 | ||
| Dance
Faculty
Directory
All Faculty
Sherry AlbanBallet Affiliation with the Princeton Ballet; first-act rehearsal director for American Repertory Ballet Company's Nutcracker; New Jersey State Council on the Arts Choreography Fellowship recipient; work performed by Princeton Ballet II, Roanoke Ballet Theater, and the New England Lyric Opera Company; director and choreographer.
Office: Dance Dept. | Phone: 732-932-8497 
Barbara BashawEd.M. in Dance Education Professor Bashaw is the Coordinator responsible for developing the prospective Ed.M. in Dance Education with PK-12 Certification degree at MGSA/GSE. Her research area is embodied cognition and the artistic development of youth in dance. Prior to joining Rutgers, Bashaw was full-time faculty at NYU Steinhardt where she served as Director of the Dance Education Program and oversaw five graduate degree tracks and coordinated PK-12 dance teacher certification. Bashaw is the 2009 recipient of the NYU Steinhardt Teaching Excellence Award, and the 2003 recipient of the National Dance Education Organization Emerging Visionary award. Bashaw holds permanent teacher certification in dance from New York and New Jersey. Prior to her career in higher education, Bashaw founded the dance program at P.S. 295, The Studio School for Arts & Culture in Brooklyn, NY, and worked extensively in dozens of NYC schools collaborating with young people and their classroom teachers. Bashaw also worked as a choreographer for regional theater companies, and co-founded the Bridge for Dance studio on Broadway. She has presented her work at numerous national and international conferences and currently serves on the board of DanceNJ. She completed a double-major in Interdisciplinary Arts for Children and in Dance from SUNY Brockport, is a Certified (Laban) Movement Analyst, and is an Ed.D. candidate in the Department of Arts and Humanities at Teachers College, Columbia University. Bashaw has a young family with the internationally acclaimed choreographer, Doug Elkins.
Office: Room 201 Levin | Phone: 732-932-8497 X10 
Robert "Tigger" BenfordRhythm, Percussion, Music, Soundscapes Percussionist, composer and improvisor; score for ballet choreographer Septime Webre’s dance Fluctuating Hemlines presented by the Washington Ballet and Ballet Austin; solo CD for marimba and percussion Noise of Choice; collaborative CD The Metal Garden; works featured in Rhythm and Beauty; commissioned percussion score “Abstract Concrete” at Central Park.
Office: NMC 040 | Phone: 732-932-8497 X-15 
John EvansModern dance, Improvisation, Choreography, Dance production Dancing and lighting dance, theater and music since 1980; danced with various dance companies; choreographer and teacher at The Yard; work commissioned by Steele Dance, Thompson & Trammel, various universities, The New Jersey Shakespeare Festival productions; grant recipient from the Pittsburgh Dance Council and the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts; directs John Evans & Dancers; co-artistic director of BOB & BOB DANCE. Lighting designer and/or technical director/stage manager for Merian Soto and Pepon Osorio, Blondell Cummings, Bebe Miller, Susan Marshall, Randy James, Carolyn Dorfman, Mark Taylor, The Three Rivers Shakespeare Festival, American College Dance Festival, and Mason Gross School of the Arts.
Office: Dance Dept | Phone: 732-932-8497 X-15 
Kimani FowlinAfro-American and African Dance Professional dancer, choreographer, African Dance Consultant to Once On This Island, and a native New Yorker. Ms. Fowlin received her dance training and Bachelor of Arts Degree from Sarah Lawrence College. Currently, she is working with the Harambee Dance Company, Umoja Dance Company, Andrea E. Woods and Richard Rivera. She has conducted workshops and choreographed throughout New York and South America.
Office: Dance Dept | Phone: 732-932-8497 
Jeff FriedmanDance History, Dance Appreciation, Modern Dance Jeff Friedman is a dancer/choreographer based in San Francisco from 1979 to 2003. He received a degree in architecture from the University of Oregon and specializes in creating site-specific performance events. His original choreography has been commissioned throughout the West Coast and travels as LOCUS Solo Dance throughout the United States. Jeff was a member of the Oberlin Dance Company from 1980-1989 touring Southeast Asia and the former Soviet Union, a guest artist with the Santa Fe, Los Angeles and San Francisco Opera Companies, and has taught dance technique and history throughout California. Jeff holds a Ph.D. in Dance History and Theory from the University of California, Riverside where his research includes oral history theory and methods. A certified Laban/Bartenieff Movement Analyst, Jeff's current study includes movement analysis of interviews with former Twyla Tharp dancers.
