MONICA BILL BARNES
Monica Bill Barnes is a New York based choreographer and performer. Born and raised in Berkeley, California, Barnes received her BA in philosophy from the University of California at San Diego then moved to New York City in 1995. She created her company, Monica Bill Barnes & Company, a contemporary American dance company with the mission to celebrate individuality, humor and the innate theatricality of everyday life and in 2002 Danspace Project presented the company’s first New York season, an evening length work titled, “When we were pretty.” MBB & CO. has performed in over twenty venues in New York City ranging from the DancemOpolitan Series at Joe’s Pub to Fall for Dance at New York City Center and has been presented in 30 cities throughout the United States and abroad. The company has received support from The National Endowment for The Arts, New England Foundation for the Arts National Dance Project, Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, New York State Council on the Arts, The Greenwall Foundation, Bossak/Heilbron Charitable Foundation and New York City Department of Cultural Affairs. During summer 2010, the company performed at Bates Dance Festival, American Dance Festival, The Joyce Theater and Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival. Recent work includes a new work “Love, oh love” created for Parsons Dance and the company’s second season at The Joyce Theater as a part of Gotham Dance Festival in summer 2011. Upcoming New York performances include FOCUS DANCE at The Joyce Theater, January 5 & 7, 2012, Dancemopolitan at Joe's Pub, February 10 & 11, 2012 and The Harkness Dance Festival at the 92nd Street Y, March 9-11, 2012.
MARIA BAUMAN
Maria Bauman is the founder of MBDance, creating duets & small group dances from a sense of physical & emotional power, a desire for equity, and a fascination with intimacy & relationship. Bauman's extensive study of capoeira also influences her dance-making. She is the recipient of the 2009-10 Harlem Stage Fund for New Work and of a 2010-11 DTW Studio Series. In New York, MBDance has been showcased at Harlem Stage, Dixon Place, the Kumble Theater, the Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance (BAAD!), WOW Café Theater, BRICstudios, the 92nd Street Y (Harkness Dance Festival) and Dance Theater Workshop (now NY Live Arts). Bauman has also shared her choreography in Richmond, Virginia (Dogtown Dance Theater), Singapore (Singapore American School) and Florida (Florida State University). Bauman teaches extensively at universities throughout the country with recent guest appointments at Connecticut College, Long Island University, Virginia Commonwealth University, and the Florida State University as well as serving as guest faculty with multiple American College Dance Festivals and with Peridance each summer. Maria danced with Urban Bush Women for seven years where she originated several roles and was the company’s Associate Artistic Director for Community Engagement. She has also apprenticed with Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company and danced with Nia Love/Blacksmith’s Daughter, Adele Myers and Dancers, Angela’s Pulse, and Ground Zero Dance. In addition to her MBDance choreographic and performance work, Bauman is now Urban Bush Women's Director of Education and Community Engagement. www.mbdance.org
RODGER BELMAN
Educator, choreographer, performer. Since 2007 he has been on faculty at the American Dance Festival (ADF) Six Weeks School in Durham, NC, the ADF Winter Intensive in New York City and ADF Henan 2011 in Xinxiang, China. He has been a guest artist/faculty member at numerous institutions including the University of Michigan, Sejong University in Seoul South Korea, the Korean Dance Festival in Seoul, South Korea, Hollins University, Barnard College, Connecticut College, Long Island University, East Carolina University, the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee, George Mason University, the Milwaukee Ballet, the Dance Theater of Harlem, University of Georgia and Mary Washington College. He also spent six years as a dance educator for the New York City Board of Education. He began his dance training and professional performing career in the Washington D.C. area and performed and toured with several D.C. companies including the Claudia Murphey Dance Company, Daniel West Dancers and Sharon Wyrrick/Full Circle. In 1989, he moved to New York City to join Laura Dean Dancers and Musicians. He toured nationally and internationally, performing and teaching with the company until 1995. He also had the pleasure of dancing in the companies of Twyla Tharp, Rachel Lampert, Mark Taylor, Joy Kellman, and