Dance Faculty

BA, Barnard College. MFA, Bennington College. Dancer and choreographer; participated in the development and performance of Twyla Tharp’s modern dance repertory; founded and directed the Sara Rudner Performance Ensemble. Recent choreographic projects include “Dancing-on-View,” one of a series of dance marathons, and “Heartbeat,” a fusion of technology and dance. Currently a member of “Ersaloly Mameraem,” a dancers’ consortium. Past collaborations have included Mikhail Baryshnikov, Dana Reitz, and Christopher Janney. She has choreographed for theatre and opera productions at the Public Theater, the Salzburg Festival, the Santa Fe Opera, and the Paris Opera. Awards include a Bessie, a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial fellowship, a Dance Magazine award, and support from the National Endowment for the Arts and the New York State Council on the Arts. SLC, 1999–

BM, University of Massachusetts. Certified yoga union instructor and Kinetic Awareness instructor. Has taught at the New School, Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian; workshops at New York University, The Kitchen, hospitals, and various schools and studios in New York and Greece. Dancer, choreographer, and maker of puppet theatre. Work shown at St Ann’s Warehouse in 2005 and 2006. SLC, 2000–

Composer and multi-instrumentalist; recognition and funding from NEA, The Samuels S. Feld Fund, New York State Council on the Arts, Harkness Foundation, NYU Humanities Council, NYU Service/Learning Fund; commissions include choreographers Anna Sokolow, Steve Paxton, Viola Farber, Milton Myers; work presented nationally and internationally with the New Danish Dance Theater, TanzFabrik Berlin, Amsterdam Theatreschool, Cyprus Festival, Teatro San Martin, The Alvin Ailey School, Philadanco, Player’s Project, Dallas Black Theater, Jacob’s Pillow, DTW, and others. Former accompanist and teacher of music for dancers at The Juilliard School, Marymount Manhattan College, Limón School, Martha Graham School, New York University; current faculty at The Alvin Ailey School, Steps on Broadway; Music Director for the Young Dancemakers Company. SLC, 2003–

BA, Connecticut College. Trained with Jose Limón, Martha Graham, Merce Cunningham, and Viola Farber; performed with Dan Wagoner and Dancers, Nancy Lewis, Mirjam Berns, Cork (Ireland) National Ballet; choreographer, Dance Alliance of New Haven, Roxanne Dance Foundation, Swamp Gravy, and independent productions; recipient of choreography grants from the Connecticut Commission on the Arts; teaches dance and movement workshops throughout the United States and in Canada, France, Sweden, Australia, and New Zealand. SLC, 1988–

Originally from Zimbabwe, she has been teaching and performing throughout the United States, Canada, and Australia since 1994. She has performed at venues that include the Getty Museum, Lincoln Center, and the Sydney Opera House. She is co-founder and artistic director of the Panjea Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to bringing African and Western cultures together through cultural exchange tours, music and dance conferences, and workshops. SLC, 2005–

BA, Sarah Lawrence College. Designed lighting for Broadway, Off-Broadway, regional theatre, dance, and opera in the United States and abroad. Broadway credits include Annie Get Your Gun, Jekyll & Hyde, The Heiress, Stephen Sondheim’s Passion, and The Elephant Man. Her lighting of Amadeus won a Tony award. She has worked at the John F. Kennedy Center, the Guthrie, Arena Stage, and the Children’s Theatre of Minneapolis. Off Broadway, she lit Vagina Monologues and worked for Joseph Chaikin and Meredith Monk; for Robert Wilson, Einstein on the Beach and The Civil Wars, Part V. Her designs for dance include works by Martha Graham, Trisha Brown, Alvin Ailey, and Merce Cunningham. She has been awarded seven Tony nominations, the 1976 Lumen award, 1984 and 1986 Bessies, a 1980 Obie for Distinguished Lighting, and several Maharam/American Theater Wing design awards. SLC, 2011–

