TREVOR CARLSON, Executive Director, is a graduate of The Juilliard School in New York City where he received a BFA in Dance. He has performed with the Stanley Love Performance Group and was co-founder of the organization. Throughout his extensive career as an arts administrator, he has served as Fiscal Associate for Pentacle/DanceWorks, Managing Director of the Stephen Petronio Company, Tour Manager for P.S. 122 Field Trips, Company Manager at The Joyce Theater, and Company Manager, Director of Communications, and General Manager of MCDC. He assumed the position of Executive Director of the Cunningham Dance Foundation in 2005. During his tenure at MCDC, he has helped to increase the number of visual artist collaborations by developing the possibility for Merce to create Events in repertory theater houses using different décors each evening. A total of 25 additional collaborations have been staged in this manner. He also helped stimulate the vision for MCDC’s 2003 collaboration with the bands Radiohead and Sigur Rós and artists Robert Heishman and Catherine Yass.  Most recently, in continuation of this collaborative philosophy, Trevor has helped to expand the role of MCDC as a community-wide residency partner.  These partnerships provide historical context, as well as stimulus for new local collaboration and creation across multiple artistic fields.  The Company has experienced great success with this formula at several residencies, including the Melbourne International Arts Festival in 2007.  Also during his tenure, Trevor helped initiate the groundbreaking Monday’s With Merce program, to capture Merce’s Monday company class and other aspects of studio life for the Company.  The program gives dancers around the world the opportunity to take class from Merce himself.  Trevor has given lectures at numerous institutions including the College of St. Benedict, Johnson County Community College, The Juilliard School, Stanford University, the University of Florida at Gainesville, University of Illinois, University of Maryland, University of Michigan, and in various locations throughout Brazil, the United Kingdom, and Norway. He has also served as a panelist for the Jerome Foundation.  In 2001 Trevor performed in John Cage’s theater piece, James Joyce, Marcel Duchamp, Erik Satie: An Alphabet. 

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LYNN WICHERN, Chief Financial Officer, joined the Merce Cunningham Dance Company in October of 2005.  She was the Fiscal Administrator for the Mark Morris Dance Group from 1996-2005. Prior to that she was the Fiscal Director for the Foundation for Independent Artists, a ten member corporate conduit for unincorporated artists, administered by Pentacle, (Danceworks, Inc.). In that capacity she was the financial manager for Bebe Miller, Doug Varone, Urban Bush Women, and Eiko and Komo, to name a few. She is a graduate of the University of Iowa with a BA and MA in dance, and holds a MFA from Case Western Reserve University in dance and theatre. Before coming to NYC she was a professor of dance at the University of Virginia, Illinois Wesleyan University and Drake University. She choreographed and performed as part of EMR dance company and Wichern/Wolfson dance & music in the 90s.

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LAYTON HOWER, Bookkeeper, graduated in 2003 from Davidson College with a BA in Studio Art and shortly thereafter moved to the New Mexican desert to paint canvasses and eat chiles. In 2006, following a number of solo and group exhibitions in Albuquerque, Layton moved to Brooklyn with his wife, Michele. Layton continues his painting career in New York City and is thrilled to work with the fine office staff of the Cunningham Dance Foundation.

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KEITH BUTLER, Director of Development, has held positions within the development departments of such signature national performing arts organizations as Big Apple Performing Arts, Dance Theatre Workshop, the Brooklyn Philharmonic, Manhattan Theatre Club, and Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, Inc. He serves as the Fundraising Specialist for Dance Theatre Workshop’s Laboratory in Arts Management, and has also lead seminars for emerging artists on topics including: grant writing and donor identification, event planning, and fiscal management. Further, Mr. Butler serves as a pro-bono fundraising consultant with and singing member of the New York City Gay Men’s Chorus. He has worked with and advised numerous contemporary dance artists including Jeremy Wade, Trajal Harrel, Andrea Haenggi, and Jodi Melnick. Mr. Butler holds a Bachelor of Music degree in Voice Performance (cum laude) from Boston University and a Master of Arts degree in Performing Arts Administration from New York University.

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JORDAN ELKIND, Development Associate, graduated from Brown University with a B.A. in Economics and Medieval Studies. His interest in foreign language and the performing arts brought him to Berlin for a semester, where he studied medieval German literature and immersed himself in the world of avant-garde theater, opera, and dance, attending the German premieres of Meg Stuart/Damaged Goods’ “Blessed” and Duscapin’s “Faustus, the Last Night.” Over the last few years, he has enjoyed artistic collaboration with and administrative leadership of Brown Opera Productions (BOP), stage directing operas and scenes, bringing opera to Providence children, and, most recently, serving as chairman. A native of San Francisco, he enjoys exploring the parks, museums, and theaters of New York.