Kristin Jackson, among others. His choreography has been presented at various venues across the U.S. in New York, Wisconsin, Virginia, Georgia, Washington D.C., and across the state of North Carolina as part of the North Carolina Dance Festival Tour, and on the Acts to Follow program at the American Dance Festival. In 2009, the American Dance Festival presented his “Life. Love. Pursuit.” - a site-specific work for 28 dancers, created and performed in Duke University's Sarah P. Duke Memorial Gardens. He has created works for several university dance companies, and recently staged a version of his “Fate” (2006) on the Philadelphia-based duet company Da-Da-Dance Project. From 2004-2010, he reconstructed and staged Laura Dean’s masterwork Sky Light (1982) for several universities throughout the U.S. In 2007, he re-staged Sky Light for the American Dance Festival’s 2007 Past/Forward Program, and returned to re-stage Dean's signature work Tympani (1980) and Infinity (1990) for the 2008 and 2009 Past Forward Programs. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in French from George Mason University and a Master of Fine Arts degree in Dance from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
STEFANIE BATTEN BLAND
Stefanie Batten Bland is a Baryshnikov Arts Center/Jerome Robbins NEW Fellow and 2011 guest choreographer for Alvin Ailey 2nd Company. Adding to Mary Batten and Ed Bland's artistic legacy of music and writing, with her own layer of dance. Sbb mixes European subtlety and American ardor to investigate physical notions of community. Sharing her time between Paris and New York, Stefanie’s choreographic vision, a vision recognized as a 2010 Baryshnikov Arts Center/Jerome Robbins NEW Fellow and 2011/12 Cambridge Who’s Who! of Professionals and Entrepreneurs, Sbb fuses her heritage from Bill T. Jones, Lar Lubovitch, Jerome Savary, Georges Momboye, Angelin Preljocaj, Julie Taymor and Pina Bausch... to create distinct, multi-disciplinary futuristic environments for stage and film.
HOPE BOYKIN
Bio coming soon!
ELISA CLARK
Elisa Clark, from the Washington, DC area, received her early training from the Maryland Youth Ballet and went on to earn her BFA from the Juilliard School, under the direction of Benjamin Harkarvy. She danced with Lar Lubovitch Dance Company in 2001, and rejoined in 2011. Ms. Clark was previously a member of Mark Morris Dance Group (2005-2011); and a founding member of Battleworks Dance Company (2001-2006), where she also acted as Company Manager and Rehearsal Assistant to Robert Battle. She has set Battle’s work on numerous companies and schools, including the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. She has also assisted choreographers Adam Hougland and Igal Perry. Additionally, Ms. Clark has performed with the Nederland Dans Theater and at the Metropolitan Opera, in productions choreographed by Morris, and Ben Wright. She works closely with Carolyn Adams and ADLI, and is on faculty at NYSSSA School of Dance, the American Dance Festival, Perry-Mansfield, and the New Jersey Dance Theater Ensemble. She is a 2008 Princess Grace Winner. www.elisaclark.com
ELIZABTH CORBETT
A former Joffrey Ballet dancer, Elizabeth Corbett joined the Frankfurt Ballet in the eighties, played a major role in many of Forsythe's most well known works and performed internationally with the company for over ten years in works such as; Gange, Artifact, In The Middle Somewhat Elevated/Impressing the Czar, Enemy in the Figure/Limb's Theorem, Behind the China Dogs, Vile Parody of Address, Die Befragung des Robert Scott, Steptext, Same Old Story, Skinny, Love Songs, Loss of Small Detail and many others. Since then she has been teaching Ballet, Forsythe Repertory and Improvisation Technologies workshops internationally for The American Dance Festival, Impulstanz Vienna, PARTS/Rosas, Dance Ireland, Paris Opera Ballet, Cullberg Ballet, Dance Platform Istanbul, Ekoda de Dance Tokyo, and Bucknell Dance Company, among others. Elizabeth was the dance coordinator for the program at Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker's Performing Arts Research and Training Studios in Brussels, Belgium from 1999-2005. De Keersmaeker created a duo for herself and Ms. Corbett called "For" in 1999 which premiered at the SpringDance Festival in Holland and was performed internationally. She assisted William Forsythe in the making of Pas/Parts for the Paris Opera Ballet and Ms, De Keersmaeker in the making of Bitches Brew/Tacoma Narrows for Rosas. Most recently Ms. Corbett taught a workshop for Movement Research/International Dance Dialogues. She will be in residence at the Beijing Dance Academy this Fall. ADF faculty since 2006.