Royal Academy of Dancing, London. Institute of Choreology, London. Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing, Cecchetti Method. Previously on faculty of National Ballet School of Canada, Alvin Ailey School, New York University, and Finis Jhung Studio. Ballet mistress and teacher, Joffrey Ballet, New Orleans Ballet, and Chamber Ballet USA. Currently Feldenkrais practitioner at Feldenkrais Learning Center, New York City. SLC, 2000–

BA, Empire State College. Most recently performed at The Royal Opera House’s Lynbury Theatre in Arthur Pita’s The Metamorphosis. She has appeared in Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake, The Car Man, and Edward Scissorhands. On Broadway, she has performed in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Contact, Swan Lake, The Red Shoes, and The Phantom of the Opera. Her off-Broadway appearances include Belle Epoque (Lincoln Center), Bloomergirl (City Center), and A Dybbuk (Public Theater). She has worked at Baryshnikov Arts Center, New York Theatre Workshop, Great Lakes Theater Festival, and the Manhattan Theatre Club and was involved in the developmental workshops of The Little Dancer Project, Give Me Up, The Pirandello Project, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, and Contact. She has danced with the National Ballet of Canada, Feld Ballets, Les Ballets Jazz de Montréal, and the Altogether Different Series and did preproduction work with Susan Stroman for her ballets for New York City Ballet and Pacific Northwest Ballet. She was rehearsal director for Morphoses/The Wheeldon Company. Numerous film and television credits include the Fame TV series; teaching credits include Dance New Amsterdam, Peridance/Capezio Dance Center, Joffrey Ballet School, Logrea Dance Academy, and guest teaching for The Cedar Lake Dance Ensemble, Random Dance, Rambert, and New Adventures Dance Companies. SLC, 2012–

BFA, MFA, New York University, Tisch School of the Arts. Certified teacher of Alexander Technique; assistant to Irene Dowd; private movement education practice in New York City. Other teaching affiliations: Smith College, The Ailey School/Fordham University, Dance Ireland/IMDT, 92nd St. Y/Harkness Dance Center, SUNY Purchase (summer), Jacob’s Pillow. Performances in works by Patricia Hoffbauer and George Emilio Sanchez, Sara Rudner, Joyce S. Lim, David Gordon, Ann Carlson, Charles Moulton, Neo Labos, T.W.E.E.D., Tony Kushner, Paula Josa-Jones. Choreography presented by Dixon Place, The Field, P.S. 122, BACA Downtown (New York City); Big Range Dance Festival (Houston); Phantom Theater (Warren, Vermont); Proctor’s Theatre (Schenectady, 2008/09 Dangerous Music Commission). Grants: Meet the Composer, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, Harkness Dance Center. SLC, 1999–

BA, Sarah Lawrence College. Performances in New York at Dance Theater Workshop, PS 122, La MaMa E.T.C., Danspace, The Kitchen, St. Ann’s Warehouse, and at alternative presenters throughout the United States and the United Kingdom. Recipient of a Village Voice OBIE Award in 1990 for solo adaptation of Nathanael West’s A Cool Million and the 2000 New York Dance and Performance (“Bessie”) Award for Everyday Uses for Sight, Nos. 3 & 7; recipient of fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the New Hampshire State Council on the Arts, and a 2002-2003 Guggenheim fellowship and of grants from Creative Capital, the Rockefeller Foundation, the New York State Council on the Arts, the Mary Cary Flagler Charitable Trust, and the New England Foundation for the Arts. Recipient of the Alpert Award in the Arts for Theatre, 2004. Former teacher at Bowdoin, Bennington, Barnard, and Princeton. SLC, 1997–

