Dance Department

Faculty

Jennifer Brilliant (Yoga) has nearly twenty years of experience guiding people in athletic, therapeutic and creative movement. Her vast knowledge of the human body is drawn from the Pilates method, Alexander technique, Kinetic Awareness, meditation instruction in the Shambhala tradition, as well as ten years as a professional modern dancer. Since 1989, Professor Brilliant has been teaching group and private one-on-one fitness and yoga in homes and offices in New York City and across the country. She was the Director of OM Yoga Center's Teacher Training programs from 2000 - 2005. Under her careful eye, dozens of graduates have become OM-certified yoga teachers. She is the author of Doga-Yoga for Dogs, and contributed to Joyful Birth-A Spiritual Path To Motherhood and Start Your Own Personal Training Business.
Clare Byrne (Modern) has been creating dance in New York for over a decade. Her company, Clare Bryne Dance, has performed at the Joyce SoHo, the NY International Fringe Festival, Brooklyn Arts Exchange, Danspace Project's Food for Thought series, PS 122's Avantgardarama, The Flea Theater, and Dixon Place amongst others. Outside of New York, she has shown her work at Connecticut College, Muhlenberg College, Roger Williams University, Mirriewold Park, The Yard on Martha's Vineyard and the Wagon Train Project in Lincoln, Nebraska. She is a member of nicholasleichterdance and has danced in the video work of Vickie Mendoza and Amy Larimer. Professor Byrne was on the faculty of 1999 American Dance Festival's Four Week School, and has been a guest teacher at Duke University, Connecticut College, Cedar Crest College, Allentown College and the Festival Fabulous in Leuven, Belgium. Professor Byrne's technique class emphasizes complex, expressive musicality and performance quality. Shaping of space, movement transitions, core initiation and radiating outward focus are experienced in various levels and dynamics, helping the dancer grow as a self-aware artist who is also playfully responsive to the world around her. Professor Byrne's work was most recently presented at Dance New Amsterdam.
Alenka Cizmesija (Ballet, Horton Technique) started dancing at the Laban Institute for Dance in Zagreb, Croatia and continued her studies at Vlaamse Dans Academie in Brugge, Belgium. She was offered a scholarship to the Ailey School in 1994. Since then she has danced with numerous choreographers and dance companies including Moazz Jazz Dance Ensemble, nathantrice/Rituals and the Kevin Wynn Collection. She found a home when she became a member of Diversity of Dance in 1997. Professor Cizmesija is currently a faculty member at Long Island University's Brooklyn Campus, The Ailey School and Ballet Hispanico. She is also a member of the faculty at Earl Mosley`s Institute of the Arts in Kent, Connecticut.
Elizabeth Goheen (Ballet) received her early classical ballet training at the National Academy of Dance in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois. After graduating as a full-tuition scholarship recipient, the diverse repertory she performed included the ballet classics, modern dance and musical theatre. She has presented her own choreography in NYC venues sponsored by The Field, Dance Space/Dance New Amsterdam, Peridance Center, Williamsburg Arts Nexus, Soundance Studio, and LIU's Faculty Concert. She has taught company classes for Ailey II, Diversity of Dance, American Dance Theatre for the Deaf, Soundance Repertory Company, and to faculty members of the summer Bates Dance Festival. She has been invited to substitute teach in the dance departments of New York University's Tisch School of the Arts and Sarah Lawrence College. Beth currently teaches ballet technique in the Professional Division of The Ailey School which includes a joint BFA program with Fordham University, at Dance New Amsterdam which is internationally recognized as the founding studio for the modern jazz dance Simonson Technique, for Earl Mosley's Institute of the Arts annual summer dance intensive, and in the BFA program of Long Island University/Brooklyn Campus Dance Department.
Dana Hash-Campbell (Chair; Modern, Ballet, Dance Wellness) is an Associate Professor of Dance and Chair of the Dance Department. She has served as trainer, recruiter and rehearsal director since 1997. Dana was a principal dancer and company teacher with the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater until 1995, when she retired to return to school. She has served as rehearsal director for Donald Byrd/The Group and has set the choreography of Mr. Byrd on the Alvin Ailey dancers. She is coordinator of The Dance Wellness Program at LIU and continues her research in Dance Wellness in the LIU-based ADAM Center Research Laboratory under the direction of Shaw Bronner, head physical therapist for the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and School. She teaches ballet and wellness training to the dance majors and continues to coach them in technique and choreography.
