Artists Bio
Jacqueline (Jacqui) Dugal
Jacqueline Dugal is a Queens, NYC based dancer, choreographer, and educator originally from West Palm Beach, Florida. Received a BFA in Dance Performance from The University of South Florida and launched Dugal Dance Projects in 2016. Jacqui has studied and performed abroad in France, Italy, Trinidad & Tobago, and Mexico. In New York, they have performed with The Von Howard Project, Roschman Dance Company, Michiyaya Dance, and Impact Movement Collective. Their choreographic work showcased in France, Florida, New York, North Carolina, Michigan, and Trinidad in various festivals and showcases including the COCO International Dance Festival. Jacqui has been commissioned by Steffi Nossen Dance Foundation, The International Human Rights Arts Festival, awarded Director’s Choice at Spoke The Hub’s Winter Follies 2016, selected for Mare Nostrum Elements Emerging Choreographer’s Series as a 2016 participant and Returning Choreographer in 2017, and is a Queens Council on the Arts 2017 grant awardee. Jacqui also teaches dance & visual art classes and works part-time as Spaceworks NYC Artist Services Associate.
Isaac Lerner
Isaac Lerner is a New York based dance artist. After graduating from the Hartt School with a BFA in dance performance he went on to dance with choreographers such as David Parker, Diego Funes, Jacqui Dugal, and many others. He presented “Space Between” in to 2017 as part of Dance Canvas’ “introducing the next” choreographer series. In the summer of 2018 Isaac will be choreographing the Opera Rusalka for Des Moines Metro Opera. He hope you enjoy the show! Photo by Richard Calmes
Mariya Dashkina Maddux (Masha)
Masha Dashkina Maddux is a professional concert dance performer and a dance educator. A native of Kiev, Ukraine she was first introduced to dance through the classical Vaganova ballet technique. After moving to United States she studied under the direction of Ruth Weisen at the Thomas Armour Youth Ballet of Miami, FL and ultimately graduated summa cum laude with her BFA from New World School of the Arts under the directorship of Daniel Lewis.
Ms. Dashkina Maddux joined the Martha Graham Dance Company in 2007 and rose to the rank of the principal dancer, performing major roles in classical Graham repertoire such as Bride in Appalachian Spring, Ariadne in Errand into the Maze, Woman in Red in Diversion of Angels, Eve in Embattled Garden, Conversation of Lovers, along with featured roles in Deaths and Entrances, as a Leader of Steps in the Street from Chronicle, Leader of the Chorus in Night Journey, Artemis in Phaedra, and Ted Shawn's Serenata Morisca, an iconic solo Martha Graham became famous for during her highly successful career with the Greenwich Village Follies. Along with performing some of the most celebrated works of the American modern dance Ms. Dashkina Maddux was also honored to perform works created by some of the most influential contemporary choreographers such as Larry Keigwin, Richard Move, Luca Veggetti, Lar Lubovitch, Bulareyaung Pagarlava, Andonis Foniadakis, Anna Sokolow, Robert Wilson, Azure Barton, among others.
Ms. Dashkina Maddux was featured in Dance Magazine's "Dancer's Choice", and also appeared in forthcoming projects including the feature film Fall to Rise, written and directed by Jayce Bartok, and in a Martha Graham Dance Technique Beginning Level instructional video, directed by Miki Orihara and Susan Kikuchi and produced by Dance Spotlight. In addition to performing, Dashkina Maddux has collaborated with photographers to capture the art of dance. Her images have appeared in a published book Dessert Flower by Guillermo Licurgo and most recently her image was selected for the cover of The Art of Movement, a highly anticipated book conceived and created by Ken Browar and Deborah Ory.
Ms. Dashkina Maddux finds great inspiration in being a dance educator in both ballet and Martha Graham techniques for a wide range of ages. Places where she has taught include Martha Graham School of Dance, New World School of the Arts of Miami, FL, Thomas Armour Youth Ballet of Miami, FL, University of North Carolina of Greensboro and Elon University, NC, Colburn School of Los Angeles, CA, among many others.
