Anne Green Gilbert is the Founding Director of the Creative Dance Center (CDC), Kaleidoscope Dance Company, and the Summer Dance Institute for Teachers in Seattle, Washington. Anne is a master teacher, choreographer, and author. She has conducted hundreds of workshops for children and adults across the USA and abroad as well as teaching daily classes for all ages at CDC for over thirty years. She is the author of three dance textbooks and two instructional DVDs. Anne was the first Chair of daCi USA. She received the NDEO Lifetime Achievement Award in 2011.
Chris Roberts
After 34 years of teaching Chris now spends his time volunteering for several organizations. He is also doing residencies at various elementary schools. Chris was part of a team that wrote the Utah State Core for dance and has taught many workshops for the Utah State Office of Education. He has co–taught with Marilyn Berrett in Brazil (daCi World Conference), Albuquerque and Long Beach (NDEO 2003 and 2006). Chris is a proud graduate of Anne Green Gilbert's Summer Dance Institute and was lucky enough to co–teach with her at the Third daCi USA Gathering in Provo, Utah. In 2012 Chris received the Governor's Leadership in the Arts Award for Educational Leadership.
Diana Timothy
Diana Timothy grew up dancing with Tanner Dance and the Children’s Dance Theatre. She graduated with a BFA in modern dance from the University of Utah in 2009, where she was a member of Performing Dance Company and co-director of the student concerts. She also earned a Bachelor’s degree in strategic communication from the University of Utah. Diana is a full-time specialist with Tanner Dance where she currently serves as the Director of the Tipping Point High School Company and Assistant Director of the Arts in Education Program, as well as teaches and choreographs for the Children's Dance Theater. Diana is currently a dancer with The Penguin Lady, a Salt Lake City based dance collective.
Gary Reed
Gary Reed is a creative movement and dance specialist who has been working in the Northwest since 1980. He graduated from the University of Utah with a degree in dance and has been on the WSAC Artist Roster for over 20 years. He is a master teacher with Arts Impact, mentoring teachers in arts integration, and has done dance residencies through out Washington for over thirty years. He teaches and choreographs at The Bertschi School, Bainbridge Dance Center, and Lakeside High School. Gary is also a producer for "Men In Dance/against the grain since 1996," a dance festival that promotes men and boys who dance.
Kathryn Austin
Kathryn Austin, MA, RDE is a Fellow of the British Association of Teachers of Dancing and a teacher and coach of recreational and competitive Scottish Highland Dancers. She is the owner and director of the Centre for Dance & the Performing Arts, a full service dance education facility dedicated to age-appropriate dance studies that support whole-child development. While CDPA Scottish Highland Dancers have been competitively successful in the Southeast U.S., Canada and Scotland, it is the love of her own heritage that compels Austin to promote the discipline. Austin has a BFA in Dance Performance from Florida State, an MA in Dance from the University of Hawai'i and is completing her PhD at Florida Atlantic in Fine and Performing Arts.
Krissa Englebright
Krissa Englebright, a Washington State dance educator currently teaching in Tacoma Public Schools at Grant Center for the Expressive Arts, holds a BA in Dance and English Literature, as well as a Masters in Teaching. Active in her professional organization of Dance Educators' Association of Washington, she has also served on committees with OSPI, ArtsEd WA, and ArtsTime. Krissa has presented workshops at various regional conferences and school districts, and was awarded with the WAHPERD 2013 Dance Educator of the Year, as well as the 2010 Phi Delta Kappa Great Teacher Award. She enjoys staying connected to the performance community, with recent appearances in ArtsCrush, Beyond the Threshold, Scrooge the Musical, and with companies BQ Danza and Barefoot Collective.
Mady Cantor
Mady Cantor is Associate Director of the Dance Program at Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania where she teaches technique, composition, original repertory, arts teaching practice, and directs the Dance Outreach Project, a performing group for young audiences. Recent activities related to the teaching of dance to children include directing Dance TAG (Teaching Artists Group), a peer-to-peer program in the Philadelphia region for continuing professional education; member of the advisory board charged with reviewing dance lessons on PE Central, a national physical education resource; and setting narrative repertory works on professional and college companies.
