jballard@colum.edu (312) 369-8348
Some of her favorite dance designs include 5 Characteristics of Brother (Marquez Dance), Rhapsody (Shapiro & Smith) and Falling on Lobsters in the Dark (Stephanie Carter). She has worked for Hedwig Dance, Breakbone Dance, Mordine & Co., Dance COLEctive, The Seldoms and Same Planet Different World. Ms. Ballard has been a part of numerous festivals as well as American Dance Festival, and has toured nationally and internationally with David Dorfman Dance and The Seldoms. Ms. Ballard is full time staff and adjunct faculty at the Dance Center of Columbia College.
Ms. Ballard is no stranger to theatre either, working with Signal Ensemble as an Artistic Associate designing both lights and media. She has also worked with Irish Rep Theatre, Grey Zelda and Whitehorse Theatre Company. Some of her favorite theatre designs include Cabaret (University of Florida), 1776 (Signal Ensemble Theatre) and I Sing (Whitehorse Theatre).
Ms. Ballard earned her MFA from the University of Florida.
Keesha Beckford - Adjunct Faculty
Keesha Beckford began her dance studies in Queens, New York. She then went on to graduate cum laude from Princeton University with an A.B. in American history and a certificate in dance. Her senior project in dance was awarded the Louis Sudler prize for the Arts. While a member of the Princeton dance program she studied modern dance technique and composition with Ze'eva Cohen, Elizabeth Keen and Sally Hess. She has performed with the New York based companies Steeledance and Amy Marshall Dance Company. In New York she also performed works by distinguished choreographers such as Milton Myers and Lorn Macdougal. Ms. Beckford's performances have been seen in Europe with the German tour of the rock musical Tabaluga and Lilli. In Dublin, Ireland she performed the choreography of Michael Foley and Cathy O'Kennedy in the production of Giselle: The Presence of the Past. After moving to Charlotte, North Carolina in 2002, Ms. Beckford performed with Martha Connerton's Kinetic Works and Sabrina Berry's American Dance Art. Her choreography was also featured in the repertory of both companies. While in New York City, Ms. Beckford taught jazz and modern dance at Steps on Broadway, The Spence School, Trinity School and was a guest teacher at Yale University and Ballet Academy East. In Charlotte, Ms. Beckford joined the faculty of North Carolina Dance Theater, teaching jazz, modern and ballet, and she served as a guest choreographer for the University of North Carolina, Charlotte's dance department. She began teaching Pilates matwork at Charlotte's Alternative Fitness Pilates Studio in 2003, and received her Alternative Fitness reformer certification in 2004. Here in the Chicago area, she teaches ballet and modern at Dance Center Evanston, and Pilates at From the Center in Lakeview.
Bonnie Brooks - Faculty / Associate Professor
bbrooks@colum.edu (312) 369-8350
* Bonnie is on Sabbatical for Fall 2011 and Spring 2012 *
Bonnie Brooks is a dance writer, dance educator, and arts advocate with an extensive background in dance administration and production. She studied English in her undergraduate work at Wheaton College (IL) and at George Mason University, where she received a Master of Arts degree and served as a research fellow at the Research Center for the Federal Theater Project. Prior to joining the faculty at Columbia, she was a visiting assistant professor in the graduate program of the World Arts & Cultures Department at UCLA, where she taught contemporary dance issues and practice. From 1990-1998, she was President and Executive Director of Dance/USA, the country's principal service organization for dance. While at Dance/USA, she oversaw numerous initiatives including the National Task Force on Dance Education and the development of numerous regranting programs including the American Dance Touring Initiative and the California-based Irvine Fellowships in Dance. During the 1980's, she was executive director at the Minnesota Dance Alliance (1985-88), managing director of NY-based David Gordon/Pick Up Co.(1982-85), and worked as a program specialist at the National Endowment for the Arts (1979-82). In addition to chairing the Dance Center, Bonnie teaches Introduction to Dance Studies, Contemporary Trends in Dance, Cross Cultural Perspectives in Dance, Western Dance History, and Artists and Audiences. She co-curates the Dance Center's presenting season with executive director Phil Reynolds, and serves as the Dance Center's primary audience dramaturg by presenting audience lectures, writing program notes, and moderating public talks with visiting artists. She sustains an active role in the regional and national dance community, and was a board member of the Music and Dance Theater of Chicago from 2000-2005. With colleagues from Links Hall and Chicago's Museum of Contemporary Art, she was a co-founder of the Chicago Dancemakers Forum. She has published articles and commentary in Dance Magazine (New York) and Dance Now (London), and is currently working on a history of the “arts wars” of the 1990s.
Liz Burritt - Adjunct Faculty
lburritt@colum.edu
Malik R. Camara - Adjunct Faculty
Malik R. Camara, a native of St. Louis, Malik R. Camara is a premier dancer for Muntu Dance Theatre of Chicago and Assistant Artistic Director for Alyo Children's Dance Theatre. For the past several years he has worked as a dancer, teacher, choreographer, and program coordinator in the Chicago area. Malik's early training in dance began with the Dunham Technique in East St. Louis, Illinois with Arthur Savage, Vivian Watt, and Theodore Jamison. Malik performed in the African Dance Ensemble under the direction of Sunshine and Terry Brown and Chamahaw, then Abdoulaye Camara, Deborah Ahmed and The St. Louis Black Repertory Theatre. After arriving in Chicago in the late 80s, Malik studied with Muntu, Imani Foster, Nahgeree Sutton, Denise Williams, S'hore Nuff Dance Studio, Woto Seta, Papa Camara Men of Muntu, Silembo Ballet, Vaune Blalock and Amaniyea Payne. Malik gives thanks and praise to the Creative Forces of the Ancestors and his teachers. Currently, Malik is teaching for Columbia College, Proviso East High School, Alyo Children's Dance Theatre and DCFS. He is also a member of the Dance Ministry at Trinity United Church of Christ.
Tim Campos - Evening Receptionist
tcampos@colum.edu (312) 369-8310
Peter Carpenter - Faculty / Associate Professor
pcarpenter@colum.edu (312) 369-8316
* Peter is on Sabbatical for Spring 2012 *
Peter Carpenter is an independent choreographer whose physical theater performances have often intersected with political activism and critical theory. Often acclaimed for his choreographic staging of queer theatricality, Carpenter has dedicated the majority of his career to tracking the complex ways in which identity has been shaped in subaltern communities by HIV/AIDS. His independent work has resulted in numerous repertory pieces and four evening-length works including Bareback Into the Sunset (2003), which, since its premiere at Highways Performance Space in Santa Monica, Calif., has been seen in excerpted versions at numerous conferences and performance events commemorating World AIDS Day. The full-version of Bareback Into the Sunset was recently presented by the Dance Center of Columbia College. Carpenter's work as an independent artist has been presented by numerous galleries, museums and theaters including the 29th Street Repertory Theater in New York, the Steppenwolf Theater, Chicago's Links Hall, and the Ackland Art Museum in Chapel Hill, N.C. Carpenter has also received funding to create new work from the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and the Illinois Arts Council and has received a Joseph Jefferson Citation for Outstanding Theater Choreography. Carpenter's independent work has been supplemented by affiliations with Chicago's XSIGHT! Performance Group where he served as an artistic associate (1993-2001) and the StreetSigns Center for Literature and Performance in Chicago and Chapel Hill, N.C. where he served as the resident choreographer (1992-2001). As a member of XSIGHT! Carpenter presented worked at the University of Illinois at Chicago, Northwestern University, Wesleyan College, University of Alaska in Anchorage and Fairbanks, Dance Works in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and the MEX experimental theatre in Louisville, Kentucky. Carpenter received his M.F.A. in Dance from UCLA's Department of World Arts and Cultures in 2003 and is currently writing his dissertation for a Ph.D. in Culture and Performance Studies (also from UCLA). He received his B.S. from Northwestern University's Theater Department in 1992. Carpenter is currently a full-time faculty member at the Dance Center of Columbia College in Chicago.
