M.A.D.D. Rhythms is proud to announce the addition of three new professional company members: Ashton Carter, Devin Mosley and Davon Suttles.
ABOUT ASHTON CARTER
Ashton Carter (she/her/hers) is originally from Dallas, Texas, and has been trained in a variety of different dance genres at Next Step Dance Performing Arts Center. She was trained under Malana Murphy, director of RIFF Dallas and Woodshed Experience and Katelyn Harris, past member of Tapestry Dance. When she was 16 years old, she began to spread her love of tap dance by teaching for a youth company. It is here that she discovered her true passion for sharing tap dance to those who were eager to learn, like herself, and has been teaching young dancers ever since. Carter was recently a part of The School at Jacob’s Pillow 2021 Tap Performance Ensemble. Here, she was given the opportunity to work alongside ten other dancers for two weeks, under the direction of Michelle Dorrance, Dormeshia and Derick Grant. She is now a resident of Chicago and is currently a student at Roosevelt University majoring in digital marketing. She started her training with M.A.D.D. Rhythms in the fall of 2021 and since has done a multitude of performances with the company such as Summer Dance Celebration at Millennium Park, “Feeling Good: A M.A.D.D. Rhythms Tribute to Nina Simone”, “A M.A.D.D. Mixtape” and others.
ABOUT DEVIN MOSLEY
At the age of eight, Devin Mosley (he/him/his) started dancing at Studio One Dance Theater. There he learned the dancing styles of hip hop and tap dance. At the age of 14, Moslet was hired as an assistant stage manager expanding his knowledge of tap dance under M.A.D.D Rhythms West: BBF Crew run by M.A.D.D Rhythms own, Bril Barrett, as well as his hip hop knowledge with HiDef Dance Ensemble run by Tanji Harper. Wanting to expanding his knowledge even more, at the age of 16 Devin started apprenticing under the professional company and thus has been in many performances/productions such as “Feeling Good: A M.A.D.D Tribute to Nina Simone,” its Annual Kwanzaa Festival at Chicago State and debuted with the company on many news channels. Mosley has a history with the company and is on the path and very close to becoming a professional company member.
ABOUT DAVON SUTTLES
Davon Suttles(they/them/theirs/he/him/his), is an emerging artist in Chicago, who grew up studying and performing American tap dance in Keane Sense of Rhythm’s Youth Tap Ensemble. Suttles is also an actor and an alumnus of both Saint Paul Conservatory for Performing Artists and Columbia College Chicago’s Musical Theatre Performance program.
In 2019, Davon received the Cultural Community Partnership Grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board for their first self produced work “MELANIZED,” a multimedia tap dance show about living as a person of color. This show addressed macro- and microaggressions towards people of color, as well as showcased the beauty of living as a POC.
Suttles is a past member of Stone Soup Rhythms, under Dani Borak and has performed with the Children's Theatre Company in Shrek the Musical and Bare: A Pop Opera. In 2018, they were a featured dancer in the new hit adaption of 42nd Street, at Drury Lane Oakbrook Terrace, choreographed by Broadway performer, Jared Grimes. And in the fall of 2019, they returned to Drury Lane to join the ensemble of Mary Poppins.
Currently, Suttles is dancing with M.A.D.D. Rhythms, a non profit tap company based on the South Side of Chicago, whose mission is to preserve, promote and contribute to this art form called tap.
