Faculty Bios

Charles Anderson
Choreographer and dance scholar , Charles O. Anderson is currently a tenured Associate Professor of African Diaspora Dance and Head of the MFA Program in Dance at the University of Texas at Austin. He earned his BA in Dance from Cornell University and his MFA in Dance from Temple University. While living in New York, Anderson worked with such noted choreographers as Ronald K. Brown, Mark Dendy, Sean Curran, and Miguel Gutierrez and has toured nationally and internationally as a performer, choreographer and arts scholar.   Prior to moving to Austin, Anderson resided in Philadelphia where he founded dance theatre X, his critically acclaimed afro-contemporary dance company that was named one “25 to Watch” by Dance Magazine and was a tenured Associate Professor of Dance and the founder and Director of Africana Studies at Muhlenberg College. New ADF faculty.

Anjali Austin
Anjali Austin is a distinguished ballet teacher whose career includes thirteen years of performing with the critically acclaimed Dance Theatre of Harlem. A well rounded movement artist, she has performed classical, neo-classical and contemporary works by prominent choreographers from the 20th century. Anjali is also a certified GYROTONIC® and GYROKINESIS® MasterTrainer and conducts teacher trainings nationally and internationally. Additionally, Ms. Austin and colleague Dr. Joselli Audain-Deans have begun presenting their research titled, ‘Where Are The Black Ballet Dancers In America?’.

Glenna Batson
PT, ScD, MA, Director/Course Coordinator, Contemporary Body Practices, Hollins/ADF M.F.A. program. Glenna has drawn from multiple forms of movement expression for over three decades as catalysts for artistic expression and scholarly development. Devoted to a synthesis of the art and science of movement, Glenna has been integrating dance, human movement science, and somatics as educator, practitioner, movement coach, and performer. Glenna was an East-West Center grantee in ethnic dance at the University of Hawaii (1970-72), and studied Bharata Natyam with Krishna Rao and Chandrabhaga Devi in Bangalore, India, and extensive studies in Javanese classical dance at Mills College. She obtained her M.A. in Dance Education from Columbia University Teachers College (1978). In 1977, she was the first person to apprentice with Irene Dowd in Ideokinesis, a mentorship that spanned 4 years. Glenna is also an internationally recognized teacher of the Alexander Technique (certified, 1989), and has taught in training schools in England, Ireland, Germany, Austria, Estonia, Japan, and Australia. She has served in many capacities as somatics educator and performing arts coach, including at the North Carolina School of the Arts. Faculty of the American Dance Festival since 1986, Glenna participated in the ADF Linkage project in Venezuela (1996; 1998) and Ecuador (1994; 1995). A graduate of Hahnemann Medical University in Physical Therapy, Glenna received her doctorate in clinical neuroscience in 2006 and is Professor Emeritus (physical therapy) at Winston-Salem State University. She is a Fulbright Senior Specialist in Dance Science and Somatics with residencies at Trinity-Laban Conservatoire of Dance and University of Tartu, Estonia. She has worked in and been inspired by many forms of dance from belly dance to ballroom. She still performs in various ensembles with like-body minded ‘wise’ cracks.

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 for the 2011 and 2012 ADF Henan in Xinxiang, China. He has been a guest artist/faculty member at numerous institutions including Florida State University, 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 beganhis 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 most recently created a site-specific work for the 5th International Contemporary Dance Festival in Cochabamba, Bolivia on the grounds of the beautiful Portales Palace. He has created works for several university dance companies, and 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.

Jeffery Bullock
Performed with the North Carolina Dance Theater following graduation from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts. He continued his performing career with Pacific Northwest Ballet, Pittsburgh Ballet Theater, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago and Sharir + Bustamante DanceWorks, touring nationally and internationally. Bullock’s repertoire included soloist and principal roles in an eclectic array of works by George Balanchine, Agnes De Mille, Alvin Ailey, Paul Taylor, Twyla Tharp, Daniel Esralow, Nacho Duato, Lucinda Childs, Salvatore Aiello, Yacov Sharir, Glen Tetley and others. He was also a featured performer in the 1986 Paramount Motion Picture The Nutcracker with PNB, and was a featured performer in the 1983 PBS Special Where Dreams Debut: The North Carolina School of the Arts. Bullock’s work At Midnight earned him a Dance Magazine’s Best Choreography Nomination at the 1996 American College Dance Festival at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Jeffery has been a faculty member at the American Dance Festival in Durham, NC since 1998, teaching in the ADF Six Week School and YoungDancers School; in ADF/Russia (2000), ADF/Korea (2000 & 2004) and ADF/Mongolia (2004 & 2005). From 2006 – 2010, he served as Director of the ADF Four Week School for Young Dancers. Most recent teaching engagement was at the international 2006 & 2008 Korean Dance Festival, Seoul, Korea. Also, Jeffery serves as a site visit consultant/panel member for Dance Advance of the Pew Charitable Trust located in Philadelphia, PA. He earned his MFA in choreography from the University of Iowa; taught at the University of Texas at Austin, the University of Iowa and joined the Hollins University Dance Department in 2004; becoming Chair in Fall 2009 and Director of the HU/ ADF MFA Program in Fall 2011.

