Faculty Biographies
Department Chair
Professor Kathryn "Kitty" Daniels
Ballet, Contemporary Issues in Dance
Kitty began her professional career as a ballet dancer, performing with companies in the United States and Europe. She continued her performing career in modern dance, performing with the Bill Evans Dance Company, Concert Dance Company of Boston, and Beth Soll and Dancers as well as numerous Seattle independent choreographers, including Pat Graney, Long Nguyen, Erin Matthiessen, and Wade Madsen. Nationally known as a teacher of ballet, modern dance, and kinesiology, she has taught at the Bill Evans Summer Institutes of Dance and Teachers Intensives, California State University Summer Arts Programs, London Contemporary Dance School, University of Washington, Boston University, Mount Holyoke College, and Walnut Hill School for the Performing Arts and has been guest company teacher to the Mark Morris Dance Group. She has been an invited presenter at conferences of the International Association for Dance Medicine and Science, the National Dance Education Organization, the National Dance Association, Not Just Any Body and Soul, Dance USA, National Association of Schools of Dance, Performing Artists Medical Association and CORPS De Ballet among others. Her articles have been published in the Journal of Dance Medicine and Science, Journal of Dance Education and Dance Teacher. Kitty has worked clinically as assistant to dance kinesiologist Karen Clippinger. She holds a BA from Goddard College and an MA in Dance Kinesiology from Lesley College. She is a member of the Council of Dance Administrators, the National Association of Schools of Dance, the National Dance Education Organization and the International Association for Dance Medicine and Science.
Core Faculty
Assistant Professor Iyun Harrison
Ballet, Men’s Technique, Ballet Partnering, Repertory
Iyun, a native of Jamaica, earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the Juilliard School and Master of Fine Arts degree from Hollins University/American Dance Festival. Over the 13 years of his performing career in New York City he danced with Arthur Mitchell’s Dance Theatre of Harlem, Ballet Hispanico of New York, National Dance Theatre Company of Jamaica and Ailey II. He has appeared as guest artist with Connecticut Ballet, Buglisi Dance Theatre and Lubbock Ballet. Iyun danced work by George Balanchine, Jiri Kylian, Jose Limon, Paul Taylor, Michael Smuin, Alvin Ailey, Lar Lubovitch, Donald Byrd, Talley Beatty and George Faison. His television credits include PBS’ Setting the Stage 2007, NBC’s ‘20th Hispanic Heritage Awards, PBS’ Who’s Dancin’ Now? – Arts Education in Your Community and The South Bank Show in England. Additionally, he has taught/choreographed for the Juilliard Dance Ensemble, the Ailey School, American Dance Festival, Jamaica School of Dance, University of the West Indies at Cave Hill–Barbados, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, American College Dance Festival and Webster University. Prior to joining the Cornish faculty, he was on the faculty at Webster University. His choreography was selected for the regional gala performance of the American College Dance Festival at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign and for the national American College Dance Festival at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.
Professor Patricia Hon
Ballet, Pointe, Modern
Pat performed extensively for 10 years with ballet companies in France, Austria, Spain, and Germany. In 1983 she received the National Endowment for the Arts' Choreographic Fellowship and since then has choreographed for the Atlanta Ballet, Pacific Northwest Ballet's Summer Inventions, Singapore Ballet, Ballet Concerto of Miami, Goh Ballet in Canada, Federal Ballet Company of Malaysia, Ballet Petit, and for dancers competing in the International Ballet Competitions in Jackson, Mississippi. Before coming to Cornish in 1978, she taught at the Morelli Studios in New York and in Florence, Italy. Pat began studying ballet at the age of 10 in her native Singapore and continued her studies at Rosella Hightower's Centre de Danse Classique in France. She also studied Flamenco and Classical Spanish dance in Madrid, Spain, and performed with the foremost Spanish dance company, Antonio and his Ballets of Madrid, before coming to New York to attend the Joffrey School and the Martha Graham School of Contemporary Dance. She has been teaching for 32 years as Professor in the Dance department at Cornish College of the Arts. Between June and December 2008, Pat was Head of Dance at the School of the Arts, Singapore, where she continues to teach in the summer.
