Alison Oakes Charbonnier | Jamuna Dasi | Andrea Deventer | Jeff Foote | Samantha Friedman | Nicole Hockenberry | Randy James | Eli Kababa | Tammy Klinck | Ruthann Lanni | Eric Ortega | Teresa (Te) Perez | Kimberly Pinto | Laurie Piro | Claire Porter| Tabatha Robinson-Scott | Ross Sandler | Sara-Lynne Simpson| Mary Suk | Heather Warfel
| Alison Oakes Charbonnier Pieces: Touching Down, Reverie, Vistas Alison holds a BA from Bates College and a MA in Dance and Dance Education from Teachers College, Columbia University. She was a faculty member at Iona College in New Rochelle, NY and a teaching artist for NYC Ballet's Education Department. She was the assistant director of the Iona Dance Ensemble and was an artist in residence at Bates College in 2000 and 2004. Alison choreographs and performs her own work in NYC, NJ, CT and ME. She has produced concerts at Merce Cunningham and Williamsburg Art Nexus (WAX). Her work has been shown at Joyce Soho, 92nd St. Y, Riverside Church, Merce Cunningham, WAX, Columbia University, Bates College, Iona College, Bergen Community College and Ramapo College with Bergen Dance Makers. For the past 11 years, she has been working in collaboration and performing with Liliana Amador. |
| Jamuna Dasi Piece: Parts of a Part Jamuna began her dance training at East Bay Dance Center, Oakland Ballet and Berkeley High School. She has received a certificate in Performance from The School of The Hartford Ballet and BFA in Dance from Florida State University. She has performed with Pennsylvania Dance Theatre, Alpha Omega Theatrical Dance Theatre, Acrodance Theatre, Opera Festival of New Jersey, New Jersey Opera Theatre and has danced five seasons with The Opera Company of Philadelphia. She has performed in works by Robert Boross, Ze'Eva Cohen, Jose Limon, Joanna Mendleshaw, Claire Porter, Ronn Pratt, Martial Romain, Mathew Neenan and Kathy Young. Jamuna is the creator and director of The Outlet Dance Project that provides a performance opportunity in central New Jersey for emerging women choreographers from New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and New York. She has also taught in public schools and private studios in California, Florida, Central Pennsylvania, New York and New Jersey. She currently teaches dance at RWJ Hamilton Center for Health & Wellness in Hamilton, NJ, and The Dance Corner Inc. in West Windsor, NJ. |
| Andrea Deventer Piece: Prayer Andrea is the director of the Dance Program at Morristown-Beard School in Morristown, NJ. She has performed with Philadanco, Danny Sloan Dance Company, Paradigm Dance Company and Beyondance, Inc. Her choreography has been shown at the Monroe Street Movement Space in Hoboken, NJ, Next Stage Dance Space and other venues in the NY metropolitan area. |
| Jeff Foote Piece: A cappella Jeff has been tapping for 11 years. He currently teaches tap at Grande Jete Academy of Dance, and Dorothy Del Guercio School of Dance. He is also a member of the NJ Tap Ensemble under the direction of Deborah Mitchell. Jeff has studied with tap greats such as Omar Edwards, Ted Levy, Dewitt Flemming, Jr., Karen Calloway Williams, and Savion Glover. |
| Samantha Friedman Piece: Exhale Sam graduated from Northwestern University, where she co-directed and choreographed for the dance and percussion ensemble BOOMSHAKA, and performed in annual Danceworks and N.U.D.E. productions. She apprenticed with Jump Rhythm Jazz Project in Chicago. She is delighted for this opportunity to breathe new life into "Exhale", by sharing it with the company of a mentor and a friend, and with you. |
| Nicole Hockenberry Piece: Shhh! Nicole, Director of T.A.P. (Teach All People) in Easton, PA, has taught for NY Foundation for the Arts, the Detroit Tap Festival and St. Louis Tap Festival. She has performed with Manhattan Tap, La Vaughn Robinson, Germaine Ingram, Brenda Bufalino, James "Buster" Brown, Savion Glover and Jimmy Slyde. She currently teaches tap courses and directs the Tap Ensemble at Cedar Crest College. |
| Randy James Piece: Unknown Horizons Randy is an associate professor at Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers University. The NJSCA has honored him with two Choreographic Fellowship Awards, the NJ Governor's Awards and was also named Distinguished Teaching Artist. His work has been commissioned and he has been a guest artist at hundreds of institutions nationally and internationally including ADF, Bates Dance Festival, Jacob's Pillow and London Contemporary Dance Theater, among others. He was principal dancer with Dan Wagoner & Dancers for eight years. Randy received his Bachelor of Arts from Empire State College and is artistic director of Randy James Dance Works. |