Shani Collins-Achille
BA in dance from Hollins University; MFA from HU/ADF, New York “Bessie” Dance and Performance Award Winner; choreographer/ performer in Eve Ensler’ NYC Off Broadway Production of The Vagina Monologues; her company, The Eternal Works Project, investigates healing em(power)ment for girls & women; currently commissioned/ presented by CODEPINK/ The Culture Project in Women’s Center Stage at The Living Theater, Dance New Amsterdam, Dance Theater Workshop, 651Arts: Black Dance and Transformation, Performatica’ Dance Festival (Cholula, Mexico) Choreographic Sketches/ Philly Live Arts Fringe Festival, Kaay Fecc Dance Festival (Dakar, Senegal); Assistant Professor of Dance at Connecticut College; ADF Faculty since 2006.

Robbie Cook
Robbie Cook is a Dancer, Choreographer, Pilates and Yoga instructor based in Los Angeles, teaching in the Dance Departments of Loyola Marymount University and Idyllwild Arts Academy. He completed a 200-hour Yoga certification at Yoga High in NYC and has since taught Yoga in NYC, Summer Dance Institute/University of Wisconsin, Dallas, Los Angeles and at Bates Dance Festival in Maine. As a dancer, Robbie has danced with Douglas Dunn, Other Shore (dancing in works by Edwaard Liang and Stacy Matthew Spence), Liz Lerman Dance Exchange, Margaret Jenkins, Jan Erkert, Keith Thompson and Liz Gerring among others. He has commissioned two solos from Deborah Hay, participating in her Solo Performance Commissioning Project: Music 2001 & The Runner 2007. Heearned an MFA in Dance from Bennington College in Vermont and has taught dance at CSSSA @ Cal Arts, TCU, Long Island University, and Master Classes at Pepperdine University, Harvard-Westlake School, University of Houston, HSPVA Houston and UCLA. Robbie’s classes draw from his past study of Functional Anatomy with Irene Dowd and his continual investigation of the eight limbs of Yoga. 

Elizabeth 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 workshops for Movement Research/International Dance Dialogues and Slippery Rock University. She was in residence at the Beijing Dance Academy last Fall. ADF faculty since 2006.

Douglas Corbin
Currently on the faculty of Florida State University; Doug worked for many years in New York City, where he was pleased to work with Merce Cunningham, American Ballet Theatre, David Howard, the Alvin Ailey American Dance Center, Nancy Bielski, Diana Cartier. Doug has also enjoyed working with Arena Dance in Zürich, Jurriens Stiftung, Amsterdam, Noriko Hara in Hiroshima, José Cazeneuve, École de danse de Peter Goss in Paris, Ballet Contemporáneo de Caracas, Szedgedi Kotars Ballet in Hungary; ADF faculty since 2006. 

Adam Crawley
Adam Crawley has played music all his life.  From the harmonica tied to his walker to his own drawer of pots and pans in the kitchen to his current collection of instruments Adam uses any means at hand to create textures and atmospheres.  He has worked with dancers as an accompanist, collaborator, composer, and improviser for the past 16 years.  In addition to his work with the Department of Theatre and Dance at Ball State University, Adam plays for dance festivals including the Doug Varone and Dancers Workshops, American Dance Festival, and  American College Dance Festival Association. Adam’s music is indicative of his love for every type of music and his desire to mix them all together to produce new feelings.  His favorite composition teacher taught him to find a way outside of the box, yet keep the box intact.

Teena Custer
Teena Marie Custer is a b-girl and hip hop dance theatre artist based in Pittsburgh, PA. Teena Marie battles and performs internationally with her all female street dance group, Venus Fly Trap Crew, as well as her local Pittsburgh crew, Get Down Gang. Her solo “The Be-Girl Diaries” was selected to be performed at the Breakin’ Convention in London, England, and in addition to theatrical works, she has won underground freestyle dance battles such as Underground Movement 5, Enter the Cypha I, and was also seen on an episode of MTV’s MADE. Teena was recently invited to compete at the Queen Sweet 16, where she was one of the top 16 b-girls in the country invited to compete against one another in Seattle. She was also a featured dancer and assistant choreographer for the feature film “Leading Ladies” directed by Erika Randall Beahm and starring Melanie LaPatin and Benji Schwimmer from “So You Think You Can Dance.” In addition to being a part of hip hop culture, Teena has an extensive background in contemporary dance. She earned a BA in Dance from Slippery Rock University and an MFA in Dance Performance from The Ohio State University. She has been on faculty at both schools where she taught hip hop styles and contemporary dance. She has choreographed hip hop dance theatre pieces for various university dance programs and companies, and has performed with Dance Alloy, Attack Theatre, and Ursula Payne. She also represented CM² (Columbus Movement Movement) in Dance Magazine’s “Top 25 to Watch” in 2007. Ms. Custer currently dances with New York City based Ephrat Asherie Dance.

Jefferson Dalby
Rock-and-roll piano player; accompanies classes using percussion, flute, electric percussion, and many piano styles; bandleader of the Jazzphibians; keyboard player for Soul Central; performed with Fort Worth’s Hip Pocket Theatre, Jubilee Theatre, and Sojourner Truth Players; former accompanist at Fort Worth Ballet, Boston Ballet, and White Mountain Summer Dance Festival; currently accompanies classes at University of North Carolina School of the Arts; recently updated website BalletClassMusicforFree.com; ADF faculty since 1987. 