Professor Wade Madsen
Modern, Choreography
Professor Wade Madsen has been teaching at Cornish College of the Arts for over 24 years and has premiered nearly 23 dances for the college dance company. Wade has been teaching community class in Seattle since moving here and continues his classes at Velocity Dance Center. He finds new growth and stamina as a teacher with various workshops and performances throughout the country. Wade has been producing and performing his own work with his company Wade Madsen and Dancers in Seattle since 1977. A former member of the Bill Evans Dance Company and Tandy Beal & Company, Wade has received choreographic grants and fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, Washington State, King County, and Seattle Arts Commissions, Artist's Trust and Allied Arts. His work has been produced in Seattle by the Allegro! Dance Festival, Seattle Dance Project, On the Boards, Bumbershoot, Rockhopper Dance, d-9 dance collective, Spectrum, Seattle Opera and ACT Theater. He has also performed with various dance groups in Seattle, including Spectrum Dance Theater, DanceWorks Northwest, Dayna Hanson, Amy O’Neal, Amy Legendre, and Co-Motion Dance.
Professor Lodi McClellan
Ballet, Dance History, Teaching Methods, Contemporary Issues in Dance
Lodi began her ballet training as a child with Loyce Holton at the Minnesota Dance Theatre and continued with Sydelle Gomberg, Samuel Kurkjian, Hannah Wiley, Marjorie Mussman, Jocelyn Lorenz, Flemming Halby, Kitty Daniels, and Yasuko and Emi Tokunaga. During a seventeen-year professional career in modern dance, Lodi was a member of the Chamber Dance Company (performing soloist roles in works by Jose Limon and Doris Humphrey), the Mark Morris Dance Group, Beth Soll and Company, Llory Wilson and Dancers, and Nina Wiener and Dancers, and made guest appearances with many additional freelance artists. She has been teaching dance technique for thirty years. Her teaching credits include the University of Washington, American Dance Institute, Strictly Seattle, Dance Fremont!, ARC, Harvard University, Boston University, the Boston Conservatory, Emerson College, and a long list of private studios on both coasts. She has taught Dance History to Pacific Northwest Ballet summer students for the past two years. For three years, as a member of Beth Soll and Company (Boston), she and other company members were Artists-in-Residence at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology choreographing on and teaching modern dance to engineers. In addition to teaching in the Cornish Dance Department for the past fifteen years she has also taught Performing Arts Criticism, Integrated Studies, Animal Ethics, and Arts Censorship in the Humanities and Sciences Department. Over one hundred of her dance reviews and articles have been published by the Seattle Weekly, Eastside Week, Dance International, The International Dictionary of Modern Dance, Curve, and DanceNet, for which she also served as Co-Editor. She has researched and presented pre-performance lectures for the Chamber Dance Company, Seattle Theater Group, The Orcas Center and Cornish College of the Arts. Lodi graduated with honors from Walnut Hill School of Performing Arts and received her BA in Dance, cum laude, from Mount Holyoke College. She earned an MFA in Dance, specializing in dance criticism, from the University of Washington. Her professional membership includes The Dance Critics Association and The Society of Dance History Scholars.
Associate Professor Michele Miller
Modern, Modern Partnering, Teaching Methods, Digital Dance Studies
After teaching at and managing Dance Space Center (now Dance New Amsterdam) in New York, Miller moved to Seattle to join the Pat Graney Company in 1992. With her business partner KT Niehoff, she began Velocity Dance Center in 1996, serving as the Executive Director. She remained on the Board of Directors until 2006. Michele spent a year as the Artist In Residence at the Hong Kong Academy for the Performing Arts where she taught dance and choreographed work on the students. Michele has spent two summers teaching at Bates Dance Festival in Maine, and has also taught at the Guandong Modern Dance Festival, the University of Washington, the University of Montana - Missoula, Western Washington University - Bellingham and annually at the University of Oregon - Eugene. She has taught locally in summer workshops for Dance This!, Strictly Seattle, Cornish Summer Dance Intensive, SFADI and the Regional Dance America Craft of Choreography workshop. She recently choreographed a piece commissioned by Evoke Productions for their Full Tilt production. She is a founding member of the d9 Dance Collective, an all-women repertory company working with choreographers David Dorfman, Bebe Miller, Lisa Race, Stephanie Skura and others. Michele performed with LeGendre Performance Group from 1999 to 2004. Michele is a certified Pilates instructor and teaches private Pilates sessions at Halfmoon Acupuncture and Pilates, the business she runs with her partner. Michele holds a fourth degree black belt in Kajukenbo Kung Fu and teaches Kung Fu and Tai Chi to both dancers and martial artists. At the 2006 Gay Games in Chicago, Michele won two gold medals for forms, and in 2005 was the Women's Junior Division Grand Champion in Tai Chi at the Hong Kong Martial Arts Association competition. She currently studies Chen Style Tai Chi with Derryll WIllis, and Northern Shaolin Kung Fu and Koo Style Tai Chi with Cheung Yui Shing in Hong Kong. Michele teaches Northern Shaolin to a fabulous group of people in Seattle.
