Kristin Lyndal Garbarino
 Kristin founded bombyx collective in 2014 with Betsy Wack. As a director of bombyx, Kristin has choreographed pieces for two Thrival Festivals and performed in Failure:Lab and Bricolage’s SAINTS TOUR. She danced and chanted in Sakshi Productions’ Prana/Breath at the Alvin Ailey Dance Theater in New York, performed in Cincinnati Contemporary Dance Theatre’s Performance Time and Art Series, and danced in CorningWorks’ production of In House at the Mattress Factory. Kristin studied acting and movement at the Moscow Art Theatre at Harvard University and the American Conservatory Theatre. She is also an indie-film producer with credits that include Judy’s Dead, in which she co-stars with Drama Desk award-winner Tom Atkins, and the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust’s Art Brings You to Life zombie film series. She was the Director of Digital Marketing & Engagement for the Trust for seven years and recently began working for Carnegie Mellon University’s Tepper School of Business. |
Betsy Wack
 Betsy comes from a family line of dancers and grew up in the ballet studio but, ever the rebel, put dance aside to focus on riding and training horses. She spent much of her young adult years working at a thoroughbred breeding farm and as a trainer at a show barn. Her thrill-seeking led her to 8 years of competing internationally with Pittsburgh’s A level team roller derby team, the Steel Hurtin’, as well as serving on their board of directors. In the winter of 2011 a weekend intensive workshop with modern dance company Pilobolus reawakened Betsy’s passion for expressive movement. Not long after, she joined aerial dance company kNotDance, where she trained under Maddy Landi and met Kristin Garbarino. With Kristin, Betsy co-founded bombyx collective in 2014. Being a part of bombyx has been the best kind of challenge: delightful, exhilarating, terrifying. Betsy has a master’s degree in Literary and Cultural Studies from Carnegie Mellon University and works as a technical writer for Tobii Dynavox, a company that makes speech-generating devices and software for people with disabilities. |
D. T. Burns
 Originally trained as an acrobat in the former Soviet Republic of Kazakhstan, D. T. Burns returned to his homeland of the United States to pursue a career in entertainment. He studied at Rice University, where he performed as a collegiate cheerleader and also set a record as the first person to do a backflip inside every building on campus. He’s helped to create new performances at the Denver Center for Performing Arts, the Boulder International Fringe Festival, the Colorado Shakespeare Festival, Local Theatre Company, Cape May Stage, the Fort Collins Fringe, the Bolder Writers Warehouse, Denver Comic-Con and the GI60 Festival. He is currently pursuing an MFA in Dramatic Writing at CMU. |
Marcella Day
 Marcella Day grew up in La Plata, Maryland where she performed with local studios and companies in both Maryland and Virginia. She continued dancing her way through college, earning her BFA in Dance from George Mason University in Fairfax, VA under the direction of Buffy Price and Susan Shields. She relocated to Pittsburgh in October of 2015 and joined Bombyx Collective in March 2016. Since then she has performed in several festivals such as the Kelly Strayhorn Theatre’s newMoves Festival (2016 and 2018), Thrival Music Festival, SpringUp Dance Festival, Small Plates Richmond, Emergence Festival, and in the Movement Research Open Performance at Eden’s Expressway in New York City. Local performances also include the world premiere of Something Pretty, choreographed by Alexandra Bodnarchuk, Attack Theatre’s Remainder/Northside, Millenium Dance Complex’s Ascendance with Exhalations Dance Theatre, RAW Artists Pittsburgh as a choreographer and dancer, and Thought Pockets with the Pillow Project. In addition to Bombyx Collective, Marcella is currently a member of Exhalations Dance Theatre, Courdance, and MurrDance. Teaching and choreography credits also include Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre, Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, Wexford Acting Studio, and Pine Richland High School. |
Christine Marty