Brenda Daniels
Brenda Daniels is currently the Associate Dean for the School of Dance at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, where she also holds the Betsy Friday Distinguished Professorship in Contemporary Dance. She has been on the faculty at UNCSA since 1995 and became the Assistant Dean for Contemporary Dance in 2004, and served as Interim Dean from 2010 through 2012. Brenda Daniels joined the faculty of the American Dance Festival in 2002. She was artistic director of her own company, Brenda Daniels Dance Company, from 1985 – 1995. The company presented annual seasons in New York and toured in the United States and Europe. A recipient of fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the New York Foundation for the Arts, her choreography has been commissioned by Lincoln Center, The Joyce Theater, St. Mark’s Church, and theaters throughout Germany and the Netherlands. Performance credits include Ton Simons and Dancers, MelWong, Ellen Cornfield, Shelley Lee, Douglas Dunn, William Douglas, Bill Young, and the Palindrome Dance Company. Ms.Daniels has taught at the Merce Cunningham Studio, Hollins University, UNCG, Wake Forest University, Harvard SummerDance Center, Cornish College, Texas Christian University, Stephens College, Sam Houston State University, Connecticut College, California State University at Long Beach, Vassar, and Purchase College. Brenda Daniels has earned a BFA in Dance from Purchase College and a MFA in Dance from Hollins University/American Dance Festival. 

Loren Davidson
Loren Davidson recently completed her M.F.A. in Performance and Choreography at Florida State University and is currently fulfilling the last portion of her Pilates Teacher Training Certification under Balanced Body. Loren previously came from New York City where she was a member of Ellis Wood Dance from 2004-2009. She currently teaches at NYU’s summer dance intensive as a part of Ellis Wood Dance. Loren was a Dance/NYC Youth Advisory Committee member and the educational coordinator for Degree Dance Collective in 2008. In 2004, she worked with Liz Lerman on a site-specific project at MassMOCA titled: Body after Body, Place after Place: Dances in Gallery. Loren was awarded a full scholarship in 2003 to attend the historic Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival where she performed in works by Pina Bausch, Maguy Marin and Anjelin Preljocaj. Loren holds a B.F.A. from New World School of the Arts, under the direction of Daniel Lewis. New ADF faculty. 

Matan Eshkar
Yoga has become an integral part of Matan’s path in New York fifteen years ago, where he was certified and studied with Micheal Gilbert, David Hollander, Dharma Mittra and Aadil Palkhivala among others. He taught at leading studios, community centers and professional dance schools such as New York Yoga, 92nd St. Y, and Dance New Amsterdam. Matan also graduated Magna Cum Laude in Arts, Media and Interdisciplinary studies at Hunter College and worked as a professional photographer. Currently, Matan resides in Tel Aviv, Israel, teaches yoga for prominent dance companies (i.e. Inbal Pinto dance company), and works with independent choreographers and dancers from the Bat-Sheva dance company among others. He co-directs a yoga teacher training program, and teaches at universities, studios and festivals worldwide, including Salzburg Experimental Academy of Dance (SEAD) and Kyoto international dance festival in Japan. He also runs a private clinic specializing in pain management, sports and dance related injuries, using hands-on therapies such as Rolfing, Feldenkreis, Shiatsu, Yoga-therapy and breathing techniques. Matan’s yoga is innovative and original, uniting relevant issues of modern times with the ancient wisdom of yoga. Mixing humor and sensitivity, he encourages self-discovery and exploration, inspiring students to renew and transform. His spontaneous and courageous approach to teaching and his unique way of presenting vital principals and practicum nurture the confidence required for challenging old habits, breaking compulsive behavior and patterns of thought and rediscovering natural abilities seemingly lost. Matan offers ways of moving the body with precision and joy, sensing internal alignment and experiencing the adaptive body and mind as one. 

Vladimir Espinosa
Vladimir Espinosa is a musician, actor, and choreographer born in Havana, Cuba, in 1964. He is currently an instructor of Latin Percussion, Afro-Cuban Dance, and Musician-accompanist in residence at Hollins University, Roanoke, Virginia. His specialties include Latin and Afro-Cuban music, contemporary Latin and Afro-Cuban Folkloric Dance, and traditional African Diaspora rhythms. Vladimir graduated from the ENA (School National of Arts, Cuba) in 1985. He also studied with the National Folkloricde Cuba with Regino Jimenes and Pelladito; both having taught at the ENA. After graduating, Vladimir began teaching at the Arts School in Jiguani, Granma, Cuba and at the Casa De Cultural in Havana, Cuba. Vladimir performed, taught, and choreographed for many companies, including: Caribeno (Cuba), Companies National de Danza (Ecuador), Orile (Cuba), and Rojo Oscuro (Ecuador). Vladimir has also performed Afro-Cuban traditional rhythms and dance with Las Manos Del Sol (US) and the Roanoke Ballet Theatre (US). In 1996, Vladimir was the Artistic Director and Choreographer for the election ceremonies for the Queen of Ecuador. As a performer, he has traveled extensively though out the US, Europe, and Central and South America. In 1994, he moved to Ecuador and played with many groups, such as Pueblo Nuevo (Ecuador), Havana Express (Cuba), Savuka Son (Ecuador), and Koral y Esmeralda (Ecuador). While doing so he had theopportunity to play with many excellent musicians, including Carmen Gonzalez, Omar Sosa, and Javier Tito Junco. From 1996-1999 he toured with Havana Express (Arturo Bassnuevas, Conrado Garcia, Pablo Moya, Chanito, and Michel Ferre) and played in many venues across Washington, Virginia, New York, and Miami. At that time, he also toured the East Coast with Havana Express, played with Solazo (for 4 years), and conducted workshops in a variety of high schools and universities. Currently, he is the Musical Director of the traditional Afro-Cuban group Las Manos del Sol and produces workshops in elementary and high schools as well as universities and performs in festivals, theaters, and museums. He also plays with Los Gatos and is currently touring in the US. Vladimir’s most recent work includes a musical collaboration with Michel Ferre (pianist from Cuba and ex-member of Havana Express), where he recorded an acoustic Latin Jazz CD. Vladimir has also been a musician and instructor for the American Dance Festival (Durham, NC) since 2005.