Michael Caskey - Adjunct Faculty / Music Services Coordinator
Michael Caskey hails from rural Southwestern Michigan. Graduating Magna Cum Laude from Western Michigan University's school of music in 1999, Michael has performed with artists as diverse as Chuck Mangione, Toni Tenille, Danilo Perez, Marvin Hamlisch, and John Sinclair. Currently, Michael is a part of Eastern Blok, a pan-cultural ensemble that performs and presents masterclasses throughout the United States. A DownBeat jazz magazine award winner and five-time Detroit Music Award recipient, Michael has performed for audiences throughout the United States, Canada, Poland, France, Germany, Denmark, and Belgium. At Columbia, Michael coordinates the department's accompanist program and teaches Rhythmic Analysis.
Zineb Chraibi - Adjunct Faculty
Zineb Chraibi, a former dancer with the Joseph Holmes Chicago Dance Theatre, grew up in Casablanca, Morocco where she first started her training. She later returned to her native city of Paris to study Ballet, Modern, and Jazz and furthered her training at Les Ballets Jazz De Montreal. In 1991, she completed her BA in Dance Magna Cum Laude at Point Park College in Pittsburgh, Pa while performing with the Playhouse Dance Theatre. Since moving to Chicago, Miss Chraibi has performed with Winifred Haun and Dancers, as well as various independent choreographers. She served on the faculty of the conservatory of dance at Barat College, the Joel Hall Dance Center, the Lou Conte Dance Studio, as well as The Chicago Academy for The Arts . She is currently on the faculty at Columbia College, serves as an Artist-in- residence in various schools in the Chicago land area and guest teaches in the US and abroad.
Jill Chukerman - Public Relations
JAC Communications 773-525-3974 jchuk@rcn.com
Shaker Cohlmia - Adjunct Faculty
Margi Cole - Faculty / Adjunct Faculty
Margi Cole graduated from the Alabama School of Fine Arts, received a Bachelor of Arts in Dance from Columbia College Chicago and a Masters of Fine Arts in Dance from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. As a teacher and guest lecturer, she has taught for numerous educational and professional organizations such as the Alabama Ballet, the American College Dance Festival, Ballet Tennessee, Northwestern University, Columbia College Chicago, and various other institutions throughout Illinois, the Midwest, and the Southeast. As a choreographer, Margi has been commissioned by The Alabama Ballet, Springfield Ballet Company, Sanspointe DanceCompany, the Birmingham Museum of Art, Girl’s Preparatory School of Tennessee, Beloit College and Columbia College Chicago.
As a performer, Margi has danced with well-known choreographers and companies, including Ralph Lemon, Joe Goode Performance Group, Liz Burritt, Stephen Koplowitz, Ann Boyd, David Rousseve, Bill Young, Douglas Nielsen, Timothy O’Slynne, Paula Frasz, Colleen Halloran, Molly Shanahan/Mad Shak, Mordine & Company Dance Theatre, Renee Wadleigh, and Ellie Klopp. In August 2011, Cole traveled to Finhorn Scotland to join 19 international performers to participate in the Deborah Hay Solo Commissioning Project.
Awards and acknowledgements of Margi's accomplishments include making the list of “Teachers Rated Excellent by their Students” four consecutive semesters while on faculty at the University of Illinois, receiving two Dance Center of Columbia College Choreographic Mentoring Scholarships, two Illinois Arts Council Individual Artist Fellowships, a 2005 Chicago Dancemakers Forum grant, a American Marshall Memorial Fellowship, and winning a Panoply Festival Choreography Award for Contemporary Dance in Huntsville, AL.
Margi is active in the Chicago dance community, serving on grant panels and in public forums as an arts administrator, dancer and choreographer. In 2011, she was integral in organizing both the Dance/USA and Marshall Forum annual conferences in Chicago. Cole is currently a Chicago Dancemakers Forum Consortium Member and is part of the Marshall Memorial Fellowship Selection Committee. She is currently on faculty at Columbia College Chicago, where she has served as a Lecturer and Associate Chair. Most recently she was name on of The Players in New City’s “Fifty People Who Really Perform in Chicago” List.
Kym Costa comes from a professional Ballet Dancer's background having danced for the Civic Ballet at The Ruth Page Foundation in Chicago. She studied with several prominent ballet companies across the United States including The Joffrey Ballet and the Pennsylvania Ballet. Kym used her strong background as a Dancer to transition smoothly into the Fitness industry. As a Fitness Professional, Kym managed Group Exercise Programs at several upscale health clubs in the Chicago area. While managing a team of over 60 instructors, Kym used her knowledge of movement to instruct a variety of exercise classes including step, hi/low, cardio dance, Ballet, slide, sculpt, interval, stretch, Spin, circuit, water, walking, boxing and treading. She is an accomplished Sport Aerobic Competitor who ranked nationally two years in a row. Kym has coached and choreographed for Sport Aerobic Competitors as well as Fitness Competitors and continues to work with athletes who are ranking nationally in their divisions. Kym was the Co-Captain/Choreographer for Reebok's Performance Team and traveled nationally to conduct master classes and/or present Fitness Workshops. Kym's fitness certifications include: NASM Personal Trainer, ACE Instructor & Personal Trainer, AFAA Instructor, Spinning, N'Stretch and CPR. In the past seven years, Kym has turned her focus from mainstream fitness to the mind/body exercises of Yoga and Pilates. In 1999, Kym started to study Yoga regularly while living in Los Angeles studying at the Yoga Place in Costa Mesa, YogaWorks in Hollywood and Long Beach Yoga Centre in Long Beach. Kym has been fortunate enough to take workshop classes from several masters including Anna Forrest and Tim Miller. In New York, Kym studied at Jivamukti Yoga Center and in Chicago studies mainly with Quinn Kearney and Tom Quinn at Yoga View. In 2000, after completing over 700 hours of apprenticeship from the training centers in Chicago and New York, Kym received her certification in the Authentic Pilates Method of Body Conditioning now called Romana's Pilates. Romana Kryzanowska, Joseph Pilates' protÈgÈ, heads the certification which includes only about 1500 instructors in the world. This exclusive group continues to maintain the integrity of the exercises by teaching them exactly as Joseph Pilates developed and taught them. Today, Kym owns a small Pilates studio called Chicago's Pure Pilates located in the West Loop. Kym and her instructors teach one-on-one or two-on-one sessions in a private setting.
Paige Cunningham Caldarella - Faculty / Associate Chair, Assistant Professor
pcunningham@colum.edu (312) 369-8318
Paige Cunningham Caldarella studied at Cincinnati's School for Creative and Performing Arts. She received her B.F.A. from the Juilliard School and went on to dance for the Merce Cunningham Dance Company, touring throughout Europe, Australia and the U.S. Mrs. Caldarella holds an M.F.A. from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and is an Assistant Professor at the Dance Center of Columbia College Chicago currently serving as the Associate Chair. She has performed with among others The Seldoms, Colleen Halloran Performance Group, Linda Lehovec, Darrell Jones and Sara Hook. Her choreography has been seen at Chicago's Cultural Center as a recipient of the DanceBridge program, the Krannert Center, Links Hall, the Aronoff Center and Summer Stages Dance in Concord, Massachusetts. Additionally, Mrs. Caldarella has guest taught at the University of California, Berkeley, University of Florida, Gainesville, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, Beloit College and Boston Ballet's summer program.
Allen Desterhaft - Adjunct FacultyAllen Desterhaft holds a BFA in dance from the Ohio State University. He has danced professionally with Chi-Town Jazz Dance Chicago, and Winifred Haun and Dancers. He has performed as a guest artist with the Joffrey Ballet, Dance for Life, Dance Theater North, Schaumburg Dance Ensemble, Evanston Dance Ensemble, Barrington Youth Dance Ensemble, and The Chicago Festival Ballet. He is a certified licentiate teacher of the Cecchetti Council of America, and is currently the ballet program director at The Rhythm Academy of Dance in Gurnee. Allen also has 21 years of experience in competitive and social Dancesport which he teaches at the University of Chicago, Dance Center Evanston, Dance Connection, Dance Center Chicago, and North Avenue Dance Studio.
