Dance Faculty

BA, Sarah Lawrence College, MFA, Vermont College, MFA, Warren Wilson College, MSW and MS, Hunter College. Board Certified Dance/Movement Therapist, (BC-DMT), Licensed Creative Arts Therapist, (LCAT), Licensed Clinical Social Worker, (LCSW-R). A former ballet dancer, Cathy trained at the American Ballet Theatre School and then with Leon Fokine as a trainee of the Harkness Ballet Company before performing with the Pennsylvania Ballet Company, where she had the opportunity to dance in ballets such as Sleeping Beauty and Symphony in C. She later attended Sarah Lawrence College, where she was introduced to modern dance and formed her own company. Cathy performed original work and in a reconstruction of Doris Humphrey's Day on Earth with Dance Junction and with her own company until the mid 80s. Influenced by work of Meredith Monk ’64 to explore interdisciplinary performance that resonates within the body as it reflects and interacts with the imaginal, external and archetypal world, she went on to study Body-Mind Centering and Authentic Movement. As part of her exploration of verbal and nonverbal expression, and to broaden her creative work, she earned MFAs in Writing from Vermont College and Warren Wilson College, culminating in her thesis, Recognizing the Dance. She has published poems in journals, textbooks and anthologies. As her focus shifted to the relationship between dance and healing, she pursued an MSW and an MS in dance/movement therapy from Hunter College. During her final social work internship year at the International Center for the Disabled (1991-1992), she was asked to start a creative arts psychotherapy program, which she ran as the Creative and Movement Arts Psychotherapy Program in the Behavioral Medicine Department at ICD for 20 years before leaving to return to Sarah Lawrence College in 2012 to start the College’s Dance/Movement Therapy Program.

Cathy was Senior Editor and author of two chapters in the Second Revised Edition (2005) of the dance therapy textbook, Dance Movement Therapy: A Healing Art (F. Levy Ed.). She was a member of the Credentials Committee for the American Dance Therapy Association (2007-2009) and of the Dance/Movement Therapy Certification Board (2009-2010). She was also co-editor of the American Journal of Dance Therapy (2003-2007), and serves on their Editorial Board (2007-present). SLC, 2009--

BM, University of Massachusetts. Certified yoga union instructor and Kinetic Awareness instructor. Has taught at the New School, Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian; workshops at New York University, The Kitchen, hospitals, and various schools and studios in New York and Greece. Dancer, choreographer, and maker of puppet theatre. Work shown at St Ann’s Warehouse in 2005 and 2006. SLC, 2000–

Composer and multi-instrumentalist; recognition and funding from NEA, The Samuel S. Fels Fund, New York State Council on the Arts, Harkness Foundation, NYU Humanities Council, NYU Service/Learning Fund; commissions include choreographers Anna Sokolow, Steve Paxton, Viola Farber, Milton Myers; work presented nationally and internationally with the New Danish Dance Theatre, TanzFabrik Berlin, Amsterdam Theatreschool, Cyprus Festival, Teatro San Martin, The Alvin Ailey School, Philadanco, Player’s Project, Dallas Black Theatre, Jacob’s Pillow, DTW, and others. Former accompanist and teacher of music for dancers at The Juilliard School, Marymount Manhattan College, José Limón School, Martha Graham School, New York University; current faculty at The Alvin Ailey School and Steps on Broadway; music director for the Young Dancemakers Company. SLC, 2003–

BA, Sarah Lawrence College. Designed lighting for Broadway, Off Broadway, regional theatre, dance, and opera in the United States and abroad. Broadway credits include Annie Get Your Gun, Jekyll & Hyde, The Heiress, Stephen Sondheim’s Passion, and The Elephant Man. Her lighting of Amadeus won a Tony award. She has worked at the John F. Kennedy Center, the Guthrie, Arena Stage, and the Children’s Theatre of Minneapolis. Off Broadway, she lit Vagina Monologues and worked for Joseph Chaikin and Meredith Monk; for Robert Wilson, Einstein on the Beach and The Civil Wars, Part V. Her designs for dance include works by Martha Graham, Trisha Brown, Alvin Ailey, and Merce Cunningham. She has been awarded seven Tony nominations, the 1976 Lumen award, 1984 and 1986 Bessies, a 1980 Obie for Distinguished Lighting, and several Maharam/American Theatre Wing design awards. SLC, 2011–

Royal Academy of Dancing, London. Institute of Choreology, London. Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing, Cecchetti Method. Previously on faculty of National Ballet School of Canada, Alvin Ailey School, New York University, and Finis Jhung Studio. Ballet mistress and teacher, Joffrey Ballet, New Orleans Ballet, and Chamber Ballet USA. Currently Feldenkrais practitioner at Feldenkrais Learning Center, New York City. SLC, 2000–

