{"id":930,"date":"2017-01-12T04:41:01","date_gmt":"2017-01-12T04:41:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/dance\/?page_id=930"},"modified":"2026-02-20T06:12:29","modified_gmt":"2026-02-20T06:12:29","slug":"faculty-2","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/dance\/faculty-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Faculty and Staff"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Faculty<\/h1>\n

Full Time Faculty<\/span><\/h4>\n

Catherine Solaas<\/h3>\n

Department Chair, Dance Faculty, Production Manager<\/b>
\nEmail:<\/b> csolaas@austincc.edu<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Catherine Solaas <\/b>has celebrated 35 years as a dancer, choreographer, educator, and arts administrator. A University of Oregon Distinguished Alumna (2023), Solaas joined the dance faculty at Austin Community College in 2011 and has served as department chair since 2014. Solaas led ACC through the process of earning accreditation with the National Association of Schools of Dance (2024) and currently serves as Faculty Lead for ACC’s Department Chair Academy, directs ACC Dance’s paid internship program, produces the annual season of ACC Dance events, and teaches dance courses at ACC.<\/p>\n

Solaas choreographs for faculty and student productions as well as local and regional dance festivals and conferences. Locally, her work has been performed at the Austin Dance Festival, Texas State University, and events produced by the American College Dance Association and National Dance Education Organization. Solaas has received grants and commissions for the creation of new work, including awards from Arts Council Norway, Nordic Culture Point, Freedom of Expression Foundation, Sound and Picture Fund, the Norwegian Wind Ensemble, the Austrian Embassy, and the Center for the Study of Women in Society. She has presented research at The League for Innovation in the Community College, National Dance Education Organization, and Texas Dance Improvisation Festival. Solaas holds a BS in Dance and MS in Dance from the University of Oregon, where her thesis, “Nine Narratives:\u00a0An Intermingling of Collaboration and Body Narrative in Dance-making Process (1996)” investigated the power balance between choreographer\/director and dance\/performer in the creative process. She is happy to have danced in the US and internationally with Jill Sigman, Tiffany Mills Company, Susan Hadley, Claire Porter, Margo Van Ummersen, Alito Alessi and others, including extensive seasons at New York venues such as Lincoln Center Out-of-Doors, Joyce Soho, Merce Cunningham Studio, Dumbo Dance Festival and the Danspace Project at St. Mark\u2019s Church.<\/p>\n

Solaas is a member of the National Association of Schools of Dance, the National Dance Education Organization, and the League for Innovation in the Community College.<\/p>\n

Melissa Sanderson<\/h3>\n

Dance Faculty<\/b>
\nEmail:<\/b> melissa.sanderson@austincc.edu<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Melissa Sanderson<\/strong>\u00a0(she\/her) joined the dance faculty at Austin Community College as an Associate Professor in 2021. She brings a commitment to guiding students through embodied learning experiences to find presence in their bodies and help them hone their unique creative voices. Melissa holds an MFA in Dance from Texas Woman\u2019s University and a BFA in Dance from San Diego State University. Since 2022, she has served on the advisory board of the Texas Dance Improvisation Festival.<\/span><\/p>\n

Her artistic work spans choreography, performance, and dance film. She is a founding collaborator with Allysen Hooks Projects, and her recent collaborations include work with Alexa Capareda, Cora Laszlo, BLiPSWiTCH, Brandon Gonzalez, POINT A, and Jordan Fuchs. Her choreography has been presented at venues and festivals such as 12 Minutes Max in Seattle, the World Dance Alliance Global Summit in St. John\u2019s, Newfoundland, Canada, WDA\u2019s International Young Choreographers Project in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, Austin Dance Festival, Texas Dance Improvisation Festival, Dance Carousel, and BOOST Dance Festival.<\/span><\/p>\n

Melissa\u2019s dance films have been featured in festivals including Agite y Sirva in Mexico, Seyr Festival in Iran, S\u00e3o Carlos Videodance Festival in Brazil, Utah Dance Film Festival, Dans Kamera Istanbul in Turkey, and Festival International de Vid\u00e9o Danse de Bourgogne in France. Previously based in Seattle, she performed in collaborative projects with Coriolis Dance, The Gray, Kinesis Project Dance Theatre, and Jessica Jobaris & General Magic, with performances at venues including On the Boards and Velocity Dance Center.\u00a0www.melissasandersondance.com<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Adjunct Faculty<\/span><\/h4>\n

