programs

An archive of recent faculty bios is listed below.

Jen Abrams integrates Contact Improvisation and Body-Mind Centering® principles to find ease and strength, release and power in the body's anatomical systems. She has studied, taught and performed Contact Improvisation since 1990. Her choreographic and improvisation work has been seen at Judson Church, La Mama, Dixon Place, HERE, PS 122, and BAX. She performs regularly at WOW Café Theater, where she has been a member since 2000.

Sigal Bergman is an Alexander Technique™ teacher and a dancer. She has lived in NY since 1995, performing her own work and in others including Alejandra Martorell, Osmani Tellez, Sally Silvers, Linda Austin and Athena Malloy. She was an MR AIR in 1999-2000 and a recipient of a space grant from BAX in 2004. In 2002 she graduated from ACAT, and in 2006 completed an AT postgraduate course that drew from Carl Stough's principals of “Breathing Coordination.”

Michelle Boulé has worked in NY as a performer, teacher, and sometimes dancemaker. She’s danced with Miguel Gutierrez, John Jasperse, Deborah Hay, and Donna Uchizono, among others, and has taught at MR, DNA, Trisha Brown Studios and various universities. In '02, she was a DanceWEB recipient at ImpulsTanz (Vienna).

Janis Brenner is an award-winning dancer/choreographer/ singer/teacher and is Artistic Director of Janis Brenner & Dancers in NYC. She has toured in 30 countries and is recognized as a “singular performer” with a multifaceted artistic range. Honors include: “Bessie” for her performance in Meredith Monk’s work, Lester Horton Award for Choreography in LA, grants for tours to Russia, Indonesia, Senegal, Taiwan, etc.

Gerald Casel danced with Michael Clark, Lar Lubovitch, Zvi Gotheiner and the Stephen Petronio Company earning him a 'Bessie' award. His company, GERALDCASELDANCE has performed across the country and at many NYC venues including DTW and Joyce SoHo. In '99 and '06-07, he was a Movement Research AIR. A graduate of The Juilliard School, he received an MFA from UW-Milwaukee and is a faculty member at NYU Tisch School of the Arts. www.geraldcaseldance.com

Rebecca Davis has performed in the work of Ursula Eagly, Juliette Mapp, and Christopher Williams. She founded and curated the Dance Forum series at the Brooklyn Museum from 2001-2006. Rebecca is the Manager of Education and Outreach at Trisha Brown Dance Company, where she has worked since 2002. Davis is studying to become a Feldenkrais Practioner through Feldenkrais Resources.

Kyle deCamp creates, directs and performs transdisciplinary, multi-media works, produced in NYC and Europe. She has an extensive background in experimental dance, theater, media and writing. Movement Research Artist-in-Residence, “Bessie” Award, NYFA Choreography Fellowship, NYSCA Theater and Music Commissions. Performance collaborations include work with Richard Foreman, John Kelly, John Jesurun and The Builders Association. She has taught workshops in the US/internationally, and courses at Sarah Lawrence, NYU, Antioch. Kyle currently directs and teaches at Barnard College.

Barbara Dilley inhabited NYC from 1960-75, dancing with the Merce Cunningham Company, Judson Dance Theater, the Grand Union, and Natural History of the American Dancer. She has developed these contemplative arts disciplines over the past 34 years at Naropa University, where she teaches in the MFA program for Contemporary Performance.

Katie Duck, dancer, choreographer and teacher, left the U.S. in 1976 to live in Amsterdam, Holland and toured throughout Europe as a performer in solo productions, in duet with Carlos Traffic, and in improvisations with local music artists. In 1979, she moved to Italy where she formed the company GROUPO, which toured throughout Europe. In 1991 she accepted a position at the AHK dance department in Amsterdam where she teaches movement research, improvisation (presence), workshops and technique. Her current initiatives include a monthly improvisation series at the Fijnhout Theater, the Muiderpoort Theater (1994-99), The Melkweg Theater (2000-01), OT301 Cultural center (2002-present), a yearly Improvisation festival at the Frascati Theater (1994-99), Magpie (from 1995-present). She tours to Asia, U.S., England, Scandinavia and Europe with her solo work, professional workshops, with Magpie, is a teacher for both the SNDO and MTD at the AHK Hooge School voor de kunsten and continues to collaborate with both music and dance artists all over the world.

