MEET THE FACULTY
ELIZABETH AUCLAIR
Graham Lvl III, Adv Repertory
Elizabeth Auclair
Elizabeth Auclair danced with the Martha Graham Dance Company, as a Principal, for over 16 years, performing many of Grahams’ seminal roles. Additionally, she danced with Pascal Rioult Dance Theater, Jean Erdman Dance, Pearl Lang Dance Theater, and City Contemporary Dance Company (Hong Kong), and appears in the films ”Rhythm of Destiny” and ”Dark Angel”. Elizabeth has taught technique and repertory at numerous professional training academies and universities, both internationally and throughout the US, including Taipei National University of the Arts, Hofstra University, University of the Arts (Philadelphia), Marymount Manhattan College, and the Boston Conservatory. She regularly acts as regisseur, setting the Graham ballets on professional companies and on students. She has been rehearsal director for the Martha Graham Dance Co., Pearl Lang Dance Theater and 360 Dance Company, and served as Director of an arts-in-education outreach project created in response to the tragic events of 9/11/01, and designed to give children in highly affected areas access to the expressive possibilities contained within the unique movement language of Martha Graham. She remains on the faculty of the Martha Graham School and the School of Toronto Dance Theater.
TAMI ALESSON
Beg/Int Ballet
Tami Alesson
Tami Alesson received a BFA from the University of Cincinnati’s Conservatory of Music. She was a professional ballet dancer with the Cincinnati Ballet for nearly 20 years, where she also served as the Director of Education Outreach. She was also the Companies Union Representative where she negotiated many contracts for the American Guild of Musical Artists. During her time in Cincinnati she was one of the founding members of the Cincinnati Ballet School as well as a student rehearsal coach for all Company production. From 2000-2007, Ms. Alesson headed the Outreach Department at the Rock School for Dance Education in Philadelphia. Many of Ms. Alesson’s former students now work in major companies throughout the world including: New York City Ballet, American Ballet Theater, and English National Ballet in London. In 2007, Ms. Alesson was appointed Director of Education at the Martha Graham School where she provided instruction to teens and oversaw all aspects of the educational outreach programs, serving as the primary contact for teens, families, and New York public school staff.
ADAM BARRUCH
Adv Contemporary
Adam Barruch
Adam Barruch began his career as a young actor, performing professionally on Broadway and in film and television, working with prominent figures such as Tony Bennett, Jerry Herman and Susan Stroman. He later received dance training at LaGuardia High School for Music & Art and Performing Arts. After three years, he graduated early and was accepted into the dance department at The Juilliard School. As a dancer he has performed the works of Jiri Kylian, Ohad Naharin, Susan Marshall, Jose Limon, Daniele Dèsnoyers, and was a dancer with Sylvain Émard Danse in Montreal. He has also worked with The Margie Gillis Dance Foundation, performing and researching Conflict Transformation as part of The Legacy Project. Based in Brooklyn, Adam currently creates and performs work with own company, Anatomiae Occultii.
AMÉLIE BÉNARD
Repertory (virtual)
Amélie Bénard
A native of France, Amélie Bénard began her dance training at Centre international de danse jazz Rick Odums in Paris. In 2006, she was awarded a scholarship to study at the Martha Graham School and joined Graham II in 2007 under the direction of Virginie Mécène. In addition, she was a member of Caliince Dance and Edgar Cortes Dance Theater and performed works from choreographers such as Pearl Lang, Robert Battle, Virginie Mécène, Peggy Lyman, and Carrie Ellmore-Tallitsch. After graduating from the Professional Training Program, she enrolled in the Teacher Training Program and obtained her certificate of recognition as a Teacher of the Martha Graham Technique™ in June 2009. She has been serving on the faculty of the Martha Graham School since then, teaching the technique, repertory and creative workshop. Amélie has also been restaging Martha Graham’s Panorama since 2010 as part of the All-City Panorama project. She is also currently serving on the faculties of Ballet Hispánico as well as the Joffrey Ballet School. For the past 12 years, Amélie has enjoyed sharing her passion for the Martha Graham Technique™ with students from all ages and levels. She is honored and thrilled to continue her journey leading the Teens@Graham Program.