Leo Briggs<\/h3>\n

Adjunct Faculty, Dance<\/b>
\nEmail:<\/b> leo.briggs@austincc.edu<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"Leo Briggs<\/strong> (he\/they) is a choreographer, performer, and teaching artist from Appalachia. He earned an MFA in Dance from The University of Texas at Austin, where his research concerned narratives of alien abduction and transsexuality as an embodied creative practice. Prior to that, Leo was a 2022 Arts and Social Justice Fellow at Emory University in Atlanta, where he collaborated with sociologist Dr. Devon Goss to integrate dance into the first-year sociology curriculum. During their time in Atlanta, Leo produced two original concerts of his own work, Search History (2022) and Lavender Hill (2023).<\/span><\/p>\n

Caroline Clark<\/h3>\n

Adjunct Faculty, Dance<\/b>
\nEmail:<\/b> caroline.clark1@austincc.edu<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Caroline Sutton Clark<\/strong> Ph.D., M.F.A. in Dance, comes from a wide range of experience in ballet, modern dance, butoh, and other diverse forms of dance. She has danced with many companies including Atlanta Historic Dance, Mazury International Folk Dance of Atlanta, Iona Dance Theatre, MAD\/CO, Ann Arbor Dance Theatre, and Ballet Austin in addition to directing her own company, Wicked Cricket Dance Theatre of Austin, TX. Clark\u2019s Ph.D. dissertation used oral history methods to investigate the performances of Austin Ballet Theatre at the Armadillo World Headquarters. Her academic honors include the 2017 Caroline Plummer Research Fellowship in Community Dance in Dunedin, New Zealand, the 2015 Texas Woman\u2019s University Graduate Award for Excellence and Creativity in Research, NDEO\u2019s Top Paper Citation for the 2018 and 2015 conferences, and a 2015 \u201cFavorite Professor\u201d award. Recent publications include Dance Research Journal and chapters in Handbook of Dance Education Research, The Bloomsbury Handbook of Dance and Philosophy, and The Oxford Handbook of Contemporary Ballet. Clark has taught dance technique, history, and theory courses at the University of Georgia, Kennesaw State University, Austin Community College, Texas State University, and the University of Hawai\u2019i.<\/span><\/p>\n

Joseph Cox<\/h3>\n

Adjunct Faculty, Dance<\/b>
\nEmail:<\/b> joseph.cox@austincc.edu<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Joseph Cox<\/strong> holds an M.F.A. in Dance from The University of Iowa. He teaches Dance Appreciation and World Dance for Austin Community College, offering a perspective informed by both scholarship and an extensive performance background. He has presented a number of works for ACC Dance Department productions, including Un-Certain, Day by Day…Again, and Well in Hand.<\/p>\n

In addition to his work with ACC, Joseph works as an independent guest artist and teacher. He previously served as a director of Austin\u2019s Capital City Ballet and the Slavin Nadal School of Ballet. His dance career began with Eugene Slavin and Alexandra Nadal at Ballet Austin, and continued with Cincinnati Ballet, Dayton Ballet, and most notably as a principal dancer with the Louisville Ballet. Over his twenty-five year performing career, he learned much of the classical ballet canon and numerous masterworks of the 20th century, working closely with dance icons, such as Sir Frederic Franklin, Suzanne Farrell, and Nicholas Beriosoff.<\/p>\n

Joseph previously taught ballet technique and dance history as Assistant Professor of Dance at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. He has also served in various teaching and staging capacities with Ballet Arkansas, Cincinnati Ballet, Kentucky Governor\u2019s School for the Arts, Cincinnati Opera, and The Carnegie Theatre of Northern Kentucky. Joseph and his wife were the founding directors of the Crossing Lines Project, a team of professional performers dedicated to sharing dance with student artists throughout Kentucky.<\/p>\n

Joseph\u2019s choreography has been performed with Louisville Ballet, Cincinnati Ballet, Dayton Ballet, Louisville\u2019s Moving Collective, Austin Contemporary Ballet, and in other venues. His honors include the 2009 Kentucky Arts Council \u201cAl Smith\u201d Fellowship for Choreography, the 2011 Iowa Arts Fellowship, and a Governor\u2019s commission as a Kentucky Colonel.<\/p>\n