LEAH COX
Leah Cox is the Education Director of New York Live Arts. As part of this role, Ms. Cox develops and oversees the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company’s education programs, which include educational licensing, resource materials for educational use, and pedagogical models for teaching the Company’s style and methods. She restages the Company's works and develops their summer workshops. Since its inception, Cox has overseen and is the primary faculty member for New York Live Arts’s partnership with Bard College. Cox conducts masterclasses nationwide for all abilities, non-mover to professional, and has taught at Dance New Amsterdam, Peridance, and the American Dance Festival (2011). From 2001-2009, she was a full-time member of the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company, participating in the development of numerous new works and the reconstruction of many repertory works. Cox choreographs her own work on a regular basis.
MARK HAIM
Artistic Director of Mark Haim and Dancers, 1984–87, and the Companhia de Danca de Lisboa (Portugal), 1987–90; BFA, The Juilliard School; MFA, HU/ADF; commissions for the Nederlands Dans Theater, Ballett Frankfurt, Joffrey Ballet, Limon Dance Company, Zenon Dance Company, Bat-Dor Dance Company, Rotterdamse Dansgroep, Saint Joseph Ballet, among others; full-evening dance solo, "The Goldberg Variations," performed at the ADF, Danspace Project, the John F. Kennedy Center, the Lincoln Center Institute, Yekaterinburg, Seoul and other theaters around the US; Senior Artist-in-Residence at the University of Washington 2002-08; Visiting Associate Professor, Reed College, 2009; Artist in Residence, Hollins University, 1995; Faculty at NYU-Tisch School of the Arts, 1995-6; Dance New Amsterdam, 1996-2002; Velocity Dance Center 2008-2012. Guest residencies at University of Florida, University of Illionois, Simon Fraser University, Ohio University, Pomona College, North Carolina School of the Arts, New World School of the Arts, UC Santa Barbara, VCU, SMU, and others. recipient of a 1987 NYFA Choreographers Fellowship, a 1988 and 1996 NEA Choreographers Fellowship, and grants from National Performance Network, ArtsLink, Inc, Seattle Office of Arts and Cultural Affairs; ADF linkage to Chile in 1996 and 2001, Argentina in 1998; ADF/Russia 1997; recipient of the Scripps/ADF Humphrey-Weidman-Limon Fellowship for Choreography in 2000; ADF faculty 1993–2000, 2002, 2003, and since 2005.
GERRI HOULIHAN
Gerri Houlihan began her professional career at the Juilliard School, studying with Antony Tudor, Alfredo Corvino, and members of the Martha Graham and Jose Limon dance companies. She performed with the Metropolitan Opera Ballet and the Paul Sanasardo Dance Company and spent five years as a soloist with the Lar Lubovitch Dance Company touring extensively throughout the United States and Europe. Ms. Houlihan has taught or choreographed for such institutions as N. Y.'s High School of the Performing Arts, the University of Wisconsin- Milwaukee, the Bates Dance Festival, the Boston Ballet, the Harvard Summer Dance Center, Meredith College, the University of South Florida, North Carolina School of the Arts, the University of Richmond, the University of North Carolina- Greensboro and Virginia Commonwealth University. From 1984-1987 she directed her own school and company, the Boston Dance Project. She was one of five finalists in the Boston Ballet's International Choreography Competition. From 1988-1999, Ms. Houlihan was on the faculty of New World School of the Arts in Miami, Florida. During that time, she was also the artistic director of Houlihan and Dancers. The recipient of two Florida Individual Artist Fellowships in Dance/Choreography in 1991-92 and 1996-97, Houlihan and Dancers was on the touring roster for the state of Florida. She recently became a member of the board of directors for the Florida Dance Association and also for the American College Dance Association. Ms. Houlihan has been on the faculty of the American Dance Festival from 1981-1983, and from 1987 to the present. As an international representative for ADF she has participated in eighteen international linkages, teaching in Korea, China, Brazil, Paraguay, Chile, Estonia, Poland, the Philippines, Moscow and Mongolia. She is the 2005 recipient of the Balasaraswati, Joy Ann Dewey Beinecke Endowed Chair for Distinguished Teaching, and received her MFA degree in 2007 from the Hollins University/American Dance Festival MFA program. She is currently a professor at Florida State University.