JACQULYN BUGLISI
Graham Lvl IV
Jacqui Buglisi
In her four decade long career, Buglisi has made an indelible impact on the field of dance. Renowned for highly visual, imagistic dances that use literature, history and heroic archetypes as a primary source, Buglisi’s ballets are sweeping, passionate and always rooted in a strong physical technique. She is a prolific choreographer creating more than 100 ballets for Buglisi Dance Theatre and commissioned worldwide including Suspended Women on the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre (premiere: 12/12/14 at New York City Center); Ninfee for the Richmond Ballet; her full-length The Four Elements for the Flamenco Festival presented in Madrid, Sadler’s Wells, London and New York’s City Center; Ananda Shankar Performing Arts Company, India; the Shanghai Song and Dance Ensemble, China; the Martha Graham Dance Company, North Carolina Dance Theatre, Joyce Trisler Danscompany, Teatro Danza Contemporanea di Roma for which she was a co-founder in 1969; American Repertory Ballet; Ailey II; and Ice Theatre of New York.
During her 30 year association with the Martha Graham Dance Company, Buglisi was a Principal Dancer for 12 years, performing the classic roles and those created for her by Miss Graham. She danced in Ms. Graham’s honor on the nationally televised CBS Presentation of the Kennedy Center Honors and the PBS film An Evening of Dance and Conversation with Martha Graham. Buglisi’s duet “Sospiri” was performed by the Martha Graham Company at New York City Center (1989). Coached by Jane Sherman, she performed Ruth St. Denis’ solos internationally including Lyon Biennale De La Danse and on film in Trailblazers of American Modern Dance, and The Spirit of Denishawn.
JENNIFER CONLEY
Beg/Int Graham (virtual)
Jennifer Conley
Jennifer Conley, Ph.D., MFA, is an artist-scholar with a twenty-year career embodying iconic solo works of early-mid 20th century modern dance lineage. The New York Times describes her as “bringing to life the artistic foundation upon which generations of choreographers have built.” She danced for years with the Martha Graham Dance Company, Pearl Lang Dance Theatre, and as a founding member of Deborah Zall’s Company of Women. As a freelance artist Jennifer was a featured soloist for ten years at the 92nd St Y (2009-2019), Lincoln Center, Library of Congress, and also as a guest with Modern Rebels and Sokolow Theatre Dance Ensemble. Jennifer extends her expertise beyond the stage to direct the next generation of performers through her work as a regisseur with the Martha Graham Center and the estates of Pearl Lang and Ethel Winter. Her research on the reconstruction process, Martha Graham, and Earth-based imagery in dance is published nationally and internationally. Jennifer
JESSE FACTOR
Graham Lvl II
Jesse Factor
Jesse Factor’s growing repertoire of solo work combines a speculative view of queer histories and the archive with contemporary composition practices. He has created Mommie Queerest, presented at Queers in Revolt at Sam Houston University in 2019, Kween Kong presented at the Harvest Chicago Contemporary Dance Festival in 2017, and Marthagany: the Spectre-Acle series, which continues to tour at dance festivals, performance events, and nightclubs. Jesse Factor’s studied channeling of divas in exile–from time and body–hauntingly reflects the impressions they’ve left behind.
Awards include the Twin Cities Arts Reader Critics Pick and Minnesota Fringe Staff Pick for RELIC at the Minnesota Fringe Festival and Outstanding Dance Performance for Marthagany at the Fresh Fruit Festival-NYC. Jesse received the Kelly Strayhorn Alloy Studios Freshworks residency grant (Pittsburgh, PA) for a collaborative work with multimedia artist Scott Andrew.
Factor’s work has been presented in many American and international venues including TQ Live! at the Andy Warhol Museum (Pittsburgh), OUTsider Festival (Austin), Milton Art Bank (Milton), RADfest (Kalamazoo), St. Mark’s Church in the Bowery (NYC), Fresh Fruit Festival (NYC), House of Yes, (NYC), and Fierce Queer Burlesque (Toronto).