Professor Deborah Wolf
Modern, Composition/Improvisation, Choreography, Dance History
Deborah began her professional career performing with the State University of New York at Brockport’s Company in Residence. Shortly thereafter she joined Concert Dance Company of Boston, New England's premiere modern repertory company, performing works by over 50 choreographers including Merce Cunningham, Laura Dean, David Gordon, Wendy Perron, Bebe Miller, Mark Morris, and Randy Warshaw. She became CDC's Resident Choreographer and eventually added CDC's Artistic Directorship to her duties. Other performance credits include Seachange Theater Ensemble, New York Chambre Dance Ensemble and Peter DiMuro and Associates. A recipient of a Massachusetts Artist Foundation Fellowship and seven Finalist Awards in choreography, she has also received grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, Boston and Somerville Arts Lottery Councils, and Seattle’s Artist Trust. Deborah has choreographed for the Boston Ballet, the Boston Symphony Youth Concert Series, and numerous other companies both in New England and Seattle. Producer and performer of her own choreography through WolfWorks, she has also been produced by among others: Boston's Dance Umbrella, Boston Dances, Jacob's Pillow Inside/Out Series, New England Choreographers’ Showcase, and in Seattle area by Velocity’s Strictly Seattle and Under Construction, Rockhopper’s On the Side, Dance On Capitol Hill’s Choreofest and Intimate Works, Eastside Moving Company, Men in Dance/Against the Grain Festival of Dancing, Powell/Scott’s Composer/Choreographer #6, Lehua Dance Theater, Evoke Productions’ Full Tilt, Bellingham Repertory Dance Company and On the Boards’ 12 Min Max Mainstage and Northwest New Works Festival. Most recently her choreography was selected for the A.W. A. R. D. Show! 2009 administered by the Joyce Theater Foundation, performed at On the Boards, and was a finalist for the event by audience selection. Her teaching credits include Harvard University, Rhode Island College, Boston Ballet, SUNY/Brockport, and currently as Professor of Dance at Cornish College of the Arts. She has served on the boards of d9 Dance Collective, Velocity Dance Center and as a panelist for New England Foundation for the Arts, Seattle Arts Commission and the Seattle Fringe Festival. Deborah received her BA in Dance from State University of New York/Brockport.
Adjunct Faculty
Adjunct Instructor Amma Anang
African Dance
Amma is co-founder of Ocheami, a West African Music and Dance Ensemble. She has studied in Ghana and has performed throughout the US and Canada. She has spent the last six years as a Student Programs Supervisor at Edmonds Community College, along with her work at Cornish. Amma holds a BA in Drama/Dance and Black Studies and an MFA in Dance from Mills College.
Adjunct Instructor Byron Au Yong
Rhythmic Fundamentals, Listening to Music
Byron Au Yong composes songs of dislocation scored for voices with Asian, European, and handmade instruments. His musical events have been performed in concert halls and site-specific locations that include the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hamburg, Meany Hall for the Performing Arts, On the Boards, the Seattle Aquarium, and the Tokyo Art Museum. In addition, he has composed music for Olivier Wevers/Whim W'him, Donald Byrd/Spectrum Dance Theatre, Edisa Weeks/Delirious Dances, and Portland Taiko. Recordings of his music are available on CRI/New World Records, Periplum, and other independent labels. Honors include awards from Creative Capital, the Ford Foundation, and Meet the Composer. Byron holds an MFA in musical theatre writing from New York University, an MA in dance from UCLA, and a BA/BM in music composition/theory from the University of Washington. Visit HearByron.com to hear his work.
