Instructors

---

TADEJ BRDNIK is a program director, educator, regisseur, curator, choreographer, and former Principal Dancer with the Martha Graham Dance Company. 

He began his career in Slovenia and has danced with Baryshnikov’s White Oak Dance Project, Graham 2, Robert Wilson, Battery Dance Company, and in works by Maurice Béjart, Nacho Duato, Lucinda Childs, Yvonne Rainer, Susan Stroman, Anne Bogart, Doug Varone, Andonis Foniadakis, Larry Keigwin, among others. He appeared in the feature film “Noah.” Tadej choreographed works on Battery Dance Company, KanopyDance, Graham 2, LaGuardia High School, Teens@Graham, and Milwaukee Dance Theater, among others as well as for Slovenian National TV. He was Assisting Choreographer to Susan McClain’s “Ardent Song (Redux)” and Luca Veggetti’s “The Tempest Songbook,” both for the Martha Graham Dance Company. 

Tadej is a full-time modern faculty at the LaGuardia High School for the Performing Arts, and teaches internationally, at the Graham School and for “Dancing to Connect.”He is a regisseur for the Martha Graham Dance Company. Formerly he held positions such as Education Director for the Downtown Dance Festival and Programs Director for the Martha Graham Dance Company. Tadej is a recipient of The Benetton Dance Award and the Eugene Loring Award and is a BAM/DeVos Institute Performer in Transition Fellow.

Mary Brienza is a multi-faceted artist with credits spanning Off-Broadway and regional theatre, television, radio, concert dance and alternative comedy.  As an educator, she is a respected teacher of tap dance, jazz, and theatre dance at levels novice through professional. She has served on the faculty for Broadway Dance Center, Dance Theatre of Harlem,  Jacque D’Amboise’s National Dance Institute, and American Theatre Dance Workshop.

 A native of France, Ms. Brikké studied ballet with remarkable teachers such as Rosella Hightower at the Centre International de Danse in Cannes, France, Marika Besobrasova at the Académie de Danse Princesse Grace in Monaco, Terri Charlesworth at the Graduate School of Dance in Perth, Australia, and Anne-Marie Sandrini from the Paris Opéra Ballet in Paris, France. Ms. Brikké performed in a wide variety of repertory ballets with the schools she attended as well as a freelance dancer and actress in Europe, Kenya and the United States. Ms. Brikké received the Diplôme d‘Etat de Professeur de Danse Classique from the French Ministry of Culture in Paris in 1993 . She is an ABT® Certified Teacher who has successfully completed the ABT® Teacher Training Intensive in Pre-Primary through Level 7 & Partnering of the ABT® National Training CurriculumMs. Brikké began teaching dance in 1989 in Nairobi, Kenya, where she taught the children of the expatriate community as well as founded a dance ensemble for young talented Kenyans. Back in Paris, she taught, choreographed and coordinated dance programs at the Conservatoire des Arts in Le Mée. In 1994, Ms Brikké moved to New York where she joined the faculty of the Neubert Ballet Institute at Carnegie Hall and then the faculty of LaGuardia High School in 1998. Ms. Brikké has taught for several summer programs including Paul Taylor Summer Intensive in New York City, New Jersey Ballet, Westchester Ballet Center and Belvoir Terrace in Lenox, Massachussetts.

New York City–based dancer, performer, teacher, Limón reconstructor and coach, Kristen Foote is originally from Toronto, Canada, and joined the Limón Dance Company in 2000 - where she was a principal dancer until 2017.

Hailed by the New York Times as “marvelously versatile” and "especially captivating”, Ms. Foote has been recognized by Dance Magazine as a “Featured Artist” during 2011 and 2016, selected as one of the “Most Amazing Performers” of 2010 and one of their “Top 25 To Watch” in 2005. She has performed as a soloist in many roles by noted choreographers including, Isadora Duncan, Doris Humphrey, Anna Sokolow, Jiří Kylián, Donald McKayle, Lar Lubovitch, Rodrigo Pederneiras, Susanne Linke, Murray Louis and John Heginbotham. In 2015, she developed a solo dance project which had its international premiere in Paris, France and its U.S. premiere at Jacob’s Pillow Inside Out Series as well as at the Baryshnikov Arts Center presented by The Watermill Center.

