Presenters

Alexis del Sol holds an MFA in Dance with a Graduate Interdisciplinary Specialization in Latino/a Studies from The Ohio State University. Her research explores identity, LatCrit theories, and Latino/a contributions to dance history, leading her to conduct autoethnographic research in Cuba that inspired acclaimed creative projects. She is a 200-Hour certified yoga teacher, currently completing her 500-Hour certification. Alexis serves as Assistant Professor of Theatre & Dance at Westchester Community College, where she recently earned the SUNY DEISJ Curriculum Development Certificate. This training informs her proposed course, DEISJ in Performing Arts, and the creation of Lighthouse Yoga Collective, an online platform centering marginalized voices and using yoga as a tool for social justice. She recognizes the resilience required for dancers to sustain a career and draws on yoga and DEISJ practices to cultivate the soft skills—self-awareness, empathy, adaptability—that support long, healthy, and impactful artistic lives. Blending scholarship, artistry, and activism, Alexis is dedicated to creating inclusive spaces that empower diverse communities to thrive through dance and yoga.

Anne Burnidge (MFA, CLMA, RSME) is an Associate Professor at SUNY Buffalo, where she serves as Director of Dance. Burnidge is a dancer, dance-maker, educator and mind-body coach. She has choreographed over 20 dances presented nationally and internationally from NYC and Chicago to Mexico and Taiwan. She has performed works by luminaries Bebe Miller, Meredith Monk, Jacques D’Amboise and Maguy Marin. Her choreography often explores the intersections of dance and science, including her upcoming project "(un)Settling Place," investigating the impacts of noise pollution on the oyster lifecycle.  Burnidge’s research combines somatics and dance science with trauma informed pedagogies to develop healthy, holistic dance education and training methodologies. Her teaching focuses on educating the whole person, specializing in somatic-based contemporary dance and ballet technique, dance making, and Movement Analysis.  She is proud be a member of the Dance Science and Somatics Educators organizing board since 2009 and to have served on the ACDA board of directors. She was the inaugural recipient of the NDEO Top Paper Citation for "Somatics in the Dance Studio: Embodying Feminist/Democratic Pedagogy," published by JODE. She regularly presents her research at IADMS, DSSE, ISMETA, DSA, and NDEO.

Aria Roach is a dance artist, educator, and producer based in Brooklyn. She spent three years teaching in NYC public elementary schools as a Teaching Artist for National Dance Institute (NDI), and now holds the role of Manager of the NDI Collaborative for Teaching & Learning. She is also a Teaching Artist for Mark Morris Dance Group’s Student Company program. Previously, Aria served as Associate Producer at Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, Company Manager for the nationally-touring Lindy Hop show SW!NG OUT, and General Manager for Caleb Teicher & Company. Aria has performed with Daniel Gwirtzman Dance Company, Mystical Feet Company, Eva Dean Dance, The Moving Architects, Hallie Chametzky, Stephanie Saywell, and Zoe Walders. She holds a BFA in Dance & Choreography from Virginia Commonwealth University’s School of the Arts (VCUarts), a Master Composter Certificate from NYC Compost Project, and a 200-hour Yoga Teacher Certification from The Shala.

Cadence Panol is an aspiring choreographer and multimedia artist. She is a senior Individualized Studies Major at the State University of New York (SUNY) at Geneseo minoring in Dance, studying how to produce and communicate meaning using different mediums of art. Her choreography has been featured in A Play in 5 Betties (2024), the Orchesis Dance Club Showcase (Spring 2023 & 2025, Fall 2023), and the Original Xpressions Showcase (Spring 2024 & 2025). She is currently creating a piece for the Dance Department’s fall show, Threading in Motion, and produces short dance films and freelance murals in her spare time. She is the recipient of the Bertha V. B. Lederer Scholarship in Dance (2025), Hubert and Gertrude Chanler Scholarships in the Arts (2024), Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship (2024), and Edgar Fellows Honors Annual Scholarship (2022–present), among others. Her focus in research is how dance today reflects a nation’s sociopolitical and historic culture. Cadence has conducted research on Spanish flamenco dance previously (2023), and hopes to continue traveling and studying dance globally. She hopes to expand her global perspective and use her platform in academia to highlight the importance of multiculturalism and mutual understanding of dance across genres.

