Angel Lau is a percussionist based in Newburgh, NY. While his foundation comes from his classical percussion studies at Purchase College, Angel’s interests in Afro-Peruvian and Brazilian music expanded into different folkloric and modern percussion styles from across the globe. Angel is one of the musicians for “Odeon” by Bessie Award Winner Ephrat Asherie and has toured the US including the Spoleto Festival, Vail Dance Festival, and Fall for Dance to name a few. He is currently a faculty accompanist at Bard College and is in a work-in-progress work by Bessie Award Winner Souleymane Badolo from Burkina Faso. Angel has performed and recorded with artists such as Kala and the Lost Tribe, Wallace Roney Jr., DreHall, Anaïs Maviel, Neil ‘Nail’ Alexander, Birdland Latin Jazz Orchestra, and Kelly Quigley.
Archives: Team Members
Team Members
Hannah Littman
Hannah Littman (they/them) is a movement artist originally from Los Angeles currently working in Western Massachusetts and New York City. Their research draws on their longtime fascination with American media institutions to investigate what it means to be looked at by exploring ordinary movement, surreal landscapes, and audience participation, which, in turn, has sent them questioning modes of dance archive. They have performed choreography by Angie Hauser, Gabby Carmichael, Merce Cunningham, Bill T. Jones, and Adam Weinert. Hannah’s choreographic work has been featured at Movement Research, Green Space, and BAAD!. Additionally, they have presented their scholarly research on alternative approaches to historical restagings at conferences held by the Dance Studies Association and the American College Dance Association. Beyond their independent work, Hannah is a co-founder and the lead producer of the 46 Minutes Collective—a performance collective focused on developing time-based experimental new work and offering programming to emerging artists—through which they have developed work in-residence at Kaatsbaan Cultural Park and presented at IndyFringe Theater Festival, The Tank, and Brick Aux. Hannah earned their BA in Film and English from Vassar College, and they are currently a second-year MFA candidate and Teaching Fellow in Dance at Smith College.
Tom Masters
Dance for Boys Program Director
Musical Theatre Dance Program Director
Tom Masters holds an MS in Special Education from The City College of New York and a BS in elementary education with a concentration in dance and movement for elementary school children. As a performer he has danced with The Park Avenue Dance Company in Rochester, NY, The Alvin Ailey Student Ensemble in New York City, and with various musical theatre productions both nationally and internationally. He has taught dance and creative movement since 1990. Most recently he was on staff at the Center for Kinesthetic Movement in NYC as an educational tutor using dance to teach literacy, and using movement to increase the attention span of students with ADHD. Tom has been with Berkshire Pulse since 2009 teaching dance for boys, Humphrey-Weidman repertory, tap, and Broadway jazz.
Sayer Mansfield
Sayer Mansfield has spent the past decade working as a full-time company dancer with Compagnie Marie Chouinard (Montreal, QC) and Pilobolus Dance Theater (New York, NY). Sayer holds a BFA from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. She received her classical training from The Royal Academy of Dance, Boston Ballet, and Joffrey Ballet and continued her contemporary training abroad at Trinity Laban in London, UK, and The Salzburg Experimental Academy of Dance in Austria. Sayer has been an adjunct faculty member and guest artist and choreographer at Jacob’s Pillow, Phillips Academy Andover and Roger Williams University. She is a 400hr RYT™ yoga teacher and has been teaching yoga, dance, and embodiment practices for over 14 years. Sayer works as a mentor and coach offering embodiment counsel and support on an individual basis. Through a lineage of incredible teachers, a lifelong devotion to studentship, and personal experience, Sayer has created a unique voice and vision in her approach to the embodiment of self-inquiry, healing, resilience, expansion, and artistic freedom. She now works independently and in collaboration as a performer, choreographer and teacher. Sayer has presented her work in New York City, Montreal, and The Berkshires.
Nicole McKeen
Nicole McKeen serves as the Director of Development and Marketing at Berkshire Humane
Society, where she combines her passion for animal welfare with over twelve years of experience in
the pet industry. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with a minor in
English Communications, concentrating in Corporate Communications, which has equipped her
with a strong foundation in strategic marketing and organizational development.
Nicole’s career has been shaped by her work with respected local businesses and organizations
throughout Berkshire County, including Annie Selke Companies, several acclaimed restaurants in
the Berkshires and Napa Valley, and Benson’s Pet Center, where she excelled as Regional
Manager overseeing multiple locations in Pittsfield and the Albany area. Today, she has found her
“forever home” at Berkshire Humane Society, where her expertise and dedication help strengthen
community connections and support the organization’s mission.
