Summer 2022 Teacher Bios

Olana Flynn is a multi-disciplinary dance artist based in Holyoke, MA. She holds an MFA in Experimental Choreography from University of California, Riverside and a BA from Hampshire College. Her work looks at improvisational movement and technologies for looping and layering such as 35mm photography and electronic music in relation to liminality and memory. She is a founding member of LOCULUS, a dance and performance collective also based on Western Massachusetts, that creates performance in non-traditional (for dance) spaces and publishes The Loculus Journal. Olana has held faculty positions at Sarah Lawrence College, Springfield College, the University of California Riverside, and has been a guest artist at a number of high schools, studios, and festivals. 

Maya LaLiberté (she/they) is a movement artist compelled by the visceral connections shared between humans during moments of intimacy, risk, presence, and play. Maya graduated with a BA in Dance from Smith College in 2018, where she studied across multiple forms/disciplines/modalities including Contact Improvisation, Countertechnique, House footwork, ballet, and improvisational exploration.
 
Upon graduation, Maya lived in Brooklyn, NY where they worked as a dancer and choreographer in the NYC dance scene. Maya has had the honor of working with artists such as Jennifer Nugent, Bill T. Jones, Thryn Saxon, Bebe Miller, and Anna Vomacka, as well as presenting her own work and collaborations at Smith College, ADF, BDF, and venues throughout NYC. At the beginning of 2020, Maya returned to Western Massachusetts, where she now lives, works, dances, performs, teaches, and explores the natural landscape with all of her senses.

Chloe London is a dance choreographer and performer from New York City. As a freelance performer, London has danced for Stefanie Nelson, Martha Tornay, Tammy Sugden-Carrasco, John Zullo, Elizabeth Furman, Lexie Thrash, Madeline Kurtz and Justin Bass. She has also performed in multiple Merce Cunningham works for The Cunningham Trust. Her choreography has been presented by East Village Dance Project/La MaMa Theatre, Split Bill Series at Triskelion Arts, Dixon Place, WestFest, Composers Concordance and Battery Park Dance Festival. She was a 2019/20 Triskelion Presents Artist and created an evening length show for their Muriel Schulman Theatre. London holds a BFA in Dance and an Honors College degree from SUNY Brockport. She was a 2020 Guest Choreographer at Lindenwood University and a Mentor for the Young Dancers Workshop at Bates Dance Festival from 2018-2020. She is currently pursuing her MFA in Performance and Choreography at Smith College.

​Kate Martel is a dance artist and Alexander Technique teacher based in Western Massachusetts. She enjoyed fifteen years dancing in NYC with choreographers Laura Peterson, Nora Stephens, Rebecca Brooks, Luis Lara Malvacias and Sarah White Ayon, among others. During this time she trained in the Alexander Technique with master teacher Ann Rodiger, graduating from the Balance Arts Center in 2017. Her choreography has been presented by SCDT (WIP), Women in Motion, Movement Research at Judson Church, Center for Performance Research and Purdue University. She has been on faculty at Mason Gross School of the Arts, Adelphi University and Western Connecticut State University. In addition, she has earned a BA from Goucher College in Dance and Education (2002) and an MFA in Performing Arts from University of Wisconsin Milwaukee (2014). Kate has been a collaborator with Barbie Diewald Choreography since 2017 and is currently on faculty at Westfield State University. ​

Michelle Marroquin is a life long dancer and choreographer who works with singers, composers, sculptors and video artists to bring thought provoking performance art to unusual spaces and new audiences. She teaches ballet to teenagers and somatic exercise practices to adults. She is a certified Gyrotonic/Gyrokinesis instructor, Yoga teacher and Thai Massage Bodyworker. More at www.MichelleMarroquin.com