Adjunct Instructor Steve Casteel
Ballet
Steve Casteel was born in Tacoma, WA and received his early training from Jan Collum School of Classical Ballet. At age sixteen Steve joined Boston Ballet II. In 1987, Steve became a member of Houston Ballet where he was promoted to soloist and performed many of the great classical works such as Swan Lake, Don Quixote, Coppélia, and Cinderella. With Houston Ballet, he performed works by such renowned choreographers as Christopher Bruce, Jirí Kylián, Sir Kenneth McMillan, Ben Stevenson, and Paul Taylor. In addition, he has performed with Diablo Ballet, Oregon Ballet Theatre, Next Stage Dance Theatre, and Spectrum Dance Theatre. Locally, Steve has danced in works by Kay Englert, Dominique Gabella, Amii LeGendre, Wade Madsen, Dale Merrill, Crispin Spaeth and Deborah Wolf. From 1997 to 1999 he worked for Washington Contemporary Ballet in Tacoma as Assistant to the Director. In 2001, Steve received his Bachelors of Fine Arts degree in Dance from Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle WA. In 2004, he received his Masters of Fine Arts from the University of Arizona in Tucson AZ. From 2004 to 2006 Steve was the Public Relations Coordinator for Next Stage Dance Theatre. Steve has taught at Bainbridge Dance Center (Bainbridge Island), Berkeley Ballet Theater (Berkeley CA), Cornish Preparatory Dance Program (Seattle), Dance Fremont (Seattle), Spectrum Dance Theater (Seattle), and The University of Washington (Seattle).
Adjunct Instructor Rhonda Cinotto
Jazz
Rhonda teaches at the University of Washington and the Seattle Academy of Arts and Sciences, and serves on the board of the Dance Educators Association of Washington. She spent the previous year teaching in the dance department at Western Michigan University. Prior to receiving an M.F.A in dance from the University of Washington, she was a member of Spectrum Dance Theater, touring throughout the Pacific Northwest and Mexico, Germany, and the Netherlands. While in the company, she performed works by Anne Reinking, Dwight Rhoden, Daniel Buraczeski, Daniel Ezralow, Frank Chaves, Lar Lubovitch, Margo Sappington and Donald Byrd, among others. In her last few years with Spectrum, Rhonda was a rehearsal director and responsible for restaging and rehearsing works in the company's repertoire. Throughout her career, Rhonda has taught in many public and private schools throughout the Pacific Northwest to students of all ages.
Adjunct Instructor Carla Corrado
Kinesiology, Movement Foundations
Carla holds a BS in Physical Therapy from the University of Washington (1989) and a BA in English with a minor in Dance from the University of Rochester. In addition to teaching at Cornish, Carla serves as Cornish's on-site physical therapist in the Dance Department and holds clinic hours at Seattle Orthopedic Sports. Carla has been a licensed massage practitioner since 1980 and was one of the founding co-op members of New Seattle Massage. She previously worked at Seattle Sports Medicine clinic as well as backstage and on tour as a physical therapist for Pacific Northwest Ballet. A former dancer who studied ballet, modern, low flying trapeze, Skinner Releasing and contact improvisation, Carla has choreographed and performed in Seattle with various independent artists. Carla is a member of the American Physical Therapy Association and the International Association of Dance Medicine and Science and has presented at international conferences. She works with local dancers and dance companies as a PT consultant.
Adjunct Instructor Nancy Cranbourne
Jazz
Nancy Cranbourne lives in Boulder CO, and Seattle WA. She teaches at the University of Colorado/Boulder and in the Boulder community. Nancy is the Artistic Director of the dance company 40 Women Over 40, featured on the Hallmark Channel, in Dance Teacher Magazine, and on the More Magazine website. Nancy is also an award winning actress and playwright; she was voted "Best Actress" by Westword Magazine for her performance in 2 Women Avoiding Involuntary Hospitalization, and received the Denver Drama Critics Circle Award for "Best New Play" for the same production (with collaborators Patti Dobrowolski and Molly Thompson). Nancy began her dance career in Seattle where she performed extensively with Wade Madsen.