Jesse Factor received the Iowa Arts Fellowship (2015-2016) and an Obermann Graduate Institute Fellowship (2017) at the University of Iowa. Jesse danced professionally with the Martha Graham Dance Company and Graham II, received a BFA in Drama with honors from Tisch/NYU, and an MFA in Dance from the University of Iowa.
DANIEL FETUCA
Limón Masterclass
Daniel Fetuca
Daniel Fetecua Soto is from Bogotá, Colombia and holds a BFA from Folkwang-University of the Arts in Germany. He has appeared as guest artist in Pina Bausch’s masterpieces, Rite of Spring and Tannhäuser and was a soloist member of the Limón Dance Company for ten years (2006-2016), dancing principle roles in Jose Limón’s masterpieces. Daniel has also danced works by Jiry Kilian, Susane Linke, and Doris Humphrey, among others.
Daniel currently serves as a Master Teacher of the Limón technique, reconstructor of Limón’s repertory, and as a faculty member of the Limón Institute and Limón4Kids program. He is the Founder and Artistic Director Pajarillo Pinta’o, a dance company that preserves and promotes Colombian traditional dance, and D-Moves, a contemporary dance project that combines Colombian traditions, Modern Dance and German TanzTheater. Along with longtime collaborator – Colombian composer and musician Pablo Mayor – Daniel created “Amalgama”, “El Barrio Project” and the educational residency Cumbia For Kids/Cumbia For All. Since 2008, he has worked with Native-Choreographer Rosalie Jones/Day Star for her work “Wolf: A Transformation”, from whom Daniel has the rights to the piece for the performance, preservation and promotion.
KAREN GAYLE
Horton Masterclass
Karen Gayle
Originally from Toronto, Karen received her degree from Ryerson University. She moved to New York to study at The Ailey School where she fell in love with the Horton technique. Karen has taught at Ballet Hispanico, The Ailey Extension, The School at Columbia University, Horace Mann, New Dance Group and is currently a faculty member for Steps on Broadway, Marymount Manhattan College, Montclair State University, The Joffrey Ballet School and the Ailey School. She has had the opportunity to guest teach and choreograph across the U.S. and abroad, including Canada, Mexico, Bolivia, Italy, Cyprus, and Israel and is a returning guest artist with OH Ballet Arts Academy (MD), Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet, (PA), Techniche de Danza (Rome) and Earl Haig Performing Arts School (Toronto).
Choreography commissions include: General Mischief Dance Theatre, The Harvard Ballet Company, Steps Repertory Ensemble, The Boston Tea Party Opera, Steffi Nossen, Marymount Manhattan College, Montclair State University. As artistic director of the xodus dance collective, her choreography has been showcased at such iconic concert dance venues as: American Dance Guild Festival, DUMBO Dance Festival, Movement Research at Judson Church, the Downtown Dance Festival, JPAC, Here Arts Center, The Ailey Theatre, The Queen Elizabeth Theatre in Toronto and the Inside/Out Festival at Jacob’s Pillow.
RICHARD GLOVER
Beg/Int Ballet
Richard Glover
Richard Glover is a New York based teacher, coach and choreographer. Born and raised in Brooklyn, NY, he began his training at the Brooklyn Music School. He then went on to study at Dance Theatre of Harlem, followed by The School of American Ballet at Lincoln Center, both on full scholarship. Mr. Glover began his professional career at Pittsburgh Ballet Theater. Richard also danced with several companies in London, including performances at English National Ballet and The Royal Opera House. Mr. Glover recently served as Ballet Master at Brooklyn Ballet and is currently Programs Director with Dance Lab New York.
DEBEORAH GOODMAN
Int Graham (virtual)
Deborah Goodman
Deborah Goodman’s expertise in American modern dance features extensive experience performing and teaching Humphrey/Weidman technique and repertory. As a scholarship student to the Martha Graham School in NYC, Yuriko selected Deborah as her demonstrator, meticulously training her in the early technique and repertory of Martha Graham. Deborah performed in the reconstruction of Martha Graham’s Panorama, and took part in the reconstruction of Ms. Graham’s original work, Prelude to Action from from Chronicle. She remains an international authority on the early technique and continues to teach at the Martha Graham School intensive courses. She danced with celebrated choreographers Sandra Kaufmann, Richard Move and Goldhuber/Lasky in New York and MOMENTA Dance Company in Oak Park. She is featured in the film Ghostlight, a homage to modern dance icon Martha Graham.
