Our Mission Statement:

Leadership:

Jeff Slayton

• Co-founder of LA Dance Chronicle
• Chair, Board of Directors
• Senior Editor

Martin Holman

• Co-founder of LA Dance Chronicle
• Treasurer, Board of Directors
• Technical Solutions specialist

Ann Haskins

• Member, Board of Directors
• This Week In Dance Producer
• Writer

Brian Fretté

• Member, Board of Directors
• Review schedule coordinator
• Writer

Karen Louis

• Member, Board of Directors
• Chair of the Development Committee

Writers:

Dr. Leah Bass-Baylis was the founding Principal of Valley Region #12 elementary school. Under her leadership, a partnership with Carlos Santana’s Milagro Foundation was forged and the school was renamed Carlos Santana Arts Academy. Throughout her career she has been a strong proponent of the arts. June 2019, she retired from this position.

Prior to joining Carlos Santana Arts Academy, Leah was the Principal of CHAMPS, Charter High School of The Arts, Multimedia and Performing and served as an Assistant Principal at Robert A. Millikan MS and Performing Arts Magnet where she founded the dance program. In 1998, Dr. Baylis was promoted to the position of Dance Coordinator and eventually Dance Specialist for Los Angeles Unified School District. She was the first to hold this position and was a member of the LAUSD Arts Education team that created a blueprint for comprehensive elementary arts programs throughout Los Angeles. She directly supervised dance instruction in 180 elementary schools and coordinated dance activities at all grade levels.

Leah has a B.A. from Spelman College, an M.A. degree from Teachers College, Columbia University, and an M.S. from Pepperdine University. In 2020 she received her Ed.D in Educational Leadership and Organizational Change from Rossier School of Education, University of Southern California. Prior to her career in education, Ms. Bass-Baylis enjoyed a career as a dancer/ singer/ actress and choreographer, completing national and international tours of numerous musicals including Arms Too Short To Box With God, Guys, & Dolls, Ain’t Misbehavin’, Little Shop of Horrors, Timbuktu, The Wiz, Black Nativity, and Carmen Jones. She was also dance captain for the Broadway production of The Tap Dance Kid where she coached tap impresarios, Harold Nicholas and Savion Glover. She is currently the director of E.A.T.S., Education and Arts Teaching Solutions. She continues to work with L.A.U.S.D. in interim administrative positions and is employed by California State University, Northridge as a University Student Teacher Supervisor.

Grace Courvoisier, a Las Vegas native, graduated with a BFA in Dance from the University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana in 2011. She has had the opportunity to work with/perform the works of renowned choreographers including Tere O’Connor, Kirstie Simpson, Laurie Carlos, and Catherine Cabeen. Grace was also selected to perform in the reconstruction of Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company’s D-Man In The Waters for the National Endowment of the Arts in 2008.

After founding her own dance company, GC&DC in 2012, her New York City works have been performed for Symphony Space, Movement Research, Judson Church, and Issue Project Room among others.

Now living and dancing in Los Angeles, she can be caught at various museum exhibitions, reading Victorian British Literature, or hovered over a DIY project when she’s not writing for LA Dance Chronicle.

Carol Egan began studying dance at age 5. By early ‘teens she had appeared as a tap dancer on stage, television and in an MGM movie. She trained professionally at The Juilliard School with Martha Graham Martha Graham for modern and Antony Tudor, Alfredo Corvino and Margaret Craske for ballet. Egan was a member of the earlies Los Angeles-based Bella Lewitzky Dance Company. She subsequently danced, taught, and choreographed throughout the United States and Europe. In 1978 Egan began writing about dance as the Bay Area news correspondent for Dance Magazine and she has also written for the Berkeley Voice and The Honolulu Advertiser. She has managed small dance and theatre companies including the Jazz Tap Ensemble (1980-85). Egan continues to dance in the halau of Mapuana de Silva.

Lauren Harvey is a freelance journalist with bylines in the San Francisco Chronicle, the Los Angeles Times, uDiscover Music and Fifty Grande Magazine. She earned her undergraduate degrees in English and Public Health at the University of California, Berkeley, where she also worked as the Arts & Entertainment Editor and Special Issues Editor for the student newspaper, the Daily Californian. She’s currently pursuing her master’s degree at the University of Southern California in Communication Data Science, taking classes in both the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism and the Viterbi School of Engineering.