Susan Hefner (Dance Wellness) began performing dance improvisation at the age of 16, graduated from Goddard College, and toured worldwide as a soloist with Nikolais Dance Theatre. Her choreography and improvisation have been presented in many venues including Kiev, Ukraine, the Chocolate Factory, Birmingham International Improvisation Festival, HERE’s American Living Room, Roulette, One Dream, Dixon Place, Joyce SoHo, Danspace Project’s Food for Thought, and Southern Danceworks. Her company has received support from the Harkness Foundations for Dance, Dance Ink, Meet the Composer, Inc., the New England Foundation for the Arts, the Vermont Council on the Arts, Manhattan Community Arts Fund, and 2wice Arts Foundation, and an Outer/Space Creative Residency from Dance Theatre Workshop. Trained by renowned neuromuscular trainer Irene Dowd, Susan has taught anatomy and kinesiology for dancers at L’Escuela Nacional de Danza in Mexico, the International Summer School of Dance in Tokyo, Long Island University, Columbia College in Chicago, and the Limon Institute. She is currently on faculty at Hunter College, and maintains a private practice as a neuromuscular trainer.
Maré Hieronimus (Yoga) is a Brooklyn-based interdisciplinary dance artist, performer and teacher whose work weaves together her interests in movement, light, sound, the visual image and human perceptual awareness. Often working as a solo performer, Maré creates abstract and psychic landscapes, using the body in motion as the primary impulse. Her choreographic and improvisational performance experiments have been presented inside and outside and in gallery and site-specific settings in NYC, Baltimore, Washington DC, West Virginia and in Mexico at The Institute of San Miguel de Allende. Maré received her BFA in Painting from Rhode Island School of Design, and her MFA in Dance from Sarah Lawrence College. She is also a Certified Movement Analyst through the Laban/Bartenieff Institute of Movement Studies, and Teaches Yoga and Body Integration in the New York City area.
Whitney V. Hunter (Graham) received his B.F.A in Theatre Arts/Dance from Howard University under the directorship of Dr. Sherrill Berryman-Johnson. Mr. Hunter has performed with Kankouran West African Dance Company, in the companies of Doug Hamby, Rod Rodgers, Pearl Lang, Reggie Wilson, Pascal Rioult, Martha Clarke, and at the Metropolitan Opera. Recipient of the 1999 Coca Cola Award of Artistic Excellence to the Martha Graham School of Contemporary Dance, he joined the ensemble and later the company in 2003 where he was recognized for his “…emotional electricity” (exploredance.com) in such roles as “The Minotaur” in Errand into the Maze, the “Yellow Man” in Diversion of Angels, “Jason” in Cave of the Heart, and the “Lion” in Circe. Recently, Hunter was featured as “Adam” in Martha Clarke’s 2007 American Dance Festival’s reconstruction of Garden of Earthly Delights. In 2000, Hunter founded HUNTERDance Theater as a project-based company to create and perform through the medium of dance/theater. He defines his choreography as character-driven, dance/theater works that investigate the life experiences of people through movement. Since its inception, the company has been presented in Aaron Davis Hall’s E-Moves 7 Showcase (NY) Dance Theater Workshop’s Studio Series (NY), Judson Church Dance of African Descent Downtown Choreographer’s Showcase (NY), The Martha Graham School’s Choreographer’s Showcase (NY), Peridance Choreographer’s Showcase (NY), the 2001 Elan Awards (NY), and in 2007 the company received a Field FAR Space residency grant. His commissions include: Promise of Light (Howard University Dance Major Program), Crossed, South Country, Sankofa, Seul (Washington Reflections Dance Company). Hunter has been on faculty at Peridance Center, the Martha Graham School of Contemporary Dance (Teens @ Graham Program), and Harlem School of the Arts. He has also taught, as guest faculty at the Ailey School, Dance Institute of Washington, as well as master classes for Ailey II, Howard University Dance Major Program, and at Kankouran West African Dance Company. Hunter and HDT are founding artists’ and company-in-residence at The Nest Summer Dance Camp (PA) under the artistic direction of Rachel Grisi, where the company instructs in technique, composition, and repertory. Hunter’s most recent activities include appearances as guest artist at the Colorado College Summer Dance Festival under the direction of Partizia Herminjard, Downtown Dance Festival (NYC), and Thelma Hill Performing Arts Center’s PEEK program.
Kim Jones (Graham Technique) has been a member of the Martha Graham Contemporary Dance Company since 2002. In addition to her work with the Graham Company, Professor Jones has performed with the Metropolitan Opera Ballet, H. T. Chen and Dancers, Santa Barbara Dance Theater, and the Access Theater in Santa Barbara, California. She has taught and choreographed for the Joffrey Midwest Workshop, and at Millennium Dance 2000 in the United Kingdom, where she also reconstructed and restaged Martha Graham's work, Secular Games. Professor Jones's teaching experience includes work at Middlesex University and the Laban Institute in London, U.K.
