Conferences

Catherine Cabeen (MFA) is an Assistant Professor of Dance at Marymount Manhattan College and a repetiteur for the Bill T Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company. She has received support for her choreographic work from The Washington State Arts Commission, The Mellon Foundation, and New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, among others. She has been on the faculties of the Martha Graham School of Contemporary Dance, Cornish College, University of Washington, and Middlebury College. She has received commissions from Donald Byrd’s Spectrum Dance Theater, Seattle Art Museum, Gallery Galleon in Vieques PR, the Visa2Dance Festival in Dar Es Salaam, and Alsarab Dance Company in Byblos Lebanon, among others. Cabeen is a former member of the Bill T Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company (1997-2005).

The Artist is a multidisciplinary artist, artistic educator, and community organizer driven by her roots and studies of the African Diaspora. Her work is filled with educational, energetic, and liberating experiences for all, rooted in research and cultural pedagogy. She’s a facilitator and teaching artist for Cumbe: Center of African and Diaspora Dance, Mark Morris Dance Center, Ifetayo Cultural Arts Academy, Brooklyn Arts Exchange, among others. Visit www.danicriss.com for more information.

Associate Artistic Director of NDI and currently serves as Artistic Director for the NDI/China Project in Shanghai and the NDI/Lebanon Project in Beirut, training teachers in the NDI pedagogy and overseeing the development of NDI’s partner programs in both countries. Kay is an NDI Master Teaching Artist and was named the 2009 Teacher of the Year. With Agnes McConlogue Ferro, Kay serves as co-creator and co-director of the NDI DREAM Project (Dancers Realize Excellence through Arts and Movement): an inclusion-based dance program that focuses on augmenting movement potential through partnerships, collaboration and choreography. Kay and Agnes were recently named New York One's New Yorkers of the Week.

Founded Dances for a Variable Population (DVP) in 2005 to promote strong & creative movement among adults of all ages and abilities. DVP’s program MOVEMENT SPEAKS® has served 4500 older adults in NYC since 2009. Goldberg Haas received LMCC President’s Award for Performing Arts (2014), served on the Age Friendly Media, Arts & Culture Working Group (2015–2018) and received the DANCE USA 2019–20 Fellowship for Artists addressing Social Change. dvpnyc.org

Interdisciplinary artist, primarily working in Dance. He is also a writer, moderator, and advocate for the arts; he has served on the Board of Trustees at Dance/USA since 2017. Jerron has also shot for Tommy Hilfiger Adaptive, consulted for a Nike-sponsored project, and was profiled in Great Big Story. He has been a principal member of Heidi Latsky Dance since 2011. In 2018 he was a visiting artist at Marlboro College, a finalist for the inaugural Apothetae/Lark Play Development Lab Fellowship and was also nominated for a Fellowship in Dance from United States Artists. His latest solos include Many Ways to Raise a Fist for the 29th Anniversary of the ADA at the Whitney Museum, Phys. Ed. at Gibney, and Relative – a crip dance party – for the disabled-led festival I WANNA BE WITH YOU EVERYWHERE at Performance Space New York. Jerron studied at Tisch School of the Arts and graduated from The King’s College. The New York Times has called him, "...the inexhaustible Mr. Herman." jerronherman.com

Teaching artist and creative aging advocate based in New York City. She received her MFA in Dance Performance & Choreography from the University of Arizona and her BS in Biochemistry & Molecular Biophysics. Kaczmarska co-founded Evolve Dance~West and developed a subsidiary Dance for PD program in Arizona following training with Mark Morris Dance Group. She received the NDEO Professional Development Scholarship (2019) and leads training and programming for DVP. www.magdakaczmarska.com

Has been working in alternative education for over ten years working for institutions such as the Brooklyn Museum of Art, the Wyckoff House Museum, and the Brooklyn Historical Society among others. She received dual Master’s degrees from NYU in museum education and ancient Egyptian linguistics, and has a lifelong love of her home city of New York and education. She is thrilled to help Battery Dance expand their education outreach.

After earning her Bachelor’s degree in dance from Hofstra University, Pearl Marasigan danced for various choreographers and served as director of HalloHallo Dance. Pearl has been a faculty member at Bard High School Early College Manhattan since 2006, first as an adjunct and teaching artist and now as a NYC DOE dance educator and co-chair of the arts department. In 2017, Pearl earned her Masters in Dance Education through Hunter College’s Arnhold Graduate Dance Education Program. As part of the Bard curriculum, she spearheaded the creation and implementation of new dance courses, including "Moving Identities in Contemporary Dance,” which celebrates choreographic voice and the movement modalities of historically disenfranchised peoples. When she’s not teaching or dancing, Pearl devotes a great deal of her time to training the African-Brazilian martial art of capoeira.

