Faculty

Danita Emma, Artistic Director
Danita Emma is a dance educator, administrator, consultant, and adjudicator—trained at Pennsylvania Ballet, American Ballet Theater, and Boston Conservatory of Music. Mentored for more than 30 years by the world-renowned pedagogue Madame Darvash, Ms. Emma has brought her wealth of knowledge and experience to teaching venues ranging from companies such as Garden State Ballet and Atlanta Ballet to a wide variety of university settings. She is currently on the dance faculty at Hobart and William Smith Colleges.

Visiting artists include dance legends Madame Gabriela Darvash and Bill Evans.

Madame Gabriela Darvash

World-renowned Kirov-trained teacher, Madame Darvash was artistic director and resident choreographer for the State Opera Ballet in Cluj, Romania, for 14 years. Mikhail Baryshnikov called her "one of the distinguished and fine ballet pedagogues in America."

Since 1972 she has resided in New York, running her own school from 1976 to 1988. Writing in the New York Times, Anna Kisselgoff and Jennifer Dunning praised her ability to create beautiful, strong, artistically expressive dancers. One of her students, a principal with New York City Ballet, writes, "her method of teaching has changed my life ... her devotion to this method and the care she takes with each of her students reminds me very much of the way Mr. Balanchine used to teach his classes."

For students who fall out of pirouettes or are unable to maintain balance securely, Madame's unique method, based on deep knowledge of anatomy and mechanics, is a revelation. At once simple and profound, her teaching enables each student to reach the maximum his/her capacity allows.

Bill Evans

Internationally known performer and choreographer of modern and rhythm tap dance, Mr. Evans was artistic director of the acclaimed Bill Evans Dance Company for 30 years. He is a visiting professor and guest artist in SUNY Brockport’s dance department. He was professor of dance emeritus at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, where he served on the full-time faculty from 1988 through 2004. Other titles he holds include:

• Permanent Guest Artist in the Professional Program of the School of Contemporary Dancers, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
• Artistic Director of the Bill Evans Dance Company (founded in 1975), the Bill Evans Summer Dance Intensives (founded in 1977) and the Bill Evans Rhythm Tap Ensemble (founded in 1992)
• Director of the Evans Modern Dance Technique Teaching Certification Program (founded in 2003)

Professor Evans maintains an active career as a freelance choreographer, solo performer, master teacher, adjudicator, and consultant and has appeared in all 50 states as well as throughout Canada and Mexico and in Australia, England, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Norway and Russia. More information: www.billevansdance.org

BALLET

Judith Fugate
Co-Artistic director, BalletNY

Former Principal Ballerina with New York City Ballet and co-artistic director of BalletNY, Ms. Fugate danced roles in virtually every ballet in the NYCB repertoire, partnered with Peter Martins, Mikhail Baryshnikov, and Helgi Tomasson.

She left the New York City Ballet in 1997 to pursue a career as free-lance Guest Artist and Co-Artistic Director of Fugate/Bahiri (Formerly DanceGalaxy). She has toured extensively with groups led by renowned artists such as Mr. Baryshnikov, Cynthia Gregory, and Martins. She has appeared on "Live from Lincoln Center" with Ray Charles in Peter Martin's "A Fool for You." In the Metropolitan Opera's production of "La Traviata," conducted by Placido Domingo, she was partnered by Fernando Bujones and Peter Boal.

Ms. Fugate works as repetiteur for the Balanchine Trust and has staged his ballets in the United States, Europe, Asia, and South Africa. More information: www.balletny.org

Momchil Mladenov
Principal dancer, Suzanne Farrell Ballet

Former principal dancer with the National Ballet of Bulgaria, Mr. Mladenov is currently a soloist with the Suzanne Farrell Ballet. A native of Bulgaria, he trained in the Vaganova Method at the National High School of Ballet in Sofia, Bulgaria from 1984 to 1993.

In 1997 he earned a B.A. from the National Academy of Music in Sofia. As a college student, he was a principal dancer with the National Ballet of Bulgaria. His honors and awards include Laureate of “Arabesque” Competition and prize for best performance in P.I. Tchaikovsky’s Sleeping Beauty, Perm, Russia (1998), Laureate of Masako Ohya World Ballet Competition, Osaka, Japan (1995), prize for Best Partner in “seniors” category at the National Ballet Competition, Dobritsch, Bulgaria, and a nomination for “Crystal Lire," Bulgaria.

He began his U.S. career in 2000, as a dancer and ballet master at the University of Texas, El Paso. In 2002, he became an assistant to well-known choreographer Kathryn Posin and danced the lead role in her production of Milwaukee Ballet’s "Scheherazade." In 2005 he danced at The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts as the title character in the revival of George Balanchine “Don Quixote” and performed Balanchine's "Divertimento No.15." More information: www.momchilmladenov.org

Pascal Benichou

Pascal Benichou, a native of Provence, France, studied ballet with Vladimir Dokoudovsky and Madame Darvash and choreography with Lucia Diugoszewski. He has danced with the Chicago City Ballet, the San Francisco Ballet, and The Joffrey Ballet and has been a guest performer with The Metropolitan Opera, the Lyric Opera of Chicago, the New York City Opera, The Erick Hawkins Dance Company, and the St. Louis Ballet. Pascal has taught at the New York Conservatory of Dance, Broadway Dance Center, Sarah Lawrence College, and Perry Dance in New York City. More information: www.pascalbenichou.com

Joseph Cipolla

Joseph Cipolla danced with and later taught for England’s Birmingham Royal Ballet. He is co-founder of the Cape Cod dance ensemble, Configuration. He is the chair of the dance department at the Academy of Performing Arts on Cape Cod.

