Jillian Foley Cusano (President), grew up training and performing with Northeast Ballet Company, based in Schenectady, NY. She attended the Hartt School, where she traveled to Amsterdam, NL for the Julidans Festival and graduated with a BFA in Ballet Pedagogy, and two minors in Psychology and Performing Arts Management. Since graduating, she has performed professionally with Amy Marshall Dance Company, and worked closely with companies like Schoen Movement Company and Dance Devise Lab. Jillian has had the pleasure of instructing the students of Joffrey Ballet School, The Hartt School Community Division, Steffi Nossen School of Dance, and is currently an Adjunct Professor in the Hartt School’s Theatre and Vocal Divisions. Jillian has choreographed and performed with the Des Moines Metro Opera in Iowa and Portland Opera in Oregon; in 2018-2020, Jillian was affiliated with the American Guild of Musical Artists. Most recently, Jillian directed and choreographed the Hartt School’s productions of Hansel and Gretel and Street Scene and choreographed She Loves Me. Jillian is the Chief Operating Officer and founding member of Parkville Sounds, a multi-faceted performing arts studio space in Hartford, CT and co-produced The Parkville Sessions, which premiered on CPTV/PBS in October 2018. At Parkville Sounds, she has had the pleasure of working on projects for Amazon Prime, American Ninja Warrior, The Allman Brothers Band, Allen Stone, Jazz at Lincoln Center, SiriusXM, The Hartford Symphony, Ashley Jayy and so many more. Jillian founded the Hartford Dance Collective in 2017 to be a space where females in dance would hold all of the leadership roles and to expose a wider range of audiences to professional contemporary dance with unique performance locations. Since the inception of this group, she has curated over 15 performances, hosted hundreds of adult community classes, and collaborated with artists from companies like David Dorfman Dance, The Limon Company, The Radio City Rockettes, Merce Cunningham Trust, Doug Varone and Dancers and many more. She is honored to work with the inspiring artists of Hartford & beyond everyday. 

Roxanne Lebenzon (Treasurer) began studying Vaganova Ballet at the Atlantic Ballet Company and Bossov Ballet Theater in Maine. She continued her ballet education at Northwest Studio for Ballet in California, performing lead roles in Don Quixote, The Little Humpbacked Horse, Giselle, Sleeping Beauty, and Swan Lake. Under the direction of Ron Cunningham, Roxanne performed as a flower in the Sacramento Ballet's The Nutcracker. She also performed alongside the State Street Ballet of Santa Barbara, dancing in lead roles in Cinderella and The Jungle Book. In 2017, Roxanne graduated from the University of Utah with an Honors BFA in Ballet, receiving rigorous ballet training while studying kinesiology, pedagogy, choreography, and character dance. She performed with Utah Ballet continuously throughout her time in Utah, including dancing full-length ballets at Kingsbury Hall. Roxanne has also been a guest artist across the US, performing roles such as Sugarplum Fairy in The Nutcracker with the Theater Arts Alliance in California, and character roles with Ballet Theater Company of Harford. In 2019, Roxanne joined The Dance Collective as a resident artist and is thrilled for her 4th season with TDC. Currently, Roxanne is pursuing her Ph.D. at the University of Connecticut in Archaeology. She is delighted to continue to perform while continuing her education.

Lauren Horn is a movement and text based artist from Windsor, CT. She graduated from Amherst College with degrees in Psychology and Theatre and Dance. Lauren’s work explores identity and the ways it can be uncovered, marginalized, highlighted, and erased. By utilizing movement and text as means of fostering a more welcoming form of vulnerability, the work creates a space for self-reflection and conversation for both the performer and viewer. Another aspect of Lauren’s work is entrenched in creating a dialogue around our current society’s relationship to technology. From the Silent Generation to Generation Z, she wants to understand how groups of individuals, in each living generation, feel that technology has affected their expression of their true self. Lauren’s choreographic work has been showcased at The BAM Fisher Theatre in Brooklyn, NYC, The Boston Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston, MA, Hibernian Hall in Boston MA,The Meydenbauer Center Theatre in Belleview,WA,  The Armory in Sommerville, The Studio of Contemporary Dance and Thought in Northampton, MA, The Northampton Center for the Arts, Amherst College and ACDFA New England.