Dan DiLuciano - Staff / Operations Coordinator
ddiluciano@colum.edu (312) 369-8314
Dan DiLuciano, who has an extensive background in Chicago’s off-loop theater industry and later worked for nine years with the Lyric Opera of Chicago’s Ryan Opera Center, is the Operations Coordinator for the Dance Center, managing the day-to-day non-academic use and operation of the Dance Center’s studios and classroom spaces.
Kevin Gerrard Dirckson - Staff / Accounts Manager
kdirckson@colum.edu (312) 369-8346
Born and raised in Lake Wales, Florida, Kevin trained in Scottish dance under the direction of the late Dennis Kusy for the Lake Wales Highlander Band. In 2004 Kevin Moved to Chicago, Illinois to pursue higher education in the art of movement and dance. Kevin achieved that education through post-secondary institution of Columbia College Chicago. While at Columbia Kevin worked with several top choreographers including, Merce Cunningham, Emily Stein, and Gesel Mason. Also during his time there Kevin created three original pieces titled: The Bible (2006), As One (2006), and Lala (2007). In May 2008 Kevin completed the curriculum to attain his Bachelor’s Degree.
Upon graduation Kevin joined Cerqua Rivera Dance Theater as a company member for two seasons under the direction of Wilfred Rivera. He then went on to dance for Momenta Dance Company under the brilliant leadership of Stephanie Clemens. Also while dancing for Momenta Dance Company Kevin was picked up by Winifred Haun & Dancers, He has danced for both companies for three years.
While continuing to perform, Kevin also finds time to be the Assistant Director and Choreographer for the dance company Spiritual Feet, which has been up and running for about three years now. In addition Kevin also serves in his dance ministry Yielded Vessel as the Rehearsal Coordinator at New Life Covenant Oakwood Church under the Vision and leadership of Pastor John F. Hannah, and under the careful guidance of dance ministry leader Matthew Williams.
Katie Sopoci Drake - Evening Receptionist
kdrake@colum.edu (312) 369-8310
Emma Draves is an artist and choreographer who has worked with a variety of artists in and around Chicago, including Lookingglass Theatre, Victory Gardens Theatre, and Yo-Yo Ma/The Silk Road Project, as well as with companies Hedwig Dances and Mordine & Company Dance Theater.
Trained in classical bharatanatyam under Hema Rajagopalan, Emma continues to perform with Natya Dance Theatre as well as create her own 'bilingual' work. Recent grant support has come from the Chicago Dancemakers Forum, Links Hall, and the Chicago Cultural Center. Recent research into the Trajectory of Contemporary Indian Dance was invited to be presented at the International Conference on Arts & the Humanities.
Emma teaches technique and Dance Studies at Columbia College, and has taught workshops at several local universities including University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Carthage College, and Governor's State University.
Tabitha Faes - Adjunct Faculty
Tabitha studied The Pilates Method under the guidance of Randi Whitman at Frog Temple Pilates Studio, Inc. She enjoys learning and teaching the subtleties found in Pilates and believes in the restorative power Pilates offers. Tabitha thrives on the challenge of sharing her knowledge of pilates with clients and students. She continually seeks exposure to various kinds of movement in addition to Pilates including modern dance, yoga, and gyrotonic. Currently, she continues her Pilates education at The Pilates Center in Boulder, Co. Her background is in modern dance. Tabitha earned a BFA in dance from Columbia College Chicago. Fulfilling a lifelong dream, Tabitha has been a founding member in Breakbone DanceCo. since 2001 under the artistic direction of Atalee Judy. She has been a member of several dance companies in the Chicago area including Chicago Moving Company, Synapse Arts Collective, and Without Shoes Modern Dance Company. This past year she co-produced a performance with Synapse and Elisa Foshay to present original choreography. She traveled to Paraguay courtesy of the Peace Corps and to Hawaii to teach dance workshops. Tabitha is thrilled to be creating a life in Chicago as a Pilates instructor and performing artist.
Jyl Fehrenkamp- Adjunct Faculty
Jyl Fehrenkamp is very grateful to teach yoga at the Dance Center of Columbia College Chicago. Jyl came to yoga as a form of cross-training to recover from an injury and it soon became her primary movement practice. Her teaching is influenced by her teachers at Yogaview, a Chicago yoga studio where she continues to practice and teach. Jyl also teaches yoga at Midtown Athletic Club, Cheetah gym, as well as yoga workshops for The Dance COLEctive. She also teaches WERQ and Cheerobix, two high energy dance fitness classes that are taking Chicago by storm, one lunge at a time. In addition to her teaching, Jyl's creative work often fuses modern dance with burlesque-inspired performance art and has been seen in a variety of Chicago nightclubs and theaters, including Links Hall, where she has been the curator and hostess of Poonie’s Cabaret since 2006. Jyl was the choreographer and nerd-in-residence for “Alien Queen”, a rock-musical parody of the “Alien” movies. She also created the science-fiction-themed variety hour, “Battlestar Fantastica”, which was featured as the pre-show for “Alien Queen” during their run at the Metro in 2011.
Erin T. Feiler - Staff / Media & Technology Coordinator
efeiler@colum.edu (312) 369-8334
Erin Tisdale Feiler received her MFA in Dance Documentation from
The Ohio State University in 2006 and a dual BFA in Dance Performance
and Dance Education from Kent State University in 2002. She is a member
of Dance Research Forum Ireland (DRFI) as well as a presenter at their 1st annual conference in Limerick, Ireland, and 3rd annual conference in Cork, Ireland. Also a
certified Labanotation Teacher by the Dance Notation Bureau, she has
assisted in the training of Labanotation teachers, and is on the Professional Advisory Committee (PAC) for the Dance Notation Bureau. Her master's
project, The Preservation and Documentation of Irish Dance, focuses on
the most commonly practiced forms of dance documentation, including
video, text, and symbol based systems (specifically Labanotation).
In 2006 Feiler received a Fellowship from the Dance
Heritage Coalition (DHC) concentrating on archiving dance materials, at
the Department of Dance at Ohio State, the Jerome Lawrence and Robert
E. Lee Theatre Research Institute (TRI) at Ohio State, and for Columbus
Dance Theatre. She has also worked on documentation projects with a
variety of artists including Bebe Miller and Valarie Williams. Feiler
has also been teaching modern, video and Irish Dance at numerous
schools, universities and festivals. She has taught at the American
College Dance Festival, been a visiting artist at Mercyhurst College,
and a lecturer at The Ohio State University's Department of Dance. Her most recent work has concentrated on documenting and archiving improvisation in dance.
Erin T. Feiler is currently the Media & Technology Coordinator in charge of all archiving and videos for The Dance Center and teaches video to students.
www.erintfeiler.com
Dedicated in her study of the body, Sara graduated from the University of Iowa with honors, a BFA in dance, and began her professional career as a dancer; however, she continued on to receive her personal training certification in 2002 from the American Council on Exercise. Since then she has furthered her study of the body with a certification as an Integrative Movement Specialist and a certification in perinatal fitness from Healthy Moms. Early on in her career she co-founded Woman Centered Fitness where she designed and taught several fitness classes for women and has since gone on to author 2 chapters on perinatal fitness in Complete Program Design: For the Rest of Us by Evan Osar (www.fitnesseducationseminars.com). In 2007 she presented at the Annual Midwest Strength, Conditioning and Rehabilitation Symposium on perinatal fitness. Sara also works at Chicago Integrative Movement Specialists (formerly OSAR Consulting) as a Movement Specialist. Whether teaching group classes or working one-on-one, she helps her clients meet their fitness goals through customized fitness techniques, and when she’s not doing that, Sara enjoys spending time with her husband and 2 boys.
Sara co-founded Woman Centered Fitness where she designed and instructed Buggy Babes, an outdoor stroller class. She has also designed & taught mommy & me exercise ball classes as well as general fitness classes. She authored 2 chapters on perinatal fitness in Complete Program Design: For the Rest of Us by Evan Osar (www.fitnesseducationseminars.com), and in 2007 Sara gave a presentation on perinatal fitness at the Annual Midwest Strength, Conditioning & Rehabilitation Symposium.
