lois welk, director

Birthday: April 9
Favorite place in Philadelphia: The Italian Market
Memorable performance: Peloponnesian War by Nagrin

A dance performance by Daniel Nagrin (The Peloponnesian War) inspired Lois Welk to pursue a career in dance. She earned Bachelor of Arts degrees in Dance and American History at State University College at Brockport NY, where Richard Bull became her mentor. In 1972, she founded the American Dance Asylum Inc. (ADA), a producing and service organization for the performing arts.

From 1973-1979, she co-directed the ADA (then based in Binghamton, NY) with Bill T. Jones and Arnie Zane. For more than 25 years the ADA has produced Welk’s artistic projects among them The Parking Ramp Dances, The Train Station Dance, The Carousel Dance, The Hiawatha Island Dance and most recently Moving the Music.

She been a member of the dance faculty at 171 Cedar Arts Center (Corning, NY)and Alfred University (Alfred, NY) and has taught for various arts-in-education programs across New York State. Her work as Executive Director of 171 Cedar Arts Center in Corning, NY (1988-2002) earned her a New York State Governor’s Arts Award in 1998. At 171 Cedar Arts Center, Welk developed a nationally recognized presenting program that included concert dance, artists’ residencies, a jazz series, family programming and a world folk music festival. Program growth warranted a capital campaign and expansion project that more than doubled program space adding a 170-seat black box performance space, exhibition space and two additional dance studios.

From 2003-2006, Ms. Welk served as Artistic Director of The Yard Inc., a performing artists’ colony on Martha’s Vineyard. In January 2005, Ms. Welk was appointed the Director of the New York State DanceForce, a network of organizations and individuals working to increase the quality and quantity of dance in New York. As Director, Ms. Welk brought leadership to the re-structuring of the organization and expanded the reach of the programs.

Danielle Currica, Program Associate

Current Living Status: Gypsy
Favorite Book: The Stranger, Camus
Favorite Food: Mom's roti and curry

Born in Guyana, South America, and raised in Memphis Tennessee, Danielle Currica graduated from Virginia Commonwealth University with a BFA in Dance and Choreography in 2009. Since relocating to Philadelphia as a freelance dance artist, Danielle currently performs with artists Charles O. Anderson of Dance Theater X, Jumatatu Poe of Idiosyncrazy Productions, Antoinette Coward-Gilmore of Dance4Nia Repertory Ensemble, and is Sophie Sucret of Philadelphia’s The Peek-a-Boo Revue.

Meg Foley, manager of operations

Hidden skill: Winking
Current Hobby: Releasing my inner peacock
High school soccer team nickname: Kamikaze Foley

Meg Foley has been making dances and performing in Philadelphia since 2004. She is the director of Moving Parts, a company through which she aims to create elusive yet emotionally evocative performance experiences that straddle the fine line between focus and freedom and is a second year resident in the Susan Hess Choreographer’s Project. As a dancer, she works with Nichole Canuso Dance Company and Lisa Kraus, and danced with Devynn Emory from 2005-2009. Meg was educated and influenced by the good people at Scripps College and Laban Centre London. She loves to teach both technique and critical theory and has led workshops on whether authentic movement really exists and on locating meaning within and constructing self-referential movement. Some of her favorite dances that she has recently seen are Bird Song by Siobhan Davies, Rammed Earth by Tere O’Connor, Keely Garfield’s Limerance, and Jen Rosenblit’s greatest hits duets.