Office: Dance Dept. | Phone: 732-932-8497 X-13 
Randy JamesModern dance, Improvisation, Choreography, Performance Ensemble An exceptionally gifted master teacher and an emotionally evocative choreographer; receiving commissions from dance companies, colleges and universities across the nation; recognized by The New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department of State with a Choreography Fellowship and was named "Distinguished Teaching Artist;" guest artist at various institutions; performance background includes summer stock, dinner theatre, regional ballet companies and nightclub revues; performed with the Metropolitan Opera Ballet; principal dancer with Dan Wagoner & Dancers; artistic director of Randy James Dance Works.
Office: Dance Dept | Phone: 732-932-8497 X-12 
Jay T. JenkinsJazz Jay T. trained as a musician, in piano and trumpet; he studied with Joe Benjamin who played with Duke Ellington. As a dancer he trained in jazz dance technique with Phil Black and William Chaison and in modern with Joan Palladino. Jay T.'s has developed a choreographic movement vocabulary that combines classical and stylized jazz, modern, tap, punk/hip hop. He choreographs in feature films, music videos, industrials and for recording artist's concert tours. He choreographed the feature House Party directed by the Hudlin brothers and has worked with Prince, Salt N Pepa, Chaka Kahn, Cyndi Lauper, the Time, Color Me Badd and many others. He attributes his success in staging movement for musicians which doesn't detract from their playing for live concert performances to his own background as a musician. He has choreographed concert pieces for Ohio State University Dance Theater, the Bolles Dance Company, Princeton University Dance Theatre and Kean Dance Theatre.
Debra Welinder KellerBallet Member of the Wendy Osserman Dance Company since 1980 as performer and co- choreographer; danced in the companies of Charles Weidman and Don Redlich; performed choreography of Jose Limon, Jane Brendel and Laura Glenn; own work performed at DTW, Mulberry Street Theater, Alvin Ailey School, Washington Square UM Church and the Medicine Show Theater; taught in NYC elementary schools; faculty member of Rutgers University at Camden and Red Bank Regional High School; guest teacher in Europe; teaches at 53rd St. YWCA; maintains a private practice specializing in therapeutic movement, Bartenieff Fundamentals and massage.
Office: Dance Dept | Phone: 732-932-8497 
Tikola McCreeChoreography Tikola McCree is a graduate of Rutgers University’s Mason Gross School of the Arts where she received her B.F.A. degree in dance with a minor in Exercise Science. She has traveled abroad performing in various locations in Hungary. Tikola’s Off-Broadway experience includes working with choreographer taking on the role of Lena in Thin Line... A New Dance Drama. In addition, Tikola has worked and studied with Sara Rudner, Patricia Hoffbrauer and George Emilio Sanchez, Joanna Mendl Shaw, Gerald Casel, Renee Redding-Jones, Kraig Patterson, Emily Devine, John Jasperse, Susan Rethorst, Peggy Gould and a host of other innovative choreographers. As an Educator, Tikola has served on the Dance Assessment board in Albany, NY evaluating and updating learning standards for statewide assessments in the high school dance curriculum in New York State. Tikola has taught movement at P.S. 8 (Yonkers, NY), The Acorn School (Brooklyn, NY), The Colonial School (Pelham, NY) as well as various other high schools and universities throughout in the Tri-State Area. Ms. McCree has been invited to set liturgical works on various dance ensembles in New York, South and North Carolina she has also set work on students at Hofstra University. Her choreography has been shown at the Bessie Shoenberg Theater, Martha Hill Theater at Bennington College, Dancespace Project at St. Marks Church and DTW. After receiving her M.F.A. from Sarah Lawrence College, she served as Co-Coordinator of the dance department at Long Island High School of Performing Arts in Syosset, NY. During this time, she also served as Movement Coordinator for high school students with special needs at the Rosemary Kennedy Center also in Syosset. Currently, she is serving on the dance faculty at Rutgers University and as dance faculty in Teaneck Public Schools. Tikola is a certified Dance Specialist in the states of New York and New Jersey.
