Founder & Artistic Director

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AMY GATELY, a dancer, choreographer, and teacher of contemporary modern dance, founded Room To Move Dance in New York City in 1981 as a contemporary modern dance company, and brought RTMD to Atlanta in 1984, where she established the company as an integral filament in the fiber of the Atlanta Arts community. Amy received an Emmy Award for her role in creating an award-winning story - "Two Left Feet"; produced by TBS. As Artistic Director, she collaborates with artists to incorporate other art forms into innovative dance works. RTMD turns the shapes and abstractions of our daily lives into choreographic motion. This unique approach, blending dance, music, visual arts, poetry, and sculpture inspires innovative works that challenge our audiences with rich and complex experiences.
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​Company Members

MALACHI ALDRIDGE is an Atlanta-raised dancer, choreographer and rapper whose work focuses on the interplay of societal archetypes and behavioral hierarchies with the individual’s subjective, psychic experience. He first began training in classical ballet under the direction of instructors Amanda Neeley and Peter Doll. He furthered his ballet training with Daet Rodriguez at the Georgia Ballet and he began to study modern dance under the instruction of Brandon Ellis. In 2019, Malachi joined RTMD where he performs and choreographs with the guidance of Amy Gately. He, also, travels internationally where he teaches dance workshops in cities including Alexandria, Egypt and Monterrey, Mexico. His credits include Basilio, Albrecht and an assortment of modern and contemporary pieces choreographed by Amy Gately, Brandon Ellis and Meaghan Novoa, among others.  
​JOY CAULEY grew up dancing from a young age in Meridian, MS and has been a part of the Atlanta dance scene for over 10 years. She expanded her love for performing and choreography with contemporary company, Terpsichore, and Indian dance team, Nach, at Mississippi State University while gaining her undergraduate degree. During her time in Atlanta, she has danced with Refuge Dance Company and Soulstar, in addition to earning her Masters in Professional Counseling from Richmont Graduate University. She is a wife, mother, and mental health counselor. This will be her first season with Room to Move Dance.
SHERYL HOUSTON began her love affair with dance at Severance Dance Studio in Chattanooga, TN. She graduated from Auburn University with a Bachelor’s degree in Mass Communication – Radio, Television and Film. Sheryl was employed as a dance instructor, choreographer and camp director with American All-star, a dance/drill team company based out of Mandeville, Louisiana. She subsequently performed with Hip Hop ConnXion and Contagious Entertainment in Atlanta. Sheryl continues to find opportunities to express herself through various forms of dance and movement and has found a home with Room To Move Dance. She is RTMD’s Administrator and Rehearsal Director and is a certified STOTT Pilates Instructor.
FAITH IM, dancer, dance educator and choreographer, has served as Director of Dance since 2016 and is now Associate Professor at Shorter University. Her artistic interests and inspirations come from convictions on societal issues, personal revelations and a desire for movement exploration. Faith has extensive and varied freelance performance experience, especially in modern dance; she has performed in internationally-platformed media, the American Pacific Dance Festival and for TEDx, among others. Faith was a dance scholarship recipient in both her graduate program, University of Hawaii, where she received a Master of Fine Arts in Dance, and undergraduate program at Middle Tennessee State University.
MORIAH JONES is an Atlanta-based dancer and choreographer. She graduated Magna Cum Laude from the University of South Florida in May of 2023 with a BFA in Modern Dance. She received a talent grant and the Oscar Family Dance Scholarship for excellent choreography at USF. Dance is a driving force in Moriah’s life, and she is very passionate about the relationship dance has with everyday improvisation, as well as how the body relates to gravity. Not only is she a passionate mover but she also enjoys teaching both dance and Pilates. Moriah is a new addition to RTMD and is looking forward to continuing to dance with the company.
JACQUELINE LOPEZ as a dancer, educator and choreographer has offered opportunities to study, educate, choreograph and perform throughout the country as well as abroad during her 40 year career. As an Adjunct Professor of Dance at Palm Beach Atlantic University, she is inspired by her desire to create and educate the next generation of dance artists through strong technique, the collaboration of historical and current influences and the reflection of life experiences uniquely communicated through dance. Jacqueline is a member of the Board of Directors for Room To Move Dance, a member of the National Dance Educators Organization both nationally and for the state of Georgia, she also teaches throughout Atlanta offering Jazz, Contemporary, Tap and Dance Conditioning and is an author of a musical children’s book entitled “My Meals Are Singing”.
GAURI NAGPAL began her dance journey with training in Bharatnatyam and Indian folk dance. She discovered her love for Modern through the dance program at Emory University, where she earned a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration. She currently works in the tech industry and also performs with Nachlanta, a Bollywood fusion dance troupe, and Moksha Dance, a fusion performing arts company based in Atlanta. This is her fourth season with Room to Move Dance.
SELENA RIZOVA is a Bulgarian-born artist, creator, and performer who was raised in Las Vegas, NV. At an early age, she began her ballet training and then later redirected her energy and talents toward her studies. Selena now holds a BFA in Dance Choreography & Performance and a BA in English Literature from UNLV. She has traveled and performed internationally for various dance programs, including the Royal Danish Ballet in Copenhagen, IBStage in Barcelona, and KNSU in Seoul. Selena has recently moved to Atlanta, Georgia, where she continues to pursue her passions of movement, poetry, and the visual arts and continuously finds new ways to weave them together.

Collaborating Artists

ROBERT EEN, composer, cellist, singer and performing artist, is the recipient of an Obie Award for music composition and two New York Dance and Performance “Bessie” Awards for music composition and sustained achievement. He tours worldwide and is known for unique orchestrations and use of extended techniques for voice and cello. Mr. Een has recorded sixteen albums of genre-defying original music. He composes for film, theater, dance and the concert stage.
     
ISABELLA ASRATYAN, motion graphics, textile designer and digital artist, is originally from St. Petersburg, Russia. Isabella Asratyan emigrated to United States in 1989 as a refugee. For the last twenty years she has worked as a Broadcast/Motion Designer and Art Director for CNN, LAPTV, Weather Channel and ESPN. Working in graphic and motion design, as well as her continued work with silk painting, tapestry weaving and digital painting, has provided her the opportunity to hone her sense of color, balance, motion and composition. Her work is featured in collections in France, Germany, Peru, Russia, Armenia and United States.