BFA

Nina Madsen Puckett, RSMET/T, CMA, BFA is originally from NJ and is a Co-Director for Oklahoma Movement where she choreographs, teaches and performs.  She is also the director of Madsen Movement where she teaches Somatic Movement classes and owner of Madsen Massage Therapy where she employs 6 licensed massage therapists.

She is a Registered Somatic Movement Therapist and Educator through ISMETA and is Certified Movement Analyst, having received her education and certificate from the yearlong program at the Laban/Bartenieff Institute of Movement Studies in NYC in 2006. She graduated cum laude from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro with a BFA in Dance and also studied at the Swedish Institute College of Health Sciences’ Massage Therapy Program in NYC where she received an Associates of Occupational Studies in 2008. She also studied dance for two semesters abroad at the Western Australia Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA) in Perth, Australia and Teatterikorkeakoulu (The Theatre Academy of Finland) in Helsinki. 

Nina is the founder of Erase the Stigma Through Dance, the mental health advocacy program of Oklahoma Movement. She has appeared on various podcasts advocating for mental health awareness including The Dance Better Podcast, DIY Dancer in partnership with Okay Let’s Unpack This and the YouTube Channel, “Move for a Movement.” 

In a 2002 review of the American Dance Festival, dance critic Byron Woods wrote “the unforgettable flex of Ursula Payne’s Student, Nina Madsen, reminiscent of Gretchen Lothrop’s work.”  She lives in Coweta, Oklahoma with her husband Craig, son Caster Thomas, dogs Seymour and Emil and 7 chickens. 

Erase Symposium Performance Program:

“Who We Are When Others Aren’t Around” is a modern jazz piece focused on confronting the intricate layers of identity that exist in order to function in society. Given that every person has many sides to them, who they are when they are having fun, experiencing sadness, or contentment. Who we are, though it is an ever-changing evolution, we will always be ourselves. Though we may not want to, we must face ourselves and decide how we will approach life when at war or at peace with ourselves when others aren't around.

Choreographer: Aspen Lynch
Dancers: Aspen Lynch and Alisa Marie
Music: “Roxy Roller” Nick Gilder, “My only sunshine” The Beach Boys and “All things must pass by” George Harrison

Aspen Lynch

Based in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Aspen Lynch is a dancer, dance teacher, and choreographer who draws inspiration from studying the passionate details of life. Aspen uses this inspiration in her dancing and choreography regardless of the genre, though she favors lyrical and modern dance. In her choreography, one can see palpable passion and energy behind every moment. Before joining Oklahoma Movement in Spring 2023, Aspen studied Dance Performance and Dance Education at the University of Central Oklahoma where she extensively practiced Modern dance. Using what she learned at UCO, Aspen thoroughly enjoys teaching lyrical and technique classes at an Owasso dance studio and color guard in Adair, Oklahoma. Colorguard, also known as the Sport of the Arts, introduced Aspen to dance when she was 12 and has been a huge part of her life ever since. She feels privileged to pass on the great experience that color guard gave her. What keeps Aspen motivated through the stressful seasons of life is knowing that dance is a catalyst to change. The world cannot subtract dance and expect happiness or passion through the mundane Mondays. She believes the world would crumble quickly without dance.

“Perfectly Loved” is a piece full of gentle reminders that we are accepted and loved despite our flaws and imperfections. It addresses the lie we have all faced at some point: “you’re not _____ enough.” Despite how we see ourselves or what others may say about us, we can be certain that we are perfectly loved by our infinite Creator.  

Choreographer/Dancer: Sierra Fletcher 
Music: “Perfectly Loved” Rachael Lampa 

Sierra Fletcher 

Sierra is a native of Atlanta, Georgia, attended Oral Roberts University in 2011 where she received her Bachelor of Arts Degree in Dance Performance. Since then, Sierra has danced with a local modern company, choreographed for various platforms, instructed dance classes for children and adults, and is the featured dancer in the Greenwood Rising Museum opening video. Sierra is a lover of all art forms, but dance - specifically ballet, modern, and contemporary - has always been her first love. Outside of dance, Sierra enjoys spending time with her husband and two kiddos and building a family legacy through their e-commerce business. 

“Reconstruction” (2021) is based on the idea of deconstructing harmful or self-defeating internalized narratives, and then reconstructing more helpful or preferred narratives that allow us to embrace our authentic self. It addresses my own deconstruction and reconstruction process after being raised in an orthodox high-demand religious group. The rules and pressures of that religious group left me immobilized in fear, feeling like I could never measure up, ultimately internalizing panic, despair, and shame. I created this dance in the beginning of my own reconstruction process, so it was both a determined step forward out of my own darkness and a manifestation of hope for a more confident tomorrow. Like Plato’s allegory of the cave, it explores truth narratives that are handed to us, and new realities as we step beyond the cave.

