Kinections Faculty
Meg Chang, Ed.D., ADTR, LCAT, has worked as a dance-movement therapist since 1979 in psychiatric facilities, medical settings, wellness programs, and in private practice. She has taught in several graduate dance therapy programs including Antioch, Pratt, and Lesley College, where she was the program coordinator for several years. Dr. Chang has investigated multicultural identity for most of her life and recently conducted research in intercultural education in Seoul, Korea. Her presentation and analysis of the data led to a doctorate in education at Teachers College Columbia University.
Heidi Ehrenreich, MA, ADTR, has been a practicing dance/movement therapist for more than three decades. A published writer and original member of the Mary Starks Whitehouse Institute, she has worked with Mary Whitehouse and Janet Adler and has taught Authentic Movement at Antioch New England Graduate School. In addition to teaching authentic movement and supervising student and practicing dance/movement therapists, she provides a kaleidoscope of clinical services that include dance/movement psychotherapy, speech and language therapy, and consultations in autism.
Bill Evans, MFA. CMA, visiting professor/guest artist at the State University of New York College at Brockport Department of Dance, professor of dance emeritus at the University of New Mexico, permanent guest artist in the Professional Program of Winnipeg’s School of Contemporary Dancers, and artistic/executive director of the annual Bill Evans Dance Intensives and Evans Technique Certification Program at Centrum, Port Townsend, Washington, teaches Laban Movement Analysis/Bartenieff Fundamentals, dance conditioning/applied kinesiology, rhythm tap, improvisation, choreography, dance pedagogy, and Evans Modern Dance Technique and repertory.
During Mr. Evans’ 30-year tenure as artistic director of the Bill Evans Dance Company, the Seattle and Albuquerque based company performed in all 50 states, making it, for several years, the most-booked company under the Dance-Touring and Artist-in the-Schools Programs of the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). Mr. Evans was also dancer, choreographer and artistic coordinator of Utah’s Repertory Dance Theatre and artistic director of Winnipeg’s Contemporary Dancers and its professional training programs. In 1992 he founded the Evans Rhythm Tap Ensemble.
Many have recognized Mr. Evans’s talents and gifts to the community. He received the Guggenheim Fellowship, numerous fellowships and grants from the NEA, state, regional and private arts agencies. He also received the New Mexico Governor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts and two Awards for Excellence in Dance from the Albuquerque Arts Alliance. Named Scholar/Artist of the Year by the National Dance Association in 1997, Mr. Evans received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Dance Education Organization in 2005. Dance Magazine featured a major article about the international impact of Mr. Evans’ teaching in October, 2003. In 2004 the Dance Magazine Readers Poll named him one of the three top American tap dance artisnts (with Savion Glover and Brenda Bufalino). AAHPERD Publications published his book, Reminiscences of a Dancing Man: A Photographic Journey of a Life in Dance, in November 2005.
Additional contributions to the field of dance include Mr. Evans’ membership on the Board of Directors of the National Dance Association, during which he also served as Vice President for Performance, and memberships on the Board of Directors of the National Dance Education Organization and the American College Dance Festival Association. He combined his artistic and administrative skills to produce the 2003 NDEO Conference in Albuquerque and coordinate three regional ACDFA conferences and festivals.
Danielle L. Fraenkel, Ph.D., ADTR, LCAT, LMHC, NCC, LPC, CGP, founder and director of Kinections, is an innovator. She developed the LivingDance/LivingMusic approach to dance/movement therapy, founded the department of dance/movement therapy at Hillside Children's Center, and brought dance/movement therapy to the Rochester Eating Disorders Organization. She has also introduced LivingDance to educators, students, and health professionals in Greece, Israel, Asia, and the United States. As the ADTA Credentials Chair, Dr. Fraenkel spearheaded the affiliation between the ADTA and the National Board for Certified Counselors. Schooled in both counseling and dance/movement therapy, her writing has appeared in a variety of journals and texts.
Robin Glenski, MA, ADTR, LCAT, NCC, specializes in dance/movement therapy with emotionally disturbed hearing and deaf youth. She ran the dance/movement therapy program at Hillside Children's Center, has been the clinical manager of a residential cottage for boys, and now sees children individually.
Christopher Gold, MA, MT-BC, LCAT, a graduate of the MCP-Hahnemann University Creative Arts Therapy program, has practiced music therapy in the Rochester area for three years. Currently he works with developmentally delayed children in school settings and has a private practice. He has done extensive work with music therapy and its effects on parent-child relationships and is a frequent guest speaker at local CAT graduate programs, educational settings, and rehabilitative agencies throughout western New York.
Richard Haisma, MFA, CMA, Director of The Rochester School of Kinetics, is a dancer, teacher, choreographer, Certified Movement Analyst (CMA) and Master of Fine Arts. He has been teaching the analysis, synthesis and art of motion for 35 years and has toured his own solo choreography throughout Europe and the United States. He has been guest artist with the Dublin Dance Theatre, the Laban Centre in London, York University, Salem State College, Kansas State University, and SUNY/Potsdam. In recent years, he has been on the dance faculties of the University of Rochester, Hobart and William Smith Colleges and SUNY/Brockport. Presently, he teaches at the Laban Institute of Movement Studies in New York City. He is the Director of the Istituto Laban-Bartenieff in Tuscany in Italy and teaches contemporary dance throughout Italy. He formed Geomantics Dance-Theater in 2000 in Rochester, New York. Projective Kinetics.