ISHMAEL HOUSTON-JONES
Bio coming soon!
YANGKEUN KIM
Yangkeun Kim, choreographer/teacher/dancer/writer is a professor of Soongeui Women`s College, Artistic Director of Garion Dance Company and vice president of The Dance Science of Korea. She has performed her own work with Garion Dance Company, and Korea Contemporary Dance Company and Wansoon Yook`s Dance Company, toured Europe, US, and Asia. Also she has choreographed famous musicals and Korean opera, on numerous TV show when she was the Artistic Director of MBC Broadcasting Dance Company (1985-1989) and "One World (1988)" at the opening ceremony of the '88 Seoul Olympic Games. Ms. Kim has organized KDF(KADF) since 1990, Seoul International Choreographer's Festival since 1995 and workshops. She received a prize of Coppanase from the Modern Dance Association of Korea, Il Min Fellowship from Dong-A Daily newspaper.
NICHOLAS LEICHTER
Nicholas Leichter has taught throughout the United States and at festivals in Eastern and Western Europe, Asia, and Canada, and he has been on faculty at Tisch School of the Arts, Sarah Lawrence College, NYU's Experimental Theater Wing, Bates Dance Festival, and ADF in Durham, New York, Russia, Korea, and Shanghai. He also adjudicates regularly for the American College Dance Festival Association (ACDFA). Leichter has created over 30 works for his own company, including Carmina Burana and Rite of Spring commissioned by the Brooklyn Philharmonic, Sweetwash with Eisa Davis, commissioned by The Duncan Theater, Killa with Monstah Black for The Joyce Theater, and The Whiz with Monstah Black, a co-production of Dancenow/NYC and Abrons Arts Center with funding from the National Dance Project and The National Performance Network. He has been artist-in-residence/guest artist at many institutions including CSU Fresno, Hollins University, Muhlenberg College, Goucher College, University of the Arts and Je Danse Donc Je Suis in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. Leichter received the 2006 Mariam McGlone Emerging Choreographer Award from Wesleyan University. He has received 2 Choreography Fellowships and 2 BUILD Grant awards from NYFA, a National Performance Network/Network of Cultural Centers of Color Artist-of-Color Residency Award at Sacramento State and the 2009 Copperfoot Award for Choreography from Wayne State University.
RAFAEL LOPEZ-BARRANTES
Performer, voice teacher and co-founder of Archipelago Theatre France as well as Archipelago Theatre USA, has been acting, directing and teaching with the Roy Hart Theatre in France since 1974. His research in Traditional Japanese Performing Arts and Flamenco singing has shaped extensively his approach to voice, body and performance training. He was the Voice Chair at the National School of Puppetry Arts in France (1984-1992). His teaching includes Japan, Mexico and Europe, notably the Riksteater of Norway and the French National Conservatories of Dramatic Art. For fifteen years he held a position at the Theatre Studies Department of Duke University where he directed a number of performances for main stages (Kaspar, King Ubu, Blood weddings, The Tempest, Don Juan, House of Desires, etc). He established Celebrations Inc. (www.CelebrationsUS.com) in 1996, a very successful business venture addressing design, theatrical and production needs in the special events industry (for such notables as President Bill Clinton, Yo-Yo Ma, Luciano Pavarotti, Michael Jordan, etc). He collaborated as assistant director for the Opera Company of North Carolina in 2003 and 2004 seasons. Between 2002-2007 he was officially appointed Honorary Consul of Spain in North Carolina. Since 2009 he did residencies at the National University in Costa Rica and at the North East Normal University in Chanchung, China. In 2007 he joined CalArts where he teaches "Extended Vocal Range Techniques" as full-time faculty member. Currently he is the Associate Director for Performance at the Theatre School of the California Institute of the Arts (rlopezbarrantes@calarts.edu). He taught for ADF at Henan, China in 2011. ADF faculty since 1992.
