Shawn T Bible, President of Dance Films Association
Shawn T Bible, grew up in Roseville, Michigan and received a BA in Social Science and Dance from Michigan State University and an MFA in Dance Choreography and Performance from the University of Michigan.
Bible is the artistic director of shawnbibledanceco. which was established in 2007. shawnbibledanceco. is a contemporary dance company that continues to present throughout New York City and Internationally at the International Choreographic Festival of Blois, France, Lourdes Dance Festival (Paris, France), Oaxaca Dance Festival (Oaxaca, Mexico), NYLA, Battery Park Dance Festival, Ailey Citigroup Theatre, Joyce’s DANY Studios, Shen Wei Dance Arts and many others.
Shawn is the President of the Dance Films Association and an Executive Producer of the preeminent Dance on Camera Festival at Lincoln Center. He is also moderator for the Dance Film Labs. Bible’s videodance, Moonplay, was featured in the Sans Sousi Festival of Dance Cinema at the Contemporary Museum of Art in Boulder, Colorado. His recent animation, VOID, was featured in the #mydancefilm program in the Dance on Camera Festival 2020.
Shawn joined the faculty at Manhattanville College in 2016 and is a tenured Professor of Dance and former Chair of the Department of Dance & Theatre. Shawn has been a Dance Films Association Board member since 2018 and was elected Vice President of the DFA Board in 2019 and now elected President of the DFA Board in 2022. For more info please visit shawntbible.com
Michael Trusnovec, Vice President
Hailed by the New York Times as “one of the world’s most luminous dancers,” Michael Trusnovec grew up dancing on Long Island, inspired by his idols Fred Astaire and Gene Kelley. He graduated from the Long Island High School for the Performing Arts, and earned a BFA in Dance Performance from Southern Methodist University.
For over two decades, Michael was a principal dancer with the Paul Taylor Dance Company, creating over 25 roles with, and appearing in more than 70 dances by Mr. Taylor. He also premiered new works by Larry Keigwin, Doug Elkins, Doug Varone, Lila York, Margie Gillis and Pam Tanowitz, and was featured in the company’s presentation of Martha Graham’s Diversion of Angels. In addition, Trusnovec was Associate Rehearsal Director, was a Video Editor for the Repertory Preservation Project, was featured in the 2004 PBS Great Performances: Acts of Ardorand the 2013 Paul Taylor in Paris, and continues to serve as the Director of Worldwide Licensing and as a repetiteur of Mr. Taylor’s dances.
Among his many honors are the 2018 Dance Magazine Award, the “Positano Premia La Danza” Dancer of the Year 2016, a 2006 Bessie Award, and was a 1992 YoungArts awardee and Presidential Scholar in the Arts. He is the co-founder of the Asbury Park Dance Festival, serves on the Board of Directors for Austin, TX based Dancing into Science, is a 2019 Dance Panelist for the New York State Council on the Arts, and was a national reviewer and mentor to the finalists of YoungArts 2019. Michael joined the Board of Directors of Dance Films Association in June 2019 and served as the board Curatorial Advisor for the digital Dance on Camera Festival 2020.
Larry, Treasurer
Larry
Sonia Dawkins, DFA Secretary
Sonia Dawkins
Virginia Brooks, Historian
Virginia Brooks is Professor Emerita of Film at Brooklyn College/CUNY, where she taught film production for 26 years. She received an MFA in film directing and a PhD in Theater/Film from Columbia University. From 1978 to 1981, while coordinator of the Jerome Robbins Film Archive of the Dance Collection of The New York Public Library, she wrote her dissertation,The Art and Craft of Filming Dance as Documentary. Dr. Brooks is the author and the author of reviews and reports for Ballet Review, Dance Research Journal,Dance Magazine, the Millenium Film Journal, and IRIS. Since 1980 she has produced video archive material for the School of American Ballet, and since 1995 she has been video editor for the George Balanchine Foundations Interpreters Archive and Archive of Lost Choreography. She has directed several documentaries on dance subjects including, most recently, The Nutcracker Family – Behind the Magic(2006),and Felia Doubrovska Remembered (2008). She has been on the Board of Directors of Dance Films Association since 1978.
Administration, Programs and Curatorial
Michele Thompson, Interim Executive Director
Michele Thompson, Interim Executive Director, has more than 25 years of experience in cultural and educational administration, fundraising, and external relations at leading institutions including The 92nd Street Y, Trisha Brown Dance Company, Carnegie Hall, American Ballet Theater, and Vanderbilt University. She has consulted with The Jewish Museum, Urban Bush Women, and the Kennedy Center, among others. She completed the Interim Executive Director Training Program at the Non-profit Support Center and has successfully served as interim E.D. at Doug Varone and Dancers and, most recently, with A.I.M, formerly Abraham in Motion. She is an adjunct faculty member in Arts and Entertainment Management at Pace University where she works with upper level undergraduates who are about to enter the field in diverse disciplines. She holds both a bachelor’s and master’s degree from Vanderbilt University.
