TREVOR CARLSON, Executive Director, is a graduate of The Juilliard School in New York City where he received a BFA in Dance. He has performed with the Stanley Love Performance Group and was co-founder of the organization. Throughout his extensive career as an arts administrator, he has served as Fiscal Associate for Pentacle/DanceWorks, Managing Director of the Stephen Petronio Company, Tour Manager for P.S. 122 Field Trips, Company Manager at The Joyce Theater, and Company Manager, Director of Communications, and General Manager of MCDC. He assumed the position of Executive Director of the Cunningham Dance Foundation in 2005. During his tenure at MCDC, he has helped to increase the number of visual artist collaborations by developing the possibility for Merce to create Events in repertory theater houses using different décors each evening. A total of 25 additional collaborations have been staged in this manner. He also helped stimulate the vision for MCDC’s 2003 collaboration with the bands Radiohead and Sigur Rós and artists Robert Heishman and Catherine Yass.  Most recently, in continuation of this collaborative philosophy, Trevor has helped to expand the role of MCDC as a community-wide residency partner.  These partnerships provide historical context, as well as stimulus for new local collaboration and creation across multiple artistic fields.  The Company has experienced great success with this formula at several residencies, including the Melbourne International Arts Festival in 2007.  Also during his tenure, Trevor helped initiate the groundbreaking Monday’s With Merce program, to capture Merce’s Monday company class and other aspects of studio life for the Company.  The program gives dancers around the world the opportunity to take class from Merce himself.  Trevor has given lectures at numerous institutions including the College of St. Benedict, Johnson County Community College, The Juilliard School, Stanford University, the University of Florida at Gainesville, University of Illinois, University of Maryland, University of Michigan, and in various locations throughout Brazil, the United Kingdom, and Norway. He has also served as a panelist for the Jerome Foundation.  In 2001 Trevor performed in John Cage’s theater piece, James Joyce, Marcel Duchamp, Erik Satie: An Alphabet. 

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LYNN WICHERN, Chief Financial Officer, joined the Merce Cunningham Dance Company in October of 2005.  She was the Fiscal Administrator for the Mark Morris Dance Group from 1996-2005. Prior to that she was the Fiscal Director for the Foundation for Independent Artists, a ten member corporate conduit for unincorporated artists, administered by Pentacle, (Danceworks, Inc.). In that capacity she was the financial manager for Bebe Miller, Doug Varone, Urban Bush Women, and Eiko and Komo, to name a few. She is a graduate of the University of Iowa with a BA and MA in dance, and holds a MFA from Case Western Reserve University in dance and theatre. Before coming to NYC she was a professor of dance at the University of Virginia, Illinois Wesleyan University and Drake University. She choreographed and performed as part of EMR dance company and Wichern/Wolfson dance & music in the 90s.

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LAYTON HOWER, Bookkeeper, graduated in 2003 from Davidson College with a BA in Studio Art and shortly thereafter moved to the New Mexican desert to paint canvasses and eat chiles. In 2006, following a number of solo and group exhibitions in Albuquerque, Layton moved to Brooklyn with his wife, Michele. Layton continues his painting career in New York City and is thrilled to work with the fine office staff of the Cunningham Dance Foundation.

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TAMBRA DILLON, Director for Institutional Advancement, has been a member of CDF’s Development Committee since 2003 and joined the Cunningham Dance Foundation full-time in November 2008. She served as the Executive Director of the Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts at Bard College for four years, and was responsible for producing a large-scale summer festival and developing the organization’s fundraising and marketing capacity. From 1999-2003, Tambra lived in Dublin, Ireland, where she was Chief Executive of Temple Bar Properties in Dublin, a semi-state agency charged with the continued redevelopment of Temple Bar as Dublin's cultural district. In this role, she oversaw the completion of large-scale property development, the management of 18 cultural buildings, and year-round cultural programs and outdoor summer arts festivals to promote tourism and encourage local partnerships. Tambra began her career in the arts at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, where she worked for twelve years, first as the Director of Special Events and Sponsorship from 1987-1993, and subsequently as the Vice President for Marketing and Promotion from 1994-1999.