Sally McMahanAlexander Technique Sally McMahan trained at the Urbana Center for the Alexander Technique under the supervision of Joan and Alex Murray, and on graduating in 2003 was certified as a teacher by the American Society for the Alexander Technique. Prior to that, she received BFA and MFA degrees in Visual Art from the University of Illinois, and taught ceramics both there and at Parkland College in Champaign, Illinois. Sally has maintained a private Alexander teaching practice in Highland Park since moving to New Jersey in 2003 and has taught in numerous workshops at the American Center for the Alexander Technique in New York City. She has never trained in Dance but has for many years been an enthusiastic amateur tap-dancer. 
Julia RitterModern dance, Improvisation, Choreography, Dance Education Julia Ritter's work as a dance artist combines twenty-five years of movement training with continued exploration of vocal and theater techniques. She has presented her dance projects internationally in Russia, Germany, Canada, Mexico and the Czech Republic and at many venues in New York, New Jersey and Philadelphia. Julia was the recipient of a 2004 Choreographic Fellowship for artistic excellence from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts. She has been awarded three prestigious Fulbright Awards by the United States Bureau of Education and Cultural Affairs. In 2008, Julia received a Fulbright Senior Specialist Award to teach and choreograph in Turkey and in 2002 and 2005 she was awarded Fulbrights for her creative work in Germany. Julia is the founder and artistic director of Julia Ritter Performance Group, a non-profit organization that performs nationally and internationally. She has received funding for her creative research from The Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, The American Music Center, The Trust for Mutual Understanding, The National Endowment for the Humanities, The New Jersey State Council on the Arts, The Puffin Foundation, The Hunterdon Cultural & Heritage Commission and the Walt Whitman Center for Culture and Democracy. Julia graduated with her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree with Academic Honors from the Department of Dance at Mason Gross School of the Arts in 1992 and received her Master of Fine Arts degree in Dance from Temple University in 1997. Julia is an Associate Professor, Deputy Chair and Undergraduate Director for the Department of Dance.
Office: Dance Dept | Phone: 732-932-8497 X-17 
Raegan Wood SandersModern dance Freelance choreographer and performer, work seen in New Jersey and New York City; was a member of the Paul Taylor Dance Company; performed with David Parsons, Christopher Gillis, Diane Martel and Judith Rock; taught at the Paul Taylor School, Barnard College, and Juilliard.
Office: Dance Dept | Phone: 732-932-8497 
Paulette SearsDepartment Chair; Modern dance, Laban Movement Studies Choreographer, performer, and nationally recognized teacher in Laban Movement Studies; work produced at Joyce Soho, Cunningham Studio, Symphony Space, P.S. 122, Eden's Expressway, and Nikolais-Louis Choreospace; recognized at regional American College Dance Festivals, and by The New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department of State with a Choreography Fellowship; invited to perform in Brazil; taught in Europe, and in the U.S. at the Laban/Bartenieff Institute of Movement Studies, Dance Notation Bureau, Omega Institute, and other schools; performed in N.Y.'s dancenow festival; performed in works by Claire Porter as part of the 40Up Project at St. Mark's Church; community performer with Mikhail Baryshnikov's White Oak Dance Project.
Office: NMC 037 | Phone: 732-932-8497 X-10 
Wallie WolfgruberTechnique, Improvisation, Ballet Wallie Wolfgruber is a German choreographer living in NYC who has danced with some of the greats of the international modern dance scene including Lar Lubovitch and Ohad Naharin. She has performed in over 30 states of the US as well as in Canada, Central- and South America, Asia, and Europe. She served as Mr. Lubovitch’s choreographic assistant setting his signature work Concerto 622 and performed his acclaimed duet Fandango worldwide. Her choreography has been presented in Germany, Canada, and France and in NYC at La Mama E.T.C., the Tribeca Performing Arts Center, and with DanceNow at the Joyce Soho, Joe’s Pub at the Public Theater, the Duke Theater on 42nd Street and DTW. She holds an MFA in Dance from NYU Tisch School of the Arts, has extensive teaching and directing experience and currently teaches ballet and modern dance at Mason Gross School of the Arts, State University of New Jersey Rutgers and at the Mark Morris Dance Center. STAFF
| ||
 | ||
