CHOREOGRAPHER BIOS
Recognizing that the body can inhabit many states of being Francesca Baron (she/her) is attracted to pushing the boundaries of kinetic movement. Intellectually she values complexity and connection; physically she values big sweeping movement, finding rigor to yield both an empowering and freeing sensation. Enchanted about dance as a sustainable physical practice, Francesca is committed to sharing her expertise with students, collaborators and communities alike. She obtained dual Bachelor of the Arts degrees in Dance and Psychology (Lindenwood University) and furthered her studies with an M.F.A degree in Choreography & Performance (Smith College). In the last decade she has produced original work that has been presented at universities, festivals, self-produced shows, dance companies, film festivals, art galleries, studios and competition stages. With an appetite for excellence, her most salient studies and dialogue have been with renowned practitioners in the current dance field: Anouk Van-Dijk, Jenna Riegel, Angie Hauser, Chris Aiken, Rebbeca Lemme, and Tom English. She believes in continued training as dance, such as life, is an ever shifting process.
She currently resides in Northampton, MA.
Mary Beth Brooker makes and performs work for theater, video and installation, and writes plays and short fiction. Her work as a director and dramaturg includes spoken word movement works at the APE/Workroom, New Play Readings Series, Smith College, MFA Dance concert, Work in Progress (WIP) SCDT, and Northampton Playwright Lab’s Play by Play series.
MFA Theater, Smith College 2020.
Miranda Busansky is a visual artist and dancer located between Western Mass and the Hudson Valley whose modes of expression lay at the intersection of sculpture, performance art, and dance. Miranda attended The Evergreen State College where they were steeped in anthropological inquiries on materialism, modes of relation, and place based embodiment. They have since been working independently as an artist, farmer, and ceramics teacher for youth. Their visual and movement work explores themes of ancestral mythology, monstrousness, the layering, masking, and opacity of the self, and how we can allow the disturbing, devastating, and heart-swelling conditions of our internal and external worlds to better move through our bodies. Over the past year they have studied dance intensively through participation in various volunteer residences including the Filed Center work trade program, local classes, as well as a series of workshops at the Tic Tac art center in Brussels. Miranda is a current Intern at the School for Contemporary Dance and Thought and artist in residence at Free Columbia, an art center in Columbia County New York. Their evolving Contact Improv, Somatics, and Butoh practice continues to unfold into ways of studying environmental, social, and political concerns through modes of embodiment in dance.
Todd Colby is a visual artist and poet who works in Northampton, Massachusetts and Brooklyn New York. Colby recently presented his visual art at Picture Room, Familiar Trees, BES Millerton, Platform Project Space, Andrew Edlin Gallery, Legion Arts, and White Columns Artist Registry. He has given readings at DIA Art Foundation, MoMA PS1, The Public Theater, Hudson Opera House, and The Poetry Project, among others. He is the author of seven books of poetry, most recently, It’s Okay to See Ghosts Now ( Spiral Editions. 2023).
Melisa Clark is a dancer, choreographer and educator based in Bennington, VT. She is co-founder and artistic director of PIMA Group, a non-profit dance and music performance company founded in 2001 (www.pimagroup.org). She received dance training through the Professional Training Program at the Merce Cunningham Dance Studio in New York City and received a full dance scholarship to attend the Strictly Seattle Dance Intensive in Seattle, WA. Melisa earned her MFA Degree in Dance/Choreography at Temple University and is a certified yoga instructor. Melisa has performed at venues nationally and internationally including the Painted Bride Art Center, the Performance Garage, Powel House Museum, Vox Populi Gallery, Mobius, The Cunningham Dance Studio, Joyce SOHO, 92nd St. Y, The Red Room, Mobius, Bucharest National Dance Center and the School for Contemporary Dance and Thought, among others. She has also been recognized with numerous grants and awards. Among them, the Leeway Foundation, a Rocky Dance Award, Puffin Foundation, Pennsylvania Council on the Arts Project Stream, Philadelphia Cultural Fund, New Stages Fund from Dance/USA Philadelphia, Trust for Mutual Understanding, Dance Theater Workshop Suitcase Fund and Professional Development from Dance Advance and Dance/USA Philadelphia. Artist residencies include the Community Education Center, The Historic Powel House, Wilson College, Susan Hess Choreographer’s Project and The Iron Factory.
