Five College Dance Department

Five Colleges, Incorporated

Faculty

The dance faculty at the five colleges work together as members of a single department, coordinating the courses offered to ensure broad coverage of study and striving for a critical balance among technical training, performance, historical, theoretical, and scientific studies.

The distinguished faculty, enhanced by the presence of the University's Fine Arts Center, attracts some of the world's leading guest artists, who come to perform and offer master classes, lectures, workshops, or semester-long courses.

Instructors

Chris Aiken
Smith
Assistant Professor of Dance
Dance improvisation and contact improvisation
bio

Rodger Blum
Smith - Department Chair
Professor
Ballet technique and repertory, composition, floor-barre, dance pedagogy, video and performance.
bio

Billbob Brown
UMass - Director of the Dance Program
Associate Professor
Jazz and modern technique, composition, contemporary and Renaissance/Baroque dance history
bio

Jim Coleman - Chair of the FCDD
Mount Holyoke
Professor
Choreography, modern technique, dance aesthetics, video and dance and performance/repertory
bio

Paul Dennis
UMass
Lecturer
Modern technique, composition, New York Professional Outreach Program
bio

Charles Flachs
Mount Holyoke
Professor of Dance
Dance history, ballet technique, partnering, and repertory
bio

Rose Marie Flachs
Mount Holyoke
Professor of Dance
Ballet technique, variations, repertory, tap
bio

Terese Freedman
Mount Holyoke - Chair of the Dance Department
Professor of Dance
Modern technique, kinesiology for dancers, repertory, and composition
bio

Angie Hauser
Smith
Assistant Professor of Dance
Improvisation, Composition, Contemporary Dance Technique, Contact Improvisation
bio

Adrienne Hawkins
UMass
Lecturer
Jazz dance
bio

Constance Valis Hill
Hampshire
Five College Professor of Dance
Dance history theory
bio

Daphne Lowell
Hampshire - Coordinator of Dance
Professor of Dance and Movement Studies
Modern dance technique, composition, Dance and Culture, Authentic Movement, Embodied Imagination.
bio

Marilyn Middleton Sylla
Smith
Five College Lecturer in Dance
West African dance technique
bio

Rebecca Nordstrom
Hampshire
Professor of Dance
Modern technique, composition, improvisation and Laban Movement Analysis
bio

Lester Tome
Smith College
Assistant Professor of the Theory and Practice in Dance
bio

Thomas Vacanti
UMass
Assistant Professor
Ballet technique and repertory
bio

Wendy Woodson
Coordinator of Dance
Amherst
Roger C. Holden 1919 Professor of Theater and Dance
Modern technique, improvisation, interdisciplinary performance, composition, choreography studio, issues in contemporary dance, video and performance
bio


Musical Directors
Paul Arslanian
UMass
Music Director & Accompanist for Dance
bio

Peter Jones
Mount Holyoke
Lecturer and Accompanist in Dance
bio

Mike Vargas
Smith
Musician and Lecturer
bio



FCDD Staff
Betty Thurston
Administrative Assistant
bio

Jean Baxter
Production Manager
bio

Gwen Niven
Assistant Production Manager
bio