Deborah is currently a Lecturer in Dance at Loyola university Chicago and the rehearsal Director for Winifred Haun & Dancers. She is the founder and curator of the Chicago Inclusive Dance Festival.
ALLIE KRONICK
Beg/Int and Adv Contemporary
Allie Kronick
Allie Kronick is a freelance performing and teaching artist based out of Brooklyn, NY. She graduated magna cum laude from the Conservatory of Performing Arts at Point Park University and is in training to become an AmSAT certified teacher of the Alexander Technique under the direction of Ann Rodiger at the Balance Arts Center.
Throughout her career, Allie has danced for Abarukas, Annalee Traylor, Boca Tuya/Omar Roman de Jesus, Houston MET Dance, and LED Boise, among others. She has taught for and created on numerous young artists across the US and abroad, and has also staged work and assisted creations for Ballet Vero Beach, James Madison University, The Ailey School, Marymount Manhattan College, Montclair High School, and LaGuardia High School. Allie currently teaches at bodycraft studio in Brooklyn and is on faculty teaching contemporary dance for the Professional Training Programs at the Martha Graham School.
LONE LARSEN
Beg/Int Composition
Lone Larsen
Lone Larsen left her native Denmark in 1986 to study at the Martha Graham School, where she was awarded a full scholarship sponsored by the Helena Rubinstein Foundation. She joined the Martha Graham Ensemble in 1986 and subsequently the Martha Graham Dance Company, where she performed until 1993. She also danced for seven years as soloist with Pearl Lang Dance Theatre and performed for many other leading modern and ballet choreographers here and abroad. While working in Denmark, she co-founded and was co-Artistic Director of BALLET PLUS, and from 2002-2005 she served as Rehearsal Director for Danish Dance Theatre. Lone has taught numerous master classes and workshops nationally and internationally. Currently serving on the faculties of Marymount Manhattan College and the Martha Graham School, she teaches technique, repertory, composition, and performance workshop. Lone also restages Martha Graham’s works for universities, as well as reconstructs and stages works by Pearl Lang. Her own choreographic works for concert dance and theatre have been presented both in New York and abroad. Lone holds a B.F.A. in Dance from Boston Conservatory and M.F.A. in Choreography from Jacksonville University.
KRISTIN LODOEN
Graham Lvl I
Kristin Lodoen
Kristin Lodoen holds a BFA in Modern Dance, Dance Teachers Department, from Oslo National Academy of the Arts. She was awarded a Fellowship Award from The American Scandinavian Foundation to study at The Martha Graham School in 1991 and 1992, and scholarship from The Martha Graham School from 1990 though 1995. She continued to develop as a dancer as a scholarship student at the Merce Cunningham Studio and as a DanceWeb Scholarship recipient in Vienna as the first recipient from Norway. She was a student of Kazuko Hirabyashi’s in composition at SUNY Purchase in 1991 and 1992. Kristin participated as a dancer in the reconstruction of Martha Graham’s Panorama in 1992 and subsequently danced with Martha Graham Ensemble, Pearl Lang Dance Theater and eventually as a dancer in The Martha Graham Dance Company. She has performed her own work at St.Marks Church and other venues in NYC, in a visual art-movie in collaboration with the Norwegian artist Rolf Aamot, and most recently in at Dronninglund Art Center in Denmark in a collaborative Viewpoints based work in 2019. Kristin is a certified ballet teacher in ABT® National Training Curriculum in Primary though Level 3 and has been teaching ballet for many years in various dance studios. She has for the past 9 years gained knowledge and extensive experience in the Suzuki Method and in Viewpoints though SITI Company, and Viewpoints and Composition though Masterclasses with Anne Bogart. She has also been teaching Graham technique in Norway and recently in the Martha Graham School’s summer intensive. While working in Norway she developed a Viewpoints program for Elementary school students and was also teaching Viewpoints and Suzuki at Christiania University College in the BFA Acting Program. Kristin is interested in the connection between voice and body and the past 8 years studied Voice and Scene work with Ellen Lauren (NYC), Public Speaking with Mary Workman at NYU, Voice and Shakespeare with Nadine George (London) and Artaud /Grotowski with Lars Øyno and Theophile Choquet (Norway). Kristin is also a photographer with many years’ experiences in photographing dance, headshots and portraits in NYC.
