ANNA MASIERO
Hip Hop/Contemporary
Summer Program: Dance Intensive

Anna began her dance training at Cantarella School of Dance as well as Studio One in the Berkshires. In college she studied Ballet Pedogogy at the Hartt School, furthered her dance education at Bates College and Duke University and completed her undergraduate work at UMass Amherst, where she also served as captain of the Dance Team.

Working with children and teens has been Anna’s passion since 2010. She taught at Art OMI for three consecutive summers, guiding children in their discovery of interdisciplinary arts. With her students, Anna explored combining dance with one and two-dimensional art forms while collaborating with visiting international artists.

Anna has spent time teaching in California at low-income schools as well as serving as an assistant to the Directors of the non-profit Discovery Arts Organization by bringing the healing power of the arts to children with cancer and blood disorders.

Through her twenty years of studying and performing dance, Hip Hop is where Anna found her nitch. Her goal as a teacher is to let her students find their self-expression through the open doors of Hip Hop as a diverse and contemporary art form.

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RICK SHRUM
World Music
Summer Program: Rhythm Alive!

Rick Schrum has been drumming since age 3 when his dad (also a drummer ) gave him his first drumsticks and began teaching him classical percussion. Rick played in school orchestras, concerts stage band s,drum and bugle ensembles, percussion ensembles and rock bands . He credits Arthur Hull, from Santa Cruz, as his primary teacher of African drumming. He began studying Afro-Cuban drumming in his 20s and has been playing and teaching this art for the last 30 years. In the 90s Rick played for Dance Kinetics (now called yoga dance ) at Kripalu. Having been a Waldorf teacher for almost 20 years Rick has taught drumming to all of his classes incorporating rhythm into the learning process. He has played for Afro-Caribbean dance classes at the Berkshire Pulse for the last six years . Rick has led drum circles at Mountainside drug alcohol rehab center for the past year . Having a Masters degree in neurobiology Rick has been a registered nurse from 2010 to present.

TOM TRUSS
Intro to Dance
The Acting Body
Director of Summer Programs
Summer Programs instructor: Improv Acting With The Hat Factory, Dance Discovery, Dance Beyond Borders, Week for Boys, and  Dance Intensive

Tom Truss is a performing artist and educator who has had a thirty year career as a dancer, actor, choreographer and director. Tom has created with and taught all ages and abilities from children, firefighters, and inmates to teens, older adults, and professional actors and dancers. He has been teaching for Flying Cloud Institute since the 90’s, toured with the Liz Lerman/Dance Exchange for four years, had his own company for ten years, was a community artist at Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival for five years (with residencies at the majority of south county Berkshire schools) and taught at American Dance Festival for seven years. Along with obtaining an MFA in dance from the University of Iowa, he received his MFA in Acting from the University of Texas and graduated from the College of Wooster with a Bachelor of Music degree in piano performance. Currently, he teaches for Flying Cloud Institute, has a private practice as an Alexander Technique teacher and most recently choreographed the spring musical at Monument Mountain High School.

PJ BIRRIEL
Zumba 

Born with a passion for dance and performing arts, Puerto Rico Native PJ (Placido) Birriel is delighted to bring his “Disco Lights Special Needs Teens and Friends Zumba Class” experience to Pulse! A semi-retired professional dancer, choreographer, performer, sculptor, drag personality, personal trainer and certified Zumba instructor, PJ has spent over 30 years touring and performing all over the United States and Europe.  PJ discovered his true love for Latin rhythms while headlining for three years as one of the main dancers of the touring company of “TUTTI-FRUTTI The Afro-Caribbean Carnival Extravaganza”.

At home in NYC and the Berkshires, PJ continues to teach, perform, headline and produce shows and live events, including being the on stage host and MC of the Festival Latino of the Berkshires in Lee for the last six years. In NYC PJ is a proud vocal advocate for the LGBT community and a regular host/mc and performer at various clubs, cabarets and nightlife event venues across the city. When not making people dance and laugh as a crazed Zumba instructor, PJ can be found balancing rocks at a river near you and creating open-air art exhibitions. PJ’s classes welcome all skill levels and are open to the dreamer in everyone. Leave your inhibitions at the door and let’s have fun!

