2007-08, 2008-09
In addition to our distinguished faculty described in the curriculum section, the college is able to attract technique, creative, and performance faculty from the ranks of professional artists and instructors. Among them we have recipients of Choreographic or Artist-in Residence grants from Pennsylvania Council on the Arts; recipients of choreographic or performance support grants from numerous Philadelphia performance organizations or venues; of Pew Grants and Repertory Development Grants, and others. We have also counted among us a Guggenheim fellow and a Fulbright fellow. Several of our faculty who have taught over the past few years, have received or continue to garner critical acclaim as independent local or touring choreographers or as performers with companies. Below you will find our faculty for the 2007-08 amd 2008-09 semesters.
 Dr. Linda Caruso Haviland (Director of the Dance Program) has been teaching at Bryn Mawr College since 1979 and founded the Dance Program in 1984. She also founded and directed the Dance Program at WestChester Community College (SUNY) in 1972. She received her BA in dance from Adelphi University and her master's as well as her doctorate in the area of dance and philosophy from Temple University. She has lectured and taught technique, theory, composition and performance at several colleges and universities and has consulted in the areas of theater dance, children's dance and dance for educators. She performed in NYC and in Philadelphia, principally with ZEROMOVING CO. and continues to perform her own work as well as that of independent choreographers. Her professional activities include panel presentations, interdisciplinary arts collaborations, and scholarly writing. She has recently co-directed three projects, funded by Dance Advance, designed to uncover and preserve the work of significant Philadelphia dance artists through reconstructions, video documentation and oral histories. |
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 Madeline Cantor (Associate Director) received her BA from Barnard College and an MFA from the University of Michigan. She has performed and choreographed independently and as a member of DANCE CONDUIT from 1980-89. She has been awarded grants for her choreography and has set her dances on professional dance companies, including PENNSYLVANIA DANCE THEATER, and youth companies. She continues to choreograph and perform and continues her work as well in dance education by teaching, serving on committees and advisory boards and by leading workshops for educators interested in incorporating Dance into their classrooms. She is currently involved in an extensive effort to train daycare providers in creative movement. She was named one of the "Exciting Women to Watch" by the magazine Main Line Today. |
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 David Brick graduated from Wesleyan U. with a double major in Dance and English(with special emphasis on Gender issues). He is co-Artistic Director of HEADLONG DANCE THEATER, a critically acclaimed company that produces work in an environment of physical, intellectual, and choreographic collaboration. The company was awarded a ‘Bessie’ in NYC for their work and was listed in Philadelphia Magazine among its ’50 rising stars.’ Prior to Headlong, David danced with the Richard Bull Dance Theatre. David has guest taught and choreographed at numerous colleges and universities and has taught at Temple University and the University of the Arts. David is also a sign language interpreter. |
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 Renee Banson continues as administrator of FIELD/PHILADELPHIA, part of a national network of independent artists. Renee danced with ZEROMOVING CO and with TERRY BECK DANCE. She continues to present her own work and also performs in the work of other Philadelphia artists. In addition to teaching at BMC, Renee also teaches at the Baldwin School and at neighboring Rosemont and Immaculata Colleges. |
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 Christine Cox, co-Artistic Director of BALLET X began her training with the Pennsylvania Ballet School and continued at the Philadelphia High School for the Performing Arts, spending summer sessions at the Joffrey and San Francisco Ballet schools. She performed with BALLETMET in Columbus, Ohio, with Ballet Hispanico and with AMERICA REPERTORY BALLET THEATRE before joining PENNSYLVANIA BALLET in 1993. She has received two Rocky Awards for outstanding achievement in the arts and fellowship grants for her choreographic work. While dancing with PBC, she co-founded PHRENIC NEW BALLET in 2000 and in 2004 co-founded BALLETX with her long time collaborator Matthew Neenan. BALLETX will be performing this summer at Jacob's Pillow. (2007-08) |
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 Myra Bazell has been performing, creating dances and teaching nationally and abroad in Europe, South America and the Middle East. She graduated with a BFA from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia and has taught Movement for Theater there. She is a sought after choreographer for theatrical productions; is a recipient of several grants or fellowships for her choreography; was selected by Philadelphia Magazine as an artist to watch and is a founding member of SCRAP PERFORMANCE GROUP. Myra recently added a Masters in Social Work from Bryn Mawr College to her list of accomplishments. |
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 Michele Byrd-Mcphee had no early formal training, but danced throughout her childhood and high school after which she began training with local “club” and “house” dancers. Michele earned a BS in Community Health Studies from Temple University while training at Koresh Dance Center and with hip-hop and house choreographers Rennie Harris, Terry Wright and Moncell Durden. She has been featured in live performances and on TV. She is a co-founder and Artistic Director of MONTAZH, a Philadelphia-based, all female hip-hop dance company. |
