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MDAA 2018 Spring Workshop Guest Faculty TAP Josh Scribner is a Seattle-based dancer and choreographer known for his innovative approach to tap dance. He has toured with Cirque du Soleil and Iron Beats, performed as a soloist around the US and Canada, and is the founder and director of the Alchemy Tap Project. A 10-year student of Seattle tap dance icon Cheryl Johnson, Josh grew up performing with her youth company, "Tap Squad." Along the way came opportunities to work with masters like Savion Glover, Sam Weber, and Dianne Walker, sometimes sharing the stage with them at tap festivals around the country. As an adult, Josh began developing his unique style of choreography, finding inspiration in hip hop and electronic music as well as the traditional jazz and Latin rhythms he was raised with. This led him to create the Alchemy Tap Project, whose mission is to keep the art of tap dancing alive, evolving, and relevant to future generations." MODERN Stephanie Powell is a California native and a tenured Professor/Director of Dance at Long Beach City College. She has taught courses in academia for over 15 years and specializes in Dance History, Classical Ballet, Pointe, Modern, Jazz, Turns, Zumba, Dance Conditioning, Stretch and Relaxation, Pilates and Yoga. Powell is a certified instructor of the Workout, Zumba, Qignition and BASI Pilates. She is the principal interpreter of the choreographic works of the legendary Donald McKayle, and stages his work around the world. Powell earned her Masters of Fine Arts in Dance with distinction from UC Irvine as a Chancellor’s Fellow and she has danced professionally with the Oakland Ballet, San Francisco Opera, Donald Byrd the Group, Contemporary West Dance Theatre, and Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. Powell has performed in “Lion King” and has appeared on television in the Grammy’s, on Tyra Bank's FabLife, the Jay Leno Show and for artists such as Janet Jackson and Beyonce Knowles. Professor Powell continues to dance as a performing artist throughout the US, Australia, Europe and Asia. BALLET

Roscoe L. Sales, Jr. , is a native of Winston-Salem, N.C. where he earned his BFA on scholarship from the North Carolina School of the Arts. He has also studied at the Alvin Ailey American Dance Center and The . Sales has performed with the Dance Theatre of Harlem, The Metropolitan Opera Company in Porgy and Bess, the Greensboro Ballet, and the North Carolina Dance Theatre. In 1999 Roscoe made his debut as a choreographer with his version of Othello for . Sales resides in Atlanta, Georgia and is on faculty at the Metropolitan Ballet Theatre, Center for Dance Education, Tri-Cities High School, and is currently a guest artist with The Atlanta Ballet, Ballethnic Dance Company, and The High Point Ballet in North Carolina.

JAZZ

Billy Griffin is a New York City based artist who received his BFA from New York University/Tisch School Of The Arts. Performing credits include the Broadway/1st National Tour productions of Mary Poppins, Young Frankenstein, and White Christmas, as well as Jeff Amsden's A Few Good Men Dancin’, The Electric Company on PBS, and playing an avatar for Nintendo Wii's video game Dance On Broadway. As a director/choreographer he has created work for the New York Musical Theatre Festival (nomination for his choreography), Hershey Park, Waldameer Park, The Miss America Organization, The National YoungArts Foundation, Fleet Week at South Street Seaport, The Neighborhood Playhouse, Steps Conservatory and NYU. Associate/assistant credits include working with renowned choreographer Sonya Tayeh on Shakespeare In The Park, Tony Award winner Andy Blankenbuehler on Only Gold, Emmy Award winner Joshua Bergasse on episodes of NBC’s SMASH and So You Think You Can Dance's Al Blackstone on Broadway Backwards, BC Beat, Freddie Falls In Love, Fire Island Dance Festival and The View Upstairs off- Broadway. Billy most recently had the honor of choreographing the Drama League's Gala celebrating Steve Martin. Billy is currently working with a legendary fashion designer on a series of social media ads. As a dance educator, Billy is on faculty at Steps, Broadway Dance Center and NYU teaching Theater Jazz. www.BillyGriffinOnline.com IG:@SillyBillyGriffin

BODY JAMS Stuart Smith is a classically trained percussionist, composer and sound designer. He has toured Western Europe as timpanist with Blue Lake International Orchestra and toured the American Southwest as drummer with the Withdrawals jam band. Smith is an instructor of aspiring musicians and has taught Elementary music as well as worked with institutions such as the New Mexico Philharmonic’s Young Musicians initiative (YMI), a dynamic Title I schools program. He is the creator of MUM, Made-Up-Music, now working out of Children’s Choice afterschool program in Albuquerque. He has been an instructor with the National Institute of Flamenco for more than 5 years teaching cajon, in addition to performing with Yjastros American Flamenco Repertory Company. Since 1999, Mr. Smith has also made a career of accompanying dance classes at the University of New Mexico, to include: Modern, Contemporary, Improvisation, African, and Tap classes working with dancers from six continents. He has worked with such greats as Peggy Lymon Hayes, régisseur of Martha Graham Dance Company; Carla Maxwell, former Artistic Director of Jose Limon company; and Erica Pujic, co-founder of Robert Battle’s Battleworks Dance Company, as well as other ADLI instructors. His introduction to and base learning of dance came from Bill Evans during his tenure at the University of New Mexico. Mr. Smith is a dancer as well. His credits include playing for and dancing with Bill Evans Dance Company, was a company member of AirDance New Mexico with Rob Hayden of Vim Vandekeybus Dance and he has played and danced in New Mexico Tap Jams with, Roxane Butterfly – founder of Jimmy Slyde Institute, Bril Barrett – MADD Rhythms, Mark Yonelly - Chicago Dance Theater, Jason Samuel Smith – Bloch Tap Shoes, Donne Lewis – Waylaid Sand Dance, and Bill Evans - BEDCO.