Marlene Strang
Marlene Strang has an extensive career in dance education, performance, and choreography. Currently, she works as the Director of Curriculum and Instruction at Colorado Ballet where she creates and teaches curriculum for the Community Outreach programs. She received her B.F.A. in Dance with an emphasis in education from Arizona State University. She has danced with local and national choreographers and served as an artistic director of Clutch, an ad hoc modern company that set two comedic site-specific works in Boulder, CO and Oakland, CA. Marlene is also a co-founder and artistic director of Elevation Dance, a Boulder-based children's dance company.
Mary Kay Bisignano Vadino
Mary Kay Bisignano Vadino enjoys teaching movement to people of all ages in a variety of settings. She received a BFA degree in Dance from Western Michigan University and a Masters in Choreography and Performance from UCLA. Mary Kay danced professionally with the Chicago Dance Medium, Next Stage Dance Theater and various artists in Chicago, Denver, L.A. and Seattle.
She currently teaches at Dance Fremont where she has set numerous works on Fremont Danceworks, the resident youth company. Mary Kay has also created several dances for Kaleidoscope, Creative Dance Center's youth company. She is fascinated with the body's potential for expressive communication and thrives on nurturing the creative process for herself and her students. She keeps her life in balance by teaching yoga and enjoying life with her family.
Rachel Kimball
Rachel Kimball is a teaching artist, choreographer and educator. Rachel directs the University of Utah Tanner Dance, Arts in Education Program (Outreach). Rachel teaches in and oversees dance specialists in 4 Utah school districts and 14 elementary schools. Rachel enjoys working with classroom teachers in the classroom as well as through ongoing Professional Development Workshops. As a teaching artist, she has taught in numerous communities throughout the western United States. Rachel holds a BFA in modern dance from the University of Utah. Rachel also sits on the board of daCi (dance and the Child international) USA chapter as a member at large. She continues teaching and choreographing as faculty for the Children's Dance Theatre and the Tanner Dance Studio Programs. Rachel is committed to the philosophy and vision of students finding their own voice through dance.
Stephanie Koltiska
Stephanie Koltiska received her BFA in 2004 from Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle, Washington, and in 2010 she completed her MFA studies from SUNY Purchase in New York. Stephanie's passion for teaching and performance has taken her across the U.S. where she has performed with numerous modern dance companies and taught at Universities, Academy's, Elementary Schools, High Schools and Boys and Girls Club's alike. As the former Outreach Coordinator for Colorado Ballet Stephanie's passion for teaching children blossomed into a life long journey of discovery and dedication.
Terry Goetz
Terry Goetz is School Director for the Creative Dance Center in Seattle, Washington. Terry has been on faculty of CDC since 2000, first training with CDC Founder Anne Green Gilbert in 1997. She danced with Pacific Northwest Ballet from 1988-1995 and was a member of Pittsburgh Ballet Theater from 1986-1988. During her professional career Terry performed works by George Balanchine, Paul Taylor, Jose Limon, Lar Lubovitch, Mark Dendy, and Merce Cunningham as well as performing in full-length classical works. Terry holds workshops nationally and internationally, teaching BrainDance and Brain-Compatible Dance Education. She has presented at NDA and NDEO conferences. Terry has taught for the dance and the Child international Finnish Chapter, at the Kuopio International Dance Festival, the Edmonton and Indiana Orff Schulwerk Associations, the East Asia Regional Council of International Schools Conference held in Shanghai, and at universities in the US and Canada. She worked with other Dance Specialists in developing updated K-12 Learning Standards for Dance in WA state. Terry is Past-President of the Dance Educators Association of Washington.
Skills Teacher
Amy Markgraf Jacobson
Amy Markgraf Jacobson MFA, MA, is an Associate Professor of Modern Dance at Utah Valley University. Amy loves to move and loves to help others discover how brilliant and exciting movement is. Her dancing, teaching, and choreography reaches out to elementary school children, teachers, and adults of all levels throughout Utah, the United States, and Internationally. Amy's work has been performed internationally in the British Isles, Australia, South America, Asia, and Western Europe as well as throughout the United States. She is the co-Artistic Director of UVU's Contemporary Dance Ensemble, teaches Modern Dance Technique and Theory, Dance Kinesiology, Modern Dance Teaching Methods, Dance Education Courses, and Dance Conditioning. She is a National Board member of dance and the Child international.