KRISTINE WATERMAN
Creative Dance/Pre-Ballet
Tap for Tinies
Beginners’ Tap
Move Your Story (Out of the Way)
Modern Level 2 – Dance Expressions
Summer Program: Rhythm Alive!, Dance Discovery

Kristine has been teaching dance and theater arts for over 20 years in various settings, for both children and adults. She served as the Head of the Dance Department and Artistic Director at Berkshire School in Sheffield Ma. and piloted a new dance program at Miss Halls School in Pittsfield, MA.
Kristine also teaches dance and drama in grant-funded residencies, choreographs for musical theater productions and teaches after-school enrichment programs throughout the Berkshires. As a preschool teacher, Kristine has designed and taught a creative arts program, in NYC and the Berkshires, for kindergarten and preschool age children. She taught dance and theater, and was director of a dance troupe, for young adults with mental and physical disabilities in New York State.  Kristine has performed both regionally and nationally and presently performs locally throughout the Berkshires. Kristine Waterman holds a B.A. in Theater and Dance from the City University of New York and graduated from the American Musical and Dramatic Academy in NYC. Kristine is excited about being a returning teaching artist at Pulse!

MICHELINE WEILER
Ballet
Beginners’ Ballet
Ballet 3-Intermediate I
Ballet 3-Pointe/Variations
Summer Program: Dance Intensive

Ballet was Micheline’s first love and was the early focus of her training. She studied Vagonova method and trained with the Sacramento Ballet in California, and later with the Washington Ballet in D.C.  She also had the opportunity of brief intensive studies with the San Francisco Ballet, Hartford Ballet, and Boston Ballet companies.  Micheline had the privilege of performing in countless productions – in the corps, as a featured dancer, and as a solo artist.  She later switched her focus to the Cecchetti method, while also learning more of jazz, contemporary, tap, hip-hop, and even some ballroom styles. Micheline had always been a singer and began pursuing theatre as well. She then received her BFA in musical theatre from Syracuse University and moved to New York City with her husband, to pursue a career as a performing artist.

As Micheline began teaching ballet, she discovered that she appreciated both the opportunity to inspire young beginners, as well as a real passion and gift for developing more advanced dancers into artists. In 2009 she became certified with the state of Massachusetts to teach both theatre and dance in the school system. She then took the opportunity to choreograph high school musicals – to continue to work with young artists on the cusp of their careers.

Although Micheline’s life as a dancer has taken a back seat for the last several years as she became a mother to her two beautiful daughters, she has continued as a teacher, choreographer, and mentor. Micheline is thrilled now to be making a return to her first love and teaching ballet for the Pulse!

LINDSEY JACQUIER
Ballet
Ballet 2

Lindsey Jacquier has been dancing since the age of three. In her early training Lindsey attended The Olga Dunn School of Dance, The Nutmeg Ballet Conservatory for the Arts, and finally Berkshire Pulse where she studied extensively with Bettina Montano and Ruby Aver before graduating from the Pulse Performing Arts Program in 2014. Since then, Lindsey has maintained her connection to Pulse by serving as the Level 1 Ballet Teacher and summer counselor for the Dance Discovery Program in 2015 and as intermittent front desk receptionist, back stage manager and, of course, dancer.

In the spring of 2018, Lindsey graduated from Wheaton College with a Bachelor of Arts in English and Business and Management, summa cum laude. While at Wheaton, she danced with the Wheaton College Dance Company for four years, training with Andrea Taylor Blenis and Leticia Guerrero. During her senior year, she served as captain of the company and worked closely with the Artistic Director and Wheaton’s Director of Dance to lead the group. In addition, she choreographed two group pieces that were performed in the company’s end of the year concert. Upon her graduation, Lindsey received the Theatre and Dance Studies Award in dance. She now works full time as the Chorister Services Director at Berkshire Choral International.