TARA LORENZEN
Tara Lorenzen is originally from the hills of West Virginia. Upon graduation from SUNY Purchase she was a member of the Repertory Understudy Group under Merce Cunningham and helped create new work for the company. She was a member of the Stephen Petronio Dance Company from 2008-2011. She is currently working with Trisha Brown Dance Company. She has also worked with Kimberly Bartosik, Christine Elmo, Shen Wei Dance Arts, Ashleigh Leite, Todd Williams, Christopher Williams, Rene Archibald, Anna Sperber, and Beth Gill. Tara has taught master classes at Virginia Commonwealth University and American Dance Festival.
PAMELA PIETRO
Pamela Pietro has equally combined careers on stage and in academic fields of dance successfully. She has performed professionally with Houlihan and Dancers, Anthony Morgan Dance Company, Michael Foley Dance, RaceDance and bopi’s black sheep/dances and Jennifer Nugent. Pamela served as rehearsal director for Houlihan and Dancers, as well as for New World Dance Ensemble. She collaborated with choreographer Mark Haim for several projects at The Wooden Floor, formerly Saint Joseph Ballet. Pamela has been on the faculty at the American Dance Festival since 1997 and taught for the Festival’s linkage programs to Guangdong Dance Company in Guangzhou (China) and the Dance Library Summer Conference in Tel Aviv, Israel and Henan Normal University in Henan, China and Internationally Pamela has taught at Newtown High School for the Performing Arts in Sydney, Australia, Momentum Danza in Panama, LaSalle College of the Arts in Singapore, Singapore, Tsekh Festival in Moscow, Russia and Ekoda de Dance at Nippon University in Tokyo, Japan. Nationally, she has been on faculty at Florida International University, New World School of the Arts, Hollins University, New York University Tisch School for the Arts, Dance New Amsterdam and Dancewave Center. Pamela's choreography has been presented in NY by Dancespace Draftworks and Dance New Amsterdam, BAX, Brooklyn Arts Exchange, Dancespace in Miami, Booker School for the Arts in Sarasota, Florida, Fuzion Dance Artists in Sarasota, Florida, Momentum Danza Company/Panama, Meredith College/Raleigh, NC, University of Wisconsin Madison, and La Salle Academy/Singapore. She has presented and taught at and at the ACM Multimedia Conference in Santa Barbara. Pamela received the first place award for academics and performance from the National Society of Arts and Letters, a gold medal winner at the Asiagraph Video/Choreography competition in Shanghai, China and her latest research was presented at the Hawaiian Arts and Humanities Conference in Waikiki.
Pamela is currently based in New York City, where she is an Assistant Arts Professor at New York University Tisch School for the Arts. She is a certified personal trainer and Pilates instructor, as well as the assistant to pioneering bodywork expert Irene Dowd. Pamela received a BFA/Dance from Florida State University and her MFA/Dance from University of Washington.
