FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 23, 2014
Contact: Johanna Tschebull
202.833.1717
Washington, DC – Dance/USA, the national service organization for professional dance, is pleased to announce its 2014-2015 Board of Trustees, featuring two new Executive Committee Members, six new Council Chairs, and eight new Trustees. The start date for the 2014-2015 Board of Trustees’ term was July 1, 2014. The Board of Trustees is led under the Chairmanship of C.C. Conner (managing director emeritus, Houston Ballet, Houston, TX) through June 30, 2015.
Serving as the new Chair Elect of the Board of Trustees is Douglas Singleton (executive director, Charlotte Ballet, Charlotte, NC). Andrea Clark-Smith (vice president of employee relations and senior associate counsel, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Pittsburgh, PA) is a new Vice Chair. Officers of the Board of Trustees are elected by the Trustees Committee and serve for two years.
The Board of Trustees nominated eight new members to serve a three year term: Jane Efroymson (vice president, DeWitt Stern Group, New York, NY), Melanie Ríos Glaser (artistic director and co-CEO, The Wooden Floor, Santa Ana, CA), Rosemary Johnson (executive director, Alabama Dance Council, Birmingham, AL), Jaamil Olawale Kosoko (independent artist, New York, NY), Celine Schein (executive director, Chitresh Das Dance Company, San Francisco, CA), Douglas Singleton (executive director, Charlotte Ballet, Charlotte, NC), Denise Saunders Thompson (chairperson, board of directors, International Association of Blacks in Dance, Washington, DC), and Pamela Young (executive director, DANCEClevaland, Cleveland, OH).
Dance/USA’s membership elected six new Council Chairs for a one year term: Katherine E. Brown, (executive director, New York City Ballet, New York, NY), Arthur Espinoza (managing director, The Washington Ballet, Washington, DC), Walter Jaffe (co-founder and general manager, White Bird Dance, Portland, OR), Dorothy Gunther Pugh (founding artistic director and CEO, Ballet Memphis, Memphis, TN), Matt Wells (director of development and finance, Diavolo, Los Angeles, CA), and Stephanie Todd Wong (executive director, Dance Source Houston, Houston, TX).
Pugh is Chair of one of the Artistic Directors Councils; Brown, Espinoza, and Wells are Chairs of three of the Managers Councils; Wong is Chair of the Service Organizations Council; and Jaffe is Chair of the Presenters Council.
“The new trustees are a wonderful group of leaders from the across the United States representing different dance genres and dance organizations,” commented Dance/USA Executive Director Amy Fitterer. “The Board of Trustees is committed to governing Dance/USA in a way that ensures the organization will continue to evolve and remain relevant. We are excited that the new voices on the Baord will help our organization further achieve its strategic priorities.”
The Dance/USA Board of Trustees is committed to the greater good of the national professional dance field. The guiding responsibility of the Board is to provide sound leadership and guidance that addresses the field as a whole.
For a complete list of the 2014-2015 Dance/USA Board of Trustees and their biographies, read more here.
About Dance/USA
We believe that dance is essential to a healthy society, demonstrating the infinite possibilities for human expression and potential, and facilitating communication within and across cultures.
Dance/USA is the national service organization for the professional dance field. Established in 1982, Dance/USA serves a diverse national membership of dance groups working in the genres of aerial, ballet, contemporary, culturally-specific, hip-hop, ice, international, jazz, liturgical, single-choreographer, and tap, dance presenters, dance service organizations, dance agents, dance educators, independent dancers, freelance choreographers, students of arts administration and/or dance and business in service to dance, and individuals related to the field. Learn more about Dance/USA by visiting our website, www.danceusa.org.