Sara also founded Roots in Rhythm Dance Project and choreographed a work for the Great Performers of Illinois Series alongside the internationally charted Bluegrass band Tangleweed (www.tangleweed.org). She currently works with O.S.A.R. Consulting as a personal trainer and is on faculty at Columbia College where she teaches body conditioning. As a faculty member at Truman College, Sara designs and teaches various fitness classes that are open to the student body and the public. Sara is a founding member and part of the leadership team for the Holistic Moms Network (www.holisticmoms.org) Chicago chapter, and she spends every moment possible with her husband and two boys.
Lisa Gonzales - Faculty / Assistant Professor
lgonzales@colum.edu (312) 369-8317
* Lisa is on Sabbatical for Fall 2011 and Spring 2012 *
Lisa Gonzales is an independent dance maker, improviser and performing
artist. She began her training in choreography and improvisation with
Penny Campbell, Andrea Olsen, Peter Schmitz and Jill Becker at
Middlebury College where she received her B.A. She went on to earn her
M.F.A. from Ohio State University and moved to New York City in 1999
where she was based until 2004. In 1999, with Pamela Vail, Jennifer
Kayle and Kathrine Ferrier, she founded the Architects, an
improvisational dance company that performs nationally and
internationally. She has performed and shown her choreography in New
York at such venues as DTW, Danspace at St. Mark's Church, Joyce Soho,
WAX, Joe's Pub, John Jay College, Brick Studio, University Settlement
and others, as well as in spaces across the United States.
Internationally, she has presented her work in Taiwan, Russia and
Finland and has been invited to teach and perform in the Dominican
Republic in January. She credits many artists with whom she has worked
as being influential to her own art making including Peter Schmitz,
Penny Campbell, Susan Sgorbati, Andrea Olsen, Deborah Hay, Angie
Hauser, Chris Aiken, Paul Matteson, K.J. Holmes, Amy Chavasse, Deana
Acheson, her work with the Architects, and others. She has also had the
pleasure of touring with choreographer/puppeteer Dan Hurlin in his Obie
award-winning work Hiroshima Maiden, and is currently collaborating with New York puppeteers Chris Green and Erin Ore on a work entitled Tin Lightening
that combines elements of dance, theater, object performance and
puppetry. She is beginning a new evening length dance work of her own
which will premier in the fall of 2008 and is presenting work in
Chicago at Links Hall in February and in March. She is a lecturer at
Columbia College, Chicago and on faculty at the Movement Intensive in Compositional Improvisation which happens annually in June at Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster, PA.
Christina Gonzalez-Gillett - Adjunct Faculty / IDT Coordinator
cgonzalez-gillett@colum.edu (312) 369-8300
Christina Gonzalez-Gillett attended the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign where she received her BFA in Dance. During that time she also studied in London, at the Laban Center, and in New York. After completing her undergraduate degree, Christina moved to London to pursue her master's degree at the Laban Center London, now called TrinityLaban, a conservatory for music and dance. During her time in London she worked with several choreographers and taught at local colleges. Christina returned to Chicago and started teaching at Columbia College. She is also the Assistant Director of The Seldoms, a Chicago-based contemporary dance company, and she is certified in both Laban Movement Analysis and Pilates.
Suzy Grant - Community Outreach and Education Consultant
sgrant@colum.edu 312-369-8341
Jennifer Grisham - Adjunct Faculty
Jennifer Grisham, received a B.F.A. in Dance from the University of Arizona. She has been performing, choreographing and teaching in Chicago for the past 9 years. Her work has been produced for local festivals, some of which include Chicago's Next Dance Festival and the Around the Coyote. She has also co-produced the Valentine's day extravaganza, "ValenSWINE". Jen has been performing with The Seldoms since 2003.
Colleen Halloran - Adjunct FacultyColleen Halloran is a Chicago-born choreographer, filmmaker and educator who has taught at Columbia College Chicago since 1997. She is intrigued by the intersection and manipulation of movement, image, and story to arrive at a collective “whole”. Such companies as Mordine & Company Dance Theatre, The Dance COLEctive, and Same Planet, Different World Dance Theatre have commissioned Colleen’s dance works for the stage. Her short films have screened in Japan, Palm Springs, San Francisco, Oklahoma, Wisconsin, and Chicago. Her feature screenplays have been finalists for The Sundance Screenwriters Lab in 2009 and 2010. www.colleenhalloran.com
Jeff Hancock - Adjunct Faculty
Jeff Hancock was an original founding member of River North Dance Chicago. He also danced with Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, was Co-Artistic Director of Same Planet Different World Dance Theatre, and has performed and toured nationally and internationally with numerous companies,ranging from opera to musical theatre, including the Lyric Opera of Chicago, Disney, and many others. His choreography has been seen on River North Dance Chicago, Hubbard Street 2, the Edinburgh Festival, Same Planet, Northwestern University, Columbia College, Dance Crash, The Dance COLEctive, and numerous other companies. He is a Lecturer at Northwestern University, Adjunct at Columbia College, and also designs and constructs costumes with his company -ish by jeff hancock. He is a recipient of an Illinois Arts Council grant, and was nominated for Ruth Page Awards for dancing and choreography.
Carrie Hanson - Adjunct Faculty
CARRIE HANSON is a performer, choreographer, dance educator and the Founding Artistic Director of The Seldoms. In its ten years, she has created over twenty new works for the company. Time Out Chicago calls her "a virtuoso of meticulous composition" who makes "clear-edged, challenging dances". Under the direction of Ms. Hanson, The Seldoms has gained a reputation for bold, innovative performance in unusual spaces such as cargo containers and truck depots. Called "one of the most ambitious, exacting artists in the local scene" by TimeOut, Hanson was a Chicago Dancemaker's Forum Lab Artist, has twice been awarded an Illinois Arts Council Choreographic Fellowship, and received a Ruth Page Award for Performance. In 2010, she was named by New City magazine as one of "The Players: 50 People Who Really Perform for Chicago". She has been commissioned by the National Theater of Mannheim, Germany, the Elena Slobodchikova Dance Company in Russia, the Morton Arboretum, and Chicago dance companies Same Planet Different World and LIVE ANIMALS. Numerous collaborators include percussionist Tim Daisy, the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE), composer Richard Woodbury, visual artists Jackie Kazarian and Fraser Taylor, architect Joel Huffman, and designers Maria Pinto, Lara Miller, and Anke Loh. Ms. Hanson teaches dance making, contemporary technique and experiential anatomy at The Dance Center of Columbia College Chicago, and has been a guest teacher for Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, River North Dance Chicago, Thodos Dance Chicago, Mordine & Company, and at UW Madison. Ms. Hanson conducts residencies at university dance programs, most recently the University of Wisconsin/Madison, and often speaks at dance forums such as "Ars Scientia", a program of the Department of Cultural Affairs creating connections between art and science. She is certified in Laban Movement Analysis and earned her MA in Dance Studies from Laban London.Malcolm-Curtis Hill - Staff / Box Office Manager
mhill@colum.edu (312) 369-8189
Matthew Hollis - Adjunct Faculty
Anthony Ingram - Staff / Technical Associate/Audio
aingram@colum.edu (312) 369-8325
Anthony Ingram has been building, designing, performing in, directing and stage managing productions in the Chicagoland area since his arrival in 2002. His sound designs could be heard in Signal's Hamlet, The Weir, Closer, The Dumb Waiter & The Zoo Story, She Stoops to Conquer, Seascape and in the Right Brain Project's production of The Empire Builders. He is an ensemble member of Signal Theater Ensemble. He directed A Devil Inside and appeared in The Castle for the Right Brain Project, where he is managing director. He has stage managed prior Signal Ensemble productions including Catch-22 and the original run of Waiting for Godot as well as performing as Lucky in the remount of Godot.
