Our Founder & Director
Mimi Ferrie (she/her) is a movement educator, performer, community leader, producer, and arts & health advocate. With twenty consecutive years in movement education for children and families, she brings her passion and expertise in dance, movement, and the arts to the organizations she partners with. She has taught in multiple schools, libraries, community centers, churches, and art spaces, reaching thousands of students over her tenure. She served as the program director for Mountain Contemporary Dance Arts for seven years, implementing an artistry-focused program for movers ages two-adult in the licensed childcare facility Mountain Kids Louisville. She has worked with students with a broad range of movement experiences and cultural, physical, and neurological diversity in classroom and family settings. Mimi is a graduate of the University of Colorado Boulder dance department and has continued her education in child development, arts education, and public health with institutions including the Colorado School of Public Health, Luna Dance Institute, Dance Education Laboratory, and National Dance Education Organization. She has recently served on the 2021-2022 revision committee for the Colorado Academic Dance Standards for the Colorado Department of Education. Mimi is the Executive Director of Wild Heart Dance and Co-Director of New Breed Dance Company, and mama to her two young children.
In addition to Anima Arts, Mimi proudly serves as a dance educator with Dance Dimensions, Boulder Jazz Dance Workshop, and Loveland Recreation Center.
Anima Arts Advisory Council
Lisa Morgan (she/her) has been a member of the CSU dance faculty since 2000, teaching modern dance technique, choreography and most recently focusing on teaching methods for children’s dance. She works closely with regional schools, K-12 educators and state agencies to increase movement experiences for children in public schools. She is on the committee for the 2017-2018 revision of the Colorado Dance Academic Standards for the Colorado Department of Education and is part of the initiative to establish teacher licensure for dance in the state. She coordinates the dance portion of BRAINY (BRinging Arts INtegration to Youth), a program designed to bring students from Title I schools to the University Center for the Arts to experience music, theatre, dance, and visual art for a day. She works with CSU Music Therapy, teaching movement to undergraduate and graduate students. She coordinates Moving Through Parkinson’s, a movement therapy program for individuals living with Parkinson’s Disease and was the assistant director of IMPACT Dance Company, a contemporary dance company based in Fort Collins, from 1997-2016, and continues to work as a collaborating artist with the company.
Tara Rynders (she/her) has been a nurse for over 15 years and believes her calling to care for others during some of their most difficult times is a very sacred gift. As the founder and artistic director of The Clinic Performance, Tara has combined her expertise in the arts, research, and movement with her nursing practice to create immersive theater experiences for colleagues in health care that support collective-care. Her innovative melding of art with nursing and science was recognized through the highest level of nursing recognition in Colorado when she was given the Nightingale Luminary Award in 2019.
A Blade of Grass Fellow, Rynders work has been presented in Newsweek, PBS, and Good Day New York and most recently received first place from the National Organization of Arts in Health (NOAH) in the category of arts building resiliency. She holds a B.S. in Nursing, a B.A. in Spanish, and a M.F.A in Dance and Somatic Practices. She is also an Advanced Certified Grief Recovery Specialist.
Anima Arts 