ROBERT SWINSTON, Director of Choregraphy, has been a member of Merce Cunningham Dance Company since 1980 and became Assistant to the Choreographer in July 1992. He attended Middlebury College and the Juilliard School, where he received a BFA in dance. He has also performed with the Martha Graham Apprentice Company, Jose Limon Dance Company, and Kazuko Hirabayashi Dance Theatre. He has taught at Montclair State College, SUNY-Purchase and the Juilliard School. He joined the faculty of the Merce Cunningham Studio in 1987. Since Merce Cunningham's death in July 2009, Swinston has been the Director of Choreography, overseeing the Merce Cunningham Dance Company, the CDF Repertory Understudy Group and its work with the Cunningham Educational Outreach Program. In 2009, Swinston was named a Trustee for the Merce Cunningham Trust.
 PATRICIA LENT, Director of Licensing, was a member of the Merce Cunningham Dance Company from 1984 to 1993, and White Oak Dance Project from 1994 to 1996. She has been on the faculty of the Merce Cunningham Studio since 1988, teaching technique classes and workshops, and
staging work from the repertory including the reconstruction of Fabrications for MCDC’s 50th Anniversary season. From 1998 to 2007 she taught second and third grade at P.S. 234 in lower Manhattan. Her essay “Moving Back and Moving On,” published in Forever After: New York City Teachers on 9/11, describes her class trip to an MCDC rehearsal which inspired the development of the Studio’s Educational Outreach Program.
CAROL TEITELBAUM, Faculty Chair, joined the faculty in 1985 and was a member of the Merce Cunningham Dance Company from 1986-1993. She became faculty chair in 1998 and, in addition to teaching technique classes at the Studio, she conducts the Summer Intensive Workshops (introducing new students to Cunningham technique from the ground up and teaching a selection from the repertory). Ms. Teitelbaum has collaborated with Carolyn Brown on several revivals of Mr. Cunningham's early works and staged dances at State University of New York at Purchase, Barnard College, Ballet de Lorraine, the Cunningham Repertory Understudy Group and the Merce Cunningham Dance Company. She has taught master classes and held guest teaching positions at many institutions, including La Guardia High School of the Performing Arts and the Ailey/Fordham BFA Program. Ms. Teitelbaum holds an M.F.A. in Dance from the University of Michigan. She danced in the Lucinda Childs Dance Company and the Manuel Alum Dance Company.
LOUISE BURNS has performed, choreographed, and taught throughout the world. She was a member of the Merce Cunningham Dance Company in the 1970's and 80's performing in such pieces as Duets, Inlets 2, Channels/Inserts and Summerspace. Her choreography has been performed by the Danish National School for Theatre & Dance, the Tasmanian Dance Company of Australia, Compagnie Coline of France, Western Australian Academy for Performing Arts, and several dance departments. Ms. Burns has been guest director of the modern dance program at University of Montana; senior lecturer & head of contemporary dance at WAAPA, Australia; originating faculty at P.A.R.T.S. founded by Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker of Brussels; rehearsal director for Jean Claude Gallotta & Groupe Emile Dubois of Grenoble, France touring Ulysses and Romeo et Juliet; and guest teacher with ROSAS and DCA/Philippe Decoufle. Recently, she performed the choreography of Mel Wong, and improvised with Kenneth King and friends in the Improvisation Festival at St. Mark's Church, New York. Her degree is from the University of Hawaii with a focus in Dance Ethnology. At present, Ms. Burns is a Visiting Guest Artist in Dance at the College of William and Mary.
MARY LISA BURNS, Director of Education, has taught at the Merce Cunningham Studio since 1988. She has also taught at Barnard College since 1996, and has been a guest teacher at the Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University, at Wesleyan College, the University of Texas at Austin and as part of the Isle de Danse Festival in Colombe, France. Her work has been presented at the Merce Cunningham Studio, Columbia University's Miller Theater, Barnard College's Minor Latham Playhouse, at Union College (Schenectady, NY), and the Cambridge Art Association (Cambridge, MA). A member of Kenneth King & Dancers for five years, Ms. Burns also performed in the companies and works of Brenda Daniels, Robert Kovich, Gina Gibney, Mitch Kirsch/Dogs in Space, Christopher Beck, the Reeves/Jones Performing Group and in the Tony Kushner/Ann Sullivan work, La Fin de la Baleine. She holds a B.A. from Barnard College, an M.F.A. from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts, a Certificate from the Merce Cunningham Studio, and a Certificate from the Dance Education Lab at the 92nd Street Y's Harkness Center. In addition, she has studied Anatomy/Kinesiology with Irene Dowd and Alexander Technique and Pilates with Clarice Marshall.