IAN SPENCER BELL
Modern
Summer Programs: Dance Discovery, A Week for Boys, Dance Intensive 

Ian Spencer Bell is a dancer and poet combining the two in performance. He has danced his solo works at the Poetry Foundation and the Queens Museum and received grants and fellowships from Jacob’s Pillow, Lambda Literary, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, and the Virginia Commission for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts. Bell trained at North Carolina School of the Arts, School of American Ballet, and Pacific Northwest Ballet and graduated from Sarah Lawrence College and NYU’s MFA in poetry program. ianspencerbell.com See Ian perform solo at Jacob’s Pillow for a special Weekend Out performance on August 5! (Photo: Christopher Duggan)

NICHOLAS MISCUSI
Jazz
Everyday Ballet
Summer Program: Musical Theatre Intensive, Dance Intensive

Born and raised in Buffalo, New York. Dancing came first. Gene Kelly movies had Nick dragging a sheet of plywood from the garage and teaching himself tap. With Gene Kelly’s help Nick, “shuffled off from Buffalo.” Beginning his formal training with, The Creative Institute of Dance in Eugene, Oregon, under the tutelage of Tim and Nicki Foster. The Eugene Ballet then recruited Nick after seeing him perform. With gratitude to this training in ballet for giving him a solid foundation with which to venture forth, Nick moved into the realm of musical theater. “Camelot!” National Tour starring Richard Harris; Choreography, Buddy Swab. Equity card in hand, he took on the big apple. Off-Broadway (New Jersey really) at The Whole Theatre’s “Nobody Starts Out to be a Pirate”, Choreographer, Peter Gennaro. Then “One More Song/One More Dance” at The Joyce Theatre, starring Ann Reinking; Choreographer, Grover Dale. And… who can forget the big hit of 1984, “Oy Mama am I in Love” at The Town Hall Theatre; Choreography, Derek Wolshonak. It was during this time in NY that Nick studied ballet with Nanette Charisse and Bob Tucker. “They impacted my life in a way that is to define what life is all about. They instilled in me a respect for dancers and the art of dance that guides me every day. They opened my vision of the world so that I could draw and be nourished by everything, from the use of light in a Master’s painting to the flutter of a butterflies wings on a warm spring day.” From there, Nick moved on to perform in “Miss Julie” Choreographer, Grover Dale; “To Sir with Love”, Choreographer Michael Peters; and in numerous commercials and music videos; including, Michael Jackson’s “Smooth Criminal” with Choreographer, Vince Patterson.

As a Choreographer, Nick’s work includes, “Legacy the Musical”, LA; “Hair for Next Generation”, United Nations General Assembly; “The Twist”, Chubby Checkers and The Fat Boys Music Video.

Now a teacher, Nick catalogs and discerns from his experience, with which to weave a technique. So, as the great teacher, Luigi says, “Never stop moving!” Nick is delighted to have found Pulse and looks forward to seeing you in class!

SAYER MANSFIELD
Ballet
Modern

Sayer Mansfield holds a BFA from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. Upon graduation in 2014, she joined Pilobolus Dance Theater. Sayer has toured the world with Pilobolus Dance Theater, performed over 25 pieces of Pilobolus repertory and been involved in the creation of five new works for the company, including two evening-length pieces. Beyond Pilobolus, Sayer has performed with Compañía Sharon Fridman (Madrid, Spain), Boston Dance Theater and The Indah Walsh Dance Company. Sayer has been an adjunct faculty member and guest artist at Jacob’s Pillow, Phillips Academy Andover and Roger Williams University. Sayer has worked extensively across mediums including film, television, music videos and print. Sayer received her classical training from The Royal Academy of Dance, Boston Ballet and Joffrey Ballet and has studied at Laban in London, UK and The Salzburg Experimental Academy of Dance in Austria. More recently, Sayer has begun an independent investigation of performance, choreography, and creation in Europe, living and freelancing in Belgium. Collaborating with inspiring artists of her generation, Sayer has presented work in New York City and The Berkshires.