She was a Radio City Rockette, has been a member of Dance Heginbotham since 2011, has performed with Mark Morris Dance Group, and has been featured as a lead dancer in music videos.

Master of Fine Arts, Montclair State University

Born in St. Petersburg, Mikhail graduated from Vaganova Ballet Academy in 1998 with a BA in Arts. In 1999, he joined the Boston Ballet for two years and then Miami City Ballet, where he became principal in 2003. His repertoire with Miami City Ballet included leading roles in a full spectrum of classical and contemporary répertoire.

Mikhail Ilyin joined the American Ballet Theatre in January 2008; he performed leading roles and soloist roles in Etudes, Corsaire, Company B, Rabbit and Rogue, Swan Lake, Merry Widow, and

Sleeping Beauty, among others.

Mikhail Ilyin won the Gold Medal at the International Ballet Competition "Vaganova Prix" and a diploma at the Paris International Dance Competition (1998), a Silver Medal at the New York

International Ballet Competition (2000), and a Bronze Medal at the International Ballet Competition in Jackson (2002).

Mr. Ilyin has performed, taught, staged and choreographed across the United States, including the Miami City Ballet School and Pacific Northwest Ballet School, American Ballet Theatre and

Alvin Ailey (currently faculty member), Joffrey Ballet schools and different colleges around the country. In 2005, he was chosen by Dance Magazine as one of the "to watch" dancers of today.

He has been an Artist-in-Residence with Ballet Mississippi since 2005.

In addition, Mikhail Ilyin is fully certified with all the levels of ABT's National Training Curriculum Pedagogy Program and the Feldenkrais Method of Somatic Education (a 4 year Professional

Training Program in Awareness Through Movement and Functional Integration).

In 2023 Mikhail Ilyin has become a Ballet faculty member at LaGuardia High School for the Performing Arts.

Born in Kernersville, North Carolina, Kelley Potter received her professional ballet training at the North Carolina School of the Arts. She joined American Ballet Theatre Studio Company under the direction of John Meehan immediately following her graduation from NCSA in 2002. Kelley soon joined the Boston Ballet dancing many soloist and principal roles. In 2009, Kelley moved back to NYC to dance with American Ballet Theatre again full time. She’s had the wonderful fortune of touring all over the world working, with world renowned choreographers, and performing in some of the most prestigious theaters and opera houses. In 2018 Kelley retired from the stage and began teaching full time.
Kelley is an American Ballet Theatre Certified Teacher in Levels Primary thru Level 7 of the American Ballet Theatre National Training Curriculum. She is currently a full time teacher for the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School of American Ballet Theatre. She is also the Artistic Coordinator for the American Ballet Theatre’s Apprenticeship Program. She is a guest faculty teacher for the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, Steps on Broadway, Manhattan Youth Ballet, and Ballet Arts.

Bill Apollo Brown’s life has been inextricably tied to music since his early childhood years.  He is an American composer, pianist, and teacher, who has studied composition, theory, history, classical and jazz piano, and trombone.

Bill has composed music for orchestras, jazz orchestra, chamber music, jazz ensembles, chorus, and dance. The Pittsburgh Symphony under the direction of Clifford Taylor performed his first symphonic composition, at Temple University. He has had numerous commissions by dancers and choreographers. Bill served as musician with The Ailey School as a pianistic accompanist, where he was a faculty member from 1999 to 2014.

Mr. Brown received a MA in music composition from CUNY City College, where he studied composition with distinguished professor David Del Tredici. He also earned an Advanced Certificate Graduate Degree in Music Education at CUNY Brooklyn College. He has taught music in schools in Connecticut and New York City.  In August of 2019, Mr. Brown was invited to teach as an Adjunct/Lecturer at The Aaron Copland School of Music, at CUNY Queens College, where he teaches courses in the Music Education Department.

Presently Mr. Brown is working on a new commercial recording project featuring his composition, Dans les jardins des pierres sacrées, In the Gardens of Sacred Stones, which was performed by the Janáček Philharmonic Orchestra, in the vibrant city of Ostrava, East of the Czech Republic.

