Jessica Nolan

Jessica Nolan began her dance training in Australia and continued upon moving to Canada. In Edmonton, AB she graduated from the Victoria School for the Performing and Visual Arts with a scholarship to attend The State University of New York (SUNY) Purchase. Jessica studied abroad at The Western Australian Academy for Performing Arts. While in the Conservatory of Dance at Purchase she performed works by George Balanchine, Twyla Tharp, Lar Lubovitch, Justin Rutzou and Kyle Abraham. Jessica had the opportunity to perform works by Marie Chouinard, and Manuel Vignoulle. She has performed with MADArt and Periapsis Music and Dance. This is Jessica’s seventh season dancing for CoreDance Contemporary under the direction of Rebecca McCormac. 

Rebecca Allen

Rebecca Allen, originally from Staten Island, New York, graduated with a BFA from SUNY Purchase Conservatory of Dance. While there she performed works by Doug Varone, Ori Flomin, Mark Morris, and John Heginbotham. She also studied in Perth, Australia at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts, focusing on contemporary dance and aerial circus silks. Rebecca has danced with Synthesis Dance Project, Copy That Dance, and was a guest artist in Doug Varone's Choreographic Intensive where she had the opportunity to dance with Dance Householder, MATYCHAK, and Sum Bones Co. This is Rebecca's sixth season with CoreDance Contemporary and she is thrilled to continue her journey with the company. 

Rebecca McCormac

Originally from Brisbane, Australia, Rebecca McCormac completed her Masters in Dance at The Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts in 2006.  A registered teacher of The Royal Academy of Dance, Ms. McCormac holds her Jazz Award and Teaching Diploma in Tap for the Commonwealth Society of Teachers of Dance and in 2002 was the recipient of the Commonwealth Society of Teachers of Dances’ Blue Sash Award.   A successful audition for LINK Dancer’s Company in 2005, spurred a European tour and an invitation to join the Golden Key International Honor Society. In 2008, Ms. McCormac moved to New York City to join Barry Blumenfeld’s Tap Fusion, Ellen Stokes-Shadle’s Dance Works and the faculty at Perfect Pointe Performing Arts Studio.  In 2011, Ms McCormac founded CoreDance Contemporary, an Australian Modern Dance Company, which holds residence in New York City. Still living and working in the New York Tri-State area, she has been commissioned to teach and choreograph contemporary, modern and tap work on both a national and international scale. Most recently she was engaged as the Dance Adjudicator for the 2018 Southern Tasmanian Dancing Eisteddfod, TAS, and to teach at Peridance and PMT Dance Studio’s in New York City.  McCormac has an interdisciplinary approach to her work drawing ideas both contextually and visually to create work that is engaging for herself and her audience. Her work has been shown at APAP New York City Center, The ODC Theatre San Francisco, The Dairy Arts Center Boulder, The Dance Complex Boston, CHI Movement Arts Center Philadelphia, Your Move NJ, Alvin Ailey, New York City Center, Steps on Broadway, DANY Studios, PMT, Dixon Place, White Wave, Triskelion Arts, The Actors Fund Arts Center and Green Space.

Zoe Walders

Zoe Walders is a choreographer, dancer, and videographer living in Rochester, NY. She holds a BA in Dance from SUNY Potsdam. Most recently, she presented her piece, Sonata for Soloist, at Dances at MuCCC Festival and Mark Morris Dance Group’s SharedSpace. Other performances include, Link Work, in Mare Nostrum Element’s Emerging Choreographers Series and Fern Dair, at The Outlet Dance Project’s Day of Dance Festival. As well as creating, she is currently dancing Frazee Feet Dance and Hettie Barnhill. Focusing mainly in the contemporary movement genre, her work is highly detailed and gestural and often generated from improvisation practices. 

Marcelo Martinez

Marcelo Martinez was born in Paraguay where he began his training at the former Academia de danza Bettina Ramos. He then continued his training in Brazil at the Centro de Dança Rio under the instruction of Maria Angelica Fiorani. At age 17 he was accepted into the Companhia Jovem do Teatro Municipal do Rio De Janerio where he danced under the directions of Dalal Aschar and Mariza Estrella. Mr. Martinez accepted a position with The Washington Ballet where he danced lead roles including Cavalier in The Nutcracker, Stravinsky Violin Concerto by Balanchine, and The Rite of Spring by Trey MacIntyre. In 2007, he joined Carolina Ballet and rose through the ranks. With Carolina Ballet he’s danced many principal roles. Mr. Martinez has also appeared as a guest artist with Greensboro Ballet, Susan Farrell Ballet, Arka Ballet and The Raleigh Dance Theater.