Denali Huff is a dancer, choreographer, writer, and teacher based in Los Angeles. She is a current company member with BrockusRED and dances for Sean Greene, where she continues to expand her artistry through performance, collaboration, and the traditions of modern dance.

As a choreographer, Denali has presented her work at the Orange County Dance Festival, in choreographic exchanges across Los Angeles, and internationally in Périgord, France. Her choreography is recognized for being high-energy and emotionally charged, drawing from modern and contemporary vocabularies.

Her performance credits span stage and screen, including appearances at the Seoul International Dance Festival, the Moulin/Belle France Choreography Residency, and music videos for artists such as Aint Afraid and Gavin Haley. Originally from Austin, Texas, she began her career with Chaddick Theatre Dance and Sea Legs Dance, where she built a strong technical foundation.

In addition to performing and choreographing, Denali helps lead marketing and media for the Los Angeles Dance Festival, combining her design and storytelling skills to promote the visibility of dance in the city. Her poetry has been published in Thimble Literary Magazine, and she teaches in under-resourced public schools through P.S. Arts, providing accessible dance education to young students.

Madison Huizinga is a writer and dancer hailing from Seattle, WA, where she competed and trained in ballet, contemporary, and jazz, and danced with the modern company Intrepidus Dance. She holds a B.A. in Communication from the University of Washington and was formerly the Blog Editor for the DWC Blog at Dancewear Center, where she profiled Seattle-based dancers, choreographers, and artistic directors. In addition to Seattle, she’s also lived and danced in New York and San Francisco, where she took open classes at Peridance Studio and Alonzo King Lines. Today, she writes Cafe Hysteria, a weekly media and culture newsletter that’s been featured in CNN and Dazed, among other outlets. She can be found taking open ballet classes on the east side of LA or hiking in Griffith Park.

Annie Kahane is a performer and maker working in poetry, dance and theater. Her performance projects have been supported by the San Francisco International Arts Festival, the Odyssey Theater, the Zellerbach Family Foundation, ODC Theater, the Kenneth Rainin Foundation and New Music USA, among others. Her poetry has been featured on multiple NPR stations. Kahane holds bachelor’s degrees in dance and creative Writing from Northwestern University and an MFA in Choreography Inquiry from UCLA’s Department of World Arts & Cultures/Dance. She has taught at UCLA, Pepperdine University and is currently a faculty member in the Departments of Kinesiology/Dance and Theater at California State University Northridge.

Celine S. Kiner is a journalist, designer, and artist whose work is largely informed by lifelong movement research. She aims to tell the story of the artist through process and context, while holding true to the integrity and intention of the work itself. Celine is an alumna of USC Kaufman’s inaugural class and has performed works by Forsythe, Cerrudo, Marshall, Kylian, and more. Currently, you can find her work in digital and print at BroadStage, Nom de Pixel, DIYdancer Magazine, and LA Dance Chronicle.

Rebecca Lee is an Indigenous American dance artist and writer originally from Las Vegas, Nevada. Upon graduating with her BFA in dance from the Peabody Conservatory of Johns Hopkins University, she moved to Los Angeles to continue her artistic career.

Since moving to California, she has been a freelance artist for various LA project based choreographers along with being a core performer for companies such as BrockusRED Dance Company, TORRENT, Cantilever Collective and Heidi Duckler Dance. Rebecca has furthered her writing career with recent publications in Silent Spark Press Poetry along with writing reviews for the LA Dance Chronicle.

Rebecca has held the role of being the Education Director for Heidi Duckler Dance and is currently a Teaching Artist with P.S Arts and BrockusRED. Within these roles, Rebecca has had the opportunity to provide arts education to foster youth, students in underserved public schools, formerly incarcerated individuals, and youth within correctional facilities. Rebecca is dedicated to making dance education accessible to all children despite socio-economic background, geographic location, ability, and age.