JANET CHARLESTON discovered modern dance while she was a biology major at the University of Illinois. She earned her B.F.A. in a self-designed program in Dance Kinesiology and Therapy and danced with Beverly Blossom and Dancers, among others, before moving to New York City, where she danced with the Lucinda Childs Dance Company and with Douglas Dunn & Dancers. She was a dancer and performer in the 1992 revival and world tour of the Robert Wilson/Philip Glass opera Einstein on the Beach and enjoys working with a variety of other artists including Christopher Williams, David Parker, RoseAnne Spradlin, Kota Yamazaki and Kirstie Simson. Her recent choreography has been presented by the American Dance Guild and the Soaking Wet Festival in New York City, and the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts in Illinois. Janet has taught at New York University, Barnard College and SUNY-Purchase, and was a visiting lecturer for two years at the University of Illinois while earning an M.F.A. in Dance. In her work abroad, Janet was a performing and teaching guest artist at the Salzburg Experimental Academy of Dance (SEAD) and with Palindrome Dance Company (Germany), and has been awarded a Fulbright grant to teach at Universidad Mayor in Santiago, Chile in the fall of 2008. She is also a yoga instructor.
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JUNE FINCH Before receiving her MA in Dance and Performing Arts from Sarah Lawrence College, June assisted Bessie Schonberg with composition classes at the American Dance Festival. In the late 60' she joined the faculty at the Merce Cunningham Studio and became a founding member of Viola Farber's company with whom she danced and toured for many years. From 1977 to 1982, June taught independently in NYC and created five seasons of work with her group, June Finch and Dancers. In the 80's and 90's June taught and choreographed most extensively at SUNY Purchase and Cornell University. And reconstructed Merce Cunningham's Changing Steps for student dancers at North Carolina School of the Arts and Ohio State University, among many others. Since the early 90' while spending summers on Cape Cod to run a family business, June teaches and presents concerts at the Provincetown Art Association and Museum with her group Danceworks. Among her contributions to the Cunningham Faculty concerts, a dance built from a composition workshop, Frame of Reference, was sent to represent Merce's studio at a fundraising gala at dance Theater of Harlem in 2003.
JEAN FREEBURY grew up in Alberta Canada where she studied at Alberta Ballet School and Banff School of Fine Arts. She danced in various productions with Alberta Ballet Company and the Edmonton Opera before she continued her training at London Contemporary Dance School and North Carolina School of the Arts. In 1990 she received a Canada Council grant to study at the Merce Cunningham Dance School. She danced for the Merce Cunningham Dance Company from 1992-2003 and has been on the faculty of the school since 1996. She has taught master classes and workshops at London Contemporary Dance School, Rotterdam Dans Academy, and Juilliard among others. She currently works with Glen Rumsey, Makram Hamdan, and is a core artist of Magnetic Laboratorium, an intermedia performance group directed by visual artist Marisela la Grave. She continues to study ballet with Christine Wright.
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HRISTOULA HARAKAS, though born in Connecticut, grew up in Athens, Greece where she received her BFA in Dance from the N. Kodaxaki School of Dance. She moved to New York in 1996 as a scholar of both the Alexander Onassis Foundation of Athens, Greece (1996-1999) and the M. Cunningham Dance Foundation (1997-1998). The summer of 2002 she joined the Faculty of the Merce Cunningham Studio upon receiving both Certificates in 'Dance Technique, Repertory and Performance' offered by the Studio. She's been a member of the Donna Uchizono Dance Company since February 2003, with touring engagements throughout the US and Europe. She is currently working on a trio with Mikhail Baryshnikov and Jodi Melnick choreographed by Ms Uchizono. In recent years she has performed and collaborated with: Jeremy Nelson and Louis Lara, Maria Hassabi, Amanda Loulaki, Chantal Yzermans and Levi Gonzalez. As a member of the Donna Uchizono Co. she has taught technique and repertory workshops in New York Dance Studios and Universities around the States (Cal Arts, LIU, Barnard College and Maryland University among others) She is also a Certified Pilates Instructor through Bodytonic, New York, where she currently teaches.
