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

EMMA HERSHBERGER has been dancing for 16 years. She is a recent graduate of Metropolitan State University of Denver, with a Bachelor of Arts in Dance. Emma has danced with choreographers such as Cleo Parker Robinson and Dennis Law. She is excited to further her dance journey in the Atlanta area and be involved in her second performance 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, dance educator, choreographer, and dancer, has served as Director of Dance and now Associate Professor of Theatre/Dance at Shorter University since 2016. As a choreographer, she is fueled by interdisciplinary collaborations, and her artistic inspirations come from convictions on societal issues, personal revelations, and a desire for movement exploration. Im has extensive and varied freelance performance experience, especially in Modern dance; most recently she dances with Room To Move Dance based in Atlanta. As an educator, Im is particularly interested in somatics, conditioning, and contextualizing dance from a historically conscious perspective. For many years, she has taught and choreographed in a variety of dance education settings, teaching dance technique to youth and young adults, and choreographing for schools and performing arts programs. Im was a dance scholarship recipient in both her graduate program, University of Hawai´i, where she received her Master of Fine Arts in Dance, and undergraduate program at Middle Tennessee State University, where she danced under a variety of guest artists, studying and performing a diversity of dance genres.
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 has been dancing with Room To Move Dance since 2022 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 teaches throughout Atlanta offering Jazz, Contemporary, Tap and Dance Conditioning and has also set her choreography on numerous dance groups and most recently asked to present her work at the As A City International Cultural Dance Festival 2025 in South Korea. Currently, Jacqueline is a member of the Board of Directors for Room To Move Dance and a member of the National Dance Educators Organization both nationally and for the state of Georgia. Additionally, she is an author of a musical children’s book entitled “My Meals Are Singing”.
VIVIAN MUNCE is an Atlanta-based dance artist committed to immersive, expressive movement. She recently earned her Bachelor of Arts in Dance from the University of Georgia, where she had the opportunity to perform works by Barbara Powers, Lisa Fusillo, Jason Aryeh, and Nina Gilreath, as well as guest works by Seyong Kim of Baltimore Ballet and Jillian Mitchell of Kit Modus. She additionally performed “Steps in the Street” under the direction of Elizabeth Auclair with the Martha Graham Dance Company on their centennial anniversary tour. Currently, she is a company member with Room to Move Dance and Core Contemporary and Aerial Dance. She has additionally performed with Dance Canvas in the 2025 Performance Series under the choreography of Versaille Jones and in the Palette Project under the choreography of Nia Lancelin.
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. This is her fifth 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.