Can't Stop Staring at the Sky
Choreographer: Sarah Walston Philips in collabration with performing artists
Performers: Ethan Barbee, Justin Brock, Sophia Fernandez, Hannah Thompson
Music: Vivian Roost; Christophe Zurfluh
Can't Stop Staring at the Sky is a work that reflects upon the feeling of getting deeply captured in a moment. Hyper-focused on senses and fixated to the point where time seems different, we can get enthralled so thoroughly and isolated inside thought that we become warriors of our own internalized experience. The piece looks at how we deal with the instance when our tunneling down into a line of thought gets interrupted by other people and factors that join that moment.
Sarah Walston Philips
Sarah Walston Phillips is a professional dancer, choreographer and instructor based out of Tampa, FL. She is the Artistic Director and Founder of ATLAS Modern Ballet, a professional dance company serving the Tampa Bay community. Sarah graduated with a BFA in Dance Performance from the University of South Florida in 2015. At USF, she had the privilege of working with choreographers such as Alonzo King, Maurice Causey, Robert Moses and Jennifer Archibald among other guests and faculty. She spent five seasons as a company member at Florida Dance Theatre followed by two seasons at Tampa City Ballet as a performer, guest choreographer, and company class instructor. Sarah’s choreography has been presented in festivals across the United States and internationally. She has choreographed for Florida Southern College and Hillsborough Community College's Dance Departments, where she has been Adjunct Dance Faculty. In 2022 Sarah graduated from Jacksonville University with her MFA in Choreography.
Justin Brock
Justin Brock is a Florida-based dancer and choreographer, graduated from Harrison School for the Arts. He began his formal dance training at Highland School of Dance under Hayley Stewart and Alexander Jones in Lakeland, Florida. Justin is a current company artist with projectAlchemy, his project based performances includes Sound-hi as part of BEACON and The Good Peaches with American Stage and The Florida Orchestra. His choreographic works include Effeminate, Arboreal Cover, Travelers, and Undergrowth Implosion, which was featured as part of Momentum at the Dalí Museum. In addition to his company work, Justin has performed a solo, Schimacy, with Atlas Modern Ballet and participated in DELVE with Stewart/Owen Dance, where he received a full scholarship. His training also includes instruction from Christina Acosta and Richard Ploch at Hillsborough Community College.
Sophia Fernandez
Sophia Fernandez grew up in Brandon, FL training at 5th Dimension Dance Center in all styles. During her time on the 5th Dimension Dance Center competition team, she received honors like Intrigue True Performer, Streetz Company, and Heat Assistant. At 16, she won Intrigue Dance Convention's young choreographer competition for her piece "Dragon Eyes". Beyond competition, she attended Blake High School, where she focused on her ballet and modern technique. There, she was vice president of the National Dance Honor Society and was selected to present her work at the National High School Dance Festival at Point Park University. Upon graduating in 2025, she attends the University of South Florida, in addition to performing as a freelance artist while teaching and setting work around Tampa.
Hannah Thompson
Hannah Thompson is a Tampa native who began her dance training at just two years old. She spent most of her life training in classical ballet at Americas Ballet School which is now known as Tampa City Ballet School. During the summers, she attended many intensives at prestigious ballet programs around the country such as ABT New York, The Kirov Academy in DC, Ballet West, and Bolshoi NY. At 16, she began dancing with Tampa City Ballet as a trainee and was promoted to a company member in 2020. In 2024 she graduated from the University of South Florida with a BFA in dance performance and choreography. She is very excited to be joining ATLAS this season as a company artist.