 Christine Marty began her dance training at Lisa Marie’s School of Dance (Freeport, PA) under the direction of Meredith Casey (LABCO) and Lisa Isenberg, spending summers at intensives at Bodiography Center for Movement. Christine continued in her dance education at Muhlenberg College where she graduated with degrees in Dance and Accounting. In Arezzo, Italy Christine trained at the Academia del Arte and premiered a solo work, Proper Thoughts. From 2012 – 2015 Christine lived in Brooklyn, New York where she worked with Spark Movement Collective, performed in the Los Angeles premier of the Azerbaijani operetta, Arshin Mal Alan, and participated in other independent performances and choreography projects. She has performed and studied with choreographers and companies including: Charles Anderson, Sydney Skybetter, Nicholas Liechter, Kristin Sudeikis, Six Meters, Parsons Dance and Black Label Movement. She returned to Pittsburgh in August of 2015 as a CORO Fellow in Public Affairs, largely working in innovation and business development. As an aggressive and daring mover she is excited to continue in her movement journey with Bombyx Collective. |
Patricia Petronello
 Patricia Petronello grew up in Arlington, Virginia, where she found dance at the age of 13. Her middle school offered dance PE as a replacement option for regular PE, which Patty took without hesitation. Modern, ballet, jazz, contemporary, tap – you name, it she tried it. Around her junior year of high school is when she first dabbled in the art of trapeze and aerial at a summer dance intensive in New Hampshire. Two summer intensives and a small class later, Patty decided that running away with the circus sounded like a beautiful plan. Patty graduated from Slippery Rock University with a BA in dance and a minor in business management and started dancing in Pittsburgh three months later with Staycee Pearl Dance Project. Since then, she has worked with a wide range of people and companies such as Mary Miller, Pearl Ann Porter, Sarah Parker, Murphy/Smith Dance Company, Yes Brain Dance Theater, and Geeksdanz, a company she is still a member of to this day. Her performances have taken her all around Pittsburgh as well as to Philadelphia and New York. It was her long time friend and dance partner that introduced her to bombyx collective. She hopes to appear in many more performances with the company and continues to work on other projects in the area. |
Photos: Rob Larson
The collective would like to thank Verve 360 for a beautiful rehearsal space.
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Kristin founded bombyx collective in 2014 with Betsy Wack. As a director of bombyx, Kristin has choreographed pieces for two Thrival Festivals and performed in Failure:Lab and Bricolage’s SAINTS TOUR. She danced and chanted in Sakshi Productions’ Prana/Breath at the Alvin Ailey Dance Theater in New York, performed in Cincinnati Contemporary Dance Theatre’s Performance Time and Art Series, and danced in CorningWorks’ production of In House at the Mattress Factory. Kristin studied acting and movement at the Moscow Art Theatre at Harvard University and the American Conservatory Theatre. She is also an indie-film producer with credits that include Judy’s Dead, in which she co-stars with Drama Desk award-winner Tom Atkins, and the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust’s Art Brings You to Life zombie film series. She was the Director of Digital Marketing & Engagement for the Trust for seven years and recently began working for Carnegie Mellon University’s Tepper School of Business.
Betsy comes from a family line of dancers and grew up in the ballet studio but, ever the rebel, put dance aside to focus on riding and training horses. She spent much of her young adult years working at a thoroughbred breeding farm and as a trainer at a show barn. Her thrill-seeking led her to 8 years of competing internationally with Pittsburgh’s A level team roller derby team, the Steel Hurtin’, as well as serving on their board of directors. In the winter of 2011 a weekend intensive workshop with modern dance company Pilobolus reawakened Betsy’s passion for expressive movement. Not long after, she joined aerial dance company kNotDance, where she trained under Maddy Landi and met Kristin Garbarino. With Kristin, Betsy co-founded bombyx collective in 2014. Being a part of bombyx has been the best kind of challenge: delightful, exhilarating, terrifying. Betsy has a master’s degree in Literary and Cultural Studies from Carnegie Mellon University and works as a technical writer for Tobii Dynavox, a company that makes speech-generating devices and software for people with disabilities.