Vanessa Justice (Pilates) is a Brooklyn-based dancer/choreographer presently teaching Pilates Mat in the LIU Brooklyn Campus Department of Dance. Professor Justice's dances shuttle between objectivist and subjectivist aesthetics as she endeavors to recognize fundamental realities of the body. She has an M.F.A. in Dance from The Ohio State University, a B.A. in Religious Studies/Philosophy from Pomona College, and danced professionally with Hannah Kahn Dance Company. As a Thomas J. Watson Fellow, Professor Justice spent a year investigating the cross-pollination of Eastern and Western dance forms in Asia and Europe.
Mary Pat Klein (Aerobics, Body Training, Pilates) began her career as a dancer and choreographer before specializing in body training and conditioning. She holds two Bachelor of Arts degrees from Penn State University, one in Art History and the second in Dance, and an M.F.A from Temple University. Professor Klein appeared with Dance Conduit of Philadelphia and spent four years with the Utah Shakespearean Festival as a dancer and assistant choreographer. She has taught Modern, Jazz and Ballet in New York, Philadelphia, Denver and Los Angeles, and has offered courses in aerobics since 1985. In 1992 she added personal training to her repertoire. She is certified by the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) and Aerobics and Fitness Association of American (AFAA). A strong advocate of safety and form, she loves to teach her students and clients about body awareness and the power we have to change ourselves. Other teaching skills include Core Strengthening, Stretching and Body Alignment, Basic Weight Training, Intensive Cross Training, Power Walking, Step Aerobics, Aerobic Dance and Spinning.
Rosalynde LeBlanc (Dance History; Choreography/Composition) was born in Baltimore where she started dancing at the Peabody Preparatory at age thirteen. In 1992 she received a Performance Award from the National Foundation for the Advancement in the Arts and then continued her studies at the SUNY Purchase where she received a B.F.A. in Dance in 1994. From 1993 to 1999 she danced with the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company. In the fall of 1999 she joined Mikhail Baryshnikov's White Oak Dance Project with whom she danced until 2002. Professor LeBlanc has also regularly performed with the Metropolitan Opera since 2003. She has worked with choreographers Trisha Brown, Yvonne Rainer, John Jaspers, Charles Moulton, Lucinda Childs, Lawrence Goldhuber, and Liz Gerring; jazz percussionist, Max Roach; singer, Janet Jackson; film directors, John Turturro, Gretchen Bender, Matthew Rolston, and Burt Barr. She can be seen in the Emmy Award-winning dance documentary, Free to Dance, in Still/Here, in the short film, Roz, and the upcoming feature film, Romance and Cigarettes.
Krista Martins (Hip Hop) has been teaching dance at various studios in Toronto and NYC for over ten years. She has performed in a wide variety of concerts, stage shows, music videos, film and television productions including appearances on MTV, B.E.T., Comedy Central and Soul Train. Professor Martins has also performed halftime for NFL games and has appeared in print ads including a "Stop the Violence Against Women" campaign for LifeTime Television for Women. She is currently teaching hip hop and dancehall in Connecticut and NYC, and is an adjunct professor at L.I.U.
Elizabeth McPherson (Ballet) holds a Ph.D. from New York University, an M.A. from The City College of New York, and a B.F.A. from Juilliard. She is currently on the faculties of Long Island University's Brooklyn Campus and The Ethical Culture Fieldston School. Professor McPherson has written for The Journal of Dance Education and Dance Teacher Magazine. Performance credits include: Avodah Dance Ensemble, Ernesta Corvino's Dance Circle Company, and The Louis Johnson Dance Theatre Ensemble. As a dance historian, she recently restaged Hortense Liberthal Zera's Never Sign a Letter Mrs. (1939), one of the earliest modern dances to incorporate text rather than music for accompaniment.
Sara Neece (Ballet) received her initial training from Mia Slavenska, and her ideas of placement and alignment still reflect Slavenska’s ideas. Sara was Ballet Mistress with Frankfurt Ballet for three years. She taught with the Ballet Project at Jacob’s Pillow for eight consecutive summers and for David Parson’s Fort Myers Summer Workshop for seven years. She was a member of Dance Space faculty for 20 years. Sara has served as an assistant for three generations of choreographers, including Lar Lubovitch, Bill Forsythe and Robert Battle and currently teaches company class for Robert Battle’s Battleworks.
Misty Owens (Tap) received her MFA from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and her BFA from the University of New Mexico. Misty has performed and taught throughout the U.S., Japan and Mexico with the Bill Evans Dance Co. as well as nationally touring with "Absolut Tap". Misty has been dancing with the Peggy Spina Tap Company in New York City since 1993 performing at such places as the Spina Loft, Town Hall and The Duke Theater on 42nd Street. Misty has presented her choreography at "DTW on the Move - Judson Church," Jennifer Muller's "The Hatch," University Settlement, LIU-Brooklyn, and at CUNY QCC. She is the director and choreographer for the student company at the Mark Morris Dance Group and for "Fulton Feet Express" a teen rhythm tap company based in Ft. Greene, Brooklyn. She received honors from both the 2006 New York City Tap Festival naming her "Teacher of the Year" and she was presented with a proclamation from Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz's office dedicating July 17th, 2006 to her and her tap company "Fulton Feet Express" in celebration of their outstanding community service throughout Brooklyn. Misty is currently on faculty at Marymount Manhattan College, the Mark Morris Dance Group, Brooklyn Music School and Brooklyn Friends School.