Ms. Dashkina Madux is the Founder and Director of the Wake Forest Dance Festival based in the Town of Wake Forest, NC. The Festival is a free and open to the public day of dance which featured national and regional professional dancers along with local rising advanced dance performers. Currently in its second season, the event is presented by ARTS Wake Forest in partnership with the Town of Wake Forest Parks and Recreations. Photo by Brigid Pierce & Maksym Kolotun
Troy Ogilvie
Troy Ogilvie performs, teaches, choreographs, and directs. She currently dances solos by Margie Gillis, Itzik Galili, and Roy Assaf, teaches Improvisation, creates choreography wherever will have her, and is one of the Creative Directors for The McKittrick Hotel’s (home of Sleep No More) SUPERCINEMA & McKittrick Masquerade parties.
Troy has danced for and collaborated with choreographers - Andrea Miller, Sidra Bell, Zoe Scofield, Gabriel Forestieri, Idan Sharabi, Itzik Galili, Shannon Gillen, Margie Gillis (as a participant in the The Legacy Project/Le Projet Heritage), Austin McCormick, Harumi Terayama, Malcolm Low, Patricia Noworol, and Belinda McGuire; violinist - Liv Heym; theater company - Punchdrunk; and director - Peter Sellars.
Troy's solo show, PRISM, features "Bloom" by Margie Gillis, "Little Tiny Bite" by Itzik Galili, and "A Girl" by Roy Assaf. In 2017, PRISM was performed at Theatre 80, Gina Gibney 280, and as a part of the Out of Israel Festival. Participants from Troy's classes at The Playground NYC and Dance Project of Washington Heights also participated in the performances.
In 2017, PRISM was performed at Theatre 80, Gina Gibney 280, and as a part of the Out of Israel Festival. In 2013, Troy toured internationally with the LA Philharmonic, performing the role of "Mary" in Peter Sellars' "The Gospels According to the Other Mary," composed by John Adams. She also collaborated with violinist Liv Heym in "Music in Dialogue with Movement", creating a duet inspired by tango and tarantella. In 2014, she performed in The Metropolitan Opera’s production of “Prince Igor” with choreography by Itzik Galili. From 2013-2015, Troy performed as Lady Macbeth alongside Nicholas Bruder’s Macbeth in Punchdrunk’s “Sleep No More.” Troy has continued with Sleep No More’s special events team as rehearsal director, assistant to the choreographer, performer, and choreographer. In 2015, Troy performed in Patricia Noworol’s (PNDT) “Replacement Place” at New York Live Arts and in 2017 she performed in PNDT’s "TREMENDOUS" at La Mama. Troy is currently touring “Clear & Sweet”with zoe | juniper.
As a dancer for Gallim Dance (2007-2012), Troy was an original cast member in I Can See Myself in Your Pupil (2008), BLUSH (2009), Wonderland (2010), For Glenn Gould (2011), Mama Call (2011), and Sit, Kneel, Stand (2012). As rehearsal director for Gallim Dance, Troy rehearsed Andrea Miller's work with NYU Tisch, Ballet Hispanico, The Juilliard School, The Steps Ensemble, The School at Jacob's Pillow, New Jersey Dance Theater Ensemble and Vancouver's Art's Umbrella. She taught Gallim Dance master classes at Wesleyan University, Barnard University, and Skidmore College. Working with Sidra Bell Dance NY (2007-2010) resulted in solo work, Overtures (2009), as well as Chimeras (2008), House Unrest (2009), Revue (2010), and Beautiful Beast: The Other Face (2010).
Stephanie Crousillat
As a teacher, Troy has offered her classes at Marymount Manhattan, Gina Gibney 280 Broadway, Peridance, Walnut Hill, Prometheus Dance, Dancing Ground (New Orleans), MOVENYC, the Movement Invention Project, The Performing Arts Project (Panorama), Rutgers University, The Joffrey Ballet School, New Jersey Dance Theater Ensemble, and Brooklyn’s Dancewave. She has choreographed on Contemporary Dance Wyoming, less than greater than (2016), and has choreographed solos in collaboration with Lauren Wingenroth as a fulfillment of Barnard graduation Galatea (2015), and for Andrea Murillo as a part of The Current Sessions, Volume IV, Issue II legacy part one (2014).
Troy was Founding Collaborator, Faculty Member and Program Manager of the Movement Invention Project from 2009-2017 (Artistic Director, Alexandra Wells). Troy is the Assistant to the Artistic Director and Board Member of Springboard Danse Montreal. A native of New Jersey, Troy began dancing with ballet, tap, jazz, and musical theater and graduated from The Juilliard School in 2007.
