Education

 

Professional Development

Be a resource for your students and take advantage of City Center’s wide array of professional development workshops—all designed to meet the needs of classroom teachers, teaching artists, and college/graduate students.

Four workshop opportunities are offered to educators during the school year. During each workshop, an acclaimed performing artist leads a master class to help you create innovative and exciting lesson plans and develop practical and artistic tools for use in your classroom.

Professional development workshops are offered to educators that participate in our school-time matinees and K-12 programs during the school year (Sep – May).

If you would like to attend, please the Education team at Education@NYCityCenter.org or via phone at 212.763.1221.

Fall for Dance Lab

Learn from top performing artists and experts in the field.

Led by performers from City Center’s acclaimed Fall for Dance Festival, this daylong professional development session is specifically tailored for dance educators.

The day begins with two master classes where you will explore each dance company’s unique aesthetic and study pieces of repertoire performed at the Fall for Dance Festival. An afternoon of workshops expand on discussions within these master classes to investigate approaches to teaching dance, critical and creative responses to different dance styles and genres, and applications to classroom practice—all taught by a City Center Teaching Artist and dance instructor from New York City’s Department of Education.

Recent Fall for Dance Labs have been conducted by members of Abraham.In.Motion, Caleb Teicher & Company, Doug Elkins Choreography, Jessica Lang Dance Company, Rennie Harris Puremovement, Stephen Petronio Company, STREB, Trisha Brown Dance Company, and more.

And, you also receive a ticket to a Fall for Dance Festival performance.

Cost: $20 per participant.

The Fall for Dance Lab is open to both Department of Education dance educators and teaching artists. To learn more, please email us at Education@NYCityCenter.org.

Teaching Artists

City Center Teaching Artists are experienced educators and accomplished artists who support our mission of providing innovative and accessible arts education to schools and communities across New York City.

Interested in joining our team? We accept applications on a rolling basis for our Encores! and dance programs. To apply, please send us your resume, a brief cover letter, and lesson plan specific to your area of expertise in PDF format to jobs@NYCityCenter.org, with “Teaching Artist” in the subject line.

Tim Aumiller originally hails from southwest Kansas where his first foray in directing was a playground production of A Charlie Brown Christmas. He began writing, directing, and producing theater in New York in 2000 and founded NO HOPE Productions with collaborator Scott Schneider in the fall of 2003. Since then, he has written, developed, and/or staged multiple musicals including Monsters and Hello, My Name is Billy (Backstage Critic's Pick); several plays including Flight (Backstage Critic's Pick), Over and Over (NY International Fringe Festival's Encore series), and the critically lauded Luke Nicholas; as well as more than a dozen cabarets of original music. His work has appeared in celebrated New York venues such as The Duplex Cabaret Theatre, Cherry Lane Theatre, the cell, The Green Room 42, Le Poisson Rouge, and Joe’s Pub at The Public Theater. Regionally, Aumiller has worked at Cleveland Play House, King's Head Theatre of London, and the Monomoy Theatre in Cape Cod. For more than a decade, he served as the director of casting and training for the international theater organization Blue Man Group, where he still freelances. He also cast indie feature Last Ferry and the short Marble-Eyed Tanner with casting director John Ort. Aumiller received his BA in Theatre from Kansas State University and his MFA in Directing from Ohio University. As an educator, he has taught and directed at KSU and at both the Contemporary American Theatre Festival and Shepherd University in Shepherdstown, WV.

Mary Baird, "Maria de los Angeles," began her Flamenco dance studies at Ballet Hispánico with Melinda Marquez in 1998. After apprenticing with the American Bolero Dance Company, at the invitation of founder, Gabriela Granados, she spent two summers at the Cristina Heeren program in Sevilla, studying with Carmen Ledesma, Rafael Campallo, and Milagros Menjibar. As a scholarship recipient, she attended Jacob’s Pillow, studying with Soledad Barrio. Since her tablao debut at Alegrias en La Nacional, she has been performing regularly with local artists. She is currently a Flamenco Faculty Member at Ballet Hispánico and a teaching artist with Flamenco Vivo Carlota Santana. Chosen as the 2018 artist-in-residence with Flamenco Vivo's AiRe program, she choreographed her first solo piece, The Suffocating Breath.  As the co-founder and artistic director of Al Margen Flamenco, she conceptualizes, choreographs, and performs in full-length productions.

