Lauren Christie (she/her) joined Malashock Dance in the spring of 2019, and became Rehearsal Director in 2024. She grew up in Memphis, TN, where she trained at the Ballet Memphis School. She earned her BA with Honors in Public Communication and French Language with a minor in Dance from American University in Washington, DC. While living in the DC area, Lauren danced with Christopher K. Morgan & Artists (2012-2018), as well as Alight Dance Theater, Jane Franklin Dance, and Bowen McCauley Dance, with whom she performed at the Kennedy Center and the Guangdong Dance Festival (China). Since moving to San Diego, Lauren has performed as a Company Dancer with San Diego Dance Theater (2018-present) and Malashock Dance (2019-present). She was also a founding member of DISCO RIOT, with whom she performed, taught, and mentored (2019-2025). Lauren has served as Rehearsal Director at Malashock Dance and San Diego Dance Theater, staged work for Jean Isaacs, and assisted in staging and creation for John Malashock and Christopher K. Morgan. Lauren currently teaches at San Diego Dance Theater, and is also a yoga teacher with over 500 hours of training.

  @lauren___christie

Joseph Lister (he/they) began their dance training at California State University, Channel Islands at age 19, where they founded and captained the university’s first dance team, Breaking Pointe. They then transferred to the University of California, Riverside, earning a Bachelor of Arts in Dance in 2015. During their time at UCR, Joseph was awarded the GLUCK Fellowship and the Chancellor’s Performance Award and apprenticed with Lula Washington Dance Theatre while attending its Professional Development Program. Post-graduation, Joseph danced with No) One Art House during a residency at Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, and completed a character folk dance intensive at Voronezh Ballet School in Russia. Originally from Wildomar, CA, they joined Malashock Dance in 2022, where they currently work as a dancer, teacher, and choreographer. Joseph is also a soloist with San Diego Ballet, Artistic Director of CalliOpus Contemporary based in Temecula, and currently guest faculty at Mount San Jacinto College.

  @brosephlister_

Nick McGhee (he/him) began his dance training at age 15 at Canyon Crest Academy in San Diego, CA. He continued his studies at MiraCosta College before receiving his BFA in Dance from California State University, Long Beach. During his undergraduate years, Nick performed works by highly regarded choreographers including Keith Johnson, Kevin Williamson, and Micaela Taylor, experiences that shaped his artistry and deepened his curiosity about contemporary performance. Nick is currently a company dancer with LITVAKdance in Encinitas, CA, and joined Malashock Dance at the end of 2023. He has had the privilege of working with choreographers such as Josh Manculich, Ronen Izhaki, Chuck Wilt, Rebecca Margolick, and Ido Gidron, and has appeared at festivals including the CDC Fest in Orlando, FL, Seattle International Dance Festival, and the Ohio Dance Festival. As he continues to discover his voice as a choreographer, Nick’s work investigates the intersection of sensation, memory, and identity, considering how the body both stores and communicates lived experience. His movement practice draws from contemporary floorwork, improvisation, and somatic approaches to uncover physical states that blur the line between abstract form and deeply human expression. Through this process, Nick aims to create performance that feels immediate, embodied, and resonant, offering audiences an experience of connection through the shared language of movement.

Micah Parra (she/they) is a multidisciplinary movement artist, choreographer and educator originally from Washington State. This is her third season with Malashock Dance. Additionally, she works in contemporary circus and as an independent, freelance artist. Micah’s versatility is a product of growing up as a USAG competitive gymnast turned studio dancer, eventually gaining more artistic growth and success through residencies and intensive programs in and out of the country. Formative experiences include; Disco Riot’s 2022 Space Residency Program, Arts District Liberty Station’s 2023-2025 Emerging Artist Residency, and training with Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, AOM Focused Study, Springboard Danse Montreal, Akira Uchida, B12 and ATE9. Since her move to San Diego in late 2021, she has performed and/or choreographed for San Diego Dance Theater, San Diego Circus Center, Disco Riot, Blindspot Collective, The San Diego Zoo & Safari Park and SeaWorld San Diego. She has been fortunate enough to perform works by local legends, Erica Buechner, Cecily Holcombe, Jean Isaacs and Khamla Somphanh, to name a few. Micah’s personal artistic philosophy is to be led by curiosity, honesty, connection and effort.