Photo by Franziska Strauss
Charlotte Griffin
Charlotte Griffin choreographs for live performance, screendance, and multimedia environments. Her concert dance repertory has been commissioned by The Cambrians, Miki Orihara, The Juilliard School, The Hartt School Dance Division, The American Dance Festival, BJM Danse in Montreal and more. She has created ballets at The New York Choreographic Institute with New York City Ballet, UNCSA Choreographic Institute, American Ballet Theatre Summer Intensive in Austin, and for Eliot Feld's Ballet Tech Kids Dance. Her choreography for theater includes Bum Phillips All-American Opera with the Monk Parrots, Frances Ya-Chu Cowhig’s 410[Gone], and The Woman in the Attic with Archipelago Theatre. She has been a guest artist at Lux Boreal Contemporary Dance Company, ArcDanz, Springboard Danse Montreal, The Yard, Cayman Island Arts Festival, and the Bates Dance Festival. Her award-winning dance films, Perhaps I Was T/Here? (2017), Barefoot Negotiations (2009) and Raven Study (2007), have screened internationally and continue to inform her interest in choreo-cinematic form. Charlotte earned her BFA in Dance from The Juilliard School under the direction of Mr. Benjamin Harkarvy and an MFA from The University of Texas at Austin. She is originally from North Carolina and resides in California where she is on dance faculty at UC Irvine.
Lisa Thurrell
CoArtistic Director Kanopy Dance Company (Dancer, Choreographer, Director, and Master Teacher) trained and danced with Martha Graham Dance Company 1987-1995. Honored to be among those who reconstructed some of Martha’s early works, she performed Graham’s NYC Seasons and tours. In 1995 she became co-director of Kanopy Dance with Robert Cleary. She has worked extensively, performing, choreographing and teaching in companies, schools, and universities throughout U.S. and Denmark. Embracing modern founders’ philosophies, she has also studied and performed Asian theater and physical theater. Nominated for Bonnie Bird International Choreography Award, her choreography has been described by critics as “...a Hieronymus Bosch painting, spilling onto the floor of the theater . . . stresses fragility of the human body and self-reflection.” As a performer critics call her “...pure power and vulnerability at once.”
Thurrell holds postgraduate certificate from Professional Trainee Program, Martha Graham Dance Company, NYC. (3yr full time, technique, repertory, history, composition, pedagogy) She holds an MFA-Dance & Asian Theater from University of Wisconsin-Madison (1987). Mentors include Yuriko, Ethel Winter, Carol Fried, Denise Vale, Donlin Foreman, Pearl Lang, M.P. Sankaran Namboodiri, Hanya Holm and others. Thurrell has been awarded numerous government, foundation, private grants and awards for Kanopy.
Photo by Shawn Harper Photography
Jacqulyn 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.
Her “bewilderingly beautiful” ballet Threshold had its Italian premiere in Milan with Carla Fracci's Italian Ballet Company at the Teatro Nuovo and at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, Opera House. Buglisi, with Foreman, premiered their full-length ballet Runes of the Heart at Lincoln Center in 1994, followed by invitations to the Kennedy Center, Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, and The Joyce Theater where Buglisi Dance Theatre performs its NYC seasons. In 2001, she created Requiem to the soaring music of Gabriel Fauré, a transcendent experience and amplification of the human spirit. Anna Kisselgoff raves in The New York Times of the ballet’s powerful images, stunning...extravagant and beautiful. Breaking new ground, Buglisi collaborated with Venezuela’s leading environmental artist Jacobo Borges to create her trilogy Blue Cathedral, Rain, and Sand.
She has collaborated with composers Tan Dun, Glen Velez, Jennifer Higdon, Daniel Bernard Roumain (DBR), Libby Larsen, Daniel Brewbaker, Reza Vali; Andy Teirstein; cellist, Maya Beiser; Flamenco Guitarist, Gerardo Nunez, the Cassatt String Quartet, the Syracuse University Symphony Orchestra and Singers; lighting designers Clifton Taylor and Jack Mehler; mannequin maker Ralph Pucci; and Italian artist Rossella Vasta on the Table of Silence Project 9/11, a site-specific ritual for peace performed at Lincoln Center by 158 dancers and nine musicians, and seen via live stream across the U.S. in 45 states and worldwide in 82 countries. For her contribution in uniting the dance community through the Table of Silence, Buglisi was named a “New Yorker for Dance” by Dance/NYC and received Proclamations from Governor Andrew Cuomo and Mayor Bill de Blasio.