Xianix Barrera had her first exposure to dance and music as a child with studies in ballet, modern, jazz, and percussion. Barrera began her formal studies in flamenco in New York City with Jorge Navarro, Nélida Tirado, and Soledad Barrio. In Sevilla, she deepened her training with distinguished masters including Andrés Peña, Concha Vargas, Patricia Guerrero, and Carmen Ledesma, among others. She has worked and performed with such prominent artists as Isabel Bayón, Ángel Muñoz, Soledad Barrio, and Juan Ogalla, and has taught master flamenco workshops for The Joyce Theater and New York City Center. She is a recipient of a coveted scholarship to attend Jacob Pillow's Cultural Traditions Program led by Noche Flamenca. In 2011, she founded her own dance company, Sabor Flamenco, which premiered to a sold-out audience at The Poet's Den Theater in East Harlem. Barrera has been touring with Soledad Barrio and Noche Flamenca since 2013 with their wildly successful production of Antigona, a flamenco adaptation of the Sophoclean tragedy. Most recently she performed in Sevilla and Copenhagen alongside flamenco legend Jose Suarez in El Torombo. She currently teaches flamenco dance to adults and children as a teaching artist for New York City Center, Ballet Hispánico, and Flamenco Vivo Carlota Santana in New York.

Dani Hannah Bensky is a choreographer, director, and teaching artist. She is the original choreographer for Peace on Your Wings, the story of Sadako Sasaki, with Ohana Arts Touring Company based in Oahu, HI. Bensky has worked with the New York Musical Theater Festival (NYMF), Liberate Artists, Stagedoor Manor, Ohana Arts Touring Company, Summer Festival, York College (CUNY), Rye Country Day School, and Poly Prep Country Day School. Bensky was trained at The Joffrey Ballet School, New Jersey Ballet, and Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. This is her eighth year working for The Walt Disney Company. Bensky started in 2011 as a performer for Disney Cruise Line before moving to Disney Creative Entertainment and now Disney Theatricals as a Teaching Artist.

Darren Biggart is a producer, performer, and teacher. He earned his BFA in Musical Theatre at the University of Michigan, and has performed on tour (Elf), Off-Broadway (Prospect Theater Company, New York Musical Theatre Festival, Lincoln Center), and at regional theaters throughout the country (Madison Square Garden, New York City Center, Kennedy Center, The Muny, Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera, Northern Stage). He is the creative director of the non-profit A BroaderWay and was a founding producer of Encores! Off-Center. He is now working in production and innovation at Siena Music, developing and producing new projects in and around NYC. As a director and choreographer, Biggart has worked at Plymouth State University (NH), Broadway Dance Center (NYC), Steps on Broadway (NYC), Musical Theater College Auditions (NYC), and The Studio for Performing Arts (New Canaan, CT).

Michael Blatt is a New York City-based director and theater educator. Blatt made his professional directing debut in Bergen, Norway where he directed a new Norwegian translation of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s The Sound of Music. Other directing credits include The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee at Actors Theatre of Indiana, Godspell, Curtains, Iolanthe, Princess Ida, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike and An Infinite Ache. At Stagedoor Manor Performing Arts Training Center, Michael directed Prom Queen the Musical (US Premiere), Rent, On the Town, Guys and Dolls, Meet Me in St. Louis, and Brigadoon. He directed the world premiere of a new play Where a Certain Future by James Howard Carr at Northern Michigan University. Blatt is a recipient of the 2016 Outstanding Director Award for his work in Wimberley at the Mid-town International Theatre Festival and a member of The Playwriting and Directing Workshop at The Actors Studio. Blatt is an adjunct professor at The American Musical and Dramatic Academy (AMDA) where he teaches in the Acting Department. He has an MFA in Directing from The Actors Studio Drama School at Pace University and a BFA from NYU Tisch School of the Arts. AEA, SAG/AFTRA, and an associate member of SDC.