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tambra@merce.org

MARIA KUCINSKI, Development and Marketing Coordinator, is a graduate of NYU’s Gallatin School of Individualized Study. She studied Cultural Economy and Policy and her colloquium topic discussed “The Importance of the Nonprofit Sector in the US Today.” Maria was asked to speak about philanthropy at the First Annual Gallatin Senior Sympoisum in May 2009. After graduating, Maria worked as the Development Associate at Robert Wilson’s The Watermill Center - an avant-garde theater residency program for emerging artists. As a great admirer of the arts and dance and co-chair of the Junior Board of Gibney Dance, Maria is delighted to be a part of the Cunningham Dance Foundation.

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KEVIN TAYLOR, Director of Special Projects, Assistant to the Executive Director, graduated from Texas Christian University with a BFA in ballet and modern dance. In addition to his work with MCDC, Kevin dances with the VonHowardProject, an up-and-coming modern troupe based out of NY/NJ.

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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. In 2009, Lent was named a Trustee for the Merce Cunningham Trust.

PEPPER FAJANS, Production Assistant, began working as a part-time laborer for Cunningham’s production department in 2007. With a BA in dance from Sarah Lawrence College and an upbringing in carpentry he was able to extend himself to other areas of CDF. In 2008 he took a full-time position as the Personal Assistant to the Artistic Director. During the following year he was immersed in the culmination of Mr. Cunningham’s life’s work. As MCDC enters the Legacy, he has established himself as a resource for logistics and creativity. He will be designing and managing new merchandise, assisting production on the Legacy Tour, and taking good care of our facilities in New York.

DAVISON SCANDRETT, Production Manager, earned his BFA in Lighting Design from the North Carolina School of the Arts in 2002. He spent the next six years dividing his time between commercial productions and work with independent theatre & dance artists. Recent credits include works by Sarah Michelson, Miguel Gutierrez, Joanna Haigood, Carlos Orta, and Twyla Tharp. He has supervised the lighting for over 100 productions as a lighting director or department head, including 3 tours for the Tony-honored Acting Company, the World Tour of Rent, and the First National Tour of The Drowsy Chaperone. His design work has been seen at venues across the US as well as in Europe, and in 2007 he was the recipient of a Bessie for his collaboration with Sarah Michelson on the lighting of Dogs at Brooklyn Academy of Music. Davison joined MCDC in the summer of 2008.

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CHRISTINE SHALLENBERG, Lighting Director, is a resident of Brooklyn and a graduate of Illinois Wesleyan University with a degree in Theater Arts and Dance. Her primary focus is creating contemporary dance and performance, as well as lighting design for the New York Dance Community. In New York City, Shallenberg has collaborated with choreographers Nicholas Leichter, Clare Byrne, Laura Pawel, Beth Soll, and Michael Helland. She has had the pleasure of working as a Technical Director at Danspace Project, as well as touring Lighting Director for Hell’s Kitchen Dance with Mikhail Barishnikov.

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ANNA FINKE, Wardrobe Supervisor & Company Photographer, grew up on a strawberry farm in northern Minnesota and attended SUNY Purchase where she received a BFA in dance. She met Merce during an internship at Jacob's Pillow and began working with the company in 2004. Finke is now the company photographer and has been designing costumes for MCDC since 2007, creating five original works for the Event series at Dia:Beacon, and the costumes for Nearly 90². She has toured with Mikhail Baryshnikov and freelances with various artists in the area. Finke was recently featured in an exhibit that celebrated women designers at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.

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GEOFFREY FINGER, Company Manager, received a BA from Reed College in Portland, OR where he studied the history of Chinese language and religion, and dance. While at Reed, he produced performances by Eiko and Koma, DJ Spooky, and Deborah Hay.  A recipient of the T.J. Watson Fellowship, Geoffrey completed a yearlong journey through Oceania, West Africa, and Brazil while working with an array of community dance and outreach programs.  A Luce Fellowship for undergraduate Chinese studies supported him to travel to Taiwan for a summer where he researched Cloud Gate Dance Theater and its connection to Chinese and Taiwanese history.  Geoffrey has served as an intern at Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, and acted as an NEA Fellow at the Institute for Dance Writing and Criticism at the American Dance Festival.  

