Team Group: Teaching Artists

Katelyn A. Sanchez is an artist drawn to narrative and how it can contextualize and illustrate where we are in time and place. She explores this in archiving, dance-making, teaching, performing, reading, researching, and collaborating.
In the last year, Sanchez moved to MA to begin working as a project archivist at Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, presented a solo at the Los Angeles LGBT Center, co-produced and presented work in the second installment of Show ‘n Tell, a performing arts series, crafted audio descriptions for dance concerts and taught at The Wooden Floor in Santa Ana and Dancemark Studio in Lomita, CA.

Some highlights from the last few years include working closely with John Heginbotham as a rehearsal assistant at The Wooden Floor for his pieces, Boss and Nova, graduating from San José State University with a Master’s in Library and Information Science, performing in alexx shilling’s film rendition of Nothing There There (Topography), and co-choreographing a 30-minute music film for Jane Free Music which went on to be awarded Best Short Dance Film by San Francisco Arthouse Short Festival.

In 2018, Sanchez graduated from California State University, Long Beach with a BFA in Dance and a BA in English Literature.

Mae Schuberth is a professional creative, educator, and dance artist based in New York
City. Mae likes to say that the wind blew and her body moved. Mae was born and raised
in Chicago, Illinois where she studied a variety of dance genres and even choreographed
for and performed in a local Chicago dance troupe before moving to NYC in 2017 to
pursue a degree in Drama at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts.

While expanding her repertoire of dance technique by taking class in NYC, Mae
happened upon a Simonson Jazz class and immediately felt this technique breathe new
life into her mind and body. Under the passionate tutelage of Teresa Perez Ceccon, Mae
became certified in the Simonson Technique in 2023 through completion of the Simonson
Method of Teacher Training course. She currently teaches Simonson Jazz at Gibney
Dance and Contemporary: World Dance at the New Studio on Broadway at New York
University’s Tisch School of the Arts.

Inspired by Te and other mentors, Mae is passionate about the investigation of lines of
energy and the mind-body connection. She is proud to remain curious about how these
concepts relate to the creation and sharing of dance as an artform and is thrilled to be able
to utilize the Simonson technique as a means to explore this with her students.

Born in Tübingen, Germany, Fiona Scruggs is a dancer, choreographer, researcher, educator, and writer. Fiona is an American Ballet Theatre Certified Teacher (Pre-Primary-Level 5) and received her classical ballet and contemporary training at Radford University with Inessa Plekhanova, Aleksey Plekhanov, and Deborah McLaughlin, Salzburg International Ballet Academy with Ildiko Pongor and Amelia Wanderlingh, Next Generation Ballet, Louisville Ballet, and Tennessee Governor’s School for the Arts with Donna Carver. She has performed lead and ensemble roles from ballets including The Nutcracker, Chopiniana, and Don Quixote, musicals including Oklahoma! and Anything Goes, and numerous contemporary and modern works.

Fiona’s choreography has been presented at Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival (MA), 5×5 Dance Festival (CT), The Foundry (MA), Bard College at Simon’s Rock (MA), Chesterwood (MA), Choreography on the Edge (NY), Wandering Dance Festival (MA), Salzburg International Ballet Academy Gala (Austria), and Radford University (VA). She is the founder, artistic director, and choreographer of Qualia Dance Collective, 

the Director of Communications & Marketing at Bard College at Simon’s Rock, and a contributing dance writer for The Berkshire Edge. Formerly, she was a Teaching Artist Fellow through the Massachusetts Cultural Council Creative Youth Development program, the School Programs Coordinator at Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, and has modeled for fashion designer Samantha Pleet. Fiona received a bachelor’s degree in dance education, summa cum laude, from Radford University.

Rick Shrum 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, concert stage bands, 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. Having a Masters degree in neurobiology Rick has been a registered nurse from 2010 to present.

Noel Staples- Freeman was born and raised in Dorchester, Massachusetts. She currently
resides in Pittsfield, MA. Graduating from Emerson College in 1987 with a B.S. in
Children’s Theatre/Performing Arts and Dance, Noel’s career spans over five decades,
primarily focused on teaching and performing in the Boston and Lowell Public Schools,
locally and internationally.