Ava D'Eon, a Boston-area dancer and choreographer, recently graduated from Skidmore College with a bachelor’s in Dance and Business. During her studies, she performed student and professor works, as well as pieces by guest artists Peter Chu, Takehiro Ueyama, Brenda Way and Dexandro Montalvo, Monica Bill Barnes, and BalletX. She has presented work at the Tang Teaching Museum, Onstage Dance Company’s Onstage 360°, and Skidmore’s Celebration Weekend Concert, where she was the only student invited to present her choreography. Ava is a freelance dance artist, currently rehearsing for Madison Florence's Finding Space, and a Trainee with KAIROS Dance Theater. She is excited to show her piece Save Your Apologies Until The End in the C(HORIO) Showcase at Manhattan Movement and Arts Center this November.
Erik Elizondo is a dance artist and teacher originally from Monterrey, Mexico. He started his career dancing with the company Teoría de Gravedad in 2009 and co-founding Colectivo la Aurora in 2010 alongside Jessica Huerta, Jesus Leos, Sara Alonso, Catalina Castilla and Chiara Consonni, creating and performing their own choreographic works. In 2012 he joined Inside the Body Performing Arts, the physical theater project directed by Aladino Rivera Blanca, and participated in the pieces “Firdus” and “Dogs and Angels”. His professional collaborations and work experience include Ruby Gámez, Gavin Webber and Grayson Millwood, Beto Pérez, Cinthya Dueñas, Francisco Córdova, Raúl Martinez, João Cidade, Marion Sparber, Michikazu Matsune, Barnaby Booth, Milla Koistinen and Nadia Lartigue. As part of his performative formation, Erik participated in a residency in 2013 with the physical theater company KiM Kosmos in Movement directed by Elías Cohen in Chile, and in 2014 he was part of the intensive performance program Smash#4 in Berlin. He graduated from SEAD Salzburg Experimental Academy of Dance in 2017, with a Performance in Contemporary Dance major. At the end of 2017, he founded the dance project Los Little Guys alongside Dimitri Kalaitzidis, developing their own movement improvisation methodology and realizing creations, showings, residencies, collaborations, classes and workshops in Mexico, Germany, United States, Canada Ecuador, Peru, United Kingdom, Belgium, Greece, India, Malaysia, Austria, Italy, Hungary, Iceland, France, Spain, Chile and Japan.
Joie Gonzalez (they/them), a Latinx artist and creator, possesses the love of learning which compels them to constantly experiment with new artistic mediums. Through their work, they explore themes of identity, history, and cultural roots with the purpose of narrating compelling stories. Joie is the Gallery Associate for the Northampton Center for the Arts.
Julia Lawton is a New York-based dancer and choreographer. In Spring of 2024, she graduated from Adelphi University with her BFA in dance, as well as a minor in Art and Design Education and as a member of the Honors College. Julia has presented her work at numerous venues, including Arts On Site, American College Dance Association Northeast Conference, Balance Arts Center, Adelphi University Scholarship and Creative Works Conference, Hofstra University Choreography Seminar, and Mashup Dance International Women’s Day Dance Festival. @julia.lawton
Michelle Marroquin (she/her) is a dancer, choreographer, and Physical Therapist Assistant who creates original work using the body, sound and objects. She seeks out collaborations and unusual spaces that disrupt the illusion of separateness and draw forth the human connections between us.
Rachel Rees is a multidisciplinary artist specializing in Aerial Rope. Originally from New Orleans, she studied theatre at Boston University before attending the New England Center for Circus Arts, graduating in 2019. Since then, she has performed internationally aboard Virgin Voyages and around the United States with Cirque Dreams, Circus Evo, the New York Circus Project among others. Rachel has recently begun dipping her toes into the world of dance, taking classes at SCDT on and off for the past year, and dreams of performing in multidisciplinary works combining circus, dance, acting, and music.
Jayme Winell (they/them) is a graduate of the San Francisco School of the Arts and Hampshire College/Five College Dance Dept where they studied social movement histories and dance as a form of community building and transformation. Jayme co-created and performed with the tinydance project for seven years, and was part of two devised TheatreTruck productions. Jayme is Dance Department Lead at Pioneer Valley Performing Arts.
Zazie Tobey received her BA in Dance from Mt. Holyoke College and is the co-director and choreographer at The Academy of Music and an instructor for Ascendance Inner World Arts. She practices, teaches, and choreographs Ballet, Modern, Butoh and Musical Theatre, and is most fascinated with the process of making dances, and the healing dance can bring to mind and body.