James Frazier (Co-Dean)
Dr. James Frazier (artist, educator, administrator) is the Co-Dean of the celebrated school of the American Dance Festival and the Interim Associate Dean of Graduate Studies and Faculty Affairs for the School of the Arts at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU), where he is a tenured Professor and the former Chair of the Department of Dance and Choreography. Frazier serves as a Visiting Evaluator for the National Association of Schools of Dance (NASD), the US accrediting body for professional schools and degree granting programs in dance, and he is on the board of the American Dance Festival Association. He has held the elected offices of President and Secretary of the national organization, the Council of Dance Administrators (CODA). As a professional performer, Frazier was a member of Kokuma Dance Theatre Company (England), Dallas Black Dance Theatre (Texas), and was a founding member of Edgeworks Dance Theater (Washington, DC). In addition, he has worked as a guest or creative collaborator with many others. Frazier also appeared in the stage production St. Louis Woman, choreographed by Jawole Willa Jo Zollar. His own choreography has been presented in numerous venues, including the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (Concert Hall and Millennium Stage). He is a past recipient of the Virginia Commission for the Arts Choreographic Fellowship, and in 2009 he was commissioned to create a new ballet on the Richmond Ballet Company. He has taught master classes in dance technique at many festivals, in summer intensive programs and private schools around the country. Past appointments include: Visiting Assistant Professor of Dance History, Florida State University; Associate Artistic Director, Dance Institute of Washington (District of Columbia); and Publicity Coordinator for the Urban Bush Women Summer Dance Institute (1998 and 1999); and several adjunct appointments at colleges and universities, in Pennsylvania, Florida and Maryland. Frazier’s academic credentials include a Doctorate of Education in Dance from Temple University and both a Master of Fine Arts degree in Dance and a Bachelor of Science in Marketing from Florida State University. In 2008, he was a member of the graduating class of VCU’s Grace E. Harris Leadership Institute, and he was a selected participant in the mentoring program of the International Council of FineArts Deans, for which he later served as Co-Chair of the Diversity Task Force. For the Virginia Commission for the Arts he has frequently served as a panelist, reviewing grant applications. 

Michelle Gibson
Choreographer, instructor, and performing artist, received her BFA in Dance from Tulane University and her MFA in Dance from Hollins University/American Dance Festival. Michelle is from New Orleans, LA, and has studied at the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts, the Alvin Ailey American Dance Center, the American Dance Festival, and Jacob’s Pillow. Her motion picture credits include having been cast as a featured dancer in the Academy Award nominated film, Interview With a Vampire, the Academy Award winning film, Ray, and the movie Just My Luck with Lindsay Lohan. Currently a freelance artist, teaching at Brookhaven College and Mountain View College in Dallas TX, she is artist in residence with the Ashe’ Cultural Arts Center, one of the resident dance companies at the South Dallas Cultural Center, choreographer for Six Flags/WOW Entertainment and the Dallas Children’s Theatre Dallas TX, member of Drum Café. Her choreographic works include the Margaret Hunt Hill-Trinity River Bridge Celebration ( Dallas TX), Pure Soul ( Pioneer Valley Performing Arts, Hadley, MA), Flying High (Western Kentucky University) , Evolution (Choreographic Sketches, Bric Studio, NY), Essence Music Festival (New Orleans, LA), Big Easy and Tribute To The Classical Arts Awarded, Origins of Life On Earth for Best Ethnic Choreography (Rochester, NY), New Orleans Second Line: Takin It To The Roots (Dallas, TX and American Dance Festival), Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters with the Dallas Children’s Theatre, currently on tour; “Krump” choreographed and accompanied by the LoneStar Wind Orchestra at the Meyerson Center; Texas Educators Music Conference in San Antonio accompanying the Texas University Orchestra; South Dallas Dance Festival premiering excerpts from her choreographic works such as Sisters of the Yam, An Evening With Nina, Shine On Me, I Made It, But Some Didn’t, a tribute to souls survivors of Hurricane Katrina; and the Dallas premiere of “Evolution”, honoring, recognizing, and uplifting women of color. Blessed to have had accomplished many things in her life, Michelle’s greatest achievement is being the mother of two beautiful angels, Ailey, 12 and Nigel, 7. “For everyone to whom much is given, of him shall much be required.” Luke 12:48

John Hanks
Percussionist / pianist / composer using acoustic and electronic instruments, John loves the spirit of dance and dancers, and strives to incorporate that energy in his music; ADF/Durham faculty since 1984; ADF/Seoul 1990-91; ADF/Henan, China, 2012; serves as Music Director for the Duke University Dance Program; busy freelance drummer/percussionist performing with many jazz, classical, musical theater, rock/blues, and contemporary music groups and venues throughout North Carolina including DPAC, NCT, Willie Painter Band, Gregg Gelb, Hot Summer Nights, Duke Chapel, and more; has released three CDs of music for dance, Here Come the Drums, Drumjazz, and Percussion Jams.