TARCISIO RAMOS DOS SANTOS
Introduction to Capoeira
Dance Beyond Borders
A Week for Boys

Tarcisio is a Brazilian musician, writer, and Direct Support Professional.  He’s been sharing his culture since the first year he arrived here in the USA and in the last 8 years Capoeira has been one of the Brazilian arts that he is the most excited to practice and share.  He is proud to share with Berkshire Pulse this unique Brazilian full body expressive and fun art form using music, rhythm, movement and ornate with the Brazilian heritage.

KATHLEEN OLIVER
Rhythm in Movement Workshop

Kathleen Oliver has been teaching dance and percussion at Buxton School since 1987. She has studied with Milford Graves (Bennington College) Dr. Evon Daniel (Smith College) and Sandra Burton ( Williams College) and Marilyn and Sekou Sylla (Smith College). She has traveled and studied in Haiti, Cuba, and Senegal, West Africa. Kathleen continues her studies with master dancers and percussionists from West Africa, the Caribbean, and the U.S, including Youssouf Koumbassa, Kissima Diabate, Yalani Bangoura, Tacko Sissoko, Baba Richard Gonzalez, Moussa Traore, and Djeneba Sako.

EMMA DWECK
Improv Acting with The Hat Factory

Emma Dweck is a performer and theater artist specializing in original, multi-disciplinary works for the stage. Emma is a founding member of The Hat Factory, the resident theater company at Berkshire Pulse. She earned a Bachelor’s degree in theater from Skidmore College and has studied theater and dance in St. Petersburg Russia, Chicago, IL, and many places in between. Emma has performed in, directed, and produced a wide range of theater projects in the tri-state area. She was a founding member of Kickwheel Ensemble Theater, a Berkshire and NYC-based theater company dedicated to creating original works for the stage. Most recently Emma directed “Some Other Kid” as part of Facing Our Truth: Ten Minute Plays on Trayvon, Race and Privilege at Bard College at Simon’s Rock, directed and devised “How Could You Forget Your Own Mother,” the inaugural performance of the Theater for Social Justice Apprenticeship at Railroad Street Youth Project, and produced a workshop of her first full length play, Reflowered: A Dance Play. In addition to her work in theater, Emma is a licensed acupuncturist and runs two private practices in Millerton, NY and Great Barrington, MA. Emma believes passionately in the power of live performance to foster empathy, build communities, and ask vital questions about the human condition. 

DAVE EDSON
Improv Acting with The Hat Factory

Dave has performed all over Chicago, New York City, regionally, and internationally. He has trained extensively with Anne Bogart’s SITI Company and Upright Citizen’s Brigade Theatre. As an actor, mover, writer, improvisor, comedian, musician, and educator, Dave has collaborates to make theatre in expected and unexpected places that ranges from the classics to devised new classics. Dave also loves nature and he recently happily settled into his Berkshire life with his wife and daughter.  

SARA KIESEL
Dance Discovery

Sara Kiesel has been teaching Modern dance, Improv, and dancemaking to dancers of all ages for many years.  She created an exceptional dance and movement program for children with learning differences in Manhattan, and coordinated all Arts programming at the school. Sara has been a workshop leader, keynote speaker and teacher trainer in New York City and beyond. She also taught private therapeutic movement classes in NYC.

JILL SIGNA
Dance Discovery
Dance Intensive

Jill began her ballet training at a very young age in Wisconsin. Starting at Su Darrow’s School of dance gave her the foundation to move to the Milwaukee Ballet School to train under Monica Isla and Karl Von Rabenau. Ballet then took her to Joffrey Ballet New York training in ballet, modern, and contemporary. During her time there, she had a wonderful experience stepping out of her ballet classes and into modern and jazz with Andrea Weber, Bill Waldinger, and Larisa Calero. Jill was accepted into the American Repertory Ballet training program where she trained with Trinette Singleton, Kirk Peterson, Kathleen Moore, and Mary Barton. Each program has given her the opportunity to perform in classical and contemporary productions from the Woodland Glade fairy of Sleeping Beauty to dancing as a Bat in Dracula. Jill is currently dancing with the Manassas Ballet Theatre.