Her dance journey began at age 11 at The Billie Pope School of Dance in Roxbury,
followed by training at renowned institutions such as The Boston Conservatory of
Music, The Elma Lewis School of Fine Arts, The Art of Black Dance and Music, and the
Koumpo West African Dance Company.

Throughout her career, Noel has achieved numerous milestones, including
performances during Nelson Mandela’s visit to Boston in 1990, participation in Dance
Africa at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, and appearances at Jacob’s Pillow. Notably,
she received the 1995 Commonwealth Award of Massachusetts as a member of the Art
of Black Dance and Music directed by DeAma Battle and performed in Senegal, West
Africa, at the Sorano Theatre for the President of Senegal as part of the Koumpo West
African Dance Company directed by Ibrahima Camara.

Noel is also recognized for her support and contributions to Aashka Dance School in
Hyde Park, MA, receiving the Commonwealth Award in 2016 and a Certificate of
Recognition from the City of Boston in 2023. As the Founder and Director of Uprising
Dance Theatre since 1983, she leads an intergenerational group focusing on traditional
and contemporary dance, music, and theatre from the African Diaspora. The group
offers community classes, lecture demonstrations, and Kwanzaa celebrations
throughout New England.

In recent years, Noel has expanded her involvement in community work, as a member of
Common Good Co-operative Urban Farm founded by Kafi Dixon and participated as a
panelist for “From Racism to Covid-19: Black Women in Community & Ongoing Public
Health Crises” at Harvard Medical School in 2022.

In 2023, she graduated from the inaugural Community Health Workers Engaging in
Integrated Care (COHERE) program at Tufts University School of Medicine, further
integrating her passion for dance with holistic healthcare practices.

Brianne Szymanski specializes in dances of the Vintage Swing Era including Lindy Hop, Charleston, St. Louis Shag, Collegiate Shag, and American Vernacular Solo Jazz. Brianne has offered class series and workshops in these forms at The Ohio State University, Ohio University, and other communities for the past nine years. Previously, she was a Ballet instructor with the Toledo Ballet Association and other venues in Ohio and Michigan, teaching students varying in age (3 to adult) and skill (Creative Movement to Advanced Company classes). Brianne also performed with the Toledo Ballet’s Company for six years with a repertoire that includes various roles in The Nutcracker, Giselle, Peter Pan, and numerous original productions. She continued her dance training at The Ohio State University, and at the graduate level at Ohio University. Brianne is credited as an accomplished competitor, placing frequently in local and regional Lindy Hop and Jazz competitions with improvised and choreographed work. Presently, Brianne performs as a freelance dancer and instructor. She also serves as the Community Engagement Programs Manager at Jacob’s Pillow.

Moving Life Stories Coordinator

Tom Truss is a performer, creator and educator. His 30 year career includes dancing, acting, choreographing, directing, devising and teaching. He toured with the Liz Lerman/Dance Exchange (’89-’94); ran his own dance company (’94-’01); was a community artist at Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival (’94-’99) leading workshops at local schools and various communities throughout Berkshire County; taught at American Dance Festival (’93-’98); and has been a teaching artist with Flying Cloud Institute since ‘95.  Tom has been published in Dance Magazine, Contact Quarterly, and was a frequent contributor to OutRightRadio an award winning radio show on PRI. He has performed all around the world and his work has been seen at the Kennedy Center, Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, New Zealand’s Wellington Fringe, American Dance Festival, On the Boards, Dance Place and The Foundry to name a few, as well as in parking lots, rivers, furniture stores and cars. Truss graduated Summa Cum Laude with a Master of Fine Arts in Acting from the University of Texas; obtained a Master of Fine Arts in Choreography from the University of Iowa; a Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance from the College of Wooster; is an AmSAT certified teacher of the Alexander Technique; and is a level one certified Internal Family Systems practitioner.  Some awards Tom has received are Best Choreography – Austin Critics Table Awards (HAIR), Best Actor- Austin Critics Table Awards (The Idiot), Best Actor Nominee – B. Iden Payne Awards (The Idiot), New England New Works grant – New England Foundation of the Arts, and an Artist Fellowship –  Massachusetts Cultural Council. Currently he is touring a dark comedy, solo show about growing up queer called, Tell me what you learned Tuesday, and ReWritten, a multimedia evening length duet co-created with Matthew Cumbie about the intimate relationship between Herman Melville and Nathaniel Hawthorne.