Courtney Harris
Courtney Harris, Assistant Professor of Dance at Virginia Commonwealth University, hails from Texas where she danced professionally with the Houston Ballet under the directorship of Ben Stevenson. She graduated summa cum laude from Cornish College of the Arts with a BFA in Dance and earned her MFA from The Ohio State University’s Department of Dance, while also receiving a minor in pedagogy through the Graduate Interdisciplinary Specialization in College and University Teaching program. Prior to her graduate studies, Harris served as Adjunct Professor at Cornish College and Visiting Faculty at the University of Washington. A certified Pilates instructor, Harris has enjoyed working with a wide range of clientele, such as athletes, professional dancers, students of dance, the elderly, and those with physical disabilities. Her research interests include ballet training examined through the lens of progressive pedagogies.

Neil Harris
Neil Harris studied acting and political theater at The Central School of Speech and Drama in London before moving to Israel at the age of 22 in 1979. In 1981 he was enlisted into the IDF and spent two years as a medic in the first Lebanese War. Today he works in the field of Experiential Education for Social Change, and facilitates programs on Jewish/Palestinian Dialogue, HIV and AIDS prevention, Gay and Lesbian Youth, and Democratic Dilemmas in Israeli Society. In November 2001, Neil completed a cross-country walk of over 550 miles from Metulla to Eilat, interviewing Jewish and Palestinian-Arab Israeli citizens on “The State of the Nation” one year into the al-Aqsa Intifada. Neil has collaborated with both Jesse Zaritt and Tymberly Canale on creating and performing dance works. Neil incorporates dance improvisation and Theater of the Oppressed techniques into groups that he facilitates on a regular basis, as well as integrating performance into his activism for social change in Israel. He is a senior educator for the Dorot Fellowship in Israel. Neil splits his time between living on Kibbutz Tuval and in south Tel Aviv. He first taught at ADF in 2009.

Andy Hasenpflug (Director of Musicians)
ADF Music Director Andrew Hasenpflug has accumulated an extensive list of credits in dance, theater, jazz, rock, classical, patriotic, and commercial venues. These include the US Air Force Band, Denver Contemporary Dance Co., Rosanna Gamson/Worldwide, Equity Library Theater, Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, and jingles for Kroger food stores and Hoolihan’s restaurants. He has worked as a dance accompanist at the American Dance Festival, the Doug Varone summer intensive, the American Colleges of Dance Festival, Slippery Rock University, Columbia College Chicago, Dayton Contemporary Dance Company, the University of Cincinnati, Helander and Co., Kim Robards Dance, the University of Colorado, SUNY Purchase, Marymount College, and the Lou Conte Studios. He has composed for such artists as the Seldoms, Dance Alloy, LabCo, Ursula Payne, Amy Chavasse, TopToToe Butoh, Tom Truss, Jennifer Keller, Zephyr Dance Company, The Overture Academy Cincinnati, Chasala Dance Company, Helander and Co., and the University of Cincinnati. His teaching credits include The University of Cincinnati, Columbia College Chicago, and Slippery Rock University. He has recorded with the United States Air Force Band, Rick Lisak Band, Sylvain Acher and Fabien, Divide by Pi, and Hasen project, as well as creating an ongoing group of solo recordings. Mr. Hasenpflug currently resides in Slippery Rock, Pennsylvania where he freelances and works as the music director for the dance department of Slippery Rock University. He also holds the title of visiting professor at Henan Normal University in Henan, China.

Curt Haworth
Curt Haworth, an expatriate Californian, lived in New York City for twenty years before moving to Philadelphia in 2009. He holds a BA in Creative Writing from UC Santa Cruz and a MFA in Dance from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. He has an eclectic movement background ranging from athletics to modern dance and post-modern techniques, to yoga, contact improvisation and ballet. His work has been shown in Philadelphia at: the Annenberg Center, The Performance Garage, The Painted Bride, The CEC, and various Fringe venues; and in NYC at: The Danspace Project, LA MAMA, DNA, Symphony Space, Movement Research at the Judson Church, IFNY, Dixon Place, PS122, Metamorphosis, DanceNow, New Dance Alliance; as well as at: Rockland Community College, Bennington College July Program, and Tanecne Divadlo in Bratislava, Slovakia. He was a Movement Research Artist in Residence in 2001-2002. Curt performed with Lisa Race’s Race Dance from 1993-2000, and toured internationally with David Dorfman Dance from 1990 to 2002, while creating over 15 original roles. He has taught regularly at Movement Research and DNA (formerly Dance Space Center) in NYC. He is the director of PARD in Philadelphia, an organization dedicated to supporting new movement performance and teaching, located at the Mt Vernon Dance Space and has co-founded Falls Bridge, new movement, improvisation and performance festival. He has taught and set work as a guest artist throughout the United States and Europe and is currently an Associate Professor at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia. 