Jessica Coxe<\/h3>\n

Adjunct Faculty, Dance<\/b>
\nEmail:<\/b> jlindber@austincc.edu<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Jessica Lindberg Coxe<\/strong> is an Adjunct Professor of Dance at Austin Community College (ACC), an instructor of Ballet technique at Greater Austin Dance Academy, is actively involved in teaching the dance students at various schools in the Round Rock and Austin Independent School Districts, and presents, performs, and stages her reconstructions of Loie Fuller\u2019s masterworks. Coxe holds a BFA in Dance Performance from Southern Methodist University, an MFA in Dance Reconstruction \/ Directing from Score from The Ohio State University, and she is certified in Labanotation and Language of Dance\u00ae. Coxe has been teaching History and Appreciation of Dance, later Dance Appreciation, with ACC since 2010 and in 2018 she created the World Dance course in which ACC students learn about various cultures and interact with dance practitioners from around the world.<\/p>\n

Coxe used historical accounts, reviews, photographs, lithographs, and other artwork of the 1890s, to reconstruct\u00a0Night,\u00a0Fire Dance,\u00a0Lily of the Nile, and\u00a0La Mer, master works by the dancer, choreographer, and theatrical lighting pioneer Loie Fuller. She has performed these works across the United States and locally with Dancestry at the Long Center. She has staged and presented her research internationally including the Art Institute of Chicago, Maryhill Museum, the University of Washington, Gonzaga University, Texas State University, Western Michigan University, MOMENTA Dance Company in Chicago, among others. Coxe is currently in talks to present\u00a0La Mer\u00a0at the Battery Dance Festival in New York City with the Lori Belilove Dance Company in August, 2023.<\/p>\n

Erin Ellis<\/h3>\n

Adjunct Faculty, Dance<\/b>
\nEmail:<\/b> erin.ellis1@austincc.edu<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Erin Ellis, M.F.A., is a dance artist, educator, and founding collaborator with Allysen Hooks Projects, an Austin-based dance company committed to innovative and gripping performance. Based in Austin, TX, Erin creates work that blends archetypal symbolism with bold, theatrical movement to unearth the hidden significance of stories stored within the body. Her performances invite audiences into a space of discovery, somatic embodiment, and transformation.<\/p>\n

Erin\u2019s choreographic and performance career includes appearances at the Austin Dance Festival, Barnstorm Dance Festival, COCO Dance Festival in Trinidad and Tobago, and Westfest Dance in New York City. She has toured Francisco Graciano\u2019s solo The Spinner and performed in notable works by Brian Brooks (Wave Theory at The American Dance Festival\u2019s Footprints program), Chelsea Ainsworth and Jessica Smith (Duel Rivet), Andy and Dionne Noble (NobleMotion), Erica \u201cEG\u201d Gionfriddo, Adele Nickel, and Christa Oliver, among others. Her training includes work with The American Dance Festival, Beaverdam Dance Company in Switzerland, and several internationally recognized choreographers and pedagogues.<\/p>\n

Erin holds a Master of Fine Arts in Dance from Sam Houston State University, where her research focused on the uncovering and embodiment of personal myth. She is a certified practitioner of the Nervous System module of Body-Mind Centering, which supports her trauma-aware, somatically informed teaching practice. She also holds a Bachelor\u2019s degree in Dance Education from Texas State University and is an alumna of Kilgore College, where she performed with the Rangerettes and the modern company Industry.<\/p>\n

Dedicated to community wellness and equitable access to the arts, Erin teaches inclusive dance classes for elderly adults and adults with disabilities through Dance Waterloo, an Austin-based dance nonprofit. She has also worked with organizations such as The Salvation Army and MINDPOP to create and implement socially responsive curricula. Her teaching career began with Marching Auxiliaries Dance Camps, and she continues to direct clinics, choreograph, and adjudicate dance competitions across the country.<\/p>\n

Whether in performance or in the classroom, Erin\u2019s work is grounded in curiosity, connection, and the transformative power of movement.<\/p>\n

Misti Galvan<\/h3>\n

Adjunct Faculty, Dance<\/b>
\nEmail:<\/b> misti.galvan@austincc.edu<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Misti Galvan<\/strong> is a dance artist, educator, and qualitative researcher based in San Marcos, Texas. She holds an MFA in Choreography from Wilson College and both a BFA in Dance and a BA in English from Texas State University. Her dance background is influenced by training in both New York and Chicago, and her creative work is interdisciplinary, integrating movement with text, visual art, film, and media. Her choreographic themes often explore health, community, embodiment, ecology, and social engagement.<\/p>\n