Adjunct Instructor Antara Datta
Kathak Dance
Antara Datta started learning Kathak (North Indian Classical Dance) at the age of five from Laxmi Bannerjee in Kolkata, India. She earned her degree in Kathak from Bangia Sangeet Parishad in Kolkata. She started specializing in the Lucknow gharana style of Kathak in 2004 under the tender care of Kiran Chauhan (a senior disciple of Pandit Birju Maharaj ), who is currently a visiting faculty at the Anila Sinha Foundation in Chicago. In addition, Antara currently receives intensive training from Shringarmani Srimati Anuradha Nag (a senior disciple of Pandit Birju Maharaj), artistic director of the Tarangini School of dance in San Jose, California. Antara believes that learning a classical Indian dance form such as Kathak is a lifelong experience. She relentlessly strives to perfect herself. She has attended workshops by the legendary gurus Pandit Birju Maharaj and Kumudini Lakhia. To gain better control over laya (tempo), she is taking tabla (Indian percussion instrument) lessons from Kuntol Roy of Kolkata (a student of Pandit Shankar Ghosh) who visits Seattle twice a year, and from Manoj Biswas (a student of Kuntol Roy). She is also earning a second diploma in Kathak from the Prayag Sangeet Samiti of Allahabad, India. Antara has performed extensively in US and India.
Adjunct Instructor Meg Fox
Lighting Design for Dance, Technical Production for Dance
Meg has been designing lights for dance and theatre for over 20 years. In Seattle, she has worked with every major modern choreographer and company. Although her first love is dance-based work, she has also designed lights for many of the major houses in Seattle along with many new performance works. She has toured nationally and abroad with Urban Bush Women and The Pat Graney Company, among others. Her work has also been commissioned by the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and by Sonia Dawkins for the Pacific Northwest Ballet.
Adjunct Instructor Shirley Jenkins
Rhythm Tap
Shirley Jenkins received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the University of Utah, majoring in Modern Dance with an emphasis in Performance, Choreography and Teaching. Immediately following her graduation in 1975 she was asked to be a founding member of the celebrated Bill Evans Dance Company. She toured nationally with BEDCo as a principal dancer and partner with Bill Evans an average of 42 weeks a year through the Dance Touring Program via the National Endowment for the Arts. This extensive touring took her to the Kennedy Center, NYC, Spoleto Festival in Charleston, Arco Sante, Chicago, San Francisco, LA, Boston, Baltimore, Phoenix, Las Vegas, San Diego, Bloomington, Ames, Portland, Minneapolis, Anchorage, and many rural communities throughout the entire US, including Alaska and Hawaii. Jenkins eventually formed her own company, Strong Wind Wild Horses, and collaborated with musicians, including Denny Goodhew, James Knapp, Scott Cossu, Michael Cava, Mark Seals, Steve Kim, Tom Bergersen, Fred West, the Kinetics and many others. Ms. Jenkins also founded a nonprofit organization, Dance On Capitol Hill, for the Seattle community. As Artistic Director, she developed dance education programs for the novice to the professional, a performance venue featuring local and international choreographers and a home for her dance company. Ms. Jenkins also established outreach programs by producing summer dance camps for homeless children. Shirley was an Artist-In-Residence at scores of universities and dance communities throughout the U.S., as well as internationally. Her choreographic/teaching/performing residencies included the University of Washington, Cornish College of the Arts, American Dance Festival, Bill Evans Summer Institutes of Dance, Penn State, University of Alabama, Middlebury College, Tennessee Arts Council, Columbia College, Kentucky Out-Reach Programs and international festivals in Bonn, Germany and Taipei, Taiwan. During her career as primarily a ‘classical modern’ dancer, Ms. Jenkins performed and continued to hone her tap skills. Performing solos of Brenda Bufalino and many duets by and with Bill Evans. Ms. Jenkins continues to choreograph for local Washington companies and soloists. She currently teaches a Modern & Rhythm Tap Class for the community and is a well-respected Pilates Instructor specializing in athletic injury.