Darrell Jones - Faculty / Assistant Professor
drjones@colum.edu (312) 369-8315
Darrell Jones performs in the United States and abroad with a variety of choreographers and companies, including Bebe Miller, Urban Bush Women, Ronald K. Brown, Min Tanaka, Ralph Lemon and KOKUMA Dance Theater. He was on tour with the Bebe Miller Company throughout the summer and fall of 2005. Along with performing Darrell choreographs and teaches. He has collaborated with other choreographers (Fiona Millward, Jeremy Wade, Angie Hauser), writers (Cheryl Boyce Taylor), musicians (Brian Schulur, Jesse Manno, NOMAD), and designers (Mahwish Syed), in dance films, documentations and interactive multimedia installations. In addition to his collaborative duets he also works in solo forms. His choreography has been presented at The Place Theater in London, Kwanju Biennale in South Korea, The Kennedy Center in Washington DC and Judson Memorial Church in New York City. Darrell has taught workshops and master classes throughout the United States and in other countries such as South Africa, UK, and South Korea. His classes are informed by his training and studies in a variety of contemporary dance techniques, improvisation, Butoh and Traditional Dance forms. He will be full-time on the Dance Center faculty in January, 2006, where he will be teaching dancemaking, improvisation, and modern technique.
Michael Kirkpatrick - Adjunct Faculty
Mary Klonowski - Adjunct Faculty
Mary Klonowski has been practicing yoga since 1985 and teaching since 1995. She quit her 9-5 day job and began teaching yoga full-time in September 2001. She currently teaches Ashtanga, Iyengar and therapeutic forms of yoga at various studios throughout Chicago, including her own studio on the Northwest side and at Gilda's Club - a cancer wellness center. Mary pursued continuing education through her study with Sri K. Pattabhis Jois, the 89 year-old master of the Astanga method of yoga. She was meditating with him and 250 other yogis in the early hours of September 11th in New York City, a profound experience that has strongly affected her yoga practice. Other study included with Tim Miller, L'no Miele, Dennis Dean, Marju Jois (Pattabhis' son), Lori King and Dena Kingsberg.
Hau Kum Leung-Kneip - Adjunct Faculty
Hau Kum Leung-Kneip teaches Tai Chi. She received the bulk of her training in Hong Kong and Taiwan, in association with Master Cheng Shen Chi. Hau Kum has won the All-China Martial Arts Demonstration Contest and a provincial head Tai Chi Chuan Master. She now uses her skills as a teacher and lecturer.
Yael Levitin - Adjunct FacultyNadine Lollino - Adjunct Faculty
Nadine Lollino choreographs, performs and designs/creates the garments for POSTERCHILD. POSTERCHILD is a multimedia collective combining dance, music, visual art and fashion. Co-founded by Nadine Lollino and Bob Garrett, POSTERCHILD's collaborators include artists Flynn,
Lyndsae Rinio, Stone, Brian Kallies and many more. Over the course of the last four years POSTERCHILD has performed in Chicago, Hawaii, Denver and the Fringe Festival in Minnesota. POSTERCHILD is excited to have found a home base in Pilsen at their home studio/performance space called TEMPLE Gallery, to create a transformative environment tailored to their artistic vision. Nadine is also a professional massage therapist and yoga teacher within the city and on faculty at the Columbia College Dance Center teaching yoga. Her yoga classes are influenced by experience in modern dance, Pilates, and massage therapy. Certified through the Yoga Alliance Nadine teaches a Hatha/Vinyasa Flow class. She teaches that which has inspired her; a flowing balance between alignment and technique to preserve health, and the dance of spirit and heart to be free of fear. Nadine has a B.A. in Movement Therapy and Psychology from Barat College, Lake Forest Illinois. She previously danced with Anatomical Dance Theater and Breakbone DanceCo, now spending any free time working solely on POSTERCHILD (posterchildart.com).
Dardi McGinley-Gallivan - Faculty / Senior Lecturer
dmcginley@colum.edu (312) 369-8320
Dardi McGinley Gallivan received a BA in Art History from Emory University and an MA in Dance from The Ohio State University. She has been on the faculty at the Dance Center of Columbia College Chicago since 1993 when she also joined Mordine and Company Dance Theatre. In 1996 she received a Ruth Page Dance Achievement Award for her performance in Mordine’s Edge Mode. Dardi is also a founding member of Mad Shak Dance Company and has performed many times for the Colleen Halloran Performance Group. Dardi has had the pleasure of teaching company classes for The Dance COLEctive, Mordine & Company Dance Theatre, Thodos Dance Company, River North, Luna Negra, and Giordano. She has taught residencies at the invitation of Antares Danza Contemporeanea in Hermosillio, Mexico and recently taught at the International Dance Festival in San Luis Potosi, Mexico. In addition to teaching Modern technique classes, Dardi also currently teaches Dance Pedagogy. Dardi has also taught several lecture classes at the Dance Center of Columbia College and has worked as a teacher with community outreach and arts integration.
Michael McGinn - Adjunct Faculty
Michael McGinn holds a BA in Dance, Columbia College, and teaches Tai Chi. Michael brings a diverse synthesis of holistic healing and movement disciplines to his practice. He also teaches Tai Chi to chronically and terminally ill students.
Robert McKee - Adjunct Faculty
Pam McNeil - Academic Manager / Adjunct Faculty
pmcneil@colum.edu (312) 369-8321
Pamela McNeil has been active in the dance community as a performer, teacher, choreographer and, most recently, as an administrator for the past 35 years. After receiving a BA in Philosophy with a Dance specialization from Grand Valley State University, Pam moved to New York where she performed with numerous independent artists, studied intensively with Erick Hawkins Company, performed as an understudy and taught at the Hawkins school. She presented her own work in New York at several venues including, The Field, DIA, and Aglaia Middle Collegiate Church. Upon moving to Chicago in 1992 Pam became a member of Mordine & Company and continued to dance with the company until 2001. Pam was nominated for a Ruth Paige Award in 2000 for her work in Long Walking. Ms. McNeil has also performed with Colleen Halloran Performance Group and has presented her own work in Chicago at Links Hall, and at The Dance Center of Columbia College Chicago. Ms. McNeil began teaching at The Dance Center of Columbia College Chicago in 1992, where has taught in the areas of Anatomy/Kinesiology, Pedagogy, and Modern Technique. Recently, Pam also became the Academic Manager at for the dance department. Ms. McNeil is certified in Pilates and owns a private studio, Classic Pilates, in Oak Park, IL. In addition, Pam holds a Graduate Certificate in Laban Movement Analysis from Columbia College Chicago.
jmarino@colum.edu (312) 369-8349
Raquel Monroe, Ph.D - Faculty / Assistant Professor
rmonroe@colum.edu (312) 369-8352
Raquel L. Monroe, Ph.D is a scholar, artist, and activist with a long history in academia and in diverse communities engaging the ways in which dance influences and is influenced by the social discourses on race, gender, sexuality, class, and culture. Her current manuscript encompasses research in dance, performance studies, theatre, feminist, public health, queer, and critical race theories to explore the performance and representation of black female sexulaities and black social mobility in the Americas. As an artist, Raquel has worked with choreographers David Rousseve, Ronald K. Brown, Marianne Kim, and Ana Maria Alvarez. Her greatest passions are dance, yoga, and working with young artists who are eager to explore how art intervenes, impacts, and speaks to issues of social justice.
Cheryl Olendzki- Adjunct Faculty
Cheryl Olendzki holds a duel BFA in Dance Teaching and Dance Choreography from Columbia College Chicago and has studied dance pedagogy under Jan Eckhart, Anne Green Gilbert, Dardi McGinley-Gallivan, Sinead Kimbrell, Shawn Lent, Zypher Dance, and Project AIM. In 2008, she became Hubbard Street Dance Chicago’s first full-time teaching artist where she has taught in partnering Chicago public elementary schools developing the Focus Schools Initiative yearlong model and collaborated in developing the Performance as Curriculum program. With Hubbard Street and the Center for Community Arts Partnership, she has created and implemented sequential, developmentally focused curriculum for integrated and creative based programs with an emphasis on personal voice. She has also led professional development sessions and workshops for dance teaching artists and for elementary school teachers. She teaches technique for Ballet Chicago and HSDC’s Youth Dance Program and is independently developing movement classes for senior centers and for children’s hospitals. Her writing on education has been published in Dance Magazine and HSDC’s Footnotes. In 2011, she joyously joined the Dance Center’s adjunct faculty teaching dance pedagogy.