Suzanne Hastie, MA, ADTR, KMP Analyst, creator of the KMP color wheel and a credentialed Shiatsu Practitioner, has been a dance/movement therapist for more than a decade. She has worked and studied with Susan Loman at Antioch and with Dr. Judith Kestenberg, developer of the KMP. Ms. Hastie's research interests center on the KMP.
Rainbow T. H. Ho, Ph.D., DTR, Assistant Professor, Centre on Behavioral Health, University of Hong Kong, has degrees in Biology, Anatomy, and Social Work, diplomas in the art and pedagogy of classical ballet, a license as a personal fitness trainer, and is a registered dance/movement therapist and medical technologist. Dr. Ho's current research interests in psycho-oncology, psychoneuroimmunology, eastern body-mind-spirit intervention, dance/movement therapy, verbal and non-verbal communications are the natural outgrowth of her extensive backgrounds in molecular immunology and dance. A published writer, champion and representative of DanceSport of Hong Kong, and the recipient of a major grant for the Hong Kong Cancer Society, she also runs dance/movement therapy sessions for cancer patients and individuals suffering from trauma. Hong Kong's Leisure and Cultural Services Department, (LCSD) and Education and Manpower Bureau, have appointed Dr. Ho to the position of School Sport Ambassador. She is also the LCSD's and the Department of Health's Exercises Ambassador.
Nana Sue Koch, Ed.D., ADTR, LCAT, NCC, LPC, CMA, Associate Professor in the Department of Health, Physical Education and Movement Science at Long Island University in New York, Dr. Koch was the Coordinator of the Hunter College Dance/Movement Therapy Masters Program before it closed in 1996. She has also been the Chair of the ADTA Credentials Committee and is a long-standing member of the ADTA Approval Committee. The author of several articles on dance/movement therapy that have appeared in ADTA journals, she teaches the work of Liljan Espenak in the United States, Japan and Costa Rica.
Janet Lemon Williams, M.A., D.T.R., K.M.P. Analyst and author of a complete Kestenberg Movement Profile (KMP) of famed football quarterback, Joe Montana of the San Francisco 49ers, has applied her skills in movement observation and analysis dance/movement therapy, and pedagogy to a wide range of populations individuals who are deaf, physically challenged, and in recovery. She has also integrated the KMP and dance/movement therapy in her work with elementary school children and professional dancers focused on company dynamics and choreographic development. In addition to teaching KMP, Ms. Williams teaches and trains instructors in her own approaches to Pilates called Movement for Health and Anatomy of Movement. As in all Ms, Williams’ work, her ability to integrate principles from dance/movement therapy and the Kestenberg Movement Profile enhances her original contributions to the growing commitment to wellness and prevention.
Judith Mendelsohn, MA, ADTR, a past member of the Bat Sheva Dance Company and registered supervisor in the Israeli Association of Creative and Expressive Therapies, has been a dance/movement therapist for 30 years. She has been the the dance/movement therapist at the Hadassah School which is located in the pediatrics department of Jerusalem's Hadassah Hospital. Her article describing her work appeared in Volume 21 of the American Journal of Dance Therapy in 1999.
Fred Onufryk, MS, PT, Certified Practitioner of Feldenkrais Method®, a physical therapist specializing in Orthopedics and in Home Care, practices Feldenkrais Method for Effortless Mobility. He has taught group classes for musicians and worked individually with students and faculty at the Eastman School of Music since 2000, and works with a variety of athletes for performance enhancement. He has also done an internship in rehabilitation of dancers with Marika Molnar, PT, at the New York City Ballet.
Iris Rifkin-Gainer, MA, ADTR, a lifelong student of Blanche Evan, was a member of New York University's Graduate Dance Therapy Program from 1970-1984. She now works in the United States and England, where she utilizes Blanche Evan Methods in dance therapy workshops, supervision, creative dance classes for children and in depth movement exploration for actors.
Claire Schmais, Ph.D. ADTR, CMA, a charter member of the ADTA, and creator of the graduate dance/movement therapy program at Hunter College of the City of New York, is considered by many to be the seminal writer in the field. Dr. Schmais' latest literary contribution presents her method of teaching dance and in-class processes over the course of an academic year. She has taught bodymind and dance therapy courses at the New School University and at workshops in the US and abroad.
Deborah J. Welsh, Ed.D., ADTR, LCAT, NCC is a Jungian Oriented Dance/Movement Therapist and psychotherapist in private practice at The Full Circle Center for the Creaive Arts Therapies and Mental Health Counseling in Syracuse, NY. Dr. Welsh has over thirty years of teaching experience including dance, archetypal dance therapy, and movement for actors. She has presented at many conferences, leads workshops, and has published several articles and book chapters. She is currently the Co-Editor of the American Journal of Dance Therapy.
Elissa Queyquep White, ADTR, LCAT, CMA, a charter member of the ADTA, and current president, has been a dance/movement therapist for more than 30 years. She studied with Marian Chace, was one of the creators of the Hunter program, and belongs to the rare breed of faculty who continued to do dance therapy in psychiatric settings until she retired. Currently she also teaches at New School University and Pratt.