Linda Kent toured internationally for over 21 years as a principal dancer with the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and the Paul Taylor Dance Company. Her national television appearances include Ailey's On Being Black, Memories and Visions, Cosby Celebrates Ailey and five Taylor programs for the PBS series Dance in America. Miss Kent has staged works by Taylor, Ailey, and David Parsons for dance companies around the world, including Joffrey Ballet, Bat Dor Company of Israel, Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, London Contemporary Dance Theater, La Scala Opera Ballet and the Juilliard School. Miss Kent graduated from the Juilliard School and has been a faculty member there since 1984. She has also taught at the Taylor School, Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival, the University of Illinois, and Wake Forest University. In 1992, she was the first modern dancer asked to teach at the Bolshoi Ballet School in Moscow. Linda is returning to Perry-Mansfield for her eighth summer as Director of Dance.

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Natalia Alonso, a native New Yorker of Spanish decent, began her dance studies with Kaleria Fedicheva of the Kirov Ballet. She continued her studies at the Boston Ballet and at the Alvin Ailey American Dance Center. After graduating from Wesleyan University with a bachelors degree in economics, she joined Ballet Hispanico of NY. She is currently in her seventh season with the company. Natalia has worked with other choreographers such as Alonzo King, Bradley Shelver, and George Faison on Aretha Franklin Tour dates. She also appeared in Telemundo "Up Front" specials and in several independent films. Natalia has been a GYROTONIC® instructor since 2005 and trains other dancers in strengthening techniques.

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Antonio Brown, a native of Cleveland, Ohio, began his dance training at the age of 11 at the Cleveland School of the Arts. After graduating, he traveled to New York City to attend The Juilliard School where he had the opportunity to perform works by Jose Limon, Ohad Naharin, Jiri Kylian, Eliot Feld, Aszure Barton, Jessica Lang, Susan Marshall, and many others. After graduating from Juilliard, Mr. Brown joined the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company in the spring of 2007 and is excited to be sharing his gifts and talents with the world.

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Camille A. Brown began her dance training at Bernice Johnson Cultural Arts Studio, attended LaGuardia High School of the Performing Arts and The Ailey School, and received her B.F.A. in Dance from The North Carolina School of the Arts. She was a member of Ronald K. Brown/Evidence (2001-2007) and also dances with Renni Harris/Puremovement. Ms. Brown has been honored with awards and fellowships that include a 2006 Princess Grace Award in Choreography, New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship in Choreography, The Presidential Scholar of the Arts Award in Dance, NFAA Young Artists’ Award and The Project Next Generation Award. She has received commissions from Hubbard Street II, Urban Bush Women, and Ailey II, and has been featured in Marie Claire, Dance Magazine, and Dance Spirit. Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater premiered her work, The Groove To Nobody's Business, at New York's City Center to which Jennifer Dunning observed her work as being, "..delicious...Ms. Brown's choreography is both expressive and economical-no words needed".

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Jenny Carlson trained at the Imperial Academy of Dance in Connecticut and continued her studies at Emerson, College receiving a BFA in Dance. Jenny is a member of Flipside Dance Theatre, Ipswich Moving Company, Fresh Squeezed Dance, and Fallen Flight Project. These companies have taken her from California to Europe to perform. Jenny has been flying through the air for 10 years on rope, fabric, and steel frames performing and choreographing Aerial pieces with Ipswich Moving Company. She has been seen performing at The International Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Boston Center for the Arts, The Dance Complex MA, Green Street Studio's MA, and The Oakland Performing Arts Center CA. Jenny is the director of Ipswich Moving Company School of Dance and assistant director of the Company. Jenny has been described by The Boston Globe as "a beautifully lyrical and articulate dancer, who moves with a lush fluidity" 03'.

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Ernesta Corvino studied ballet with Margaret Craske, Antony Tudor, Alfredo Corvino and Andra Corvino. At the age of 14 she joined the Maryland Ballet as soloist then went on to dance with the Metropolitan Opera Ballet and Radio City Music Hall Ballet Company. She toured the U.S. with the American Chamber Ballet and went to Asia with the Opera Theatre of New York. She has also performed with Ruby Shang, Bill Badolato, Roberto Cartagena and ethnic dance specialist, Matteo. In 1991 she became a member of the New York Baroque Dance Company appearing in New York City, the Carmel Bach Festival , The Kennedy Center and in Europe. Ms. Corvino has also performed as a baroque soloist with Apollo's Banquet. In 1981 she formed her own company, ERNESTA CORVINO'S DANCE CIRCLE COMPANY, which appeared annually at the Riverside Dance Festival in New York City from 1982-87. The company has also performed at Lincoln Center Out-of-Doors, the Downtown Dance Festival, the Meet-the-Artist Series at Lincoln Center, USDAN Center, Randolph-Macon Womans College, the Nikolais/Louis ChoreoSpace and Marymount Manhattan Theatre. Ms. Corvino has choreographed over twenty pieces for the company ranging from a Charlie Chaplin two-reeler to a ballet about the Kentucky Derby. Well-known for her wry treatment of popular culture in ballets such as the critically acclaimed Holmes, Sweet Holmes, Ms. Corvino is equally adept at crafting works of pathos and tragedy. Her recently created The Early Morning Hours of the Hard Moon is a tender and heroic treatment of one man's struggle with AIDS and of Somnus, Jennie Schulman of Backstage wrote, "This is one of the most novel utilizations of the Ravel score ever conceived." From 1968 to 1993 she was teacher and co-director of her own school, DANCE CIRCLE in New York City. Her teaching credits also include the Juilliard School, the Inner-City Ensemble, the Governor's School of New Jersey, Randolph-Macon Womans College, the Tappan Zee Dance Group, SUNY/ Purchase, and Stephens College (all for whom she has choreographed), as well as Sarah Lawrence College, SUNY/Brockport, Long Island University, Hofstra University, the University of Illinois Urbana/Champaign, STEPS ON BROADWAY, and Danspace of Oakland, CA. Ms. Corvino frequently teaches, choreographs and performs as Artist-in-Residence at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Recently she has appeared at the Kaye Playhouse in New York City and The Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival in "From The Horse's Mouth", a live dance documentary as well as with BALLET MINK COLBERT in the U.S. and Denmark. She currently teaches open classes in New York City, is ballet master for the Jose Limon Dance Company as well as Pina Bausch/Tanztheater Wuppertal and conducts workshops throughout Europe.