Gregory Holt, Program Associate

Favorite book: The Brothers Karamazov by Dostoevsky
Number of housemates: 7
Number of siblings: 7
Twin brother's name: Stephen

Gregory Holt is a freelance dancer and choreographer moving heartily around Philly. He dances primarily with the collaborative Green Chair Dance Group in residence at Mascher Space Co.op. He has developed and performed improvisational work through the Research into the Unknown residency in Budapest, and with Miguel Gutierrez, the FANFARE project, and many ad hoc performance groups. He has made several dance films with fellow drag dancer An Kaler, which have been shown in Vienna, Berlin, St. Petersburg, Yokohama, and Tel Aviv, among others. Around Philadelphia, he dances with Marcelo Rueda, Gabrielle Revlock, and Jumatatu Poe, among others. He teaches regular seminars at the Institute for Dance Art in Linz, Austria. His interests include acrobatics, radical cheerleading, egalitarian decision making, and contact improvisation.

gabrielle revlock, program associate

Favorite Pandora radio station: Phil Collins
High school achievement: Valedictorian
Number of housemates: 4

Gabrielle Revlock is a native Philadelphian and local performance artist. After earning a BA in Art History from Vassar College she returned to her hometown to be a part of its vibrant dance community. As a freelance dancer she has worked for many choreographers including Lisa Kraus, Myra Bazell, Willi Dorner, and Jérôme Meyer & Isabelle Chauffaud in addition to being a company member of Jeanne Ruddy Dance. Beyond dancing Gabrielle creates interdisciplinary works for her company, Mano/Damno, responsible for the annual holiday, Wear Your Wig to Work Day. In 2006 Gabrielle was both a New Edge Mix grant recipient and the Vassar College Alumnae Choreographer. In 2009 she was awarded a grant from the PA Council on the Arts. She recently finished a year and a half long residency with the nEW Festival and is a 2010-11 resident artist with the Susan Hess Choreographers Project. Gabrielle has worked for Dance/USA Philadelphia since its founding and was the administrative assistant for the Dance Coalition of Philadelphia.

Michelle stortz, program associate

Favorite Magazine: The Sun
Neighborhood you live in: Mt. Airy
Hidden skill: Cutting a card deck

Michelle Stortz is a Philadelphia based dance theater artist who holds an MFA in Choreography from the Ohio State University and a BFA in Dance from the University of Texas at Austin. She formed Ring Dance Theater in 2007 as a container for her inquiries into performative states, movement practices and choreographic methodologies. Previously based in San Francisco, Stortz's work has been presented at numerous venues including A Voice of Her Own Women's Theater Festival, San Francisco's Summerfest, Max10 in Los Angeles, and The Substation in Singapore. Since her move to Philadelphia in 2005, her work has been presented at the Philly Fringe Festival, the Community Education Center's New Edge Dance Mix, the Glue Performance Series and Festival 42. West Chester University and Dance Dimension Project in Singapore have commissioned her choreography and she has received funding support from the San Francisco Arts Commission, the Alumni Grants for Graduate Research and Scholarship at the Ohio State University and the Zellerbach Family Fund among others.

Kathryn tebordo, Development Specialist

Memorable performance: Description d’un combat by Maguy Marin
Neighborhood you live in: South Philadelphia

Kathryn Tebordo has 6 years marketing and fundraising experience for performing arts non-profits, with focus on Membership, Annual Fund, and Event Planning, and she thoroughly enjoys using this experience to develop opportunities for individuals to contribute to the future of dance in Philadelphia. Kathryn is also Artistic Director of Workshop for Potential Movement, a collaborative performance company creating new collisions of dance and theater. Along with founding members Debra Disbrow and Betsy Herbert, Kathryn co-wrote and performed in the comic plays Speak! Mascot (2006), and Meet Your Replacement (2005). Other recent projects include dancing with Devynn Emory/Beast Productions, in J. Makary's dance film Wanna Kiss Myself, and in Jérôme Bel's The Show Must Go On. Kathryn has a BA from Bard College and an MA in Dance Education from SUNY Brockport. She took part in Deborah Hay's 2002 Solo Performance Commissioning Project (Beauty). Kathryn took part in the 2009 danceWEB Europe scholarship program, situated in the ImPulsTanz Festival in Vienna. She is a member artist at NEXUS Foundation Gallery and currently lives with her husband Christian, a novelist, in Center City. www.potentiallymoving.org