Rosanna Karabetsos (Vice President) Rosanna Karabetsos was born and raised in Hartford, CT. She attended the Greater Hartford Academy of the Arts. After graduating she jumped into her professional dance journey and developed a passion for her community. She served as the lead puppeteer and choreographer for Nightfall Hartford, an outdoor production that features giant puppetry, theater, live music & dance. Her involvement in this interdisciplinary project ignited her devotion for creating opportunities through the arts and dance. She went on to choreograph for numerous competitive dance teams across CT and the northeast. Rosanna’s commercial dance experience began with DFX Entertainment. Through DFX, she performed in various traveling productions as Dance Captain such as “Echoes of Sinatra” and Joby Rogers’ the Ultimate Michael Jackson Experience. Rosanna also spent a number of years working at Mohegan Sun Arena, stage managing and assisting the Game Entertainment & Presentation team. She simultaneously danced for the WNBA Connecticut Sun, which the arena houses until she relocated to New York City to dance for the NBA Brooklynettes dance team. Rosanna keeps her love for her home community alive by hosting live events such as the annual Small State Great Beer festival in Hartford, CT and the CPTV show “The Parkville Sessions”. She is the Vice President and a Resident Artist with the Hartford Dance Collective. Rosanna has been fortunate enough to work with artists including BLACKPINK (2022 MTV VMAs), Alyson Stoner, Lil Kim, Busta Rhymes, Rakim, Lion Babe, Saint John, Pretty Poison, Clinton Sparks and New Kids on the Block and more. Rosanna’s choreography credits include Alabama State University, the University of Saint Joseph. Rosanna is represented by Bloc NYC. 

“It’s not about the destination, it’s about the journey”

Jane Krantz (Secretary) spent the majority of her life studying movement and the body through dance. After graduating with a BFA in Dance from the Hartt School, University of Hartford, Jane went on to perform with various companies including Ballet Theatre Company, The American Jazz Company, & Comedy Central’s “Funny or Die” tour. Jane’s solo performances have taken her to audiences in Mexico, Scotland, and across the U.S. Currently, Jane is on faculty at The Hartt School, University of Hartford. Jane is the founder of Afterglow Yoga Studio in Hartford, where she aims go bring quality yoga experiences to the community in a laid-back and inclusive environment.

Taylor Zappone is a dancer, choreographer, teaching artist and poet based in Connecticut. A Waterbury native, Taylor is thrilled to be back dancing and advocating for the arts in her home state. After receiving her BFA from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia in 2017, she spent a year as a freelance dancer and choreographer in New York City. There she performed and presented some of her own work at several venues in Brooklyn and Manhattan. Since returning to Connecticut, Taylor has been lucky enough to work with the Judy Dworin Performance Project, Peter Kyle, and Rebecca Pappas. She is eagerly looking forward to continuing as a Resident Artist with The Dance Collective.

Raechel Manga is a Hartford resident that is a freelance artist and special education teaching assistant in the West Hartford school district. She received years of training at The Hartt School Community Division as well as Connecticut Concert Ballet for a brief period. She has been dancing since the age of two years old, her versatile training spanning from classical ballet, Horton technique, tap, jazz, and graham technique in her arsenal. Raechel has attended the Royal Ballet school in London, England, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Joffrey New York, Los Angeles and Dance Theater of Harlem. From the age of nine until eighteen she was a part of the Figments Youth Dance Ensemble being introduced to experimenting with choreographing. She also went to Greater Hartford Academy of The Arts as a dance major in high school. Aside from being a professional dancer she has branched out towards acting. She was an extra for Sneaky Pete season two, which can be seen on Amazon Prime, also featuring in the film The After Party that is on Netflix, and was an extra on season four of FBI that is seen on CBS . As of now Raechel is diving back into school in pursuit of being a forensic pathologist assistant. But never forgetting her lifelong passion of dance.    

Susannah Marchese began her early ballet training in New York with Andre and Leda Eglevsky and later danced with The Eglevsky Ballet before spending several years as a Principal Dancer with Ballet Omaha under the directorship of Robert Vickrey and as Principal Dancer with The Hartford Ballet under the directorship of Michael Uthoff. During her career, Ms. Marchese danced lead roles including Swanhilda in Coppelia, The Sugar Plum Fairy in The Nutcracker, Lise in La Fille Mal Gardee, Tchaikovsky Pas De Deux, Allegro Brillante, Serenade and Flower Festival. As a dancer and rehearsal assistant, Ms. Marchese has been honored to work alongside Samantha Dunster, Peter Anastos, Loyce Houlton, James Sewell, Edward Vilella, Michael Uthoff, Gemze DeLappe, Angel Corella, Bruce Marks, Xiomara Reyes, Gianni DiMarco, Joan Lazarus, John Gardner and Amanda McKerrow.

In 1994, Marchese joined the Broadway show The Phantom of The Opera where she remained for 3 years. Ms. Marchese spent several years at Radio City Music Hall, New York City Opera, The Metropolitan Opera, The Houston Grand Opera, The MUNY, James Sewell Ballet, and has danced in countries around the world including Mexico, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Uruguay, Chile, Brazil, Argentina and Canada.