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Janet Taisey Craft is founder and artistic director of The Ipswich Moving Company. Her choreography has been presented in the US, the Netherlands, the former Soviet Union, and twice at the International Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland. In 1990, Janet was a guest artist with The Independent Company of Alla Sigalova and presented a full evening concert of her work at the Hermitage Theatre in Moscow, Russia. Her choreography has been recognized by the Massachusetts Artist Foundation and the Massachusetts Cultural Council as a grant recipient numerous times and a fellowship finalist. Janet was Professor and Head of Dance at Emerson College for twenty-four years where she taught ballet, modern dance, dance history, all levels of dance composition, improvisation, and aerial dance. She directed dance concerts and co-directed and choreographed original dance theatre works for Emerson Stage. Janet created her first aerial dance in 1986 for the Montserrat Gallery. Over the past twenty years, Janet has evolved a unique form of aerial dance using tied climbing rope and fabric slings. Her aerial dances have been presented throughout New England and at the Festival Fringe in 2000. Her aerial dance, "Snake in the Grass" was selected for the First International Aerial Dance Festival in 1992. Craft's "Free Fall" was presented in the Spotlight on Dance Series at the Boston Center for the Arts in 2003. Her latest work, "Dreaming Head", premiered in March 2008 and includes aerial dance in climbing rope, and on an aluminum swing.

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Jennifer Golonka recently moved to Denver from NYC for the beautiful weather and picturesque surroundings. While still residing in NYC, she performed with the Jessica Lang Project, freshblood Productions and Pick of the Crop Dance, where she performed works by David Parsons, Gail Gilbert, Colin Conner and Laura Dean. She has also had the opportunity to perform with Battleworks Dance Company, Darrell Grand Moultrie, Take Dance Company and Kristopher Weinstein Storey. Jennifer studied at the Martha Graham School, the Limon Institute and Peridance Center. As a staunch activist for both the environment and politics, Jennifer joined Nimbus Dance, a company that presented multi-media dance concerts dealing with current events. She was the resident choreographer. Since her move to Denver, Jennifer has performed with Kim Robards Dance Company, co-directed the Threshold Project and is currently dancing with 3rd Law Dance/Theater. This is her sixth summer at Perry-Mansfield.

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Catherine Green began professional training at the North Carolina School of the Arts. She performed with Pittsburgh Ballet Theater and Ballet Met before attending Purchase College, graduating in 1990 with a BFA in dance. For the past fourteen years, Ms. Green has lived in New York City, working as a dancer and dance teacher. Most recently she performed with Ballet Mink Colbert in Copenhagen, Denmark, at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland and at Perry-Mansfield in the New Works Festival and Faculty showcase. Ms. Green is currently adjunct faculty at the Hunter College Dance Program, and she received her MA in dance education from New York University in 2003. She is delighted to return to Perry-Mansfield for a sixth summer.

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Born in Hollis, NH, Meghan Grupposo attended the Walnut Hill School for five years. She received her BFA in Dance from The Juilliard School under the Artistic Direction of Benjamin Harkarvy and continued studies with Ernesta Corvino. Her concert work includes the works of Jose Limon, Lila York, Mauricio Wainrott and creating roles in two original works by Adam Hougland. Miss Grupposo has been a guest performer with The Portland Ballet, ME; Northern Ballet Theatre, and Sue Bernhard and Dancers. She was a member of The de Mille Project, helping to restore the "lost and forgotten" works of Agnes de Mille to film, under the direction of Gemze de Lappe. For another film project, she worked with the American Dance Legacy Institute and Sophie Maslow for Maslow's ballet "The Village I Knew", performing the solo, "A Point of Doctrine." Meghan has choreographed and performed for The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center's "Meet The Music!" concerts, aimed at introducing children to the rich world of music and dance. In 2004 Miss Grupposo was invited to join the faculty at The Miami Conservatory of Ballet, established in 1949 by Thomas Armour of The Ballet Russe.

