The JCE JAZZ DANCE PROJECT
APRIL 2021
Featured choreographers include:
William Byram
Jeff Davis
Danielle Diniz
Ali Koinoglou
Mandie Rapoza
Johnny Stellard
Amy VanKirk
The post-performance talkbacks will be moderated by Nicole Padilla, JCE Junior Board Member.
DATES
Sunday, April 25, 7 p.m. (EDT)
A talkback with the choreographers follows each performance.
LOCATION
“Good Judys” choreographed by Spencer Pond. Photo: Jan La Salle
Tickets Available Now
Fee: No charge, but $20 donation suggested if you have the means.
Registration is required. Just answer a question or two about where you live, and you’re in!
You’ll be able to sign up for either performance here.
Note: Your link will work on only one device at a time. People watching the performance together on the same device do not need to register individually, but people watching on separate devices do.
Artistic Director
Merete Muenter
Merete Muenter is a choreographer and director, as well as the Co-Founder and Co-Artistic Director of Jazz Choreography Enterprises. Choreography: Off-Broadway –FIDDLER ON THE ROOF – IN YIDDISH (Assistant Choreographer – Director, Joel Grey), AMERIKE THE GOLDEN LAND (The National Yiddish Theater - Folksbiene), THE GOLDEN BRIDE (Chita Rivera Award Nomination / The National Yiddish Theater - Folksbiene), SOUTH PACIFIC and MAN OF LA MANCHA (Plaza Theatricals), THE KING OF SECOND AVENUE (New Repertory Theater). Director / Choreographer: FIDDLER ON THE ROOF – IN YIDDISH – (Associate Director, Off-Broadway / New World Stages – Director, Joel Grey), THE BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY, (American Theater Group), CHICAGO, TOMMY, CHITTY CHITTY BANG BANG, (Woodstock Playhouse), THEY WALK AMONG US (MITF / Award - Best Choreography), WINESDAY – (Associate Director / Movement Coordinator – Off-Broadway). Short Film: THROUGH THE AGES (Director / Choreographer / Producer) Multiple Film Festival Awards. Originally from Buffalo, New York. SUNY Geneseo Graduate.
Board President
Kathy J. Cooke
Kathy J. Cooke is Director of the Honors College at California State University, Los Angeles. She previously served as founding Honors Director at Quinnipiac University and Founding Dean of the Honors College at the University of South Alabama. She is a long-time supporter of Jazz Choreographer Enterprises, and the original architect of the Quinnipiac Honors Signature Experience in Jazz Dance. In addition to taking an unlikely first place in Quinnipiac's 2015 Dancing with the Stars competition, with skilled partner Ethan Pandalfi, Cooke is an American historian with grants to support oral history, community engagement, and history of reform and biology.
Featured Choreographers
Ariana Andretta
Born and raised in NYC, Ariana Andretta grew up surrounded by movement. The historic St. George Theatre was an active part of her formative years, which gave her an appreciation for a theatrical space early on. Ariana’s intention as an artist is to celebrate community through dance and storytelling with the goal of making theatre an equitable space. Ariana received her B.A. in Theatre Arts (summa cum laude) from SUNY New Paltz. Her time there versed her with the craft of character and development of choreography, especially thanks to her mentor, Joe Langworth. As a performer, Ariana has worked regionally on “Mary Poppins” (Potsdam Music Theatre), danced as a swing for Billy Griffin’s “History Repeating” (Steps Studio Theater), and most recently joined Jena VanElslander’s TSQ Project. In the choreographic sphere, Ariana’s work has been shown in festivals such as NACHMO (Mark Morris), PLUNGE (Peridance), and “A Burden to Bare” group art exhibition. She has also apprenticed with Freddy Ramirez on “Pippin” (The School at Proctors) and choreographed/assisted in educational settings throughout NYC/Upstate NY. Ariana is grateful to JCE for virtually gathering us to celebrate jazz dance!