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 Nichole Canuso is the founder and artistic director of NICHOLE CANUSO DANCE COMPANY. She has also been a company member of award winning HEADLONG DANCE THEATRE since 1996. She was also a co-founder and co-director of MOXIE dance collective. She has also worked with Karen Bamonte Dance Works, Group Motion Dance Company, Big Mess Theater, The Arden Theater, Theater Exile and has more recently enjoyed creating and performing clown theater work with Pig Iron Theatre Company. Her choreography has been presented in New York at Judson Church/Movement Research Exchange, Flee Theater, Context Studio, Lincoln Center Out of Doors Festival and Dance Theater Workshop. (2007-08) |
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 Heidi Cruz, born and raised in Allentown, Pa.,began her dance training at the age of four at The Dolly Haltzman Dance Academy. She went on to study with Suki Schorer at the School of American Ballet and Gloria Govrin at Pennsylvania Ballet. Ms. Cruz received an apprenticeship with PENNSYLVANIA BALLET in 1994 and joined the Company as a member of the Corps de Ballet in 1995. She has had featured roles in works by choreographers ranging from Alvin Ailey to George Balanchine. Ms. Cruz has also premiered works for such renowned choreographers as Paul Taylor, Jessica Lange and Pennsylvania Ballet members Meredith Rainey and Matthew Neenan. For another article on Heidi see http://www.dancespirit.com/backissues/jan02/feature_HeidiCruz.shtml |
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 Nia Eubanks graduated from the University of the Arts and has performed and taught extensively. She danced most recently with URBAN BUSH WOMEN but has performed as well with Chuck Davis and the AFRICAN AMERICAN DANCE ENSEMBLE, PHILADANCO II, DUNYA WEST AFRICAN DANCE COMPANY, ALO BRASIL, and DANCE THEATER X. Nia is also a committed educator working with chldren and adults alike and shi is an ordained minister and works with the New Hope Baptist Church, recently creating their Education Through the Arts program. Photo: Tempe |
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 Yasmin Goodman trained extensively in gymnastics and in Shotokan Karate before turning to dance. She has studied at Temple University and with top area Jazz teachers and has taught and performed in the greater Philadelphia area for 20 years. She founded and directed YAZZU DANCE Co, was director at the Main Line YMCA and continues to design and conduct their Jazz Dance programs. |
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 Corinne Karon has studied tap extensively and currently performs with and is assistant artistic director of the highly celebrated TAP TEAM TWO. She has also studied Irish step dancing in ireland. She has successfully tapped on every continent in the world, including Antarctica! Corinne also teaches on a regular basis at Rowan University, The University of the Arts, The Chester Valley Dance Academy, and Wissahickon Dance Academy. |
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 Roko Kawai is an independent choreographer who began her career as a visual artist and educator. But for well over a decade she has expanded her interests into dance, choreography and work with other artists. She is presently investigating the relationship between the specificity of traditional dance and the craft of improvisation, with a special focus on the physicality, musicality and theatricality of Japanese Classical Dance as inspiration for post-modern improvisation and choreography. Her international work includes The Art of Rice through UCLA's Center for Intercultural Performance in Bali and a collaboration in New Zealand with light designer, Helen Todd. Ms. Kawai's work has been presented throughout Philadelphia and at other venues in the US including Judson Church and Symphony Space in NYC, and Jacob's Pillow Inside/Out Series. She was a 2003 Pew Fellow i Choreography and has recently returned from a seven month Japan-US Friendship Commission Fellowship in Tokyo. She has also performed with other independent choreographers including work with the LEAH STEIN DANCE COMPANY. |
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 Dolores Luis studied Flamenco in Barcelona, Madrid and New York. Since 1986 she has been a performer with FLAMENCO OLE. She also teaches flamenco at the Arts League in Philadelphia and at Swarthmore and works with gifted children in the Philadelphia School system. (2007-08) |
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 Rebecca Malcolm-Naib holds a BA in Dance from Holyoke and a Master's degree from University of Washington where she continued as a member of the faculty until her move to the Philadelphia area. She has performed throughout the US with several Dance companies including BATTERY DANCE CO in NYC, KAREN BAMONTE DANCE in Philadelphia, and CHAMBER DANCE CO in Seattle. She is a co-founder of TRAVESTY DANCE GROUP. Malcolm is a choreographer, writer, and dancer, and although trained in several techniques, teaches Modern as well as Kinesiology for the Dancer at BMC. |
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 Grace Mi-He Lee is artistic director of GENGHIS DANCE COMPANY. Her work has been presented by Performance Space 122 (NY), Diverseworks (Houston), Links Hall (Chicago), and The Painted Bride Art Center (Philadelphia) among others. She holds a B.A. in sociology and dance from Wesleyan University and an MFA in dance from Temple University. Her movement background includes ballet, Limon and Cunningham techniques, improvisation, and she has worked extensively with Deborah Hay as a performer, teaching assistant, and collaborator since 1990.