Chara Huckins
Chara Huckins started dancing at the age of three with Virginia Tanner's Children's Dance Theater. She graduated Magna Cum Laude with a BFA in modern dance from the University of Utah where she was the recipient of the Elizabeth R. Hayes Scholarship, the Outstanding Student Award, the American Scholar Award, Orchesis Honor Society, and is listed in Who's Who Among Students in Colleges and Universities. She danced with the University's Performing Dance Company for four year. She earned a M.Ed in curriculum and instruction in creative arts in learning from Lesley University. Her current research examines the importance of curriculum integration with an emphasis on kinesthetic learning. Chara is a certified Movement Specialist in the Utah Artist-in-Education Program. She has brought the magic of dance to student and teachers with her performances, teaching classes, chorography, and professional development workshops. She is an Adjunct Associate Professor of dance at Brigham Young University and Utah Valley University. She currently teaches and choreographs for the Children's Dance Theatre and throughout Utah School system. Chara performed professionally with Repertory Dance Theatre, RDT, for nineteen years. While with RDT, Chara performed the choreography of Martha Graham, Merce Cunningham, Jose’ Limon, Lucinda Childs, Zvi Gotheiner, Yacov Sharir, Ford Evans, Sophie Maslow, Susan McClain, Doris Humphrey, David Parsons, Isabella Bustos, Michio Ito, Alfred Hinkel, Valery Betis, Susan Hadley, Anna Sokolow, Isadora Duncan, Ze'eva Cohen, Margaret Jenkins, among others. Chara is certified to teach Michio Ito Technique and just received the honor of Who's Who among Executives and Professionals.
Holly Markgraf-Mayne
Holly Markgraf-Mayne currently works for Nebo School District in Utah as a curriculum dance specialist. Holly teaches as a Beverly Taylor Sortenson dance specialist and loves working with children. She grew up dancing with Brigham Young University Young Dance Makers and taught for them for five years. She was also a Sunburst Singer at Utah State University, as well as a Contemporary Dance Works Company member. When she is not teaching dance you will find her singing, teaching private voice, and playing with her Toddlers, and Husband finding all kinds of adventures to go on.
Kayti Bouljon
Kayti Bouljon joined Pacific Northwest Ballet in 2004 and has led the PNB Community Education Programs since 2007. In her role she works extensively in the classroom, leads professional development workshops for teachers and teaching artists, creates lesson plans for schools and teachers, and oversees partnerships with area arts organizations. In addition to her work at PNB, she is a faculty member for the Teaching Artist Training Lab in partnership with Seattle Repertory Theatre and ArtsWa, has done consulting work for Arts Corps and Seattle Public Schools, teaches workshops for Seattle University and the University of Washington Masters in Teaching programs, and is an adjunct faculty member at Cornish College of the Arts. Since 2009, Kayti has served on the board of Dance Educators Association of Washington and is a liaison for the National Dance Education Organization. She holds a B.A. in Dance and a B.A. in Public Health from the University of Washington and is a PNB School Faculty Member.
Megan Brunsvold
Megan Brunsvold is a dance and theater artist formerly based in New York City who has been performing, choreographing, and teaching throughout the United States for the past 15 years. Recent performances include work by Doug Varone, Twlya Tharp, Susan Marshall, and Zvi Gotheiner. Current research interests comprise examining the relevancy of “neutrality” in dance pedagogy, and the neurobiological contributions to discourse on expression and its origin in the body. She is also a certified Pilates instructor. She received her B.F.A. in Modern Dance from the University of Utah and her M.F.A. from the University of Washington.
Rochelle Rapaszky
Born in Fallbrook, CA, Rochelle Rapaszky began her dance training at Ballet Society of North County. She received her BFA in Dance from Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle (2007). Rochelle holds awards from San Diego Dance Alliance and Cornish College of the Arts. Her continuing education has been with TAT Lab Washington, CDC Washington, Arts Time, VSA Arts Institute, and DEAW. In 2007, Rochelle joined Pacific Northwest Ballet (PNB) as Community Education Programs Assistant and Teaching Artist. In 2010, she became PNB’s DanceChance Coordinator. Rochelle continues her work with the community as a Teaching Artist for PNB’s Community Education Programs and lead instructor at Maple Valley School of Ballet. 127th St. Dance Company (Seattle) invited Rochelle to choreograph in its inaugural season, and she has held the position of Resident Choreographer since joining (2010).