Ellen Hemphill
Artistic Director, Managing Director and co-Founder of Archipelago Theatre Company in Chapel Hill, NC; Associate Professor and Director of Undergraduate Studies and on the faculty of Duke University’s Department of Theatre Studies since 1993; long time member of the Roy Hart Theatre of France, where she worked and performed for 13 years. Ellen has written and produced and directed 20 performances in the last 15 years, all performed primarily at Duke University. Among many extraordinary artists, she has collaborated with Allison Leyton-Brown, composer, Basil Twist, puppeteer, Mark Dendy, choreographer, and others. Invited artists include actors and dancers from around the country and internationally. You can read more about the work at: www.archipelagotheatre.org. ADF faculty since 1992. 

Gerri Houlihan (Co-Dean)
Gerri Houlihan began her professional training 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 1991-1992 and 1996-1997, 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 a 2012 recipient of the Pearl S. Tyner Distinguished Professor in Teaching Award. She 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
Ishmael Houston-Jones is a choreographer, author, performer, teacher, and arts activist. His improvised dance and text work has been performed in New York City, across the United States, in Europe, Canada, Australia and Latin America. Houston-Jones’ Nowhere, Now Here was commissioned for Mordine and Company in Chicago and Specimens was commissioned for Headlong Dance Theater in Philadelphia. He was the choreographer for Nayland Blake’s Hare Follies at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. From 1995-2000 he was part of the improvised trio Unsafe/ Unsuited with Keith Hennessy and Patrick Scully. In 1990 he and writer Dennis Cooper presented The Undead at the Los Angeles Festival of the Arts. In 1989 he collaborated with filmmaker Julie Dash on the video Relatives, which was aired nationally on the PBS series Alive From Off-Center (Alive TV). In 1984 Houston-Jones and Fred Holland shared a New York Dance and Performance “Bessie Award” for their Cowboys, Dreams and Ladders. In 2010 Performance Space 122 and the New Museum supported the reconstruction of Houston-Jones’ 1985/86 collaboration with Dennis Cooper and Chris Cochrane, THEM. The piece has since been presented at the American Realness festival (New York, NY), Springdance (Utrecht, NL), Centre Pompidou (Paris, France), and will premiere in Berlin, Germany at TanzImAugust in August 2012. The reconstruction of THEM received a New York Dance and Performance “Bessie” award in 2011. 

Terrence Karn
Terrence Karn, dance and musical artist/composer/educator, began his career as a dance musician in 1971 at The Minnesota Dance Theatre. He is the resident Musician/Composer at Denison University’s Dance Department. Terrence has performed with the Houston Grand Opera, Karen Stokes Dance, and HopeStone. In the summer of 2012, Karn returned to the Bates Dance Festival for his 13th year as the Musical Director for YAP. Terrence is the co-director of Gypsy Dance Theatre and performs regularly at Renaissance Festivals throughout the country. He has composed numerous works for dance companies on planet earth and has played for over 16,001 dance classes & counting. Terrence is honored to be a part of the ADF Family.

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. She has also 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 1988 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.

T. Lang
T. Lang is Assistant Professor of Dance at Spelman College and Artistic Director of T. Lang Dance, an Atlanta based company. Lang has been creating a singular body of work that has accumulated critical acclaim. A former dancer with the Metropolitan Opera Ballet and Marlies Yearby’s Movin Spirit Dance Theater, T. Lang creates a poetic expression of dance, which illustrates deep, arousing investigations relevant to issues of identity, history and community. Her work communicates perspectives with a dance of humor and depth, and her movement style captures the attention of the viewer with its evocative physicality, technical range and emotional viability. Lang’s works have been performed nationally. In 2012, her work M O T H E R/ M U T H A was presented at Atlanta’s Goat Farm Arts Center. Creative Loafing and Arts America called this work a “powerfully thought provoking … masterfully blended work” of “unsettling genius.” This work delved deep into the complexities of American history. In 2011, T. Lang was commissioned to create a work in collaboration with grammy award winning artists Sweet Honey in the Rock. This work, 4 Little Girls, was presented at a Gala Concert during the historic unveiling of the King Monument in Washington, D. C. She has taught master dance classes and lecture demonstrations at summer intensive programs nationally and internationally. She is on the faculty of Staibdance Summer Intensive in Sorrento, Italy and founded the Atlanta summer dance intensive, SWEATSHOP. T. Lang holds a Bachelor in Fine Arts in performance and choreography from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a Masters in Fine Arts in performance and choreography from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts.

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 2011-2012. ADF faculty since 1992.

Yvonne Meier
Originally from Zurich, Switzerland, Yvonne Meier has lived and worked in New York City since 1979, where she became a member of the original group around Performance Space 122, regularly collaborating with Ishmael Houston-Jones, Jennifer Monson and many others in the US and Europe. Her work, spanning anywhere from big spectacles to quiet solos, has been supported by three Fellowships in Choreography from the New York Foundation for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Arts, NEA Inter Arts, Franklin Furnace and Pro Helvetia. The American Master Piece program of the NEA has supported the upcoming recreation of her performance-instillation work, The Shining. She has received “Bessie” Awards for her works The Shining (1993) and Stolen (2009). She has twice been supported through the Movement Research Artist-in-Residence program. Meier has been teaching Releasing Technique and Authentic Movement nationally and internationally for the last 30 years. After a life-long commitment to improvisation she has developed her own improvisation technique known as Scores. Meier also teaches children’s dance classes in NY Public Schools through Movement Research’s Dance Makers 