Throughout her career, Rebecca has been able to perform nationally and internationally at events such as New York Fashion Week, and the FITICH festival in Chile. Rebecca has performed work with artists such as Kyle Abraham, Ching-Ching Wong, Peter Chu, Pat Taylor, Danielle Agami, Sidra Bell, Yin-Yue, Sonya Tayeh, and Marjani Forte-Saunders. Rebecca’s artistic practice embodies the rigor and athleticism of dance while emphasizing the artistic and playful nature of the art form. Rebecca values the way that dance can express identity while building stronger communities. Because of this, Rebecca plans to continue to use dance as a tool to challenge social constructs of race, gender, and socio-political issues within her professional career.

www.nancydobbsowen.com

Melina Paris is an accomplished arts journalist, podcast host/producer, and cultural advocate. For more than a decade, she has illuminated the artistic landscape of Los Angeles, particularly focusing on the Harbor area. Through in-depth interviews and compelling narratives with artists of many mediums, she delves into their creative processes, often examining themes of social justice and environmental consciousness. Her work reflects the power of journalism in bridging communities. Her podcast showcases the richness of Los Angeles’ artistic heritage and fosters deeper connections between creators and audiences.

Rachel Turner is originally from Chicago, where she trained and performed with the Ballet Chicago Studio Company, and she received her B.A. in Dance from Columbia University. She is currently the regional director of NACHMO (National Choreography Month) Los Angeles and teaches contemporary dance at Campbell Hall in Valley Village. She has previously danced with companies including DancEthos, Aras Dance, T2 Dance Project, Maura Townsend Dance Project, and Dakshina/Daniel Phoenix Singh Company, with whom she toured Europe and India. In 2015, she started her own company, Errant Movement, and has presented her work across the country, including as part of Detroit Dance City Festival, Capital Fringe in Washington DC, MixMatch Festival in Santa Monica, HHII Dance Festival in Santa Barbara, NACHMO LA at Stomping Ground, Mash Up Dance’s Choreo Open Mic, and Cho.Co.LA Showcase at LA Dance Project. In Washington DC, she founded the DC Dance Journalism Project, and is passionate about the importance of highlighting and supporting the arts through dance journalism.

Tam had the good fortune to begin her dance training with the inimitable Burch Mann with whom she studied for several years.  She continued with Evelyn Lemone, Leslie Ruchala (NYC Ballet) and was on scholarship at 16 with the acclaimed modern dance innovator Bella Lewitsky.   After a short stint at the Royal Winnipeg Ballet School Tam, returned to Los Angeles and jumped head first into local Jazz classes.    She studied with Luigi, Jaime Rogers, Roland Du Pre, Joe Tremaine, Doug Rivera, Alex Plaschert, Bobby Banas, Hama and so many of the best.

After years as a working dancer Tam became an assistant choreographer, which led directly to her own career as a noted Director/Choreographer.  Her credits range from live theater production, to film and video, theme parks, Business Theater, special events and concerts. Amongst these credits were the world premiers of 7 iconic Disney films including Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, Pocahontas, and The Hunchback of Notre Dame.  Other credits are The Winter Olympics, The Special Olympics, The Women’s World Cup, many Musicals, Children’s Theater and countless corporate shows.  Her corporate clients include Sony, Chevron, Pepsi, Infiniti, Arco, Compaq, Sun Microsystems and Anheuser Busch.  Tam was so well known in this field she was referred to as “The queen of Industrials!”  However there was no tiara.

Currently Tam is working with dancers with disabilities.  Check out her site at www.tamwarnerdanceperspective.com.

Steven Vargas is a multimedia journalist, dancer and actor based in Los Angeles. His work focuses on the intersections of media, social justice, and performance. Most recently, he was an arts reporter at the Los Angeles Times where he expanded dance coverage at the paper and launched the LA Goes Out newsletter. He graduated from USC with an MA in Specialized Journalism (The Arts) in 2022 and previously graduated from USC with a BA in Theatre and Journalism with a minor in Dance in 2020. As a performer, he participated in the 2018 Artist As Citizen Conference with Artists Striving to End Poverty (ASTEP) at the Juilliard School and studied at Shakespeare’s Globe in London with a Fulbright Summer Institute Scholarship. As a dancer, he has participated in intensives with A.I.M. by Kyle Abraham, Movement Migration and Imprints Dance Company. His writing can also be found at E! News, Entertainment Weekly, USA Today, TheWrap, Dance Magazine, BuzzFeed News and more.

Writers Emeritus and Guest Writers:

Polina Cherezova is a journalist and photographer based in Los Angeles, specializing in arts and culture storytelling through visual, audio, print, and digital mediums. Her interests lie in visual documentary storytelling and character-driven narratives. Polina’s work can be found in CULTURED magazine, PhotoVogue, Spectrum News, KQED, KCRW, KPCC, LiveNation, the LA Phil, among others.