Onye Ozuzu- Faculty / Department Chair, Associate Professor
oozuzu@colum.edu (312) 369-8340
Onye Ozuzu is a dance administrator, performing artist, choreographer, educator and researcher. She received a Bachelor of Arts degree in English Literature with a minor in Economics as well as a Masters of Fine Arts degree in Dance Performance and Choreography at Florida State University. She has most recently been serving as Associate Chair, Director of Dance in the Department of Theatre and Dance at the University of Colorado, Boulder. While there, her work has been notable for its balance of visionary and practical progress in the arenas of curricular, artistic, and community development of diversity, collaboration and interdisciplinary performance arts. She teaches African-based contemporary dance technique, Composition, World Dance and Culture, Improvisation, Creative Dance for Children, and a graduate Seminar, The African in American, Perspectives and Implications: A Dancer’s View.
Onye has been actively making and performing work since 1997. Her work has been seen nationally and internationally at The Joyce Soho (Manhattan, NY), Kaay Fecc Festival De Toutes les Danses (Dakar, Senegal), La Festival del Caribe (Santiago, Cuba), Lisner Auditorium (Washington DC), McKenna Museum of African American Art (New Orleans, LA), as well as many anonymous site-specific locations around the world. She was a 2010 recipient of the Innovative Seed Grant, University of Colorado’s most prestigious research grant, for her ethnographic research project ADADIA African Drum and Dance in America: the Oral History Archive. This summer she is returning to EarthDance Workshop and Retreat Center and teaching at Bates Dance Festival where she continues to expand work as an AfroModern contemporary technique teacher and on Technology of the Circle, a group improvisation and interdisciplinary performance process. Her most recent choreographic endeavor, And They Lynched him on a Tree, is a multidisciplinary collaborative effort that premiered in February at the ATLAS Black Box Theatre, in Boulder, CO a center for the intersection of art, science and technology.
Taisha Paggett- Faculty / Visiting Lecturer
tpaggett@colum.edu (312) 369-8333Taisha Paggett is a Los Angeles based choreographer, dancer, teacher, and co-founder of the dance journal project, itch. Her work is inspired by various discourses on the body as an expressive tool and is interested in bridging the sensibility and discourses of both the visual and performing arts.
Her movement background is inspired by a number of influential teachers and choreographers whom she's worked with over the years, as well as studies in yoga and contact improvisation. Before moving to Los Angeles she lived in New York City where she performed with the Stanley Love Performance Group, Fiona Marcotty and Kraig Patterson, and studied dance primarily through Movement Research. Prior to NYC, she attended UC Santa Cruz where she received an undergraduate degree in Art History, studied dance with Connie Kreemer, Sylvia Martins and the late Mel Wong, and performed with Moving and Storage Performance Company/Crash, Burn and Die Dance Company.
Jimmy Payne Jr. - Adjunct Faculty
Jimmy Payne Jr. began his tap dance lessons at Jimmy Payne School of Dance located in Chicago. His teacher and father was legendary dance master Jimmy Payne, who taught tap and Afro-Caribbean dance to thousands of dance enthusiasts and professionals for over seventy years. Jimmy Payne Jr. continues the tradition by performing and teaching in Chicago and abroad.
Jimmy has performed at the Chicago Blues Festival, the Chicago Jazz Festival, Dance Chicago, and with Chicago Human Rhythm Project. He also has performed with legendary saxophonist Von Freeman at the Chicago Cultural Center, with jazz great Orbert Davis at the Arts Club in Chicago, and with Bradley Williams 21st Century Jazz Review, whom he accompanied on a trip to India for a series of concerts. Jimmy performs with his dance group Perfect Timing, with his sister Sara, and as a soloist.
Critics have described Jimmy as "a tap classicist with a composers mind," (Chicago Sun Times) "the real deal," (Maui Times) and the Chicago Tribune referred to him as "smoking virtuosity." Jimmy has also won an award with Black Theater Alliance for best performance in concert. He currently teaches at Columbia College Chicago, Chicago Multi-Cultural Dance Center, and Stone Academy.
Jimmy's style of tap is rooted in intricate rhythms and movement. This style of tap is commonly referred to as rhythm tap and was taught by Jimmy Payne Sr. Jimmy Payne Sr. was taught by Broadway legend Buddy Bradley in the mid 1920's. Jimmy has also won a grant from Chicago Dance-Makers Forum for the production of Jimmy Payne’s Rhythm Of Life, a documentary and live stage performance that chronicles the life of dance legend Jimmy Payne, and American dance.
Christopher Perricelli- Adjunct Faculty
Christopher Perricelli graduated magna cum laude with a B.F.A. in dance from the State University of New York at Buffalo, studied at Illinois Institute of Art Chicago on the Visual FX and Motion Graphics B.F.A. track and attended Columbia College for Film and Video, as well as Dance. He has trained with renowned educators at the premier dance and fitness schools in the U.S. Mr. Perricelli has been teaching all levels of multiple dance disciplines and fitness classes for fifteen years. He is an accomplished dancer and choreographer, and has presented master classes around the world.
Ligia Popescu - Staff / Marketing Directorlhimebaugh@colum.edu (312) 369-8345
After receiving a Comprehensive Theatre degree from Northern Illinois University, Ligia delved into the world of directing, dramaturgy, and literary management, and worked for several local theatres including Lifeline, Goodman, and Court Theatre. She most recently worked as the Marketing/PR Director for Apple Tree Theatre and served as Marketing Coordinator for Chicago Scenic Studios. Ligia has also been a part of the Chicago film scene, serving as Associate Producer for several local productions, including the documentary,
The 95th, shown on PBS, and the feature film, Design, which debuted at the Sundance Film Festival a few years ago. As the Marketing Director for the Dance Center of Columbia College, she is responsible for implementing and supervising all marketing efforts for the academic unit and performance series.
Kim Pugh - Adjunct FacultyNatalie Rast - Adjunct Faculty
Natalie Rast began her study of ballet in Columbus, Ohio at the age of 10. She continued her studies in Chicago with Richard Ellis and Christine DuBoulay (formerly of the Royal Ballet) when her family relocated to DeKalb, IL. She attended Northern Illinois University for three years as a dance major. She transferred to Barat College where she was introduced to jazz dance. Shortly thereafter, she auditioned for Joel Hall Dancers, ending her college studies but beginning her professional dance career. She was a principal dancer with Joel Hall Dancers from 1981-1986 during which time the company toured extensively. During this same period she was on faculty at the Joel Hall Dance Center as well. In addition to studying with Joel Hall, Homer Bryant, Anna Czajun and Orin Kayan. Natalie is proud to have studied with Larry Long, Birute Barodicaite, Dolores Lipinski and Maria Tallchief. She studied extensively with Anna Paskevska and credits her with understanding of teaching dance today. She danced with the Chicago Dance Medium as well as many independent Chicago choreographers including Winifred Haun, Christy Munch and David Puszch. Her teaching credits include Joel Hall Dance Center, Chicago City Ballet, Joseph Holmes Dance Theater, Hyde Park School of Ballet, Columbia College Dance Center and the Chicago Academy for the Arts. She has served has served as ballet mistress for Winifred Haun and Dancers and Zephyr Dance. She founded Rast Ballet, a school focused on the study of ballet for the adult student, in December 1993. In March 2007, she opened her own dance space, Rast Ballet and Dance Studio, where she now holds classes for children as well as adults. The space is also used by many Chicago dance companies for rehearsal space. She is pleased to be joining the dance faculty at the Chicago Academy for the Arts in the school year 2007-08.