Amanda K. Miller
Founder, artistic director, and choreographer of Pretty Ugly Dance Company, formed in 1992; toured internationally and won an array of awards and acclaim for unique collaborations; from 1984 to 1992 she was a founding member, principal dancer and resident choreographer of the Frankfurt Ballet under the direction of William Forsythe; continues to choreograph, direct rand teach; ADF faculty since 2009; a native North Carolinian; www.amandakmiller.com

John Osburn
John Osburn grew up in the self-proclaimed “Live Music Capital of the World,” Austin, Texas. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Music with a minor in Education from Texas Woman’s University in Denton, Texas. During his time at TWU, he discovered his love for the improvisatory nature of dance accompaniment under the mentorship of Keith Fleming. From 2010-2011, Osburn underwent graduate training at the Sonic Arts Research Centre in Belfast, Northern Ireland, for which he received a Master of Arts degree in Sonic Arts. After his postgraduate training, he returned to Denton to play dance classes and facilitate weekly Improv Jams held by TWU and University of North Texas. The knowledge he gained in Ireland allowed him to expand his aural pallette, by including more electronic components, to accompany his percussive rhythms and chordal piano. Currently, Osburn resides in Ohio where he works as the Resident Musician for the Denison University Department of Dance, and is also a freelance composer for dance and music educator both in and out of the dance world. In 2012, Osburn acted as co-facilitator and music conductor for the Improv Jam housed at the National Dance Education Organization (NDEO) Conference. Osburn has composed for numerous artists, including Jesse Zaritt, Olivier Tarpaga, Sandy Mathern-Smith, Big Rig Dance Collective, and Out on a Limb Dance Company.

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, Jennifer Nugent and Adrienne Westwood. For ten years 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 the ACM Multimedia Conference in Santa Barbara and the Tennessee Association of Dance. 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 Associate 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. 

Sherone Price
Dancer, teacher, choreographer; currently Assistant Professor of Dance at Appalachian State University, Lecturer, University of North Carolina-Greensboro; dancer and choreographer, Visiting Instructor of dance, Florida International University in Miami, Fl; artist in residence/Henry Bascom Professor of dance, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Principal with Chuck Davis African American Dance Ensemble, Durham, NC; Guest Performer, Gamble Dance Theater and Jan Van Dyke Dance Group, Greensboro, NC 2000-2002 Regional touring modern dance companies; BFA, University of North Carolina-Greensboro and MFA, Hollins University in Roanoke Va.; Performed Talley Beatty’s Mourner’s Bench at the 1993 Scripps/ADF Award Ceremony (Durham, NC); Study West African Dance and Drumming in Guinea, West Africa; ADF faculty since 1995, Guest instructor for NFAA in Miami and The McIntyre Institute in Miami Lakes, FL. 

Claudia Howard Queen
Multi-instrumentalist who has accompanied for over 200 dance instructors throughout the US, Ireland and Taiwan in studios such as Merce Cunningham and Gus Giordano, and Tisch Summer Dance Festival. Queen uses piano, percussion, voice, electronic, and stringed instruments to create sophisticated, uplifting, kinesthetic music for dance. Queen composes music designed to illuminate the visual poetry of the choreographer. Her dance scores have toured the US, Ireland, England, Uruguay & Taiwan. She has performed with companies such as the Chicago Repertory Dance Ensemble, Jan Erkert & Dancers and recently toured in Taiwan with Ku & Dancers. Queen’s awards include two Fulbright Awards to teach at Taipei National University of the Arts and TAIPEiDEA, three National Endowment for the Arts Awards, and four Meet the Composer Awards. Queen is Assistant Professor of Music for Dance at the University of North Texas (UNT) where she teaches Choreography, Music for Dancers, Composer/Choreographer Collaboration, and trains musicians in the art of dance accompaniment. She is a guest artist throughout the US. Queen holds an MFA from Tisch School of the Arts. She has been faculty at ADF since 2006 & participated in ADF Henan, China in 2011.

Atiba Rorie
Mr. Rorie has been playing percussion instruments since he was a young child. He is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, where he received a BA in Music. He has studied with Babatunde Olatunji, Fahali Igbo, Bradley Simmons, Chief Bey, and Osei Appiagyei. He has also studied with Titos Sampas, Andrew Cacho, in Accra, Ghana at Lagon with the National Dance Ensemble, and Guinea, West Africa with Famoudou Konate. Rorie has performed with the Andrew Cacho African Drummers and Dancers, Resounding Steel, Collage Dance Ensemble, and the African American DanceEnsemble. He has toured with Baba Olatunji’s drummers and dancers and has performed at Dance Africa in New York at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. Rorie has also performed in two presidential inaugurations and in 2005 performed in a Drums of Passion tribute to Olatunji at the Percussive Arts Society International Convention in Columbus, Ohio. 

