Faculty/Staff: Members of the Division of Dance faculty have trained and performed with many of the world's leading dance companies, so they bring both diversity and expertise to the study of dance techniques and related subjects. Their combination of professional experience and academic experience provides students with a wealth of learning opportunities.

Myra Woodruff
Chair
Modern (Martha Graham Technique)
Myra Woodruff, a native Texan, received her professional training at the Martha Graham School of Contemporary Dance in New York. Ms. Woodruff has taught on the faculty of Florida State University and earned a B.A. from New York University where she was named a University Honor Scholar. In 1998, she was invited to move to Switzerland to accept a position as the first full-time modern teacher in the history of the Rudra Bejart School of Dance. Read more.

Richard Abrahamson
Teaching Staff/Dance Musician
Musical Concepts
Richard Abrahamson, Staff Musician for the Division of Dance, joined the Meadows School of the Arts in 1978. Mr. Abrahamson's community activities include teaching, vocal coaching, and rehearsal and choral direction. Mr. Abrahamson studied organ, harpsichord and piano at the Oberlin College Conservatory of Music, Texas Christian University and The Juilliard School. Read more.

Deborah Barr
Dance Production Supervisor/Lecturer
Dance Production
Deborah Barr, a native of Austin, Texas, has been production manager and stage manager for Ballet Austin, Fort Worth Dallas Ballet and Bruce Wood Dance Company. Her credits include Woody McGriff's Mirrors for PBS' Dance in America, Donald Byrd's Minstrel Show and the Dance Salad Festival in Houston. Read more.

Shelley C. Berg
Professor, Director of Graduate Studies in Dance
Dance History, Pointe
Shelley Berg earned her Ph.D. in performance studies from New York University. She has danced professionally with the London Festival Ballet, Slovene National Ballet in Yugoslavia and Les Grands Ballets Canadiens of Montreal. She has also been a dance consultant for the National Endowment for the Arts. Her publications include Le Sacre du Printemps: Seven Productions from Nijinsky to Martha Graham. Dr. Berg was elected President of the Society of Dance History Scholars (2001-2005). Read more.

Danny Buraczeski
Associate Professor
Jazz, Composition
Danny Buraczeski has directed his own company, JAZZDANCE, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, for the past 13 years, earning rave reviews. In addition to numerous commissions, he has had residencies at the American Dance Festival and Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, and served on the Dance Panel for the National Endowment for the Arts and the American College Dance festival. He holds a B.A. in Japanese studies from Bucknell University. Read more.

Mary Condon
Adjunct Lecturer
Graduate Kinesiology
Mary Condon is a senior physical therapist at the Outpatient Physical Medicine Clinic at the Tom Landry Sports Medicine and Research Center who specializes in the evaluation and treatment of performing artists. She received her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in dance from SMU and her master’s degree in physical therapy from Boston University. Read more.

Shelley Estes
Adjunct Lecturer
Intro to Pilates
Shelley F. Estes graduated from the University of Arkansas with a Bachelor of Science in Education, specializing in dance. Shelley’s Pilates Certifications include Pilates Unlimited, The PilateSystem and Power Pilates Mat.  Shelley is a Pilates Instructor and Personal Trainer at Goodbody’s Wellness Center in Dallas. Read more.

Patty Harrington Delaney
Associate Professor, Coordinator of Graduate Studies
Composition, Labanotation
Patty is a Professional Certified Notator whose Labonotation scores include José Límon’s La Malinche, Leni Wylliams’ Sweet in the Morning and Pilobolus’s Alraune. Patty’s choreographic credits include numerous musical productions, television commercials, corporate industrials and concert works. Read more.

Jamal Mohamed
Teaching Staff, Dance Musician
World Dance Rhythms
Jamal Mohamed is a member of the International Guild of Musicians in Dance. He has been the featured artist in many international music events, including festivals in Europe, Egypt, Korea, Puerto Rico, Canada and Mexico, and has presented percussion workshops around the world. Read more.

Nathan Montoya
Associate Professor
Modern (Martha Graham Technique), Composition
Nathan Montoya joined the Meadows School of the Arts in 1991. He received his professional training in New York City at Harkness House for Ballet Arts, the Alvin Ailey American Dance Center, and the Martha Graham School of Contemporary Dance, and earned an M.S. in ballet from the Indiana University School of Music. He performed with the Pearl Lang Dance Company and as a founding member and solo dancer with the Martha Graham Ensemble. Read more.

Andrew Parker
Lecturer
Ballet, Cheography
Andrew Parker taught for six years at Canada's National Ballet School in Toronto before joining Meadows. He received his teaching diploma with distinction from NBS's Teacher Tarining Program for Professional Dancers in 2001, and was trained as a dancer at Cambridge School of Ballet and Boston Ballet School. Read more.

Leslie Peck
Associate Professor
Ballet, Pointe, Pas de Deux
Trained by the legendary dancer Andre Eglevsky, Ms. Peck danced with George Balanchine as a member of New York City Ballet. Later she danced as a soloist with Pennsylvania Ballet, Houston Ballet, Pacific Northwest Ballet, Richmond Ballet and Ballet International in London. She is a recognized authority on Balanchine ballets, and one of the few dancers authorized to stage Balanchine ballets by the Balanchine Trust.

Max Stone
Senior Lecturer
Jazz , Composition
A native Texan, Max Stone began his professional career on Broadway in Neil Simon's production of They're Playing Our Song, where he also assisted choreographer Pat Birch. He taught and formed his first company in Sweden and then taught extensively throughout Europe and Japan. He also has extensive teaching experience in New York City and once conducted a choreography workshop for Cirque du Soleil. Read more.

Lauren Thompson
Visiting Assistant Professor
Lauren Thompson received her MFA in Dance from the University of California, Irvine, and holds a BFA in Dance from Marymount Manhattan College.  Her dance films have recently been shown in Dance Camera West, the Newport Beach Film Festival, Dance Camera Istanbul, the Beijing International Dance Film Festival, and the UCI Dance Film Festival.  She currently has two films in post-production and hopes to have them out in 2008.  Read more.