DEVIN LOH
Graham Lvl II
Devin Loh
From Fanwood, NJ, Devin holds a BFA from the Conservatory of Dance at Purchase College, SUNY. Upon graduation, she was named a recipient of the Bert Terborgh Award for Leadership and Excellence in Dance. She then continued her studies at the Martha Graham School and performed Principal roles as a member of Graham 2. Now, Devin is entering her second performance season with the Martha Graham Dance Company, and instructs Graham and Ballet Techniques in the Professional Division at the Martha Graham School.
JESSICA DIMAURO MARKS
Beg/Int and Adv Contemporary
Jessica DiMauro Marks
Jessica DiMauro Marks is a modern dance choreographer invested in creating work that is rich in physicality and deeply communicative. Jessica holds an MFA in Choreography from Jacksonville University and a BFA in Dance from Marymount Manhattan College. She has taught and choreographed works extensively for both pre-professional and professional dance companies in the greater NY area, as well as in New Jersey, Connecticut and Florida. Her company, DiMauro Dance, has been selected to perform at numerous curated festivals including Dance Conversations at The Flea, WHITE WAVE’s WAVE RISING Series, The T: Dance, Watch, Reflect, Greenspace Blooms, The HATCH presenting series, CT Meets NY, and Queens Arts Express. She is on faculty at Marymount Manhattan College and Montclair State University. Jessica currently acts as Artistic Director for the Steffi Nossen School of Dance, a modern dance organization active for over 85 years in White Plains, NY. She is a frequent guest artist for workshops and intensives throughout the tri-state area including the Martha Graham School and Earl Mosley’s Institute of the Arts. In 2013, Ms. DiMauro Marks was proud to be among the first few students to be certified in May O’Donnell Technique. Jessica is a Certified Kripalu Yoga Teacher, personal trainer and group fitness instructor.
BLAKELY WHITE-MCGUIRE
Graham Lvl III
Blakely White-McGuire
Blakeley White-McGuire (MFAIA) born and raised in South Louisiana, U.S.A., is a New York-based dancer/choreographer/writer/educator and interdisciplinary artist critically acclaimed as a former Principal dancer and present official Regisseur of repertory with the Martha Graham Dance Company.
Her current creative process creates contemporary dance theater and site-specific performative works through movement research including with Movement Migration and C.A.V.E.S. Project Entre El Cuerpo y La Naturaleza, an international collaborative interrogating the relationship between art, nature, and the human body.
Her productions have been commissioned by several transformative presenters including the Dancing Human Rights Festival, Oxford, UK; The Museum of Arts and Design, New York, USA Jacob’s Pillow’s INSIDE/ OUT, USA; American Dance Festival, USA; Movement Migration (International) and Ballet Metropolitano, Colombia, SA.
Blakeley White-McGuire is currently an Adjunct Assistant Professor of Contemporary Dance at Hunter College and The Ailey/Fordham Professional Division and is the author of several published works including her first book, “The Martha Graham Dance Company: House of the Pelvic Truth.”
CARA MCMANUS
Beg/Int Repertory, Beg/Int Ballet
Cara McManus
Cara trained in her hometown of Falmouth, MA before earning a BFA in Dance and a BA in Comparative Literature from Fordham University and the Ailey School. Post-graduation, she danced with Graham 2 before joining the Martha Graham Dance Company, where she performed for four years. She has also danced with the Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company and with Joshua Beamish’s MOVE/THECOMPANY, as well as being featured in the film The White Wolf by director Sue de Beer. Most recently, she performed in Shadow of the Sea, an immersive performance in Madison Square Park commissioned by The Kitchen. Cara currently dances with the Caterina Rago Dance Company and teaches at the Graham School and New Jersey Dance Theatre Ensemble.
