2026 EMBODIED DECISION-MAKING THINK TANK:
PARTICIPANTS
JOAN BRADFORD
Joan Bradford is a choreographer, dancer, arts administrator, and teaching artist proudly born, raised, and still residing in The Bronx. Joan earned her BFA in Dance and minor in Theatre from Long Island University with awards in choreographic achievement and has since collaborated with Sydnie L. Mosley Dances, Alexandra Beller, Alethea Pace, MizantyMoves Dance Works, liryan movement, KamrDANCE, Praevado Dance Collective, and Mise en Danse throughout the tri-state and in residencies through Temple University, Penn State, Wilson College, Middlebury College, Dance Place, Double Edge, The Iron Factory, Gibney Dance, and Lincoln Center. Joan has shared her choreography at venues including Symphony Space, Triskelion Arts, Socrates Sculpture Park, Hostos Center for the Arts and Culture, Hunter College's Kaye Playhouse, The Old First Reformed Church, Atlas Studios, The Ritz Theater, Arts on Site, The Tilles Center, Pepatián: Bronx Arts ColLABorative, BAAD! (Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance) and The Knockdown Center. Joan has completed choreographic residencies with Lost Dog Dance Theatre in Lewes, England, with the Dancing Futures Residency presented by Pepatián and BAAD! under the mentorship of Sydnie L. Mosley and Alexandra Beller,and was a Fellow with the University Settlement’s Performance Project. Currently, Joan is a Wildlife Theater Performer The Wildlife Conservation Society at The Bronx Zoo, Co-chair of the Dance/NYC Junior Committee, Teaching Artist with the Bronx House Weinberg Senior Center, and Bronx Dance Fund Grantee. Joanbradford.com
ROBIN COLLEN
Robin Collen (PhD, MS, CMA) is completing her 26th and final year on the faculty at SUNY Potsdam where she has served as the chair of the Department of Theatre and Dance and Associate Dean of the School of Arts and Sciences. During her tenure she has taught modern dance, ballet, dance history, Pilates, yoga, improvisation, choreography, Laban Movement Analysis, and pedagogy. As a member of the New York State DanceForce she has been funded to support NY artists in dance residencies since 2013. Since 2015 she has served on the editorial board of the Journal of Dance Education where a recent endeavor was editing a special issue titled Mental, Emotional, and Physical Health and Wellness of Dancers https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15290824.2023.2233394. Robin is investigating next steps after retirement and plans to continue her study, practice, and teaching of yoga.
JOEY COLUMBUS
​Joey began his dance training in the Chicagoland area with Forum Dance Theatre under the direction of Eddy Ocampo. In 2016, he graduated from The Alvin Ailey/Fordham University BFA program with honors. During the summer months, Joey studied on scholarship at The School at Jacob’s Pillow Contemporary Program, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, and Springboard Danse Montreal. Upon graduation, he joined RIOULT Dance NY where he toured domestically and internationally. He has performed as a soloist for Company XIV in their productions of Queen of Hearts and Nutcracker Rouge, directed by Austin McCormick. He has been a member of The Metropolitan Opera’s Ballet Company since 2017 and continues to perform in several notable operas such as Aida, Samson et Dalila, and Don Giovanni. Joey joined the Limón Dance Company in 2019 and performs soloist roles in the repertory including the Burden Bearer in Psalm and Orpheus in Orfeo, among others. While in the company, he has performed works by acclaimed choreographers such as Aszure Barton, Kayla Farrish, Kate Weare, and Raúl Tamez. Joey has performed at Vail International Dance Festival, Jacob’s Pillow, American Dance Festival, and the esteemed Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City. He is currently a teaching artist for the Limón Institute.
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GRACE COOPER
Grace Cooper (she/her) is an NYC based dancer and interdisciplinary artist. She holds a BA in Dance and English from Colorado State University. She is a company member with The Equus Projects and Alpine Artist Collective. She has also performed with HOLDTIGHT, IMPACT Dance Company, and Control Group Productions. Her work is deeply engaged with her identity as a queer woman, and the position of the self within the human and more-than-human world.
