MEET THE FESTIVAL FACULTY
Michael Barriskill began his career as a child prodigy in classical ballet at the age of eight. He studied on scholarship at the School of American Ballet (SAB) in New York & made his Broadway debut at the age of 21as Mr. Mistoffelees in Cats. He performed as a soloist with the Houston Ballet with Rudolf Nureyev and the London Festival Ballet. He has an MFA in Choreography from Southern Methodist University and owns the Barriskill Dance Theatre School in Durham, North Carolina.
Maureen Berry graduated from Towson University with a BFA in Dance Performance; she is a former principal dancer with Footworks Percussive Dance Ensemble and is the Director of the Teelin Irish Dance Company based in Columbia, MD. has been awarded the 2009 Individual Artist Award for Baltimore City.
Sheena Black is a performing artist and choreographer from Baltimore whose dance training in Modern Dance and Dunham Technique began with Dr. Sherrill Berryman-Johnson of Howard University. She studied Dunham Technique in St. Louis, Missouri, under members of the original dance troupe & studied African elements of modern dance at the Escuela Nacional de Arte in Havana, Cuba, which is highly regarded for it's teaching of African folkloric traditions. She is the artistic director of Cultural Expressions Dance/Music/ Education Ensemble in Baltimore.
Zelda Darby has studied dance for 24 years and trained in Ballet, Jazz, Lyrical/Contemporary, Modern, and African dance, but Hip Hop has always been a natural for her. She has worked with artists such as T-Bone, Fantasia, Memphis Bleek, among others. Currently, she teaches at 24/7 Dance Studio in Frederick and Zelda Project C Dance Collective in Carroll County.
John Fracchia teaches in the School of Business at Ithaca College and serves as the Associate Director of Career Services. He has a Master’s degree in Business Administration from Binghamton University, a BS in Psychology, and a BA in Cinema. John is a film artist and composer whose work has been exhibited nationally. His lecture Pas de Deux: The Interrelationship Between Dance and the Avant-Garde Cinema will show how dance influenced early experimental cinema through such works as Norman McLaren's Pas de Deux and Maya Deren's work with Talley Beatty and ballet dancers.
Jeff Gatti trained extensively in tap, jazz, lyrical and ballet. Jeff has taught, choreographed, adjudicated and performed across North America and Europe. He was a cast member of A Few Good Men Dancinʼ at the New Victory Theatre in New York and its U.S. National Tour and toured with Dancing On Common Ground. He teaches and choreographs at Broadway Dance Center and performs with :pushing progress: a company.
Megan Morse Jans earned a BFA in Dance Performance at Kent State University She has danced professionally for Ground Zero Dance Company, Tommy Parlon Dance Projects, Air Dance Bernasconi, and BosmaDance. She practices Vinyasa Yoga and has completed her teacher training with Shiva Rae affiliate Maria Garre. She is on the faculty at Anne Arundel Community College, teaching Introduction to Dance and Jazz Dance Technique. Megan is the Artistic Director of DragonFly Dance Experiment.
Rhodie Jorgenson received her training at the School of American Ballet & the American Ballet Theatre School and is on the faculty of the Maryland Youth Ballet. She danced with ABT for 7 years, Metropolitan Opera Ballet, Radio City Music Hall Ballet Co., in summer stock musicals, and on stage, TV, and in movies. She is the children’s ballet mistress for the Joffrey Ballet’s Nutcracker at the Kennedy Center and has successfully coached gold & silver medal winners at International Ballet Competition in Varna, Bulgaria, and Jackson, Mississippi.
Nancy Kane has been called a “leader and trendsetter” in dance education by Dance Teacher magazine. She holds degrees in dance and dance education from New York University (Ph.D, Teaching Fellow), the Laban Centre for Movement & Dance in London (M.A.), and the University of Colorado at Boulder (B.F.A., Phi Beta Kappa). In addition to teaching stage combat, tap, and jazz in the American Musical Theatre program at SUNY Cortland, Dr. Kane is currently President of the National Dance Association.
Calen Kurka started his training in Jazz, Tap, Ballet, Musical Theatre, Modern, and Chinese Dance. Currently on faculty at Broadway Dance Center in New York City, Calen has also taught across Canada, the U.S., and Japan. He is a Master Faculty member for Dance Masters of America and is on faculty of Dance Educators of America. His choreography has been recognized as outstanding at many competitions throughout the U.S. and Canada. In addition to teaching in and around New York, he’s also assistant to choreographer/director/instructor, Michele Assaf. He’s also the founder, director and choreographer of :pushing progress, a contemporary dance and workshop company dedicated to pushing the limits of movement, creativity, and one’s art form.
Elliot Pack has been a practicing physician for 30 years and has been dancing for most of that time. Dr. Pack studied with M’liss Dorrance, Jennifer Potts, and Carol Richard in Chapel Hill and danced for several years with the Chapel Hill Ballet Company. He studied Flamenco dance under the direction of Carlota Santana, the artistic director and founder of New York City’s renowned “Flamenco Vivo” as well as with Sharon Bryant of Cai Flamenco. He has brought his interest in dance kinesiology and flow psychology into the ballet classroom and now teaches at Barriskill Dance Theatre School in Durham, North Carolina.
Tresa Randall is a dancer, educator, and scholar. A professor at Ohio University, Dr. Randall teaches dance technique, composition, dance history, yoga, and pedagogy. She danced with the Bill Evans Contemporary Dance Company, Mark DeGarmo and Dancers, Robert Stivers Dance, the Santa Fe Opera, Rochester City Ballet, and was part of the dancer/choreographers’ collaborative Dancing One Soul in Santa Fe, New Mexico, for four years. She has performed in reconstructions of historic works by Doris Humphrey, May O’Donnell, and José Limón. Dr. Randall earned her PhD from Temple University.
Katherine Richardson earned a BFA in Modern Dance Performance and the award for Outstanding Performance in Modern Dance from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia. She is the Artistic Director of kerPlunk and dances for TruthDance and Kelley Donovan and Dancers in New York City.
Amanda Showell started dancing ballet and tap at 6 years old; by the age of 9 she knew ballroom dancing would be her life path. A former U.S. Amateur Junior Pro-am Champion in both International Latin & Standard, Ohio Star Ball ( aired on PBS ) Ladies Pro-Am Adult Standard Champion, and U.S. National Grand Finalist in International Standard, Latin and American Smooth (undefeated in the International Standard for over a year), she has been teaching for 13 years. A former coach of the University of Delaware & Princeton University Dance Teams, she is currently the owner of Dancing on the Shore, based in Easton, MD.
John Stapleton has been involved in theater since the age of 12, when he performed in a production of Gilbert and Sullivan's The Gondoliers. He studied tap, modern, jazz, and ballet and has performed with New England based Northern Ballet Theatre and Georgia's Augusta Ballet. John was a founding member and member of the board of directors of the street performing group, Behind the Masque. He is on the faculty of Howard County Ballet and Project C Dance Collective and Artistic Director of TheatreWerks.