Charity is a dance educator, performer, choreographer, and dancer from Nigeria, and a third-year MFA Dance candidate at the University at Buffalo with a concentration in African dances, Afro house, African jazz, and contemporary dance. She holds a BA in Theatre Arts from the University of Ibadan, Nigeria, majoring in Dance and Acting with a minor in Speech and Rhetorical Arts. She has performed in Danscore (2023) and the Sankofa Dance Festival (2024) organized by SUNY Brockport, and was an invited guest for their Dance Awareness Days in 2025. At UB, she co-choreographed Black Tales for the MFA Showcase (2023, Fall) and performed as musician, vocalist, and dancer for the 49th and 50th Zodiaque Dance Company (Fall), later choreographing for the 50th Spring edition. She was Graduate Assistant for the 2024 Emerging Choreographers Showcase (Fall), also as choreographer. Her credits include dance captain in an opera with Sotte Voce Company (ch. Kerry Ring), African dance teacher with Peace of The City, and performer with Urban Bush Women. She has featured in MFA thesis concerts as dancer and storyteller, and served as Research, Graduate, and Teaching Assistant. Charity seeks to share her knowledge and culture while building community through dance, theatre, and performance!

Clara Ossandón Melo (she/her) is a dance and psychology major at Adelphi University, originally from Santiago, Chile. Her journey with dance began in 2012 at Movimiento Moderno (MoMo), where she developed her passion and foundation as a dancer. Since then, Clara has pursued both artistic and academic paths that reflect her deep commitment to the intersections of dance and social impact. Most recently, Clara served as a School Programs Intern at Jacob’s Pillow (Summer 2025), where she supported the coordination and implementation of five professional development intensives with international Artist Faculty and dancers. Clara is also an emerging scholar of the Bhisé Global Learning Experience, through which she had the opportunity to travel to India to conduct research. She was recently awarded a grant to continue this research in Japan in January 2026, further expanding her exploration of dance and its relation to women’s empowerment. Clara’s work is grounded in a passion for feminism, global issues, and cross-cultural dialogue. As she enters her final year at Adelphi, she remains committed to using dance and community work as tools for education, healing, and meaningful social change.

Colleen Pictor-Sall, a native of Rochester, NY, is the founding dance and movement teacher for the Genesee Community Charter School - Flour City Campus. She holds both a NYS K-12 dance certification and a childhood grades 1-6 certification. Previously, Colleen created the 3K-5 dance program at PS 175 in central Harlem. During her tenure at PS 175, she was a Big Apple Award finalist and a presenter for the Manhattan Borough Arts Festival. Colleen is part of the inaugural cohort for the Lincoln Center Scholars program and received her MA in Dance Education from Hunter College. She graduated summa cum laude with a BFA in Dance from Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University. Colleen is the founder and artistic director of the Pic PAC (the Pictor Performing Arts Company) and has presented her work at WAXworks, Your Move Dance Festival, The Tank, the Astoria Dance Festival, Legros Cultural Arts’ Women in Dance Summer Showcase, and The Hatch presenting series. She has also presented her work multiple times at The Rochester Fringe Festival in upstate New York. She is the recipient of the Margery Turner Choreography Award as well as the Colonel Henry Rutgers Research Scholar Award, and has performed the work of Garth Fagan, Mark Morris, Inbal Pinto, Keith Thompson, Jennifer Muller, and Stuart Loungway, among others.

Daria Fitzgerald (M.A., Dance Education, NYU; NYS Professional Dance Teacher Certification) is the Associate Director of Early Childhood Dance at the Harkness Dance Center, 92NY. She leads the Center’s initiative to expand early childhood dance programs across the organization and beyond. A DEL Lab School recipient for her teaching in the Nursery School, Daria also serves as Assistant Director of Kids Do Dance at The Yard, where she teaches each summer. She has taught children’s dance in NYC public schools, the Penn Family Early Childhood Center, the JCC, and numerous community and arts organizations. Her curriculum has been published through DEL, the NYC DOE, and The Yard. She has presented professional development with NDEO, Dancing Classrooms, and the Lawrence Arts Center, and guest lectured at NYU Steinhardt. She served on NDEO’s Board of Directors and Development Committee. In graduate school, she founded the Steinhardt Dance Education Association, received the Steinhardt Music and Performing Arts Professions Award, and twice earned the NYSDEA Graduate Student Award. Daria has traveled to Uganda three times to collaborate with teachers and served as Associate Director of the Arnhold NYU Steinhardt Global Visiting Scholar Workshop when Ugandan scholars visited the U.S.

Ohioan DeAngelo Blanchard is a dance artist and educator and currently serves as an Assistant Professor of Professional Practice in Dance & Dance Education at Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University. He holds both a MSEd in Educational Leadership & a MA in Dance Education from Hunter College as a Lincoln Center Scholar. In 2015, he founded the dance program at Bronxdale High School in the Bronx, NY. Blanchard trained pre-professionally at BalletMet Dance Academy, with the Thiossane (CHA-San) West African Dance Institute and continued his training at The Ohio State University, receiving a BFA in Dance and a minor in Exercise Science. He also trained at the American Dance Festival, Henny Jurriëns (yur-REE-ins) Studios, The Ailey School and ImPulsTanz. Blanchard has performed works by Bill T. Jones, John Jasperse Projects, Earl Mosley, Brooklyn Academy of Music’s Dance Africa, and has toured nationally and internationally. He continues to fight for equity and access through arts for all children of color!

