MANX Artists

Melanie Holm

Founder & Artistic Director

Melanie Holm, MANX Artistic Director, is a soprano, dancer, and choreographer reframing opera through dance. With her signature choreographed operatic works, Melanie has made a name for herself throughout New York City, where her work has been featured at National Sawdust, Triskelion Arts, GreenSpace, Bridge for Dance, SMUSH Gallery, and in guest appearances with Borne Dance Company and Reaction Dance Company. Additionally, she has done artist residencies at Bearnstow (Mount Vernon, Maine) and Moulin Belle (Mareuil en Perigord, France), and presented Three Women/One Body, her dance/opera fusion work featuring arias by Handel, Mozart, and Bellini, at The Tank. She is also a member of Your Faithful Reader, an experimental theatre company, where she has been featured as an actor, dancer, and writer.

Melanie’s opera credits include work as an Education Artist at Arizona Opera and the Emerging Artist Program with Opera in the Ozarks. Currently, Melanie is completing prerequisite courses for the Laban/Bartenieff Institute of Movement Studies through a Work/Study Internship with Alexandra Beller/Dances. She holds degrees from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (BM/Voice with a Dance Minor) and Arizona State University (DMA/Voice & MM/Opera Performance), where her graduate research focused on using Gaga Movement Language and Bartenieff Fundamentals to help singers develop deeper kinesthetic connections to their vocal technique.

Courtney Murray

Collaborator/Dancer/Singer

Courtney Murray is originally from Colorado, where she trained and danced professionally for six years in companies such as Rogue Dance CO, The Schiff Dance Collective, and Blue Moon Dance Company. Since moving to New York, she has made a name for herself as a versatile choreographer and dancer in the New York City area. She has danced with Borne Dance Company NYC, DancerKerr & Dancers, Alma NYC, Guilty Pleasure Cabaret, and Sammy J. Dance. She was a featured spoken word artist and dancer for Borne Dance Company’s 10 Year Anniversary benefit, and was a feature female dancer/doe in Deer Blind a play by Collin Blackard produced by Company of Fools. She is a graduate of the Broadway Dance Center’s Professional Semester Program and has a degree in Psychology from Hunter College. She is excited to be a collaborator, dancer, and singer in MANX.