TAP I Clara Moravec is from Spokane, WA where she danced at The Dance Center of Spokane for 13 years. She studied ballet under the Royal Academy of Dance syllabus, tap under the International Society of Teachers of Dancing syllabus, and jazz. Along with classes, Clara competed with her studios competition team in all styles including jazz, tap, lyrical, modern, ballet, and musical theater. Clara has been a substitute instructor and summer intensive jazz and tap instructor for The Dance Center of Spokane and recently choreographed tap pieces for their performance and competition season. Clara currently teaches at The Creative Arts Center in Helena, MT, while attending Carroll College. She is studying biology on the pre-med track and hopes to go to medical school after her time at Carroll. She feels so fortunate that dance is still a part of her life and hopes to share her passion with her students! BALLET I/POINTE III Lindsey Schwickert began her training in Whitefish, Montana, at the age of four. Soon traveling to Kalispell, MT, she became a passionate member of the Northwest performing in several Nutcracker productions, Spring Showcases, and also a guest artist for Azure Vision Dance Company. Her desire to constantly dance landed her at the University of Montana where she earned a BA. Ms. Schwickert has also danced with Missoula's Bare Bait Dance and Headwaters Dance Company. Lindsey currently teaches Creative Movement, Pointe, Modern and Ballet, at Ballet Arts Academy in Missoula, MT. Lindsey is an Theatre® Certified Teacher, who has successfully completed the ABT® Teacher Training Intensive in Pre-Primary through Level 3 of the ABT® National Training Curriculum. During the summer of 2017 she attended the Paris Opera School of Ballet's Summer Training Intensive, Cross Threads, for teachers and musicians around the world. Lindsey also recently graduated with her Masters’ in Business Administration from the University of Montana. MODERN I Nicole Bradley Browning is a dance artist and educator based in Missoula, Montana, where she heads the Dance Program at the University of Montana. She has performed, improvised, presented choreography and taught throughout the US and in Taiwan. Significant inspiration for Nicole’s work comes from her experience working with great dance masters including Bebe Miller, David Dorfman, Kim Epifano, Nancy Stark Smith, Martin Keogh and the late Danna Frangione. She is interested in making dances reflective of the human experience, relationships and intimate contact between people and place, and finds great inspiration in building collaborative engagements between dance and other disciplines albeit music, media, poetry, theatre or science. Nicole specializes in contemporary modern dance, contact improvisation, improvisation and composition. At the University of Montana, where she serves as a professor of dance, she also offers a course in World Dance studies. Following the completion of her MFA at Arizona State University, Nicole held faculty positions at Bucknell University (PA) and Dance Place (DC). She has also taught for the National Dance Association of the Republic of China, Taiwan as well as for the Global Dance Summit hosted at Taipei National University of the Arts. Her co-authored article, “Taiwan’s Female Choreographers: A Generation in Transition” was published in the 2012 book, Identity and Diversity: Celebrating Dance in Taiwan. Nicole has served as a member of the board of the American College Dance Festival Association (2007-2013), and has been a recipient of grants from Dance USA and the NEA.

JAZZ I Jennifer Waters Howells is the owner of Dance Big Sky. She currently is the Program Coordinator and an instructor for Twin Sky Children’s Dance Intensive and is the choreographer for Big Sky Broadway, a Theater Company in Big Sky, Montana. Jennifer danced and choreographed for Broad Comedy 2017 & 2015. She has danced with Montana Ballet Company 2013, 2015 with several roles including; Rat Queen, Snow, Spanish, Waltz of the Flowers, Clara’s mom, and Mother Ginger. She danced with Off Center Dance Project, a Modern Company in Boise, Idaho 2009-2011 and has coached and choreographed for High School, Middle School and private dance teams and cheer squads.

WEST AFRICAN/BELLY DANCE with VEIL Ginny Watts grew up dancing. She took various tap, ballet, modern, and jazz classes, beginning at the age of seven. In high school, Ginny discovered belly dancing and began a life-long exploration of this ancient and complex dance. While completing a Bachelor's degree in Child Development at California State University, Fullerton, Ginny studied folk dances of Eastern Europe with members of the world-renowned Aman Folk Ensemble. She turned down an invitation for an audition to become a member of Aman, and moved back to her native Montana after graduation in 1980. Shortly after arriving in Bozeman, Ginny joined with several other dancers in the area to form the original Caravan of Dreams. Over the next five years, Ginny taught and performed belly dance, and choreographed many of the Caravan's signature dances. Together with her sister, Saralyn Sebern, who joined the Caravan in 1985, Ginny expanded the Caravan from its original focus on belly dance to its current world dance and performance arts status. In 2000, Ginny joined with Chet Leach to offer West African dance to the Gallatin Valley. She explored African dance, as well as continuing and expanding on an interest in the dances of Polynesia. Over the years, Ginny has taught and performed in venues from Hawaii to Boston, Seattle to Los Angeles. Ginny spent 10 years as the West African dance instructor and choreographer for Rhythms Drum and Dance. She also taught Body Awareness I and II to massage students at Healthworks Institute from September 2009 to April 2011. She is a past member of Lehuanani A Me Halau Hula Kawili Aloha, a Bozeman-based Polynesian dance school and performance group. She is a member of Yamama Women's Drum Ensemble and Chicks With Sticks Women’s Bucket Drum Corps. She continues as Director and Lead Choreographer for the Caravan of Dreams World Dance Troupe.