Mary Pat Cooney earned her BFA in Dance from Ohio University, and spent 20+ years having adventures as a dancer and dance teacher.

With basic training in modern dance, Mary Pat performed with 4 companies in New York. After spending a summer working as a clown at an amusement park in Wildwood, NJ, she got the circus bug. She packed her bags and spent a year on the road with Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus as a dancer and aerial ballet artist.

She returned to her roots in the Washington, DC area and performed as a dancer with the Washington Opera, Wolf Trap Opera and the Kennedy Center’s Imagination Celebration. For 9 years Mary Pat was a member of the Washington Swing Dance Committee, a group integral to the Swing Dance revival in the 90’s. She also created swing dance programs at the Augusta Heritage Center in Elkins WV for 14 years. During this period, Mary Pat studied rhythm tap and was privileged to meet and study with some of the master hoofers, including LaVaughn Robinson and Buster Brown.

After moving to Los Angeles, Mary Pat was sidelined by an injury, but her passion for dance was not stifled. Her education and eclectic dance background give her a unique perspective.

Kim Gadlin is a faculty member with the Pomona College Dance Program and California Polytechnic State University, Pomona. She teaches Dunham technique, African Diasporic dance forms (jazz, House and Salsa) and modern, and site-specific classes. She is the co-founder of Dancestors Presents…where she focuses on workshops and retreats using dance as a vehicle for wellness. She has also taught at Cypress College, La Verne University, Saint Joseph Ballet (The Wooden Floor), Lula Washington, Inland Pacific Ballet and many other dance studios in Los Angeles, Chicago, and Philadelphia. She was a principal dancer with The Philadelphia Dance Company (Philadanco!) and The Joseph Holmes Dance Theater of Chicago. Her focus in dance streams from several modern dance techniques including, Dunham, Graham, and Horton. In addition she has studied African Brazilian, African Cuban, ballet, House, Hip Hop, jazz Salsa and West African.

She received professional training at the Joseph Holmes School of Dance, Joel Hall: New School North, The Alvin Ailey American Dance School, and Philadelphia School of Dance. She has studied and worked with Mr. Ailey, Denise Jefferson, Milton Myers, Joan Myers Brown, Talley Beatty, Karla Maxwell, Harriet Ross, Randy Duncan, Tommy Gomez, Homer Bryant, Joan Peters and many others renowned teachers and choreographers.

She graduated from Pitzer College as a New Resource Program student with a degree in Dance, Claremont Graduate University with a Master’s in  K-12 Education with an emphasis in Dance Education. Kim is a doctoral candidate at Texas Woman’s University and hopes to receive her Ph.D in dance by the end of 2020. She is the former Interim Acting Assistant Dean and the Coordinator of Programs at the Office of Black Student Affairs (OBSA) at the Claremont Colleges where he co-created the Ashe’ Dance Collective. One of Kim’s beliefs is that dance has the power to heal communities.

Marlita Hill is a multi-published author, choreographer, and educator. She is an Adjunct Instructor and MFA graduate with Belhaven University (MS). Marlita is the Associate Director with Edge Project, produces a weekly podcast, The Kingdom Art Life, and is the Artistic Director/Choreographer for Speak Hill Dance Project, through which she showcases her own work and provides master classes, guest choreography, and residencies. Her choreography has been presented at venues including Belhaven University, ARC Pasadena, Lineage Performing Arts Center, Diavolo, Towson University, Kennedy Center’s Millennium Stage (in collaboration with VT Dance), Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center (MD), and Carpenter Center Performing Arts. Hill holds a BFA in Dance Performance with K-12 Certification from Towson University (MD). In 2009, she cofounded the dance department at the Cortines School for the Visual and Performing Arts in downtown Los Angeles where she taught tap, modern, and choreography for seven years.

Jessica Koslow was born and raised in Venice, Calif., and lived in New York City for 12 years where she worked in publishing and launched her freelance career as a music journalist. She moved back to L.A. in  2006 and is currently a freelance writer/editor covering arts & culture and food for local media.

She attended Brown University and USC Annenberg. 