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.
A master teacher committed to arts-in-education, she received commissions by the University of Richmond, California State University/Long Beach, George Mason University, SUNY Purchase Conservatory of Dance, Interlochen Arts Academy, Florida State University at Tallahassee, the State Ballet College of Oslo, Ailey/Fordham University B.F.A. Program, Oklahoma Arts Institute, the Juilliard School’s Emerging Modern Masters Series, Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, Boston Conservatory of Music, Randolph-Macon College and the National Dance Institute, New World School of the Arts, among others. In 1970, she founded the first school of contemporary dance for the community of Spoleto, Italy and was the Master Artist-in-Residence at the Atlantic Center for the Arts. She has taught for the Dance Aspen Festival from 1990-95, the Julio Bocca Center in Argentina, the 97-98 Victoria College Melbourne, and the Chautauqua Institution and Festival. She is Chairperson of the Modern Department at The Ailey School for 25 years, served on the faculty of The Juilliard School 91 -05, The Martha Graham School since 1977 and guest teaches at the famed Performing Arts High School (alumna), Steps on Broadway, and Peridance Capezio Center. She was named Honorary Chair for the Marymount Manhattan College ‘05 Gala and served as panelist for the Heinz Awards and the New Jersey State Council for the Arts. She served as a Grand Marshal of the 2013 Parade in NYC.
Buglisi’s repertoire is archived in the Jerome Robbins Dance Collection of the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts. Awards and honors include: 2014 Kaatsbaan International Playing Field Award, American Dance Guild Award for Artistic Excellence, Fiorello LaGuardia Award for Excellence, The Gertrude Shurr Award for Dance, Altria Group’s 2007 Women Choreographer Initiative Award, National Endowment for the Arts fellowships, commissioning grants from the Harkness Foundation for Dance and The O’Donnell-Green Music & Dance Foundation, and challenge grants from the Arnhold Foundation, among others. Ms. Buglisi served for three terms on Dance/USA’s Board of Trustees as Chair, Artistic Directors Council (2010-2013).
Roy Asaaf
Roy Assaf worked with choreographer Emanuel Gat from 2004-2009. Since 2010, he has been developing his own works independently. His work has been performed in the Théâtre National de Chaillot, Jacob’s Pillow, Bolzano Danza, Pavillon Noir, Biennale di Venezia, and the 17th Biennale de la Danse in Lyon. He has won several prizes for his works, the latest among them first prize of both jury and audience in the 7th edition of [re]connaissance danse contemporaine for The Hill-- a first in the history of the competition. He has created new work on Los Angeles Dance Project (LADP), The Royal Swedish Ballet, Batsheva Dance Company, GöteborgsOperans DansKompani, and The Juilliard School. In 2018 he will revisit his work Girls & Boys with Ensemble Batsheva and will create new works for Ballet de Capitole and for Staatstheater Mainz.
Kaoru Watanabe
Special Guest Artist
Kaoru Watanabe is a Brooklyn-based composer and musician who specializes in the Japanese shinobue flutes and taiko drums. Watanabe creates music that is at once personal, philosophical, meditative and virtuosic, that reflects his extensive background in Japanese traditional musics, American jazz and his devotion to cross-cultural musical collaboration.
Watanabe was a performer and artistic director of the internationally acclaimed Japanese taiko performing arts ensemble Kodo for close to a decade and who, as a soloist, has worked with a wide range of artists, from Japanese National Living Treasure Bando Tamasaburo to jazz pianist Jason Moran to calligrapher Koji Kakinuma. He was a guest artist on Yo-Yo Ma and the Silkroad Ensemble's Grammy Award-winning album Sing Me Home and the featured taiko drummer/advisor on Wes Anderson's Isle of Dogs. Watanabe also recently debuted two pieces for orchestra with the Sydney Symphony at the Sydney Opera House.
Watanabe has performed his compositions at such prestigious venues as Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, The Kennedy Center, Kabukiza and in Minamiza, has performed in all 47 prefectures in Japan as well as across the North, Central and South Americas, Europe, Asia and Australia.