Kevin Rechner - Adjunct Faculty, Staff / Technical Directorkrechner@colum.edu (312) 369-8324
Kevin Rechner has been the Production Manager, Technical Director and Lighting Designer for the Dance Center of Columbia College Chicago since 1996. He has a Bachelor's Degree in Theatre from Illinois State University and spent 3 years in Paris, France studying Movement Theatre with Jacques Lecoq and Daniel Stein, He has created 4 solo performance works including I AM HUGO
. Technically, he has worn many hats for many people including: The Joffrey Ballet of Chicago, Ballet Theatre of Chicago, Daniel Stein, Akira Kasai, Kota Yamazaki, XSIGHT!, MASS, Momenta!, Robin Lakes Rough Dance, Deeply Rooted Dance Theatre, Hedwig Dances and others. He has designed lights for Peter Carpenter, Urban Bush Women, Mordine & Company Dance Theatre, HT Chen and Dancers, Natya Dance Theatre, Lifeline Theatre, Latin Street Dancing, Lucky Plush, Luna Negra Dance Theatre, The Dance COLEctive, The Seldoms, and others. He served as the LD / TD for the Dance Division of the National High School Institute for 5 years, and can still say "STOP" and "NO" in many languages.
Mary Carpenter Rechner - Staff / Program Coordinatormrechner@colum.edu (312) 369-8342
In 1989 theater was an avocation for Mary Carpenter Rechner starting with improv classes at The Players Workshop of Second City. For the following few years she directed, performed and ran lights for various small improv troupes in a variety of off-off loop theaters. As a company member of Transient Theater in Uptown from 1992-96 she designed lights, sets and costumes for four seasons of plays. In the mid 1990's Mary formally studied lighting and set design at Columbia College Chicago and worked as a stagehand at The Dance Center of Columbia College as well as a freelance lighting designer for local modern dance companies. After three years at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, she has returned to The Dance Center in 2002 handling contracts and residency details for the presenting season.
Phil Reynolds - Staff / Executive Director
preynolds@colum.edu (312) 369-8319
Phil Reynolds began his tenure as Executive Director of The Dance Center of Columbia College Chicago, Chicago's leading presenter of contemporary dance, in 1998, and has more than 20 years of experience as a performing arts presenter. Reynolds oversees The Dance Center's annual presenting season. Additionally, he has taught as an adjunct faculty member for the Dance Department's BFA degree program.
Prior to moving to Chicago, Reynolds was Director of Catamount film and Arts Company, an exemplary multi-disciplinary arts presenter and local arts agency in St. Johnsbury, VT (pop. 7,500). For seven years at Catamount, he had the pleasure of curating and presenting a host of world class performing artists from various disciplines, while concurrently building the organization's essential community arts profile with a gallery for regional visual artists, public classes and workshops for children and adults, a state-wide partnership with Head Start sites, and a nightly film series of foreign and independent American films.
Mr. Reynolds began his professional career at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York, where he served as Membership Director and director of Planning and Government Grants for the world renowned presenting organization for three years. Also in New York he was Executive Director of the Nikolais and Murray Louis Foundation for Dance, and a development consultant for the Brooklyn Philharmonic Orchestra.
At The Dance Center, Reynolds has presented more than 100 world-class national, international, and regional contemporary dance companies in extended campus-based residencies. These residencies are a model for the integration of public performances, learning opportunities for students, and community engagement initiatives. Under his leadership, The Dance Center has launched numerous programs and initiatives, including its FamilyDance Matinee series, a subsidized theater rental program, and the Friends of the Dance Center individual donor program.
In addition to his curatorial and executive management responsibilities at The Dance Center, Reynolds is deeply active in the professional field both nationally and internationally. In 2008, Reynolds accepted a three-year appointment to represent The Dance Center as a National Dance Project Hub site (New England Foundation for the Arts). He served on funding panels for Creative Capital's Multi-Arts Production Fund (Doris Duke Charitable Trust), The Japan Foundation, Dance Advance (Pew Charitable Trusts), Illinois Arts council, Vermont Arts council, Connecticut Arts Commission, and Chamber Music America, among others.
Reynolds' lifelong interest in Asian performing arts has impacted on his curation and research. He has traveled professionally in china, Indonesia, Japan, Laos, Nepal, Taiwan, and Thailand. He served on the Advisory Committee for The Japan Foundation's Performing Arts JAPAN program (2000-2005), and has been an advisor to the Contemporary Dance Association of Japan (2001). Reynolds was a member of the research teams for The Mekong Project (2000) and the Yunnan China Ethnic Minority Arts program (2003). In 1997, he participated in the New England Foundation for the Arts' U.S.-Asia Presenter Mentor Program. He has presented or produced several international cultural exchange projects with Asian artists, including Bharatanatyam in the Diaspora - Spiritual, Classical and Contemporary, a four-day international conference and festival of classical and contemporary Indian dance hosted by The Dance Center in September 2001.
Phil Reynolds was awarded the Chevalier de L'Order des Arts et des Lettres from the French Ministry of Culture and Communication in 2006 for his work with Francophonic African choreographers and their companies. In 2004, he was named by the Chicago Tribune "Chicagoan of the Year in the Arts, Dance."He was recognized by New City Publications in 2011 as one of Chicago's "Top Ten Players" in arts and culture.
Reynolds received a BA in English from Middlebury College and an MFA in Arts Management from Columbia University.
Joanna Rosenthal - Adjunct Faculty
Joanna Rosenthal, choreographer, dancer, teacher and Artistic Director for Same Planet Different World Dance Theatre, has been performing professionally and teaching dance since 1996. She received her B.F.A. in dance from the University of Iowa and was an Iowa Arts Fellow at the University of Iowa where she earned her M.F.A. in Choreography Rosenthal is on faculty at the Dance Center of Columbia College, Visceral Dance Center and has taught atRoosevelt University, Joffrey Ballet Academy Chicago, Lou Conte Dance Studio, Chicago Academy for the Arts, The University of Iowa, Illinois State University and many Chicago area high schools. Rosenthal has performed extensively in Chicago, dancing for 7 years with Mordine & Company Dance Theater and for 5 years with Lucky Plush Productions, as well as appearing with the Chicago Moving Company, Hedwig Dances and Kayle and Company and several other independent choreographers. Rosenthal’s work has been presented in Chicago, Minneapolis, Iowa, Wisconsin, New York and St. Louis, Missouri. Lucia Maura of the Chicago Tribune describes her work as “bold and exacting.”
Larry Russo - Staff / Receptionist
lrusso@colum.edu (312) 369-8310
Larry Russo began his professional career as a dancer in 1969, at the Skylight Theatre, in his hometown of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. In the summer of 1972, he left his alma mater, Marquette University, to join the newly formed Milwaukee Ballet Company to dance in The Nutcracker staged by Frederick Franklin and Jigs n' Reels choreographed by Richard Englund. The final weekend of Nutcracker he was hired to replace an injured dancer in Fiddler On the Roof at the Centre Stage Dinner Playhouse 5 days before its opening.
A member of Actor's Equity since 1972, he has been featured as an actor, singer, or dancer in over 80 productions at theaters all over the US and Canada. Among them: Victory Gardens, Goodman, Steppenwolf, Court, Forum, Mill Run, Candlelight, Drury Lane East, Drury Lane Oakbrook,The Belfry and the Kennedy Center theaters. In 1994 he appeared as the narrator, in the Chicago Symphony's production of Bartok's Bluebeard's Castle conducted by Pierre Boulez and featuring mezzo-soprano, Jessye Norman.
A veteran Shakespearean actor, he has appeared in 20 of his plays including two seasons (1984,1985) at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival of Canada.
Every Thursday night from 7:30-11:00pm he can be seen in his white tuxedo and straw hat singing the songs of Gershwin, Porter, Chevalier, and Piaf at La Creperie in Lincoln Park.
Katrina Ryan - Adjunct Faculty
Katrina Ryan is the Yoga Program Coordinator, and teaches Hatha yoga, which she has practiced for over 20 years. She began her career as a dancer, studying under Alvin Ailey, Bella Lewitsky and Bill Evans. After becoming certified in massage therapy in California, she developed two teaching institutions that offer a diverse program of body/mind integration. She brings this wide spectrum of experience into her teaching and massage practice, giving strong emphasis to the breath.
Sarah Schafer - Adjunct Faculty
Sarah Schafer began her dance training as a scholarship student at the School of Ballet Omaha in her hometown of Omaha, NE. As a student, she attended several summer programs including Dance Aspen, Briansky Saratoga Dance Center, Hartford Ballet and the Hitomi Haas Ballettschule in Stuttgart, Germany.
