Dance/Movement Therapy Faculty

Cathy Appel, Director BA, Sarah Lawrence College, MFA, Vermont College, MFA, Warren Wilson College, MSW and MS, Hunter College. Board Certified Dance/Movement Therapist (BC-DMT), Licensed Creative Arts Therapist (LCAT), Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW-R). A former ballet dancer, Cathy trained at the American Ballet Theatre School and then with Leon Fokine as a trainee of the Harkness Ballet Company, before performing with the Pennsylvania Ballet Company. She had the opportunity to dance in ballets such as Sleeping Beauty and Symphony in C. She later attended Sarah Lawrence College, where she was introduced to modern dance and formed her own company. She performed original work and in a reconstruction of Doris Humphrey's Day on Earth with Dance Junction and with her own modern dance company until the mid 80s. Influenced by the work of Meredith Monk '64 to explore interdisciplinary performance that resonates within the body as it reflects and interacts with the imaginal, external and archetypal world, she went on to study Body-Mind Centering and Authentic Movement. As part of her exploration of verbal and nonverbal expression, and to broaden her creative work, she earned MFAs in Writing from Vermont College and Warren Wilson College, culminating in her thesis, Recognizing the Dance. She has published poems in journals, textbooks and anthologies. As her focus shifted to the relationship between dance and healing, she pursued an MSW and an MS in dance/movement therapy from Hunter College. During her final social work internship year at the International Center for the Disabled (1991-1992), she was asked to start a creative arts psychotherapy program. She has worked at ICD in the Behavioral Medicine Department since graduating from Hunter, developing and serving as clinical coordinator of the Creative and Movement Arts Psychotherapy Program. During her tenure at ICD, she provided thousands of clinical service hours in a comprehensive care outpatient facility offering long- and short-term mental health treatment.

Cathy has taught workshops and classes at the School of Visual Arts, Goddard College, NYU and SLC, and for organizations such as the Red Cross, the MS Society and Montefiore Hospital. She was Senior Editor and author of two chapters in the Second Revised Edition (2005) of the dance therapy textbook, Dance Movement Therapy: A Healing Art (F. Levy Ed.), co-editor of the American Journal of Dance Therapy (2003-2007), a member of the Credentials Committee for the American Association of Dance Therapy (2007-2009) and of the Dance/Movement Therapy Certification Board (2009-2010).

Jane Wilson Cathcart BA, Adelphi University, MSW, New York University. She is a Board Certified Dance/Movement Therapist (BC-DMT); Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW-R); Certified Movement Analyst (CMA); and Certified EMDR Practitioner. She studied with Irmgard Bartenieff at the Dance Notation Bureau and her early clinical training was in dance therapy at Turtle Bay Music School and with dance therapy pioneer Marian Chace at Bellevue Medical Center. She has over 40 years' of clinical experience working in various settings such as Manhattan Children's Psychiatric Center and Little Meadows Early Childhood Center with children, adolescents, physically challenged, and developmentally delayed populations, and taught in the Graduate Liberal Studies Program at Wesleyan University for 18 years. Her work with a child is featured in the ADTA educational film, Dance Therapy: The Power of Movement, which is shown worldwide. She is a Trustee of the Marian Chace Foundation. Her research and treatment interests are attachment problems, mid-life issues, and trauma resolution.

Constance B. Newman BA, University of Rhode Island, MA, New York University (Dance Therapy), MA, New York University (Educational Psychology), Certificate, Postgraduate Training in Gestalt Psychotherapy; Board Certified Dance/Movement Therapist (BC-DMT); Licensed Creative Arts Therapist (LCAT); Licensed Mental Health Counselor (LMHC); National Certified Counselor (NCC) and Licensed Psychoanalyst (LP). She served as Chairperson, Governmental Affairs, New York State Chapter, American Dance Therapy Association and Chairperson for New York State Coalition for Creative Arts Therapies and was Director of the Lafayette Center Day Treatment Program; She was a Graduate Dance Therapy Internship Supervisor for Hunter College and Pratt University and since 1986 she has been Teaching Faculty and Clinical Supervisor in Post-Graduate Training at the Gestalt Associates for Psychotherapy. She has also taught internationally in Switzerland, Poland, and Greece.

Elise Risher BA, Trinity College, MS, Hunter College, MA, PhD, Long Island University. Licensed Clinical Psychologist, Registered Dance/Movement Therapist. Dr. Risher has 20 years clinical experience treating various populations including children, infants with mothers with chronic mental illness, eating disorders, and geriatrics. She has taught at Mercy College, Westchester Community College, Long Island University, and The New School. She is a Staff Psychologist at Aging Matters Psychological Services in White Plains, New York. Her research interests include time perception in children with ADHD and the integration of Eastern philosophy in Western mental health practices.

Ty Tedmon-Jones BA Art, BA Theatre & Dance, University of Wyoming, MA, Antioch University New England. He is a Board Certified Dance/Movement Therapist (BC-DMT), a Licensed Creative Arts Therapist (LCAT), and a Licensed Mental Health Counselor (LMHC). Licensed in three states, he has had the privilege of working with numerous populations in varied settings, specializing in inpatient adult psychiatric care and early childhood mental health. He serves as the American Dance Therapy Association Secretary, the Co-Chair of the Research Subcommittee and was a founding member of the Multicultural and Diversity Committee. He has been a guest lecturer in numerous Dance/Movement Therapy courses in Research and Multicultural & Diversity topics. Ty is a performing company member of the Annie Sailer Modern Dance Company, NY, NY.

Christine Zimbelmann BS, SUNY Geneseo, MS, Hunter College. Board Certified Dance/Movement Therapist (BC-DMT); Licensed Creative Arts Therapist (LCAT); completed the Laban/Bartenieff Institute of Movement Studies training to become a Certified Movement Analyst (CMA); early background in elementary and special education followed by 14 years' clinical experience at St. Vincent's Hospital, NY, with inpatient and day treatment programs for children, adolescents, and adults. She also served as President of the New York State Chapter of the American Dance Therapy Association (2002-2005).