Nicole is excited to collaborate with Berkshire Pulse, fostering deeper community engagement with
this vibrant arts and culture organization. She lives in Peru, Massachusetts, with her husband Ben,
their son Kellen, a spirited border collie named Lambert, and two beloved cats—twin brothers Burl
and Thurl—adopted from Berkshire Humane Society.
Maggie McRae
Maggie McRae began traditional dancing when she was 12 years old at Sierra Swing Dance Camp and Centrum’s Festival of American Fiddle Tunes. She was one of the organizers of the Brevard College Contra dance in 2010 and 2011. She began calling contra dancing in 2018 under the mentorship of Jon Greene. Maggie is on both the Lenox and Sheffield Contra Dance committees. Maggie has called in Poughkeepsie, NY, Lenox, MA, and Cornwall, VT among other dances. She also has a growing repertoire of family dances and has taught community dance/contra dance at Berkshire Pulse in Housatonic, MA, and at the Oldtone Roots Music Festival. Maggie also has a working knowledge of a variety of Scandinavian dances, a passion that began while she was living in Norway, which she has continued to nurture.
Maria Mendoza
Born in beautiful Colombia, Maria Mendoza is the daughter of two hardworking immigrants. Proud of her background and committed to supporting the Latino community, she aspires to become a bilingual clinical psychologist and is currently pursuing her education. She is passionate about mental health advocacy and hopes to make therapy more accessible to Spanish-speaking communities. Along with her dedication to psychology, she has a deep love for the arts and design, which have been an integral part of her life. Whether through painting, fashion, or creative expression, she finds joy in exploring different artistic mediums. She believes that both psychology and art have the power to heal and connect people, inspiring her to integrate creativity into her future work.
Bettina Montano
Bettina holds a BFA in Dance, Cum Laude, from Temple University.
In Philadelphia, she performed professionally with Philadelphia’s Sybil Dance Company, Artistic Director Eva Gholson, and Dance Conduit, Artistic Director Ann Vachon, for the reconstruction of Doris Humphrey’s “Dawn in New York.”
In the Berkshires, Bettina performed with choreographer Dawn Lane, Artistic Director Community Access to the Arts, as an independent choreographer and as a member of choreographer/film maker Laurie McLeod’s Victory Girl Productions with whom she performed extensively throughout the Berkshires, New York, and abroad.
Bettina’s dance training began with her mother Christa Montano, a student of renowned dancers Mary Wigman, Herald Kreuzberg, Martha Graham, José Limón and Louis Horst. Her early training continued under the direction of Truda Kashman, Martha Graham technique with Debra Zall, with various teaching artists at the Murray Louis and Alwin Nicolais Dance Lab and later with Educators/Choreographers Eva Gholson, Ann Vachon, Hellmut Gottschild and Marilyn Middleton Sylla. Bettina’s passionate belief in accessible dance education led her to teaching and inspired the creation of The Flowering Child Performing Arts Program in 1995 — which ultimately evolved into Berkshire Pulse in 2005. Bettina has been teaching classes in modern dance for students of all ages and levels throughout her 27-year directorship of the organization.
Christa Montano
Christa began her dance studies in Germany with Suzanne Kabitz, former assistant of Rudolf Von Laban. She continued her studies in Germany with Modern Dance innovators Mary Wigman and Herald Kreuzberg, and in the USA with Martha Graham at the Martha Graham Center for Contemporary Dance in New York City, as well as with other renowned choreographers/educators such as José Limón, Alwin Nicolais, Murray Louis, and Louis Horst. In 1962, Christa established a Modern Dance Department in a private high school in Windsor, CT. For many years, she taught Modern dance for students of the now Oxford Kingswood High School, as well as Creative Dance for children and adults throughout Hartford, CT, and NY. After retiring from teaching during her late 70s and 80s, Christa enjoyed taking classes at Berkshire Pulse. She continued dancing every day into her 90s, inspired by her own practice and a lifelong appreciation for nature, poetry, and music.
Crane Morehouse
Crane Morehouse is a certified Kundalini Yoga Teacher. She did her training outside of Boston in 2008 and excelled in the training. She began teaching on a regular weekly basis in 2010. She taught at a studio in Great Barrington for 11 years and at Kripalu Yoga Center. She has also done workshops abroad. During the pandemic, she continued teaching on Zoom. Crane is a very enthusiastic teacher, devoted to this form of yoga that creates deep peace and happiness.