Ellen Robbins (Director) teaches dance for children in SoHo. She was the resident dance educator at Dance Theater Workshop for 34 years. She is a recipient of the 1993 Arts in Education Round Table Award and a 1986 Bessie (New York Dance and Performance Award) for her work with children. In May of 2015, she was the honoree of La MaMa Moves Gala. Ms. Robbins is a consultant to choreographers working with children, and presents an intensive teachers’ course, Growing a Dancer, for the 92nd Street Y’s Dance Education Laboratory (DEL) program. She has also taught dance education at Sarah Lawrence College and as a guest lecturer around the country and abroad. She has been on the faculties of the 92nd Street Y, the Bennington College July Program, and ArtsConnection, a performance arts project for public school children, and has directed the Young Dancers School at the American Dance Festival in Durham, North Carolina. In the summer of 2001, Dances By Very Young Choreographers (Ellen Robbins’ students ages 8-18) was produced at the Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival in the Doris Duke Theater. Ms. Robbins is known for her repertory of group dances, choreographed in collaboration with children.  For more information, see: www.ellenrobbinsdance.com

Serena Wong (Lighting Designer) is a Brooklyn-based freelance lighting designer for theater and dance. Her designs have been seen at Lincoln Center, Fall For Dance at City Center, Danspace, and Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, among others in the US and abroad- including, oddly enough, a Celebrity cruise ship. Most recently she has designed for choreographers LaTasha Barnes, Gemma Bond, Caleb Teicher, Leonardo Sandoval, and Bill T. Jones. She enjoys biking, baking, and pottery.

Lily Akerman started dancing with Ellen when she was five.  After graduating, she continued to dance and choreograph.  Her most recent dance was Letting Go of the Ground, co-choreographed with Krista Jansen (Triskelion Live Arts and Battery Dance Festival).  She has also danced in Bodies In Urban Spaces in the Dublin Dance Festival and in her own work at Echo Echo Dance Festival (Derry, Ireland).  

Marina Rebecca Chan is a Brooklyn-based performer and playwright, with a soft spot for musical theater and a commitment to advancing Asian representation.  A Columbia graduate, with a drama degree, Marina went on to conceive and produce the Asian Americans in Theatre: Art and Activism panel series at Asia Society and Barnard.  Marina’s plays include family dramas, comedies, social commentaries and existential works, her favorite being Elizabeth’s Wonderland.  Off-Broadway performing credits: Il Re Pastore (Lincoln Center), A Black and White Cookie (The Tank), A Tomato Can’t Grow in the Bronx (Chain Theatre), Ellen Robbins’ Dance Concerts (NYLA), and Ted Sperling’s MasterVoices productions of The Grapes of Wrath (Carnegie Hall) and most recently Sweet Smell of Success (Jazz at Lincoln Center), as a featured ensemble member!  Earlier this year, Marina also had the pleasure of assisting MasterVoices Chorus at The Lord of the Rings Concerts at Radio City, which she also performed in!  You can spot her as a background actor in various films, including upcoming Focker In-Law.  Having studied with Ellen from ages 5-11, Marina is delighted to be a regular member of Ellen’s alumni group, where creativity and collaboration reign supreme!  marinachan.com

Grace Cooper is an NYC based dancer and interdisciplinary artist. She is a company member with The Equus Projects and Alpine Artist Collective. She has also performed with HOLDTIGHT, IMPACT Dance Company, and Control Group Productions. Her work has been presented in dance festivals in NYC and Colorado including PhysFest, Fertile Ground, Body/Speak, and Convergence. Her work is deeply engaged with her identity as a queer woman, and the position of the self within the human and more-than-human world. She holds a BA in Dance and English from Colorado State University. She enjoys being a teaching assistant to Ellen Robbins and performing alongside her alumni. 

Chanda Cragnotti studied dance since she was 6 years old, and started dancing with
Ellen a year later. She freelanced in NYC for many years and danced with Dances Patrelle,
Catherine Gallant-Dances by Isadora, and the Isadora Duncan Dance Company. She now studies
environmental science and journalism at The New School. Accolades include best choreography
for her pieces Lament and A Journey through Blue at the Vienna International Ballet
Competition in Missoula, Montana. 

Morgan Cragnotti I started dancing with Ellen when I was eight years old, performing in the Towel Dance (orange towel) and choreographing a solo to Aaron Copland’s Rodeo. I have done lots of different types of dance and love using my choreography skills in creative projects such as my own devised plays in Fringe Festivals in London, Brighton and Edinburgh. In 2022 I graduated from Rose Bruford College with a MFA in Collaborative Theatre Making. I’m currently living in East London and working at Angel Pre-School on a new pilot program funded by the Westminster Foundation that gives special educational needs children more support.

