Future Dancers and Dancemakers Workshop

Pamela Pietro is an Independent Artist and Educator. She received her BFA/Dance from Florida State University and her MFA/Dance with a minor in Biomedical Ethics from University of Washington. She is the Chair at New York University Tisch School for the Arts, Department of Dance where she received the prestigious David Payne-Carter Award for Teaching Excellence in 2012/2013. She is the Director of Tisch Dance in Berlin Program, and Co-Director of the Future Dancers and Dancemakers. Pamela was on the faculty at the American Dance Festival from 1997-2016. As a dancer and performer, she has worked with Gerri Houlihan and Dancers; Anthony Morgan Dance Company; Michael Foley Dance; RaceDance; bopi’s black sheep/dances, Mark Haim, Jennifer Nugent, Monica Bill Barnes, Joanna Kotze and most recently MARCH with Donna Uchizono, Tendayi Kuumba and Annie B Parson. She has international exposure throughout Asia and Europe for both her teaching and solo performance work. She was nominated for and served on the Bessie Awards Search Committee for 2019-2021. Pamela was a gold medal winner at the Asiagraph Video/Choreography competition in Shanghai, China. She has presented original research at the Hawaiian Arts and Humanities Conference in Waikiki and at an ACM Multimedia Conference in Santa Barbara. Her choreography has been presented both nationally and internationally – by Danspace Food For Thought, Danspace Draftworks, 92nd Street Y Fridays at Noon, Dance New Amsterdam, Triskelion Arts, and Brooklyn Arts Exchange in New York; Sarasota Contemporary Dance Company in Sarasota, Florida; Momentum Danza Company in Panama; dulcedanceco in Phoenix AZ; La Salle Academy in Singapore; ASWARA Dance in Malaysia; Dance RoundTable in Taipai, Taiwan; The New Beijing Dance Festival in Beijing; collaboration with artist Rui Huang; JD Festival in Korea and most recently at the Ackerstadt palast in Berlin, Germany.Pamela is a certified Pilates and movement specialist and has spent over 10 years in close collaboration with Neuroanatomist Irene Dowd.

Renee Redding Jones received her Bachelor of Science degree from Morgan State University as a Physical Education major, minoring in Dance. She continued her studies in dance at Sarah Lawrence College where she received the degree of Master of Fine Arts. As a professional dancer Renee performed nationally and internationally, with David Rousseve, Cynthia Oilver, Bebe Miller and Ronald K. Brown/Evidence, winning a New York Dance and Performance “Bessie” Award as a featured performer in Brown’s company. In addition to dancing in the company, Renee also served as Associate Artistic Director for Evidence. Redding Jones has taught at various colleges and universities across the country, including Sarah Lawrence College and NYU/Tisch as an Assistant Arts Professor in the dance department. Most recently she returned to the Drama Department at NYU/Tisch as an Adjunct Professor and continues her tenure at Atlantic Acting School where she has been on faculty since 1997. Renee is a meditation teacher, a Laban/Bartenieff Certified Movement Analyst, a 200 hour Registered Yoga Teacher, an Integrated Energy Therapist, Reiki Master Teacher and a Contemplative Psychotherapist through the Nalanda Institute for Contemplative Science. Renee also serves as Director of Finance for Black Dance Stories, a YouTube series born during the pandemic that highlights Black creatives.  Her recent endeavors include working in theater as a choreographer, Movement Director, and as an Intimacy Director.  She is also a Teaching Artist and curriculum developer for Intimacy Directors and Coordinators (IDC).

Jessica Mantell (she/her) is an alumna of the Academy for Visual & Performing Arts (Morris County, NJ), received her BFA in Dance from NYU Tisch School of the Arts (New York, NY), is an MPA candidate at NYU Wagner Graduate School of Public Service (New York, NY), and is an RTY-200. She has been the Program Administrator for NYU Tisch Future Dancers & Dancemakers Workshop since 2015. Jessica's role in the arts community ranges among performance, education, administration, and production. She has had the pleasure of learning from and contributing to the dance works of Charlotte Boye-Christensen, Ruth Clark, Randy James, Omni Kitts Ferrara, Pamela Pietro, Crystal Pite, Renee Redding Jones, Donna Scro Samori, Kensaku Shinohara, Nicole Smith, and Indah Walsh, among many others. She has taught dance and movement classes for various communities in the tri-state area. As an arts administrator/producer, Jessica has worked in creative collaboration with Dance Films Association/Dance on Camera Festival (New York, NY), Freespace Dance (Montclair, NJ), Healing Arts Initiative (Long Island City, NY), Indah Walsh Dance Company (New York, NY), NYU Tisch (New York, NY), Peridance Capezio Center/Peridance Contemporary Dance Company (New York, NY), project: Smith & Peluso (Jersey City, NJ), and The Power Within Healing (Parlin, NJ).