On January 25, MMC’s Dance Advisory Board hosted its annual Friends of Dance event, which celebrates the College’s world-class Dance program and treats supporters to an electrifying presentation by the Marymount Manhattan College Dance Company. Check out these images from the reception and visit the Dance Department webpage for more information.
MMC’s Dance Department held its 2023 Gala on Friday, May 12, with renowned tap dancer, choreographer, director, and actor Savion Glover as this year’s honoree.
Professor Katie Langan has been appointed Interim Vice President for Academic Affairs / Dean of the Faculty. She will succeed Dr. Peter Naccarato, who will take office as Interim President on July 1, 2023, when President Kerry Walk steps down after eight years of distinguished service to Marymount Manhattan College.
MMC Dance alumni, Lily Sheppard ’22, Ragin Smith ’20, and Diovanna Obafanmilayo ’16 were recently featured in Crossroads, a curated series presented by the arts organization Pioneers Go East Collective.
Deena Marcum Selko ’01 has been named the new artistic director of The Academy at Perry-Mansfield, an arts education nonprofit in Steamboat Springs, Colorado.
Associate Professor of Dance Catherine Cabeen and senior Bella Mittenthal ’23 each presented work at the New York State Dance Education Association’s 2023 Winter Conference: Dance & Pride.
Adjunct faculty member Mary Ann Lamb’s cast of her piece for our ’22 Fall Mainstage, titled “Jazz Man,” performed at NYCDAF’s Destiny Rising at The Joyce.
Dance alum Taylor Hollingsworth ’21 will be featured in WAXworks, the Williamsburg Art neXus’s performance showcase, on December 18. The event will be held at Triskelion Arts.
In October 2022, Dance alum Lavy ’21 premiered a collaborative work-in-progress titled “FOLLOW FACE” at the Terre Dance Collective showcase Layers V.4. The program, held at New York City’s TADA! Youth Theater, was part of the Emerging Artists Theater’s New Works Series.
Dance faculty Rodney Hamilton was featured in the 2022 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, where he performed with Ballet Hispánico dancers as part of a float for Netflix’s new fantasy adventure film Slumberland.
If you tuned into the Today show on October 27, you might have recognized a familiar face: MMC Dance alum Michael Bryan Wang ’18. Michael made his Broadway debut this August in the ensemble of the hit musical Beetlejuice and joined the cast in performing the song “Beautiful Sound” live for the Today audience.
Catherine Cabeen, assistant chair and associate professor of Dance, and alum Diovanna Lábeija Fraizer ’16 choreographed and performed a durational movement meditation for the New-York Historical Society eventReckoning with History: Queer Witchcraft Today.
Check out Dance Magazine’s new article, “How Marymount Manhattan’s Newest Required Course—Embodied Africanist Aesthetics—Is Swiftly making an Impact on Its Dance Majors.”
Dance alum Lauryn Hayes ’21 got the opportunity to join The Chase Brock Experience at Theater Row this December. The Chase Brock Experience became a company/show at the Theater Row who worked previously with Hayes at MMC.
We are excited to announce that MMC dance alum Bryan Testa ’22 has joined the Brooklyn-based contemporary dance company GALLIM for their Fall ’22 season. Bryan received his BFA in Dance (Modern Concentration).
Dance Alum Misha Culver ’18 was recently featured in a spec commercial for Sony where she modeled the company’s new noise-cancelling headphones. Misha graduated cum laude with a BFA in Modern Dance. She is currently modeling and dancing in various areas.
Bella Mittenthal ’23 majoring in BFA Dance (Choreography and Modern) with a minor in Graphic Design will be presenting her work titled “…does that make sense?” at the American Heart Association Fundraiser this April.
Iris Parke ’23 double major in BA Dance (Body, Science, and Motion) and a Biomedical Sciences won a First Place Award at highly competitive symposium for undergraduate research.
Following the Fall 2021 Dancers at Work program, Elizabeth Yilmaz, dance advisory board member and producer of Art Bath in NYC, expressed interest in a piece by MMC student Kate Meyers.
Dance alumni Jacob Larsen ’17 and Kate Reyes ’20 performed on the opening night of Martha Graham Dance Company’s season, which was reviewed in The New York Times.
Dance alum Lavy ’21 is a choreographic artist. He graduated from MMC with a BFA in dance choreography. His performance credits include works by Kyle Abraham, Angelica Stiskin, Earl Mosley, Belinda McGuire, Jenn Freeman, and Chase Brock. He is the founder of Verbal Animal, a performance company that organizes multimedia art for public use. The company has presented work at Peridance’s APEX Showcase, Arts on Site, The Craft NYC and Marymount’s Dancers At Work showcase.