Aaron F. Brateman is an actor, director, and teaching artist. He is a graduate of NYU Tisch School of the Arts, where he studied at the Atlantic Acting School and Playwrights Horizons Theater School. Brateman is a proud member of Actors’ Equity, and as an actor has been seen Off-Broadway at the Atlantic Theater Company, in the National Tour of Charlotte's Web with TheatreWorks USA, and at other theaters around the city. Over the last decade, he has directed over 50 productions with kids of all ages, many of them at French Woods Festival of the Performing Arts. Brateman has also taught at the Atlantic Acting School, Random Farms Kids Theater, Inside Broadway, Leap, the Jamaica Center for Arts and Learning, Play On! Studios, CurtainUp Kids NYC, Child's Play NY, PS 87 Afterschool, and Actors Technique NY. Finally, he is the co-founder of Playgrounded, an improv program for kids and teens in NYC. Please check out AaronFBrateman.com for more info!

Ben Boecker is a singer-songwriter, teaching artist, and voice teacher living and working in New York City. His full-length musical Spellbound! A Perfect Musical Fairytale (NMI Search for New Musicals Grand Prize Winner 2016, Disney/NMI New Voices Award 2016) has been developed at the BMI Workshop, Andrew Lippa’s Writers’ Bloc, and Ken Davenport's Writers' Group. Boecker has worked as an NYC teaching artist for five years with companies including TADA!, City Center, Usdan Summer Camp for the Arts, Wingspan Arts, A Class Act NY, and the Open Hydrant Theater Company (the first Equity Theater Company in the Bronx). Boecker has performed multiple times at Feinstein's/54 Below, Birdland, and the Hunterdon Hills Playhouse in NJ. He is an adjunct faculty member at the Calhoun School, a proud member of the BMI Advanced Musical Theater Writing Workshop, and a member of the Dramatists Guild. BenBoecker.com

Madeline Calandrillo is a New York City-based teaching artist, arts educator, and theater-maker. She has been teaching and creating curriculum for various organizations and non-profits such as New York City Children’s Theater, Tilles Center, and New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC). At NJPAC, Calandrillo is a lead teaching artist for the Explore-A-Story Programs, Disney Theatrical Group’s In-School Musical, and Wolf Trap Early Education programs. Calandrillo received her MA in Applied Theatre from the City University of New York, where her thesis project investigated how an immersive theatrical experience could help the language learning and community building of early learners in Spanish Dual Language and General Education classrooms.

Maya de Silva Chafe is a teaching artist with a BFA in Theater/Dance from UNM. Born in Santa Barbara, CA and schooled in New Mexico, Chafe moved to New York in 1986 and began studying modern dance at Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and flamenco at Fazil’s. Within a few years, she was performing with Flamenco Latino and Danza Espana, later touring with Maria Benitez, also teaching and performing for Carlota Santana, Third St. Music School, and many more. Chafe danced as a soloist and ensemble dancer in tablaos and theaters across America and in shows at The Joyce Theater, DTW, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, Kaatsbaan, Santa Fe Stages, and Boston Pops, including four seasons as a Gypsy Dancer at the Metropolitan Opera. From 2001 – 2011 she directed and produced her own company “Flamenco Revolucion,” and, with generous support from Lower Manhattan Cultural Council (LMCC) and New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA), produced four NYC seasons and showed her company at Jacob's Pillow. She was featured in a national print ad for Verizon, performed in Nilo Cruz’s play Lorca con un Vestido Verde (at Repertorio Español in New York and Texas) and in the year 2000 was awarded (and enjoyed) a full scholarship for professional study at the Heeren Foundation of Flamenco in Seville, Spain. Chafe currently teaches children for the Coalition for Hispanic Family Services. Previously she was on faculty 10 years at Rutgers University, two years at Ballet Hispánico, and has taught for 15 years for Carlota Santana in the Flamenco Vivo studios and at innumerable NYC Schools. MayadeSilvaFlamenco.com

Leo Yu-Ning Chang is a bilingual performer, director, and educator originally from Taiwan. He recently earned his MFA degree in musical theater from San Diego State University and moved to NYC to pursue his career in performing arts. Chang has diverse professional experiences in theater, films, a cappella singing and emceeing in different countries. He has taught a wide range of performing courses and workshops bilingually both in Taiwan and the US, at institutions like Marymount Manhattan College, La Jolla Playhouse, San Diego State University (SDSU), Grossmont College, and Olathe South High School (KS). As a performer, Chang seizes every chance to advocate love and social justice through storytelling. His selected credits include Bubble Boy, Mr. Holland’s Opus (new musical workshop), Thoroughly Modern Millie, Company, The Full Monty, and Enchanted April. He is also a co-founder of Guess What, an award-winning a cappella band from Taiwan.

