2016 Fall Workshop Faculty

An Endowed Professor in the Weitzenhoffer School of Musical Theatre at the University of Oklahoma, Lyn Cramer has been a teacher, director, and choreographer for over 35 years. OU productions include La Cage Aux Foilles, Thoroughly Modern Millie, The Drowsy Chaperone, On The Town, Seussical, A Chorus Line, Anything Goes, Sweet Charity, Cabaret, Company, Baby, Pal Joey, My One and Only, Good News, Nine, How to Succeed, Rent, and Urinetown. Cramer has directed and choreographed many shows for Lyric Theatre of Oklahoma including Little Mermaid, The Drowsy Chaperone, Dream Girls, Big Fish, The Will Rogers Follies, Bye Bye Birdie, Hairspray, 42nd St., Swing, Smokey Joe’s Café, Cabaret, Singing in the Rain, The Best Little Whoreouse in Texas, The Sound of Music, Dames at Sea, Five Guys Named Moe, Grease, and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. Other theatre credits include Casa Manana, Music Theatre of Wichita, Oklahoma City Repertory Theatre and The Broadway Rose in Portland, Oregon. Favorite stage roles include Mrs. Wilkenson in Billy Elliot, Becky Two Shoes in Urinetown, the Musical and Bertha in Boeing, Boeing. Cramer’s professional acting career began in 1982, and she is a member of Actors Equity Association and The Stage Directors and Choreographers Society. Lyn received The Irene and Julian J. Rothbaum Presidential Professor of Excellence in the Arts award from the Weitzenhoffer Family College of Fine Arts and the Artistic Achievement Award from Chicago National Association of Dance Masters. Featured on Cathy Roe’s instructional tap and jazz videos, Cramer is a master teacher throughout the United States, publishing curriculums in jazz and tap pedagogy. She has served as an adjudicator and master teacher in musical theatre dance at the Hong Kong Academy for the Performing Arts. Her students grace the Broadway Stage, perform in national tours, international theatre, regional theatre, and cruise lines. She is the author of the book Creating Musical Theatre: Conversations with Broadway Directors and Choreographers.

Dancer, Educator, Lecturer & Entrepreneur, Susan Epstein studied dance at an early age. She began working in the dance industry in her family’s renown dance retail business, Taffy’s. Susan earned a BFA in Dance from Southern Methodist University and did graduate work  at Case Western Reserve University. After a NYC dance career, Susan joined the family business. In that role, she is credited with introducing several innovative products and services, building the business and then selling it to and working for Capezio. Susan then became an established industry marketing and merchandising

consultant. Clients include Perform Group, LLC/Curtain Call, Dance Spirit Magazine  and Danskin. She is a past president of The United Dance Merchants of America and is the founder of the UDMA Dance Resource and Costume Show, directing it for over 20 years. Currently Susan is the Producing Director of a new program for Gibney Dance in NYC, a customizable program for groups, designed to serve the university dance departments, conservatory high schools and serious dance studio community by offering contemporary dancers a New York City dance experience with panels and workshops about Dance Careers, Entrepreneurship, Community Action as well as offer master classes with some of NYC’s top teachers and offering performing opportunities in the Gibney Center’s 2 theatres. She is the Conference Director for  NYSDEA, and the Co-Chairperson of UNITY.  Susan has presented seminars at SMU/Division of Dance, Marymount Manhattan, NDEO and The Pulse Teacher Workshop. She is thrilled to be the coordinator of the CNADM College and Career Fair this year.