Watanabe is supported preeminent taiko maker Miyamoto Unosuke Shoten of Tokyo and master shinobue flute maker Ranjo of Chiba Prefecture.
Bio of Performers in 2018 NuVu Festival
"under" By Jacqueline (Jacqui) Dugal
Desiree Amadeo, Hailing from New Orleans, Desiree Amadeo - alumnus Cum Laude of the Florida State University BFA Dance program - is a dance artist and maker in NYC. Former choreographic resident at the San Francisco Conservatory of Dance, Desiree has shown work at venues such as ZSpace, Movement Research, Green Space, and the Nancy Smith Fichter Dance Theater. As a mover, she has had the pleasure of dancing for De Funes Dance, Dugal Dance, 5th Digit Dance, and the Brooklyn Dance Festival Company under the direction of Sidra Bell and Kristin Sudeikis, as well as performing works by Ohad Naharin, Zvi Gotheiner, Alex Ketley, Christian K. Burns, and Rosie DeAngelo. Photo by Mitsuko Verdery
Jessica Stroh is a dancer, creator, and educator with a Bachelor of Fine Arts and minor
in Psychology from the University of South Florida. Jessica is currently creating her own
work as Spoke the Hub's 2018 People's Choice recipient. She also collaborates with
Laura Mobley in Austin, Texas, and with NYC-based artists: Dugal Dance Projects,
Rosie DeAngelo, and BodyStories: Teresa Fellion Dance. Photo by Nicholas Croft
Louisa Pancoast received her formal dance training in her home state of New Hampshire and is a graduate of the Certificate Program at Peridance Capezio Center, New York, NY. During her time in the program, she was selected to perform works by Igal Perry, Loni Landon, Ronald. K. Brown, Charlotta Ofverholm, Oniin Dance Company, and Caterina Rago. After completing the program, Louisa was part of the inaugural group at the Barton Movement's Axis Connect, where she was selected to perform an original work by Cindy Salgado. She has also performed professionally in New York with such choreographers as Pramila Vasudevan, Diego Funes, Emily Bufferd, Jacqueline Dugal, Monica Hogan, Yuki Hasagawa, and Joyce King. In addition to performing, Louisa holds her B.A. in English Literature and Art History from New York University and is a certified Barre3 instructor. She is interested in finding the intersections between different mediums and modes of communication in all of her work.
Issac Lerner and Jacqueline (Jacqui) Dugal : Please see above
"Space Between” (Excerpts) By Isaac Lerner
Marjorie Gross originally from Columbus, Ohio, relocated to NYC to pursue a career in dance and choreography. She has presented multiple works with The Dance Collective, and currently performs with Isaac Lerner. She holds a BFA from the The Hartt School at the University of Hartford, where she performed repertory by Martha Graham, Jose Limón, Takehiro Ueyama, and Doug Varone, as well as original compositions by Adam Barruch, Loni Landon, Stephen Pier, and Katie Stevinson-Nollet. Marjorie is a PMA certified Pilates instructor and teaches at various studios throughout Manhattan. Photo by Richard Calmes
Issac Lerner : Please see above
"Real, Ideal" By Charlotte Griffin
Calvin Bittner grew up in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, studying ballet at the Raleigh School of Ballet, in Raleigh, North Carolina. He graduated from high school in 2013, and attended the University of Hartford, The Hartt School. There he studied Ballet, Modern, and Contemporary dance, performing such works as Psalm and There Is A Time by Jose Limon, and Diversion of Angels by Martha Graham, as well as The Four Temperaments by Balanchine, and La Vivandiere by Arthur Saint-Leon. He also participated in many new works by choreographers such as Adam Barruch, Manuel Vignoulle, Charlotte Griffin, and Gemma Bond. Another highlight of his time at Hartt was his senior choreography project, titled What Happened At The Garden Party, which was accepted to be performed at Jacob’s Pillow in August, 2017. He graduated in May, 2017 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Dance Performance. He is currently a Company Artist for Vivid Ballet in Hartford. Photo by Ron Compton
"1st Movement in A" By Masha Dashkina Maddux
Masha Maddux : Please see above
" a girl " By Troy Ogilvie, Roy Assaf choreography
Troy Ogilvie : Please see above
"Miserere(Have Mercy)" (Expertc) By Lisa Thurrell
Juan Carlos Díaz Vélez
began his dance training in
Guadalajara, Mexico, where he studied under several teachers including Carmen Sandoval and Alex Zybin. He later studied at the San Francisco and Pacifi c Northwest Ballet schools and was an apprentice with the America Festival Ballet. He performed with Idaho Dance Theatre and Spokane Ballet, and as a principal dancer with Charletson Ballet Theatre, Ballet Idaho, and Eugene Ballet Company. Juan Carlos has performed throughout Mexico, the United States, Canada, India, Bagladesh, Sri Lanka, Syria, Jordon, Tunisia, and Taiwan. Throughout his career Juan Carlos
has worked with many choreographers, including Christopher Aponte, Toni Pimble, Jill Eathorne Bahr, Lisa de Ribere, Elisa Monte, Beth Corning, Lynn Taylor-Corbett, David Berkey, Sandra Kaurmann, and Martin Løfsnes. In 1997, Juan Carlos retired from dance to study physics and computer science, but returned in 2007 when he joined Kanopy Dance Company under directors Lisa Thurrell and Robert E. Cleary. More recently, he has been studying fl amenco and often performs with Tania Tandias Spanish & Flamenco Dance Company in Madison.Photo by Shawn Harper Photography.