| Eli Kababa Pieces: One City Block, Rising, Stayin' Alive Eli graduated from the County College of Morris with an Associate in Fine Arts degree. He has performed, choreographed and instructed in the movement styles of martial arts, hip-hop, B-boying, gymnastics and several styles of modern dance. Some accomplishments include receiving special recognition at the International Dance Festival in Prague, for his work in Dance Theater and gaining employment with the New York City Ballet. He works as a teaching artist, bringing and sharing dance with the students of the NYC public school system. Currently, Eli is the Dance Director at the YM-YWHA of Wayne. He has joined artistic forces with Kimberly Pinto to create EK Studios, a performing arts production company. Together they are creating visionary dance performances. He would like to thank those that inspired him to this point and send his love to his wife, Kathy. |
| Tammy Klinck Piece: Waverunners Tammy received her BFA in dance from Montclair State University. She has performed professionally with several modern dance companies. She currently teaches ballet and modern dance at the County College of Morris as well as several studios in Northern New Jersey. |
| Ruthann Lanni Piece: The Other Side Ruthann received her MA in Dance and Dance Education from New York University in 2005. She has taught dance on all levels from children to adults. Ruthann has developed a dance curriculum for a corporation that franchises early child care centers in NY, NJ and MI. She has choreographed pieces for community theatres, high school productions and has had her original choreography performed throughout several states. Although she has danced with In Motion, this is her first choreographed piece for the company, titled The Other Side. |
| Eric Ortega Piece: The Sequence of Things Eric, graduate of Mason Gross School of the Arts, has instructed dance throughout New Jersey, having taught and set choreography at The Pingry School, Hudson County Schools of Technology, Wings Conservatory, and now as guest artist for In Motion Dance Company. He gets such profound excitement not just from seeing his works performed on a stage, but when dancers and music become partners. His choreography has been performed at New Jersey City University, Virginia Commonwealth University, The College of New Jersey, the Mathaney School, Crossroads Theater, the George Street Playhouse, Zacatecas, Mexico, and the Ailey Citigroup Theater. Eric has performed with GroundZero Dance, Moe-tion Dance Theater, The Latin Ballet of Virginia, and has worked with Alexandra Beller, Robert Battle, David Dorfman, Geri Houlihan, Heather McArdile, Martha Myers, and Stephen Petronio. In 2009, Eric choreographed and starred in Lucerfarul: Legend of the Evening Star, off-Broadway at the renowned Marjorie Dean's Little Theater in New York. You can catch him dancing in the 2011 motion picture, "Friends With Benefits" starring Justin Timberlake and Mila Kunis. |
| Teresa (Te) Perez Piece: Soukous Spell Te has been teaching, performing and choreographing in the Tri-state area for more than 15 years. She is a faculty member of Dance Space Center, NYC, Brooklyn Arts Exchange, and Boces Arts-In-Education, Suffolk, NY. She received her BA in Theater/Dance from Queens College, NY. She has performed with various independent dance companies and choreographs and performs her own work throughout NYC. |
| Kimberly Pinto Piece: One City Block, Rising Kimberly graduated from the County College of Morris as an RN with an Associate in Applied Science degree. Her dance experience includes modern, ballet, jazz, African, hip-hop, and break dancing. She started her professional training at The Martha Graham School of Contemporary Dance in NYC. Professionally she has perfromed with BEYONDANCE Inc., Freespace Dance, and In Motion. Kimberly's choreography has been shown throughout New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania, most recently at SWEAT OUTDOORS festival in Hoboken and The Outlet Dance Project in Hamilton, and the Ceres Art Gallery in NYC. She is currently working as a school nurse in Summit, NJ and is a registered yoga and pilates instructor. With her dance partner, Eli Kababa, she has started EK Studios, a professional dance and production company. |
| Laurie Piro Piece: Lime-In Laurie studied with Ronni Demarco, Bob Fosse and Luigi in NY. Her dancing can be seen on many music videos from Stray Cats to Billy Joel. She also appeared in the Bob Fosse story, All That Jazz, She graduated from Boston College where she directed the BC Dance Ensemble. Other regional credits include: Dance Connections, North Jersey Dance Company and with the NJ Ballet for 5 years. She is currently resident choreographer for The Bickford Theatre. |