Dance educator and choreographer JoAnna Mendl Shaw brings her somatic practice of Physical Listening and Inter-species Research LABS into colleges, conservatories and immersive community-based creation projects. Former faculty at Juilliard, Tisch and Ailey, Shaw now tours with her company, The Equus Projects, throughout the States and Europe.

Amy Miller an NYC-based dancer, choreographer, educator and advocate. Formerly with the Ohio Ballet, she was also a founding member and artistic associate of Cleveland-based GroundWorks DanceTheater. Now Co-Director and a performing member of Gibney Dance Company, Miller also focuses on Gibney’s Community Action initiatives through facilitating movement workshops with survivors of trauma, conducting both local and international trainings for artists interested in engaging in social action, developing healthy relationship workshops for young people and raising awareness about the role of the arts in violence prevention.

Has been teaching locally and abroad in dance, somatics and haling for the past twenty years. She is a creator of the Embodied Dance Project which utilizes dance training as a healing art form and performance as personal growth. She holds an MFA from Montclair State University and certifications in healing, yoga, nutrition, the Simon Method of Teacher Training and Body Mind Dancing. She is currently a faculty at Iona College and Manhattan College.

An Assistant Professor and Director of the Dance Program at Iona College, NY, where she also serves as the artistic director of the residential dance ensemble. Her current research interests encompass dance and creative processes—the application of Laban Movement Analysis, Bartinieff Fundamentals, and somatics in dance education, integrated arts education, and community engagement. She holds a PhD in dance education from Temple University, an MFA in dance performance and choreography from Tisch NYU, and a BFA in dance performance and choreography from the SUNY Purchase, and she is a somatic practitioner certified in Laban Movement Analysis and Body Mind Dancing.

An Assistant Professor of Dance at SUNY Fredonia. Her teaching and choreographic research explores the many facets of jazz dance aesthetics, and pedagogy methods which serve all types of learners. Her choreography has been presented at Men In Dance, Cornish Dance Theater, University of Washington, MuCCC, American College Dance Association and International Dance Day Festival, Lebanon. She has presented original research at Society for Dance History Scholars, Popular Culture Association, Dance Educators Association of Washington, and National Dance Education Organization national conferences. Prior to entering academia, she was a principal member Spectrum Dance Theater (1991-2005), performing and restaging works by choreographers of national prominence.

A dancer, teaching artist, community worker and arts administrator from Detroit, MI. She is the Senior Program Manager for Cumbe: Center for African and Diaspora Dance and works for Urban Bush Women’s B.O.L.D network where she co-teaches dance workshops, is faculty for their annual Summer Leadership Institute and co-facilitates community engagement workshops. Kendra also founded the community-building arts platform in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn called STooPS. Learn more at kendrajross.com

Oversees Battery Dance’s finances and operations, global programs, and monitoring and evaluation. His previous experiences include advising and consulting NGO’s, multilateral organizations, and governments on public diplomacy, capacity development, education development, research methodologies, and strategic development. During his tenure at Battery Dance, Emad has led Company tours of South America, Europe, Africa, and China. He has lectured on the social impact of the arts, cultural diplomacy, evaluation, and arts administration at universities around the world and has spoken at conferences and symposia hosted by the Foreign Policy Association, World Policy Institute, 92Y, and the USC-Annenberg School of Communication, among many others.

East New York native, Quamaine “Virtuoso” Daniels promotes the arts. The arts allow Daniels to use his imagination and produce beauty. Daniels’ definition of art is “art is what you feel, see, and hear; it’s your interpretation of life and who you are as a person. It’s the freedom of movement and the words unspoken.” Daniels’ creativity is enhanced through dance and it was acquired by experience and study. Daniels acknowledges dance as a way to create a series of movements to a specific musical genre but FLEXN’ is his favorite routine. He started FLEXN’ after watching a television show, Flex n’ Brooklyn on BCAT, a public access channel. After watching the show, Daniels found his calling as a dancer. FLEXN’ inspired him to take his dancing to unimaginable levels and transition from street dancer to professional dancer. Daniels also used FLEXN’ as a way to address social issues such as injustice, racism, social equality, abuse, and other personal issues. Daniels believed instead of pointing the finger, we could use different forms of art to fix these issues. Daniels also performed “ “FLEXN” (2015 production) with a dance team, D.R.E.A.M (Dance Rules Everything Around Me) Ring, organized by Reggie “Regg Roc” Gray and Peter Sellars at the Park Avenue Armory and other festivals around the world. Daniels has also been apart of the “ALPHABUS” production (Manchester international 2019) and “MAZE” (The Shed 2019). He has worked as a Teaching Artist with THE SHED (FLEXNYC) and has taken many teaching artist intensive classes to help further his knowledge. “I look forward to the ongoing impact of my dance style, continue to inspire those who love what I do, and encourage them to makes changes in their lives using and seeing art,” said Daniels.