Diane Tomasi (they & she) is a queer and gender queer aerialist, dancer, performer, educator, and doctoral student. Diane is in the Dance Ed. program and is the Program Associate in the Arts Administration program at Teachers College. Diane received an MA in Nonprofit Management from Antioch University (2023) and a BA (Hons) in Performing Arts Dance from Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts (2005). Diane also has certificates in the Simonson Method of Teacher Training (2013), Thai Massage Adv. Studies Sen Theory & Application (2010), and Thai Massage Basic Studies Level I & II (2009). Diane has been performing in and around New York City since 2005, teaching tumbling and contemporary dance since 2001, and aerial arts, primarily aerial silks, since 2014. At BAX|Brooklyn Arts Exchange, Diane is the Director of AcroBAX and a tumbling and contemporary dance instructor. Diane created and built the aerial program at Brooklyn Ninja Academy and teaches both adult and child classes. Diane is also a co-founder of This Body, a community of artists who work together to advocate and change the 'starving artist' concept around creating art. www.dianetomasi.com www.thisbodylives.com.

As Director of Ailey Arts In Education & Community Programs, Dr. Rachel McCaulsky leads the expansion of AILEY’s educational initiatives across New York City and nationwide. With a strong background in both education and dance, she is committed to fostering creative and inclusive learning environments. Prior to returning to AILEY, she served for eleven years in New York City Public Schools, including as Brooklyn South Borough Arts Director, supporting arts programs across 127 schools. She also held roles as assistant principal and arts coordinator in District 75 schools, leading curriculum development for diverse and multilingual learners. Her integrated arts units—blending dance with literacy, science, and social studies—were featured in the NYC Department of Education’s Blueprint for Teaching and Learning in Dance. Her professional dance career includes performing with Ailey II, Complexions Contemporary Ballet, Ballet Hispánico, Dallas Black Dance Theatre, Lula Washington Dance Theatre, Thomas/Ortiz Dance, and Dallas Theater Center’s The Wiz. She trained at Los Angeles County High School for the Arts and earned a BFA from the Ailey/Fordham Program, dual master’s degrees in education and special education, a master’s in educational leadership, and a doctorate in educational leadership.

Emily Meisner (she/her) began teaching and choreographing for National Dance Institute (NDI) in 2003 and was named the Director of the NDI Collaborative for Teaching & Learning in 2019. As Director of the Collaborative, Emily oversees NDI’s teacher training initiatives; she also leads intensive trainings and professional development workshops. She serves as a consultant to organizations across the country and around the world seeking to learn from the NDI Method. As a Teaching Artist, Emily has taught in diverse school communities throughout New York City, instructing more than 500 children each week in dance education. In 2004, Emily worked alongside NDI’s founder, Jacques d’Amboise, to create the early-childhood music and dance program Arts Encounter, which was instrumental to the development of NDI’s unique early childhood curriculum. In 2016, Emily directed NDI’s Event of the Year, Words with Wings: The Power of Poetry. Prior to joining NDI, Emily trained intensively and danced professionally with the Boston Ballet. She received her undergraduate degree in English Literature from Columbia University and went on to receive her Master’s in Education from Bank Street College. Emily is passionate about working with teachers and is dedicated to empowering them to grow both personally and professionally.

Hannah Park is an associate professor and director of dance program and assistant chair of Arts and Languages department at Iona University, NY, where she also serves as the artistic director of the residential dance ensemble. Her current research interests encompass dance and creative processes—the application of somatics in dance and social justice education, community engagement, and arts entrepreneurship education. She holds a PhD in dance education from Temple University, an MFA in dance performance and choreography from Tisch NYU, and a BFA in dance performance and choreography from the SUNY Purchase, and is a somatic practitioner certified in Laban Movement Analysis/Bartenieff Movement Fundamentals and Body Mind Dancing.

Heidi Miller (MFA) is Associate Director of Ailey Arts In Education & Community Programs, where she leads the development of the AileyDance for Active Aging program, supports special projects and professional learning initiatives, manages artist hiring, and oversees a portfolio of AileyDance Kids and AileyDance for Active Aging programs. She has taught extensively in K–12 public schools and higher education, including graduate-level dance integration at Hunter College School of Education. At Lincoln Center Institute, she recruited, trained, and led professional development for the visual and performing arts teaching faculty, and served as lead facilitator for national and international Consultancies and Educator Workshops. Audiences for these initiatives included artists, educators, administrators, and museum and performing arts leaders. As a consultant, she has evaluated programs for 92NY and NYC Public Schools, written curriculum for PBS LearningMedia, and led professional development for teaching artists and general educators through museums and arts-in-education organizations.