Alyssa Jendusa grew up in Stone Bank, Wisconsin. She started dancing at the age of 4. Her formal training began at the Milwaukee Ballet School, where she attended
summer intensive programs and performed original works by a variety of choreographers, including Karl Von Rabenau, Nadia Thompson, and Denis Malinkine. Alyssa received her BA in Dance from Point Park University’s Conservatory of
Performing Arts. While there, she performed original, contemporary works by Judith Leifer-Bentz and Nicholas Petrov. She has also worked with many choreographers at
Kanopy, including Martin Løfsnes, Miki Orihara, Sandra Kaufmann, Steve Wasson, and Corrine Soum. Photo by Shawn Harper Photography.
Emily Shelton is from Cincinnati, Ohio, where she trained at the Academy of Cincinnati Ballet. She received her BA in Dance and BS in Physics from Case Western Reserve University, where she performed works by Larry Keigwin, Mark Morris, and Pascal Rioult. Additionally, she attended summer programs at Ballet Met Columbus, Interlochen Center for the Arts, San Francisco Conservatory of Dance, Mark Morris Dance Group, and Paul Taylor Dance Company. Emily also performed with Verb Ballets in their production of The Nutcracker in 2015 . She joined Kanopy Dance Company in 2016. Photo by Shawn Harper Photography.
Sarah Wolf attended Belhaven College in Jackson, Mississippi, working on her BFA in Dance. She then attended Milwaukee Ballet School’s summer intensive for several years, as well as summer intensives at the Alvin Ailey School and Masterworks Dance Festival. After completing her BFA in Dance with honors from University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, she danced with Danceworks Performance Company in Milwaukee before joining Kanopy in 2010. Wolf is an ABT-certifi ed teacher and currently teaches at Kanopy Dance Academy, Dance Attitudes in Janesville, and Beloit College. Photo by Shawn Harper Photography.
"Sospiri" By Jacqulyn Buglisi
Virginie Mécène, director of Graham 2 since 2007, was a Principal Dancer with the Martha Graham Dance Company touring around the world from 1994 to 2006. She has served as the Director of the Martha Graham School from 2007 to 2015 developing the School curriculum while sustaining the integrity of the Martha Graham technique and nurturing the process that continues its development. She is currently the Program Director for the Two-Year Certificate Program and for the Teacher Training Program at the Martha Graham School.
A native of France, Ms. Mécène graduated from the University of Bourgogne with a Licence Professionnelle in Artistic and Cultural Management. She received multi-disciplinary dance training in Paris and graduated with a C.A.E. in Jazz from the Fédération Française de la Danse. After teaching in Paris for two years she moved to New York City in 1988 for in-depth studies of the Martha Graham technique. As a regisseur Ms. Mécène restaged and directed numerous works of Martha Graham and has taught the Graham Technique at multiple national and international conferences. In 2011 Ms. Mécène restaged Ms. Buglisi’s Table of Silence on the Plaza of San Rufino Cathedral in celebration of the visit of Pope Benedict XVI in Assissi, Italy. She was also a Lecturer at Barnard College, NY, in 2004.