Locally, Ms. Marchese has taught ballet at the Greater Hartford Academy of the Arts, Hartt Community Division and for 15 years was owner of PHIT Pilates Studio in Hartford. Most recently, Ms. Marchese was School Director for School of Ballet Hartford and has acted as Interim Chair of Dance, faculty member, Ballet Master and Production Coordinator for the Hartt School Community Division Dance Department. During her tenure, Ms. Marchese choreographed the original full-length ballets The Red Shoes and The Swan Princess, as well as Symphony #8, The Nutcracker, Passo and The Young Composers Projects GO and Rituals of an Unknown Continent.

Susan Rodriguez was raised in Danbury, Connecticut and began teaching hip-hop, street jazz, and social latin styles in 2008. While pursuing her degree, she earned the opportunity to dance and choreograph for both the Fairfield University Dance Ensemble and the Spanish-American and Latino Student Association. At this time, Susan also worked extensively with the directors of Double Up Company & Entertainment, and assisted in the development of dynamic training programs for pre-professional dancers. She has proudly worked with the Liberate Artists Dance Education Movement as an apprentice for its FOCUS LA event and as a faculty member for its Phoenix Fire training program and production in NYC.

Today, she continues to teach all ages in Fairfield County and Hartford County, and serves as the studio manager to Dance on the DL, the only all Hip-Hop & Breaking studio in Darien, CT. Susan is inspired by the way dance lessons and life lessons often connect, and strives to teach her students how to be exceptional humans that move exceptionally.

Ginette Christie aka Gin, is a performing artist from Hartford County. She loves hip hop, dancehall, traditional afro, and krump, and her style consists of mainly these foundations. Ginette is Connecticut’s first active female krumper. She has battled throughout the US and has won tournaments for krump. She is also a visual artist and has been working on different ways to incorporate visual arts and props into performances to help tell the story with an abstract way of looking at things. Connection, creativity, relatability, and inspiring others are of huge importance in Gin’s classes. Her creation process is about telling a story with music or sound.

Chantal Edwards-Matthews is a Jamaican born movement artist. She started her professional dance career at the age of Seven in Freehold New Jersey as a competitive dancer. Chantal traveled for 11 years all over the U.S with her dance company Freehold Academy of Performing Arts. She studied styles such as contemporary, ballet, point, modern, Jazz, hip hop and tap. 

While attending UHART Chantal  joined Island reflections Dance Theater Co. IRDTC added styles like African, Folk, Horton and Caribbean to her repertoire (2016) . In 2018 she joined Nightfall Hartford where she studied & performed puppetry and theater. 

After 2018 her dance career continued to grow as a solo artist taking on commercial projects such as Hartfords Anti Litter Campaign (2019).Chantal is currently dancing with Lauren Horns new work "Renaissance Gyal” and Deborah Goffes "Scapegoat Garden". Both bodies of work offer a residency premiering in summer 2023.

Bonita Weisman (Improvisation Workshops)

Some of Bonita’s earliest memories are being in Bonnie Bird’s creative movement class at the renowned 92 Street Y in New York City. She was 3 years old and it was 1957.

Bonita’s passion resides in helping people find and deepen their creative gifts.  She believes that movement is the most elemental form of communication and connection.  Bonita has been teaching, performing and creating dances in Hartford since 1983.  A modern dancer, her training took place in NYC, SUNY Purchase and Boston.  She studied under such notables at Bonnie Bird, Mary Anthony, June Lewis, Louis Falco, Nat Horn, Pepsi Bethel, James Truitt, Carol Fried, Kazuko Hirbayashi, Simone Forti, Steve Paxton and Marilyn Woods.  In addition to dance technique, Bonita’s training includes studies in dance therapy at the New School for Social Research, Expressive Therapies at Lesley University, movement studies at the Laban Institute in NYC and many folk and social dance styles.

In the Connecticut area, Bonita has taught modern, improvisation, contact improvisation and stress release courses.  She was on faculty at Connecticut College and has taught at Trinity College, The Greater Hartford Academy of the Arts, Wesleyan University and the Hartford Conservatory.  Until the pandemic, she was a longstanding adjunct professor in the BFA program at the Hartt School.  (Yes, she taught many of the Hartford Dance Collective professionals!)

Bonita’s main focus is improvisation, creative process and inclusiveness in movement experiences.  She includes the audience (in some unexpected capacity) in all her performances and she facilitated a movement/music jam for over 30 years that was open to everybody.  In recent years she has found joy playing rubboard with several zydeco bands, notably River City Slim and the Zydeco Hogs and Planet Zydeco.  When she is not dancing or playing she is busy helping others on their path to wellness as the owner of West Hartford Massage Therapy.  Bonita continues to improvise at attempted mothering of her two amazing (and grown) sons while she hope for grandbabies.  Some of Bonita’s goals in her 70th year on this planet are to continue practicing the art of possibility, attempting to live her truth and learn how to let go of everything she doesn’t need and still hold on to her center.