Join us for our spring showcase at the Gunter Theater!

Cindy Nunweiler is the Director/Owner of Dance Theatre of Greenville and Artist Director of the Performance Company. She brings her 30+ years of teaching and choreographic experience to the studio along with her tenacity for dance education. She strives to create positive learning environments where children and young adults can thrive and yet still be challenged to take the next step. Her work has been featured in Artisphere, at Furman University for their spring showcase, and most recently at the Mauldin Cultural Center with the Mauldin City Singers. As one of the first BA in Dance graduates of DeSales University, Cindy was a founding member of the Young Choreographer’s Series and the DeSales Le Tour de Dance touring company both of which still exists at the university today. She is most proud of her ability to pave new ways for dancers to express themselves not only in her hometown of Allentown, PA but now in Greenville, SC.

Katie Poteet attended the Greenville County Fine Arts Center where she received training under Andrew Kuharsky and Jan Woodward. Upon graduation, she was named Outstanding Dance Senior of the Year. A graduate from Columbia College, Katie received her Bachelor of Arts Degree in Dance. While at Columbia College, she served as Producer and Events Coordinator for the Columbia College Dance Company. In college Katie had the privilege of attending and performing at the American college dance association and the spoleto festival. She also trained and worked closely with the Power Company, a professional contemporary dance company in residence at Columbia College. Katie was also chosen to perform in Dan Wagoner’s choreographic work, Plod, directed by Lisa Wheeler. She has been with Dance Theatre of Greenville and DTG Performing Company for over 10 years. She enjoys bringing her love for dance to the students of DTG and pushing each dancer beyond their potential.

Born and raised in Greenville, SC, Katie Faulkenberry grew up dancing under the direction of Cindy Nunweiler. Her love for ballet led her to the Governor's School for Arts and Humanities to study techniques in Vaganova, Ceecchetti, and the Royal Academy of Dance. Katie has performed in International Ballet Academy's Giselle both in Greenville, SC and Philadelphia, PA along with her two-year tenure as a performer for the Miss South Carolina Organization. She joined Dance Theatre of Greenville in 2014 as a teacher and choreographer to further dance education in the upstate and give young performers a safe space to learn and grow as dancers.

Samantha Italiano - goes by Sam- was born and raised in Colorado, growing up in a studio that emphasized artistic expression, exploration, and the opportunity to perform in a variety of settings. Studying under Danielle Heller and Brenna Kuhn, along with many other greats, Sam’s passion for tap dance evolved and she explored the artform with the utmost enthusiasm, alongside ballet, ballroom, jazz, and modern. While attending Elon University in North Carolina, Sam studied with Gene Medler, the Founder and Artistic Director of the North Carolina Youth Tap Ensemble, working alongside Medler to co-direct, choreograph and perform in the university’s annual tap dance showcase. Sam loves to share her passion while on stage, performing as a guest artist with Untapped in Little Rock and Kaleena Miller Dance in Minneapolis. Sam has taught in a variety of settings including: recreation center dance programs; dance studios; public & private school programs; non-profit programming; after-school programs; one-time workshops; and most recently choreographing for musicals. No matter the setting, she emphasizes dance history, rhythmic intricacies, and performance skills hoping to ignite a fire in her students as Sam’s teachers have done for her.

Described by Dance Informa as “grace with power,” Alexandria Nunweiler forges community by uncovering true stories -- whether that be in the classroom, on stage, or on the yoga mat. Her choreographic work draws the fine line between darkness and humor as it dives deeply into ethnography and collaborative reflection as means for creation. As a performer, Alexandria works within The Click as a founding member in projects for stage, screen, and augmented reality app, as well as devising her first evening-length work Edge of Aquarius that premiered in January 2024. She creates duet stage work and co-heads a curation series with Ashlea Sovetts, a collaboration that spans the east coast and has dipped into international work in Italy. Recently, Alexandria has performed in the Philadelphia Fringe Festival (2021), DanceNOW Boston (2022), and BOOM Charlotte (2022), among others. A lifelong learner, she holds her BA in Dance from Winthrop University (2014), MSc from Hult International Business School (2017), 200-hour RYT from Jenny Lane Yoga (2021) and spent the summer studying at ImPulsTanz International Dance Festival (2022) in Vienna, Austria. She is currently an adjunct professor at Worcester Polytechnic Institute and the Director for Artistic Planning and Development at her home studio Dance Theatre of Greenville (South Carolina). Learn more at www.alexandrianunweiler.com or on Instagram @nunweilertanz

Emilia Mertel, born in Greenville, SC is a sophomore at Fountain Inn High School. She has been dancing with DTG since she was 8, and joined the performance company at 12. Her passion for dance led her to the Governor's School's 5-week intensive, where she was immersed in styles like Russian and Cuban ballet and African dance. Emilia competed twice in the Grand Jeté competition, recently placing third in the modern division. At DTG, she has worked with guest artists, performed at Disney Springs, and participated in productions on many stages.

Emma Sox has studied ballet with the Greenville Ballet School, International Ballet Academy, and was a student at the Fine Arts Center.  In 2017, she attended the American Dance Festival's three week summer intensive at Duke University.  Emma has performed in multiple ballet productions including several roles in The Nutcracker and Coppelia with the Greenville Ballet. She was also a cast member with The Logos Theatre in their most recent productions of "The Horse and His Boy", "A Peep Behind the Scenes”, and “The Scarlet Pimpernel.”

Ashlea Sovetts is a multifaceted artist who is able to flow between a variety of different roles. Primarily, her work focuses on curating experiences in art, wine and wellness with an emphasis on dance choreographic residences, arts/wellness program development, and arts administration. As a choreographer, she investigates real-life experiences as inspiration to create narratives and emphasizes improvisational prompts as the generator for her choreography. As an educator, she takes a somatic approach by focusing on breath, fluidity and awareness of one’s presence in relationship to others. As an arts program developer, Ashlea is past-president and serves on the Grand Strand Charter Arts School board. As a founding board member she collaboratively wrote and published the charter for GSCA to open in fall 2025 as a new performing arts school for students in grades 7-12 in her hometown of Myrtle Beach, SC. In addition, Ashlea was an Emerging Artist of South Carolina and from that co-founded and co-curates the CURE8 Dance Series alongside Alexandria Nunweiler. Together, they have successfully produced three iterations: CURE8 Cambridge (Cambridge, MA ‘22), CURE8 Charleston (Charleston, SC ‘23), and CURE8 Charlotte (Charlotte, NC ‘24). As an administrator, Ashlea was the Recruitment Coordinator for the Department of Dance at Texas Woman’s University. Following TWU, Ashlea managed the Staibdance Intensive in Sorrento, Italy and developed academic programming as the University Partner Relations Coordinator for the Sant’Anna Institute in Sorrento, Italy. Ashlea’s work has been supported by the South Carolina Arts Commission, Alternate Roots, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the New England Foundation for the Arts and the Women of the Vine and Spirits Foundation. Ashlea, originally from Myrtle Beach, South Carolina is a certified Yoga instructor through the Yoga Alliance and is a certified wine educator through Wine and Spirit Education Trust, WSET. She graduated Cum Laude and holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Dance from Winthrop University in Rock Hill, South Carolina, and has a Master of Fine Arts degree in Dance from Texas Woman’s University in Denton, Texas.