He has studied ballet for almost 30 years, beginning at the American Academy of Ballet. He joined Dance Theater of Harlem in 1979 and performed principal roles with that company for seven years. Since then he has been a member of The Birmingham Royal Ballet, dancing leading roles in many of the company’s productions.

He has danced at the White House and for the closing ceremony of the Olympic Games. He is named in Who’s Who in America and People of Today.
More information: www.configurationdance.org/home.html

Anthony Salatino
SU Drama Department

Syracuse Stage's award-winning choreographer, Mr. Salatino is an associate professor in Syracuse University's drama department.

He choreographs new life into such classics such as Peter Pan and A Christmas Carol or conceives, directs, and choreographs original productions for drama students.

A graduate of the Juilliard School, during his dance career he was a soloist with the New York City Opera Ballet, Ballet Brio, and the Juilliard Dance Ensemble, and performed with the City Center Company at the White House. He is the former artistic director of the Fort Worth Ballet and Hartford Ballet, has served in the Syracuse Ballet in various directorship positions. He is the recipient of choreography fellowships or awards from the National Endowment for the Arts and the American College Theatre Festival Kennedy Center. More information: http://vpa.syr.edu/drama

MODERN & JAZZ

Hope Boykin

Hope Boykin joined the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre Company in 2000. She is a three-time recipient of the American Dance Festival’s Young Tuition Scholarship. She attended Howard University and performed with Lloyd Whitmore’s New World Dance Company in Washington, DC. Ms. Boykin was a student and intern at The Ailey School. She was assistant to the late Talley Beatty and an original member of Complexions Dance Company.

Ms. Boykin was a member of Philadanco and received a New York Dance and Performance “Bessie” Award. In 2005, Ms. Boykin choreographed Acceptance in Surrender in collaboration with Abdur-Rahim Jackson and Matthew Rushing for AAADT. More information: http://hopeboykindance.org/index.php

Lois Welk
Dance USA/Philadelphia

Lois Welk, founder and director of American Dance Asylum, Inc., is the director of Dance USA/Philadelphia.

She teaches modern dance and creative movement and is well known for her site-specific productions in Upstate New York, such as The Parking Ramp Dance, The Carousel Dance, and The Hiawatha Island Dance.

A native of Buffalo, she studied at SUNY Buffalo and SUNY Brockport, where she earned a B.A. in dance. She founded the American Dance Asylum Inc. in 1974. She developed a nationally recognized program of concert dance, a jazz series, family programming, and a world folk music festival.

Karen Koyanagi

Trained in Canada, Karen Koyanagi has a BFA (Honors) in Dance from York University (Toronto) and a BSC in Marine Biology from the University of British Columbia. Before moving to Binghamton, she danced in Toronto, Vancouver, and San Francisco. While primarily working in modern dance, she has choreographed musicals, been involved in music and performance videos and collaborated with innovative high tech performance artists.

She has taught for organizations such as Binghamton University, Whitney Center for Dance, 171 Cedar Arts, Inc., the Southern Tier Institute, and the Imagination Celebration. Ms. Koyanagi has been a frequent performer with the American Dance Asylum and was a founding member of the B.F. Harridans Women's Morris. Ms. Koyanagi served as Task Force Chair working with the New York State Department of Education to develop a statewide Regents exam for dance.

In addition to teaching, Ms. Koyanagi is an adjunct dancer with The Liz Lerman Dance Exchange. This year with the Liz Lerman Dance Exchange, she performed in Boston, Washington, DC and Birmingham, Alabama. She teaches at the Rod Serling School of Fine Arts at Binghamton City Schools, New York and is artistic director of the Rod Serling Dance Company.

Stephanie Guiland-Brown

Stephanie Guiland-Brown, Swing/Dance Captain for the Color Purple, began dancing at the age of three in Queens, New York. She continued at The Joffrey School, the Dance Theatre of Harlem, LaGuardia HS for the Arts and was mentored by Madame Gabriela Darvash. She danced with Donald Byrd/The Group and Complexions Dance Company. She was choreographic assistant for Mr. Byrd on numerous projects, for Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and Spectrum.

Kim Hale

SU Drama Department

Kim Hale is an assistant professor at SU's College of Visual and Performing Arts. Her areas of expertise are jazz and theater dance.

She made her musical theater debut in the national tour of Applause. She has also appeared in musicals, revues, and industrials throughout the U.S. and abroad. She adjudicates and teaches master classes for numerous dance conventions across the country and serves on the dance faculty of the Perry Mansfield Performing Arts School and Camp in Colorado.
More information: http://vpa.syr.edu/drama

Karen Menter
Karen Menter teaches Pilates.

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