Filmography: Cylene Walker-Willis
Choreographer and Dancer: Megan Hardy
Music: “The Hours” Philip Glass

Megan Hardy

Megan grew up training mainly in classical ballet. In high school she fell in love with modern dance and performed, choreographed, and traveled on her school’s Performing Dance Company. She was honored to be selected as her high school’s dance representative for the State Sterling Scholar program in Utah. She continued dancing in college and earned her Bachelor of Art in Modern Dance Performance from BYU. While there, she enjoyed choreographing and performing with BYU’s Dancensemble, participating in the Student Dance Educators Organization, and studying abroad at the Beijing Dance Academy. Megan has taught many years of creative children’s dance, modern dance technique, and dance fitness. Megan currently performs, choreographs, and serves on the board for the regional dance company Wildly Brave. Megan is also currently serving on the board for the Stillwater Performing Arts Festival, Dancing Turtle. Megan graduated with her Masters in Science in Marriage and Family Therapy and currently works as a therapist and group facilitator at Calm Waters Center for Children and Families. In addition to integrating movement and body awareness into her work with clients in therapy, Megan teaches dance, yoga, and movement to grieving children and teens at Camp Courage every summer. Being a lifelong learner, Megan continues to engage actively in a variety of dance technique classes and dance communities across Oklahoma and tries to learn something new every day.

“The White Stain of Privilege” reflects the shame and confusion caused by the belief that our lives have been too enjoyable or easy to “justify” struggles with depression, anxiety, or poor self-image. This is something that I’ve dealt with personally for quite some time,and the internalized message that I didn’t deserve to acknowledge negative emotions because I hadn’t experienced major abuse or trauma significantly impeded my healing journey for years. What I hope to convey via the work is that there are no “prerequisites” to have valid difficulties with mental well-being, and no need to feel shame simply because our lives may have been easier than others’.

Choreographer/ Dancer: Jessica Pierce
Music: “O Parto” by Puppi

Jessica Pierce

Jessica Pierce is a registered nurse and freelance dance artist based in Tulsa, Oklahoma. She holds two undergraduate degrees from Oral Roberts University - a Bachelor of Science in Nursing and a Bachelor of Art in Dance Performance. Jessica has been a part of Oklahoma Movement since 2020, performing in Between Us 2: Rewind in 2021, Celebration Earth in 2022, and choreographing/performing for both Sonder and Elements in 2023. In her spare time, Jessica works as a camp nurse and answers random medical questions. Her primary career goal is to discover and share the art in medicine and the medicine in art.

“Skin” - The skin is the largest organ of our body which protects us and keeps us safe from external environmental factors.  But what happens when we psychologically do not allow ourselves to feel safe in our own skin, and how do we let others in?. 

Choreographer: Nina Madsen Puckett
Dancers: Bayleigh Head, April Robertson, Andrea Ellis, Karmen Bough
Music: “Don’s Mind” by Albert Mathias, “Floats” by Albert Mathias and “Keep Me Safe” by Boundary Run

Nina Madsen Puckett, RSME/T, CMA, LMT, BFA

Nina Madsen Puckett, RSMET/T, CMA, LMT, BFA is originally from NJ and is a Co-Director for Oklahoma Movement where she choreographs, teaches and performs.  She is also the director of Madsen Movement where she teaches Somatic Movement classes and owner of Madsen Massage Therapy where she employs 6 licensed massage therapists.

She is a Registered Somatic Movement Therapist and Educator through ISMETA and is Certified Movement Analyst, having received her education and certificate from the yearlong program at the Laban/Bartenieff Institute of Movement Studies in NYC in 2006. She graduated cum laude from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro with a BFA in Dance and also studied at the Swedish Institute College of Health Sciences’ Massage Therapy Program in NYC where she received an Associates of Occupational Studies in 2008. She also studied dance for two semesters abroad at the Western Australia Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA) in Perth, Australia and Teatterikorkeakoulu (The Theatre Academy of Finland) in Helsinki. 

Nina is the founder of Erase the Stigma Through Dance, the mental health advocacy program of Oklahoma Movement. She has appeared on various podcasts advocating for mental health awareness including The Dance Better Podcast, DIY Dancer in partnership with Okay Let’s Unpack This and the YouTube Channel, “Move for a Movement.” 

In a 2002 review of the American Dance Festival, dance critic Byron Woods wrote “the unforgettable flex of Ursula Payne’s Student, Nina Madsen, reminiscent of Gretchen Lothrop’s work.”  She lives in Coweta, Oklahoma with her husband Craig, son Caster Thomas, dogs Seymour and Emil and 7 chickens. 