Jamie Cristello, Operations Manager and Programs Associate, Dance on Camera Festival
Jamie Cristello received her MA in Dance Education from NYU and is a NYS certified Dance Educator. She holds a BS in Television-Radio with minors in Dance and Psychology from Ithaca College. She has worked in the film and television production industry in both Los Angeles and New York. She has assisted with the casting of 20th Century Fox’s A League of Extraordinary Gentlemen as well as MTV’s Real World. Jamie has worked for the Bedford Falls Company where she assisted with the show Once and Again. She has experience in live multi-camera television, as assistant director and lighting director for Brooklyn College Television productions. In 2018, Jamie completed her short film, Mixtape #23, a classic love story musical set at a New York college. This film went on to win the 2019 Best Musical award of the Flicks Film Festival Monthly Edition. Currently, Jamie teaches dance at a public elementary school in Brooklyn and freelances in for Dance Film Association in administration and programs.
Marty Buhler, Editor/Technologist
Marty Buhler is a professional cinematographer, specializing in dance-related video. He attributes his unique perspective and style on filmmaking to his BFA in Modern Dance. His first project, Three on Four has won and been a finalist in several festivals, and has screened all over the world including: Finland, Greece, Mexico, Chile, San-Francisco, Ireland, New York, Brazil, Argentina, and Scotland. He was commissioned by Repertory Dance Theater to create a documentary, based on their experience in Bears Ears National Monument. Marty joined the staff of Dance Films Association in March of 2019 as DFA’s Programs Manager -Technologist. He helped to curate OUT ON FILM! in June 2019, co-presented by BAAD! and DFA. Marty Buhler was the official trailer editor for Dance on Camera 47 in 2019 and Dance on Camera 48 in 2020.
Anna Mosby Coleman, Dance on Camera Festival Producer
Besides her work as a multimedia artist and teacher, Anna Mosby Coleman has contributed significantly to strengthening nonprofits as a development strategist, creative director, communications specialist, and program producer. In these capacities, Anna has led growth and communication endeavors for a variety of nonprofits. They include the Carnegie Museum of Art, the Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre, Pittsburgh Filmmakers, New York University, Calvary St. George’s Parish, and ClientEarth. As a fine-artist, her original artist books have been collected by the Museum of Modern Art, The Brooklyn Museum, and Columbia University’s Fine and Rare Book Collection. Her short films have won acclaim at various venues including Hallwalls and have received support from the AFI, NEA Mid-Atlantic Grants, and the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts among others. A design and fine arts graduate of Carnegie Mellon University. Upon receiving her MFA from New York University, she was selected to be one of the original performers and grantees in Franklin Furnace’s launch of live-streaming webcasts: The History of the Future. In Caldas da Rainha, Portugal she taught filmmaking and video art. She is the founder of Cine Capellini, an intimate food and film festival event. Anna began working for Dance Films Association in the fall of 2017.
Liz Wolff, Co-Curator, Dance on Camera Festival
Liz Wolff has over 20 years of professional experience in the performing arts, starting with a long performing career in dance. Originally from Boston, Liz moved to New York to train with the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and the Paul Taylor Dance Company as a scholarship student. She became a founding member of Cortez & Company [Contemporary Ballet], and moved to Cleveland to be a founding member and principal dancer with Verb Ballets, performing works by Martha Graham, Paul Taylor, David Parsons and Heinz Poll. After retiring from performing she returned to New York and continued to work in the arts as Festival Coordinator and Administrative Director for White Wave / John Ryan Theater in DUMBO. She was in charge of festival planning and development including initial review and selection of artists, coordination of rehearsal and production schedules, and management of production staff for the organization’s three annual festivals. In 2007, Liz moved into the film business, first in domestic distribution at The Weinstein Company, and then in the position of Head of Theatrical Sales for Oscilloscope Laboratories. Moving to the exhibitor’s side of the film distribution business she currently works for Bow Tie Partners, parent company of Bow Tie Cinemas.
Liz became the co-curator for the Dance On Camera Festival at Lincoln Center in the summer 2012, and is also co-founded and producer the Cape Dance Festival, an altruistic concert dance event in Provincetown, MA.
Nolini Barretto, Co-Curator, Dance on Camera Festival
Nolini Barretto has long been part of the New York arts community. She worked at the Martha Graham School of Contemporary Dance for thirteen years, the last few years as Administrative Director of the school. She was the Director of Marketing for Dance Theater Workshop in Chelsea, helping it transition into its new building, managing its rebranding efforts and launching its Inaugural season. Nolini was originally a classical dancer in India and received a Master’s degree in Arts Administration from Teachers College, Columbia University. A frequent panelist on site-specific performance, she has lectured widely on Public Art and continues to participate in Dance juries and grant evaluations. Nolini worked at the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, where she founded the site-specific performance series, Sitelines, which she curated and produced for six years. Nolini served on the Bessies Committee (New York Dance and Performance Awards) from 2007 to 2014; and as a member of Dance Films Association’s Board of Directors from 2012 to 2018. Nolini has been a Co-Curator for Dance on Camera Festival 2019 and 2020.