ROBERT SWINSTON (Assistant to the Choreographer) was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and attended Middlebury College and The Juilliard School, where he received a BFA in dance. He has danced with the Martha Graham Apprentice Company, the José Limón Dance Company, and with Kazuko Hirabayashi Dance Theatre. He joined MCDC in August 1980. He has taught dance at Montclair State College, SUNY Purchase, The Juilliard School and the Merce Cunningham Studio. In July 1992 he became Assistant to the Choreographer. Swinston directs the activities of the CDF Repertory Understudy Group and its work with the Cunningham Educational Outreach Program. Since 1998, Swinston has instigated, helped, and/or overseen various Cunningham archival reconstructions including Suite for Five (1956–58), Summerspace (1958), Antic Meet (1958), Crises (1960), How to Pass, Kick, Fall and Run (1965), RainForest (1968), and CRWDSPCR (1993). He has assisted in the staging of Cunningham works on other companies, including Boston Ballet, Dayton Contemporary Dance Company, 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.


BRANDON COLLWES received his early dance training at the Pittsburgh CLO, Pittsburgh Ballet Theater, and the Creative and Performing Arts High School. He attended The Juilliard School and SUNY Purchase. Brandon has studied as a scholarship student at the Martha Graham Center for Contemporary Dance and twice at American Dance Festival. He became a member of the CDF Repertory Understudy Group in October 2003 and joined MCDC in January 2006.  Collwes has choreographed and performed his own work Intentional Happenstance, which will tour in the coming months.

DYLAN CROSSMAN grew up in the south of France where he started training at the Conservatory of Montpellier in contemporary dance. Crossman has trained at Epsedancse, Burklyn Ballet Theatre (VT), and graduated from the Laban Center in London. In New York, he has worked with Sean Curran, Peter Kyle, Pam Tanowitz and Christopher Williams. Dylan joined the Cunningham Repertory Understudy Group in June 2007. He would like to thank everyone who helped and supported him along the way. Crossman joined MCDC in June 2009.


JULIE CUNNINGHAM was born in Liverpool, England and trained with Elizabeth Hill and then at Rambert School. Cunningham has worked with Ballet der Stadt Theater Koblenz, Germany. In March 2003 Cunningham became a member of the CDF Repertory Understudy Group.  Cunningham has worked and performed with Chantal Ysermans, Abi Sebaly and Anne Carson in New York.  Cunningham joined MCDC in July 2004.


EMMA DESJARDINS grew up and began her dance training in Providence, Rhode Island. She graduated from Barnard College/Columbia University in 2003 where she trained and performed with their Dance Department. Emma began dancing at the Merce Cunningham Studio in 2002, joined the CDF Repertory Group in 2004, and joined MCDC in January 2006.

JENNIFER GOGGANS began dancing in her hometown of Owensboro, KY, and continued her studies at the Nutmeg Ballet in Connecticut.  She received her BFA in dance from SUNY Purchase in 2000, and joined MCDC that same year. Goggans has been a faculty member of the Merce Cunningham Studio since 2005 and has staged Cunningham's Cross Currents for the Augusta Ballet.  Goggana has also performed with the Louisville Ballet, MOMIX, Chantal Yzermans, and Christopher Williams, and has created costumes for Daniel Squire's [sic] and RoseAnne Spradlin's Survive Cycle.


DANIEL MADOFF received his BFA in Dance from Purchase College in June 2006. He has danced for Kazuko Hirabayashi Dance Theatre, Nelly van Bommel, Lauri Stallings, and Pam Tanowitz. He became a member of the CDF Repertory Understudy Group in January 2005 and joined MCDC in August 2007.

RASHAUN MITCHELL was born in Stamford, Connecticut and raised in Atlanta, Georgia. He started dancing at Concord Academy in Massachusetts and graduated from Sarah Lawrence College in 2000. He received the Viola Farber-Slayton Memorial Grant from the Foundation for Contemporary Performance Arts in 2000. Since then he has danced with Pam Tanowitz, Chantal Yzermans, Donna Uchizono, Risa Jaroslow, Sara Rudner and Richard Colton.  He joined MCDC in January 2004 and is currently on faculty at the Cunningham Studio. In 2007 he was the recipient of a Princess Grace Award: Dance Fellowship.  He presented his own choreography in collaboration with writer Anne Carson at the Skirball Center in December of 2008, and will be showing new work at La Mama in May.  Mitchell will also be performing in June at DTW with Pam Tanowitz. 


MARCIE MUNNERLYN is from Portland, OR. She trained at Jefferson High School, Oregon Ballet Theater, and the Cornish College of the Arts. She became a member of CDF Repertory Understudy Group in June 2002 and joined MCDC in January 2004.

SILAS RIENER grew up in Washington DC. He graduated from Princeton University with a degree in Comparative Literature. There he began studying dance with Ze'eva Cohen and Rebecca Lazier, and performed works by James Waring, Vaslav Nijinsky, and Leonide Massine, as restaged by Millicent Hodson. He has also worked with Takehiro Ueyama and TakeDance. Silas is currently earning his MFA at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts. He joined MCDC in September 2007.

JAMIE SCOTT began studying dance in her hometown of Great Falls, Virginia. She continued training in the pre-professional division of the Washington School of Ballet and moved to New York in 2001 to attend Barnard College. After graduating cum laude from Barnard in May of 2005, she began her studies at the Merce Cunningham Studio. She joined the Cunningham Repertory Understudy Group in January 2007 and Merce Cunningham Dance Company in July 2009. Jamie is currently on faculty at the Merce Cunnigham Dance Studio. She also dances with the Daniel Gwirtzman Dance Company.


MELISSA TOOGOOD is a native of Sydney, Australia.  She has worked with Miro Dance Theatre, Freddick Bratcher & Co., was a founding member of Michael Uthoff Dance Theatre and continues to do projects with Pam Tanowitz Dance.  She became a member of the CDF Repertory Understudy Group in November 2005 and joined MCDC in May 2008. She received a BFA in Dance from The New World School of the Arts in Miami. She is currently on faculty at the Merce Cunningham Studio.


ANDREA WEBER graduated with a BFA from The Juilliard School, under the direction of Benjamin Harkaryy. Andrea has danced and taught for Canadian-based Coleman Lemieux & Campagnie, participating in the Manitoba Project in August 2007 and in the Gros Mourne Project in July 2006. In November 2006, Weber danced an excerpt from Jessica Lang's Splendid Isolation II for Kanji Segawa's Dance Project in New York. She has assisted and staged Lila York's works on ballet companies throughout the United States and in Denmark.  Weber was a collaborator in Anne Carson's Possessive Used as Drink (Me). In 2008, Weber performed in Stacks, a collaboration between Carson, Jonah Bokaer, and Peter Cole.  She has also worked with Charlotte Griffin, Sue Bernhard, and Ellen Cornfield. Weber joined MCDC in January 2004 and is currently a faculty member of the Merce Cunningham Studio.


Repertory Understudy Group


JOHN HINRICHS was raised in Rochester, Illinois. He graduated with a BS in Mathematics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he also studied dance. He was a member of Randy James Dance Works before he joined the Cunningham Repertory Understudy Group in September 2007.


KRISTA NELSON is from Champaign, Illinois. She received a BFA in Dance with high honors from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in 2005. She is co-curator and production manager of Fridays at Noon, a free dance series at the 92nd Street Y. She is also a graduate of the Y's Dance Education Laboratory (DEL) program, and is currently on the dance faculty. Krista joined the CDF Repertory Understudy Group in May 2008. She also dances with Catherine Tharin.