Cultural Teacher
Dr. Joyce Paul Siamak
Dancer, choreographer & Anthropologist Joyce Paul Siamak was born in New Delhi, India and is now a native of Redmond, WA. Joyce began dancing inspired by the dancers of Bharatiya Kala Kendra as they played the epic story of Ramlila. She joined the institute to learn Bharatanatyam under the direction of the renowned Leela Samson in 1986, completed her "Arangetram" in 1992.
Her choreographic career bloomed in 1986 when she co–founded Abhivyakti Karya Shala, a grass roots performing arts organization that sought to bring social change with dance, music and theatre. The unique quality of Joyce's work is her ability to stay within the definition of classical dance while pushing boundaries and exploring non-traditional themes and contexts. In academia, she focused on the Anthropology of performance and her Ph.D thesis on Anthropometry and Physiology of elite Bharatanatyam dancers remains the only work of its kind today.
Joyce directs her dance company Arpan, she is on faculty at the Spectrum Dance Theatre, and she teaches master classes at the University of Washington and Cornish College. She is also a published author for dance medicine and Anthropology journals.
Janina Dobkowski
Janina Dobkowski is a Dance Educator with extensive classroom, stage, and workshop experience. Janina taught Physical Education and Dance at Samuel Staples Elementary, Easton, CT, a Higher Order Thinking School where she established a dance club. She served as a mentor to new teachers. Janina conducts dance workshops and interdisciplinary projects for teachers and students. She is a life-time member of the Polish American Folk Dance Company, NY. Fluent in the Polish language, she visited Poland twice. Janina co-authored and published "Two Friends, They Went A'Dancing..." a book, music CD and DVD of children's dances from Poland at www.polishkidsdance.com.
Kathryn Austin
Kathryn Austin, MA, RDE is a Fellow of the British Association of Teachers of Dancing and a teacher and coach of recreational and competitive Scottish Highland Dancers. She is the owner and director of the Centre for Dance & the Performing Arts, a full service dance education facility dedicated to age-appropriate dance studies that support whole-child development. While CDPA Scottish Highland Dancers have been competitively successful in the Southeast U.S., Canada and Scotland, it is the love of her own heritage that compels Austin to promote the discipline. Austin has a BFA in Dance Performance from Florida State, an MA in Dance from the University of Hawai'i and is completing her PhD at Florida Atlantic in Fine and Performing Arts.
Kazuko Yamazaki
Kazuko Yamazaki, Ph.D., began training in Nihon Buyo Traditional Japanese Dance at age four in her birth city of Tokyo, Japan. She holds a natori (dance master certification) awarded by the Hanayagi School of Japanese Dance, Tokyo, Japan. Kazuko also holds a Ph.D. in cultural anthropology with a specialty in the anthropology of dance. She has given a number of workshops, classes, and performances in the USA and Poland. Kazuko is a recipient of the 2008 Artist Trust/Washington State Arts Commission Fellowship, a merit-based award given annually to practicing professional artists of exceptional talent and demonstrated ability. www.japanesedanceworld.com
Paul Winkelman
Paul Winkelman is a national championship ballroom dancer, choreographer, and performing arts director. He was an assistant choreographer with the Emmy Award winning 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics and with the 2004 Athens Olympics. His professional work includes choreographing for major motion pictures (High School Musical 3), doing shows for major sporting events (the Super Bowl and Major League Baseball) and directing theatre productions (more than 50). Over his 30 years of teaching and coaching, he has assisted many students and teams in winning national titles. He currently serves as the director of the Utah Valley University Ballroom Dance Company.
Ravenspeaker
Ravenspeaker is a well-known traditional storyteller and choreographer of the Northwest Coast's First Peoples. He had a part in organizing several respected Coast Native Dance troupes and is particularly proud of his role training inner city Native youth to "Indian Dance" through the Children of the Mist Youth Dance team. In 1997 he worked with John Wilkens to create Seattle's Fantastique Shoppe a Unique ballet combining classical Western dance forms with traditional native movements. He is the founder and leader of Natives Rising an organization that inspires Native Peoples to be what they were created to be.
Options Teacher
Amy Markgraf Jacobson
Amy Markgraf Jacobson MFA, MA, is an Associate Professor of Modern Dance at Utah Valley University. Amy loves to move and loves to help others discover how brilliant and exciting movement is. Her dancing, teaching, and choreography reaches out to elementary school children, teachers, and adults of all levels throughout Utah, the United States, and Internationally. Amy's work has been performed internationally in the British Isles, Australia, South America, Asia, and Western Europe as well as throughout the United States. She is the co-Artistic Director of UVU's Contemporary Dance Ensemble, teaches Modern Dance Technique and Theory, Dance Kinesiology, Modern Dance Teaching Methods, Dance Education Courses, and Dance Conditioning. She is a National Board member of dance and the Child international.