William Byram
Born in Jackson, Mississippi, William Byram’s training includes the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts, receiving the Outstanding Graduate Award in 2016, and a BFA in Composition and Ballet from the Conservatory of Dance at Purchase College, SUNY. William also spent a semester studying ballet at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts. In recent years he has attended summer programs at Springboard Dans Montreal, Jacob’s Pillow, Perry-Mansfield, The Ailey School, and Charlotte Ballet. William’s choreography has been seen at the Regional High School Dance Festival, New Orleans Center for Creative Arts (NOCCA), and Purchase Cares: Dancers Responding to AIDS, Marigny Opera House and will be presented at the JCE Jazz Dance Project and Battery Dance Festival in 2021. He also had the privilege of movement directing for opera and theatre with such credits as Dido & Aeneas (Purchase Opera), Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night (Purchase Repertory Theatre), Cendrillon (NOCCA Opera), and Rinaldo (NOCCA Opera). He received the 2020 Bert Terborgh Award in Dance for his leadership, passion, vision, and spirit for art and creativity in dance. William is the 2020-2021 US-UK Fulbright Scholar in Dance and will be attending the Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music & Dance in London this fall.
Jeff Davis
JEFF DAVIS is a NYC based Dancer, Choreographer & Visual Artist. He is the founder and Director of Jeff Davis Dance. Fusing art, musical theater, contemporary and jazz dance to tell unique stories. His background in dance, theater, opera and puppetry have led to multifaceted, thought provoking and highly entertaining performance pieces including 10 works for the JCE jazz dance project. He is a former Co-Artistic Director of the Hudson Vagabond Puppets touring and staging large scale puppetry. As a performer, he has been featured with Labyrinth Dance Theater, NYC Children’s Theater, Daniel Gwirtzman Dance Company, Josh Prince’s Broadway Dance Lab, PCLO & Pittsburgh Opera. International tours with Attack Theatre and Zullo/Raw Movement. National tour of the hit musical FOSSE.
Danielle Diniz
Danielle is the Co Artistic Director of Jazz Choreography Enterprises and has choreographed for the Ailey BFA program, Jacob’s Pillow, New York Dance Project, Ballet Hartford, Central Utah Ballet, Stars of American Ballet, Earl Mosley’s Diversity of Dance, St. Paul’s ballet program, Columbia Ballet Collaborative and the Jamaica Center for Arts and Learning, among others. She was also honored to be Artist in Residence at Tribeca BMCC via CUNY Dance Initiative last year. She choreographed the musicals ‘My Way’ and ‘On the Air’, made her Off-Broadway choreographic debut at the AMT Theatre with ‘An Unbalanced Mind,’ presented work at the McCallum Theatre/Palm Desert Choreography Festival and the New York Theatre Barn Choreography Lab at BAC and was awarded a grant from NYFA. She choreographs musicals for AMDA and has served as Associate Choreographer for Lorin Latarro. She enjoys teaching at Steps on Broadway, Peridance, Mark Morris and Manhattan Youth Ballet and has a B.A. from Cornell University.
Michelle Isaac
Michelle Isaac was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. She began dancing at the age of 4 in church, and started formal training in high school at Dr. Susan S McKinney Secondary School of the Arts, under the direction of Zakiya Harris. Michelle received her BFA in Dance from LIU Post with Honors Recognition in 2015. Shortly after graduation, she performed in Tamara LaDonna’s Moving Spirits Inc. as a company dancer, and completed a choreography residency with a contemporary ballet company in Brooklyn, NY. In 2019, Michelle completed her graduate studies through the Arnhold Graduate Dance Education Program at Hunter College, and graduated Summa Cum Laude with her MA in Dance Education and K-12 NY State Professional Certification. She was the first dance educator ever to deliver the student commencement address for the Hunter College School of Education commencement ceremony. Michelle is a Co-Founder of Eden Arts Inc, formerly known as Ntrinsik Movement, and functions as the Artistic Director of Eden Brooklyn Dance Theater. With the company, she has choreographed several works, produced concerts, hosted community and school workshops through their residency program, and has performed in various NYC theaters, as well as theaters outside of NYC. Aside from performing and choreographing, Michelle is a full-time dance educator at her alma mater, Susan S. Mckinney, and she recently entered her 9th year in education. She continues to provide dance workshops and classes for children and adults in various churches and dance schools throughout her community. She is also a junior board member for Jazz Choreography Enterprises and a member of the National Dance Education Organization. In the fall of 2022, Michelle was named the NDEO Dance Educator (Emerging) Award recipient in a private sector, for the work that she continues to do through her organization’s dance school, Eden Center for the Performing Arts. She is currently a student and candidate in the Institute for Dunham Technique Certification, and is continuing her education in the field, by studying the dance technique and philosophies of Ms. Dunham.