VIRGINIE MÉCÈNE
Graham Lvl IV
Virginie Mécène
Virginie Mecene is a former Principal Dancer with the Martha Graham Dance Company touring the world and performing many roles in the repertoire from 1994 to 2006. Director of the Martha Graham School, 2007-2015, Program Director since 2015, and Graham 2 Director since 2007, she has been maintaining and developing the School curriculum, sustaining the integrity of the Martha Graham technique, and nurturing the process that continues its development. Her direction has focused on training next generations of dancers for companies around the world as well as next generations of Graham teachers through her pedagogic instructions. Additionally, she created the Graham Teacher Workshop for teachers of all backgrounds. She has re-staged, reconstructed, and directed numerous works of Martha Graham in Universities and dance companies as well as taught the Graham TechniqueTM at multiple national and international conferences. Ms. Mécène’s choreographic work, including the reimagined Graham’s lost solo, Ekstasis, for the Martha Graham Dance Company, a commission from Buglisi Dance, and a full evening length work, has been presented in venues such as Kaatsbaan International Dance Center, in Tivoli, New York, New York City Center, in New York City, The Palais Garnier, in Paris, France, and L’Auditori in Barcelona. A native of France, she holds a L.P. Licence Professionnelle in Artistic and Cultural Management from the University of Bourgogne. Ms. Mecene has also served as a Lecturer at Barnard College, NY, in 2004 and served as the president of EFSD (Emergency Fund For Student Dancers).
VERA PAGANIN
Beg Graham (virtual)
Vera Paganin
Bio coming soon…
BIANCA DELLI PRISCOLI
Adv Ballet
Bianca Delli Priscoli
STEVE ROOKS
Graham Lvl IV
Steve Rooks
Steve Rooks danced with the Alvin Ailey Repertory Ensemble, and the Martha Graham Dance Company, where he performed for over a decade and achieved the rank of Principal Dancer.
Mr. Rooks is a Professor and Resident Choreographer at Vassar and the 2004 winner of the National Choreographic Competition at Hubbard Street Dance Chicago. He has been awarded Research Grants to travel to Latvia, Zambia, and in 2014 to Finland, where he choreographed “Plate Tectonics” on 24 international dancers. Mr. Rooks was commissioned by the Masterworks Festival to create ballets for a number of contemporary composers including Clarice Assad, Piet Swerts, and David Skidmore – all to live orchestra.
AOI SATO
Graham Lvl I
Aoi Sato
Aoi Sato began her ballet training at Liscombe International Ballet School in Japan. She received a scholarship from Alvin Ailey School where she performed Memoria with the Ailey Company. She has also worked with Dance Spotlight, Buglisi Dance Theatre, Nai-Ni Chen, among others. Aoi joined Graham 2 company in 2017 during this period her favorite roles are the Red Woman in Diversion of Angels, Satyric Festival Song and Moon duet from Canticle for Innocent Comedians.
SEAN SCANTLEBURY
Beg/Int Contemporary
Sean Scantlebury
Sean Scantlebury is a performer and teacher equally adept in modern, ballet and hip-hop. A native of Barbados, Sean is a naturalized American citizen. He moved to New York City at age eight and was invited to study at the New York City Public School for Dance. He became a member of Eliot Feld’s Ballet Tech and performed in the company’s Joyce Theater seasons for ten years. During his first season with Battery Dance in 2003, he took part in a residency in Kraków, Poland, performing for the European Conference on Tolerance. Since then he has performed, taught and led Dancing to Connect workshops in more than 30 countries throughout Africa, Asia, and Europe. His hip-hop classes have served as a magnet for urban youth everywhere. As a Battery Dance teaching artist, he has led classes at Washington Irving High School, Brooklyn’s P.S. 257, the South Bronx’s I.S. 162 and Millennium High School in Lower Manhattan.
In 2017, Sean was named by Dance.com as one of 15 black dancers who are changing the world, second only to ABT’s Misty Copeland.