| Claire Porter Piece: It All Depends Claire has performed her PORTABLES around the country and in Germany, Holland, England, Latvia and Korea. She has received NEA and NJSCA Choreography Fellowships, Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation Awards and commissions from DTW's First Light Project, The 92nd St Y Harkness Dance Festival, Domino's Pizza Company and University Dance Companies. Porter set a solo on Kasas City Ballet and is currently performing Namely Muscles in festivals, conferences, medical schools and universities. She has taught LMA and/or choreography for NYU Dance Ed., Columbia Teachers College, Connecticut College, Manhattanville College and HOPE College MI. She teaches The No Nonsense Workout and serves on the Board of DanceNJ. Porter has a MA in Dance from Ohio State, a BA in Mathematics, is a Laban Movement Analyst and is represented by PENTACLE/DanceWorks/NYC. Her website, cportables.com, lists upcoming work including a Creativity Retreat in Bearnstow Maine and performances in Dusseldorf Germany. |
| Tabatha O. Robinson-Scott Piece: Black Beans and White Rice, The Lion and the Warrior, Modes of Temperance Tabatha has received her Bachelor in Fine Arts Degree in dance and Master’s degree in Dance Education from Temple University. Although she has continued to live and dance in the Lehigh Valley, she continues to train in New York City with Sheila Barker, Joe Tremaine, Sean Curran, and many others. She has shared the stage with Sonia Sanchez, Gregory Hines and Bill Cosby. Tabatha has performed throughout the tri-state area as a guest artist for the Seventh Principle Performance Company. For three years, she was a company member with Kariamu and Company (an African dance based company). Tabatha is the former artistic director of the Rising Sun Dance Company, a professional student performance company in Philadelphia. She was full-time faculty in the dance department at the Richard Stockton College of New Jersey in Pomona. Tabatha is also a column writer for Dance Spirit Magazine. Her choreography has recently been commissioned for dance companies in South Carolina, New Jersey and for Temple University performances. She has trained students who have gone on to enter college dance programs such as University of the Arts, New York University, Hofstra, Virginia Commonwealth University, Point Park, Marymount Manhattan, and many others as well as dance professionally. She is the artistic director and founder of the Monarch Dance Company in the Lehigh Valley and currently dance faculty at Cedar Crest College and Northampton Community College in the Lehigh Valley. |
| Ross Sandler Piece: Tone Mint Ross has a B.F.A. in modern dance and choreography from Ohio University. He has performed and has had his choreography performed from New York to Japan. He has performed in works by Nancy Allison, Gladys Bailin, Stephen Brown, Rachel Feinerman, Robinson Builders, and Sasha Soreff. Ross has studied with various contemporary choreographers including Meredith Monk, Risa Steinberg, Miguel Guitierez, Doug Elkins, and David Dorfman. His years of teaching experience have helped him develop a great balance between challenging students/encouraging hard work while making sure that the mood is light and children have fun. |
| Sara-Lynne Simpson Piece: River Without Banks Sara-Lynne has presented choreography on both coasts in the dance, theatre and opera genres. She has taught dance to preschool-through-University students, and was a Site Director of The California Arts Project. Sara-Lynne is credited for the renowned documentary, Denishawn, and has presented at American College Dance Festivals and California Dance Educators Association conferences. She has her M.F.A. in Dance Choreography from Mills College. |
| Mary Suk Piece: Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band Mary has been creating and performing her own work in New York for the past decade. Her dances have been performed at Joyce SoHo, Merce Cunningham Studio, Aaron Davis Hall, Teachers College, Bates Summer Dance Festival and Soundance Studio. She is a graduate of Teachers College (Dance and Dance Education) and Dartmouth College. |
| Heather Warfel Piece: Attemptare, Explorations Heather is the director of the dance program at County Prep High School and an Adjunct Professor of Dance at NJCU. Her student's work was chosen to represent Hudson County in the NJ State Teen Arts Festival in 2001, 2004, and 2005, and her professional choreography has been shown at the American College Dance Festival, Cathedral Arts Festival and Victory Hall in Jersey City, WAH Center and WAX in Brooklyn, University Settlement, and TIXE/Chashama in NYC. Heather has performed with various companies in the tri-state area in West-African, Tap, Improvisation, and Modern dance. She is also a visual artist who creates work in fabric under her label CROW, and enjoys the influence of movement and the body in her visual arts. Heather finds equal value in these and all artistic experiences, knowing that whether it is playing concertina, sculpting butter, or collecting twigs and leaves, thoughtful creating is the best way to pass the time. |