Originally trained as an acrobat in the former Soviet Republic of Kazakhstan, D. T. Burns returned to his homeland of the United States to pursue a career in entertainment. He studied at Rice University, where he performed as a collegiate cheerleader and also set a record as the first person to do a backflip inside every building on campus. He’s helped to create new performances at the Denver Center for Performing Arts, the Boulder International Fringe Festival, the Colorado Shakespeare Festival, Local Theatre Company, Cape May Stage, the Fort Collins Fringe, the Bolder Writers Warehouse, Denver Comic-Con and the GI60 Festival. He is currently pursuing an MFA in Dramatic Writing at CMU.
Marcella Day grew up in La Plata, Maryland where she performed with local studios and companies in both Maryland and Virginia. She continued dancing her way through college, earning her BFA in Dance from George Mason University in Fairfax, VA under the direction of Buffy Price and Susan Shields. She relocated to Pittsburgh in October of 2015 and joined Bombyx Collective in March 2016. Since then she has performed in several festivals such as the Kelly Strayhorn Theatre’s newMoves Festival (2016 and 2018), Thrival Music Festival, SpringUp Dance Festival, Small Plates Richmond, Emergence Festival, and in the Movement Research Open Performance at Eden’s Expressway in New York City. Local performances also include the world premiere of Something Pretty, choreographed by Alexandra Bodnarchuk, Attack Theatre’s Remainder/Northside, Millenium Dance Complex’s Ascendance with Exhalations Dance Theatre, RAW Artists Pittsburgh as a choreographer and dancer, and Thought Pockets with the Pillow Project. In addition to Bombyx Collective, Marcella is currently a member of Exhalations Dance Theatre, Courdance, and MurrDance. Teaching and choreography credits also include Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre, Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, Wexford Acting Studio, and Pine Richland High School.
Christine Marty began her dance training at Lisa Marie’s School of Dance (Freeport, PA) under the direction of Meredith Casey (LABCO) and Lisa Isenberg, spending summers at intensives at Bodiography Center for Movement. Christine continued in her dance education at Muhlenberg College where she graduated with degrees in Dance and Accounting. In Arezzo, Italy Christine trained at the Academia del Arte and premiered a solo work, Proper Thoughts. From 2012 – 2015 Christine lived in Brooklyn, New York where she worked with Spark Movement Collective, performed in the Los Angeles premier of the Azerbaijani operetta, Arshin Mal Alan, and participated in other independent performances and choreography projects. She has performed and studied with choreographers and companies including: Charles Anderson, Sydney Skybetter, Nicholas Liechter, Kristin Sudeikis, Six Meters, Parsons Dance and Black Label Movement. She returned to Pittsburgh in August of 2015 as a CORO Fellow in Public Affairs, largely working in innovation and business development. As an aggressive and daring mover she is excited to continue in her movement journey with Bombyx Collective.
Patricia Petronello grew up in Arlington, Virginia, where she found dance at the age of 13. Her middle school offered dance PE as a replacement option for regular PE, which Patty took without hesitation. Modern, ballet, jazz, contemporary, tap – you name, it she tried it. Around her junior year of high school is when she first dabbled in the art of trapeze and aerial at a summer dance intensive in New Hampshire. Two summer intensives and a small class later, Patty decided that running away with the circus sounded like a beautiful plan. Patty graduated from Slippery Rock University with a BA in dance and a minor in business management and started dancing in Pittsburgh three months later with Staycee Pearl Dance Project. Since then, she has worked with a wide range of people and companies such as Mary Miller, Pearl Ann Porter, Sarah Parker, Murphy/Smith Dance Company, Yes Brain Dance Theater, and Geeksdanz, a company she is still a member of to this day. Her performances have taken her all around Pittsburgh as well as to Philadelphia and New York. It was her long time friend and dance partner that introduced her to bombyx collective. She hopes to appear in many more performances with the company and continues to work on other projects in the area.
bombyx collective 
I do aerial silks and am becoming a aerial yoga teacher. I’m always interested in meeting with more like-minded people!
-Heidi
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