Megan J. Minturn is a dancer, choreographer, and educator. She studied dance in Omaha, Brazil, New York, Senegal and Cuba. Her company MJM Dance performed at the 92nd St Y, Dance New Amsterdam, Dixon Place, the Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance, the Ailey Citigroup Theatre, Miami University of Ohio, Grounds for Sculpture and recently produced its first evening length, sold out concert at the Mark Morris Dance Center. In 2013 MJM Dance produced the Sunset Park Day of Dance generously funded by the Brooklyn Arts Council. Megan dances with Bessie Award winner Joya Powell’s Movement of the People Dance Company and Catherine Gallant Dance performing in locations including Lincoln Center, Jacob’s Pillow, and BAM. In 2019 Megan studied dance in Brazil through the Don Quixote Fellowship and in Cuba as a Fund for Teachers Fellow. In 2016 Megan was awarded the New York State Dance Education Association’s Outstanding K-12 Educator of the Year and in 2015 Education Update’s Outstanding Educator of the Year at NY’s Harvard Club. Megan teaches dance at the Brooklyn International High School. She holds an MA in Dance Education from New York University, a BA in Philosophy from Fordham University, and is a Registered Yoga Teacher.

Kimani Fowlin is a dancer, choreographer, Assistant Professor of Dance and the Director of the Dance Department at Drew University. She has been on the dance faculty at Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers University for over 20 years. She was recently awarded the New York State Dance Education Association’s Outstanding Dance Educator Award. Work includes performing and teaching in Russia as part of an International Festival of Dance on the Volga; performing in Ghana for Panafest; and performing in Greece with funk band Milo Z. She co-founded Boom!Beep!Bop!, a children’s dance class rooted in African Diasporic culture. Kimani is currently collaborating with actor Chuk Obasi in The Actual Dance as choreographer and director. This January she is co-organizing an immersion at the University of Utah on Dancing Around Race: Whiteness in Higher Education. This May she will be leading a group of college students on an educational and immersive experience to historic Civil Rights locations in the South: Walking and Dancing in the Footsteps of MLK.

Catherine Gallant, (choreographer) has been creating work for more than 30 years. Ms. Gallant’s work often explores themes of chance, doubt and the body as a source of comfort and torment. She was the assistant director at 92Y Harkness Dance Center from 1994-96 just as DEL was beginning. She has presented work at 92nd Street Y Harkness Dance Center, WestFest and most recently at Inwood Hill Park sponsored in part by the Partnerships for Parks. Catherine is also the director of Dances by Isadora which, since 1989, performs, teaches and collaborates with dancers throughout the world, most recently at Jacob's Pillow's Inside/Out Series and with French choreographer, Jerome Bel on his new work, Isadora Duncan which Ms. Gallant will perform in June 2020 at the River to River Festival. She began her study of the technique of Isadora Duncan in 1982 with Julia Levien and is currently on the Duncan Archive Committee and contributes regularly to site: duncanarchive.org. Catherine is a full-time NYCDOE dance educator at PS 89 in Manhattan. She and her students were featured in the Emmy-nominated PBS documentary, PS DANCE! Catherine is on the faculty of the Dance Education Laboratory (DEL). Ms. Gallant is a graduate of the Boston Conservatory and holds an MFA in Dance from Temple University.

Deborah Damast has been teaching in the NYU Steinhardt Dance Education Program since 2002. She has taught technique, pedagogy, creative movement, production and choreography, and is the Artistic Advisor of the program and Director of dance concerts and of Kaleidoscope Dancers. Deborah designed and directs a study abroad program to Uganda each January. She has participated in motion capture studies with the Department of Computer Science, and Internet Arts Collaborations with faculty from Music Education. Deborah has been on the faculty of Peridance Center, New York City Ballet, LREI, Oregon Ballet Theatre, and has created creative dance videos for children, Move N Groove Kids.

Deborah’s choreography has been shown in numerous venues in NYC, Europe, Asia, and Africa. She has taught and presented at conferences through NDEO, CUNY, ACDFA, and NYU, and conducts professional development for the New York City Department of Education. Deborah was a 2008 recipient of the GSO Star Faculty Award at NYU and the 2010 Outstanding Educator Award from the National Dance Education Organization. Deborah received her BFA in Dance from SUNY Purchase and her MA in Dance Education from NYU Steinhardt.