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SARAH FRANCE
Sarah France is a multi-disciplinary artist from Pittsburgh, PA who has extended her lifelong fascinations with movement and creativity into working as a professional figure skater, dancer, choreographer, aerialist, visual artist, author and musician. She attended the Perpich Center for Arts Education in Minneapolis, MN where she studied visual arts and dance, and holds undergraduate degrees in art history and biochemistry from Augsburg College and the University of Minnesota. She began dancing at age three, eventually studying and performing with Ballet Arts Minnesota, Minnesota Dance Theatre, Jawaahir Dance Company and Zenon Dance Company. A figure skater since age eleven, Sarah is a US Figure Skating triple gold medalist in ice dancing and skating skills, six-time US Open Professional Figure Skating Championships competitor, and is internationally regarded for her deep knowledge of skating skill development and choreography. Sarah currently serves as the director of outreach, a professional ensemble performer, master edge class instructor and choreographer for the Ice Theatre of New York. She began dancing with The Equus Projects in 2024.
JENNY GREENOUGH
Jenny-Marie Greenough, LAc, RYT. Jenny-Marie is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy and spent the first part of her professional career as an officer in the Navy and then as a Program Manager for the Naval Sea Systems Command. She returned to school to study acupuncture
And is a graduate of Pacific College of Oriental Medicine with an M.S. Traditional Oriental Medicine and a Licensed Acupuncturist.
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PHYLLIS LAMHUT
Phyllis Lamhut, a choreographer of over 100 works, is dedicated to exploring motion and its kinetic expression. Received her dance training from multimedia innovator and prdegogue Alwin Nikolais at the Henry Street Playhouse in New York City. Toured nationally and internationally with the Nikolais Dance Theater, Murray Louis Dance Company, and Phyllis lamhut Dance Company. Taught Principles of Dance Composition and Motional Research at the NYU Tisch School of the Arts from 1987-2022.
JESS MICHAL
Jessica Michal is a dance artist based in the New York/New Jersey. She earned her BFA in Dance Performance from Rutgers University's Mason Gross School of the Arts in May 2021. Jess works is the movement director of 530DancePhotography, co-produces the interdisciplinary collaborative music and dance festival known as When Waves Collide and teaches dance and yoga at numerous local studios in Central NJ. Jess started as a company member with The Equus Projects in 2022
ROBERTA SAMET
Roberta Samet, she/her, lives in Brooklyn, on Lenape land. She is a long time dancer, psychotherapist, practitioner of Maitri Breathwork and an anti racist organizer. She originally studied dance with Alwin Nikolais/Murray Lewis and Charles Moore in New York City and performed with Tuffy Finley in San Francisco. She is currently performing with The Equus Projects and Alma Dance Company.
ROBERT SMALL
Graduated from UCLA with a Master of Fine Arts degree in Dance and performed internationally with the Murray Louis Dance Company from 1971-1980. Formed and toured the Small Dance Company and Robert Small/Solo Dance Artist fom 1980-1993. Received a Master of Arst Degree in Landscape Design and designed, terrace, courtyard, and penthouse garden spaces in New York City from 1993-2022.
HANNAH SWARDON
Hannah Schwadron (MFA, PhD) is Associate Professor of Dance at Florida State University where she teaches the cultural politics of performance and directs the Arts in NYC domestic study semester program. Schwadron is author of The Case of the Sexy Jewess: Dance, Gender, and Jewish Joke-work in US Pop Culture (OUP, 2018 and winner of the de la Torre prize for best first book), and essays in Shofar, Liminalities, PARtake Journal, Choreographic Practices, Dancer Citizen, International Journal of Screendance, American Perspectives in Dance, and Oxford Handbooks of Jewishness and Dance, Dance and Politics, and Dance and Music. Her recent co-edited volume with Marta E. Savigliano entitled Funny Moves: Dance Humor Politics (OUP 2025) broadens the resistive scope of dance humor modes in ten original essays from Pakistan, Argentina, Germany, Trinidad, and the US/Mexico border. She is Artistic Director of Structures for Change, a direct-action dance, song, and story ensemble most recently offering improvisation and performance workshops at the Leon County Youth Detention Center, and co-founder of the Tallahassee Bail Fund which pays bail for people who cannot afford it and moves in partnership with them and their loved ones to plug into needed services upon release. She serves as President Elect of Dance Studies Association with whom she has been coordinating programming in defense of academic freedom while working to support the organization's members facing the most precarity whether because of contingent status or outright censorship of research and teaching content.
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