Bradley Harris is an American composer from Atlanta, Georgia whose work is influenced by the prog rock, hip hop, minimalism, bebop and film music of his childhood. He appeared in the documentary “Hear Us”, which told the story of three young and gifted musicians from around the world who then commissioned Mr. Harris to write the Trio Concerto, “Yo”. The show premiered on PBS in over 300 U.S. cities.

During his graduate studies, he was awarded first prize in the Ohio Federation of Music composition contest and was a finalist in the national MTNA composition competition.
Mr. Harris’ works often feature an element of choreography or visual art. His pieces have featured modern dance, ballet ( La Nymphe Brisee- choreography by Cincinnati Ballet dancer, James Cunningham), and static art (30 Americans).

Bradley graduated from Shorter University with a degree in piano performance and received his master’s in composition from the University of Cincinnati College – Conservatory of Music. He currently resides in New York City.

Andy Monroe has been creating music for dance for over thirty-five years. He has accompanied classes extensively at The Paul Taylor School, The Martha Graham School, The José Limón Institute, Long Island University, PeriDance Center (among many others), and continues to play at The Juilliard School, The Ailey School, and LaGuardia High School.— all institutions with which he has a long history of employment. His two recordings for dance, JOYFUL NOISE: DISC ONE and JOYFUL NOISE: DISC TWO have been selling internationally with steady consistency for twenty years. In addition to his work with dancers, Andy is a dramatist and composer / lyricist for musicals. His work in musical theatre has garnered him two Jerry Bock Awards, an Outer Critics Circle Award, a Jonathan Larson Grant, and a Lucille Lortel Award nomination. He has been a Dramatist Guild Fellow as well as a member of the BMI Musical Theatre Workshop since 2001. In 1999, he founded his independent record label, Compact Risks, which is gearing up to release his sixth recording shortly. More can be learned about him by visiting www.andymonroe.com.

Scott Morehouse – Percussionist /pianist / composer in New York City is musician for the Alvin Ailey American Dance Center, playing for such artists as Ann Marie Forsythe, Milton Myers, Christine Dakin, Jacqulyn Buglisi and Kevin Predmore and at The Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre for Christine Dakin’s Movement for Actors classes.
Scott’s compositions have recently been used for innovative dance pieces such as “Giant Swing” -  an extreme dance piece for 12 dancers, for  Streb Dance Company’s “ SWING” choreographed by Daniel Rysak and for Hope Boykin of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater’s work using his  piano/percussion soundscape.  
Scott has been busy recording several projects at Innsbruck Studios in Brooklyn NY, alongside engineer Roman Klun:  The Bruno Sessions - a memory of his beloved dog Bruno, #Rebuild - a 20 minute collage of music styles and ideas in collaboration with musicians Ben Zwerin (bass), and Marlon Graves (guitar, producer) on themes of life’s struggles, sobriety, loss and rebirth, and a series of collaborations with pianist Carl Landa creating soundscapes with his drum compositions, When not playing drums, Scott can be found in the woods by the river in the Catskills surrounded by inspiration and Mother Nature.

John Prestianni — John has been a professional pianist, composer, dance accompanist and musical director in New York for over 20 years. He is an accompanist at several universities and schools, including NYU (Steinhart), American Theater Dance Workshop, and most recently LaGuardia High School, involved in both the dance and drama departments. He is also the Musical Director for the 'Kids Company' at the West Side YMCA for 8 seasons running. 
As a composer: most recently 'The Golden Contender' and 'Pie Rats' for Brooklyn Childrens Theater, 'The Black Dahlia' at the York Theater in 2008, 'The Vaudevillian' at the Lark theater in 2005. A member of BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theater Workshop (Advanced).

Stephen Weinstock is a dance musician and composer. He has worked at the Martha Graham, Alvin Ailey, Merce Cunningham, and Jose Limon studios, as well as Juilliard, UC Berkeley, Princeton, SUNY Purchase, and Marymount. Before LaGuardia, he directed and composed theater works in the Bay Area, taught and coordinated the Musical Theater Writing Program at NYU Tisch, and was a Teaching Artist for the Metropolitan Opera's Creating Original Opera program. When not improvising for modern dance classes at theFame school, he is writing a series of 11 novels called 1001, The Reincarnation Chronicles.