Ali Koinoglou
Originally from Long Island, Ali Koinoglou is an award-winning choreographer working out of NYC and now globally online! From summers at the American Ballet Theater to training in Joffrey Ballet School’s year-round certificate program, Ali was dedicated to honing her technique and expanding her knowledge in the arts. Following Joffrey, Ali spent two summers at the Broadway Dance Center as a trainee in the Professional Semester, where she was mentored by master educators such as Sheila Barker and Derek Mitchell. Ali’s professional choreography debut was at the Young Choreographer’s Festival. Other choreography credits include DUMBO Dance Festival, Sybarite Dance Productions, Brooklyn Dance Festival, and most notably, Madonna’s 50th birthday celebration flash mob for MTV & TLC’s the Long Island Medium. Ali also has a background in arts administration and worked in the Broadway Dance Center’s Educational Department for several years, then was media manager and personal assistant to choreographer Mia Michaels. Ali’s administration skills, combined with her love for creating and teaching dance, led her to found her own company, Koin & Co Dancers, and within the company, the Koin & Co Junior Training Program. Presently, Ali runs Koin & Co’s training program full time, she is a guest instructor at NYC dance studio Peridance Capezio Center, and she’s teaching classes/setting work all over the country!
Mandie Rapoza
Mandie Rapoza’s performance and creative work has played on stages from London to LA including Broadway, National Tours and downtown New York Theatres. Originally from London, Mandie moved to NYC in 2012. She was the 2016 SDCF Traube Fellow and worked under the mentorship of Casey Nicholaw on the Boradway production of “Tuck Everlasting.” Select credits include “Something Rotten!” (1st National Tour, Dance Captain), “You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown” (The York Theatre, Assistant Director), “The Parlor” (SOHO Rep, Movement Director), “Flocking” (The Old Vic Tunnels, Ensemble), Broadway Dance Center Showcase (Choreographer), Digital Narratives Lab (The National Theatre London, Ensemble Writer) and “Pandemic Voices” (Choreographer/ Artistic Director). In March 2021, Mandie will be the Satellite Artist- in-Residence at New Dance Alliance.
Johnny Stellard
Johnny Stellard has performed in the original Broadway casts of Anastasia and Evita (
Amy VanKirk
Amy VanKirk is an Associate Professor of Dance at Radford University. She has had original work showcased at the American College Dance Association Festival, Ferguson Center for the Arts, New York Jazz Choreography Project, Alluvion Stage Company, and at various universities across the country. VanKirk was commissioned to create an original work, Remember the Future, for the NASA Langley Research Center Centennial Tribute in 2017, and created and directed an original a full-length musical, Keep This For Me: Memories of the Last World War, in 2015. Amy received her MFA in Dance from the University of Arizona where she served as the rehearsal assistant for Ann Reinking’s Chicago Suite. Professional credits include Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines, danahbella DanceWorks, and Artifact Dance Project. She is a member of the National Dance Education Organization where she has presented on topics such as female leadership in dance, interdisciplinary collaborations, and Latin jazz fusion. VanKirk’s primary teaching focus is jazz dance technique, with additional focuses on composition, musical theatre, and ballroom. Amy continues to work as a freelance performer and choreographer throughout the United States.
