Home
News
Events
Materials
Videos
Programs
Ensemble
Artist A-Z
Product A-Z
Orders/Bookings
Support
FAQ
About
Team
Contact
| Founders
Management Team
Extended Network
Partners
 CAROLYN ADAMS, Curator, is founding artistic director of the New York State Summer School of the Arts School of Dance and co-founder of the Harlem Dance Foundation.
She was a principal dancer with The Paul Taylor Dance Company from 1965-1982. A graduate of the Ethical Culture Schools and Sarah Lawrence College, she holds a Masters in Social Work from Fordham University. She has been on the faculty of The Juilliard School since 1983.
Carolyn has served on panels for the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York State Council on the Arts and the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts. She was a member of the Planning Committee for the 1996 National Assessment of Educational Progress' Arts Education Consensus Project and chaired Dance/USA's National Task Force on Dance Education. She is a board member of the National Museum of Dance and Hall of Fame.
Carolyn is co-author of American Education and The Arts: A Balancing of Visions for Cultural Transformation and co-editor of Dancing Through The Curriculum, a guide to dance videotapes curated by and for teachers to enrich the school curriculum. Her articles, "Part Real, Part Dream," and "Exploring Issues of Access, Education and Preservation Through The Prism of Dance" (both with Julie Strandberg), were published by Arts Education Policy Review in 2000. She is co-curator of the Dancing RebelsTM exhibit on the New Dance Group, which was displayed at the National Museum of Dance and Hall of Fame in Saratoga Springs, New York from June 2005-March 2007. Carolyn is included in Who's Who in America.
She is married to former Paul Taylor dancer Robert Kahn, a computer graphics consultant and educator, and president of Fantasy Fare Caterers. They have two children, Sandra and Vitali. The Kahns live in New York City.
JULIE ADAMS STRANDBERG, Artistic Director, is founding director of dance at Brown University, and associate artistic director of the New York State Summer School of the Arts School of Dance. In 1971 she co-founded The Rhode Island Dance Repertory Company and was its artistic director until 1978. In 1999, dancers from the company reunited and created Arabella Project to explore what "mature" dancers have to offer.
Julie has directed extensively for college, community, and professional theater, and has designed and coordinated programs for youth. She has also collaborated with scientists and artists in other disciplines to create many works for traditional theater as well as experimental spaces. She has studied with 20th century dance pioneers Alvin Ailey, Martha Graham, Melissa Hayden, José Limón, Donald McKayle, and Charles Weidman and is one degree of separation from George Balanchine, Katharine Dunham, Lester Horton, Doris Humphrey, Pearl Primus, Ruth St. Denis, and Ted Shawn.
In 1973, she co-founded The Harlem Dance Foundation with her parents, Julius J. and Olive A. Adams and her sister, Carolyn Adams and in 1974-1975, was the first dancer-in-residence for the Rhode Island State Council on the Arts. She has served on national boards and panels, including the Rhode Island State Council on the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts. She is listed in Who's Who in the East and the Directory of Distinguished Americans. She was honored by the city of Providence, R.I. as one of its 350 most distinguished citizens during the celebration of the city's 350th birthday. In 2002 she received a Dance Alliance of Rhode Island Legacy Award in recognition of innovation, generosity, wisdom and artistry; a Citizen Citation from the City of Providence for profound understanding of the importance of the arts and for ongoing efforts to promote standards of excellence in dance and dance education; and was named one the most influential artists in Rhode Island by The Providence Phoenix for preserving modern dance choreography. In 2006 she received a Masters Ad Eundem from Brown University.
With Carolyn Adams, she is co-author of American Education and The Arts: A Balancing of Visions for Cultural Transformation and co-editor of Dancing Through The Curriculum, a guide to dance videotapes curated by and for teachers to enrich the school curriculum. Her articles, "Part Real, Part Dream," and "Exploring Issues of Access, Education and Preservation Through The Prism of Dance" (both with Carolyn Adams), were published by Arts Education Policy Review in 2000. Julie is a graduate of the Ethical Culture Schools and has a B.A. from Cornell University and an M.S. from Bank Street College of Education.