Lara O’Brien

Lara O’Brien grew up in Crystal Lake, Illinois outside Chicago. She began dancing at age 8 and trained with the School of Ballet Chicago and the School of American Ballet in New York City. In 2000, Ms. O’Brien was the Dance American National Cultural Exchange scholarship student and was chosen to train at the Royal Danish Ballet for two months. In 2003 Ms. O’Brien was chosen by Lynne Taylor-Corbett to dance the lead in The Ugly Duckling. Ms. O’Brien has originated several principal roles by Robert Weiss, Lynne Taylor-Corbett, Zalman Raffael, Marin Boieru, Attila Bongar and Tyler Walters and danced several more by George Balanchine, Jerome Robbins and Christopher Stowell.

Robert Weiss

Robert Weiss has served as Carolina Ballet’s Artistic Director / CEO since the company’s professional launch in 1997 until July 2019. Under his artistic and executive leadership, Carolina Ballet has become one of America’s premier professional ballet companies, and one of the nation’s finest arts organizations (The Wall Street Journal).

Mr. Weiss has created over 60 new works for Carolina Ballet, including the first full-evening ballet choreographed to Handel’s Messiah, an original full-length Don Quixote, Romeo and Juliet, Swan Lake, Carmen, and The Nutcracker. In addition, he has choreographed repertory pieces to Stravinsky’s Firebird, Petruschka, Symphony in C and Concerto for Two Pianos; Beethoven’s 5th Piano Concerto, Grosse Fuge, and the 9th Symphony; Bach’s Musical Offering; Grieg’s Piano Concerto; Prokofiev’s Classical Symphony; and Vivaldi’s Four Seasons. He has worked with contemporary composer Paul Moravec using his Tempest Fantasy and Time Gallery to create new ballets; and he has collaborated on several short works and a full evening Macbeth with contemporary composer J. Mark Scearce.

After studying ballet from the age of 8, and performing as a child with the New York City Ballet; American Ballet Theatre; the Kirov Ballet and the Bolshoi Ballet (on their U.S. tours), Robert Weiss began his career as a professional dancer at the age of 17, when he joined the New York City Ballet at the request of George Balanchine. He remained with the company for 17 years, rising to the rank of principal dancer. He performed principal roles in over 40 ballets, some of which were created for him by both Balanchine and Jerome Robbins. He was also featured in Illuminations and Dim Lustre by Frederick Ashton and Antony Tudor respectively, and worked directly with these esteemed choreographers on the revival of these works for New York City Ballet.

Upon retiring as a dancer, Mr. Weiss was appointed Artistic Director of Pennsylvania Ballet in Philadelphia. There he precipitated a period of great artistic growth for that company and a complementary growth in revenue and audiences, both of which more than tripled during his nine seasons. Mr. Weiss has also created works for American Ballet Theatre, New York City Ballet, Maurice Bejart’s Ballet of the 20th Century, The Caramoor Festival, the Palm Beach Festival, Stars of American Ballet, and Philadanco Dance Company. In January 2012, Weiss directed and choreographed the opera Les Enfants Terribles to music of Philip Glass for the North Carolina Opera.

Mr. Weiss is a recipient of two fellowships for choreography from the National Endowment for the Arts. In May 2005 Robert Weiss received the Medal of Arts from the City of Raleigh Arts Commission, and in fall 2009 he was honored by the Phi Beta Kappa Society of North Carolina. In May 2011, Mr. Weiss received an Honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts Degree from North Carolina State University. He is married to Melissa Podcasy, the company’s founding principal ballerina, now a Ballet Master with the company.

The Festival Performance will feature Meditation of Thais, a breathtaking work choreographed by Mr.Weiss, performed by the principal dancers of Carolina Ballet Lara O’Brien and Marcelo Martinez.

