Artistic Director: Risa Gary Kaplowitz
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Staff
Artistic Director: Risa Gary Kaplowitz
Ms. Kaplowitz, former principal ballerina with Dayton Ballet, drew critical acclaim for her portrayals of Giselle, Titania in Midsummer Night's Dream, and Aurora in The Sleeping Beauty. She was a member of Houston Ballet and Manhattan Ballet and performed with Pennsylvania Ballet and Metropolitan Opera Ballet.
Ms. Kaplowitz, originally trained at Maryland Youth Ballet, continued her training with Maggie Black, Marjorie Mussman, Stuart Sebastian, Ben Stevenson, and Lupe Serrano. She has performed the repertoire of many choreographers including Fredrick Ashton, George Balanchine, Ben Stevenson, Stuart Sebastian, Dermot Burke, and Marjorie Mussman.
Ms. Kaplowitz co-founded DanceVision with former American Ballet Theater ballerina, Susan Jaffe and is the co-founder and Director of Princeton Dance and Theater Studio. She also founded D.A.N.C.E. (Dance As a Necessary Component of Education), an outreach program that brings dance to New Jersey schools.
Program Director D.A.N.C.E. Marie Alonzo Snyder - is a modern dancer, choreographer, scholar and educator. Born in the Philippines, Marie was raised in Italy and eventually settled in New York City attending New York University's Tisch School of Arts earning her BFA and MFA in Dance. She has performed and toured with HT Chen & Dancers, Asian American Dance Theater, Hikari Baba Dancers, Second Avenue Dance Co., Maude Baum & Co., and performed works by Don Redlich, Ruby Shang, Joan Finkelstein, Cliff Keuter, Remy Charlip, James Cunningham, Yung Yung Tsuai, and Rozalind Newman. Since 1986 Marie's works have been presented in New York, Princeton and throughout the United States and Canada. She has also been produced several times by the Chen Dance Center/Mulberry Street Theatre, NYC and commissioned by Ear to the Ground Series, supported by the Jerome Foundation. Marie is a founding member of the West Windsor Arts Council and in 2004 she co-founded the "I'll have what she's having..." Dance Project, a dance cooperative of NJ 40Up women choreographers. Marie also earned her EdD from Columbia University and presented papers at Texas Women's University, Teachers College, Michigan State University, the University of Quebec, Princeton University, Barnard College and University of the Philippines. In 2009 she ws a guest dancer with Shen Wei Dance Arts at the Lincoln Center Festival. She has been on faculty of Princeton Dance and Theater Studio since 2003 and is D.A.N.C.E. Program Director for DanceVision Inc. Marie is a certified Pilates instructor with her own studio.
Iven Sandler (President) is a strong supporter of the arts and has been involved with DanceVision since its inception in 2005. He joined the board in 2006 and became President in January 2007. He has served on a number of boards, including being past president of the board of Trustees for the Waldorf School of Princeton. His educational background includes a Masters degree in Administration and he is currently Director of Operations of Icer Brands, an apparel firm in New York City. He has lived in Mercer County since 1992.
Mariellen R. Sandford (Vice President) joined the DanceVision Board of Trustees in 2009 after volunteering as production coordinator for DanceVision. She is the Associate Editor of TDR: The Journal of Performance Studies, an international academic arts journal on all genres of performance, published by MIT Press and New York University. She is editor of Happenings and Other Acts (Routledge); has published in several journals; and has edited numerous books on theatre and performance art. Currently she is serving on the programming committee for the opening season of the West Windsor Arts Center. Two of her daughters have danced in DanceVision productions and her eldest, an actor, is training at Second City in Chicago.
Cyndi Chervenyak (Treasurer) is the studio manager for Princeton Dance & Theater Studio since 2005. Cyndi has been a part of DanceVision for many years assisting with the administrative side. Cyndi is eager to take on this new endeavor as Treasurer and be a vital part of DanceVision.
Cadence Bowden (Secretary) took her first ballet class at age four and has been dancing ever since. She received training from Princeton Dance and Theater Studio and continues to participate in DanceVision productions. She received her B.A. in Communication from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and joined the DanceVision Board of Directors in January 2010. Her experience working with nonprofit organizations includes CLIC Sargent in London, England and ACT NOW! in Amherst, Massachusetts.
Larry Wohl Esq. (Trustee) is a partner with the law firm of Archer & Greiner in Princeton, New Jersey, practicing in the areas of litigation, land use, and estate planning and administration. He received his J.D. in 1984 from Rutgers University School of Law and his B.A. from Rutgers University in 1981. He is a member of the Delaware Township Hunterdon County School Board and serves on the board of trustees for the Newgrange School. Both of his daughters received training from the Princeton Dance and Theater Studio and performed numerous roles in DanceVision Performance Company productions.
Dan Sandford (Trustee) is Director of Graduate Admissions and International Student Advisor for the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University. He is a founding member of the Education Committee for the National Association of Graduate Admissions Professionals (NAGAP). He attended NYU’s Experimental Theatre Wing (BFA) and NYU’s Gallatin School of Individualized Study (MA). He has taught drama in high schools and children’s theater, and was the librarian for the Center for Intercultural Documentation in Cuernavaca, Mexico, in the 1970’s. With his daughters, he has participated in several DanceVision productions.
Melissa Ackerman (Trustee)MD FACOG is an in-house obstetrician/gynocologist at The University Medical Center at Princeton. She has degrees from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Rutgers University and Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. She has been involved with DanceVision as a parent volunteer since 2006, joining the board as a trustee in 2011. She has volunteered in a variety of roles, including appearing as Raggedy Ann in DanceVision's Nutcracker.
Kathy Azaro (Trustee) MD FAAP earned her undergraduate and medical degrees at Brown University and completed a pediatric residency at Children's Hospital in Boston. Dr. Azaro is a medical consultant at the NJ Division of Disability Determination Services. Believing that dancing creates healthy bodies and agile minds, she has encouraged her children to dance. Her son has been a ballet student at Princeton Dance and Theater Studio and a performer in DanceVision Performance Company productions since 2009.
Salome Papaspyrou-Rao (Trustee) Ph.D., is a cell biologist with a focus on obesity. She received a B.Sc in Nutrition and Food Science at the University of California at Berkeley and a M.Sc in Food Science Technology with a minor in Biochemistry from Cornell University. She received a Ph.D. in Nutritional Sciences from Rutgers University. Her research concerned the regulation of adipose tissue metabolism. More recently she has been involved with the New Jersey Obesity Group, at Rutgers University, as coordinator of research, community outreach, educational and enrichment programs/ symposia on current topics on obesity. She believes that dance excellently combines exercising the body and the mind and two daughters (and herself) are students at Princeton Dance and Theater Studio. Her daughters have performed in DanceVision Performance Company productions since 2005. |