Since 1965 she has been married to Josiah R. W. Strandberg, a computer programmer, who is a Captain, USNR (ret.) and holds a PhD. in Philosophy from Brown University. They live in Providence, Rhode Island and have two daughters, Laura Carolyn, a dancer, and Marie Elisabeth, a computer support engineer, a son-in-law William Nels Porter, thanks to Marie, and grandson's, Andrew Kenneth and Jackson Josiah, thanks to both of them.
 | LAURA BENNETT, Managing Director, loves to work on puzzles—whether making dances or formulating program schedules. Laura has been dancing since she was in her mother's womb and had her choreographic debut at age 11, when she got her gym teachers to give up their physical education periods for her to create a dance on her classmates. A native Rhode Islander and Brown University graduate, she has studied, performed, and taught the techniques and repertory of the pioneers of 20th century American concert dance. She enjoys her dynamic dance career combining teaching, performing, choreographing, and arts administration, both as an independent artist and as a member of dance organizations. Outside of dance, she is a devoted aunt, avid TiVo watcher, and sports fanatic. Laura learned much about living a creative life from her paternal grandmother, Harriet Bennett Strandberg (1914-1991), a painter who brought the spirit of the artist to everything she touched; the name Bennett was taken as a public tribute to a private legacy. |
 | MARISA F. BALLARO, Management Team Communications Director,Graduating summa cum laude from Brockport College (SUNY) in Dance and Interdisciplinary Arts for Children, Marisa f. Ballaro is a teacher, performer, choreographer and arts education consultant in New York
City. Marisa is a devoted fitness enthusiast with an interest in health and wellness. In 2007 she created a motor retention study to research mental imagery affects on physical practice and is working towards publication of her manuscript. In the city, she works as a teaching artist, is Vice Chair for the Youth Advisory Committee of Dance/NYC, serves as a lector for St. Vincent DeSales Roman Catholic
Church, and is on the Board of Directors for Brockport's Alumni Association. Marisa has presented her choreography in Connecticut, Rhode Island, across New York State; while in residence with Nova Dance Company; and on faculty at NYSSSA. As a member of Dancing Legacy, Marisa has recently completed residencies in Florida, Louisiana, New Jersey, New York and Texas while teaching, performing and documenting Repertory Etudes. For more information visit
marisaballaro.wordpress.com. |
 |
JUDE SANDY, Management Team Giving Director, began dancing at the old age of 26, under the tutelage of Julie Adams Strandberg at Brown University in 2002. Previously he had worked as a dance and theater critic in his native Trinidad and Tobago, and helped found Oakland School for Arts in California. At Brown University, he performed with the Dance Extension and in 2003 became a member of Dancing Legacy. With Dancing Legacy he has
performed numerous Repertory Etudes™ and has taught Eve Gentry's Tenant of The Street and Pearl Primus' "Bushasche Etude." Having graduated from Brown in 2005 with a bachelor of arts degree in Africana studies, he has appeared in various capacities as dancer, actor, and choreographer with Yin Mei Dance, Riedel Dance Theater, Pequeño Teatro De Danza, Trinity Repertory Company, Guerrilla Shakespeare Project and the Guthrie Theater. Jude is a 2009 graduate
of the master of fine arts acting program at the Brown
University/Trinity Rep Consortium and a giddy uncle to three magical nephews: Nicholas, Levi, and Gabriel. |
 | SARA SCHWABACHER, Management Team Development Director, has been a dancer her whole life. She has performed, taught and created dance education curricula with a variety of organizations including the Caravan Dance Collective in St. Paul, Minnesota, and the Harlem Dance Studio in New York City. Sara has worked for more than 25 years to improve educational opportunities for children and adults in diverse communities, through administration and
fundraising, program development and implementation, research and evaluation, and communication and advocacy. |
EXTENDED NETWORK
Ruth Andrien
Allan Borut
Amy Marie Burns
Mary Corey
Linda Diebold
Maura Fairbanks
Tom Farrell
Judi Fiore
Mary Cardillo Fortuna
Victoria Fortuna
Sita Frederick
Deborah Friedes
Kerry Gallagher
France Hunter
Robert L. Kahn
Susan Knight
Diane McGhee
Amy Montali
Mary Anne Santos Newhall
Deborah Obalil
Karen Pelczarski
Marie E. S. Porter
William Porter
Judi Stephenson
Josiah R. W. Strandberg
Tina Louise Vasquez
Rosanna Williams
PARTNERS
Brown University Dance Program
John Nicholas Brown Center for Public Humanities and Cultural Heritage
National Museum of Dance
New York State Summer School of the Arts
Skidmore College Dance Department
|
| |