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geoffrey@merce.org

To book the company contact:

julie-george@wanadoo.fr for Europe
david@dlartists.com for the Americas & Asia

JEFF DONALDSON-FORBES, Contracts and Touring Administrator, is an avid dance and music lover. He is a playwright, performer, and director and has produced theater in New York City; Provincetown, MA; and Bozeman, Montana.
Jeff is a past President of both The Provincetown Theater Company and Back Street Arts (NY), and a former Event Director of the magazines Field & Stream and Outdoor Life.

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DAVID VAUGHAN, Archivist, has danced, sung, acted, and choreographed in London, Paris, on and off Broadway, in American regional theaters, in film, television, ballet and modern dance companies, and cabaret. He is the author of Merce Cunningham: Fifty Years (Aperture, 1997) and of Frederick Ashton and his Ballets (revised edition, Dance Books, 1999). At the Dancing in the Millennium Conference in Washington DC in July 2000, he received the 2000 CORD (Congress on Research in Dance) Award for Outstanding Leadership in Dance Research, and in September 2001 he received a New York Dance and Performance Award (“Bessie”) for sustained achievement.

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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.

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marylisa@merce.org

CHRISTOPHER YOUNG, Studio Technical Director, is a native New Yorker, born and raised in Brooklyn. He graduated from the University at Buffalo with a BFA in Theater where he found his love for the arts. He owes credit to the many companies he’s worked for that have brought him to this point in his career, especially Shakespeare in Delaware Park for their inspirational and magical summers, and The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater for their support. He’s excited about helping to unlock the beautiful potential that the Merce Cunningham Studio holds.

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NANCY BRIGHT, Financial Aid Administrator, has been a part of the Merce Cunningham Studio family since 1996.  Her 50 year career has involved working with State and City government agencies and the not-for-profit sector.  Her focus has been devoted to administering programs that provide financial assistance to eligible applicants.

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ALICE HELPERN, International Program Coordinator, formerly Director of the Merce Cunningham Studio, also served as Financial Aid consultant for the Joffrey Ballet School , and taught dance history for students in the Joffrey/New School BFA Program and at Lang College, New School (BA Program).. Previously she taught dance at Hunter High School, Vassar College, New York University, and the Martha Graham School. Trained professionally in ballet and modern dance, she holds a Ph.D. in dance from New York University. Her monograph, The Technique of Martha Graham, was published by the Morgan Press in 1994. She edited an issue devoted to Martha Graham for the Harwood publication, Choreography and Dance, (1999). She also writes criticism for Ballet Review, and has served as a site visit consultant for the Dance Panel of the National Endowment for the Arts. She served as President and is now Treasurer of the Emergency Fund for Student Dancers. She serves on the Commission for Accreditation of the National Association of Schools of Dance and was Secretary and board member of the Society of Dance History Scholars and Vice-President of the American Dance Guild.

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alice@merce.org

ROBERT SWINSTON, Director of Choreography, was born in Pittsburgh, PA, and attended Middlebury College and The Juilliard School, where he received a BFA in Dance. He danced with the Martha Graham Apprentice Company, the José Limón Dance Company, and with Kazuko Hirabayashi Dance Theatre. He joined MCDC in August 1980 and became Assistant to the Choreographer in July 1992. 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. Since 1998, Swinston has assisted in various Cunningham archival reconstructions including Suite for Five (1956–58); Summerspace (1958); How to Pass, Kick, Fall and Run (1965); RainForest (1968); CRWDSPCR (1993); Ocean (1994); and the recent revivals of Squaregame (1976), Duets (1980), and Roaratorio (1983) for the Legacy Tour. He has assisted in the staging of Cunningham works on other companies, including Boston Ballet, White Oak Dance Project, Rambert Dance Company, and New York City Ballet. In 2003, Swinston received a “Bessie” Award for his performance in the revival of Cunningham’s How to Pass, Kick, Fall, and Run. In 2009, Swinston was named a Trustee for the Merce Cunningham Trust.

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robert@merce.org