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Elizabeth Keen began as a dancer in the companies of Paul Taylor and Helen Tamiris – Daniel Nagrin. As choreographer, she was artistic director of her own group, The Elizabeth Keen Dance Company, which toured nationally and performed annually in New York City with the support of the NEA and NYSCOA from 1966-1981. Since then, she has choreographed primarily for opera and theater. Credits include Carmen (the Met), La Traviata & Falstaff (Glyndebourne), Animal Farm and The Tempest (Royal National Theater), all directed by Sir Peter Hall; L'Ange de Feu, directed by Andrei Serban for L’Opera Bastille and L.A. Opera; Salome for the Kennedy Center and Covent Garden. Recently she set dances for Aphra Behn’s Sir Patient Fancy, Paul Rudnick’s Valhalla, and a Central Park Conservancy Halloween Extravaganza. She is a graduate of Barnard College and holds an MFA from Sarah Lawrence College. She has been on the Juilliard faculty since 1986.

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Yvonne Marceau is an internationally renowned ballroom dancer and teacher. Recipient of the 1993 Dance Magazine Award, the Fred Astaire Award for best dancing on Broadway (which she and her partner Pierre Dulaine received for the roles they created and choreographed in Grand Hotel) she is a faculty member at The Juilliard School and guest teacher at The School of American Ballet. Together with Mr. Dulaine she is co-artistic director of The American Ballroom Theater which currently teaches ballroom dancing in 67 NYC public schools. Ms. Marceau recently choreographed for the film Mona Lisa Smile starring Julia Roberts.

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Rick McCullough has professional experience that includes performing with the Netherlands Dance Theater from 1975 to 1984, creating numerous roles under the direction of Jiri Kylian, Christopher Bruce, Hans van Manen, and William Forsythe. He also danced soloist roles with the Harkness Ballet from 1971 to 1975, and with the North Carolina Dance Theater from 1970 to 1971. He served as Ballet Master for the Pittsburgh Ballet Theater from 1986 to 1988. He is also the Artistic Director of the North Carolina School of the Arts Summer Institute on Roanoke Island since 1998 until the present. He received his BFA Degree from North Carolina School of the Arts in 1986, and he received his MFA Degree in Dance in 1995. He was an Assistant Professor at the University of North Carolina, Greensboro from 1995 to 2000. He has also taught at Ohio State University (2003), Western Michigan University (2000), the University of Utah (1996), the Metropolitan Opera Ballet (1995), the American Dance Festival (1994 and 1995), and the Pacific Northwest Ballet (1994). He has received five choreographic fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts. He received second prize at the Tokyo International Choreography Competition in 1991 and a gold medal at the Boston International Choreography Competition in 1990. His ballets have been performed by School of American Ballet, Chautauqua Institution, North Carolina School of the Arts, Washington Ballet, Ballet Pacifica, North Carolina Dance Theater, Pittsburgh Ballet Theater, Boston Ballet and Pacific Northwest Ballet. He is currently Director of the BFA Program in Dance at Florida State University.

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A native Canadian, Nicholas Villeneuve was born in Montreal and raised in Kingston, Jamaica. He began his training at the Edna Manley College for Visual and Performing Arts in Kingston and moved to New York City in 1997 to further his studies under the Artistic Direction of Benjamin Harkavy at The Juilliard School and at Alvin Ailey. He has been privileged to perform works by great modern masters such as José Limon, Agnes de Mille and Hans van Maren. His professional credits include Cortez Contemporary Ballet, The Lion King (Dance Captain) and The Company Dance Theatre Jamaica. Nicholas is currently a member of the Ballet Hispanico School and Company in New York City.

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Peter Chu began his training as a competitive gymnast and evolved into a dancer at Dussich Dance Studio in Merritt Island, Fl. Receiving his BFA degree from the Juilliard School under the direction of Benjamin Harkarvy, Peter was awarded the Hector Zaraspe Prize for choreography. Upon graduation, he joined Les Ballets Jazz de Motnreal(BJM_ Danse) directed by Louis Robitailles for two seasons. He has taught and choreographed for the Edge Scholarship show in LA, the cast of Le Reve created by Franco Dragone, Houston Metropolitan Dance Co., The Juilliard School summer dance, Busan International Beach Dance Festival (Korea), as a guest teacher for LADF dance conventions, Dance Masters of America national and regional conventions, Le Domaine Forget Summer Intensive in Charlevoix, Quebec, and for the Invito Alla Danza Festival 2003 in Rome. His versatility and love for dance has motivated him to express his artistry/choreography through various dance techniques and styles. Now pursuing a career as both a choreographer and performer, his work has been presented at Alice Tully Hall, The Clark Studio Theatre, The Juilliard Theatre, Wortham Theater Center, Key Club(Carnival), as well as many other schools and theatres across North America. He recently finished creating and dancing for the film, "Love Runs Red," directed by Trevor John. Peter is enjoying his time performing for the Celine Dion show, " A New Day," in Las Vegas.

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