Daria Faïn creates work looking for its origin, either through sensory and visceral perception or through the way exterior elements such as sound, architecture, myths and conceptual thinking provoke or influence. She is a certified in the Alexander Technique™ and in Chi Kung (Universal Healing Tao instructor). In NYC, Faïn has performed at The Kitchen, Danspace, the 92 Street Y, MR at Judson, and Dixon Place.

Levi Gonzalez is a performer and choreographer living in Brooklyn. His own work and his collaborations with Luciana Achugar have been presented by Movement Research at Judson Church, DTW, The Kitchen, Danspace Project, PS122, and PS1, among others. He has performed with Donna Uchizono, John Jasperse, ChameckiLerner, Jeremy Nelson, Dennis O’Connor and Michael Laub’s Remote Control Productions in Europe. Levi has taught technique and composition at Movement Research and with Dean Moss at The Kitchen. He was an MR AIR from 03-04, and was an 06 NYFA Fellow in Choreography.

Miguel Gutierrez is a dance and music artist based in Brooklyn. He has created several evenings of work, both solo and with his group, the Powerful People. The work has been presented in venues and festivals across the country and internationally. He is a New York Foundation for the Arts 2008 Fellow in choreography. He teaches workshops in technique, composition, and creative process around the world. www.miguelgutierrez.org

K.J. Holmes is a dancer/singer/poet and body worker who has been exploring improvisation as process and performance since ‘81. She teaches and performs throughout the world and has collaborated with Lisa Nelson, Karen Nelson, Steve Paxton, Simone Forti, Shelley Senter, Sondra Loring and Julie Carr, among others. K.J. is a graduate of the School for Body-Mind Centering®, is adjunct faculty at NYU’s Experimental Theatre Wing and continues to teach in NYC through MR, where she was a ’92-‘93 A.I.R., and at the Trisha Brown Studios.

Iréne Hultman is currently rehearsal director for the Trisha Brown Dance Company. She was also a member of TBDC from 1983-88. She is a native of Sweden and a NY-based choreographer. Her work spans over fifteen years of which several premiered at The Joyce Theater and Danspace Project at St. Mark’s Church. She has also choreographed seven Opera Productions as well as musicals and cabarets including South Pacific and A Touch of Kurt Weil. She is the co-Founder of Järna-Brooklyn, a Swedish-American cultural entity that encourages artistic experimentation and exchange.

John Jasperse has been making dances in NYC and elsewhere since 1985. His work has been presented in festivals and venues throughout the U.S., Brazil, Chile, Israel, Japan, and Europe including BAM’s Next Wave Festival, La Biennale di Venezia, Cannes International Dance Festival, EuroKaz, Kampnagel, The Flynn, Montpellier Danse, MCA Chicago, On the Boards, Tanz im August, TanzQuartier Wein, Mousonturm, The Walker, The Wexner, VEO Festival and Yerba Buena. Jasperse has created commissioned works for Baryshnikov’s White Oak Project, Batsheva Dance Company, and Lyon Opera Ballet.

Luis Lara Malcavias is a Venezuelan multidisciplinary artist. He has danced in works by Jeremy Nelson, John Jasperse, David Zambrano and Mark Tompkins, among others. Since 1994 he has presented his work in New York in several venues including Danspace Project, The Kitchen, DTW and P.S. 122, and in many countries in Europe, South America, North America and Asia. He was a 1998-99 and 2002-03 Movement Research Artist-in-Residence and received a 2006 NYFA Fellowship in Choreography. He has taught classes/workshops in several countries and venues including SEAD, Christian Blaise Company and the Sasha Waltz Company among others.

Jeremy Laverdure has been dancing and making dances in NYC since 1997. He has studied with Barbara Mahler since 1999 and began apprenticing to teach her work in 2005. Jeremy danced for many years in the companies of Sarah Skaggs and Neta Pulvermacher, and for the past few years has been making solo performance works, the latest of which will be shown in April at BRIC studio as part of Danspace Project's Out of Space series.