Claire Westby

Claire Westby is originally from Minnesota and now resides in Brooklyn. She holds a BFA in Dance from Tisch School of the Arts NYU and also studied at Salzburg Experimental Academy of Dance (SEAD). She has taught dance at Tisch School of the Arts NYU, Columbia College Chicago, Gibney Dance, Mark Morris Dance Center, St. Paul Ballet, Steps on Broadway, and Jacob’s Pillow. In addition to dancing with Helen Simoneau Danse, Ms. Westby also performs with Liz Gerring Dance Company. Claire has also performed in and helped create original roles in works by Gwen Welliver, Benjamin Kimitch, Russell Stuart Lilie, John Jasperse, Cherylyn Lavagnino, Hollis Bartlett, and RoseAnne Spradlin.

Kayla Farrish

Kayla Farrish was born and raised in Raleigh, North Carolina into a dance-loving family. She graduated from the University of Arizona in 2013 summa cum laude, and was granted the Gertrude Shurr Award for excellence in modern dance and passionate dancing. Since moving to New York, she’s had the opportunity to work with wonderful choreographers including Helen Simoneau Danse, Kate Weare Company, Aszure Barton and Artists, Gallim Dance, Chris Masters Dance, Bryn Cohn, Elena Vazintaris, Bare Dance Company, Schoen Movement Company, Matthew Westerby Dance Company, CEMA Dance, and others.

Marielis Garcia

Marielis Garcia (Choreographer / Performer), a native New Yorker, has been a dance performance artist for over 10 years, and is director of MG DanceArts. She is currently a member of the Brian Brooks Moving Company and Helen Simoneau Danse. Garcia has had the privilege to perform and tour with Steps Repertory Ensemble (NY), Peter Kyle Dance (NY), iKapa (Cape Town), and Douglas Dunn and Dancers (NY), among others. She received her BFA in dance from Marymount Manhattan College, and is currently pursuing an MFA in Digital and Interdisciplinary Art Practice. Her work has been presented by Appalachian State University, Salem College, Howard Community College, University of North Carolina Greensboro and Bard College at Simon’s Rock. In 2014, La MaMa theater awarded Garcia with a three-week residency, supporting and presenting a new work in Spoleto, Italy, and in 2017 she was a University of North Carolina School of the Arts Choreographic Fellow. She is a 2017, 2018 and 2019 Lower Manhattan Cultural Council grant recipient. Marielis is co-director of STUFFED: Dinner and Dance, a free quarterly community event that serves a warm meal and dance performance. www.marielisgarcia.com

Helen Simoneau

Photo by Todd Turner

Originally from Québec, Helen Simoneau has been described as “a Choreographer-on-the-rise” with a style that is both “athletic and smooth” — Dance Magazine. She has received commissions from The Juilliard School, the American Dance Festival, Oregon Ballet Theatre, the Bessie Schönberg Residency at The Yard, Springboard Danse Montréal, and the Swiss Intl. Coaching Project (SiWiC) in Zurich. She was a resident choreographer at Baryshnikov Arts Center, NYU/Tisch, Bates Dance Festival, New York Dance Lab, and has received fellowships from The NYU Center for Ballet and the Arts, the Bogliasco Foundation, and twice from the NC Arts Council. Simoneau was awarded 1st place for choreography at the Intl. Solo-Tanz-Theater Festival in Stuttgart, Germany. Her work has been presented at notable venues such as The Guggenheim Museum (NYC), Dance Place (DC), Joyce SoHo (NYC), Tangente (Montréal), The Aoyama Round Theatre (Tokyo), and PACT-Zollverein in Essen (Germany).

Meet this year's Submission Panel

Meet the Submission Panel for the 3rd season of the Wake Forest Dance Festival - Gerri Houlihan, Jonathan Leinbach and Tara Zaffuto Mullins.

We are beyond honored to have such an elite group of dance artists and educators review the submissions for Dance Schools and Emerging Choreographers and select the finalists who will be joining us for the 2019 event.

Gerri Houlihan studied at the Juilliard School with Antony Tudor and members of the Martha Graham and Jose Limon dance companies.  She performed with the Metropolitan Opera Ballet Company, the Paul Sanasardo Dance Company and the Lar Lubovitch Dance Company. From 1991-1999 she directed her own company, Houlihan and Dancers, based in Miami, Florida. During that time, she was on the faculty of the New World School of the Arts.  Ms. Houlihan serves on the Advisory Board for the American Dance Festival. She has been on the faculty of the ADF from 1981-1983 and from 1987 to the present. As an international representative for ADF, she has participated in 17 international linkage programs in such countries as Korea, China, Mongolia, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, Estonia, Poland and Russia.  She is the recipient of the ADF’s Balasaraswati, Joy Ann Dewey Beinecke Endowed Chair for Distinguished Teaching. She was Co-Dean and then Dean of the ADF School from 2010-2015 and received her MFA from the Hollins/ADF MFA program. She recently retired from Florida State University, where she was the Pearl S. Tyner Distinguished Professor in Teaching. Currently, she teaches at the ADF studios in Durham and at Elon University and is Professor Emerita of Florida State University.

