Dance Festival Faculty - Colorado College

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HerminjardPatrizia Herminjard,Festival Director, Colorado College. Patrizia, native to Switzerland, graduated from The Colorado College with a BA in philosophy in 1996.  She spent the next five years dancing for the Martha Graham Ensemble in New York City.  She also danced with the Pearl Lang Dance Theater, Shen Wei at the American Dance Festival and DanceArt in Hong Kong.  In 2003 she earned her MFA in dance from the University of California at Irvine where she was a Chancellor’s Fellowship recipient. During this time Patrizia worked closely with renowned choreographer Professor Donald McKayle as his assistant and rehearsal director of the Donald McKayle Etude Ensemble. Mrs. Herminjard has been featured in Dance for Camera works showcased at the Seoul Net Festival, the Il Coreografo Elettronico Festival in Napoli, Italy and at the Caught Between: Dancing for Camera and Live Audience Festival in Hollywood.  She is a three-time winner of the PPAC award for excellence in choreography given to her by the Pikes Peak Arts Council in 2005, 2006, and 2008. She is currently on faculty at The Colorado College and acting president of the Colorado Springs Dance Theater.
 
SilvestreRosangela Silvestre Dos Santos (Modern Dance / Silvestre Technique) is a choreographer, instructor, dancer and originator of the exquisite Silvestre Technique. A native of Salvador, Bahia, Brazil, Rosangela graduated with a bachelor's degree in dance and later speciallized in choreography, achieving her master's degree from the Federal University of Bahia (UFBA). Rosangela's professional career began in 1981 as a dancer and choreographer in the dance company of the Federal University of Bahia, Odundê. While with this group, she represented Brazil in the international Festival of Dance in France. Since 1982, Rosangela has researched and developed a technique of Brazilian dance inspired by her own cultural movements and rhythms. In 1989, she joined Balé Folclórico da Bahia, becoming responsible for the technical training of the dancers in addition to creating choreographic works that came to identify the unique contemporary interpretation of the traditional dance company. Since 1995, Rosangela has been collaborating with the American saxophonist Steve Coleman (BMG label), developing research in dance and music by traveling to countries with African-influenced cultural bases including Cuba, India, Senegal, Egypt, and Brazil. She regularly participates in dance and music festivals and educational programs for children and adults throughout Europe, Asia, Africa and the United States.
 
HandmanEric Handman(Assistant Professor), hails from New York City, and is an Assistant Professor at the University of Utah's Department of Modern Dance. He is a choreographer, performer, dance filmmaker and educator. Prior to receiving his MFA from the University in 2003, he earned a bachelor's degree in English from Skidmore College in 1991. He spent much of the Nineties as a professional dancer in New York City as a member of such companies as Doug Varone and Dancers, Joy Kellman & Company and Nicholas Leichter Dance. He has also danced for choreographers David Dorfman, Lisa Race, Stephen Koester, Charlotte Boye-Christensen, Pooh Kaye, Wendy Perron, Simone Forti, Debra Fernandez, Tim Harling & Lisa Giobbi,  Eun Me Ahn, and Koosil-ja Hwang. He teaches domestically and internationally and specializes in technique, improvisation, contact improvisation, composition, qualitative research methods, dance filmmaking, aesthetics, criticism and theory.
 
ErkertJan Erkert (modern technique) is a dance-maker, author and Head of the Department of Dance at University of Illinois.   As Artistic Director of Jan Erkert & Dancers from 1979 - 2000, she created over 70 works, critically acclaimed for their lush, evocative imagery.   Ms. Erkert's work has been seen throughout the United States as well as in Germany, Mexico, Taiwan, Japan, Uruguay and Israel.   Ms. Erkert and the company have been honored with numerous awards including fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Illinois Arts Council, and Ruth Page Awards for choreography and performance.   She has received two Fulbright Scholar Awards and served on the Fulbright panel.   Throughout her career she has devoted much of her energy to advancing teaching and learning.   She authored Harnessing the Wind: The Art of Teaching Modern Dance , which was published in 2003 by Human Kinetics and she has been a master teacher at universities and colleges throughout the United States, Mexico, Europe and Asia.   As a professor of dance at Columbia College Chicago from 1990-2006, she garnered many awards including the 1999 Excellence in Teaching Award, and a nominee for the U.S. Professor of the Year sponsored by the Carnegie Foundation.   Her political and community work includes partnerships with the Kovler Center for Survivors of Torture, The Peace Museum and Amnesty International.
 

HijackHIJACK (contact improvisation) is the Minneapolis-based choreographic collaboration of Kristin Van Loon & Arwen Wilder.   Van Loon & Wilder each grew up in Chicago and met at Colorado College in 1990. In 1993, they moved to Minneapolis and named their collaboration HIJACK. Specializing in the inappropriate, they insert dance where it is least expected. HIJACK is best known for "short-shorts": pop song-length miniatures designed to deliver a sharp shock and football field-scaled spectacles for 15-50 performers. The duo has taught and performed in Japan, Russia, Central America, Ottawa, Chicago, Colorado, New Orleans, Seattle, San Francisco, New York, Austin,TX, and Maine. Their recent "3 Minutes of Pork and Shoving" with Scott Heron was described as "one of the most enjoyable, language-defying performances I've seen in a long time" by The New York Times.
 