Khalid Saleem
Khalid Saleem, Percussionist, musician; former musical director for the African American Dance Ensemble; lived, worked, and studied in the Ivory Coast; worked/studied with Rose Marie Guiraud, Babatunde Olatunji of Nigeria, Ladji Camara of Guinea (West Africa), Titos Sampa of Zaire, and Les Ballet Africains, the National Dance Company of Guinea; on faculty in the Dance Department at The College at Brockport, State University of New York, since 1994; Khalid has been very active during The College at Brockport’s, annual diversity conference; invited to present African percussion workshops in Salvador, Brazil in November 2008; Khalid’s latest International cultural exchange travel, have taken him to Haiti in January 2011, traveling with SUNY Oswego’s Psychology Department, in coping with stress and trauma, as a consultant, teacher and musician; He performed at the August, 2011 National Black Theater Festival in Winston Salem, NC; Sankofa, The African Dance and Drum Ensemble at The College at Brockport, (Khalid Saleem, Music Director) are the recipients of The Greater Rochester Cultural Arts, recognition Award, November, 2011; Khalid also participated in Konkoran’s, 2011 annual conference in Washington DC, where Chuck Davis and Melvin Deale was being honored; ADF faculty since 1985. 

Thomas Shoemaker 
Thomas Shoemaker was an acclaimed principal dancer with companies including the Atlanta Ballet, Miami City Ballet, Louisville Ballet, Augusta Ballet, and Charleston Ballet Theatre in a professional career that spanned 25 years. As a guest artist, he worked with numerous dance and theatre companies throughout the U.S. and abroad.  As an educator, Thomas has worked with elementary through college-aged students in studios, schools, colleges and summer programs throughout the southeastern United States. Mr. Shoemaker now resides in Nashville, where he is currently teaching and choreographing for the Vanderbilt University Dance Program and is Artistic Director of Vanderbilt Dance Theatre. He has also been on faculty with Middle Tennessee State University Dance Program, Austin Peay State University Dance Program and the Tennessee Governors School for the Arts Summer Program. Thomas also serves as
 Associate Artistic Director for StillPoint Dance Theatre. In May 2009, Shoemaker’s ballet “just let go” was awarded “Best Ballet” at the Panoply Choreographic Competition. In 2010, he won the same award for VS.  His ballet Foreverly (based on the lives of the Everly Brothers) was awarded “Best Live Performance of 2005” by the Augusta Chronicle. As artistic director and ballet master, Thomas has staged or restaged many works including Nutcracker, Cinderella and Les Sylphides; George Balanchine’s Allegro Brillante and Tarantella; Fernand Nault’s Carmina Burana and many classical pas de deux. Thomas is currently working towards an MFA at Hollins University with a projected completion in August 2013. New ADF faculty. 

Andrea Weber
Andrea Weber graduated with a BFA from The Juilliard School, under the direction of Benjamin Harkarvy.  Andrea joined the Merce Cunningham Dance Company in January 2004 and is currently a faculty member of the Merce Cunningham Studio. Andrea has danced and taught for Canadian based Coleman Lemieux & Compagnie, participating in the Manitoba and Gros Mourne Project.  She has assisted and staged Lila York’s works on ballet companies throughout the United States and in Denmark. Andrea appears as the Dancer in THE DANCER FILMS, a series of very short films based on the cartoons fo Jules Feiffer, directed by Judy Dennis and produced by Ellen Dennis, with choreography by Susan Marshall and Larry Keigwin.  

Ken Ray Wilemon
Percussionist, painter; based in Durham, NC; has accompanied dance at Texas Christian University, University of Texas, Connecticut College, Hollins University, various ACDFA’s, the White Mountain Summer Dance Festival, and was a recent invitee to the 2012 ADF/China festival in Xinxiang. Currently on staff at Meredith College and Duke University; ADF faculty since 1988. Currently performing with singer-songwriter Gilbert Neal, was a featured musician at the 2009 and 2010 Hoop Path gatherings, and is a staff musician at Meredith College and Duke University; ADF faculty since 1988.

Abby Yager
A member of the Trisha Brown Company from 1995–2002, Ms. Yager has danced in the companies of Sungsoo Ahn, Robin Becker, Donna Uchizono, JoAnna Mendl Shaw as well as other independent choreographers. As a reconstructor of Ms. Brown’s choreography, she has worked with Candoco (London, England) The Lyon Opera Ballet (Lyon, France), La Monnaie National Opera Of Belgium (Brussels, Belgium), Le Festival International d’Art Lyrique (Aix-en-Provence, France) and has directed educational projects at the Taipei National University of the Arts, Five College Dance Department, The Ohio State University, and at P.A.R.T.S. Ms. Yager has served as guest teacher at universities, festivals, and studios both domestically and abroad, including the Independent Dance at the Siobhan Davies Studios, and Le Centre Choréographique National deRennes et de Bretagne and the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance. She is currently on the faculty of the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, and has been a member of the ADF faculty since 2003. 

Ming-Lung Yang
Ming-Lung Yang is a native of Taiwan. He earned his B.A. in Dance from Chinese Culture University and his M.F.A. in Dance from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Mr. Yang has danced in the companies of Trisha Brown, Wally Cardona, Hillary Easton, Henry Yu, Ming-Shen Ku, and was a founding member of Dance Forum Taipei. Mr. Yang served as the Artistic Director of Dance Forum Taipei from 2002-2005. His choreography has been presented across Asia, Australia, Europe and the United States. He was a Visiting Professor at the Korean National University of the Arts 2005-2006, a Visiting Associate Professor at The Ohio State University 2006-2010, and an Assistant Professor at Taipei National University of the Arts 2010-2012. He is currently on faculty at UNCSA, and a returning member of the faculty at the American Dance Festival since 2000. 

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.