In 2017 Ms. Mécène re-imagined Ekstasis, a lost Graham solo from 1933, for the Martha Graham Dance Company premiering at the Joyce Theater with rave reviews. She also reconstructed an original work from Miss Graham’s American Document, The “Puritan Duet”, on Graham 2 dancers, premiering in 2010 at the Joyce Theater during the Martha Graham Dance Company New York Season.
Her choreographic work has been presented in New York City, Saratoga Springs, New Town, Flint, Baton Rouge, Cape May, and also internationally, in Singapore, France, Italy, and in Japan.
Ms. Mécène danced with Buglisi Dance Theater (formerly Buglisi/Foreman Dance) from its inception in 1994 until 2007 and continues to perform as a guest. She also danced with Pearl Lang Dance Theater, Battery Dance Company and in the work of Susan Stroman, and Lucinda Childs, among others.
Mécène also serves as an adjudicator for dance competitions nationally and internationally. Ms. Mécène writings have been published in Ballet Review and the French magazine Danser. She has served as President of EFSD (Emergency Fund For Student Dancers) in New York City from 2012 to 2016.
Kevin Predmore is a former principle dancer with Buglisi/Forman Dance (now Buglisi Dance Theatre) and Pearl Lang Dance Theater and has been instrumental in the creation many of those companies works. He has performed internationally with the Martha Graham Dance Company and the Battery Dance Company and has been a member of Pascal Rioult Dance Company, Coyote Dance Company, Michael Mao Dance Company, Asiad Dance Theater, Carolyn Dorfman Dance Company, and Omega Dance Company. Mr. Predmore has danced works by Moses Pendelton, Daniel Nagrin, Max Luna III, Brenda Banden-Semper, Maxine Sherman, and Theresa Maldonado. He co-produced "Profiles" an evening of solos and duets at the Sylvia and Danny Kaye Playhouse. He choreographed “Waning with the Moon,” which premiered at the Marymount Theater, NY as part of the Martha Graham Choreographer's Project, and has been commissioned by the Singapore Dance Ensemble to teach, choreograph and perform. Mr. Predmore holds a B.F.A from Stephens College and an M.F.A. from S.U.N.Y. Purchase. He is currently on the faculty of The Ailey School where he also serves as Faculty Advisor for the Professional Division. He is a faculty member at the Martha Graham School of Contemporary Dance and he also teaches nationally and internationally.
Our Team
Tuce Yasak (Lighting Director)
graduated from the Department of Industrial Design at Middle East Technical University in Turkey. She designs for dance. She is interested in site-specific performances, light installations, architectural and urban lighting. Credits include: NOLA Fringe Festival; Urban Light Festival L.A.M.P, New Haven; Gutai Card Box project @ Solomon R Guggenheim Museum; MEX I AM Festival with Vicky Araico at the Yerba Buena Arts Center, San Francisco; 'Unsettled' in DanceMotionUS at BAM and Bates Dance Festival with David Dorfman Dance and Korhan Basaran Company; Color Me Warhol at Dixon Place, Another 37 Reasons to Cry at JACK, Tropico at DanceSpace, Another Fucking Warhol Production at the Kitchen with the Feath3r Theory and Raja Feather Kelly; La Medea at BRIC Arts&Media with Yara Travieso; Shasta Geux Pop at Bushwick Star and Under The Radar with Ayesha Jordan & Charlotte Brathwaite, Four Nights of Dreams with Alec Duffy and Mimi Lien at Japan Society, Memoires of a Unicorn with Marjani Forte Saunders at Crystal Bridges and Collapsable Hole, May Day Hay Day Parfait with Daria Fain and Common Choir at BRIC Media Arts, Aroundtown with David Dorfman Dance at Next Wave Festival at BAM Harvey. Touring lighting director with Contra-Tiempo Urban Latin American Dance Theater.
Patrick A. Surillo (Stage Manager)
A Brooklyn native, Patrick began his theatre journey in LaGuardia Community College where he is now employed as LPAC’s Resident Stage Manager, and the Theatre Department’s Administrative Assistant. Since graduating from Dean College in 2016, Patrick has had many opportunities working as a freelance stage manager in NYC. A few of his credits include: 24-Hour Plays: Broadway (American Airlines Theatre), Holy Name (IRT Theatre), Divo & Diavolo (JCC Manhattan), Two Character Play (Playhouse Creatures), Annual Workshop Performance (School of American Ballet).