Angelica DeLashmette
Angelica DeLashmette graduated from Brigham Young University with a Bachelor of Art in Dance and a Minor and certification in Nonprofit Management in April 2013. While at BYU Angelica was a member of Kinnect and DancEnsemble, and performed in Faculty Choreography and Senior Capstone Concerts throughout her undergraduate education. Angelica has received additional training at The American Dance Festival (2013), the Jose Limon Summer Intensive (2012), and Anne Green Gilbert's Summer Dance Institute (2011 and 2012). Angelica's life passion is the art and craft of dance, and she has a desire to create engaging, meaningful, and relevant work for audiences, deepen the movement experiences of her students, and to take further risks as a performer. Angelica currently resides in Seattle, WA where she is dancing and performing professionally for different choreographers and projects. Angelica will be setting a new work in the spring of 2014 on the Kaleidoscope Dance Company which will be performed in June 2014, and she will debut her first professional work at the Annex Theatre in downtown Seattle on March 22nd and 23rd 2014.
Karin Johnson
Karin Johnson has been teaching Elementary Music in BC for the past 12 years. She is Past President of the BC Orff Chapter. Karin's first love is music, especially singing, but upon being exposed to the Orff approach, she also fell for dance. Karin has completed all three Levels of Orff Teacher Training and several Orff Special Topics Courses (which all included dance), the Summer Dance Institute for Teachers at the Creative Dance Centre in Seattle, a Diploma in Dance Education at Simon Fraser University and a Master in Education, also at SFU.
Mary Lynn Babcock
Mary Lynn Babcock- National Representative for daCi USA; Associate Professor of Dance at the University of North Texas is a choreographer, teacher, and is Certified in Laban Movement Analysis . She holds a MFA in Dance, and Ph.D. in American Studies from Case Western Reserve University. Her work has been presented across the U.S and in Portugal, Jamaica, The Netherlands, Brazil, and Egypt. Babcock has created a unique digital media learning studio allowing novel interactions between theory and practice to be explored. Her primary influence in contemporary dance has been with Bill Evans, Erick Hawkins company members, Clay Taliaferro and Claire Porter. Presently she teaches modern dance, improvisation and introduction to composition, Laban Studies, and dance and technology. Babcock brings dance to the community through outreach events benefiting victims of domestic violence. She is founder/artistic director of Satellite-Dance, an interdisciplinary, interarts/intermedia dance collective. www.satellite-dance.com
Paul Winkelman
Paul Winkelman is a national championship ballroom dancer, choreographer, and performing arts director. He was an assistant choreographer with the Emmy Award winning 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics and with the 2004 Athens Olympics. His professional work includes choreographing for major motion pictures (High School Musical 3), doing shows for major sporting events (the Super Bowl and Major League Baseball) and directing theatre productions (more than 50). Over his 30 years of teaching and coaching, he has assisted many students and teams in winning national titles. He currently serves as the director of the Utah Valley University Ballroom Dance Company.
Terry Goetz
Terry Goetz is School Director for the Creative Dance Center in Seattle, Washington. Terry has been on faculty of CDC since 2000, first training with CDC Founder Anne Green Gilbert in 1997. She danced with Pacific Northwest Ballet from 1988-1995 and was a member of Pittsburgh Ballet Theater from 1986-1988. During her professional career Terry performed works by George Balanchine, Paul Taylor, Jose Limon, Lar Lubovitch, Mark Dendy, and Merce Cunningham as well as performing in full-length classical works. Terry holds workshops nationally and internationally, teaching BrainDance and Brain-Compatible Dance Education. She has presented at NDA and NDEO conferences. Terry has taught for the dance and the Child international Finnish Chapter, at the Kuopio International Dance Festival, the Edmonton and Indiana Orff Schulwerk Associations, the East Asia Regional Council of International Schools Conference held in Shanghai, and at universities in the US and Canada. She worked with other Dance Specialists in developing updated K-12 Learning Standards for Dance in WA state. Terry is Past-President of the Dance Educators Association of Washington.