Andrea Davey-Gislason is an NYC-based teaching artist and choreographer who believes in the transformative power the arts can have in every child’s life. For over a decade she has taught dance and musical theater in NYC public schools, inspiring her students to find the joy and rigor required to share one’s art with the world. Davey-Gislason teaches for National Dance Institute, New York City Center, and directs the Irene Diamond Summer Institute. She is a consultant for Dance by C.L.E.S., an NGO committed to fostering understanding between cultures by teaching dance in public schools in cities across Lebanon. As a performer, Davey-Gislason dance captained many regional shows as well as the national tour of Contact. Some favorite roles included Kristine in A Chorus Line, Tess in Crazy for You, and Hippolyta in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. She danced with Clay Taliaferro and Dancers, Josh Walden Dance Theatre, and the Anonymous Ensemble.

Sue Delano has performed in the Broadway and national tours of My Fair Lady with Richard Chamberlain, Cabaret with Joel Grey, and Liza in Concert with Liza Minnelli. She has worked across the country, Europe, and the Far East as a performer, dance captain, choreographer, and director with names such as George Abbott, Michael Shawn, Jimmy Buffett, Susan Stroman, Jack Lee, Vivian Matalon, and Ron Fields, just to name a few. She has worked as a director/choreographer at Western Carolina University and Stephens College. She was a director/choreographer for Bravo's On with the Show and has been a choreographer for Camp Broadway since 1998. Delano received her BA in dance from Stephens College in Columbia, MO.

Chris Dieman, known foremost as a performer and musician, has worked with the likes of David Hyde Pierce, Judy Kaye, Marin Mazzie, Bridget Everett, Julia Murney, Malcolm Gets, and Walter Bobbie. He collaborates most frequently with legendary composer John Kander on his newest works with Greg Pierce. Seen in dozens of shows on the downtown circuit, Dieman has performed everywhere from the now-defunct Bowery Poetry Club to New York Theatre Workshop. As a composer, Dieman has written one-man shows, piano scores for film and dance, and full-length musicals. He is a Graduate of NYU Tisch School of the Arts.

Dawn DiPasquale holds an MA in Dance Education from NYU. She served as visiting assistant professor of dance at Wichita State University and has choreographed for Paper Mill Playhouse, Long Wharf Theatre, North Shore Music Theatre, Music Theatre Wichita, Santa Barbara Civic Light Opera, and Folly Theater (KC). She has performed with Desert Theaterworks, PS 122, Riverside Church, Green Space, Manhattan Movement & Arts Center, Fringe Festival, and Strada Facendo (Italy)—working with choreographers Deborah Damast, Trish Doherty, Carl Paris, Douglas Dunn, and Elissaveta Iordonova. Member of SDC.

Emily Ellis is a director, choreographer, and teaching artist in NYC, Westchester, and Rockland County originally hailing from rural Vermont. Currently she is a resident director/choreographer at the Helen Hayes Youth Theatre as well director/choreographer at Dobbs Ferry Middle and High Schools. Prior teaching artist work includes Phoenix Theatre Ensemble, Circle in the Square Theatre School, Riverdale Country School, and the Broadway show Come from Away. Ellis holds a BA in Musical Theatre from SUNY Cortland as well as a MS in Educational Theatre from The City College of New York.

Olyda "Ola" Espinal attended Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art for the Performing Arts and has been passionately teaching throughout New York public schools, predominantly in the Bronx, for 13 years. As a community outreach liaison and teaching artist for the Bronx Dance Theatre, New York City Center, Flamenco Latino, and Flamenco Vivo Carlota Santana, Espinal constantly strives to teach innovative, creative, and energetic classes in multiple dance styles to inspire and propel her students into the performing arts. She has trained under flamenco masters Soledad Barrio, Maya de Silva, Nelida Tirado, and Omayra Amaya. Espinal has performed in many prestigious venues including Lincoln Center, Symphony Space, Jacob’s Pillow, and Benmarl, and regularly performs as vocalist, dancer, and percussionist with the renowned Los Cintron Brothers, as well as with NYC artists in various venues across NY.

