Daphne Lowell, professor of dance and movement studies, holds a B.A. in cultural anthropology from Tufts University and an M.F.A. in modern dance from the University of Utah. She studied authentic movement with Janet Adler and Edith Sullwold in the Mary Starks Whitehouse Institute; psychosynthesis with Dr. Thomas Yeomans; and body-mind centering with Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen. Earlier in her career she performed with the Bill Evans Dance Company, and taught dance at Arizona State University, the University of Washington, and Smith College. 

Daphne’s authentic movement practice informs her teaching, choreography, writing, and contemplative dance solo performances. Her choreography has won awards including for the MassMoves! Best of Massachusetts series, and she has published several articles on authentic movement. The Contemplative Dance programs she teaches with Alton Wasson are nationally recognized www.contemplativedance.org. Since 1985 they have taught professionals of all ages at sites throughout the country.

Rebecca Nordstrom, professor of dance, holds a B.A. degree in art (with a concentration in dance) from Antioch College, an M.F.A. in Dance from Smith College, and is certified as a Laban Movement Analyst by the Laban Bartenieff Institute for Movement Study in New York City. Early in her career she was a member of Laura Dean Dancers and Musicians in New York City. She has since presented her own choreography and performed in the work of other artists in venues locally, nationally, and abroad. She is currently a guest artist with Chaos Theory, a dance company directed by University of Massachusetts colleague Billbob Brown. Her areas of interest and teaching include choreography, improvisation, modern dance technique, and Laban-based movement studies. Professor Nordstrom is on sabbatical for the 2010-2011 school year.

Constance Valis Hill, Five College associate professor of dance, received an M.A. in dance research and reconstruction from the City College of the University of New York, and a Ph.D. in performance studies from New York University. A choreographer and dance historian, she has taught at the Conservatoire D'Arts Dramatique in Paris, Alvin Ailey School of American Dance, and NYU Tisch School of the Arts; and has collaborated with the French playwright Eugene Ionesco, Czechoslovakian scenographer Josef Svoboda, and American director Gilbert Moses on the premiere of Toni Morrison's "Dreaming Emmett." She has contributed articles, essays, and reviews to many publications, and her book, Brotherhood in Rhythm (Oxford University Press 2000) won the Deems Taylor Award.




Fritha Pengelly, adjunct instructor of dance, received her B.A. in dance from Hampshire College and her M.F.A. in dance from the University of Washington. Fritha spent seven years (1994-2001) performing and teaching nationally and internationally as a member of the New York City-based Doug Elkins Dance Company. In addition to her work with the Elkins Company, Fritha has performed with The Chamber Dance Company, David Neumann, and Wire Monkey Dance. Her own work has been shown at several venues in New York City, the Five Colleges in Massachusetts, Darien Arts Center (Connecticut), Seattle, and at the Inside/Out Series at Jacob's Pillow. In 2007 she was invited to teach and set work during residencies at Western Wyoming Community College and the University of Tennessee. She re-staged a section of Doug Elkins’ Center My Heart with the Chamber Dance Company in Seattle, Washington in 2007 and will do so again in July 2008. Fritha was a visiting lecturer at the University of Washington from 2006-2007; visiting assistant professor of dance at Hampshire College from 2002-2004; and has taught courses at Amherst College, Mount Holyoke College, and the University of Massachusetts. She is the artistic director of Pengelly:Projects, which presented its first full evening of work in Northampton in July 2004. She is also a certified Pilates instructor.

Donna Mejia, adjust instructor of dance, is a choreographer, lecturer, teacher, administrator, and performer specializing in contemporary dance, traditions of the African Diaspora, and new fusion traditions in world electronica. She has worked as a faculty member at Colorado College and director of the Colorado College Extraordinary Dance Festival. For 12 years she served as managing director of the award-winning Harambee African Dance Ensemble of CU-Boulder. She continues to teach, choreography, and perform modern dance, improvisation, hip hop, jazz, Arabic tribal fusion and traditional dances of the African Diaspora for colleges, dance companies and dance festivals internationally. In 2005, Mejia’s choreographed piece “Summon the Kindred” received critical acclaim, was performed at the inaugural Colorado Dance Awards, and garnered a nomination for the Peak Area Performance and Artists Award (the PAPAA) in choreography.