BA, Kenyon College. MFA, University of Washington. Dancer, choreographer, teacher, filmmaker, and artistic director of Peter Kyle Dance; choreographic commissions across the United States and internationally in Scotland, Norway, Germany, Cyprus, and China. Peter Kyle Dance has performed in New York City at One Arm Red, Abrons Arts Center, Chez Bushwick, Joyce SoHo, Symphony Space, DNA, 3LD, and the 92nd Street Y, among other venues. Previously a solist with Nokolais and Murray Louis Dance and performed in the companies of Mark Morris, Erick Hawkins, Gina Gibney, Laura Glenn, and P3/east, among others. Also teaches at Marymount Manhattan College, HC Studio, and Nikolais/Louis Summer Dance Intensive and conducts residencies and workshops internationally. His Tiny Dance Film Series has been installed internationally since 2006. SLC, 2009–

BA, Empire State College (SUNY). Dancer with Doug Varone and Dancers, Pepatian, Elisa Monte Dance Company, Ballet Hispanico, and independent choreographers such as Sara Rudner and Joyce S. Lim. Recipient of the Outstanding Student Artist Award from the University of the Philippines Presidents’ Committee on Culture and the Arts. Taught at Alvin Ailey School; guest faculty member, 92nd Street Y, Marymount Manhattan College, Metropolitan Opera Ballet, New York University Tisch School of the Arts, Rutgers University Mason Gross School of the Performing Arts. Participant/teacher, 2004 Bates Festival-Young Dancers Workshop, solo works: Free Range Arts, Dixon Place, Brooklyn Arts Exchange, and Danspace Project/St. Mark’s Church. SLC, 2002–

BA, University of California-Los Angeles. MFA (Choreography), EdD (Dance History), Temple University. Widely recognized as a master teacher and performer, Meira performed for five years in Spain in flamenco festivals and renowned tablaos such as Manolo Caracol's “Los Canasteros.” She has performed with many of the giants of flamenco and, in the United States, has been first dancer in Carlota Santana Flamenco Vivo, Fred Darsow Dance, and Pasión y Arte. The New York Times called the “purity and invention” of Meira's dancing “joyous, powerful.” She  choreographed Carmen under the baton of Seiji Ozawa and the first staging of the 1915 version of Manuel de Falla's Amor Brujo since Pastora Imperio performed it in that year. The New York Times called that production “one of the more audacious, intriguing operatic undertakings to hit a New York stage this season.”  Meira has published numerous articles on flamenco history and is currently at work on a book on sub-Saharan presences in flamenco music and dance. She has taught at Bryn Mawr, Ney York University, Princeton, Flamenco Festival International in Albuquerque, Fashion Institute of Technology, and Ballet Hispanico. SLC, 2012–

BA, Sarah Lawrence College. Performances with Chantal Yzermans, Donna Uchizono, Risa Jaroslow, Sara Rudner, Jonah Bokaer, Richard Colton, Rebecca Lazier, and Silas Riener. Original work presented by Danspace: Food for Thought, La Mama Moves Festival, Mount Tremper Arts in New York, with writer Anne Carson at the Skirball Center at NYU, Summer Stages/The Institute for Contemporary Art in Boston, the OMiami Festival, College of St. Elizabeth, Wellesley College, University of Minnesota, and Princeton University. Recipient of the 2000 Viola Farber-Slayton Memorial Grant from the Foundation for Contemporary Art, 2007 Princess Grace Award: Dance Fellowship, and New York Dance and Performance Bessie Award for sustained achievement in the work of Merce Cunningham (2004-2012). SLC, 2012–

One of the most prestigious names on the international tap scene today and recognized worldwide for his superior musicianship and highly individual style, Pollak was the first person to merge authentic Afro-Cuban music and dance with American rhythm tap and body music to create RumbaTap. Originator of Cuba's first tap festival, he has been teaching and performing there since 1998 and has worked with Los Muñequitos de Matanzas, Cuba's top rumba group, as well as Chucho Valdés, Lila Downs, and jazz legends Phil Woods, Paquito D'Rivera, Slide Hampton, and Danilo Perez. Recognized for making European and South American classical music more accessible by playing with classical ensembles in prestigious venues such as Vienna’s Konzerthaus and Musikverein and Havana’s Teatro Nacional and Teatro Amadeo Roldan, he has also performed with members of both the Vienna Philharmonic and New York Philharmonic, as well as a soloist in the Morton Gould Tap Dance Concerto with the Duluth Superior and Plano Symphony Orchestras. He is a 2011 Hoofer Award winner and Bessie Award nominee, 2010 Individual Artist Grantee of the Northern Manhattan Arts Alliance, and 2008 fellow in Choreography from the New York Foundation of the Arts. SLC, 2012–

