Peter Apfelbaum  (Music for Dance ) Professional saxophonist, pianist, drummer/percussionist, and composer, Peter Has been teaching music and music for dance throughout colleges and jazz camps the United States since 1981.  He’s been commissioned to create scores in the U.S. and Germany by such prestigious groups including Kronos Quartet, San Francisco Jazz Festival and Donaueschingen Music Festival in Germany.  Most recently he won the Julius Hemphill Composition Award as part of the Jazz Composers Alliance. 

Clare Byrne  (Modern Technique)has been creating dance in New York for the past seven years.  Her company, Clare Byrne Dance, has performed at the Joyce SoHo, the New York International Fringe Festival, The Brooklyn Arts Exchange, Danspace Project's Food For Thought Series, P.S. 122's Avantgardarama, The Flea Theater, and Dixon Place, among others.  Outside of New York, she has shown her work at Connecticut College, Muhlenberg College, Roger Williams University, Merriewold Park, The Yard on Martha's Vineyard, and the Wagon Train Project in Lincoln, Nebraska. Clare has taught at Dance Space, Inc., and Soundance Repertory in New York, as well as the Bridgeport Regional Center for the Arts and The Yard, where she spent three summers as a dancer-in-residence, and where she was a choregrapher in the 2000 Bessie Schoenberg Residency.  Clare was on faculty for the 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. Most recently she has taught at Muhlenberg College and Manhattanville College.  She is a member of nicholasleichterdance, and has danced in the video work of Vickie Mendoza and Amy Larimer. 

Jeff Fontaine   (Technical Theater, Lighting Designer) has been designing lighting in NYC, the U.S., and abroad for over 18 years.  His work can be seen lighting the current tours of The American Tap Dance Orchestra, the Vortex Theatre Co., the Eiko & Koma Dance Company and in the long running off-Broadway play "Perfect Crime."  He is the resident Lighting Designer for the Amy Sue Rosen Dance Company, The New York City Chinese Folk Dance Company and Ka-Tap.  He has designed lighting for The American Ballet Theatre II, The Adapters, YanceyDance Theatre, The  Garden State Ballet and the New York City Tap Works. 

            Jeff received an MFA in lighting from the University of Wisconsin at Madison in 1981, was resident LD at Dance Theatre Workshop "84-86 and is currently the program designer for Water Fountain Software's "LightsUp" computer lighting design program.  He has been the LD and renovation director of the Triangle Theater since 1998 and will be teaching Tech Theater in the fall.

Elizabeth Goheen  (Ballet) has been a valued teacher in the New York dance community since 1995, and has trained students and professional dancers at SOUNDANCE STUDIO, Perry Dance 11, the Bates Dance Festival in Lewiston, Maine, Dance Space Center in NYC, as well as currently at the Alvin Ailey American Dance Center and LIU. 

Noel Nantambu Hall   (Dance Appreciation and History, Dance Administrator) dancer, dance educator, choreographer, poet, painter and lover of life, began his career in the arts at age 5 in the West Indies singing on the radio.  A native of Jamaica, he was a former student of Ivy Baxter, Rex Nettleford, the University of the W.I., Martha Graham, Lavinia Williams, and the Dance Theater of Harlem.  He has performed and taught throughout the world, and in NY at Lincoln Center, Symphony Space and The Apollo Theater.  A graduate of Empire State College and New York University, Mr. Hall is currently an Adjunct Associate Professor of Dance at L.I.U. where he is also the Assistant Director of Afternoons at LIU and co-director of the African Diaspora Project at LIU. 

Dana Hash-Campbell, full-time member of the LIU Dance Department faculty, 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.