Nicholas Leichter received a BA in dance from Connecticut College. He was a member of Ralph Lemon Company from 1993-95. He has taught throughout the US, Europe, Asia, and Canada, and has been on faculty at Tisch School of the Arts and the American Dance Festival. Leichter has received support from TIAA-CREF, The Harkness Foundation for Dance, NYFA, Jerome Foundation, The Greenwall Foundation, Pentacle’s HelpDesk, Dance/USA and the NEA as part of the National College Choreographic Initiative, The 92nd Street Y New Works in Dance Fund, The Joyce Theater Foundation, NYC, with major support from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, NYSCA, and the NEA. Leichter received the 2006 Mariam McGlone Emerging Choreographer Award from Wesleyan University and a 2008 Choreography Fellowship from NYFA. Leichter has been artist-in-residence/guest artist at many institutions including Sarah Lawrence College and George Washington University. He is on the board of Dance Theater Workshop.

Daniel Lepkoff played a central role in the development of Release Technique with Mary Fulkerson as well as Contact Improvisation with Steve Paxton since the early 70’s. Since that time he continues to travel extensively; actively teaching, performing, and exposing this new work and new ideas to audiences worldwide. He is known for his depth and commitment to a way of composing dances that arises from a body of experiential knowledge about how to move and live in the world. He is one of the founders of Movement Research in NYC.

Barbara Mahler has taught daily classes for 27 years plus, educating and teaching (with, and inspired by, Susan Klein) a generation of dancers. She is a widely respected dance teacher and choreographer, very active in the development of contemporary dance technique. Essentially self-taught, she brings to her classes the perspective, understanding and experience of working on her own movement re-education. Barbara was a Movement Research Artist-in-Residence for the 2000-01 season, is for the 2006-08 season, is an adjunct faculty at Hunter College, NYC, is on the artist advisory board of BAX, and is a recent MFA graduate from UWM. Barbara also maintains a private practice in Zero Balancing and other hands on healing modalities. www.barbaramahler.com

Alejandra Martorell is a movement-based artist and a certified Alexander Technique™ teacher as of June 2008. She is co-editor of Movement Research's Critical Correspondence and holds a Master’s degree on Interdisciplinary Arts Education. She has made dances that were seen in New York, Philadelphia, Montreal, Perú and Puerto Rico, and has worked with Sally Silvers & Dancers, Jennifer Monson, Karen Sherman, Sigal Bergman, DD Dorvillier, Daria Faïn and TRYST, among others.

Yvonne Meier was born in Zurich, Switzerland. Since arriving in NYC in ‘79, she has shown her work at The Kitchen, Danspace Project, P.S. 122, P.S. 1 and Etc., among others. She has received funding from the NEA, NYFA, Franklin Furnace and Etc. She won a “Bessie” Award for her piece The Shining. Yvonne also teaches Authentic Movement and Scores.

Jennifer Monson is the artistic director of iLAND – interdisciplinary Laboratory for Art Nature and Dance. Her projects iMAP/Ridgewood Reservoir and BIRD BRAIN are based in the investigation of the relationship between environment and embodied practice. She is currently teaching at the Dance Department at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign as part of an initiative to bring environmental issues to the forefront of the university and the community at large.

Charles Mosey is based in NYC and has been learning and teaching Contact Improvisation for 15 years. He has had the opportunity to perform with Simone Forti, Daniel Lepkoff, K.J. Holmes, Kirstie Simpson and Wendy Blum.

Jeremy Nelson is a dancer/choreographer and former member of the Stephen Petronio Dance Company. He has also danced in the work of David Zambrano, Susan Rethorst, Luis Lara Malvacías, and in his own work, and with improviser Kirstie Simson. He received a New York Dance and performance “Bessie” Award for performance in 1991 and a Guggenheim Fellowship for choreography in 2004. In the last 20 years he has taught classes/workshops in over 30 countries at venues including ADF, ImPulsTanz, P.A.R.T.S., and the Sasha Waltz Company.

Lisa Nelson is a dance-maker, improvisational performer, videographer, and collaborative artist. From her work with video and dance in the ‘70s, she developed an approach to spontaneous composition and performance she calls Tuning Scores. She works internationally, and maintains long-term collaborations with other artists, including Steve Paxton, Daniel Lepkoff, Scott Smith, Cathy Weis, and Image Lab – a Tuning Score performance ensemble. She received a “Bessie” award in ‘87 and an Alpert Award in the Arts in ’02, was co-editor of Contact Quarterly dance journal for 30 years, and lives in Vermont.