Andrea Markus (Kingston, Jamaica) is a first-year doctoral studies student in the dance education Ed.D. program at Teachers College, Columbia University. She received her MA in Dance Education from New York University's Steinhardt School of Culture, Education and Human Development. She studied dance at Ballet School New York, Ithaca College, Dance New Amsterdam and The Limon Institute. Andrea has traveled to Guinea, West Africa to study dance and drumming with members of the national companies Les Ballets Africains de Guinea and Ballet Djoliba. She has performed with the Alpha Omega 1-7 Theatrical Dance Company, performing dance works by George Faison, Eleo Pomare, and more. Andrea has also danced and co-directed Magbana Drum & Dance NYC, a West African-based performance group of percussionists and dancers. She has taught dance to students in grades preK-12 as a teaching artist for Ballet Hispanico, ArtsConnection, Dancewave, New York City Ballet and Alvin Ailey Arts In Education & Community Programs. She is currently a faculty member of New York University's Department of Music and Performing Arts Professions, Marymount Manhattan's Department of Dance, and the Junior Division at the Ailey School.

Ann Biddle M.A., Dance Education, Columbia University, B.A., English Literature, Kenyon College and Fulbright Scholar. Ms. Biddle has been a dance educator, staff developer, curriculum consultant, writer and choreographer for the past 30 years. She is the Founding Faculty of the Dance Education Laboratory (DEL) at the 92nd St Y with Jody Arnhold (1994 to present). Ms. Biddle has designed and taught numerous courses for DEL including Foundations in Dance Education, DEL Essentials, Planet Dance – Multicultural Dance Education, Dancing in Early Childhood, Dance and Nature, Teaching from Transformation to Inspiration (Tina Curran), Dance and Literacy (Barbara Bashaw), DEL: The Next Generation, the DEL Facilitators Course and Dance for Social Change.

As a staff developer and curriculum consultant, Ms. Biddle has partnered with numerous cultural organizations including: Urban Bush Women, Doug Varone, Flamenco Vivo, Jose Limon Dance Company, Ballet Hispanico, New York City Ballet, Dance Theatre of Harlem, Movement Research and Jonah Bokaer. An advisor and contributor to the NYC Department of Education’s Blueprint for Teaching and Learning in Dance, PreK-12, she has been a NYCDOE Blueprint professional development facilitator since 2005.

Ms. Biddle has taught overseas at the National University in Costa Rica as a Fulbright scholar and at the School of Performing Arts at the University of Ghana. Additionally, she worked closely with the late Alan Lomax as a Choreometrics analyst and is currently an advisor to the Global Jukebox initiative.

As a writer, her dance teachers’ curricula and training manuals include: The Essence of Cool: West Side Story, New York Export: Opus Jazz the Film (NYC Ballet), Dance Motion USA Doug Varone and Argentinian Brenda Angiel’s Aerial collaboration, Richard Daniel’s Dances for iPhone film series, Wonderdance early childhood curriculum, Dance Making Inspired by Langston Hughes Poetry and the DEL Facilitators Training Manual. She is a frequent presenter at the annual NDEO conference and was selected to pilot the Model Cornerstone Assessments as part of NCCA. Ms. Biddle has published integrated curricular units though the NYCDOE (Dance Units Inspired by Literary Works, 2016 and The Negro Speaks of Rivers: Capturing the Essence of Pearl Primus through Photography and Poetry, 2018).

She is also a scorer for the Dance MTEL exam. Ms. Biddle was the Director of Arts Programs at the Pioneer Valley Performing Arts Charter School (PVPA) in South Hadley, MA and Director of the Dance Department from 2011-2018.

(MA, BA, RDE) is on the faculty of Friends Seminary in Manhattan, is an adjunct professor at New York University and on the faculty of the Dance Education Lab of The 92nd Street Y. He holds a BA in Psychology and an MA in Dance from American University and is a graduate of the Dance Education Laboratory of the 92nd Street Y; a certified Level 1 Teacher of Language of Dance®; a certified yoga instructor; and a Registered Dance Educator. Barry served on the board of NYSDEA, and was the artistic director of TAPFUSION, a dance company combining modern dance and tap. Barry also writes the technology “Experts” column for Dance Teacher Magazine, and is the co-co-creator of the DEL DanceMaker App.

(MA, BFA) teaches dance at PS 165, The Edith K. Bergtraum School, where she integrates creative dance and technique for performance. She began working for the NYCDOE six years ago after receiving her K-12 teaching certification and Masters Degree in Dance Education from NYU Steinhardt.  Her professional responsibilities include being a board member for NYSDEA, Dance Content Advisor for CAP, NYSED Professional Development Liaison, Standards Alignment Committee member, and Arts Mondays Facilitator.  Kerrianne serves as a New York State Standards Writer being part of the 2017 Dance Revision Team. Kerrianne is also honored to be a past recipient of the K-12 Dance Educator Award from NYSDEA which she received in 2014.