Caroline Fermin attended The Juilliard School for dance and graduated with honors. She has performed for a variety of ballet and modern companies including James Sewell Ballet, Chamber Dance Project, Sidra Bell, Adam H. Weinert, and the Resonance Collective. She is a founding member of GALLIM where she originated many roles and pieces while touring nationally and abroad. While a dancer with GALLIM, Fermin helped create the educational outreach arm of the company. Caroline currently collaborates with theater artists, most recently choreographing for actors at NYU Tisch. She works extensively with community engagement programs such as Artists Striving To End Poverty and Sing for Hope. Fermin teaches at Barnard College, Columbia University, and Mount Holyoke College.

Amilia Hernandez was born in France from Spanish descent and graduated from the national conservatory in ballet and modern dance studies in 1999 with the honors of the jury. She then pursued her contemporary dance studies in Paris until early 2000. Her style was shaped by dancing with two renowned companies, A.M Pascoli Dance Group and Taipei Dance Circle in France and Taiwan from 2000 to 2005. She started studying flamenco in 2006 in Sevilla under the direction of Ursula Lopez, Andres Marin, and El Oruco, among others. In 2012, she danced at the NYU Baruch Theater in La Quinta Luna, a show directed by Flamenco y Sol company to promote New York’s best emerging flamenco dancers. Since 2013, she has been dancing with Pasión y Arte company based in Philadelphia. Her work with them includes performing at the Philadelphia Flamenco Festival and at the Fleisher Memorial Art of Philadelphia in Complices, a creation from Rosario Toledo blending modern dance and flamenco. She is also a member of Flamenco Vivo Carlota Santana Company. She joined the New York City Center teaching artists team in 2017.

Angela Jamieson has worked on Broadway as a conductor and pianist for Disney’s The Lion King and Off-Broadway as the music director for Hiroshima, a Kennedy Center award-winning play with music by Yoko Ono. She has toured as the associate conductor Cheetah and Gazelle companies of The Lion King, Cats, Phantom of the Opera (Europe), and Peter Pan with Cathy Rigby. She also works as a TA for New York City Center, TADA! Youth Theater, Young Audiences New York, Inside Broadway, Disney Worldwide, and SAI NY.

Joel Knopf is an upbeat singer-songwriter, teaching artist, and educator based in New York. He is recently transplanted from California, where he designed science games at Leapfrog Toys. He has performed with Agile Rascal Bicycle Touring Theatre and San Francisco Opera Guild. He performs with Jam with Jamie, works as a teaching artist with New York City Center, Wingspan Arts, and teaches guitar and voice lessons. He has also written an original musical called The Last Ibex. Knopf is thrilled to share his contagious love of musicals with you! Say hello at @joelknopfwrites and MeltsinYourMind.com

Glenda Sol Koeraus, “La Argentinita,” is a Buenos Aires-born flamenco dancer who, over the past decade, has established herself as one of the top flamenco dancers/choreographers in NYC. As a scholarship recipient of the Jerome Foundation's Travel and Study Grant, the Cristina Heren Foundation scholarship and the Jacob’s Pillow Cultural Traditions Program, Koeraus has studied with many of the great dancers and teachers of flamenco, among them, Angelita Vargas, Los Farrucos, Yolanda Heredia, Carmela Greco, and Belén Maya. Since her move to New York, Koeraus has appeared at illustrious venues such as Lincoln Center Out of Doors, Town Hall, Symphony Space, and The Joyce Theater. Sol has toured internationally with Soledad Barrio and Noche Flamenca for six years, sharing the stage with figures such as Juan Ogalla, Alejandro Granados, and Alfonso Loza. She has also participated in Zeffirelli's production of La Traviata at the Metropolitan Opera. More recently, she has been featured in the pre-production of Christopher Gatelli’s Tony Award-winning In Your Arms (Powerhouse Theater), Zorro! The Musical (Alliance Theatre, GA), The Latin Quarter Show at the Revel Hotel in Atlantic City, choreographer and solo dancer for Portland Opera's production of Carmen (Keller Auditorium), and toured the US as a solo dancer and singer for the world renowned Gala of the Royal Horses. Koeraus is also an accomplished teacher who has offered both master and youth classes, as well as residencies with Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and Young Audiences New York. In addition, she has turned her energies towards directing and choreographing her own original works. Her most recent productions, Orobo Jondo, Flamenco Cabal, and El Inmigrante, represent a new phase in her creative output. FlamencoySol.com