Jennifer Nugent is a performer, teacher, and choreographer. She was a member of David Dorman Dance from 1999-2007, receiving a BESSIE in 2006 for her performing work with the company. Jennifer has also worked with Martha Clarke, Daniel Lepkoff, Lisa Race, Nina Winthrop, and Yin Mei. She has been a guest artist at universities throughout the United States, Korea, and Vietnam.

Tim O’Donnell has been studying, teaching, and performing CI for more than 10 years. He has taught at WCCIF, was a featured teacher at the Moab Jam and Workshop, and at numerous universities and studios around the country. Tim’s exploration of CI is strongly rooted in a deep physical listening and a sense of adventure. His classes range from the gentle and subtle to the acrobatic and fluidly athletic. He holds an MFA in Dance from ASU and has been a bodyworker since 1991.

Margaret Paek is a Lower Left artist living and working in NYC (www.lowerleft.org). She is committed to the process of collaboration, inspired by improvisation and has had the pleasure of working with Nina Martin, Mary Overlie, Shelley Senter, Lionel Popkin, Charles Dennis and BodyCartography among others. Currently, Margaret dances in New York with Team Djordjevich, projectLIMB, Alicia Marván and Melissa Guerrero. With Nina Martin, Kelly Dalrymple and Andrew Wass, she organizes March to Marfa improvisational performance labs and Dance Ranch in Marfa, TX. For over ten years, Margaret has practiced and taught Contact Improvisation, Ensemble Thinking and other movement techniques.

Jimena Paz is an independent choreographer, dancer and a Guild Certified Feldenkrais PractitionerCM. Founder of XYZeta projects, she has shown recent work at Jacob's Pillow, Joe’s Pub, Judson Church and LMCC. She worked with the Stephen Petronio Company (1999–2006), Martha Clarke, Molissa Fenley and Constanza Macras. Teaching activities include Trisha Brown Studio, The Feldenkrais Institute of New York, Dance New Amsterdam, Tisch NYU, DeSales University.

Kasper Daugaard Poulsen (b. 1977) Educated at the Modern Dance Department at The Amsterdam School of the Arts in 2002. Engagements with Mind The Gap Tanztheater (D), Granhøj Dans (DK) and Kassandra Production (DK/S), [W(E)GO] (DK/NL), among others. Also works as a choreographer both freelance and for his own company, Club Fisk, which he founded in 2003. Since then the company has been touring to Denmark, Sweden, Holland, Germany, Scotland, Italy and Brazil. Teaches modern dance technique at The Danish Royal Ballet School as well as to professional dancers. Received ”Helle og Arenth Jacobsens Scholarship for young artists” in 2003.

Molly Rabinowitz has been dancing, choreographing, and studying the Alexander Technique™ in New York for twenty years. She has taught the Alexander Technique™ for over thirteen years. She has been an artist-in-residence at Movement Research and a guest teacher at Wesleyan University, NYU, The Holborn Center and the Greenwich Dance Agency in London, and the State School for Contemporary Dance in Copenhagen, among other schools. She also assists Ann Rodiger in the Balance Arts Alexander Teacher Training Course. She recently received her MFA from the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee.

Susan Rethorst has been making dances since 1977. She has just received her second 'Bessie' for 208 East Broadway, Part 2: Suitcase Dreams.

Rethorst has been a teacher of choreography since about 1988. Currently she divides her time between making work, teaching and writing on choreography.

Judith Sanchez Ruiz was born and raised in Havana, Cuba. She has performed with different companies in Cuba and Europe. She has danced in the works of David Zambrano, Jeremy Nelson and Luis Lara, DD Dorvillier and Osmani Tellez, among others. Her work has been shown in such venues as: P.S. 122, Movement Research at Judson Church, P.S. 1 Contemporary Art Center, Joyce SoHo, Aaron Davis Hall, The Kitchen, New School University, Danspace Project at St. Mark’s Church and the Whitney Museum. She was an 03-04 MR Artist-in-Residence. Dance Omi International Dancers’ Collective Program 2005. Judith has collaborated with different artists such as musician/composer Steve Coleman, Henry Threadgill, and Dafnis Prieto; visual artist Jonathan Cramer; and photographer Anja Hitzenberger. Judith currently resides in NYC and is a member of Trisha Brown Dance Company.