BFA, MFA, New York University, Tisch School of the Arts. Certified teacher of Alexander Technique; assistant to Irene Dowd; private movement education practice in New York City. Other teaching affiliations: Smith College, The Ailey School/Fordham University, Dance Ireland/IMDT, 92nd St. Y/Harkness Dance Center, SUNY Purchase (summer), Jacob’s Pillow. Performances in works by Patricia Hoffbauer and George Emilio Sanchez, Sara Rudner, Joyce S. Lim, David Gordon, Ann Carlson, Charles Moulton, Neo Labos, T.W.E.E.D., Tony Kushner, Paula Josa-Jones. Choreography presented by Dixon Place, The Field, PS 122, BACA Downtown (New York City); Big Range Dance Festival (Houston); Phantom Theater (Warren, Vermont); Proctor’s Theatre (Schenectady, 2008/09 Dangerous Music Commission). Grants: Meet the Composer, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, Harkness Dance Center. SLC, 1999–

BA, Sarah Lawrence College. Performances in New York at Dance Theater Workshop, PS 122, La MaMa E.T.C., Danspace, The Kitchen, St. Ann’s Warehouse, and at alternative presenters throughout the United States and the United Kingdom. Recipient of a Village Voice OBIE Award in 1990 for solo adaptation of Nathanael West’s A Cool Million and the 2000 New York Dance and Performance (“Bessie”) Award for Everyday Uses for Sight, Nos. 3 & 7; recipient of fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the New Hampshire State Council on the Arts, and a 2002-2003 Guggenheim fellowship and of grants from Creative Capital, the Rockefeller Foundation, the New York State Council on the Arts, the Mary Cary Flagler Charitable Trust, and the New England Foundation for the Arts. Recipient of the Alpert Award in the Arts for Theatre, 2004. Former teacher at Bowdoin, Bennington, Barnard, and Princeton. SLC, 1997–

BA, Empire State College (SUNY). Dancer with Doug Varone and Dancers, Pepatian, Elisa Monte Dance Company, Ballet Hispanico, and independent choreographers such as Sara Rudner and Joyce S. Lim. Recipient of the Outstanding Student Artist Award from the University of the Philippines Presidents’ Committee on Culture and the Arts. Taught at Alvin Ailey School; guest faculty member, 92nd Street Y, Marymount Manhattan College, Metropolitan Opera Ballet, New York University Tisch School of the Arts, Rutgers University Mason Gross School of the Performing Arts. Participant/teacher, 2004 Bates Festival-Young Dancers Workshop; solo works: Free Range Arts, Dixon Place, Brooklyn Arts Exchange, and Danspace Project/St. Mark’s Church. SLC, 2002–

BA, Barnard College. MFA, Bennington College. Dancer and choreographer; participated in the development and performance of Twyla Tharp’s modern dance repertory; founded and directed the Sara Rudner Performance Ensemble. Recent choreographic projects include Dancing-on-View, one of a series of dance marathons, and Heartbeat, a fusion of technology and dance. Currently a member of Ersaloly Mameraem, a dancers’ consortium. Past collaborations have included Mikhail Baryshnikov, Dana Reitz, and Christopher Janney. Choreographer for theatre and opera productions at the Public Theater, the Salzburg Festival, the Santa Fe Opera, and the Paris Opera. Awards include a Bessie, a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial fellowship, a Dance Magazine award, and support from the National Endowment for the Arts and the New York State Council on the Arts. SLC, 1999–

BA, McGill University. Labanotator and reconstructor; writer, critic for Dance Magazine, Collier’s Encyclopedia, and Society of Dance History Scholars; oral historian for the Dance Collection at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts and the School of American Ballet; consultant, New York State Council on the Arts Dance Program; guest faculty, Princeton University, 2003; former teacher at State University of New York-Purchase, Southern Methodist University, American Ballet Theatre School. SLC, 1975–

BA, College of William and Mary. MFA, Sarah Lawrence College. Choreographer and dancer; choreography presented at Dance Theater Workshop, Brooklyn Museum of Art, and PS 122, among other venues, and archived in the Franklin Furnace Archive and the Walker Arts Center Mediatheque Archive. Recipient of awards from New York Foundation for the Arts and Djerassi Resident Artists Program and of commissions from Dance Theater Workshop, Danspace Project at St. Mark’s Church, and Summer Stage’s Dance Festival. Previously a guest teacher at Bennington College, 92nd Street Y, and Trisha Brown Studio. Published writings include “Technology and the Body,” an interview with Merce Cunningham in the Movement Research Journal Millennial Issue, which she guest edited. SLC, 2001–

BPh, Thomas Jefferson College, University of Michigan. MFA, Sarah Lawrence College. Composer, innovator in the fields of electronic music and music for theatre and dance, composer of traditional and experimental works for all media, specialist in improvisational techniques, and director of the Sarah Lawrence Improvisational Ensemble. Toured nationally with the United Stage theatre company and conceived of and introduced the use of electronic music for the productions. Freelance record producer and engineer; music published by Soundspell Productions. SLC, 1984–