Jonathan Leinbach graduated from the Juilliard School and danced in New York with Mark Taylor, Colin Connor and the Limon Dance Company for 5 years. He has taught and choreographed for Pomona College, the University of Mississippi and Tulane University. Since changing careers and moving to North Carolina, he has danced and/or performed with Killian Manning, Gerri Houlihan and at Deep Dish Theater, Duke University, UNC and Man Bites Dog Theater. 

Tara Zaffuto Mullins is the director of the NC State Dance Program, choreographs for both academic companies, teaches courses, facilitates the Master Class Series, and creates interdisciplinary projects.  Tara’s works include Dancing Chemical Reactions, based on SN1 and SN2 that was performed for the 2017 ACCelerate Festival at the Smithsonian’s Museum of American History, and Operation Breadbasket, honoring the civil rights movement. Tara co-authored “STEM Majors, Art Thinkers – Issues of Duality, Rigor and Inclusion” with lead authors Dr. Fay Payton and Dr. Ashley White, which was published in the Journal of STEM Education Innovations and Research. She is a recipient of the 2018 NC State Outstanding Teaching Award. Tara has a BA in dance from JMU and an MFA from Arizona State University.

April 14 FREE Masterclass/Audition for ADF

When: April 14, 2019

Cost: FREE

Registration: To register please email info@wakeforestdancefestival.org. Space is limited!

Where: 417 Brooks St.

           Wake Forest, NC 27587

Time: 1:00PM-2:00PM (Masterclass for ages 13 and up)

          2:00PM-3:00PM (ADF Pre-Professional Intensive Audition for ages 13-17)

$1,000 IN TUITION to be awarded by the Dancing Angels Foundation.

Don’t miss this FREE masterclass with sought after artist and faculty member of the American Dance Festival, Jenna Riegel! Students ages 13-17 interested in auditioning for ADF 3 week Summer Pre-Professional Dance Intensive, please have a 1 minute solo prepared.

For more information about the program please visit:

https://americandancefestival.org/education/pre-professional-dance-intensive/

TEACHER:

Jenna Riegel, a native of Fairfield, Iowa, has been a New York-based dancer, performer and teacher since 2007. Jenna holds an M.F.A. in Dance Performance from the University of Iowa and a B.A. in Theatre Arts from Maharishi University of Management. Since moving to NYC, Jenna has performed with Daara Dance (choreographer Michel Kouakou), Carolyn Dorfman Dance Company, Shaneeka Harrell, Tania Isaac Dance and johannes weiland. She has also toured and performed nationally and internationally as a company member of David Dorfman Dance, Alexandra Beller/ Dances and Bill Young/ Colleen Thomas & Company. In 2011, Jenna joined the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company. Jenna has taught ongoing open classes in Contemporary Technique in New York City at Gina Gibney Dance Center, New York Live Arts, Mark Morris Dance Center and 100 Grand Dance. She has been on faculty in the Dance Departments of Barnard College and The Juilliard School. In addition, she has taught master classes at The Joffrey Ballet School, Columbia College, NYU, The New School, Ohio State University, SUNY Purchase, Bard College, Connecticut College, Hollins University, Emory College, Arizona State University, Brigham-Young University, Dartmouth College, Williams College, Skidmore College, LIU, University of Maryland, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, University of Wisconsin-Madison, University of California-Berkeley, University of Iowa, the American Dance Festival and the Bates Dance Festival. Jenna’s choreographic work has been commissioned by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, the University of Iowa, Barnard College and Colby College. She has also acted as repetiteur for the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company and has re-staged Continuous Replay and D-Man in the Waters (Movement One). Most recently, Jenna served as Assistant Choreographer to Bill T. Jones on a new musical, Paradise Square: An American Musical and is currently a Visiting Guest Faculty at Virginia Commonwealth University where she teaches Modern Technique, Composition and Partnering.