Matthew Farmer is currently the Chair of the Dance Department at Hope College, the Co-Artistic Director of R.G. Dance Productions and the Co-Artistic Director of H2 Dance Co. Formerly the Director of Dance at Anderson University, Farmer has had great success as a director, educator, choreographer, performer, and author; co-authoring a book (Introductory Modern Dance: A Teaching Manual) with his good friend and colleague Jon Lehrer. Formerly the Associate Director and company member of LehrerDance, Farmer appeared in Dance Teacher Magazine, Dance Magazine Online, and Dance Magazine. Prior to dancing with LehrerDance, Farmer danced with Peter Sparling as a company member of The Peter Sparling Dance Co. While dancing for Sparling, Matthew received his MFA from the University of Michigan in Dance Performance and Choreography. Farmer also studied under and performed with Steven Iannacone while receiving his BA in Theatre and Dance from Hope College. As a soloist and guest performer, his performance credits include Dance Chicago, Dance in the Desert Festival, Men Dance Michigan, Next Step Dance, Chicago Humanities Festival, The Rein Orange (Duesberg, Germany) The European Cultural Bid (Liverpool, UK), The Roof (Germany), The Summer Stage (Brugge, Belgium), and various other festivals. Farmer has also had the privilege of working with and/or performing works by Avi Kaiser, Sergio Antonino, Merce Cunningham, Laura Dean, Matthew Thornton, Doug Varone, Daniel Nagrin and many more. His teaching credits include Hope College,

The University of Michigan, Eastern Michigan University, Anderson University, Dancer’s Inc. National Conventions, Chicago National Association of Dance Masters, Southern Association of Dance Masters, Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp, Interlochen, and many other festivals and master classes at home and abroad. Farmer’s choreography spans the field of dance, and can be seen on college campuses, professional companies, competitive dance teams, and musical theater venues throughout the U.S.

Joey Hernandez is the artistic director of Resilience Dance Company (Rockford, IL) a pre-professional mentorship program. He is a first generation college graduate receiving his B.A. in Dance and Health & Society from Beloit College where he has been privileged to return as a visiting instructor for the Dance Department and Upward Bound Program. Currently Joey can be found as the associate lecturer of Hip-Hop at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Prior to his position with U-W Milwaukee he was on faculty at Millennium Dance Complex Chicago. In his career, he has studied under the direction of Chris Johnson, Robert Lewis, (Xtreme Dance Force, America’s Best Dance Crew), Cedric Gardner (So You Think You Can Dance, Step Up 3-D), and many others.On Scholarship he has studied with Inaside Chicago Dance, Urban Jamm Dance Convention and Dupree Dance Tour. Performance credits include: Carnival Los Angeles, The Millennium Experience, The Miss Illinois Pageant, Harvest Chicago Contemporary Dance Festival, and many more. Joey has had the privilege to set pieces for: Chicago’s Choreographers Carnival, University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, SueMo: A Dance Experience, Madison Contemporary Vision, and Beloit College’s Repertory Dance. Joey has contributed guest classes at the Athletic Garage (Pasadena, CA) and award winning choreography for many dance studios and high school dance teams across the United States. In addition, to being a featured instructor for Dance Masters of Wisconsin. Joey has the great fortune to be a judge for Applause Talent, Shake the Ground and StarQuest Dance. In his most recent venture Joey has started an open in studio workshop series titled “Dance-4-Change”, to promote advocacy, awareness, and raise donations in support of the Crohn’s Colitis Foundation of America. (CCFA.Org).

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2016 Fall Workshop Faculty

Native New Yorker, Anthony Lo Cascio has performed, taught, and toured Internationally in such locations as Monte Carlo and South Africa since 1994. He has opened for Natalie Cole, Earth, Wind & Fire, and Stevie Wonder, among others; and has appeared on Regis & Kathie Lee, Good Day New York, MTV and more. An NYC cast member, and the first American to earn a standing role in Tap Dogs, Anthony performed with the Dogs for close to 17 years, often playing “The Enforcer”. He finished a 6 week tour in South Africa with the International Cast in 2013. Anthony has recently been enjoying choreographing, performing and producing local shows with and for his #Taplife Company. See their very first video by visiting the link: www.tinyurl.com/taplife. Anthony LoCascio’s #Taplife Company performed their first full-length show, “Sounds of a #Taplife”, at Dixon Place in NYC this past December with a second showing scheduled for 11/11/16. It can be seen at www.thetaplife.com/sounds-of-a-taplife. In addition, there are now 2 branches of the pre-professional company, #TaplifeToo; one in Queens, and one in Connecticut. Anthony is frequently seen teaching at studios and Tap Festivals across the country on his annual #SummerTapTour and adjudicating or teaching Convention classes for many National organizations. Because he enjoys being an entrepreneur, he is always working on new, intuitive, mobile applications for the dance world and beyond.