Galvan has taught and presented at the Texas Dance Improvisation Festival, Texas Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance, the National Dance Education Organization, Asheville Fringe Festival, and other regional and national events. From 2018 to 2022, she served as a faculty member in the Dance Division at Texas State University, where she focused on inclusive pedagogy, arts access, and mentoring future teaching artists. She also led the implementation of a yoga teacher training program that enabled students to earn certification as yoga instructors.<\/p>\n

In 2023, Galvan began doctoral studies in Adult, Professional, and Community Education at Texas State University. Her current research centers on Liz Lerman\u2019s Critical Response Process, examining it as a pedagogy of empathy and inquiry-based learning, particularly in higher education and artistic settings.<\/p>\n

She is a Stage 3 rectal cancer survivor and an active member of Dance Educators Living. Through Cancer (DELC). The DELC group is currently developing a collaborative book project to support others navigating the intersection of cancer and embodied education. Galvan will begin teaching at Austin Community College in Fall 2025.<\/p>\n

Gabrielle (Aufiero) Gucciardi<\/h3>\n

Adjunct Faculty, Dance<\/b>
\nEmail:<\/b> gabrielle.gucciardi@austincc.edu<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Gabrielle (Aufiero) Gucciardi<\/strong> is an educator, choreographer, and dancer based in Austin, TX. She is currently an Adjunct Professor in the Dance Department at Austin Community College and serves as the Director of Round Rock High School\u2019s Dragon Pride Dance Company where she also founded the Modern\/Contemporary dance<\/span>
\n<\/span>academy course. Gabrielle holds an MFA in Dance from Texas Woman\u2019s University and a B.A. in American Studies with a minor in Dance from Franklin Pierce University\u2014where she graduated Valedictorian of her class. She was also selected as one of 7,980 individuals selected out of 57,000 applicants to serve as a 2013 corps member for Teach For America. As a choreographer, educator, performer, and scholar Gabrielle has made appearances both nationally (Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Texas, Virginia) and internationally (Lyon, France). Her choreography has been selected for regional and national performance debuts for the American College Dance Festival in New England and SHAPE America\u2019s National Convention and Exposition. She has presented professional development workshops and lecture demonstrations for the Center for Educator Development for Fine Arts and\u00a0 Texas Dance Educators\u2019 Association. In January 2024, Gabrielle was awarded Dance Educator of the Year by the Texas Dance Educators Association. She also enjoys teaching master classes, serving as a guest artist\/lecturer, and setting freelance choreography.<\/span><\/p>\n

As an educator, Gabrielle recognizes that there is just as much responsibility in sharing the art of dance as there is in mentoring the future of the dance field and the members of our greater community. By sharing her passion for dance, creating a space that holds students to high expectations, and teaching students the tools they need to be successful in their lives beyond the classroom, Gabrielle hopes to enrich each student\u2019s understanding of their individual potential and empower them to create significant contributions to their chosen career fields and beyond.<\/span><\/p>\n

Darla Johnson<\/h3>\n

Adjunct Faculty, Faculty Advisor for Students, Dance<\/b>
\nEmail:<\/b> dargal@austincc.edu<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Darla Johnson<\/b> is a choreographer, teacher, and author living in Austin, Texas. She is the author of The Art of Listening: Intuition and Improvisation in Choreography (2012) and a contributor to Experiments in a Jazz Aesthetic: Art, Activism, Academia, and the Austin Project (2010). She is also a published poet.<\/p>\n

From 1990 to 2005, Johnson was the co-artistic director of Johnson\/Long Dance. J\/LDC received numerous awards and grants from the City of Austin, the State of Texas, and the National Performance Network. The Austin Symphony, the University of Texas, Dance on Tulsa, and Winona State University commissioned dance\/theatre works from J\/LDC. The company performed nationally and internationally in such cities as Los Angeles, Honolulu, Little Rock, Albuquerque, and Hamburg, Germany, and taught residencies throughout the United States while touring.<\/p>\n

Johnson founded the dance department at Austin Community College. She has received the ACC Teacher\u2019s Excellence award twice. In 2009, she received the National Institute for Staff and Organizational Development Award for Teaching Excellence and Service. She was invited to be a Visiting Scholar, with a focus on globalizing curriculum, at the University of Texas for the 2016-2017 academic year.<\/p>\n