 Kim Jones (Graham Technique)has been a member of the Martha Graham Dance Company since 2002. She has performed with the Metropolitan Opera Ballet, H.T.Chen and Dancers, Santa Barbara Dance Theater and Access Theater in Santa Barbara, California. She has both taught and choreographed for the Joffrey Midwest Workshop. In London, U.K., Ms. Jones has taught at Millenium Dance 2000 where she also reconstructed and restaged Martha Graham’s “Secular Games.” She has also taught at Middlesex University and the Laban Centre in London, U.K

Mary Pat Klein (Aerobics, Body Training) is an associate professor with the Dance Department of Long Island University and a member of the Town Sports International/New York Sports Club team.
Mary Pat began her career as a dancer/choreographer. She completed two BA's from Penn State University in Art History and Dance and her MFA from Temple University. She performed wit Dance Conduit of Philadelphia and spent four years with The Utah Shakespearean Festival as their assistant choreographer and as a dance/performer. She has taught modern, jazz and ballet in New York, Philadelphia, Denver and Los Angeles.As well as teaching dance, in 1985 she began teaching aerobics. In 1992 she added personal training to her repertoire. She is currently certified by The American College Of Sports Medicine (ACSM) and Aerobics and Fitness Association of America (AFAA). A strong advocate of safety and form, she loves to teach her students and clients about body awareness and the power we all 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.

Nicholas Leichter (technique and repertory) received a BA in dance from Connecticut College where he studied with Jacylnn Villamil and Martha Myers. He was a member of Ralph Lemon Company from 1993 – 1995, and has performed with the companies of Jennifer Muller, Ronald K. Brown, Amy Pivar, and Gus Solomons jr. He has taught at schools and studios throughout the United States and at festivals in Belgium, Russia, Taiwan, and Korea, and he has been on faculty at Tisch School of the Arts and the American Dance Festival (ADF). His work had been commissioned by numerous entities, including Virginia Commonwealth University, Connecticut College, Pomona College, University of Iowa, Celebrate Brooklyn, In the Company of Men and the 92nd Street Y Harkness Dance Project. In recognition of his unique approach to contemporary dance performance, he has received financial support from TIAA-CREF (1998), The Harkness Foundation for Dance (1998), New York Foundation for the Arts (1999 BUILD Grant and 2000 Choreography Fellowship), The Jerome Foundation (1999, 2001-2002), The Greenwall Foundation (2000, 2002), The 92nd Street Y New Works in Dance Fund (2002, 2004), Pentacle’s HelpDesk (2000), Dance/USA and the NEA as part of the National College Choreographic Initiative (2001), NYSCA (2004) and Joyce SoHo (2003-2004 residency). Leichter has been artist-in-residence/guest artist at many colleges, universities, and schools, including Sarah Lawrence College; University of Richmond; George Washington University; University of Houston (as part of the National College Choreographic Initiative of Dance/USA and the NEA); Oberlin College, OH; Adage School for the Performing Arts in Modesto, CA; Pomona College, PA; Muhlenberg College, PA; Velocity Dance Center in Seattle; and Hollins University, VA. Nicholas was on faculty at the ADF from 1998-2000 and again in '03 and '04. In addition, Mr. Leichter has conducted workshops at Festivals and dance centers in Belgium, Taiwan, Montreal, Korea and most recently Moscow.

Ted L. Levy  (Tap Dance) began his training in Chicago at The Sammy Dyer School of The Theater.  He continued at Columbia College in Chicago and after a successful tour in the U.S. Navy, Ted returned to Chicago to begin building a professional career in regional theatre.  Ted’s professional career included an Emmy Award for his performance in the PBS special “Precious Memories,” Broadway’s “Black and Blue” and “Jelly’s Last Jam,”  the latter on which he collaborated with the late Gregory Hines, receiving the 1993 Outer Critics Circle Award and the Antoinette Perry and Drama Desk Nominations for Choreography.    “Ted Levy and Friends” was created around Mr. Levy’s work and directed by Gregory Hines and Ted’s own directorial debut occurred at the New York Shakespeare Festival’s Delacorte Theater in Central Park directing “Doing it in the Park” starring Savion Glover.  He’s served as the Artistic Director of The Sammy Dyer School of the Theater, Assistant to the Choreographer for the ABC special “Savion Glover’s Nu York,” performed in the Showtime presentation on the life of the legendary Bill ‘Bojangles’ Robinson and appeared in Susan Stroman and Harry Conick Jr’s Broadway production of ‘Thou Shalt Not.”