CLASS DESCRIPTION:

Class will begin with floor work, yoga and pilates stretching and strengthening and improvisation to build warmth, ease us into motion, find agility and help us arrive more fully present in our bodies. Introductions to one another will be made with a name circle, contact improvisation exercises or interactive warm-up exercises in order to build a sense of trust and community together. Center standing work will draw upon a combination of release technique and ballet and align, balance and increase awareness of energetic efficiency and ease. Head/tail exploration and spinal articulation will be integrated into more traditional foot and leg exercises. Across the floor phrase-work will oscillate between imagery and task-based veracious improvisational scores and rigorous locomotion, athletic inversions and ambitious lofting. A culminating phrase will challenge the polarities of movement and investigate both off-balance and centered movement, bound and released, sustained and staccato, momentum driven and spatially controlled, on the floor and in the air, and sensation-based and shape-based movement. A friendly, uplifting, non-judgmental class culture will be attended to by steering clear of the binary of right and wrong and instead directing attention to cause and effect, the action and results of our choices. Personal findings will be encouraged to be shared to expedite learning within our community. Individualism will be honored and upheld even as profound body awareness and ability to replicate outside material is practiced. Enjoyment and fun will be contagious and inevitable!

REGISTER NOW at info@wakeforestdancefestival.org. Watch your email for confirmation for the class.

Modern Dance Masterclass/Audition with Antonio Fini

When: March 16, 2019

Where: 417 Brooks St.

            Wake Forest, NC 27587

Time: 11:15AM-12:45PM (Advanced Level students ages 14 and up)

Cost: $10 per student

Registration: to register please email info@wakeforestdancefestival.org

AN UNFORGETTABLE OPPORTUNITY TO STUDY ABROAD! Don't miss this chance to take Modern Dance master class with an acclaimed dancer, teacher and director of FINI Dance Festival, Antonio Fini. Students will have an opportunity to audition for the 3 week 2019 Summer Dance Intensive in Calabria, Italy! 2 FULL TUITION SCHOLARSHIPS, room and board included, to be awarded by the Dancing Angels Foundation in collaboration with FINI Dance.

For more information about the summer intensive please visit: http://finidance.nyc/en/teachers-italy/

Antonio Fini is an Italian born modern dancer, choreographer, and director. Antonio has performed with the Martha Graham Dance Company and Graham II, Erick Hawkins Dance Company, Kosovo Ballet, Staten Island Ballet, Boca Ballet Theatre, Mare Nostrum Elements, and Michael Mao Dance, with whom he has performed as principal dancer since 2011. In 2011, he created Alto Jonio Dance Festival in Villapiana, Calabria to provide exceptional dancers in Italy the opportunity to perform with established companies in New York. In 2013, Antonio expanded his vision by founding the Italian International Dance Award, which recognizes phenomenal Italian and international dancers for their accomplishments. In 2014 Alto Jonio was transformed into Fini Dance Festival with the mission of establishing greater connections between dancers in New York and Italy. The festivals have been listed as one of the top summer dance festivals in the United States (Dance Informa) and Europe (Ballet 2000).

Wake Forest Arts is supported by United Arts Council of Raleigh and Wake County and the North Carolina Arts Council, a division of the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.

Maggie Bradley

Born in Los Angeles, CA, Maggie Bradley is a wife and mother, community herbalist and dance artist living in Chapel Hill. Her training included the high school program at UNCSA, The Hungarian National Ballet and Cornish College of the Arts. While living in New York, Maggie danced with various companies, taking company class and learning repertory with Merce Cunningham.  She currently performs with Tornow’s COMPANY.

Jude Casseday

Jude Casseday aka dejacusse is a soundscape artist and electronic musician from Durham, North Carolina. Her work ranges from sound experimentation to more structured compositions for dance, film, art events and yoga/movement classes. Her band iBoD (the idiosyncratic beats of dejacusse) creates Nested Soundscapes in acoustically interesting spaces. In October, she will begin work on her first data sonification project in conjunction with Rob Dunn Labs at NCSU and the As If Center in Penland NC. Her soundscapes have been featured at the Durham Arts Council, NC Museum of Natural Sciences and American Dance Festival classes. Her work can be downloaded at Soundcloud and Bandcamp.

Dance related artwork by local artists to be sold at the WFDF!