(MA Dance Education, NYU, BFA Dance, SUNY Purchase,) At NYU Steinhardt, Deborah serves as Clinical Assistant Professor and Artistic Advisor in the Dance Education Program, Artistic Director of Concerts and Kaleidoscope Company, and directs an annual study abroad program to Uganda. She also teaches at LREI, The Yard, and the Dance Education Laboratory, and has taught at WVU, Peridance, New York City Ballet, 92Y, Steffi Nossen, Oregon Ballet Theatre, Paul Taylor, and others. Deborah's choreography has been shown in numerous venues for the past 29 years in NYC, Europe, Asia, and Africa. She has presented at NDEO, CUNY, ACDFA conferences and conducts professional development for the NYCDOE. She was a contributing writer to the 2015 revised Blueprint for Dance and has co-written curriculum for education departments of NYCB and Paul Taylor. Deborah was a 2008 recipient of the NYU Faculty Star Award, the NDEO 2010 Outstanding Educator Award, and the NYU Steinhardt 2016 Excellence in Teaching Award. She serves on the boards of PCDC and of NYSDEA, where she is culminating her role as Past-President. She and her husband Tom presented at NDEO in NYC and she is thrilled to present with him again at NYSDEA!

(MA, BA) is currently a Teaching Artist for Alvin Ailey Arts In Education and Community Programs. Ms. Davis was born and raised in Brooklyn, NY with roots in Trinidad and Tobago. She received her BA in Media, Society & the Arts from SUNY Purchase College and her MA in Dance Education from NYU Steinhardt. Her dance training credentials includes Creative Outlet Dance Theatre of Brooklyn, Alvin Ailey Dance Theatre, Pittsburg Youth Ballet and SUNY Purchase. She has learned from numerous New York based choreographers and dance educators and performed the works of Dianne McIntyre, Ronald K. Brown, Jemal Gaines, George Fasion and many more. As a dance educator she has taught in public schools teaching elementary and special needs students. Also, in private studios teaching SOCA and African with a cultural lens in the Caribbean to adults and pre-professional students.

(BFA) Brooklyn-based designer Henry Holmes holds a BFA in Dance and Computer Science certificate from the University of Wisconsin - Madison. They’ve been designing apps and digital experiences with the 92Y Dance Education Laboratory, GuideOne Mobile, the National Park Service and others. Their choreographic resume includes a Chez Bushwick Artistic residency with Elena Rose Light, co-direction of a play with Handan Ozbilgin for Target Margin Theatre’s Stein Lab, a senior center residency through SPARC with Hillary Rachel Ramos and two seasons of Mare Nostrum Elements’ Emerging Choreographer Series. More at syntactile.com

has a body of work that extends from the dance concert stage to theater to television and to film.  His eclectic background has brought him recognition as an international artist.  Concert appearances include work with such companies as: Loretta Livingston, Bethune Theatredanse, Dance Kansas City Modern/Jazz Company, and his own Carlos Jones & Company.  Among his theatrical credits are Some Like it Hot, Man of La Mancha, It’s a Pretty Good Life and Sesame Street Live to name a few.  Mr. Jones landed in the movies I’ll Do Anything, Dance With Me, and Uptown Girls and was featured in the television series Cybill, Howie, the Nanny, and the Drew Carey Show.
As a director/choreographer Jones is prolific.  His concert works have been presented with San Jose Dance Company, Movement Source, Dance Spectrum Alaska, Adage Repertory Company, Bethune Theaterdanse, and Jazz Antiqua Music & Dance Ensemble among others. Theatrical direction and choreography include: Don’t Bother Me I Can’t Cope, Purlie, Four Guys Named José and Una Mujer named Maria, History of White Music, Saucy Jack and the Space Vixens, Reefer Madness, West Side Story, Black Nativity, She Hysteric, a one woman show with SNL veteran Ellen Gleghorne, Once Upon a Mattress, under the direction of Carol Burnet, and Hair directed by Broadway legend André DeShields.  In addition, he has created dance segments for a number of video and film productions including the award-winning film short, Insurance Inc.
Mr. Jones has worked extensively in arts education and community arts programing.  He was founder and director of the Los Angeles dance training facility Academy 331, Founding Artistic Director of Teen Dance Company in Palo Alto, California and served as artistic advisor to In-sync Dance Theater in Glendale, California.  In addition to traditional arts programming, Carlos has also developed and implemented programs for children and youth requiring accessibility.  His work in this area lead him to be the artistic associate with Bethune Theaterdanse’s Infinite Dreams.  In addition, he has served as a teaching artist/artist in residence with Buffalo Academy of Visual and Performing Arts, Tapestry Charter School, Bennet Park Montessori and M.U.S.E.
Jones adds to his merits the role of author.  In addition to his notable publication in Middle Schools Journal, he is a contributing author to the book Jazz Dance: A History of the Roots and Branches.  He holds an MFA from the University of California – Irvine and has served on the faculties of UCLA, UC-Irvine, Chapman University, Loyola Marymount University and St. Cloud State University.  Professor Jones belongs to a coveted list of SUNY Diversity Faculty Fellows and is tenured professor of musical theater and dance at SUNY Buffalo State, where he currently holds the position of Associate Dean of the School of Arts & Humanities.