TREBIEN POLLARD
Trebien Pollard is a graduate of Florida A&M University with a BS in Mathematics Education and received his MFA from NYU Tisch School of the Arts. He has performed with many dance companies, including the Tania Isaac Dance, Martha Graham Ensemble, Metropolitan Opera Ballet, Ronald K. Brown/Evidence, Pascal Rioult Dance Theater, Pearl Lang Dance Theatre, Rebecca Stenn Co., Erick Hawkins Dance Co., and Pilobolus. He has also worked as a guest artist with Urban Bush Women and appeared in Mannic Production's feature film "Ghostlight", starring Richard Move as 'Martha Graham'. As a choreographer, Trebien’s work has been performed throughout United States, England and Japan. In July 2002, he premiered an evening-length work at Joyce SoHo, entitled Stories Told. In 2007, Trebien returned to Joyce SoHo with his work, entitled Color Codes: a point of hue. He has also choreographed William Electric Black's The Hamlet Project, The Damned: A Rock Musical and Frankenstein: The Rock Musical. Trebien’s ongoing projects include: a one-man show entitled Vegan Chitlins and the artist formally known as the N-word and an opera entitled Democracy Divine. Presently, He is a Visiting Assistant Professor at Goucher College and a licensed certified GYROTONIC® trainer.
SARA PROCOPIO
Sara Procopio is a founding member of Shen Wei Dance Arts and the company's former Artistic Associate. From 2001-2011 she was a full-time member of the company, performing at renowned venues and festivals throughout the world. As both an independent teaching artist, as well as for Shen Wei Dance Arts, Sara has taught master classes and workshops throughout Europe, Asia, Australia and the U.S. She co-taught an 8-week practice and performance project in Italy at the Paolo Grassi School in Milan and Fabbrica Europa in Florence. Recent teaching engagements include The University of the Arts, the ADF/NYC Winter Intensive, Hollins University, the Peridance Capezio Center, Marymount Manhattan College. Sara earned both her undergraduate and master's degrees from Hollins University. ADF faculty since 2008.
GWEN WELLIVER
Dancer and choreographer; recent works presented at Center for Performance Research, Dance Theater Workshop, 92nd Y Harkness Dance Festival, Movement Research at the Judson Church; performed with Doug Varone and Dancers ('90-'00); recipient of a Bessie Award for Sustained Achievement (’00); Rehearsal Director Trisha Brown Dance Company(’00-’07) responsible for directing stagings of Brown’s seminal early works, an extensive repertory, and Brown’s choreography for opera; also performed in projects by Douglas Dunn with Rudy Burckhardt, Helmut Gottschild (ZeroMoving Dance Company), Ohad Naharin, and Dana Reitz, among many others; teaches worldwide at the American Dance Festival, International Summer School of Dance (JP), Kalamata International Dance Festival (GR), P.A.R.T.S. (BE), Trisha Brown Studios, TSEKH Summer School (RU); guest teaching venues include Bard College, Barnard College, Hampshire College, Hollins University, Hunter College, Mount Holyoke College; Movement Research faculty member 1997-present; previously on the faculty of NYU Tisch School of the Arts (’95-’00, ’09-’11); Bennington College (’07-’09 Fellow); currently teaching at Sarah Lawrence College.
JESSE ZARITT
Jesse Zaritt received an MFA in Dance from the Hollins University/American Dance Festival Program (2008). Jesse has recently taught at the American Dance Festival (NC), Hollins University (VA), Pomona College (CA), and the University of the Americas Puebla (Mexico) as well as at festivals in Japan, Korea, and Russia. He has performed his solo work in Korea, Germany, New York, Japan, Mexico and Israel. His solo ‘Binding’ is the recipient of three 2010 New York Innovative Theater Awards: Outstanding Choreography, Outstanding Solo Performance, and Outstanding Performance Art Production. He has created choreography for the Seminar HaKibbutzim College and the Acco Theater Festival (Israel). Jesse was the recipient of a 2006-2007 Dorot Fellowship in Israel. Jesse was a member of the Hollins Dance Project (2000- 2001/Roanoke, VA), the Shen Wei Dance Arts Company (NYC/2001-2006), and the Inbal Pinto Dance Company (Tel Aviv/2008). Jesse currently dances in the work of Faye Driscoll and Netta Yerushalmy. Jesse graduated Cum Laude in 2000 from Pomona College (CA). ADF faculty since 2008.