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jordan@merce.org

KEVIN TAYLOR, Director of Special Projects, Assistant to the Executive Director, graduated from Texas Christian University with a BFA in ballet and modern dance. In addition to his work with MCDC, Kevin dances with the VonHowardProject, an up-and-coming modern troupe based out of NY/NJ.

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PATRICIA LENT, Director of Licensing, was a member of the Merce Cunningham Dance Company from 1984 to 1993, and White Oak Dance Project from 1994 to 1996. She has been on the faculty of the Merce Cunningham Studio since 1988, teaching technique classes and workshops, and
staging work from the repertory including the reconstruction of Fabrications for MCDC’s 50th Anniversary season. From 1998 to 2007 she taught second and third grade at P.S. 234 in lower Manhattan. Her essay “Moving Back and Moving On,” published in Forever After: New York City Teachers on 9/11, describes her class trip to an MCDC rehearsal which inspired the development of the Studio’s Educational Outreach
Program.

DAVISON SCANDRETT, Production Manager, earned his BFA in Lighting Design from the North Carolina School of the Arts in 2002. He spent the next six years dividing his time between commercial productions and work with independent theatre & dance artists. Recent credits include works by Sarah Michelson, Miguel Gutierrez, Joanna Haigood, Carlos Orta, and Twyla Tharp. He has supervised the lighting for over 100 productions as a lighting director or department head, including 3 tours for the Tony-honored Acting Company, the World Tour of Rent, and the First National Tour of The Drowsy Chaperone. His design work has been seen at venues across the US as well as in Europe, and in 2007 he was the recipient of a Bessie for his collaboration with Sarah Michelson on the lighting of Dogs at Brooklyn Academy of Music. Davison joined MCDC in the summer of 2008.

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davison@merce.org

CHRISTINE SHALLENBERG, Lighting Director, is a resident of Brooklyn and a graduate of Illinois Wesleyan University with a degree in Theater Arts and Dance. Her primary focus is creating contemporary dance and performance, as well as lighting design for the New York Dance Community. In New York City, Shallenberg has collaborated with choreographers Nicholas Leichter, Clare Byrne, Laura Pawel, Beth Soll, and Michael Helland. She has had the pleasure of working as a Technical Director at Danspace Project, as well as touring Lighting Director for Hell’s Kitchen Dance with Mikhail Barishnikov.

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STEPHAN MOORE, Sound Engineer and Music Coordinator, is a composer, audio artist, and sound designer in New York City. He performs regularly as half of the electronic duo Evidence, and with a variety of musicians, live-video artists, and dancers. He has created custom music software for a number of composers and artists, and has taught courses in sound art and electronic music at Maryland Institute College of Art, Peabody Conservatory, Massachusetts College of Art, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and Simon's Rock College of Bard.

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GEOFFREY FINGER, Company Manager, received a BA from Reed College in Portland, OR where he studied the history of Chinese language and religion, and dance. While at Reed, he produced performances by Eiko and Koma, DJ Spooky, and Deborah Hay.  A recipient of the T.J. Watson Fellowship, Geoffrey completed a yearlong journey through Oceania, West Africa, and Brazil while working with an array of community dance and outreach programs.  A Luce Fellowship for undergraduate Chinese studies supported him to travel to Taiwan for a summer where he researched Cloud Gate Dance Theater and its connection to Chinese and Taiwanese history.  Geoffrey has served as an intern at Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, and acted as an NEA Fellow at the Institute for Dance Writing and Criticism at the American Dance Festival.  

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geoffrey@merce.org

To book the company contact:

julie-george@wanadoo.fr for Europe
david@dlartists.com for the Americas & Asia

JEFF DONALDSON-FORBES, Contracts and Touring Administrator, is an avid dance and music lover. He is a playwright, performer, and director and has produced theater in New York City; Provincetown, MA; and Bozeman, Montana.
Jeff is a past President of both The Provincetown Theater Company and Back Street Arts (NY), and a former Event Director of the magazines Field & Stream and Outdoor Life.

