Dance. Workforce. Resilience. Initiative

DANCE. WORKFORCE. RESILIENCE. ADVISORY GROUP

With the launch of the Dance. Workforce. Resilience. (DWR) Initiative in 2022, the DWR Task Force was established to advise and assist the Initiative on behalf of the organization and the dance field in the metropolitan area.

We learned a tremendous amount from that first iteration, and thus have restructured the Task Force to create two separate groups that will support the initiative moving forward. They are:

• the DWR Advisory Group with members from the creative sector that are based in New York City and the metro area that will focus on providing feedback on initiative activities, and 
• the DWR Network, made up of participating entities and organizations supporting us in this work.

Advisory Group (2023–Current)

Head and shoulders photo of Abigail, curly short hair and blue eyes, looking directly at the camera, wearing a black sleeveless

Abigail Levine, choreographer and writer

Head shot of Ace Smiling into the camera wearing blue ripped jeans, off white short sleeve collar shirt, White converse sneakers

Andrea Arenasvazquez (Ace Fusion), CEO of Amargue Flow Dance Academy LLC, CEO Ace Fusion Entertainment LLC

A black and white photo of Antuan smiling cross-armed in a gray sweater, sitting backwards in a tarnished chair.

Antuan Byers, dancer, model, creative entrepreneur, and arts organizer

BRAT is standing in front of an all white background with her hair out in a Fro.

BRAT , Dancer/Choreographer/Movement Director/Creator of Freelance Not Free Dance

Christopher looks at the camera and smiles gently. He wears a leather jacket and silver jewelry.

Christopher Unpezverde Núñez, Choreographer

Headshot of Clarinda with a slight smile, from the shoulders up, wearing a grey scoop-necked shirt, against a black background.

Clarinda Mac Low, Executive Director

Artist and Arts Worker, Executive Director of Culture Push, Inc.

Headshot of David staring into the camera while wearing blue eyeglasses in front of a light gray backdrop.

David King, Director of Education, The Apollo

person in a grey button up shirt and cap leaning against a tree looking directly at the camera framing the torso

devynn emory, multi-modal dancer/choreographer, director of devynnemory/beastproductions + sage

Duke smiling directly at the camera. He is of asian heritage with black hair, wearing glasses, a lavendar stripped shirt

Duke Dang, Executive Director, Works & Process

Headshot of j. bouey looking pensively off camera wearing a white shirt and bandana

J. Bouey, Dance Artist, Founder of The Dance Union

Headshot of Laci smiling directly at the camera wearing an orange dress with a colorful beaded african necklace

Laci Chisholm, Founder & CEO, Fit4Dance

Karesia Batan Headshot

Karesia Batan, Founding Executive Director, Queensboro Dance Festival

A black woman with locs throws her head back and arches her back. She is wearing a stripped shirt and dark pants

Kayla Hamilton, Artistic Director of K. Hamilton Projects

A Black woman poses outdoors. She is surrounded by large trees and the light is dappled through their leaves.

Maria Bauman, Artistic Director of MBDance; Co-founder of ACRE (Artists Co-creating Real Equity)

an Asian femme looks at the camera. black hair is pulled back with bangs hanging to the side.

maura nguyễn donohue, Director, MFA in Dance, Hunter College/CUNY

Photo of Meredith, with light skin and long dark hair, a cream top against a cream background.

Meredith Tannor, Policy Director, Freelancers Union

Brown skinned, Indian American, wearing a black V-neck tee with short hair combed neatly up. Angled perspective of the face

Pavan Thimmaiah, Director of PMT House of Dance

Peter before a white background. They have brown skin, a black mustache, meticulously shaped eyebrows, and black hair

Peter Alfred Elizalde, Artist, Choreographer, Nightlife professional, Director of Membership & Communications at NY4CA

Yanira is a light-skinned Latine person wearing black thick rimmed glasses and her white hair pulled back. Yellow background.

Yanira Castro, Artist, a canary torsi

Task Force (2022–Inactive)

A white person with facial hair and a gold earing wearing a black baseball cap and black coat sitting in the park on a sunny day

Alex Rodabaugh, Dancer, Choreographer and Performer, Treasurer of Dance Artists' National Collective

A black and white photo of Antuan smiling cross-armed in a gray sweater, sitting backwards in a tarnished chair.

Antuan Byers, dancer, model, creative entrepreneur, and arts organizer

A white woman with freckles and long reddish-brown curly hair looks at the camera. She is wearing a cream short sleeve top.

April Biggs, April Biggs, Dance Artist; Disability+ Working Group Member, Creating New Futures

Fair skinned older woman with blond hair and heavy black glasses wearing red lipstick in front of Max Miller abstract painting w

Carla Hoke-Miller, Director of Theatre Programs and Partnerships

NYC Mayor's Office of Media & Entertainment

Charmaine is smiling and is surrounded by a wooden frame and wearing a colorful blue dress

Charmaine Warren, Performer/Writer + Founder/Artistic Director,

Black Dance Stories & Dance on The Lawn: Montclair's Dance Festival

A pink and orange gradient

Chikako Yamauchi, Member

ACRE (Artists Co-creating Real Equity)

Christopher, an African-American man with a a bald head and grey and black beard is in a white room. He wears black glasses

Christopher D. Bloodworth, National Director of The Career Center

Entertainment Community Fund (formerly The Actors Fund)

A pink and orange gradient

Christy Bolingbroke, Executive/Artistic Director

NCCAkron

Dance Union logo

Dance Union

A woman with brown hair and eyes wears red lipstick, red and black glass bead earrings, and a suit while smiling at the camera

Heather Robles, Policy Development Consultant at NY4CA, Executive Director of The Bessies

Kellee, a non-disabled butterscotch skinned woman with long dark brown hair, is slightly smiling with her arms folded.

Kellee Edusei, Executive Director, Dance/USA

middle aged white woman speaking to audience with one hand raised, short blonde hair, grey dress

Lucy Sexton, Executive Director, New Yorkers For Culture & Arts

A Black woman poses outdoors. She is surrounded by large trees and the light is dappled through their leaves.

Maria Bauman, Artistic Director of MBDance; Co-founder of ACRE (Artists Co-creating Real Equity)

A black woman with dark brown long dreadlocks is looking straight ahead into the camera. The background is brownstones and trees

Maxine Montilus, Dance Artist, Artistic Director of MV Dance Project

Brown skinned, Indian American, wearing a black V-neck tee with short hair combed neatly up. Angled perspective of the face

Pavan Thimmaiah, Director of PMT House of Dance

Réka, a light browned skinned woman with dark brown hair and straight bangs. She is smiling at the camera wearing a yellow shirt

Réka Echerer, Dance Worker and Activist

a colored headshot of Vanessa. Her caramel skin is glowing and she is softly looking towards us with a gentle smile. Her dark ha

Vanessa Hernández Cruz, Disabled Dance Artist, Choreographer, Disability Justice Activist

Dance Artists National Collective, Communications & Social media Co-Coordinator

Yanira is a light-skinned Latine person wearing black thick rimmed glasses and her white hair pulled back. Yellow background.

Yanira Castro, Artist, a canary torsi

A photo of a group of dancers raising a dancer over their heads with their arms. On the left a dancer faces away from the camera and raises their arms up over their head mid clap. Text reads, MELT Winter 2024, In-person and Virtual workshops, Movement Research, Week 1: Jan 13-17.

Sign up for Dance/NYC News