Recently, Johnson\u2019s work has been produced and performed at the Austin Dance Festival, Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Black Arts Movement Festival, Texas State University, Spelman College, Georgian Court University, with the Shay Ishii Dance Company and in a project with other Austin choreographers entitled 11:11.<\/p>\n

The JUSTICE Project is Johnson\u2019s recent work and research project. The project is a collaboration with Nicole Wesley. Spelman College (Atlanta, Georgia), Northumbria University and The Contemporary School of Dance (United Kingdom), Austin Community College (Austin, Texas) and the University of Trinidad and Tobago (Trinidad) the University of Bedfordshire, (United Kingdom), Texas State University (San Marcos, Texas) and McCallum Fine Arts Academy (Austin, Texas) have all commissioned The JUSTICE Project. In June of 2016, a chapter co-authored by Johnson and Wesley on the McCallum Fine Arts project was published in The Young Are Making Their World, Essays on the Power of Youth Culture.<\/p>\n

Jessica MacFarlane<\/h3>\n

Adjunct Faculty, Dance<\/b>
\nEmail: <\/b>jessica.macfarlane@austincc.edu<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n
Jessica Maria MacFarlane<\/strong> (she\/her) is an interdisciplinary dance researcher and creative writer from southeast Houston, TX. Her teaching and research interests include dance history, theory, writing\/criticism, and archival practices alongside creative writing, literature, visual art, film, fashion, music videos, social media, and popular culture. She aims to teach each course with a compassionate and curious interdisciplinary spirit, encouraging students of all majors to explore their own connections between the dance world and their areas of study, career wisdom, and personal experiences. She\u2019s returning to ACC Dance as an adjunct professor of dance with specialization in creative research, library assistance, professional arts writing, and interdisciplinary integration.<\/div>\n
Jessica began her academic pursuit of dance at her local community college\u2013San Jacinto College, South\u2013with interest in dance photography. She later transferred to Texas State University where she earned a BFA in dance studies with a minor in writing. Jessica holds an MA in individualized study with a concentration in dance studies, science fiction, and creative writing from New York University\u2019s Gallatin School of Individualized Study (\u201819).<\/div>\n
In between her studies, Jessica was a public relations and marketing archivist and research contributor at Houston Ballet. She\u2019s written about dance for Arts and Culture Texas, Playbill, and was a freelance writer for the online pop-culture media outlet, The Nerdist. She\u2019s been a continuing contributor to Dance Source Houston\u2019s Dance DiSH since 2015. As a freelance researcher, Jessica has recently provided research support for Alejandra Duque Cifuentes\u2019 non-profit arts advocacy and consulting organization, ADC Consulting. She\u2019s also provided research and online support for Dance\/NYC, a justice, equity, and inclusion non-profit dance resource organization.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
One of her greatest joys is finding dance connections in books of all genres. While working at one of Austin\u2019s local indie bookstores\u2013BookPeople\u2013she curated an in-store book display that featured fiction, young adult, romance, and non-fiction books about dance and dancers. Jessica has helped support choreographer Allison Orr (\u201cDance Works: Stories of Creative Collaboration\u201d) and writer Karen Valby (\u201cThe Swans of Harlem: Five Black Ballerinas, Fifty Years of Sisterhood, and Their Reclamation of a Groundbreaking History\u201d) during their book tour stops at BookPeople. Jessica also works as a library assistant at ACC Rio Grande Campus, where she also helps curate dance sources that range from academic to leisure reading for students and faculty.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
In her personal practice, Jessica navigates through a slow, meditative form of–intentionally unpublished–writing under the genres of queer speculative\/science-fiction\/magical-realism\/myth tales and retellings. All of her written work imagines dance of the past, present, and future. She also practices physical collage art, creating surreal landscapes with dance imagery at its core.<\/div>\n
\n
\n

<\/h3>\n

Sanchita Sharma<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n
Adjunct Faculty, Instructional Associate, Dance<\/b><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Email: <\/b>sanchita.sharma@austincc.edu<\/a><\/p>\n