Dance alum Joey Kipp ’10 was born in Brazil and raised in Mountain View, California. He received his BA in Biology and Dance here at MMC. Joey has been featured in The NY Times and their online project Speaking in Dance for his work with Biba Bell, Stacy Grossfield, and Jody Oberfelder. Joey was also listed as one of Time Out NY’s “Hot Dancers of NYC.” He will be performing in the ‘My name’sound (work-in-process)’ performance in April 2022.
Philip Trevino, Technical Director and Professor, is the designer and dramaturge for the performance of ‘My name’sound.’ He’s a Chicano/Latinx and LGBTQ artist, NYSCA individual artist (2021), a 2010 BESSIE recipient for the design of Pam Tanowitz’ Be In The Grey With Me, and 2014 Outstanding Production BESSIE for Camille A. Brown’s Mr. Tol E. Rance. Other credits include work with Jenn Freeman, Kymera Dance, Catherine Cabeen, and Brian Brooks Company.
Dance alumni Nick Nazzaro ’21 and Samantha Butts ’19 are in NYCC Encores The Life with Billy Porter.
Elena Comendador in Joyce Trisler’s ‘Concerto in E’ (1979)
February 23, 2022
Keep an eye out for former Assistant Chair of Dance and Faculty Elena Comendador in Joyce Trisler’s, ‘Concerto in E’ from 1979 as a part of The American Dance Guild’s ‘New Dance Group: Voices for Change.’
MMC Dance Adjunct Faculty Member Sekou McMiller has been teaching Embodied African Aesthetics/Jazz at MMC since 2021. He also choreographed a piece for the fall 2021 mainstage performance. He, along with alumni of MMC’s dance program, is now starring in Uprooted Jazz, a documentary that is streaming on HBO Max.
Mariah Reives ’18 has joined the cast of Funny Girl. Revies began dancing as a child in North Carolina, where she also attended the University of North Carolina School of the Arts. After moving to New York, she graduated from Marymount Manhattan with a B.A. in Teaching Dance Arts.
She has also appeared on television in “The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon,” performed with Lin Manuel Miranda, and was featured in a MAC Cosmetics commercial, among other spots.
Dzul Dance, a dance and circus company with pre-Hispanic Mayan cultural themes, based out of NYC and Mexico performs this weekend at New York Live Arts.
Dance Alum Jaqlin Medlock ’07 and Adjunct Professor Brandon Collwes (Cunningham) perform with the Stephen Petronio Company at New York City Center in this year’s Fall for Dance Program 2.
Multiple Dance Alum Featured in Dance Spirit Magazine
October 15, 2021
Dance Alum Samantha Butts `19, Lauryn Hayes `21, Jacob Larsen `16 and Lexi Garcia `16 are featured in Dance Magazine’s ‘Diversify Your Training and Open New Doors at Marymount Manhattan College’.
Dance faculty member Keenen Thomas (Embodied Africanist Aesthetics) performs in The LayeRhythm Experiment & Guests at the 92nd Street Y monthly this season.
Jessica Ferretti is originally from Port Chester, New York, where she started her dance training at Westchester Dance Academy. She graduated magna cum laude in 2019 from Marymount Manhattan College, where she performed works by Larry Keigwin, Jessica Lang, Michael Thomas, Loni Landon, Nancy Lushington, Pedro Ruiz, Chase Brock and Tito Del Saz. Jessica joined Taylor 2 in Fall 2019, and the Paul Taylor Dance Company in 2021.
MMC Dance alum Gracie Anderson `19 has joined the upcoming North American tour of Cats and has become the production’s Dance Captain and Swing. While a student at MMC, she was awarded the Gold Key for her BFA in Dance with a concentration in Ballet.
Right out of college, Dance Alum Hyla Mayrose Perillo `21 (she/her) had the chance to join the Broadway National Tour of Cats in the role of the White Cat Victoria.
Dance Magazine recently featured Marymount Manhattan College’s Great Hall in an article highlighting exceptional college dance studios. Associate Professor of Dance Nancy Lushington and Professor of Dance Katie Langan were interviewed, explaining why the Great Hall is more than just a studio.
MMC Dance alum Samantha Butts has been dancing for years now. Coming from Ohio, she didn’t think she would join the Rockettes until her best friend, Hailee Snyder, did years before she became part of it.Samantha auditioned in April and August of 2019. She calls herself a “strong, proud African-American.”
Jacob Michael Warren ’09, a graduate of MMC’s BFA Dance program, recently directed WE WERE APART, a dance film created in collaboration between Pilobolus and musician duoJalal.