BEN SCHULTZ
Graham Lvl II, Beg/Int Repertory
Ben Schultz
Ben Schultz joined the Graham Company in 2009 and danced lead roles including King Hades in Clytemnestra and Jason in Cave of the Heart. He premiered Martha Graham’s work in Russia performing Errand into the Maze with prima ballerina Diana Vishneva at the Mariinsky Theatre, Saint Petersburg. Earlier dance credits include the Tony Award® winning Blast!, the Cleo Parker Robinson Dance Ensemble, and Hannah Kahn Contemporary Dance. Mr. Schultz has served as faculty and resident choreographer for the Arvada Center for the Arts and Humanities. Mr. Schultz starred in the world premiere of AXE, a work created by Mats Ek for the Company.
JEFFREY SHIRBROUN
Beg and Int Graham (virtual)
Jeffery Shirbroun
Jeffrey is a dancer and artist based in New York City, previous dancer with Graham 2 and is currently on faculty at the Martha Graham School of Contemporary Dance. He has performed at the American Dance Festival in Martha Graham’s iconic “Diversion of Angels,” as the Turkey from the “Owl and the Pussycat,” at the Graham Holiday Performance, and in “Secular Games” at EFSD. He has relished and excelled in the study of Graham technique but also has a dexterity for improvisation, composition and direction.
YUNG YUNG TSUAI
Adv Composition
Yung Yung Tsuai
Born in China in 1948, Yung Yung was raised in Taipei, Taiwan. She started to take dance lessons at the age of five. She excelled both in Chinese traditional folk dance, as well as European ballet. Yung Yung distinguished herself from her peers, and won many dance competitions at an early age. The stage became her “power spot,” as she remembers today.
Soon, Yung Yung was to become a child star in Taiwan, and had her own weekly television show, for which she also did the choreography. In her youth, Yung Yung also worked as a stuntwoman for kung fu movies in Taiwan.
Growing up on the beautiful island of Taiwan, Yung Yung had a fascination for Hollywood, starting at an early age; she grew up with “The Wizard of Oz” and Dorothy, and she admired Judy Garland.
In 1969 Yung Yung was taking tap dance classes at the American Center in Taipei, when she met Martha Graham. The following year, she embarked on a plane to come to New York on a Martha Graham scholarship. At the Martha Graham School in New York City Yung Yung remembers: “Dancers learn to use their bodies as instruments. We push to the limit of our physical capacity. If we break through the barrier of physical limitation, there is a chance to glimpse the enormous unknown energy locked within our bodies. Martha Graham created a technique which I believe is more difficult than any other dance form.”
Although she came to master Martha Graham technique, and has taught for many years at the Martha Graham School, and many other schools in the United States, Yung Yung developed her own choreography and founded her own dance company, managed by her husband Martin Lerner.
Yung Yung met Martin shortly after she moved to New York – she was the first Chinese Martin ever met. In the early 1970s, Yung Yung remembers, there weren’t many Chinese in the City. Yung Yung married Martin shortly after; they’re still together today, after 40 years.
In the United States, Yung Yung has known success as a dancer and teacher, and has met many famous people. Her daughter Tysan is also a dancer.
In 2007, Yung Yung wrote her memoir The Difference In Butterflies with co-author Marilyn Meeske Sorel. This is what the publisher IUniverse says: “In this memoir we experience the fall and resurrection of a professional dancer / choreographer who, with the help of Martha Graham and an unconventional psychotherapist, Shepherd Hoodwin, escapes outer and inner tyranny, to find passionate love and the ultimate – identity as her own woman: free to be.”