Sanchita Sharma<\/strong> is a performing artist, choreographer, and a dance scholar from New Delhi, India. She recently \"\"earned her Doctorate from UCLA\u2019s Department of World Arts and Cultures\/Dance, where she taught courses ranging from arts activism to community engagement. She holds a Masters in Performance Studies from Ambedkar University, Delhi, and Bachelors in Psychology from Delhi University. As the Chair for Dance Studies Association\u2019s (DSA) working group, Practice-as-Research, she intends to bridge the gap between dance theory and practice, looking towards a more interdisciplinary approach to dance scholarship. Sanchita makes dances that are experimental and derives their movement vocabulary from her lived experiences as well as from her training in jazz, modern, and contemporary dance styles.<\/p>\n

Her choreographies have been presented at ACC\u2019s 7th Annual Faculty and Guest Artist Dance Concert and First Street Studio (Austin), The Broad Art Center (UCLA), Lost and Found Festival: Invisible Cities, Some Bodies of Dance, Contemporary Arts week, and Inside\/Outside festival (India), and \u201cRelease 4.0\u201d at Maya Dance Theatre (Singapore). Her dance film, Engage, was awarded the \u201cBest Dance Film\u201d in Seoul International Short Film Festival (2021) and was officially selected at several festivals across New York, Austin, and Germany. As a dancer, she has performed extensively across India, China, Scotland, and the United States. Her recent collaborations include performances with Early Era Collective and choreographer Jahna Bobolia (Austin), interdisciplinary artist Julie Tolentino, choreographers Milka Djordjevich, Ligia Lewis, and Emily Barasch (Los Angeles), Mandeep Raikhy (New Delhi), Preethi Athreya (Chennai), and Parijat Desai (New York). She has been an artist-in-residence at Crashbox, Rude Mechs (Austin) and at Gati Summer Dance Residency (New Delhi).<\/p>\n

In her scholarly work, Sanchita analyzes the politics of corporeal dissent and liberation in Indian contemporary dance and brings fields like Critical Dance Studies, Performance Studies, Cultural Studies, and South Asian Studies into conversation. She has presented her research at American Society for Theatre Research, DSA, and Fourth Annual Graduate Interdisciplinary Conference on South Asia at UCLA, among others, and has been awarded the UCLA International Institute Fieldwork Fellowship (2022), Dance Studies Association Pre-Conference Scholarship from American Society of Aesthetics (2021), UCLA School of the Arts and Architecture\u2019s Oxman Fellowship (2020), Sandra Zell Kaufman Memorial Scholarship (2019), and Dean’s General Award (2019), and American Alumni Association Grant (2018) to support her research endeavors. In 2023, she served as the first Editorial Fellow for the DSA\u2019s journal, Conversations Across the field of Dance Studies, and contributed to the journal\u2019s mission to promote decolonial and anti-racist frameworks and methodologies in dance research..<\/p>\n

Jun Shen<\/h3>\n

Adjunct Faculty, Dance<\/b>
\nEmail:<\/b> jun.shen@austincc.edu<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Jun Shen<\/strong> is the founder and artistic director of Shen Jun Movement Effect based in the Austin area. Shen, born in Mainland China, began dancing in high school. He earned his bachelor degree in dance at Beijing Capital Normal University and then attended Beijing Dance\/LDTX as a dancer and choreographer. In the past several years, he has performed and choreographed many dance works for many worldwide dance festivals and events including Dance Salad Festival, Beijing Dance Festival, Fall For Dance Festival, and Busan International Dance Festival, among others. He has collaborated with many different artists from various fields, as well. Shen has also taught in many educational institutions and dance studios, both nationally and internationally, such as Virginia Common University, Shanghai Drama Academy, Lines Ballet Training Program, and the University of Texas at Austin. He was invited to join the graduate dance program at UT Austin in 2013 and earned his MFA in May of 2016. He currently teaches movement and Tai-Chi at Sansori High School and is the modern dance instructor and guest artist for Blue Lapis Light.<\/p>\n

Staff<\/span><\/h4>\n

Mike Fonseca<\/h3>\n

Dance Accompanist<\/b>
\n<\/b>\"\"<\/p>\n

Mike\u00a0Fonseca <\/strong>received his bachelor\u2019s degree in Jazz Studies from North Texas in 1999 and his Master\u2019s in Jazz performance from UT in 2016. Since his move to Austin in 2000, Mike has played and toured with various Indie-Rock and Jazz groups. With over 10 years of teaching experience at ACC he has taught Music Appreciation, Small Commercial Music Ensemble, American Music, Percussion ensemble and private percussion lessons. While his main focus is on drumset, he also teaches hand drums and the accompanying percussion for the Afro-Cuban and Brazilian rhythmic universes. When Mike is not teaching or performing, you can find him composing music for his solo Avant-Garde-Metal project Huelga. He is now reinvigorated and eager to teach everything he learned in the Study Abroad trips to Cuba that he led in the summer of 2023 and 2024! Mike has been an accompanist for the ACC Dance department since 2019.<\/p>\n