Adjunct Instructor Rex Kinney
Hip Hop
Rex Kinney grew up in Seattle and was introduced to hip hop at the age of 14. He has had the pleasure of performing and choreographing for such venues as the Pacific Northwest Ballet's REACH and DANCE CHANCE Program, Poncho's Auction Gala, Village Theater's The King and I, Seattle Theater Group’s DANCE this, Experience Music Project, Seahawks and Seattle Sonics/Storm Half-Time shows, Seattle Academy, Evoke Productions, Enertia, Kube 93.3 FM's Summer Jam Concert on the main stage, opening for Cypress Hill, the music video “Do You Want Me” by Mion Lee Drew and its west coast tours, the Children's Hospital Benefit Showcase, and the UW Conference for former Governor Gary Locke. He is currently the Director and Choreographer for the Shorecrest High School Dance Team, where he has led them to 5 District Titles and 2 WIAA State Dance/Drill Championships in 2006 and 2009, with a 3rd place ranking at Nationals in 2007. In addition, he is an instructor through the UW Experimental College and Westlake Dance Center in Seattle.
Adjunct Instructor Vivian Little
Ballet
Vivian Little was an original member of Pacific Northwest Ballet and performed as a principal at the company under the direction of Melissa Hayden, Janet Reed and Todd Bolender from 1974-1977. She performed as a soloist with San Francisco Ballet under the direction of Lew Christensen and Michael Smuin from 1977-81. After her performing career she taught ballet classes, worked as the ballet mistress and choreographed for El Ballet Municipal de Lima, Peru. Vivian has taught ballet classes for over twenty years at Walnut Hill Performing Arts School in Massachusetts, Pacific Northwest Ballet School and as a Guest Lecturer in the University of Washington Dance Department. She founded Dance Fremont! in September 1996 and currently co-directs and choreographs for the Dance Fremont!-based performing company, Fremont Danceworks.
Adjunct Instructor Tonya Lockyer
Movement Analysis
Tonya is a dance artist and educator focused on the borderlands of performance, embodiment and social justice. She began her career with Contemporary Dancers Canada before dancing in New York, Boston and Seattle performing the work of Donald Byrd, Merce Cunningham, Twyla Tharp, Charles Moulton, Mark Haim, Wade Madsen and others. She was also Principal Dancer/Rehearsal Director for Paula Josa-Jones. In 1999 she founded VIA, a performance company dedicated to interdisciplinary collaboration and inter-cultural exchange. VIA toured internationally receiving awards from Arts International, The Canada Council, The Nureyev Foundation, Seattle Arts Commission and multiple residencies at The Banff Centre for The Arts. Since 2005, VIA has become a laboratory for Tonya’s performance research. She has been awarded more than thirty-five commissions by companies, festivals and universities in the US and abroad. In 2008, her evening-length solo “Consumed” was commissioned by On The Boards for their main season, and awarded residencies by ACT Theater and American Dance Festival. Tonya teaches modern technique, improvisation, composition, movement analysis and the contemporary history of dance, live art and choreographic culture. She has been appointed Visiting Artist at Mimar Sinan University Istanbul, Brigham Young University, The University of Calgary and The University of Maryland Baltimore County; and she has served on the faculties of The Bates Dance Festival, the University of Washington, The American Dance Festival, The International Festival of Dance Russia, Strictly Seattle, and The Seattle Festival of Dance and Improvisation. Her writing on performance is published in Contact Quarterly and the book Vu Du Corps: Lisa Nelson Mouvement et Perception. Tonya holds an MFA from the University of Washington and is a Certified Laban/Bartenieff Movement Analyst.
Adjunct Instructor Kathleen McCormick
Pointe
Kathleen trained in California at the Marin Civic Ballet and continued her studies at ABT, American Ballet Center and the Banff School of the Arts. As a student she was honored with scholarships from the San Francisco Ballet and North Carolina School of the Arts. She danced professionally with Nevada Dance Theatre, Joffrey II, Joffrey City Center Ballet and the Banff Touring Company. She has taught at The Dance Studio, Washington Dance Forum, Washington Academy of the Performing Arts, Dance Fremont and the University of Washington. Formerly, she directed the American Ballet Conservatory, ABCDance and the Seattle Youth Ballet. Kathleen is on faculty and is the Director of the Preparatory Dance Program at Cornish College of the Arts.
