ANNA MASIERO
Hip Hop/Contemporary
Hip Hop/Contemporary: Dance Intensive program

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.

RICK SHRUM
World Music

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: Rhythm Alive! Program
Rhythm and Tap: Rhythm Alive! Program

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

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

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!

SARAH BETH PERCIVAL
Ballet 3-Intermediate II/Advanced

Sarah Beth Percival is a dance artist who fled Brooklyn for the Berkshires in 2014. She has taught ballet classes in the Berkshires and at her hometown studio in Maryland and currently teaches Pilates and movement at her studio in Great Barrington.

She received her BFA from North Carolina School of the Arts where she studied classical ballet, Cunningham technique, and Limon. She has performed extensively in New York City at Sculpture Center NYC, Danspace Project, Issue Project Room, The Whitney Museum, Moma PS1, and Performance Space 122. In Europe and Asia, Sarah has performed at Theatre de L’Usine in Geneva, L’atelier de Paris/CDCN, and at Rockbund Museum in Shanghai. Sarah attended P.A.R.T.S. in Brussels and was an Impulstanz DanceWEB Europe scholarship recipient.

Sarah’s teaching style is rooted in classical ballet and incorporates concepts from Cunningham, modern, and European contemporary dance. She believes that dance is a portal to a deeper sense of self and understanding of the self in relationship to the world. By committing oneself to rigorous dance training, confidence is built and transformation can be achieved.

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
Ballet: Dance Discovery Program
Ballet, Dance Making, Modern: Dance Intensive Program

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)

MARISSA FINKELSTEIN
Hip Hop

Marissa Finkelstein received her Bachelor of Arts in Dance and Business Administration from Muhlenberg College in May 2018. In Spring 2017, Marissa spent a semester at Florence University of the Arts where she took classes in dance, art history, and cultural studies. Within Marissa’s dance major, she concentrated in areas of choreography, performance, and education. Her choreography has been shown at Muhlenberg College, Florence University of the Arts, and the American College Dance Association. Marissa has performed in works by Tiffany Mills, Shelley Oliver, Jeffrey Peterson, and other esteemed choreographers. Marissa taught dance in public schools in Allentown, PA and her Senior Capstone Project examined culturally relevant pedagogy in competitive dance settings. Over the summer Marissa interned at Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, and she is excited to continue her work there during her first full year in the Berkshires as the School Programs Fellow. Marissa is constantly looking for ways that her administrative and artistic experiences intersect and she is so grateful to get to share her greatest love for dance with Berkshire Pulse!

NICHOLAS MISCUSI
Jazz
Everyday Ballet

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 Chorographer 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!

GENEVE BROUSSARD
Berkshire Boxing Program at Berkshire Pulse

Genève Brossard is the trainer for both the open classes and the private sessions. She is a 2 time Golden Gloves Champion and a Nationally ranked New York State Champion. She is a former athlete for the USA Boxing team and has competed internationally as an elite amateur boxer for over a decade.

The Berkshire Boxing program is truly designed for EVERYONE: Competing boxers; beginners trying to master the basics and get some customized sports training; and folks at all fitness levels who just want a fun workout!

Genève is dedicated to creating a safe, fun, and functional training environment for everyone who is interested in learning the sweet science!

SOPHIE ALPERN
Ballet Summer Workshops
Ballet: Dance Intensive Program

Sophie Alpern, a native New Yorker, has been dancing since age five. She trained at the School of American Ballet, Steps on Broadway, North Carolina School of the Arts, Houston Ballet Academy, and the Royal Ballet School. While at SAB, she performed with New York City Ballet in The Nutcracker, A Midsummer’s Night Dream, Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty, Coppelia, and Circus Polka.
Sophie holds a Masters degree in Dance Education with a concentration in ABT Ballet Pedagogy from New York University, and is an ABT® Certified Teacher in PrePrimary through Level Seven and Partnering of the ABT® National Training Curriculum. She holds a B.A. from Vassar College with honors in Sociology, and is also a graduate of The Brearley School in NYC. Sophie danced leading roles with the Vassar Repertory Dance Theater for four years, culminating in the principal role in Balanchine’s Valse Fantaisie. She has worked in the Education Department at American Ballet Theater, taught open ballet classes for faculty and students at Vassar, and helped bring dance to underprivileged children across the world, through Ballet Tech, Ballet Ambassadors, and the Village of Hope in Ghana.
Sophie has combined her dance career with ongoing academic pursuits. She is the author of a sociological study entitled “The Perception and Role of Dance and Classical Ballet in the Liberal Arts Academy,” and has published an article in Dance Spirit Magazine called “Best of Both Worlds: Balancing Dance and Academics.” Sophie currently teaches in NYC at the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School at American Ballet Theatre, and at American Youth Dance Theater.