BA, McGill University. Labanotator and reconstructor; writer, critic for Dance Magazine, Collier’s Encyclopedia, and Society of Dance History Scholars; oral historian for the Dance Collection at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts and the School of American Ballet; consultant, New York State Council on the Arts Dance Program; guest faculty, Princeton University, 2003; former teacher at SUNY-Purchase, Southern Methodist University, American Ballet Theatre School. SLC, 1975–

BA, MA, Bennington College. Dancer, choreographer, and videographer based in New York City; producer/director of Weisacres, a meeting/performing space where anything can happen. Danced with the Louisville Ballet, tap-danced on the streets of San Francisco, and did a stint as a disco queen. Documented the downtown (New York City) performance scene over a 20-year period, creating a library of hundreds of hours of footage capturing the spirit on the City’s streets and stages. She has developed a signature blend of live performance and video, with which she has toured both nationally and internationally.  She has taught her class, When Technology and the Human Body Become Partners, Who Leads, at universities in the United States and abroad. In addition, she performs with Circus Amok. She received a Bessie (New York Dance & Performance Award) in 1996 and a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2002. SLC, 2013-

BA, Pennsylvania State University. MFA, Bennington College. Dancer and choreographer; original work presented at Dance Theater Workshop, 92nd Street Y, Harkness Dance Festival, Movement Research at the Judson Church, Center for Performance Research. Performed with Doug Varone and Dancers (1990-2000); recipient of a Bessie Award for Sustained Achievement (2000); rehearsal director, Trisha Brown Dance Company(2000-2007); also performed projects by Douglas Dunn with Rudy Burckhardt, Helmut Gottschild (ZeroMoving Dance Company), Ohad Naharin, and Dana Reitz. Teaches worldwide at ADF, Bates Dance Festival, Dansens Hus (Denmark), International Summer School of Dance (Japan), Kalamata International Dance Festival (Greece), P.A.R.T.S. (Belgium), Trisha Brown Studios, and TSEKH Summer School (Russia); guest teaching venues include Barnard College, Hampshire College, Hollins University, Hunter College, Mount Holyoke College, University of California-Santa Barbara, Virginia Commonwealth College. Movement Research (New York City) faculty member, 1997-present; previously on the faculty of New York University Tisch School of the Arts (1995-2000, 2009-2011) and Bennington College (2007-2009 Fellow). SLC, 2011–

BA, College of William and Mary. MFA, Sarah Lawrence College. Choreographer and dancer; choreography presented at Dance Theater Workshop, Brooklyn Museum of Art, and P.S. 122, among other venues, and archived in the Franklin Furnace Archive and the Walker Arts Center Mediatheque Archive. Recipient of awards from New York Foundation for the Arts and the Djerassi Resident Artists Program and of commissions from Dance Theater Workshop, Danspace Project at St. Mark’s Church, and Summer Stage’s Dance Festival. Previously a guest teacher at Bennington College, 92nd Street Y, and Trisha Brown Studio. Published writings include “Technology and the Body,” an interview with Merce Cunningham in the Movement Research Journal Millennial Issue, which she guest edited. SLC, 2001–

BPh, Thomas Jefferson College, University of Michigan. MFA, Sarah Lawrence College. Composer, innovator in the fields of electronic music and music for theatre and dance, composer of traditional and experimental works for all media, specialist in improvisational techniques, and director of the Sarah Lawrence Improvisational Ensemble. Toured nationally with the United Stage theatre company and conceived of and introduced the use of electronic music for the productions. Freelance record producer and engineer; music published by Soundspell Productions. SLC, 1984–