(Artistic Director/Choreographer/ Performer) originally from Montreal and now based in New York City, first received recognition as a celebrated principal dancer for the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company (1987-1993). Her experience there profoundly influenced her style and her philosophy of dance as she developed in her own right as a choreographer for stage, theater, and film. In 2001, she founded her own company, Heidi Latsky Dance (HLD). During the fall of 2006, Latsky began an intensive period of creation with bi-lateral amputee Lisa Bufano and in 2009 she was chosen by Creative Capital Foundation as one of four choreographers nationally to receive a three-year award for her evening-length work, GIMP. Heidi’s range of work is as varied as guest lecturing at Harvard University, creating a work for high school students with learning disabilities, directing workshops in performance skills, performing in 2012’s TEDxWomen and developing new works for her contemporaries. Currently, Heidi has received international acclaim for her ON DISPLAY project - a deconstructed art exhibit that comments on our propensity to judge people by what they look like by creating a sculpture court of real people in highly trafficked public spaces. ON DISPLAY GLOBAL is the company’s annual initiative on December third for the UN’s International Day of Persons with Disabilities being presented all over the world. Latsky is an advocate for disability rights andis a founding member of the Disability Task Force for Dance/NYC. She has a BA in Psychology with Honors from Carleton University (1979), receiving the Senate Medal for Outstanding Academic Achievement and The Ottawa Ladies College Scholarship. Currently, she has been awarded grants to work on a pilot program for people with spinal cord injuries, engage with immigrant populations during  the company’s residency at City College (NYC), and teach her inclusive technique MARS (mindful activation release study).

is originally from Omaha, NE, and is embarking on a second career as an informal educator after her successful first as a costume designer for dance, theater, and film.  She loves creating dynamic tours, interactive games, and thoughtful discussions so that audiences share in her excitement for the subject matter. Her professional passions include equity and accessibility.  After a hard day of empowering students through a performing arts-based curriculum, she loves working with textiles, enjoys swimming, biking, writing, and visiting historic houses.  As with theater, she wants libraries and archives to be a place where people experience some magic.

(BFA, MA) teaches dance at PS 165, The Edith K. Bergtraum School, where she integrates creative dance and technique for performance. She began working for the NYCDOE six years ago after receiving her K-12 teaching certification and Masters Degree in Dance Education from NYU Steinhardt.  Her professional responsibilities include being a board member for NYSDEA, Dance Content Advisor for CAP, NYSED Professional Development Liaison, Standards Alignment Committee member, and Arts Mondays Facilitator.  Kerrianne serves as a New York State Standards Writer being part of the 2017 Dance Revision Team. Kerrianne is also honored to be a past recipient of the K-12 Dance Educator Award from NYSDEA which she received in 2014.

(Ed.M) is Interim Graduate Director, Dance Education Program in the Department of Dance, Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers University, where his focus is on dance pedagogy and somatics. He has taught at the Laban/Bartenieff Institute of Movement Studies, the Dance Education Laboratory at the 92nd Street Y and NYU Steinhardt in New York City. As a Laban/Bartenieff specialist, he has led workshops and presented at conferences internationally including in Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, South Korea, Switzerland, Uganda, the United Kingdom, and throughout the U.S. Frederick serves as Assistant Editor for the National Dance Education Organization’s (NDEO) Dance Education in Practice journal, and served previously on the NDEO Board of Directors.

(MA Dance Education, NYU, BFA Dance, SUNY Purchase,) At NYU Steinhardt, Deborah serves as Clinical Assistant Professor and Artistic Advisor in the Dance Education Program, Artistic Director of Concerts and Kaleidoscope Company, and directs an annual study abroad program to Uganda. She also teaches at LREI, The Yard, and the Dance Education Laboratory, and has taught at WVU, Peridance, New York City Ballet, 92Y, Steffi Nossen, Oregon Ballet Theatre, Paul Taylor, and others. Deborah's choreography has been shown in numerous venues for the past 29 years in NYC, Europe, Asia, and Africa. She has presented at NDEO, CUNY, ACDFA conferences and conducts professional development for the NYCDOE. She was a contributing writer to the 2015 revised Blueprint for Dance and has co-written curriculum for education departments of NYCB and Paul Taylor. Deborah was a 2008 recipient of the NYU Faculty Star Award, the NDEO 2010 Outstanding Educator Award, and the NYU Steinhardt 2016 Excellence in Teaching Award. She serves on the boards of PCDC and of NYSDEA, where she is culminating her role as Past-President. She and her husband Tom presented at NDEO in NYC and she is thrilled to present with him again at NYSDEA!