Shelley Senter, an internationally renowned teacher of the Alexander TechniqueTM, has been involved with experimental and post-modern dance for more than 25 years, touring throughout the world as a performer, choreographer, and teacher. She has been critically recognized and awarded for her distinct approach to movement, both as an independent dance artist, and as a collaborator with many distinguished artists in the New York, West Coast and International dance communities, including the Trisha Brown Company, whose work she continues to stage worldwide. Her teaching continues to influence artists of all disciplines.

Vicky Shick, an independent dancer and choreographer, has been involved in the NYC dance community since the late ‘70s. A member of the Trisha Brown Company for 6 years, she has also worked with many other NY-based choreographers. She received a “Bessie” Award for performance (’85) and choreography (’03), has shown her own work since the mid-‘80s, and teaches regularly in the US and Europe.

Shakti Andrea Smith is a dancer, Massage Therapist/Bodyworker, and Teacher. Shakti teaches Contact Improvisation, Authentic Movement, and Dance Meditations in Brooklyn and Manhattan. She also teaches at Earthdance, Dance New England, and in the Boston area. Shakti’s teaching and performances are influenced by Nature studies, Action Theatre, and other pathways to being alive and present in this moment. She has a degree in Transpersonal Psychology and a passion for site-specific performance work. www.dancingwithshakti.com.

Stacy Spence received his MFA from Tisch School of the Arts at New York University. While in NYC he has danced and collaborated with Polly Motley and filmmaker Molly Davies, and numerous others. Stacy danced with The Trisha Brown Company (1997-2006), and leads classes, workshops, and lectures focused on Trisha Brown’s repertory as well as restaging several of her works. In 2006, Stacy’s own work was commissioned by EDge at London Contemporary Dance School, followed by the University of New Mexico in 2007. He continues to teach, as well as pursue his own work.

RoseAnne Spradlin’s choreographic work probes the body, seeking insight and liberation for both performers and audiences in the theatrical experience. Spradlin received a Bessie Award in 2003, and recently received a Guggenheim Fellowship in Choreography, an Artist Award from the Foundation for Contemporary Arts and a three-year Lambent Fellowship in Choreography. She has also received two NYFA Fellowships in Choreography, and numerous grants in support of her work. Spradlin’s company performed at the ImPulsTanz Festival in Vienna in 2007; also in 2007 Spradlin taught courses in Body-Mind Centering® and aspects of composition and performance in Vienna, Brussels, Paris and London.

Benno Voorham is a dance improviser, choreographer and teacher from Holland, living in Stockholm since 1995. Since he graduated from the School for New Dance Development in Amsterdam he has worked as a free-lance dance-artist throughout Europe, directing his own work as well as collaborating with others in both set and improvised pieces. He has won a distinctive reputation for his original brand of teaching and performing. His teaching is primarily focussed on Improvisation and Contact Improvisation. He is teaching extensively throughout Europe since 1986 and has been a major force in introducing CI to many of the Eastern European countries.

Gwen Welliver performed with Doug Varone and Dancers (1990-2000) and received a “Bessie” Award for Sustained Achievement (2000). She then joined the Trisha Brown Dance Company as Rehearsal Director (2000-07). Gwen has taught in numerous settings including the ADF (North Carolina, Chile), International Summer School of Dance (Japan), Kalamata International Dance Festival (Greece), Moscow Contemporary Dance Summer School “TSEH”, and was on the faculty of NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts Dance Department (1995-2000). Gwen is currently developing her work at Bennington College (Teaching Fellow/MFA).

Yasuko Yokoshi’s works, which combine different disciplines and mediums, have been presented at Danspace Project, the Guggenheim Museum, The Kitchen, MASS MoCA, P.S. 122, and the Whitney Museum of American Art, among others. Yokoshi received “Bessie” Awards in 2003 and 2006. She is the recipient of a 2007 BAXTen Award and a 2008 Foundation for Contemporary Arts Award. She serves as a curatorial adviser at The Kitchen as well as on the board of directors at Movement Research.