“Blue” - Spoken word poetry

Spoken word artist: Deborah Hunter
Dancer: Karmen Golden Bough

Deborah J. Hunter

Deborah J. Hunter is a Tulsa, Oklahoma poet, spoken word artist, playwright, essayist, actor, teaching artist, workshop facilitator and social justice activist. She received a 2020 Greenwood Art Project (Bloomberg) grant for her original play, Porches, set during the years following the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre and staged during the Centennial remembrance. She was presented with a Woman of the Year Pinnacle Award in 2018, the Jingle Feldman Artist Award in 2000, and was a 2013 Oklahoma Poet Laureate finalist. Her poetry has been published in literary journals, magazines, anthologies and other printed media. A staunch and longtime advocate and educator on issues pertaining to mental health and homelessness, Hunter’s chapter, “Violence and the Homeless Population: Perpetrators or Victims?” appears in the academic series, Violence and Abuse in Society: Understanding a Global Crisis.

“splitter” - video

Originally created for Mob Mental.ity (2015)

Filmography: Kelly Kerr
Dancers: Oklahoma Movement

“Circles” represents the experience of “going in circles” when a person is struggling with a mental health disorder and/or a substance use disorder. “Circles” express the chaos, frustration, confusion, and repetition that occurs before recovery and during relapse. The self-stigma in “Circles” is the shame associated with repeating mistakes and unhealthy behavior, though self-compassion is the response needed during these challenges in mental health and substance abuse. The second piece in this work is titled “Recovery” and represents relearning how to live life in recovery, an exploration that demands vulnerability and support. “Recovery” demonstrates the battle between shame and self-compassion, with compassion coming out on top and leading to a sense of personal freedom.

Choreographer and Dancer: April Robertson
Music: “Kesson Dalek” Aphex Twin and “Ruglen Holon” Aphex Twin

April Robertson

April Robertson began her dance training at 4 years old at Theatre Arts in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma. She continued with a focus in ballet and contemporary in high school and joined Portico Dans Theatre (now Oklahoma Movement) in the year following her high school graduation. April performed with Portico in 2013 and 2014, before moving to Fayetteville, Arkansas, to continue her college education. While in Fayetteville pursuing a degree in Business Management, April and friends started their own dance collective named Entity Dance Group. Entity performed at Crystal Bridges, a variety of events in Fayetteville and Tulsa, and in the Inverse Performance Arts Festival. From 2017 to 2021, April took a break from dance to focus on her academic career, completing a second bachelor's degree in Sociology and graduating with a master's in Social Work in 2021. Upon moving back to Tulsa in 2022, April returned to dance, taking classes at Tulsa Ballet and Temple of Dance before auditioning for Oklahoma Movement in the Spring of 2023. Now a member of Oklahoma Movement, April is thrilled to continue her dance career in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

“Alien. Nation” - Feeling embarrassed, ashamed, inferior, or disappointed in yourself for being ill. Feeling that illness is your fault. Feeling like others are incapable of understanding you.

Choreographer: Jen Alden
Dancers: Bayleigh Head, Jennifer Cooper, Jessica Pierce, Kara Myers, Andrea Ellis, April Robertson, Kymber Sage
Music: “Radiohead Creep Cover” Danielle Ponder

Jennifer Alden

Before arriving in Tulsa, Jennifer danced with several contemporary dance companies in Portland, Oregon. Prior to this, Jennifer studied under Susan Zadoff at the University of Oregon and Eugene Ballet in Eugene, Oregon and was a company member of Dance Oregon and performed with the Eugene Opera Ballet. Before this, Jennifer performed as a soloist with the State Ballet of Oregon under the direction of Eric Hyrst. Jennifer was also involved with musical theater in high school and choreographed her first musical of West Side Story at the age of 17. Jennifer was Founding Co-Artistic Director, Choreographer and Company Manager of Oklahoma Movement (formerly Portico Dance Theatre) in Tulsa for the last 13 years, creating, directing and choreographing 13 full length works. Jennifer was a Board Member and served as Treasurer of Living Arts of Tulsa for five years. She was Chair of the Arts and Entertainment Crew of Tulsa Young Professionals (TYPROs). Jennifer received awards for 40 Under 40 for both the Tulsa People and Business and Legal News. Jennifer has choreographed for three years for the Tulsa Opera, operas such as Carmen, Romeo and Juliet and Samson and Delilah. She also directed and choreographed for the last 3 years the “Link Up” program for Tulsa Symphony. Jennifer has worked with Theatre Tulsa for the last 7 years and has had the pleasure of choreographing Chorus Line, Oklahoma, Jesus Christ Superstar, Ragtime, The Producers, The Wedding Singer, My Fair Lady, The Music Man, and directed and choreographed The Sound of Music. Jennifer most recently directed The Medium for the Tulsa Opera.

“Facade” - Sometimes more of what we fear is the fear itself.  

Choreographer: Nina Madsen Puckett
Dancer: Bayleigh Head
Music: “Tashweesh (Interference)” Kronos Quartet