Sean Mayes is a New York and Toronto-based musical director, educator, performer, and academic.  He is a proud teaching artist with New York City Center, as well as with Disney Theatrical Group and The New York Pops. Mayes also serves as music director of the Fourth Universalist Society in the City of New York. In addition to music directing and teaching, Mayes enjoys a schedule of vocal coaching, arranging, orchestrating, and publishing. Past musical directing work includes time on London's West End and numerous productions across Canada. Mayes's work includes conducting the Canadian premiere of The Color Purple in 2019, as well as publication on the history of the music director in an upcoming book through Palgrave Macmillan in the UK. SeanMayesMusic.com @SeanMayesMD

Peter Musante works at the nexus of immersive theater, dance, music, and technology to invent unique performance-based experiences that transform space and create community. His original works have toured internationally and are created collaboratively by a diverse group of artists—most notably Andrew Schneider (YOUARENOWHERE, OBIE Award), and Trusty Sidekick Theater Company (Lincoln Center, Park Avenue Armory, and Abrons Art Center) where he is a resident artist and multisensory experience director. Peter is also a founding member of Fixed Agency (Brooklyn Navy Yard), a cast member of Blue Man Group (Astor Place Theatre), and a frequent collaborator with Spring Street Social Society. PeterMusante.com

Alex Parrish is a Queens-based music director, teacher, actor, and composer/lyricist. He has contributed as a musical director, arranger, and pianist for musicals at Ars Nova, Playwrights Horizons, Theatre Row, New York Musical Theatre Festival (NYMF), Dixon Place, Valley Shakespeare Festival, Under St. Marks, regional theater companies, schools, barbershop quartets and a cappella groups. He has been a teaching artist with TADA! Youth Theater, Wingspan Arts, TakeLessons, and numerous programs during his time in Massachusetts. Parrish is a proud member of Actors Equity and the Dramatists Guild, Sokoloff Arts Creative Fellowship recipient at Town Stages, and graduate of the NYU Tisch BFA Drama program, BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop, Fiasco Theater FTI, and Made in NY Creative Entrepreneurial Program. AlexanderParrish.com

Drew Petersen is a Brooklyn-based artist and educator. He currently is an educator with Park Avenue Armory, The New Victory Theater, Brooklyn Academy of Music, and City Center. As an artist, he is the artistic director for Trusty Sidekick Theater Company—a theater company devoted to creating high quality, original work for young audiences and their families. He has been commissioned by and created original work with Lincoln Center Education, The Kennedy Center, Park Avenue Armory, New Victory Theater, Classic Stage Company, Playhouse Square (CLV), Pace University, The Tank, and Curio Theater Company in Philadelphia.

Christina Ramirez is thrilled to be a member of the New York City Center Education team! She currently teaches and directs with Broadway Artists Alliance, Applause New York, and with the Arts and Literacy program at the Coalition for Hispanic Family Services. She holds a BFA in Musical Theatre from the Conservatory of Theatre Arts at Webster University where she graduated with department honors. Ramirez was most recently seen Off-Broadway as Sally in You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown. Some of her favorite regional credits include The Fantasticks, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, and The Comedy of Errors.

Macarena Ramos is an actor, director, and teaching artist based in NYC. She was born and raised in San Juan, Puerto Rico and graduated from Marymount Manhattan College with a BFA in Acting and a double concentration in Directing. Ramos has also taken classes in HB Studios. During the past year she directed and created original plays with kids as a teaching artist in NYC boroughs. Some recent directing credits include Willy Wonka Kids and Lion King Kids at Saratoga Children’s Theater and an internship with Director’s Lab Chicago. Other theater credits include Twelve Angry Women at the Producers Club and new work such as Sweet Pea, Honeydew Sunsets, and Fatchley. MacarenaRamos.com

Laura Reaper is a NYC-based opera singer who enjoys a robust career performing and teaching throughout the United States. She currently serves as a teaching artist for New York City Center and Queens Theatre in addition to working as a music and theater specialist with NIA Community Services Network. Laura’s recent credits include tours of Orfeo ed Euridice (Orfeo), Die Zauberflöte (Dritte Dame), and The Mikado (Katisha); a two-year residency with Toledo Opera; and soloist appearances with the VIVE! Ensemble (“Das Lied von der Erde”) and Orchestra Amadeus (“Kindertotenlieder”, Mozart’s “Requiem”). A recent transplant from Ohio, Reaper was previously an adjunct professor of voice at both The University of Toledo and Tiffin University.