\n

Stevie Hawes<\/h3>\n

Dance Accompanist<\/b>
\n\"\"Stevie Hawes<\/strong> is an agender multi-instrumentalist from Austin, Texas. Music has always been one of Stevie’s main passions since they learned to play the piano at a young age. They thrived as a flautist in the Cedar Park High School marching band which won 10th place at the BOA Grand Nationals during Stevie’s senior year. They received their Bachelor of Arts in Music with a minor in Creative Writing from Knox College in 2015, where they were also the saxophone section leader in the Knox Jazz Ensemble. After graduating Stevie returned to Knox as a Post-Baccalaureate for the Music Department and helped the KJE raise over $12,000 for a cultural exchange trip to China.<\/span><\/p>\n

Upon returning to Texas, Stevie worked various jobs in the music industry before becoming a full-time piano accompanist at the beginning of 2021. Outside of playing for classes at both ACC and Ballet Austin, Stevie performs in two different local bands, Sheilava and Oh Antonio & His Imaginary Friends. Stevie also creates music under their own brand, SymphonicElectric. They have a passion for making music covers and writing original music for various projects including YouTube videos, livestreams on Twitch, and video game and film scores. Stevie’s other large passion is video games, which is reflected in a lot of their work. Visit their website to learn more:\u00a0<\/span>https:\/\/symphonicelectric.wordpress.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Channing Schreyer<\/h3>\n

Theater Productions Coordinator<\/b><\/p>\n

Channing Schreyer <\/strong>is a full-time staff member in the Dance Department. Channing received their BA in Production Design and Studio Art from Pepperdine University and is an ACC alumnus. Before joining ACC, Channing gained extensive experience working for Pepperdine University’s Center for the Arts, Baylor University’s Theatre Department, and the Rudder Theater Complex at Texas A&M University.\"\"<\/p>\n

Channing\u2019s love for Dance Lighting Design began as a student at Pepperdine University, where they were introduced to the art through the yearly student production\u00a0Dance in Flight<\/em>\u00a0under the instruction of resident Lighting Designer, David Barber. While at Pepperdine and Texas A&M, Channing was also fortunate to witness how lighting enhanced the beauty of touring dance troupes like Momix and Pilobolus, which further fueled their passion for lighting in dance.<\/p>\n

At Austin Community College, one of Channing’s favorite responsibilities is designing lights for both the fall and spring\u00a0Choreographer’s Showcase<\/em>\u00a0each year, where she works closely with dance students studying Production and Choreography. Additionally, she designs lights for the\u00a0Faculty and Guest Concert<\/em>,\u00a0Dance Informance<\/em>, and the pieces that ACC Dance sends to\u00a0ACDA<\/span>\u00a0each spring.<\/p>\n

Channing currently manages the electrics shop for both the Dance and Drama departments, ensuring that all productions are lit and technically sound. While Channing primarily serves as the lighting designer for the Dance Department and as a Theatre Master Electrician for Drama, she also occasionally designs lights for the Drama Department. Notable lighting designs for the Drama Department include\u00a0The Snow<\/em>,\u00a0Iphigenia at Aulis<\/em>, and\u00a0Batboy the Musical<\/em>. In addition to their work in lighting design, Channing has recently expanded their role to include teaching as an adjunct instructor in the Drama Department, where they share their expertise in Production Design and Scenic Painting.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n

FOR MORE INFO CONTACT: CATHERINE SOLAAS<\/b>\u00a0 AT (512) 223-7198 OR CSOLAAS@AUSTINCC.EDU<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Faculty Full Time Faculty Catherine Solaas Department Chair, Dance Faculty, Production Manager Email: csolaas@austincc.edu Catherine Solaas has celebrated 35 years as a dancer, choreographer, educator, and arts administrator. A University of Oregon Distinguished Alumna (2023), Solaas joined the dance faculty at Austin Community College in 2011 and has served as department chair since 2014. Solaas … <\/p>\n

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