A proud Buffalonian, Marisa f. Ballaro is Founding Artistic Director of NYC-based Ballaro Dance. Passionate about creating sensory-rich dance experiences for new audiences and first-time movers, she prioritizes community-based, collaborative projects. Marisa holds an MFA in Dance from Montclair State University (2022), where she was the College of the Arts Convocation Speaker. She graduated summa cum laude from SUNY Brockport, and was recently honored with an Outstanding Service Award by the Alumni Association (2025). She taught at The Brearley School for 12 years and was recognized by the University of Chicago as an Outstanding Educator. Marisa is a certified level 1 Simonson Technique practitioner, completing training in Barcelona, Spain. Awarded a recurring Impact Grant from the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, she led nationwide community healing projects in 2024 and 2025. Her film "The Distance" won Best Choreography at the Experimental Dance & Music Film Festival; most recently, the evening-length work was presented by Green Space (Queens, NY). This fall, Marisa premiered "Goddess" at Dixon Place in collaboration with composer John Carroll; her first directed film, "Descent," screened at festivals in Detroit, Michigan and Ketchikan, Alaska. Always pushing creative innovation, she remains an active, lifelong learner—and an everlasting Buffalo Bills fan.

Mary Schnepf is Artistic Director of the Greater Niagara Ballet Company (GNBC) in Niagara Falls, NY, and an Assistant Professor of Humanities at SUNY Erie Community College. She holds a B.S. in Theatre Design from Buffalo State College, an M.A.H. in Film & Performance, and an M.F.A. in Dance from the University at Buffalo. Mary’s professional experience includes performing ballet, contemporary and aerial dance with regional and national dance and theatre companies and participation in various intensive workshops and festivals. In her role at GNBC, she teaches dance technique, choreography, and performance, and helps guide repertoire planning, community partnerships, and audience outreach.

Michelle Iklé (MFA, RSMT/E, RYT 200) An Associate Professor in the Department of Dance and Movement Studies at Hobart and William Smith Colleges in Geneva, NY, Iklé specializes in somatic pedagogy, experiential anatomy, contemporary modern and jazz choreography, somatic practices, and performance. Passionate about jazz dance pedagogy, she has shared her historically rooted, somatic methodology and course design at national dance and somatic education venues for more than fifteen years. Iklé is also Co-Director at Eastwest Somatics Institute for Yoga, Dance, and Movement Studies and a Certification Instructor of Shin Somatics® Methods. She is dually registered with ISMETA as a Somatic Movement Therapist/Educator. Her current artistic interests include contemporary perspectives on jazz choreography, expressions of embodied memory, and place dances in the environment.

Sarah Johnson grew up with dance in her soul and exploring its beauty and language since the age of three. For the past 11 years, Sarah has been a member of the Rochester-based dance company Biodance, under the guidance of director Missy Pfohl Smith, as well as danced and taught with various dance studios from around Albany and Western New York, Hochstein School of Music and Dance, Dreamseeds Academy, and more. Sarah has performed with M*Shaka Fusion, Gus Giordano World Jazz Dance Congress, Sankofa Dance Ensemble, Western NY Dance Festival, Garth Fagan Dance School, Akoma N'toaso Dance Ensemble, Francis Hare and Friends, Rochester Fringe Festival and Fringe Festivals of various regions, Jamestown Dance Festival, Clarissa Street Reunion, Rochester’s Caribbean Festival, and Capoeira Com Expressao. Sarah received her BA and MA in dance education from SUNY Brockport with a pre K- 12 NYS dance education certification. Sarah currently teaches dance at GCCS, an arts integrated blue ribbon school. She has worked there for 22 years.

Whitney Jacobs is a dedicated dance educator, choreographer, physical education teacher, and athletic coach based in New Jersey. She earned a B.F.A. in Dance from Ohio University (2005) and an M.F.A. in Dance from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (2013). Jacobs’s performance career includes national and international tours with Azaguno, a contemporary West African dance company, as well as work with the Contemporary Dance Theater of Cincinnati and independent artists in NYC. Since 2007, her choreography has been presented at venues such as the 14th Street Y, Joyce Soho, and Triskelion Arts, among others. In 2010, she co-received the NYFA BUILD Stability grant and in 2016, she founded Jacobs Dance Collective, an organization creating vibrant contemporary dance works. With 18 years of experience teaching dance, physical education, and coaching soccer, Jacobs has worked at The Trevor Day School and The Brearley School in NYC. Currently, she is a full-time faculty member at Kent Place School in Summit, NJ, where she teaches dance and physical education to Primary School students (PreK-5). Jacobs’s teaching philosophy centers on fostering joy, creating inclusive spaces, and encouraging growth through creativity and collaboration, nurturing both artistic and personal development.