Dance Faculty

Maria Simpson

Professor of Dance, Dance Program Director

Performer, choreographer and teacher. Maria has taught at Mount Holyoke College, Middlebury College, the University of Washington, the Bates Summer Dance Festival, the Kaatsbaan International Dance Center’s Summer Workshop, and the 2007 Vassar College Summer Workshop. Maria teaches ballet, modern dance, anatomy, physics of dance, and dance composition. She has performed with many dance companies and independent artists in both Seattle and New York including Freedman/Coleman Dance Company, Peter Schmitz and Dancers, the Pat Graney Company, Gina Gibney Dance, the Chamber Dance Company, and Peter Kyle Dance. Maria’s choreography has been presented at the artsEdge Festival (Seattle), the dancenow/nyc festival (New York), the Martha Hill Theater (Bennington College), Theater in the Trees (Connecticut), the Fisher Center of the Performing Arts (Bard College) and the Meany Theater (University of Washington). Maria has presented her research in dance science and ballet technique at the National Dance Educators Organization conference and she has also been published in Impulse—the International Journal of Dance Medicine and Science. Maria received a B.F.A. from the University of Massachusetts in 1988 and an M.F.A. from the University of Washington in 1996. (2004-) Professor of Dance.


Victoria Anderson

Visiting Lecturer
Victoria Anderson is currently completing her dissertation on the dance studio as a performative site at New York University's Department of Performance Studies. Since 2001 she has taught Tisch undergraduates as part of NYU's Expository Writing Program. Her own writing has been published in Movement Research Journal, The Drama Review, and Mercer Street. Her performance career began when she became a member of Ballet Michigan in 1987 and includes a BFA from The Juilliard School (1993) and an MFA from the University of Washington (2000). She performed in New York City with modern dance choreographers Gina Gibney Dance, Mark Jarecke and Dancers, and most recently Fionna Marcotty-Dolenga. In 2005 and 2006 Victoria teamed up with colleague Elizabeth DeMent in the creation and production of an evening length dance-theater work entitled "Debbie's Debbie" which was shown at Dance Theater Workshop's David R. White studio and at SQUID performance space in lower Manhattan.   


Jean Churchill

Professor of Dance

Studied modern dance at Connecticut College Dance Festival. Member, Boston Ballet Company (1966–72); artistic director, New England Dinosaur (1976). Performed works by James Waring, Trisha Brown, Carolyn Brown, George Balanchine, Norman Walker, and in classical and modern ballets. Choreography in Choreographer’s Showcase, Split Stream, Fresh Tracks, Men Dancing, Performance Mix, and To the Pointe festivals; venues in Scotland; and many venues in the United States. Choreography and direction for Cinderella’s Bad Magic, opera composed by Kyle Gann, premiered in Moscow (2002). (1980– ) Professor of Dance.


Peggy Florin

Visiting Associate Professor of Dance

Dance B.F.A. Program, Juilliard School; B.A., Empire State College, SUNY; M.F.A., Bennington College. Trained in ballet with Margaret Craske and Antony Tudor at Metropolitan Opera Ballet. Member, Atlanta Ballet; soloist with Manhattan Festival Ballet; performed with modern dance companies of Albert Reid, Phyllis Lamhut, Charles Moulton, and in the work of numerous other choreographers. Choreography produced in New York venues such as Dance Theater Workshop, DIA, and Marymount Manhattan Theatre, and nationally at various dance festivals. Taught at Marymount Manhattan College, Oberlin College, Ohio University, Williams College, Bennington College. (1998– ) Visiting Associate Professor of Dance.


Lenore Latimer

Visiting Professor of Dance
B.F.A., Juilliard School. Member, José Limon Dance Company, Anna Sokolow Dance Company, American Dance Theater at Lincoln Center, Dance Theater Workshop Repertory Company, Valerie Bettis Dancers’ Studio. Artistic director of Latitudes, Ltd.–The Lenore Latimer Dance Company (1979–83). Choreography produced by American Dance Festival, New London, Connecticut; International Dance Workshop, Bonn; Dance Theater Workshop, Symphony Space, Emanu-El Midtown Y, Riverside Church, Douglas Fairbanks Theater, all New York. Artist in residence at University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee; University of Iowa; American University, Washington, D.C.; Washington University, St. Louis. (1979– ) Visiting Professor of Dance.