Tyrone L. Robinson is a New York based director, writer, and actor specializing in musical theater. He studied directing in NYC at Atlantic Theater Company and holds an MFA from NYU Tisch School of the Arts. Robinson has directed new work, as well as productions of Guys and Dolls (Swerling/Burrows/Loesser) and The Indian Wants the Bronx (Horowitz). His choreography credits include productions of Mame, Starmites, and Pirates of Penzance. And his first short film Un{H}armed has been an Official Selection of the 2019 Harlem International Film Festival, the 2018 New York Short Film Festival, RKDS Film Festival, 2019 Hudson Shorts Film Festival, and the 2019 Georgia Shorts Film Festival, among others. Robinson was awarded the ASCAP Frederick Loewe Award for theater writing and he wrote the music and lyrics for the musical Show Way, based on the beloved children’s book of the same title by Jacqueline Woodson. The musical was nominated for an Off-Broadway Alliance Award (Best Family Musical). His recent acting credits include Charlie Patton in Revival: The Resurrection of Son House at Geva Theatre Center (opposite Tony Award winner Cleavant Derricks); Stepin Fetchit in the acclaimed production of Fetch Clay, Make Man at Dallas Theater Center; The Book of Mormon First and Second National Tours; Disney’s The Lion King; and Coalhouse Walker, Jr. at the Arvada Center for the Performing Arts (Colorado), for which Robinson was nominated for a Denver Theatre Award (Best Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical).

Arielle Rosales is an interdisciplinary performance artist with over a decade's worth of professional experience as a dancer, choreographer, actress, and educator, specializing in flamenco. She is the founder and artistic director of House of Duende, the intercultural dance studio and collaborative arts organization based in Spanish Harlem, NYC (HouseofDuende.com). Dubbed “exciting, rhythmic, and undoubtedly seductive” by Dance Informa Magazine and “a very intense and wonderful choreographic talent" by BroadwayWorld.com, Rosales’s most recent works are based in collaborative cultural exchange, which has manifested into the all-female percussive dance troupe, Soles of Duende, which connects flamenco, kathak, and tap with the spirit of New York, and the #WeFree | #UnleashYourDuende Experience with artist/activist Marguerite Hemmings, which explores what liberation looks and feels like through sound and movement. Rosales is currently on faculty at Steps on Broadway, Broadway Dance Center, Ballet des Amériques, and is a teaching artist for both New York City Center and Ballet Hispánico. ArielleRosales.com.

Courtney Rottenberger has been a Radio City Rockette for the last seven years and has performed in various theater productions as well as TV and film. Some favorite credits include Chastity in the first national tour of Anything Goes, being an NFL cheerleader for the New York Jets, dancing on Boardwalk Empire and Wonderful Pistachio's 2013 Superbowl commercial. Rottenberger began her dance training on Long Island at the Marianne Anderson Studio and also trained at the Joffrey Ballet School. She went on to get her BS in dance performance from Skidmore College. Rottenberger has taught for several dance education programs in NY and nationally, including the Rockette Summer Intensive, the Roundabout Theatre Company Education program and the Steps on Broadway outreach program.