(Ph.D., BC-DMT) licensed psychologist, board certified dance/movement therapist, and dance educator has worked with youngsters with disabilities since 1973. She ran a dance program for adolescents with emotional and learning disabilities in the South Bronx for 21 years, and her students performed in Lincoln Center, Central Park, South Street Seaport, St. Mark’s Church, NYU’s Frederick Lowe Theater, and the Apollo Theater.
 
  Diane has taught in the NYU Dance Education M.A. program since 1994 and in the 92Y Dance Education Laboratory (DEL) and Dance Therapy programs since 2006.  She has taught graduate level courses on dance and disability since 1973 at Hunter College, Adelphi University, Hofstra University, and C.W. Post/LIU.  She is an Arnhold mentor for new dance educators in NYC schools.  Diane has a Ph.D. in School/Child Psychology from NYU and an M.S. in Dance Therapy from Hunter College.
 
Diane is co-author of Dance Education for Diverse Learners (2009) and “Dance and Students with Disabilities” in the 2015 edition of the Blueprint for Teaching and Learning in Dance. She is on the editorial board of Dance Education in Practice and the Dance/NYC Task Force on Dance and Disability. Diane received a NYSDEA Lifetime Achievement Award in 2016

(CMA, RSMT, EdD) began dancing at the 92Y at age 8. She began teaching dance at the New School of Social Research at age 15 and was a long time instructor of the Art and Craft of Teaching Dance. Since then she has taught at NYU Steinhardt, Antioch, Connecticut Hope and Hampshire Colleges, and Teachers College/Columbia and Princeton University. She is currently on the faculty of three low residency dance departments - Montclair State University, St Mary's College in the Bay area and UNC-Greensboro. She's teaches “BodyMind Dancing” and Dynamic Embodiment SMT worldwide and certifies professionals in this work. The underlying course work - Laban Movement Analysis, Body-Mind Centering, Perceptual-Motor Development, Bartenieff Fundamentals, and Embodied Anatomy and Physiology are all linked these degree programs.
 
Martha is an advocate for the new fields of Somatic Movement Education & Therapy & Somatic Movement Dance Education, author of Mindful Movement the Evolution of the Somatic Arts and Conscious Action and lecturer on eco-somatics, neuro-motor & socio-emotionaldevelopment, & peace education/violence prevention. She founded Center for Kinesthetic Education to provide professional development and pre-K-12 using self-regulating movement and “healthy dancing” within NYC public and independent schools. She originally volunteered to create Moving For Life DanceExercise for Cancer Recovery in 1999. Moving For Life, Inc is now a non-profit providing free dance classes for older adults and people of all ages affected by cancer and has been featured on NPR, NY1, CNN, Fox News, the NBC Today Show and CBS News. She received the NDEO award for Outstanding Leadership in Dance Education in 2017 in San Antonio Texas.

(Ed.D, MA, BFA) is a Clinical Associate Professor and Director of the Dance Education Program at NYU/Steinhardt.  Past positions: Kinesiology and Curriculum and Instruction faculties at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge; Dance and Dance Education Program in the at Teachers College, Columbia University; positions at the University of Denver, Pennsylvania State University and at the Jerusalem Rubin Academy of Music and Dance in Israel.

All of Dr. Koff’s academic and service activities are in the area of Dance Education, in the US and internationally.  She currently is Chair-Elect of the Board for Dance and the Child International (daCI).  As a Fulbright scholar, Dr. Koff assisted with the development of Dance Education Curriculum at the National School for Contemporary Dance, Copenhagen, Denmark.  Dr. Koff has made numerous presentations at the state, district and national level of NDA/AAHPERD (National Dance Association, and served on the Board for two years, then was a founding board member of the National Dance Education Organization. She was a Content Area Coordinator for the Research in Dance Education Project (funded through the US Department of Education).  Within NY State she recently chaired the Dance Standards development team and in the past was the dance specialist for the ASSETS Project in New York State, culminating in assessments for the State Arts Standards. She led in-service professional development projects for the implementation of Arts Standards in New York and New Jersey. She serves as a consultant for the New Orleans Ballet Association to evaluate the integrated school-based curriculum.

(BA) is a founding instructor, lead trainer and Program Director for the Mark Morris Dance Group’s Dance for PD® program, which serves as a model for classes in more than 250 communities in 24 countries. He leads classes for people with Parkinson's disease around the world and trains other teachers in the Dance for PD® approach. He has co-produced three volumes of a successful At Home DVD series for the program and has been instrumental in designing innovative projects involving live streaming and Moving Through Glass, a dance-based Google Glass App for people with Parkinson's. He is a lead partner, with scientists from Columbia and Washington University in St. Louis, on an innovative research project investigating the effects of choreography on walking speed in people with Parkinson’s.

