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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JORGE FIFFE, Director of Individual Giving and Special Events, joined MCDC in January 2008. In addition to working at MCDC, he serves as the Executive Director of Collaborative Arts, whose mission is to create performance and exhibition opportunities for emerging artist in New Brunswick, New Jersey. Prior to this, he worked for non-profit organizations such as Performance Space 122 (New York) and Advancement Project (Los Angeles). His strengths and interests in his professional work lie heavily at the intersection of development, marketing, and Internet technologies. Further, he is largely inspired by the complexity and possibilities inhabited by the human experience, and interpersonal relationships are a common theme in his artistic works as a performance artist. Jorge has exhibited live art, photography, and video throughout the U.S. and was awarded an MFA in visual arts from Rutgers University and a BA in studio art from the University of California, Riverside.

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SARAH ENELOW, Marketing Associate

and native Texan, came to MCDC in summer 2007 after having studied and worked extensively in classical music. Sarah plays the violin, is an avid cook, and considers herself a hot chocolate connoisseur. She has degrees from Vassar and Indiana University, and studied in Spain and Russia before settling in Brooklyn.

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KEVIN TAYLOR, Office Mgr. / Asst. to the Exec. 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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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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