DB New York – Artist Facilitators

2013 DB FOCUS ARTS – NEW YORK  – FACILITATORS:

Dance

Lisa Herlinger-Thompson (2008 Focus on Arts facilitator) trained and performed in ballet, gymnastics, jazz, and musical theater. She was a founding member of LIMBIC SIX, a collaborative, self-producing dance company. Lisa also performed for four years with Troika Ranch, a dance company that infuses technology with dance. Lisa has taught Dance in the New York City Department of Education for the past 5 years, currently at the high school level. She also continues to choreograph and perform in a variety of productions in New York City.

Ruth Vesenka Lewis (NLC mentor) is the artistic director of Dimensional Dance (www.dimensionaldance.com), a contemporary ballet company that brings art, science and scripture to life. She is currently on the faculty of Ballet Theatre Company.

Theater

Emily Maixner (Past DB participant) is a New York City-based actor, singer, and dancer.  She earned her B.A. in Theatre, with minors in music and dance, from Principia College and is privileged to have performed with Broadway stars such as Audra MacDonald, Patti LuPone, Norm Lewis, Bryan Stokes Mitchell, and Judy McLane, among others.

Chrissy Calkins Steele (Past DBLC Prin facilitator) has acted professionally in theatre ranging from Shakespeare to new plays, and from Kabuki to children’s theatre. She teaches acting and voice and directs productions at Principia College.  She also co-leads an abroad to England focused on Shakespeare. This fall she is directing the musical Titanic at Principia.

Music

Peter Link (Former AI seasonal staff, 2008 Focus on Arts facilitator) is a composer/record producer and has won the NY Drama Desk Award for his musical, Salvation, out of which came his first Gold Record, which sold over two million records.  He is also a two-time Tony Award Nominee. He is CEO and Creative Director of Watchfire Music an on-line Inspirational music company  – watchfiremusic.com.

Lindsay Garritson (Former DB participant) is a pianist has been performing throughout the United States and abroad since the age of four. She has appeared as soloist with the Phoenix Symphony, Charleston Symphony Orchestra, and the Yale Philharmonia, among others. Most recently she was invited as one of thirty participants from around the world to compete in the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, which took place this past May. She holds degrees from Principia College and Yale University, and currently serves as a staff accompanist at the Yale School of Music.

Katherine Bellafiore Sanden (A/U camper, Camp director at Adventure Unlimited Ranches) is a pianist, singer, composer, and mathematician. She studied mathematics at Princeton University, where she minored in computer science and played trombone in the jazz ensemble. Her passion is creating music and math videos for her YouTube channel, youtube.com/dragonflykbs.

Visual Arts

Jodie Maurer (Former AU camper, 100 Elk staff) received a B.A. in Fine Art from Principia College, 2011. She likes painting because she enjoys being one-on-one with her canvas and responding to the great outdoors with each stroke as she works to find the right colors and values that capture the land’s adventurous spirit. God always “furnishes a table for [us] in the wilderness” (Psalms). When she is not painting and traveling, or working at Cedars Camps, she paints in her home studio in St. Louis, MO.

Zach Selby (Former AU camper and DB participant) began his art path at a young age with classes at a local art gallery that exposed him to different mediums of art, and during that time he became interested in sewing. Zach attends Savannah College of Art and Design or SCAD in Savannah, GA, where he is currently a junior studying fashion design. This last summer Zach interned for Aeropostale clothing brand, working as part of the women’s design team in New York City.

Joan Wolcott (DB participant in 2006 NTLC and CWC) graduated from Rhode Island School of Design, majoring in graphic design. Moving to Boston, Joan worked in publishing, including stints as artist/designer at the Christian Science Monitor, book designer at The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and freelance designer. Later, Joan studied printmaking at Massachusetts College of Art, and illustrated two children’s books.

NEW ALUMNI

Rachel Richardson attends The Rock School for dance education in Philadelphia.  Next year, she is moving to New York to join American Ballet Theater’s studio company.  Christian Science has helped her every step of the way through her dance training, and she is so grateful for the freedom it gives her.

David Coughtry knows what it is like to be a professional artist, having the experience as asuccessful and reputable painter and inclusion of his work in major traveling exhibitions through North America. With an interest in helping students broaden and deepen artistic perceptions, he has been a Professor of Art at Principia College for 15 years, including designing and leading Principia Art Abroad field programs through Turkey and Greece, and the western United States.

Rebecca Minor earned a BM in voice performance from Ithaca College, and sang in operas, musicals and concerts, until she discovered a passion for composing original sacred and secular songs.  Her sacred solos, which can be found on Watchfiremusic.com, have been performed at The Mother Church by various soloists, including Rebecca herself, who is the current co-soloistShe is currently producing and recording her first album from her home studio in Brooklyn, and from Link Recording Studios.