Aileen Passloff

L. May Hawver and Wallace Benjamin Flint Professor of Dance

B.A., Bennington College. Director, Aileen Passloff and Company (1958–68). Choreographed and acted in plays for the Living Theatre, Judson Poets Theatre, Theatre for the New City. Appeared in Obie-winning productions of Gertrude Stein’s What Happened, Ruth Krause’s A Beautiful Day, and Maria Irene Fornes’s Washing and Diary of Evelyn Brown. Choreography includes Encounters, Berkshire Theatre Festival; Tree of Life, New England Dinosaur; Hopes and Fears and Brahms Variations, Toby Armour Repertory Company. Recent directing credits include A Woman Alive: Conversation Against Death and Flo and Max by Toby Armour. Choreographed The Song of Songs, Fountain Theater (2003). Taught at Conservatory of Dance, Madrid, a one-week intensive workshop in performance for professional dancers (2004). Grants: National Endowment for the Arts; Program for Cultural Cooperation between Spanish Ministry of Culture and U.S. Universities; Fulbright Postdoctoral Research Scholar. (1993– ) L. May Hawver and Wallace Benjamin Flint Professor of Dance.


Bill T. Jones

Artistic Director, Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company
Bill T. Jones began his dance training at the State University of New York at Binghamton (SUNY), studying classical ballet and modern dance. He choreographed and performed worldwide as a soloist and duet company with his late partner, Arnie Zane, before forming the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company, of which he is the current Artistic Director, in 1982. Creating more than 100 works for his own company, Mr. Jones has also choreographed for Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Axis Dance Company, Boston Ballet, Lyon Opera Ballet, Berlin Opera Ballet, Dayton Contemporary Dance Company and Diversions Dance Company, among others. In 2000, The Dance Heritage Coalition named Mr. Jones "An Irreplaceable Dance Treasure."  Awards: Tony Award (2007); Obie Award (2007); Stage Directors and Choreographers Foundation CALLAWAY Award for his choreography for Spring Awakening (2006); USA Eileen Harris Norton Fellowship (2007); Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Choreography for The Seven (2006); Wexner Prize (2005); Samuel H. Scripps American Dance Festival Award for Lifetime Achievement (2005); Harlem Renaissance Award; Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize (2003); MacArthur "Genius" Award (1994); SUNY Binghamton Distinguished Alumni Award.  Honorary Doctorates: the Art Institute of Chicago, Bard College, Columbia College, the Juilliard School, Swarthmore College.


Janet Wong

Associate Artistic Director, Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company
Janet Wong was born in Hong Kong and trained in Hong Kong and London.  Upon graduation she joined the Berlin Ballet, where she first met Bill T. Jones when he was invited to choreograph on the company.  In 1993, she moved to New York to pursue other interests.  Ms. Wong became rehearsal director of the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company in 1996 and associate artistic director in August 2006.


Leah Cox

Education Coordinator, Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company
Leah Cox has been a member of the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company since 2001.  During that time she became keenly interested in Jones’ and Zane’s early work, performing Mr. Jones’ signature solo Floating the Tongue as well as the seminal duet Blauvelt Mountain. She currently acts as the company’s Education Coordinator, working to record Mr. Jones’ aesthetic and the company’s collaborative working method for development as an organized curriculum.  She also coordinates and co-creates the company’s educational projects and materials. Ms. Cox spent her youth training in ballet, graduating from North Carolina School of the Arts high school dance division.  Her dance studies continued at Texas Christian University, where she received a B.A. as a Philosophy major and Religion minor.  Her interest in both physical and mental processes has proven a good match for the work of Mr. Jones and his collaborators. Ms. Cox creates her own dance-and-film work under the pseudonym Stella Rabbit.  


Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company

The Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company is currently celebrating its 25th Anniversary season. The Company was founded after 11 years of collaboration, during which Bill T. Jones and Arnie Zane (1948 - 1988) redefined the duet form and foreshadowed issues of identity, form, and social commentary that would change the face of American dance. It emerged onto the international scene in 1983, with the world premiere of Intuitive Momentum with legendary drummer Max Roach at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. Since then the 10-member Company, which is based in Harlem, has performed worldwide in over 200 cities in 30 countries, and is recognized as one of the most innovative and powerful forces in the modern dance world.