Recognizing that the body can inhabit many states of being Francesca Baron (she/her) is attracted to pushing the boundaries of kinetic movement. Intellectually she values complexity and connection; physically she values big sweeping movement, finding rigor to yield both an empowering and freeing sensation. Enchanted about dance as a sustainable physical practice, Francesca is committed to sharing her expertise with students, collaborators and communities alike. She obtained dual Bachelor of the Arts degrees in Dance and Psychology (Lindenwood University) and furthered her studies with an M.F.A degree in Choreography & Performance (Smith College). In the last decade she has produced original work that has been presented at universities, festivals, self-produced shows, dance companies, film festivals, art galleries, studios and competition stages. With an appetite for excellence, her most salient studies and dialogue have been with renowned practitioners in the current dance field: Anouk Van-Dijk, Jenna Riegel, Angie Hauser, Chris Aiken, Rebbeca Lemme, and Tom English. She believes in continued training as dance, such as life, is an ever shifting process.
She currently resides in Northampton, MA.
Mary Beth Brooker makes and performs work for theater, video and installation, and writes plays and short fiction. Her work as a director and dramaturg includes spoken word movement works at the APE/Workroom, New Play Readings Series, Smith College, MFA Dance concert, Work in Progress (WIP) SCDT, and Northampton Playwright Lab’s Play by Play series.
MFA Theater, Smith College 2020.
Miranda Busansky is a visual artist and dancer located between Western Mass and the Hudson Valley whose modes of expression lay at the intersection of sculpture, performance art, and dance. Miranda attended The Evergreen State College where they were steeped in anthropological inquiries on materialism, modes of relation, and place based embodiment. They have since been working independently as an artist, farmer, and ceramics teacher for youth. Their visual and movement work explores themes of ancestral mythology, monstrousness, the layering, masking, and opacity of the self, and how we can allow the disturbing, devastating, and heart-swelling conditions of our internal and external worlds to better move through our bodies. Over the past year they have studied dance intensively through participation in various volunteer residences including the Filed Center work trade program, local classes, as well as a series of workshops at the Tic Tac art center in Brussels. Miranda is a current Intern at the School for Contemporary Dance and Thought and artist in residence at Free Columbia, an art center in Columbia County New York. Their evolving Contact Improv, Somatics, and Butoh practice continues to unfold into ways of studying environmental, social, and political concerns through modes of embodiment in dance.
Todd Colby is a visual artist and poet who works in Northampton, Massachusetts and Brooklyn New York. Colby recently presented his visual art at Picture Room, Familiar Trees, BES Millerton, Platform Project Space, Andrew Edlin Gallery, Legion Arts, and White Columns Artist Registry. He has given readings at DIA Art Foundation, MoMA PS1, The Public Theater, Hudson Opera House, and The Poetry Project, among others. He is the author of seven books of poetry, most recently, It’s Okay to See Ghosts Now ( Spiral Editions. 2023).
Melisa Clark is a dancer, choreographer and educator based in Bennington, VT. She is co-founder and artistic director of PIMA Group, a non-profit dance and music performance company founded in 2001 (www.pimagroup.org). She received dance training through the Professional Training Program at the Merce Cunningham Dance Studio in New York City and received a full dance scholarship to attend the Strictly Seattle Dance Intensive in Seattle, WA. Melisa earned her MFA Degree in Dance/Choreography at Temple University and is a certified yoga instructor. Melisa has performed at venues nationally and internationally including the Painted Bride Art Center, the Performance Garage, Powel House Museum, Vox Populi Gallery, Mobius, The Cunningham Dance Studio, Joyce SOHO, 92nd St. Y, The Red Room, Mobius, Bucharest National Dance Center and the School for Contemporary Dance and Thought, among others. She has also been recognized with numerous grants and awards. Among them, the Leeway Foundation, a Rocky Dance Award, Puffin Foundation, Pennsylvania Council on the Arts Project Stream, Philadelphia Cultural Fund, New Stages Fund from Dance/USA Philadelphia, Trust for Mutual Understanding, Dance Theater Workshop Suitcase Fund and Professional Development from Dance Advance and Dance/USA Philadelphia. Artist residencies include the Community Education Center, The Historic Powel House, Wilson College, Susan Hess Choreographer’s Project and The Iron Factory.