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 Amanda Miller danced with the PENNSYLVANIA BALLET COMPANY from 1993 to 2001 where she premiered works by Jorma Elo, Dwight Rhoden, Meredith Rainey and Matthew Neenan and, in addition to the classical repertory, performed works by Lar Lubovitch, Paul Taylor, Doug Elkins and many others. She was a co-founder and co-director of PHRENIC NEW BALLET and recent co-founder and co-artistic director of MIRO DANCE THEATRE. Her choreography has been performed with Phrenic, in PA Ballet's Shut up and Dance series, in venues in NYC and London, and in the films "invisible" and "Swan. Miller has recently been awarded grants by the Leeway foundation and Dance Advance for choreographic collaboration with the London-based opera company SHARPWIRE and with choreographer, Siobhan Davies. |
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 Linda Karash Mintzer studied with Thomas Cannon and with the PENNSYLVANIA BALLET and danced with the company from 1971 through 1982, interrupting her tenure to attend Harvard/Radcliffe for two years. She danced several leading roles with the company and after retirement worked there in public relations and special projects. She received a BA from NYU and also attended Drexel University's Nesbitt College of Design Arts. In addition to her teaching here, she continues as a faculty member at the highly regarded Pennsylvania Academy of Dance in Narberth. |
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 Jeannine Osayande studied and performed in the US and Africa with master dancers and drummers and traveled Senegal as part of the Sene/ Gambian Education and Cultural Exchange. She attended Lesley College and has studied dance and music with Masters such as Mary Basse-Wiles, Ibrahima Camara, De Ama Battle, Edir Passos and Youssouf Kambossa. She continues as a dancer, teacher, choreographer and folklorist of African-rooted dance and music and is director of DUNYA PERFORMING ARTS COMPANY. In the last few years, she has received support from the PA Council on the Arts, the Pew foundation, AT&T, and the US Small Business Administration. (on leave) |
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 Naomi Pressman received her MFA from Colorado University at Boulder. While there she trained at the renowned Boulder Pilates Center. She has performed with Skeleton Dance Project and with Third Law Dance Theatre. She has also studied Astranga yogo and Alexander Technique. |
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 Ramaa Ramesh began studying classical Indian dance at the age of 6 and her principal mentor was the reknowned artist of the Bharathanatyam style, Citra Visweswaran. She has been performing since the age of 12 and has danced in India, Europe, the middle East, and the US. She pursued her doctoral studies at Temple University and she presently directs the NARDHANA ACADEMY OF DANCE. Ms. Ramesh will be teaching an introduction to Bharathanatyam. (2008-09) |
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 Laura Katz Rizzo is a dance scholar, artist and teacher. She has performed with several classical dance companies including Ballet South, The Russian Ballet Theatre of Delaware, the Santa Fe Opera Company, and the Ballet Theatre of New Mexico. She has also performed with several contemporary dance companies. She has taught at many institutions including Mount Holyoke College, Temple University, Drexel University, The Pennsylvania Academy of Ballet, the Dance Theatre of the Southwest, the Maryland Youth Ballet and of course, Bryn Mawr College. Laura earned a Master of Education degree in Dance from Temple University in 2000 and a B.A. in history and English from the University of New Mexico in 1998. She has published several articles in dance journals, playbills and other publications. She is currently busy raising her two small children, teaching dance at the Pennsylvania Academy of Ballet and Bryn Mawr College, and completing her doctoral degree in the Departments of Dance and Women’s Studies at Temple University. |
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 Noemi Segarra Originally from Puerto Rico, Noemí Segarra is a trained dancer, but now considers herself more broadly as a performer, desiring to have a broader platform on which to investigate diverse disciplines interfacing the experience of body and presence. She is also a certified yoga instructor and massage therapist, and enthusiastic educator, NYC- based since 1994. Since 1995, Segarra has been a member and collaborator with Merian Soto and Pepatian. Segarra holds a BFA from Hunter College. In 2004, Segarra was awarded a Future Faculty Fellowship from Temple University to pursue an MFA. Upon graduation, Segarra received a Transformation Award and is now on the faculty at Temple University as well as Bryn Mawr College. At present, she lives in both Philadelphia and NY. Her work has been recently presented at The Kitchen among other NY venues. |