MercerDebra Mercer (Ballet) is on the Colorado College Dance Technique faculty, and has been Balletmaster in theDepartment of Drama and Dance since 1994. She teaches all levels of ballet in addition to an intensive ballet reconstruction class. She has performed with most ballet companies in the state of Colorado (particularly Colorado Ballet in Denver) and has taught ballet with most of the leading dance studios in the state as well, presently teaching at Colorado College and Ormao Dance. Mercer teaches classical ballet, with specialties in Bournonville and Balanchine techniques, respectively. She has choreographed and performed continually for the past 20 years.
 
Maria Vazquez María Vázquez (Flamenco) is a native of Sevilla, Spain, and has been dancing Flamenco her entire life. María has been teaching and performing Flamenco Dance for the last 12 years. She danced with the company Ciudad de Sevilla for two years and toured throughout Europe with that company. She continued performing with other independent Flamenco groups in Sevilla until 2002, when she moved to Denver. Now, María teaches in Colorado and has formed the performance group, Grupo María Vázquez.
 

Gustafson Echo Gustafson (Gyrokinesis® / Repertory) serves as Associate Artistic Director of Moving People Dance Santa Fe. She is a Gyrokinesis(R) and Gyrotonic(R) Master Trainer. She has danced professionally around the world with companies including the Martha Graham Dance Company and the Pearl Lang Dance Theatre. Gustafson has been dancing with Moving People Dance Santa Fe since 2003. She teaches modern, jazz, and Gyrokinesis for Pre-Professional Students of Moving People Dance. She also maintains a private practice training people of all walks of life in the Gyrotonic Movement System. She is in the Teacher Training Program for Wild Goose
Qi Gong. Movement artists that have had a strong influence on Gustafson's work include Juliu Horvath, Susan Klien, Max Stone, Finus Jung, Robert Moses, Gail Gilbert, Dr. Bingkun Hu, Jackie Sleight, Ron Brown, Christine Dakin and Simon Dow. As a teacher, Gustafson cultivates functional and healthy technique informed by Gyrotonic Principles. As a choreographer, she strives to create movement that demonstrates energetic connection.
 
Giannakis

Yuko Suzuki Giannakis originally from Tokyo, Japan is currently a resident of New York and a member of 360° Dance Company under the direction of Mr. Martin Lofsnes. She is also a certified GYROTONIC/ GYROKINESIS® instructor, and a faculty member of the Martha Graham School of Contemporary Dance. She has worked with various companies and Choreographers include Martha Graham Dance Company, Martha Graham Dance Ensemble, Isadora Duncan Foundation,Singapore Dance Ensemble (Singapore), Inoue Ballet (Tokyo), Mary Anthony, Aszure Barton, Erica Dankmeyer, Whitney Hunter, Andrea Perecovic, Richard Move, and Margarita Roa.
 

Domenico GiustinoDomenico Giustino (release technique) is a freelance dancer, performer, and choreographer.  While obtaining a theater degree from Colorado College,  he began dancing under WinYu Wang, Peggy Berg, Andy Wong and others.  His training later brought him to Russia where he studied at the Moscow Art Theater and later the Conservatory of Opera and Ballet of St. Petersburg.  Domenico finished his dance training at P.A.R.T.S. school in Bruxelles, where he now lives.

Domenico has been creating his own works as well as dancing for choreographers around European stages.  Co-founder of the Rabbit Hole Collective, he made several dance works from 2004-2006, including a repertory of films. He has worked with William Forsythe (guest), Maria Clara Villa Lobos, Christian Smedts Ensemble,  Sioned Huwys, among others.  He has been a member and collaborated with the Sweet and Tender network since 2006, creating various works in Iran, Portugal, Spain, France, Norway, and Mexico.  In 2007 he was a recipient of the Traject Research Grant from the Flemish Government,  and he began a series of site specific works ranging from urban spaces to musuems, including “Area” and “WePods”.  He has toured Europe with the Bal Modern project since 2003.  As a member of the Solo Conversations Dance Collective, he has been developing, performing, and teaching improvisation techniques for the past 2 years.
 

Paula SelfPaula Self (yoga) received her Intermediate Junior level II certification from B.K.S. Iyengar in 2001. She has 12 years of experience teaching, and accumulated 10 months of total immersion at the Ramamani Iyengar Yoga Institute in Pune, India, where she has assisted in medical classes under  the guidance of her main teacher and inspiratio, Geeta Iyengar. Paula is currently teaching in Colorado, as well as regularly traveling to her native South America to conduct teacher training courses and workshops. Her high energy, magnetic personality and passion for the self-transformative path of Yoga assure the students a deeper connection with the subject and themselves.
 

Lisa ClarkRay Schwartz, MFA, (Body Mind Centering) is a Movement Artist and Researcher, Arts Activist, Dancer, Choreographer, Teacher, Body-worker, and Somatic Movement Educator, and co-founder of  Steve’s House Dance Collective, Zen Monkey Project, THEM, and Sheep Army/Elsewhere Dance Theater. He currently teaches at the Universidad De Las Americas in Cholula/ Puebla, Mexico.