Cathy Nicoli, adjunct professor of dance, earned her B.A. cum laude in dance and performance studies from Roger Williams University and her master's in fine arts from Smith College. She is a two-time recipient of both the Rhode Island State Council of the Arts' Choreography Award and the Rhode Island Foundation's Joseph Cirino Scholarship for Arts Education. The American College Dance Festival has honored Cathy by inviting her to perform her solo work at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Cathy can be seen in the Ben Folds Five MTV music video Underground, for which she was also assistant choreographer. She has worked with students in private and public schools, inner-city arts programs, and college and university settings including Brown University, Providence College, Rhode Island School of Design, Roger Williams University, and the Five College Dance Department, where she currently teaches as an adjunct faculty member. She was visiting assistant professor of dance at Hampshire College Spring 2005-2008, and during that time received both the Hewlett Faculty Development Grant and the Project Pericles Civic Engagement Course Development Award. At present, she is part of the dance faculty of Keene State College. In addition to teaching and choreographing independently, Cathy is an original member of Heidi Henderson’ s elephant Jane dance, and for the last nine summers has directed a children’ s day camp at Bearnstow, an arts retreat in Mt. Vernon, ME.

Katie Martin, adjuct instructor of dance, is a dance artist and a Jacob K. Javits Fellow in Dance, working within the spheres of choreography, performance, education, and movement research. She received her B.A. with a concentration in dance at Bennington College, during which time her choreographic work was selected as a finalist in the 2004 American College Dance Festival. Katie also holds an interdisciplinary yoga teacher certification from the Nosara Yoga Institute in Costa Rica. She has danced in the works of such artists as Mark Dendy, Ann Carlson, Keith Thompson, Dana Reitz, Susan Rethorst, and Meg Wolfe. Her own professional work has been presented at various venues in NYC, including Joyce SoHo Presents, Dance Theater Workshop, Danspace Project at St. Mark’s Church, Symphony Space, Dance Conversations at The Flea Theater, Vision Festival, Performance Mix Festival, Improvised and Otherwise Festival, DUMBO Dance Festival, and the Arts Center for the Capital Region and has been supported by several organizations, including the Bumper Foundation and the Vermont Arts Council.
Katie teaches dance and yoga widely and has been a guest artist at Bennington College, Williams College, Southern Vermont College, Flynn Center for the Performing Arts, and The Neurosciences Institute, among others. She continues to work with Susan Sgorbati’s Emergent Improvisation Project, a platform for research, teaching, and performance that investigates time-based art within the framework of natural, complex systems. Katie has performed and taught with EIP at such venues as The Neurosciences Institute, Bennington College, Flynn Center for the Performing Arts, and the 6th International Conference on Complex Systems, hosted by the New England Complex Systems Institute. EIP has received support from several organizations, including the Jerome Robbins Foundation and the National Performance Network Creation Fund. She can be seen in such publications as Dance Magazine, Royal Academy of Dance’s Dance Gazette (UK), Contredanse/Nouvelles de Danse (Belgium), Contact Quarterly (US), The Record (Albany, NY), Slate Magazine, The Dance Insider, signal to noise, Village Voice, Time Out New York, and on National Public Radio.

Christine (Griff) Goehring, adjunct instructor of dance, has taught and performed creative dance since 1972. She worked intimately with dance pioneer Barbara Mettler and shares Mettler's conviction that dance is a basic human need. Griff's work has encompassed teaching persons with disabilities, working with mothers and infants, and sharing dance with people of all ages. Her current focus is on large group dance improvisations. She makes her home in Brattleboro, VT.

Jean Barrett Baxter, Five College production manager, received her B.A. from Cornell University in history of art and certification from the Harvard University Institute in Arts Administration. She received Hartford Conservatory’s certificate in modern dance under Truda Kaschmann, studied lighting design with Beverly Emmons, and has designed for dance companies and colleges throughout the Northeast. Ms. Baxter is production manager of the Five College Dance Department, and serves on the board of trustees of Pioneer Valley Performing Arts Charter High School, and on the advisory board of the American College Dance Festival Association. Ms. Baxter lives in Hadley and is an active Girl Scout leader and Sunday School teacher.

John Sprague, dance accompanist, has been providing improvised music for dance classes and performances at Hampshire and the Five Colleges for 18 years. John also works with Daphne Lowell at her annual summer Contemplative Dance workshops. John has released five albums of original music, including three CDs designed for movement and dance. His CD, Moving Spaces, was nominated by JPFolks, a large independent music organization, as "best instrumental album" of 2002. John can also be found providing music at movement improvisation sessions, workshops, and jams around New England at such places as Earthdance, the Dance Complex in Cambridge, and Dance New England, and in the past has worked at Jacobs Pillow and the School for Body-Mind Centering. John leads a movement workshop called the Moving Village and works as a creativity facilitator for groups and individuals. He also works with teenagers at North Star: Self-Directed Learning for Teens, and is a world religions specialist, teaching multi-faith spiritual studies at the Maezumi Institute.