 Elizabeth McPherson (Dance Pedagogy) holds a BFA from Juilliard, an MA from The City College of New York, and is a PhD candidate in Dance Education at New York University. She has been the dance and movement teacher at an independent elementary school for 6 years, developing her own teaching method and establishing a curriculum for the school. In higher education, Ms. McPherson has taught at Long Island University, the City College of New york, and New York University. She has performed with Avodah Dance Ensemble, The Louis Johnson Dance Theatre Company, and Ernesta Corvino's Dance Circle Company.

Kwame Ross (Dance of the African Diaspora and Music for Dance), founder and Artistic Director of Prophecy Dance Company and former Associate Artistic Director of Urban Bush Women. He has studied several African Diaspora dance forms (Caribbean, Western and Central African) since the age of nine. His choreographic works encompass productions with Children of Dahomey; Ballet Hispanico; S.D.R. Films; and Sylvia Del Villard Dance Company National Song and Dance Company of Mozambique, Urban Bush Women, and The Ailey School. For the past three consecutive years, Mr. Ross was commissioned by Florida AM University to choreograph a work on Orchesis Dance Company. Mr. Ross was recently commissioned to set a piece on the Kumbuka Dance and Drum Collective, as well as Tulane University in New Orleans, LA. He is also a recipient of the Jerome Foundation grant, the Puffin Foundation grant, and the 92nd Street "Y" Harkness Space grant over the past 3 years, for the continual support of his work. Mr. Ross’ is currently faculty member at Lincoln Center Institute and Associate Professor at Long Island University. Mr. Ross worked in collaboration with the National Dance Company of Mozambique, Urban Bush Women, and Lincoln Center Institute in the critical acclaim creation of a young audience work called "Shadows Child". In the fall of 2003, Mr. Ross received a National Endowment of the Arts grant for "Artist in Residence" at the Cairo Opera House Dance Theater and the Cairo School of Modern Dance in Cairo, Egypt. In Summer Kwame will embark on a research trip to Salvador Bahia, Brazil where he will study the Orisha Dances of Candomble and work with Ile Aiye.

Deirdre Smith (Yoga) combines a professional dance career with a genuine love for working with people in the movement classes she teaches. She teaches Yoga in the Dance Department and modern dance and improvisation to the high school students in the LIU Saturday High School Dance Workshop. Every summer Deirdre is the director of the dance program for the North Carolina Governor's School West, a summer program for advanced placement high school students interested in furthering their understanding of 20th century ideas and theories. Last fall she spent 4 months in India practicing yoga and performing contemporary dance. 

Judith Stuart founder of the L.I.U. Brooklyn Campus Dance Department, has been the chair since its inception in 1991.  Since 1989, she has been producing Afternoons at LIU, an informal concert series which presents various dance and theater artists to the campus and community.  She has served as dance columnist for the Brooklyn Phoenix, and has had reviews and articles published in the Villager.  She has established special events on campus based in the African Diaspora and has expanded that program to include the Asian Diaspora.  This underscores her interest in cross-cultural, cross-disciplinary studies. 

Colleen Thomas began her education at SUNY Purchase and graduated with honors from SUNY Empire State College where she received a BA in Psychology. She received an MFA in dance from the University of Wisconsin in Milwaukee. Since moving to New York 16 years ago, she has danced with the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company, Bebe Miller Company, Nina Weiner Dance Company, Donald Byrd/The Group, the Kevin Wynn Collection, and Sung Su Ahn among others. She currently choreographs with her partner Bill Young, and is the assistant director to Bill Young and Dancers. Her choreography has been seen in Russia, Slovakia, Hong Kong, Estonia, Taiwan, Portugal, Brazil, Venezuela and in the USA at Joyce SoHo, Kaye Playhouse, The Puffin Room, HUNDRED GRAND, Dance Space Center, Meredith College in Raleigh NC, California State University Long Beach, East Carolina University and the University of Wisconsin among others. She is an adjunct Professor at Barnard College of Columbia University and Long Island University’s Brooklyn campus. She is also a guest artist at DanceSpace Center and Movement Research.

Nathan Trice   (Modern Technique)is the founder/artistic director of RITUALS Productions based in New York City.  Nathan Trice has danced, taught and choreographed for the last 10 years and has produced 6 seasons in New York City since 1996.  Since then he has choreographed over 20 works, produced, wrote and performed some of the original scores in his works and has written all text and lyrics performed in his productions.  His work has been presented in the U.S., South America, Japan, Europe, Puerto Rico and Bermuda.  He has choreographed for dance companies, singers, actors theatre companies, museums, church groups, arts programs for children at rish and has received numerous commissions. 