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 Leah Stein received a BA from Wesleyan University in dance and anthropology. In addition to modern dance she has trained in Aikido, Javanese dance and improvisation techniques. She has choreographed site-specific works and performed nationally supported by fellowships, project grants and residencies. Her choreography often refers to particular landscapes and addresses the relationship between people and their physical surroundings. She directs LEAH STEIN DANCE COMPANY. |
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 Michele Tantoco graduated from BMC in 2001 with a degree in Biology and countless classes in Dance. After graduation she continued studying Dance in Philadelphia and is now a performer much in demand. She has worked extensively with the LEAH STEIN DANCE COMPANY and has also worked and collaborated with several other independent choreographers in Philadelphia, including Gwendolyn Bye and Myra Bazell, and in work with Aryani Manring both in Philadelphia and Jakarta. she has also worked in New York including JANE COMFORT AND COMPANY in NYC for the River to River Festival. She has danced as well in London where she worked on her second project with the SIOBHAN DAVIES DANCE COMPANY. She is a recipient of a 2004 Leeway Foundation grant award.(2007-08) |
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 Colette Tini has trained in both Jazz and Hip-hop and has performed extensively in New York, New Jersey and throughout Pennsylvania with FloMotion and as an independent and featured artistm most recently with MONTAZH. She teaches throughout the Philadelphia region working with dancers ranging from professionals to kids and including organizing and teaching a Hip Hop class for children with Down Syndrome and Autism.(2007-08) |
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 Lester Tome is currently a fellow at Temple University, Philadelphia, where he is completing a doctoral degree in dance and teaches courses on dance history and anthropology. He has also taught Latin social dances and dance ethnography at Denison University, Ohio, as well as dance pedagogy at The University of the Arts. He is also a member of the baroque ensemble Sprezzatura, in Philadelphia. He has written on dance for diverse publications in the U.S., Cuba and Chile including the Chilean newspaper El Mercurio, and his writing has been published in The Durham Herald-Sun, Dance Magazine's website, Cuba en el Ballet and ArteBallet. He is the author of entries on dance for The Encyclopedia of American Philosophers (Thoemme Press) and The Cambridge Companion to Twentieth Century Ballet (Cambridge University Press). He has participated at the American Dance Festival's Institute for Dance Criticism, at Duke University, as a New York Times/National Endowment for the Arts Fellow (2007-08) |
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 Donna Reinhart & Bob Butryn were co-directors of SwingConnection Dance Co. for several years and have continued teaching and performing Lindy, Swing and other contemporary and historical social forms together and with other partners. They placed in many competitions along the East Coast and teach in various venues throughout the city. Bob is also a sought after musician in the Philadelphia area and Donna's day job is teaching high school chemistry. |
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Jorge Laico is a native of Manila, Philippines. He was trained in the Royal Academy of Dancing (R.A.D.)syllabus and the Vaganova Method. He has taught in numerous ballet schools in the US for 13 years including the Rock School for Dance Education,North Carolina School of the Arts, University of the Arts, and Pennsylvania Governor's School for the Arts. Mr. Laico danced professionally for 23 years with companies such as Philippine Ballet Theatre, Atlanta Ballet, Oakland Ballet, Tulsa Ballet, Kansas City Ballet, Eugene Ballet, and Manila Metropolis Ballet. He was a guest choreographer for Regional Dance America's Craft of Choreography 2007. (2008-09)