Adjunct Instructor Stacee Raber Nault
Vocal Performance for Dance
Stacee graduated from Cornish in 1992 with a BFA in dance. Upon graduating, she moved to New York City and performed professionally for 15 years on Broadway, in National and International tours, and with renowned regional theatres throughout the country. Shows have included Broadway’s Beauty and the Beast (Silly Girl), Cats (Jellylorum), Joseph…(with the Osmonds) , A Chorus Line (Maggie), Pippin, Oklahoma!(Laurie and Ado Annie u/s) , Damn Yankees (Lola), Singin’ in the Rain (Kathy), 1776 (Martha), Secret Garden (Rose), Evita, West Side Story, Wizard of Oz, Here’s Love, Jesus Christ Superstar and more. She has studied voice extensively for over 30 years. While in high school she was awarded 2nd Place Alto Soloist at the Oregon state finals. She went on to study extensively with one of New York’s top vocal therapists, Liz Caplan. She completed a two year acting intensive at the William Esper Studio in NYC and later studied with Terry Schreiber. She now lives in Seattle with her husband and two children. She is a freelance casting assistant for the 5th Avenue Theatre and teaches their musical theatre classes. She directs and choreographs a small company of young musical theatre performers at the Cascade Dance Academy in Snoqualmie Ridge. She has been teaching dance and yoga for over 10 years. Stacee is a passionate teacher who encourages a supportive and energetic environment for students to explore their maximum potential.
Adjunct Instructor Becci Parsons
Movement Foundations
Becci Parsons is a Guild Certified Feldenkrais Practitioner® and dancer with over 35 years experience in the movement arts. She holds a BA in Dance from the University of Washington and has performed locally with Llory Wilson, Pat Graney, Jeff Bickford and a host of gifted independent choreographers. Her inspiring teachers include Bill Evans, Kitty Daniels, Mark Morris, Sharon Kinney, Peggy Hackney and Stewart Dempster. In addition to a part-time faculty position in the Dance Department at Cornish, Becci also teaches community Awareness Through Movement® classes, BackSense workshops and offers group and private instruction in the Sounder Sleep System®. A former regional representative for the Feldenkrais Guild of North America, Becci facilitates study groups and mentoring programs for local practitioners and students in training programs. Her work is dedicated to the mindful exploration of human vitality, grace and elegance through the study of "self in motion."
Adjunct Instructor Alia Swersky
Creative Foundations, Composition/Improvisation
Alia Swersky is a movement artist, performer and teacher, engaged deeply in the vital act of dance improvisation. She graduated from Cornish College of the Arts in1998 with a BFA in dance and now teaches at Cornish as an adjunct faculty member since 2005. Committed to training and engaging youth populations as well as college students, she founded The University Preparatory High School dance program, teaching a variety of dance styles, curating a series of guest teaching artists, and choreographing work for middle and high school students. Committed equally to the local professional dance community, Swersky has taught at Velocity’s Strictly Seattle Festival and the Seattle Festival of Dance Improvisation (SFDI). She is a long time Co-artistic director of Dance Art Group (DAG), a non-profit organization that promotes the practice and appreciation of dance and somatic education in the Seattle area. DAG produces the annual Seattle Festival Dance Improvisation and other events that support innovative research and education in dance/movement. Swersky has taught yoga for over 10 years, on-going at a number of studios, and invites this influence into her dance work and teaching. Other influences include contact improvisation, release/somatic techniques, Aikido, Buddhist meditation, & many pivotal dance partners and teachers. Since 1998, she danced and toured nationally and internationally as a member of the LeGendre Performance Group. Swersky continues to work in artistic collaboration with Amii LeGendre in teaching and in creating work together. Swersky has collaborated and performed in the works of many Seattle artists some of which include The Maureen Whiting Company, Khambatta Dance Company, Jurg Koch, and she is currently dancing with KT Niehoff of Lingo Dance and with Salt Horse. Alia’s improvisational and choreographic works have been presented at 12 Minutes Max, Choreofest, SFDI, as a part of Crispin Spaeth’s MIXER2, Velocity’s NEXT Festival NW, Cornish College of the Arts BFA shows and the Northwest New Works Festival.