MAGGIE MCRAE
Dance Beyond Borders

Maggie has a B.A. in Music from Brevard College and is an AmSAT certified Alexander Technique Teacher who studied with Ruth Kilroy at ATTC in Newton, MA. Her introduction to the traditional dance and music world was at Sierra Swing Dance camp at age 12 and Centrum’s Festival of American Fiddle Tunes at age 13. Since then her love of music and dance has enabled her to connect with her community and learn about other cultures through her many travels within the US as well as abroad (Norway, Sweden, Brazil, Canada).

Throughout the year you can find Maggie teaching Alexander Technique, booking bands and callers for Sheffield and Lenox contra dances (and dancing of course!), calling and dancing at dances in Housatonic, Lenox, and Sheffield, working Oldtone swing dances in Sheffield, volunteering at Blue Rider Stables, playing Norwegian and Swedish music for Scandi Boston dances, and playing and singing jazz with South Street Swing.

In addition to calling contra dance at Berkshire Pulse this summer, Maggie will be working at the Northeast Fiddlers Convention at Hancock Shaker Village, teaching Alexander Technique at Nordic Fiddles and Feet in New Hampshire, teaching fiddle in kids band lab at Centrum’s Festival of American Fiddle Tunes in Port Townsend, WA, building her calling and playing skills at American Dance and Music week at Pinewoods, and running the main gate ticket booth at Oldtone (in addition to jamming and dancing!). She loves the community that traditional dance and music fosters and hopes to give dancers at Berkshire Pulse a taste of that through New England Contra Dance this summer.

LAURA STANDLEY
Musical Theatre Intensive

Laura Standley holds a BA in Theatre from University of Central Oklahoma and an MFA in Acting from University of California Irvine. She has studied under master teachers Robert Cohen, Dudley Knight, Annie Loui, Catherine Fitzmaurice, Ragnar Friedank, Joanna Merlin, Barney O’Hanlon, Lenard Petit, Ted Pugh, and Fern Sloan. Recent collaborations include Passage (work in progress) with Kickwheel Ensemble Theater, as well as Howard Barker’s Scenes From an Execution and David Ives’ The Liar with Oklahoma Shakespeare in the Park. New York directing credits include Reckless Season (New Works Reading Series), Pump Boys and Dinettes, Lobby Hero, and Burn This, all with Ground Up Productions. Laura has taught at University of North Carolina – Charlotte, Stony Brook University, Chapman University, and University of California, Irvine. She is a member of the Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers, Actors Equity, Voice and Speech Trainers Association, Association of Theatre Movement Educators, and the Michael Chekhov Organization. Laura is fascinated with the intersection of movement, action and the theatre experience. Her work incorporates classical theatre, body-based disciplines, and the use of dance choreography techniques in preparing performance. Laura continues to be inspired by this work in meaningful ways and is constantly looking for new forms of making theatre.

DONNA BULLOCK
Musical Theatre Intensive

Donna Bullock has been making her living as an actor working in theater, film and television for almost forty years. Yikes! On Broadway she played Mother in Ragtime (Jefferson Award, Chicago), Lucy in A Class Act (Ovation nomination, L.A.) and Bobbie/Gabby in City of Angels. Other theatrical favorites include A Perfect Future(Cherry Lane), Take Me Along (Irish Rep), Rabbit Hole (Huntington), Foxfire with Hume Cronyn and Jessica Tandy (Ahmanson), Sweet Bird of Youth with Lauren Bacall(Ahmanson), Terra Nova (Mark Taper), Me and My Girl opposite Tim Curry (1st National ), Top Girls at the Public Theater (Obie Award), Julie Taymor’s Liberty’s Taken, and Beatrice opposite her husband Sherman Howard in Much Ado About Nothing (Shakespeare Theater of New Jersey). Television: “Monk,” “Medium,” “Six Feet Under,” “Smallville,” “Frasier,” “Touched By an Angel,” “Against the Grain”, et al. Film: Air Force One, All Good Things, Girl Next Door. Donna recently completed training as an AMSAT certified teacher of the Alexander Technique and is now training to be a Somatic Experiencing Practitioner. She has taught Alexander Technique workshops for actors at several colleges and conservatories including UCONN, and Shakespeare Theater of NJ. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0120141/

ILANA RANSON TOEPLITZ
Musical Theatre Intensive

Ilana Ransom Toeplitz is a New York City-based director/choreographer specializing in new musicals. On Broadway, Ilana assistant directed VIOLET (2014 revival starring Sutton Foster, Tony Nominations for Best Direction and Best Musical Revival) and was the SDCF Mike Ockrent Fellow on THE PROM with Casey Nicholaw (2018, Tony Nominations for Best Direction and Best Musical).