ELIZABETH TROXLER
Ballet (virtual)
Elizabeth Troxler
Elizabeth Troxler is a NYC based choreographer/director, dancer, actor, master teacher, and now film maker. During the COVID shutdown in 2020, in a time when live performance was absent, Elizabeth partnered with The Tank NYC , Theatre Dance Vietnam and over one hundred artists, choreographers, and dancers from around the world to present Dancing Through…, a dance journey through the history of Broadway dance styles. Allongé Films was born and has continued to create short films and music videos which have won awards at 5 different film festivals. She is a registered teacher with the Royal Academy of Dance & has attained her Solo Seal Award. Elizabeth teaches at the University of Houston and continues to teach for the Martha Graham Company & School in NYC. She has choreographed numerous shows such as Matilda, Dames at Sea, Godspell, Cabaret, and Bright Star. Elizabeth has also choreographed various original ballets over the years, including The Snow Queen and Golden Threads. Recently, she directed and choreographed two new productions debuting in NYC – Daughter of Society & On This Wondrous Sea. She co-produced and fully choreographed the Broadway classic On The Town as a AEA workshop to celebrate the centennial of Leonard Bernstein’s birthday. Elizabeth has performed in regional productions of Anything Goes, CATS, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, Thoroughly Modern Millie, Mame at Riverside Theatre, as Maggie in Brigadoon at The Wick, The Wizard of Oz at Fireside Theatre & Beauty & the Beast at the Alabama Shakespeare Festival, as well as in Peter & the Wolf at the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) and in the National Tour of Sweet Charity. She has danced various classical ballet roles in ballets such as Sleeping Beauty, Swan Lake, & Les Sylphides with ballet companies around the world. She recently performed in regional productions of An American In Paris & Escape to Margaritaville, as well as directing Legally Blonde & choreographing Chess. 
DENISE VALE
Graham Lvl III
Denise Vale
Denise Vale danced with the Company for ten years dancing many of the major roles of the Graham repertory. She is well known for her performance as Woman in White in Diversion of Angels, and widely acclaimed as the first Leader in the reconstruction of Steps in the Street. She starred in Night Chant, a ballet created for her by Martha Graham, and in the Graham solos Lamentation, Frontier, S
ANDREA WEBER
Cunningham Masterclass
Andrea Weber
Andrea Weber was a dancer with the Merce Cunningham Dance Company from 2004 – 2011. Andrea is on faculty of the Merce Cunningham Trust, teaching Cunningham Technique® at New York City Center and The Hartt School. She has also taught at Barnard College, SUNY Purchase, UNCSA, Brown University, Skidmore College, the American Dance Festival, ArcDanz Festival, NYU Tisch, ABT Studio Company, Salem State College and Dance New Amsterdam. Andrea has staged Exchange and Scenario f
ANNE WESTWICK
Graham Lvl 1
Anne Westwick
Anne Westwick has been a dancer, choreographer, and dance educator for over 40 years, working in concert modern dance, classical ballet, and musical theater throughout the United States, as well as on National and International tours. Her education includes a B.A. in Dance from the University of California at Berkeley and an M.F.A. in Choreography and Performance from Mills College, (Oakland, CA,) and teaching certificates from the Yoga Alliance and from the Martha Graham School. She has performed for choreographers including Martha Graham, Yuriko, Donlin Foreman, David Wood, Marni Thomas, Janice Garrett, as well as for the San Antonio Ballet, Berkeley Ballet Theater, International Equity tours of The King and I, and for the company she co-directed, Westwick/Dolder Dance Theater. Anne has been on the dance faculty of the University of California at Berkeley, Solano College, Mills College, the University of Hawaii at Maui, and the Martha Graham School of Contemporary Dance. She is currently a professor of practice at Southern Methodist University, Dallas, TX, teaching modern dance, composition, ballet, dance pedagogy and yoga, and is the director of the SMU-in-Bali study abroad arts immersion program.
LESLIE ANDREA WILLIAMS
Adv Ballet
Leslie Andrea Williams
Leslie Andrea Williams, from Raleigh, North Carolina, joined the company in 2015 and performs featured roles in Appalachian Spring, Diversion of Angels, Embattled Garden, and the lead in Chronicle – the first Black dancer to do so. Her performance was mentioned in The New York Times’ “Best Dance of 2019” list. Ms. Williams’s work has been described as “hypnotic” and “larger than life.” Her artistic strength lies in her innate ability to tap into character roles and “effortlessly control the gaze of the audience.” Ms. Williams has been featured in Dance Magazine as a dancer “On The Rise” and in Teen Vogue as a “Rising Star Personifying Black Excellence.” Leslie received her BFA from The Juilliard School.