Joshua Manculich hails from Windber, PA, graduated valedictorian in 2005 and went on to pursue dance and psychology at Point Park University. Joshua’s performance credits include The Pillow Project, Jaxon Movement Arts, Chicago Repertory Ballet, Pursuit Productions, as well as five seasons with Thodos Dance Chicago. Josh’s Ride, The Rate In Which I Am and Monologue have been toured internationally with DanceWorks Chicago. In collaboration with Jacqueline Stewart, their duet A Forgotten Rhyme has been seen in NYC as a part of the Dance Gallery series. Other choreography endeavors include, Collage Dance Collective, Dancing in the Parks, Grand Valley State University, Interlochen, MetDance, Piel Morena Contemporary Dance, Thodos Dance Chicago, and Western Michigan University. Most recently, Joshua was awarded the Princess Grace Choreography Fellowship in 2015 after being nominated by The Big Muddy Dance Company under the direction of Brian Enos.

Meg paul received her early training with Southern Ballet Theatre in Orlando, Florida. After winning the  International Dance Competition of the  Americas, Meg was invited to train on full scholarship at the Joffrey Ballet School in New York City. At fifteen, Meg began her pre-professional career touring with the Joffrey Ballet Concert Group and the Joffrey Ballet II apprentice company. She was promoted to the Joffrey Ballet at nineteen, performing leading roles in ballets such as The Nutcracker-Sugar Plum Fairy, Love Songs, Italian Suite, La Vivandiere Pas De Six, The Clowns and more. Meg is a recipient of  The Princess Grace Award and has been a principal dancer with the Joffrey Ballet, Complexions Contemporary Ballet, and Ron De Jesus Dance. She directed Ballet Builders, a NYC showcase for emerging choreographers and  was the ballet master for the Joffrey Ballet Ensemble. Meg was a faculty member at The Joffrey Ballet School in NYC and has taught master classes around the nation. Along with her husband, Vince Paul, Meg co-founded World Arts Inc., a performing arts agency that represented national and international companies. Meg assisted Twyla Tharp as dance captain for the creation and Broadway run of the Tony-award winning show Movin’ Out, understudying and performing both leading roles and full swing, and staging the national touring cast. Meg was the Director of Dance at the Music Hall Center for the Performing Arts where she conceived and directed a benefit for dance titled National City Stars of Ballet and Broadway, and was honored for the benefit as a ‘Detroit’s Renaissance Hero’ by the Detroit Free Press. Currently, Meg is a full time faculty member at the Maggie Allesee Department of Theatre and Dance at Wayne State University, serves as Artistic Director of the WSU Dance Workshop company and is Program Director for the Complexions Detroit Summer Intensive. Meg is the ballet master for Complexions Contemporary Ballet and directs the 313 Choreography Expo at Music Hall Center for the Performing Arts. Meg’s recent choreographic work, ‘seed’, was chosen to perform at the Kennedy Center for the American College Dance Association festival.

Laura wade is a Rehearsal Associate with Visceral Dance Chicago and is on the dance faculty of Lou Conte Dance Studio, Visceral Dance Center, and Northwestern University. She has taught company ballet classes for Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, River North Dance Chicago, Visceral Dance Chicago, Giordano Dance Chicago, Thodos Dance Chicago, and Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake, among others; and she has taught and choreographed at Intensives and Summer Workshops at University of Wisconsin-Madison, Stephens College, Columbus Dance Theatre, Ruth Page School of Dance, River North Summer Training, and Visceral Dance Chicago. Ms. Wade has been the Children’s Director for the Ruth Page Nutcracker since 2011. Early training at the Toledo Ballet with Marie Vogt and Velta Cernonok, then a BS in Dance from Indiana University prepared her to move to Chicago to dance for Larry Long, Ballet Theatre of Chicago, Ballet Chicago, The Moose Project, Scott Putman, and Robin Lakes/Rough Dance. For 14 years Ms. Wade danced and directed Akasha Dance Company, which commissioned original work from Claire Bataille, Ginger Farley, Jan Bartoszek, Shirley Mordine, Austin Hartel, Martin Kravitz and toured the Midwest, Scotland and England. Akaska was a leader in outreach programs, performing for over 100,000 students in the Chicago area under the auspices of Urban Gateways.

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