Maia Sage Ermanson is a native New Yorker with a zig-zagging journey through the city’s dance and theater scenes.  As an Ellen Robbins loyalist ages 5 through 18, Maia had opportunities to perform her own choreography at Jacob’s Pillow, Chez Bushwick, St. Mark’s Church, and more.  Most recently her new piece,  Passed, a project merging modern and ballroom dance, was selected for Dixon Place’s  8 in Show Festival.  She joined the Martha Graham Youth Company performing at the Joyce Theater and Tavern on the Green and was highlighted in Noéme Lafrance’s site-specific piece, Agora, in the McCarren Park Pool.  In 5th grade, Maia participated in Pierre Dulane’s Dancing Classrooms program and developed a deep love for Ballroom.  She was showcased at Irving Plaza’s Night of Swing, later joined Piel Canela’s Salsa company, but eventually landed on Competitive Latin Ballroom.  Maia attended the Professional Performing Arts School (PPAS), La Guardia High School for drama , and the Maggie Flanigan Meisner Drama School.  She premiered Off-Broadway in a series of short plays written and directed by Israel Horowitz.  Returning to Ellen’s program is a joy and honor: this has always been where magic happens.

Emma Lee is a dancer, musician, and choreographer born and raised in New York City. When she was eight she began studying with Ellen Robbins, who for a decade taught her the art of theater and choreography. This evening she is returning to a solo she made for Ellen when she was sixteen. Lee received a BA in dance from Bard College, where she was awarded the Ana Itelman Prize for performance, and a Gilman scholarship to study contemporary West African dance at Ecole des Sables in Senegal. She has had the pleasure to perform with the Limón Dance Company, Tamar Rogoff, the Bates Dance Festival, La Mama Experimental Theater, Dance at Socrates Sculpture Park, Marjani Forte-Saunders, BADDANCE, Cayleen Del Rosario, Sharleen Chidiac, and Evan Ray Suzuki. As a founding member, Lee spent the last seven years writing, performing, and choreographing for the band MICHELLE. She currently performs with The Booyah! Kids, and does movement work for music videos.

Krista Jansen is a dancer and choreographer born, raised and based in New York City.  She is one half of the duet company Jansen & Holm, where she performs and choreographs alongside CJ Holm.  Her own choreography has been performed at Dixon Place, STUFFED! at Movement Research, Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, the 92nd St. Y, Triskelion Arts, the Flea , and for an award-winning film with director Bat-Sheva Guez.  Krista is currently performing with the Sokolow Theatre/Dance Ensemble, and was an original cast member and Assistant Rehearsal Director for the critically acclaimed Doug Elkins & Friends’ Fraulein Maria. She also choreographs for the theater department at Beacon High School.  Krista started dancing with Ellen at the age of five, and has never left – she continues as a teaching assistant in Ellen’s classes.
www.kristajansen.wordpress.com is a great place to sign her mailing list, look a dance-y pictures, and stay updated on her performances.

Amelia  Dawe Sanders (pronouns:zie/zir) has studied with Ellen Robbins since 2011 and is a teaching assistant for Ellen.  Zie has presented zir choreography at New York Live Arts, 92nd St. Y, Mary Anthony’s Studio, Snug Harbor Cultural Center & Botanical Garden, Norte Maar’s Dance at Socrates, and Montclair State University.  Amelia Graduated summa cum laude with a dance BFA from Montclair State University, where zie performed work by Emmanuéle Phuon, Maxine Steinman, Kathleen Kelley, Jody Sperling, Abby Zbikowski, and Jessica DiMauro.  Zie has performed works by Isadora Duncan with Loretta Thomas, Catherine Gallant, and Lori Bellilove at venues including Jacob’s Pillow and St. Mark’s Church.  Amelia was a founding member of the Paul Taylor Teen Ensemble under the direction of Reagon Wood, performing at venues including the Joyce Theater and Symphony Space.

Alexandra Scully has been dancing with Ellen since she was seven years old. Nearly ten years later, she performed in her first alumni concert at only seventeen. Currently, she is a sophomore Macaulay Honors scholar at Hunter College.  Alex is majoring in psychology and plans on becoming a criminal psychologist. She hopes to accomplish her PsyMD but plans on holding tightly to her love for Ellen Robbins modern dance.

Lou Sydel is a choreographer whose work connects the linguistic study of gesture to experiences of queerness. Lou is the artistic director of Gesture Theater, a devising company of trans clowns, dancers, and actors most recently in residency at NYU Tisch through WADE. His curatorial work can be found at PhysFest, WestFest Top Floor, and Dance Parade. Notable performances: NYLA with Ellen Robbins, Judson Church, Celebration Barn Theater, Triskelion Arts, Arts on Site, La MaMa Puppet Slam, Brooklyn Art Haus, The Center at West Park, Edinburgh Fringe, and the International Society for Gesture Studies. Thank you Ellen for teaching me to think and move creatively, and for showing me what grace looks like.