Wake Forest Dance Festival is very excited to bring artists together for a day of dance, an that means not just performing artists. The Wake Forest Guild of Artists will have a booth set up at the event starting at 9:30AM with dance related arts works available for purchase. The original works include paintings, sculptures, jewelry, to name a few.

Now there is another reason to come out to Joyner Park on September 29th!!! Hope to see you there!

Here are just some of the works that will be for sale the day of the event:

“On Point” by Linsay Narvaez
Mixed Media - Charcoal, Acrylic paint and collage
9x12

“Hands” by Linsay Narvaez
Charcoal and Acrylic Paint
9x12

"Trust" by Delphine Peller
Watercolor/Acrylic on paper 2018

"Almost Broken In" by Delphine Peller
3"x 5" acrylic & palette paint on canvas with mini easel

"Brava!" by Delphine Peller
3"x 3" acrylic& palette paint on canvas with mini easel

By Gary Taber

By Gary Taber

Dancer pendants by Jeanne Steck

By Linda Burrell

By Linda Burrell

By Linda Burrell

Danielle Keith

Danielle Keith, is a junior at Fayetteville State University, majoring in biology and minoring in dance.  From Albany, Georgia, she is a member of the FSU dance ensemble and one of the 
newest members of Koffee Dance Company.  Danielle started dancing at age three with the Dance Etcetera Youth Ensemble, and joined the company at age 7 and has competed with the company for over 10 years.  She has trained in jazz, tap, ballet, pointe, hip-hop and contemporary, and has competed in DanceMakers, Inc. StarQuest, Encore and Show Stoppers circuits.  Danielle is a former dance instructor for South West Georgia Performing Arts Dance Academy, where she choreographed dances for the junior company competition teams (ages 7-13), and presently teaches at Yvette’s Dance Academy in Fayetteville NC.

Deprecia Simpson

Deprecia Simpson is the daughter of Cortez and Marva Simpson and the granddaughter of Rev. Dr. Joe and Wanda Simpson. She was born is Durham, North Carolina May 6, 1998, but calls Fayetteville her home. Deprecia has been dancing since the age of three and continues to excel with her God given talent. She also holds a First Degree Black Belt in Tae Kwon Do, and graduated from Terry Sanford High School with a 3.84 GPA. She has danced with numerous choreographers: Debbie Allen of Fame, Desmond Richardson of Alvin Ailey, Dave Scott from Stomp the Yard, Brian Friedman, Mia Michaels and others. Deprecia recently graduated the American Musical & Dramatic Academy in New York, completing her degree in record time. She’s presently working at her alma mater school of dance for over 15 years. She has danced such principal roles as Sugar Plum Fairy, Clara, Jewel, and Snow Queen in The Nutcracker, Fairy of Energy from Sleeping Beauty, and many more with the NC State Ballet Company. Later this year Deprecia will be working with The Moscow Ballet as they bring their version of the Nutcracker to Fayetteville, NC.

A Dance Conversation: José Limón (renowned dancer and choreographer)

You are invited to attend an evening honoring the life of dancer and choreographer José Limón (1908-1972).

When:  September 23, 2018

             4-5PM

Where: Renaissance Centre, Annex Room

             405 S. Brooks Street, Wake Forest, NC, 27587

FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC

SPACE IS LIMITED! Please reserve your spot by emailing info@wakeforestdancefestival.org.

The Wake Forest Dance Festival will be presenting Limón’s Chaconne as part of this year’s main stage performance on September 29th at Joyner Park and will be hosting a master class with Logan Kruger, José Limón Dance Company member and rehearsal director, for the community at Destiny Dance Institute on September 27th at 5:45pm.

On Sunday, September 23rd from 4-5pm at The Wake Forest Renaissance Centre, the Wake Forest Dance Festival will kick-off this incredible residency with an exclusive presentation of photographs and film provided by the José Limón Foundation, Jacob's Pillow and the American Dance Festival, to gain a deeper understanding and appreciation of José Limón and his crucial role in development of modern dance. In addition, Jonathan Leinbach, a José Limón Foundation Board Member and previous company dancer, as well as Gerri Houlihan, a legendary teacher whom studied with Limón at The Juilliard School, will share their first hand experiences and also discuss how the “Limon Technique” has been passed on through generations and continues to influence contemporary dance as we know it today.