As a director, Ilana has premiered new work with Lincoln Center, Keen Company, York Theatre, Berkshire Theatre Group, NY Theatre Barn, and the New York Musical Theatre Festival.

Ilana’s favorite credits as a director and/or choreographer include 25th ANNUAL PUTNAM COUNTY SPELLING BEE (Choreographer, ACT of CT), CHICAGO (Dir./Choreo, Southeastern Summer Theatre Institute), REEFER MADNESS (Dir./Choreo, featuring Alan Cumming, 2014 at New World Stages & 2015 at 54 Below), THE DROWSY CHAPERONE (Dir./Choreo), SINGIN’ IN THE RAIN (Choreo), MARY POPPINS & SEUSSICAL!, both choreographed for Berkshire Theatre Group. Ilana is also the director/choreographer of the TheatreWorksUSA National Tours of A CHRISTMAS CAROL and CLICK, CLACK, MOO!

Ilana was the Associate Director of A CHRISTMAS STORY: THE MUSICAL! (2014-2015, First National Tour), DIRTY DANCING: THE CLASSIC STORY ON STAGE (2017-2018 Tour) and the premiere of SONDHEIM ON SONDHEIM (2017, Boston Pops & Tanglewood).

lana holds additional assistant or associate credits with: Leigh Silverman, Casey Nicholaw, Susan Stroman, Baayork Lee, Sarna Lapine, NY City Center, Second Stage, Signature Theatre (VA), Huntington Theatre, and Pittsburgh CLO. Ilana is a proud Pittsburgh native, a Directors Project Alum (2016 Leo Shull New Musicals Directing Fellowship) and the 2018 SDC Foundation Mike Ockrent Fellow.

Ilana is also a plus-size model and activist for body-positivity, women’s rights and LGBTQI communities. Ilana was featured in Gabriela Herman’s book and NY Times feature, “The Kids Are Alright”. Ilana is a proud native of Pittsburgh, PA. Upcomingt: THE ROCKY HORROR SHOW (Director, Park Square Theater).

Twitter/Instagram: @IlanaRanToe; Website: www.IlanaDirects.com

LEIGHANN LOWALSKY
Dance Intensive

Leighann Kowalsky breathes dance and art. As a dance artist and director, the numerous facets of her livelihood are centered around movement, entertainment and production. With artistic collaboration as a spinal strength of her work, Kowalsky frequently works with photographers, painters, musicians and other artists to create artistic products.

Kowalsky trained originally in Irish Dance, and later with Katherine Duke in the Erick Hawkins style of modern dance, among others. Her career has been glittered with participation in numerous performances, productions and international tours with dancers and musicians of note. With degrees in Communications and Psychology from Marist College, Kowalsky spent a decade producing large scale live events, such as the iHeartRadio Music Festival at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, the Tony Awards, the MTV Video Music Awards, and many more, as well as tours with bands like Radiohead, Nine Inch Nails, Lorde, just to name a few. After co-founding The D’amby Project, an Irish dance based collaborative art & movement school and professional performance company, Kowalsky took on role as Director of Dance at Millbrook School, a co-educational boarding school in New York.

Presently, Kowalsky continues to perform, teach & choreograph internationally, cross-train in Aerial Fabric with Hudson Valley Circus Arts, and produce events at BSP Performance Space in Kingston, NY, a historic Vaudeville theater turned event space. She is delighted to have the opportunity to be fully immersed in the arts, entertainment & arts education worlds. . http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0120141/