At the age of 17, Sarah made her professional debut with Ballet Omaha, where she was able to perform in such works as Balanchine's "Concerto Barocco", Mauricio Wainrot's "Anne Frank", Lew Christensen's "Con Amore" and "Il Distratto", and Jill Eathorne Bahr's "Dracula", among others. After moving to Chicago, Sarah performed in Ruth Page's "Nutcracker", with Paul Abrahamson's Moose Project, Luna Negra Dance Theatre, and with the Dallas Opera's "Die Fledermaus". In 2002, she returned to Nebraska to dance for two seasons with Omaha Theater Ballet, where she performed as a soloist in many ballets, including "Paquita" (Petipa), "A Midsummernight's Dream" (Wells), "Nutcracker" and "Dreamplay" (Benichou). Sarah also choreographed "Momentum is a Vector" for the company. Since her return to Chicago, Sarah has been seen with the Lyric Opera, as a guest artist with Civic Ballet of Chicago, and with the Alma Dance Company.
In addition to teaching at Columbia, Sarah also currently teaches at Hubbard Street's Lou Conte Dance Studio, Visceral Dance, and is a faculty member at the Jillana School Summer Ballet Intensive in Taos Ski Valley, NM. She has also been a certified Pilates instructor since 2004.
Kyle began his dance training in Huntsville, Alabama before attending the University of Alabama as a full scholarship dance major. From 2001 - 2008, Kyle danced with the Alabama Ballet in Birmingham, Alabama, where he performed many principal roles including, Count Albrecht in Giselle, Prince Siegfried in Swan Lake, Prince Desire in The Sleeping Beauty, Franz in Coppelia, El Capitan in George Balanchine's Stars and Stripes, and the title roles in Dracula and Romeo and Juliet. Kyle also worked with Southern DanceWorks and Red Mountain Theatre, where he danced works by Robert Battle and Teri Weksler and was featured in Cats (Mr. Mistoffeles) and Song and Dance (Joe). Kyle is a Stott-trained Pilates instructor, an ACE Certified Personal Trainer, and holds a BS in Psychology from the University of Alabama in Birmingham. Kyle also owns One Hundred, a Pilates and dance studio in Lakeview East.Michael Snipe- Adjunct Faculty
Emily Stein - Adjunct Faculty / Ballet Coodinator
Emily Stein began dancing as a child in Buffalo, New York. She holds BA in Dance from the University of Iowa, and an MFA in Performance and Choreography from Smith College. In 1993, she joined Chicago's Zephyr Dance, and choreographed and performed with the company for eighteen years. She served as Associate artistic Director from 1997 to 2011. Both with Zephyr and as an independent artist, her dancing and choreography have been seen throughout the US, from Florida to Texas to New York City and Toronto. Emily has produced her choreography independently in Chicago and her work has twice been nominated for Chicago Dance Achievement/Ruth Page Awards. Her current artistic work explores the intersections of ballet technique and improvisation as processes that live in the body.
While studying at the University of Iowa with Francoise Martinet, she began teaching in the university's Talented and Gifted children’s program. Before joining the faculty of the Dance Center of Columbia College, she taught ballet and modern technique at Smith College, Hampshire College, the University of Massachusetts and Barat College, and at a wide variety of private studios in the Chicago area. Since 1995, she has been a teaching artist in the Chicago Public Schools, practicing Zephyr's collaborative model of Arts Integration. Her own dancing journey has taken her from Balanchine to Deborah Hay and everywhere in between, and she strives to use this breadth to train dancers with open minds and intelligent bodies.
Hip Hop dance empowers youth to release emotions through the sounds, melodies, and lyrics of hip hop music. The unifying strength of hip hop can be seen by the convergence of diverse peoples. Trae Turner, hip hop teacher/choreographer, will entertain and energize a diverse group of students with his positive and patient personality.
Maricza Valentin- Adjunct Faculty
Ni'Ja Whitson - Adjunct Faculty
Ni'Ja Whitson is a transdisciplinary artist, dancer, and writer whose work engages a nexus of postmodern and African diasporic performance practices. She received her MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, informing an eclectic approach to live art that intersects body, text, technology, installation, and criticality. Ni'Ja is a 2010-2011 Lisa Dershin Residency artist from which she produced "root shock" an interdisciplinary solo that has seen both national and international stages. As well as performing, she facilitates training, workshops, and lectures in interdisciplinary Black/Africanist performance aesthetics and dance fusion via artist residencies with organizations and universities across the country. Ni'Ja has worked with a range of other artists including Baraka de Soleil, Darrell Jones, Guillermo Gomez Peña / La Pocha Nostra, Douglas Ewart, and Allison Knowles. Her work spans disciplines, including credits as a recording artist (percussion and berimbau), performance/ethnographic research in Brazil as a titled capoeirista, and choreography for the stage. She has been commissioned as choreographer for artists and companies such as Sharon Bridgforth and About Face Theater, and will be collaborating with Dianne McIntyre as the assistant choreographer of Regina Taylor’s Crowns to be performed at the Goodman Theater. She is currently a Chicago DanceBridge artist, a residency hosted by the Chicago Cultural Center, developing a performance/dance work about the role of womyn in contemporary North African liberation movements, to debut 2012. Awards include a 3Arts Visual Artist Award Nomination, Columbia College mini-grant, Performance Network INCUBATION! Nominee, John G. Curtis Jr. Prize, Archibald Motley grant, MFA Fellowship Award, and a Mellon Research Fellowship. She is currently on faculty at the Dance Center of Columbia College teaching capoeira and dance history/theory.
Meghann Wilkinson - Adjunct Faculty
Meghann Wilkinson is a graduate of Northwestern University and has been a collaborating ensemble member with Lucky Plush Productions since 2004. She is a former company member of Mordine and Company Dance Theater and has appeared in Chicago with Smith/Wymore Disappearing Acts, Cie Felix Ruckert, Raizel Performances, NU Group, and Peter Carpenter Performance Project. Wilkinson has been a guest teacher and choreographer for the Cecchetti Council of America, Fairbanks Summer Arts Festival, and the Evanston Dance Ensemble and was Assistant Choreographer for Lookingglass Theater’s The Great Fire. A faculty member of Columbia College Chicago since 2008, she has also taught at Northwestern University, Dance Center Evanston, and Visceral Dance Chicago and has organized for the Chicago Seminar on Dance and Performance and the Society of Dance History Scholars.
Chad Wilson - Academic Coordinator / Assistant to the Chair
mcwilson@colum.edu (312) 369-8353
Richard Woodbury - Faculty / Music Director, Associate Professor
rwoodbury@colum.edu (312) 369-8322
Richard Woodbury is an educator, composer and sound designer serving as Associate Professor and “Distinguished Faculty Artist” in the Dance Department at Columbia College Chicago. A faculty member since 1977 and Associate Chair of the Dance Department from 1986 to 2006, Richard has been a key contributor to the growth and development of the Dance Department and its programs. He has composed numerous scores for dance including Stupormarket, Monument and Overflow for The Seldoms, Short Stories for Hedwig Dances, Pentimento for The Lar Lubovitch Dance Company, and has performed live with The Merce Cunningham Dance Company and The Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company. Richard’s credits in theater include music and/or sound design for Tony Award winning Broadway productions of: August: Osage County, A Long Day’s Journey Into Night, A Moon for the Misbegotten, Death of a Salesman, and The Young Man from Atlanta, numerous productions at Chicago’s renowned Goodman and Steppenwolf Theaters, and productions at the Stratford Festival in Canada, London’s Lyric and National Theatres, Theatre Marigny, Paris, France, and regional theaters across the United States. Richard has received Joseph Jefferson and Helen Hayes Awards for outstanding sound design, and the Ruth Page award for Outstanding Collaborative Artist, as well as nominations for Drama Desk and Ovation awards. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree with concentrations in music and dance from the Experimental College of the University of Minnesota (1976).
Thomas Zwergel - Adjunct Faculty
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