Born in New York City, Anthony began a career in the entertainment business at age five, playing Kirk Douglas’ godson in the film, “The Brotherhood”. Never stopping since, he has worked on Broadway, international stages, in cinema, and on TV with numerous celebrities as diverse as Angela Lansbury, Dustin Hoffman, Harold Prince, Jerome Robbins, Pete Townshend, Jennifer Lopez, John Guare, Kander & Ebb, F. Murray Abraham, Marisa Tomei, Stephen Schwartz, and Andrew Lloyd Weber.

With over 50 years of performing under his belt, Anthony is active behind the scenes as well. In 1990, he founded etc.inc. a non-profit organization which presented new American theatre in Rome, Italy. With D.I.Y.N. Productions, he produced four award winning short films. He created The Space, a multi-media arts complex in Hollywood, consisting of 2 performing arts theatres, multiple casting studios, production offices and rehearsal facilities. He was a commercial casting session director for McDonalds, Dr. Pepper, Mercedes and many others. With his husband, he co-founded Thats A Nice!, a specialty all-natural Sicilian food line, honored with a SOFI Silver Award (the “Oscars” of the food biz). He wrote and performed original pop music with two bands: “Interpret” and “Ariel & Anthony” and has now turned his composition skills toward the stage, as a composer in development with ANMT. He has traveled extensively throughout Europe, Asia, Australia and all 50 US states. Anthony is currently writing an auto-biographical musical, a comedy web-series and a bio-pic of the late Sal Mineo.

Anthony studied filmmaking at School of Visual Arts in New York, UCLA and received a business degree at SMC and Composer Certificate at Manhattan School of Music. His drama education includes the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts, American Academy of Dramatic Arts, HB Studio and the Groundlings. He studied dance with the legendary Phil Black in New York, at The Edge in Los Angeles, and continues to perform professionally. He is Dance Committee Chair at Sag-Aftra and continues to advocate for dancers and choreographers.

Margaret Morrison is a rhythm tap artist, dance historian, teacher, and writer. Her writings on tap dance have been published in Los Angeles Review of Books, Dance Research Journal, Dance Chronicle, and forthcoming in the Oxford Handbook of Black Dance, edited by Thomas F. DeFrantz. She is currently working on a novel about 1930s jazz and tap women. Margaret received the Flo-Bert Life Achievement Award and the American Tap Dance Foundation Hoofer Award for her contributions to tap dance. Her dance and theater productions, fiction, and scholarship explore tap at the intersections of gender, race, queerness, and history. Margaret began her career in the 1980s with the American Tap Dance Orchestra, directed by Brenda Bufalino. She has performed across the globe as a featured soloist and critics have hailed her as “feather-footed and musically astute” and a “consummate artist who breaks the mold.” Margaret has choreographed for ensembles and independent film, and she wrote, starred, and tap danced in her first play Home In Her Heart, which ran for over 40 performances in New York City. She holds an MFA from American Dance Festival/Hollins University, and is Education Advisor for the American Tap Dance Foundation, where she created and co-directs the Tap Teacher Training Program.
www.margaretmorrison.com

You may already know author, performer, and choreographer, Matthew Shaffer from his work on the top Netflix original series, Wet Hot American Summer, or from his musical theater performance on the hit television show, Crazy Ex Girlfriend, or perhaps you recognize him from his short-lived role as a Pottery Barn sales associate. His debut book, So You Want To Be A Dancer launched as an Amazon #1 New Release in Performing Arts. With his razor sharp tongue and quick witted edge Matthew ignites hilarious banter with a sassy social styling that only a sharp dressed Gen-Y hipster can provide. He wrote, directed, and starred in his first production when he was 7 years old and has been entertaining family members (and audiences) ever since!

After attending the prestigious Orange County School of the Arts, Matthew continued his professional career as a principal dancer with Giordano Dance Chicago. Following 3 seasons with the world-renowned jazz company, Shaffer moved to New York City and performed in the ensemble of The Radio City Christmas Spectacular for 5 seasons. In 2004, Matthew returned to Los Angeles and established A Group Production with his husband and creative partner, Jeff Payton. In addition to his endeavors as a writer, Matthew continues to cultivate his career as a choreographer, performer, and educator. If you insist
on knowing more, Matthew encourages you to Google him, and follow him on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook: @funnyshaffer.

Deirdre Towers, Producer of Dance on Camera Festival 1994-2012, Dance Magazine staff 1984-1989, Institute for Spanish Arts, Flamenco History Teacher and Community Liaison. Life time dancer/pianist.