He received the 2016 World Parkinson Congress Award for Distinguished Contribution to the Parkinson’s Community and the 2013 Alan Bonander Humanitarian Award from the Parkinson's Unity Walk. He is a founding member of the Lincoln Center Global Exchange and a Thought Leader for the 2018 Edinburgh International Culture Summit. Mr. Leventhal serves on the Board of Directors for the Davis Phinney Foundation, and as an Advisory Board member for the Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center’s Arts & Humanities Program and the Dance & Creative Wellness Foundation. He has written chapters about the Dance for PD program for two recently published books: Moving Ideas: Multimodal Learning in Communities and Schools (Peter Lang), and Creating Dance: A Traveler's Guide (Hampton Press)

Leventhal designed and teaches a pioneering dance-based elective course that is part of the required Narrative Medicine curriculum at Columbia University’s College of Physicians and Surgeons.

As a performing artist, he danced with the Mark Morris Dance Group from 1997-2011. He received a 2010 New York Dance and Performance Award ("Bessie") for his work with the Mark Morris Dance Group. He attended Brown University where he received a B.A. magna cum laude with honors in English Literature. He was an inaugural trainee in the 12-month Emerging Leaders Boot Camp for Arts Administrators at the New York Foundation for the Arts and was selected to participate in the American Express Leadership Academy.

(BFA) is a NYC-based dancer, choreographer, educator and advocate.  A former principal dancer with the Ohio Ballet, she was also a founding member and artistic associate of Cleveland-based GroundWorks DanceTheater.  Now the Senior Director and a performing member of Gibney Dance Company, Miller also focuses on Gibney’s Community Action initiatives through facilitating movement workshops with survivors of trauma, conducting both local and international trainings for artists interested in engaging in social action, developing healthy relationship workshops for young people and raising awareness about the role of the arts in violence prevention. Miller has conducted Gibney Dance Global Community Action Residencies at Mimar Sinan University and Koc University (Istanbul), University of Cape Town (South Africa), DOCH: School of Dance and Circus (Stockholm), MUDA Africa (Tanzania) and most recently in Gisenyi, Rwanda. In the spring of 2015, Miller was honored to receive an Arts & Artists in Progress “Pay it Forward” Award from Brooklyn Arts Exchange.  Miller holds a BFA in Dance and is a recipient of an Ohio Arts Council Individual Excellence Award for her choreography.

was a valued member of the Paul Taylor Dance Company from 1989 to 1999, originating roles in many of Mr. Taylor’s new creations of that period as well as performing featured roles in many dances such as Last Look, Company B, Syzygy, Cloven Kingdom, Speaking in Tongues, and Danbury Mix.  Representing the PTDC, he has performed as a guest artist at numerous galas and festivals in the New York area and abroad.  Mr. Patrick has been featured in Paul Taylor’s work in the Emmy-winning film “Speaking in Tongues” and the Oscar-nominated feature documentary “Dancemaker,” as well as other Taylor dance programs shot for Public Television.  From 1999 to 2004, he performed with the Metropolitan Opera. His recent performance opportunities have been in Punchdrunk’s “Sleep No More” in NYC, and in choreographic projects with his amazing wife, NYU Steinhardt professor Deborah Damast.

After retiring from full-time performing, Tom returned to the Taylor family to direct Taylor 2 from 2004 to 2008, acted as Director of Touring for the PTDC until 2010, and now serves as Taylor’s Archival Supervisor.

(MA, Teachers College, Columbia University; MFA, University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee) Director of the 92nd Street Y Harkness Dance Center, hails from Paukūkalo, Maui. He also teaches at New York University Steinhardt. He was the Director of 92Y Dance Education Laboratory (DEL) and the Education Department at New York City Ballet. John-Mario has danced in the companies of Pilobolus (dance captain), Rebecca Stenn, From the Horse’s Mouth, Daman Harun, Erin Dudley, Lisa Giobbi, Nikolais and Louis, Shapiro and Smith, Janis Brenner, Anna Sokolow and Bill Cratty. John-Mario also performed with juggler Michael Moschen, film animator Laura Margulies, drag artist Sherry Vine, poet John Unterecker and Navajo sandpainter-healer Walking Thunder. John-Mario’s choreography has appeared in New York City at LaMaMa, NYU Steinhardt, Movement Research at Judson Church, 92Y’s Tisch, Harkness and Tribeca departments, Dance Theatre Workshop, Columbia University, ABC No Rio, the Lower East Side Tenement Museum, The Asia Society, Bronx Academy of Art and Dance, as well as at universities throughout the country. John-Mario is dance student of Betty Jones, Kumu Hula Hōkūlani Holt and June Kaililani Tanoue.