JEFF MOEN began his dance training at the National Academy of Arts. He holds a BS in Comprehensive Music Education from the University of Illinois. He has danced with American Dance Machine, NY Theatre Ballet, Saeko Ichinohe, Robert Kovitch, and many others. He teaches intensive workshops throughout Japanin August and December. He is also a judge for the Akita Contemporary Dance Competition. Mr. Moen's recent choreography has been praised by the New York Times, Village Voice and DanceViewTimes. He also makes origami art, which can be purchased locally at Takashimayo New York on Fifth Avenue.
BANU OGAN was born in Ankara, Turkey and grew up in Bloomington, Indiana where she studied ballet with Lila Higgins and won a National Society of Arts and Letters Career Award in dance. In 1991, Banu graduated with a bachelor's degree in biology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She was a member of the Merce Cunningham Dance Company from 1993 to 2000 and originated roles in ten new works. Since leaving the company she has performed in pieces by former Cunningham dancers Foofwa d'Imobilite, Ashley Chen, and Glen Rumsey and she has also worked with The Seldoms, a Chicago-based dance company directed by Carrie Hanson. Banu has been a faculty member of the Merce Cunningham studio since 1998 and has also taught technique class and repertory workshops in Spain, Switzerland, Italy, Japan, Brazil and Turkey. She has re-staged Cunningham's work for the Royal Swedish Ballet, for students at New World School for the Arts in Miami, Florida, for ATON/Dino Verga Danza in Rome, Italy, for students at Columbia College, Chicago, and for students at the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana. She is currently a full-time faculty lecturer at Columbia College and will return to NYC in the summer to perform and teach at the Juilliard School.
YUKIE OKUYAMA began her dance training in Tokyo at the age of three. Her professional career began with the Tokyo Ballet Group in 1972. Ms. Okuyama performed with the Tokyo Ballet Group through 1986, where many roles were created especially for her. She began choreographing during that time, and was the recipient of many major awards from the Japan Contemporary Dance Association and the Tokyo Shimbun. Ms. Okuyama moved to New York in 1986 and joined the faculty of the Merce Cunningham Dance Studio in 1987, where she continues to teach. She also regularly guest teaches throughout Japan. She has been featured in the magazines Dance Fax and Dance Teacher for her skills as a master teacher. Ms. Okuyama is still performing. She has been a member of the Saeko Ichinohe Dance Company since 1986, performing throughout the country and abroad. Ms. Okuyama enjoys designing and sewing dance costumes. She has created costumes for the companies of Pam Tanowitz, Anita Cheng, Saeko Ichinohe, Mary Seidman, and Jeff Moen, among others.
Accompanists
MOSHE GOLDBERG started playing piano at age 5 on a five-octave saloon piano, and now age 69, graduated to a seven and a half real piano. During that time he accompanied modern dance classes at the Cunningham and Graham studios, Juilliard, Pearl Lang, Viola Farber, Jose Limon, Marjorie Mazia, and Dan Waggoner. In the classical ballet field he has played for Corvino, Maggie Black, Jocelyn Lorenz, and STEPS on Broadway.
PAT RICHTER comes from New York City, has a BM from the Eastman School of Music, and an MM from the Manhattan School of Music. "I started improvising at age six when my teacher said, I have to hold a half-note for two counts, and I said, "Why? the composer isn't here." I've been changing other people's music ever since then, and thanks to Merce, have been playing my own music since I started accompanying him in 1967. When I lived in Las Vegas, I went into a recording studio and improvised for an hour, which became the music for Cunningham's TV video, "Deli Comedia."
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