Ava D'Eon, a Boston-area dancer and choreographer, recently graduated from Skidmore College with a bachelor’s in Dance and Business. During her studies, she performed student and professor works, as well as pieces by guest artists Peter Chu, Takehiro Ueyama, Brenda Way and Dexandro Montalvo, Monica Bill Barnes, and BalletX. She has presented work at the Tang Teaching Museum, Onstage Dance Company’s Onstage 360°, and Skidmore’s Celebration Weekend Concert, where she was the only student invited to present her choreography. Ava is a freelance dance artist, currently rehearsing for Madison Florence's Finding Space, and a Trainee with KAIROS Dance Theater. She is excited to show her piece Save Your Apologies Until The End in the C(HORIO) Showcase at Manhattan Movement and Arts Center this November.
Erik Elizondo is a dance artist and teacher originally from Monterrey, Mexico. He started his career dancing with the company Teoría de Gravedad in 2009 and co-founding Colectivo la Aurora in 2010 alongside Jessica Huerta, Jesus Leos, Sara Alonso, Catalina Castilla and Chiara Consonni, creating and performing their own choreographic works. In 2012 he joined Inside the Body Performing Arts, the physical theater project directed by Aladino Rivera Blanca, and participated in the pieces “Firdus” and “Dogs and Angels”. His professional collaborations and work experience include Ruby Gámez, Gavin Webber and Grayson Millwood, Beto Pérez, Cinthya Dueñas, Francisco Córdova, Raúl Martinez, João Cidade, Marion Sparber, Michikazu Matsune, Barnaby Booth, Milla Koistinen and Nadia Lartigue. As part of his performative formation, Erik participated in a residency in 2013 with the physical theater company KiM Kosmos in Movement directed by Elías Cohen in Chile, and in 2014 he was part of the intensive performance program Smash#4 in Berlin. He graduated from SEAD Salzburg Experimental Academy of Dance in 2017, with a Performance in Contemporary Dance major. At the end of 2017, he founded the dance project Los Little Guys alongside Dimitri Kalaitzidis, developing their own movement improvisation methodology and realizing creations, showings, residencies, collaborations, classes and workshops in Mexico, Germany, United States, Canada Ecuador, Peru, United Kingdom, Belgium, Greece, India, Malaysia, Austria, Italy, Hungary, Iceland, France, Spain, Chile and Japan.
Joie Gonzalez (they/them), a Latinx artist and creator, possesses the love of learning which compels them to constantly experiment with new artistic mediums. Through their work, they explore themes of identity, history, and cultural roots with the purpose of narrating compelling stories. Joie is the Gallery Associate for the Northampton Center for the Arts.
Julia Lawton is a New York-based dancer and choreographer. In Spring of 2024, she graduated from Adelphi University with her BFA in dance, as well as a minor in Art and Design Education and as a member of the Honors College. Julia has presented her work at numerous venues, including Arts On Site, American College Dance Association Northeast Conference, Balance Arts Center, Adelphi University Scholarship and Creative Works Conference, Hofstra University Choreography Seminar, and Mashup Dance International Women’s Day Dance Festival. @julia.lawton
Michelle Marroquin (she/her) is a dancer, choreographer, and Physical Therapist Assistant who creates original work using the body, sound and objects. She seeks out collaborations and unusual spaces that disrupt the illusion of separateness and draw forth the human connections between us.
Rachel Rees is a multidisciplinary artist specializing in Aerial Rope. Originally from New Orleans, she studied theatre at Boston University before attending the New England Center for Circus Arts, graduating in 2019. Since then, she has performed internationally aboard Virgin Voyages and around the United States with Cirque Dreams, Circus Evo, the New York Circus Project among others. Rachel has recently begun dipping her toes into the world of dance, taking classes at SCDT on and off for the past year, and dreams of performing in multidisciplinary works combining circus, dance, acting, and music.
Jayme Winell (they/them) is a graduate of the San Francisco School of the Arts and Hampshire College/Five College Dance Dept where they studied social movement histories and dance as a form of community building and transformation. Jayme co-created and performed with the tinydance project for seven years, and was part of two devised TheatreTruck productions. Jayme is Dance Department Lead at Pioneer Valley Performing Arts.
Zazie Tobey received her BA in Dance from Mt. Holyoke College and is the co-director and choreographer at The Academy of Music and an instructor for Ascendance Inner World Arts. She practices, teaches, and choreographs Ballet, Modern, Butoh and Musical Theatre, and is most fascinated with the process of making dances, and the healing dance can bring to mind and body.