Judith Stuart (Founding Chair; Dance History) was recruited to join the faculty of LIU in the mid-1960s. She received her principal dance training at the Martha Graham School of Contemporary Dance, where she had opportunities to study with the world-renowned choreographer herself, along with Bertram Ross, Mary Hinkson, Yuriko, Ethel Winter and other members of the Graham Company. For over forty years, Professor Stuart has taught classes in Dance History and Composition for students at LIU's Brooklyn campus as well as at Brooklyn College and the Woodward Elementary School. The original dance works she choreographed and set on LIU students, including Dances on the Mall (1969), Celebration (1972), Every Which Way (1992), Bedtime Stories (1993), In Saturn's House (1993), The Calm Before (1994) and While Pondering Piet (1996) have provided students with an opportunity to embody through movement the complex concepts discussed in the classroom. In addition to her work in the classroom, Professor Stuart has been a tireless advocate for the dance community in New York City. She served as a dance reviewer for The Phoenix and The Villager, and helped cultivate the next generation of dance artists as an adjudicator for the Brooklyn Arts Council, Brooklyn Arts and Cultural Association, American College Dance Festival Northeast Regional Conference, Brooklyn Dance Consortium Invitation Concert, and most recently at the AWARDS show at the Joyce SoHo. Professor Stuart earned both a B.A. in Dance and an M.F.A. in Theater from Brooklyn College.
Nathan Trice (Modern) is the Artistic Director/Founder of nathantrice/RITUALS based in New York City. The group was established in 1998 and consists of a nucleus of eclectic artists with diverse backgrounds of expression. Professor Trice began his training in 1989 under the strict direction of Aulani Chun at Mesa College in San Diego, California. While studying, he simultaneously completed his remaining two years of a four and a half year contract with the U. S. Military Naval Service. He was then accepted into the Alvin Ailey American Dancer Center two year certificate program where he took the opportunity to build as an individual, a dancer, and a choreographer. Professor Trice went on to dance with MOMIX Dance Co., Complexions, Joseph Holmes Chicago Dance Theater, Donald Byrd/The Group and now with his own company, nathantrice/RITUALS. Today he regularly choreographs and teaches nationally and internationally for an array of venues including Hollins University, Spelman College, Bermuda Dance Company, 1995 Cultural Olympic Gay Games, Tennessee State University, Ailey Fordham/BFA Program, LaGuardia High School of the Performing Arts, Deeply Rooted, The New School for Social Research, Meredith College, American College Dance Festival Association, American Dance Festival, The Kennedy Center, Dallas Black Dance Co., Subtle Changes Inc., Ailey II, The Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art, Lincoln Center Out-Of-Doors 1999, Judson Memorial Church, and Jacobs Pillow.
Donna Uchizono (Choreography/Composition) was hailed by Ms. Magazine's end of the century issue as "a choreographer making great leaps forward into the 21st century." She is the Artistic Director of Donna Uchizono Company, a New York-based company established in 1990. Since her choreographic debut in 1988, Professor Uchizono rapidly emerged from the "downtown scene" as a choreographer known for her spicy movement, wit and rich invention. In addition to being a Guggenheim Fellow and a "Bessie" award winner, Professor Uchizono has been recognized by many awards, most recently with a 2005 Alpert Award in Dance. Her work has been supported by the Rockefeller MAP Fund, the National Dance Project, the National Endowment for the Arts, three New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowships, the New York State Council on the Arts, Creative Capital Foundation, Altria Group, Inc., the Jerome Foundation, the Dance Magazine Seed Grant, the Joyce Mertz-Gilmore Foundation, Arts International, Metropolitan Life Foundation/ADF Commission, the National Performance Network, the Suitcase Fund, the Harkness Foundation for Dance, the Mary Flagler Cary Charitable Trust, the Greenwall Foundation, Meet the Composer, and the Bossak Heilbron Charitable Foundation.. Uchizono recently created a new work for Mikhail Baryshnikov, commissioned by the Baryshnikov Dance Foundation. Her project, Low, a collaboration with composer Guy Yarden, earned "Bessies" (New York Dance and Performance Award) for both artists. Since 1980, Professor Uchizono has regularly taught workshops and classes throughout the U.S., Europe, and South America.