Belinda A. Sáenz is an NYC-based multidisciplinary performer and instructional specialist who is thrilled to collaborate as a teaching artist with New York City Center, Disney Theatrical Group, Lincoln Center Education, and TADA! Youth Theater. She served as adjunct faculty at NYU Steinhardt's Dance Education program for three amazing years. Sáenz’s most recent performances are with Bessie Award-winning Joya Powell’s Movement of the People Dance Company and Callaloo Kids. She has appeared at Jacob’s Pillow, Lincoln Center, Radio City Music Hall, The Kennedy Center, Aaron Davis Hall, United Palace, and Queens Theatre, and has worked with choreographers Martie Barylick, Sean Curran, Deborah Damast, Diane Duggan, Rocker Verastique, among many others. Sáenz is native of the Juárez-El Paso border area where she performed intensively and taught in the private and public sectors for over 15 years before moving to NYC in 2012. Besides the USA, she has studied, taught, and/or performed in Mexico, England, and Eastern-Central Europe. Sáenz holds an MA in Dance Education (Institute Honors/Western Scholarship) from NYU, an MEd as Instructional Specialist in Bilingual Education and BFA in Music Theatre/Dance (Magna Cum Laude & University Honors Certificate) from The University of Texas at El Paso. BelindaSaenz.org

Clinton Sherwood is an artist and teacher working happily in the greatest city in the world. As a performer, musician, and teacher, his work is eclectic and widely informed. He was last seen performing in The Book of Mormon for the Broadway company and both touring productions. His other favorite credits include the regional premiere of Mary Poppins, Starlight Express, Thoroughly Modern Millie, Hair, and performing with national tours of West Side Story and Cats. His passion for teaching has always been just as present as his passion for performing. Sherwood returned to his high school as a vocal director and choreographer and created a summer camp program for grades 8-12. It continues to run annually, educating and inspiring young artists every summer. He works as a music director for universities in the Tri-State area. He currently teaches full-time as an associate voice teacher for the Matt Farnsworth Vocal Studio, with students who can be seen performing on Broadway and in touring productions around the country.

Alana Marie Urda has worked as a professional choreographer and teaching artist in NYC for over 10 years, working in a variety of programs including New York City Center, The Trinity School, the West Side YMCA, and Bridge for Dance studios. With a BFA in dance from Florida State University (FSU), Urda is assistant director of The Trinity School After School Program and is choreographer for the West Side YMCA’s Professional Kids Company and The Events in Orlando, FL. Urda is also co-founder and artistic director of Amalgamate Dance Company, Inc (ADC) where she has envisioned and produced a range of distinguished dance events, charity projects, and educational workshops. Her work has been celebrated in renowned venues including Jacob’s Pillow Inside/Out series, Boston University, Sant’Angelo in Vado (Italy), BB Kings, TheTimesCenter, Ailey Citigroup Theater, and Merce Cunningham Studio, and tours both nationally and internationally. She is an artist in residence at Bridge for Dance and a grant recipient of the Mertz Gilmore Foundation.

Rachel Tuggle Whorton is a performer, director, writer, and arts educator. As a pianist, vocalist, actor, and music director, Whorton has collaborated with groups across the country including San Diego Musical Theatre, Playwrights Horizons, The New School, New York University, CO/LAB Theater Group, Havas Luxe, Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre, The Acappella Company, and New York Theatre Barn. As a writer, recent work includes "Site-Specific Theatre: New Perspectives on Pedagogy and Performance" (RiDe: The Journal of Applied Theatre, 2015), "Responsible Inspiration: The Role of Arts Educators in Career Choice" (Teaching Artist Journal, 2016), and the short film Micro, an official selection of Cinewest's 2016 Women in Media Arts and Film Festival in Sydney, Australia. As a master teacher with the National YoungArts Foundation, Whorton created original work with emerging artists at National YoungArts Week in Miami, FL. She is also an adjunct instructor and student teacher supervisor at NYU where she is currently a PhD candidate in Educational Theatre.

Tony M. Williams II is a performer and teaching artist based out of the Bronx, New York. He has taught for several New York-based programs such as El Puente After and Saturday Arts Program, Bronx Arts Ensemble, Stagedoor Manor, and Mosholu Montefiore Community Center. He is also the former coach of an award-winning competition dance team (Dreams in Motion Middle School Edition) He is also the host of a weekly podcast that allows him to share his knowledge and passion for dance as both a performer and choreographer.

Kevin Winebold is a musical director, actor, and teaching artist. Winebold's New York credits include The Irish...and How They Got That Way, The Threepenny Opera, and Tin Pan Alley. On the road, he has toured with Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, Footloose, The Wedding Singer, and All Shook Up. Always passionate about arts education, Winebold is a proud teaching artist with New York City Center, Disney Theatrical Group, and The New York Pops.