            In 1999 Trice decided to create a space where an eclectic group of artists could work and inspire each other.  This nucleus of multi-talented artists would range from costume/fashion designers, set/installation artists, sculptors, actors, singers, choreographers, writers and composers. The collaboration of these artists would create a (VAST) Visual, Audio, Sensory, Theater experience.  The space is now RITUALS/Productions. 

Donna Uchizono  Hailed by Ms. Magazine's end of the century issue as 'a choreographer making great leaps forward into the 21^st century, Donna Uchizono, the Artistic Director/Choreographer of Donna Uchizono Company, a New York-based company established in 1990, 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, Uchizono's work has been recognized and supported by many grants, most recently with her second New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship, a BUILD grant and a Chase Smarts Regrant.  A partial list of grants includes a Rockefeller Map Grant, BAX Artist-in-Residency, two NYFA Fellowships, two NEA Choreographer Fellowships, three Jerome Foundation grants, Dance Magazine Seed Grant, NYSCA commissions, Joyce Mertz-Gilmore Foundation, Arts International, Greenwall Foundation, Foundation for Contemporary Performance, Metropolitan Life Foundation/ADF Commission, NPN Commussion, Suitcase Fund, Harkness Foundation for Dance, Mary Flagler Cary Charitable Trust, Meet the Composer Choreographer Commission, among others. 

            Donna Uchizono has been presented throughout the United States, Europe and South America. Since 1980, she has regularly taught workshops and classes in the U.S., Europe, and South America.  She has participated in  festivals and teaching institutions in Spain, Switzerland, Denmark, France, Portugal, Belgium, Slovenia, Argentina and Romania.  In the U.S., Uchizono has been a guest choreographer at various universities, including Temple University, Barnard College and Bryn Mawr.  She has taught at Sarah Lawrence, Wesleyan University, California Institute of the Arts, UCLA, University of Minnesota and Temple University. 

Astrid von Ussar came to New York City from her native Slovenia in order to pursue dance. Since her arrival, her choreography has been presented throughout the United States and she’s become a faculty dance teacher at The Ailey School and Columbia University. Her company, VON USSAR/danceworks premiered at the Joyce Soho in April of 2002. In The New York Times, dance critic Jennifer Dunning hailed the show as “a power of clarity and charm… with lovableness and optimism grounded in big open movement.” (April 25, 2002). VON USSAR/danceworks was presented at the Jacob’s Pillow Festival in the summer of 2003. In addition, they were featured at the Collage Dance Festival in Denton, Texas in May 2003.
Two of von Ussar’s choreographies are part of the repertory of the Ailey Showcase Group. In addition, she has had her choreography in concerts sponsored by the Ailey School; The Remember Project/DRA 2001, 2002 and 2003; Houston Metropolitan Dance Company; the Rivertown Arts Council Dance Festival; Earl Mosley's "Diversity of Dance"; d.u.m.b.o. Dance Festival; and SWEAT Dance Series, among others.
After teaching throughout Europe, von Ussar has developed into a successful dance teacher in New York City, teaching Horton and Jazz. Currently, she is a faculty member at The Ailey School, Columbia University, and frequently guest teaches at Dance Space Center and Peridance. Previously, von Ussar has taught at Ballet Hispanico, The Koslov Ballet Academy, Hudson Repertory Dance Theater, and held workshops at several schools in the Tri-State area.
Von Ussar is also the co-founder and artistic director of EVON ARTS, a non-profit arts organization with the purpose of initiating events for the emerging artist. One of Evon Arts’ chief aims is the COMING TOGETHER Dance Showcases. COMING TOGETHER now has two shows annually, and was featured in an article in the June 2000 issue of Dance Spirit Magazine
Von Ussar graduated with a Masters in Dance/Dance Education from Columbia University Teacher’s College. And, as a dance columnist, she is a frequent reviewer/correspondent for various dance periodicals.

Brooklyn Campus