Molly Hess is a Berkshires, MA based choreographer, dancer, educator, and art’s administrator who creates playful and tender work meant to be enjoyed by audiences of all ages. She is dedicated to teaching dance with a focus on creativity and process. Molly currently teaches at Studio North Dance Arts. She previously taught with Together in Dance, WR Arts, Cambridge Performance Project, Dance in the Schools, and Dance Place. Molly has a B.A. in dance from St. Olaf College, a certificate in Brain-Compatible Dance education from Creative Dance Center, and is currently part of the 21-22 Jacobs Pillow Curriculum in motion cohort.
Molly has had her choreography presented all around the US including: Plant Connector (MA), Movement Research (NY), Links Hall (IL), AS220 (RI), The Dance Complex (MA), Mascher Space Coop (PA), and Denmark arts Center (ME). Molly is half of The Picnic Sisters, an ongoing collaboration with Eliza Malecki and is a member of the North Adams artist collective Commonfolk. She is passionate about intergenerational dance connection and was a member of two Boston based intergenerational companies, Back Pocket Dancers and PB&J Dance Company. She is also the associate director of an arts and nature based non-profit, Bearnstow on Parker Pond.
Mackenzie Hoffman (she/they) is an arts educator, director, and choreographer based in the Berkshires. Originally from Dayton, OH, Mack found a love of performing early and was put in musical theatre as a result. Mack holds a BFA in Musical Theatre from West Virginia University and has worked professionally in both the theatre and arts education fields her whole adult life. Working for children’s theatres all over the country, Mackenzie strives to help create the next generation of well-rounded artists.
At Pulse, Mackenzie is stepping into the role of Youth Performing Arts Program Coordinator and is very excited to hit the ground running! Berkshire Pulse has felt like home since the first class they took as a community student. She teaches in the jazz program, assisting Jazz 2/3 and teaching Jazz 3/4, as well as the Musical Theatre Collective. They love sharing her knowledge with the students at Pulse who are always eager to learn and grow.
When not at work, Mack loves reading, playing Dungeons and Dragons, and cuddling with her two kitties, Fig and Greg!
Holly Jones (she/her) is delighted to be joining the faculty at Pulse! Jones is a NYC and Berkshire based dancer, educator, and arts advocate. She is the Producing Director at Jacob’s Pillow, performs with The Bang Group, and serves on the boards of The Clive & Valerie Barnes Foundation, New England Presenters, The Croft Residency, and MMC’s Dance Advisory Board. Originally from Colorado, Holly holds a BFA in Dance from Marymount Manhattan College and a MS in Nonprofit Leadership from Penn.
Sara Kiesel is a seasoned educator specializing in adaptive arts for the young child. She has worked as a dance/movement specialist and Arts administrator, workshop leader, and teacher trainer. Her background in dance, movement therapy, creative arts and performance has given her a breadth of experience while working with hundreds of children, families and teaching professionals. Sara has studied the effects of trauma on children and youth. she has developed teaching techniques for self-care.
Sara is a gifted teacher with an empathetic and perceptive ability to meet the child where they are at. Sara brings her knowledge of the child’s developmental, social and emotional needs to the table as she guides parents and teachers to better understand the child in their care. An experienced speaker and workshop leader, Sara engages audiences with her enthusiasm, joy for the role of the arts in education, and respect for the journey of the child whose perceptions and abilities are ready to be expressed. Understanding that all children have individual learning styles enables Sara to work effectively with all populations.
Leighann Kowalsky (she/her) is a Hudson-Valley based dance artist, educator & choreographer, travelling globally. An active performer with the Erick Hawkins Dance Company under the direction of Katherine Duke, and AuraCuriatlas Physical Theater Company under the direction of Joan Gavaler, Kowalsky also performs as a dancer & acrobat for a number of other independent and seasonal companies. With a BA in Communications and Psychology and an MFA in Choreography, Kowalsky serves as Research Advisor and Adjunct Professor for Reinhardt University’s MFA in Choreography program. Kowalsky additionally serves as Global Coordinator at the Institute for the Study of Somatic Communication, and on the Development Committee at the National Dance Educators Organization. Having just returned from a 3-month residency in Sydney, Australia with Nita Little, Critical Path, and the MARCS Institute for Brain, Behaviour and Development, she looks forward to returning to Berkshire Pulse this spring and summer.
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.
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.
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 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.
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.