  @micahparra

Briele Melahn (she/her) joined Malashock Dance in the fall of 2025. Born and raised in New Jersey, Briele’s training has been heavily influenced by the dance community of NYC. While receiving her Bachelor’s of the Fine Arts through the Conservatory of Dance at Purchase College, Briele rigorously trained in Graham, Cunningham, Ballet, Contemporary, Floorwork, Improvisation and Composition under her mentors Doug Varone, Stephanie Tooman, Bradley Ellis, and Shannon Mather. Briele has also trained internationally at the Taipei National University of the Arts where she studied both western and eastern methods of movement. She has performed in professional works by Annie Rigney, Rosanlyn Newman, Hannah Garner, and Marla Phelan. Her choreography has been honored and presented in NYC by the American Dance Guild. Since moving to San Diego, she has worked with local companies such as Disco Riot and LITVAKdance. Briele’s work today is centered around facilitating an experimental play between artistic physical rigor and pedestrian normalcy. Briele works with dance, improvisation, and collaboration to explore the intersection of original movement and intuitive humanness.

Born in Fairbanks, AK, and raised in San Diego, CA, Marshall was a nationally-ranked ice hockey player by the age of 9. While attending the San Diego School for Creative and Performing Arts, he developed his interest in theatrical and innovative works. At the age of 13, he began training at the San Diego Academy of Ballet. He later trained and performed for two years at the Dmitri Kulev Classical Ballet Academy in Orange County before moving to the Washington School of Ballet in D.C. on scholarship. 

​After working his way up through TWB Studio Company, Marshall had the opportunity to audition for and later join American Ballet Theater (ABT), in New York.

​During his time with ABT, he performed in classics such as Don Quixote, Giselle, Romeo and Juliet, Swan Lake, and La Bayadere. He also helped create/was featured in neoclassical ballets like Whipped Cream, Songs of Bukovina, The Firebird, and Daphnis and Chloe. His performances have taken him all over the United States, through Canada and South America. He has also toured overseas: from Paris to Oman, Hong Kong to Singapore, and to Cape Town, South Africa.

​In the future, Marshall hopes to invite fresh audiences to our ballet culture by broadening the genre palette, and at present strives to bring a sense of joy to every class he teaches or takes.

Justin Viernes has been entertaining audiences nationally and internationally since the age of 5. Departing from years of professional singing and musical theater productions, he fell in love with dance and began his dance career at the age of 16. Justin is extensively trained in ballet, jazz, modern, and hip-hop. He has danced for Fusion Dance Company, d’Shire Dance, Sound Dance Company, DK Dance, Patricia Rincon Dance Collective, Imago Moves, The PGK Dance Project, Anjanette Maraya-Ramey and Dancers, Khamla Somphanh and Dancers, The Southern California Ballet, Compulsion Dance and Theater and various artists and professional companies across the Nation. Justin’s dancing has traveled him to Kazakhstan and Belize as a U.S. Cultural Envoy, San Miguel de Allende, Buenos Aires, on stages all over the nation. Justin is a senior company dancer for Malashock Dance, a guest artist for The Southern California Ballet, modern dance faculty for the California State Summer School for the Arts program (CSSSA) at CalArts University, and is Artistic Director of brown paper bag dance co. Justin currently resides in Philadelphia, PA.

Jeremiah D. Jenkins earned his Bachelor of Fine Arts from Sam Houston State University. He has performed with numerous Dance Companies Across the U.S., Including Malashock Dance Company (CA), Urban Souls (TX), Gaspard Dance Company (NYC), Dulce Dance Company, Rosencrans Dance, CONDER|Dance, And Scorpius Dance Theatre (AZ/UK). As An Independent Artist, He has also served as A Guest Performer with Multiple Companies Nationwide.

His Choreographic Work has been featured at BETA Dance Festival, Multipurpose Dance Works, and The Las Vegas Dancing in The Desert Festival, among Others. Jeremiah Was awarded a full Scholarship to attend Dance Italia in Lucca, Italy, where he continued to deepen his Artistry.

With Teaching experience in over six States, Jeremiah has worked with a wide range of Studios and Institutions, led numerous Master Classes, and served as A Panel Judge for eight National Dance Conventions.

He Is Currently Based in San Diego, CA, working as a local Independent Artist and Educator.