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DAVID VAUGHAN, Archivist, has danced, sung, acted, and choreographed in London, Paris, on and off Broadway, in American regional theaters, in film, television, ballet and modern dance companies, and cabaret. He is the author of Merce Cunningham: Fifty Years (Aperture, 1997) and of Frederick Ashton and his Ballets (revised edition, Dance Books, 1999). At the Dancing in the Millennium Conference in Washington DC in July 2000, he received the 2000 CORD (Congress on Research in Dance) Award for Outstanding Leadership in Dance Research, and in September 2001 he received a New York Dance and Performance Award (“Bessie”) for sustained achievement.

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ANA ISABEL KEILSON, Film and Video Archival Assistant, graduated in 2005 from Barnard College with honors in English and Russian. Since graduation, she has performed with companies including the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company, David Dorfman Dance, PEARSONWIDRIG DANCETHEATER, and currently Jennifer Nugent and Paul Matteson. Her own work has been shown at the Movement Research Festival, Judson Church (in collaboration with Elena Demyanenko), the Chocolate Factory, and Dixon Place. In addition, she is the organizer/founder of the zine, a not-for-profit publication creating new spaces in print media for the presentation, exploration, and promotion of work by the NYC-based performance community.

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MARY LISA BURNS, Director of Education, has taught at the Merce Cunningham Studio since 1988. She has also taught at Barnard College since 1996, and has been a guest teacher at the Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University, at Wesleyan College, the University of Texas at Austin and as part of the Isle de Danse Festival in Colombe, France. Her work has been presented at the Merce Cunningham Studio, Columbia University’s Miller Theater, Barnard College’s Minor Latham Playhouse, at Union College (Schenectady, NY), and the Cambridge Art Association (Cambridge, MA). A member of Kenneth King & Dancers for five years, Ms. Burns also performed in the companies and works of Brenda Daniels, Robert Kovich, Gina Gibney, Mitch Kirsch/Dogs in Space, Christopher Beck, the Reeves/Jones Performing Group and in the Tony Kushner/Ann Sullivan work, La Fin de la Baleine. She holds a B.A. from Barnard College, an M.F.A. from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, a Certificate from the Merce Cunningham Studio, and a Certificate from the Dance Education Lab at the 92nd Street Y's Harkness Center.  In addition, she has studied Anatomy/Kinesiology with Irene Dowd and Alexander Technique and Pilates with Clarice Marshall.

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CHRISTOPHER YOUNG, Studio Technical Director, is a native New Yorker, born and raised in Brooklyn. He graduated from the University at Buffalo with a BFA in Theater where he found his love for the arts. He owes credit to the many companies he’s worked for that have brought him to this point in his career, especially Shakespeare in Delaware Park for their inspirational and magical summers, and The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater for their support. He’s excited about helping to unlock the beautiful potential that the Merce Cunningham Studio holds.

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NANCY BRIGHT, Financial Aid Administrator, has been a part of the Merce Cunningham Studio family since 1996.  Her 50 year career has involved working with State and City government agencies and the not-for-profit sector.  Her focus has been devoted to administering programs that provide financial assistance to eligible applicants.

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NLBRET55@aol.com

ALICE HELPERN, International Program Coordinator, formerly Director of the Merce Cunningham Studio, also served as Financial Aid consultant for the Joffrey Ballet School , and taught dance history for students in the Joffrey/New School BFA Program and at Lang College, New School (BA Program).. Previously she taught dance at Hunter High School, Vassar College, New York University, and the Martha Graham School. Trained professionally in ballet and modern dance, she holds a Ph.D. in dance from New York University. Her monograph, The Technique of Martha Graham, was published by the Morgan Press in 1994. She edited an issue devoted to Martha Graham for the Harwood publication, Choreography and Dance, (1999). She also writes criticism for Ballet Review, and has served as a site visit consultant for the Dance Panel of the National Endowment for the Arts. She served as President and is now Treasurer of the Emergency Fund for Student Dancers. She serves on the Commission for Accreditation of the National Association of Schools of Dance and was Secretary and board member of the Society of Dance History Scholars and Vice-President of the American Dance Guild.

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ROBERT SWINSTON, Assistant to the Choregrapher, has been a member of Merce Cunningham Dance Company since 1980. He attended Middlebury College and the Juilliard School, where he received a BFA in dance. He has also performed with the Martha Graham Apprentice Company, Jose Limon Dance Company, and Kazuko Hirabayashi Dance Theatre. He has taught at Montclair State College, SUNY-Purchase and the Juilliard School. He joined the faculty of the Merce Cunningham Studio in 1987. Mr. Swinston has assisted in the staging of Cunningham works for Boston Ballet and White Oak Dance Project.

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