The Dancers

Theresa Duhon (artistic director) is originally from Austin, TX, where she danced with the Austin Contemporary Ballet. She received her BFA in Dance from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts, where she performed in works by Twyla Tharp and Deborah Jowitt, among others. Since then, she has danced with numerous New York choreographers, including JoAnna Mendl Shaw, Sean Curran, Kathleen Dyer (KDNY), Brittany Reese, Guta Hedewig, and Karl Anderson, as well as with Ballet Mink Colbert (of Nevada). Her own choreography has been shown in two of her own full-evening concerts, as well as at Hatch, Red Shoes, OASIS, Pop Sustainability, and New Choreographers on Point 'Previews.' She served on the panel that curated the OASIS festival for 2007. She has received numerous choreographic commissions, from both organizations and individuals. She has also been one of the primary teachers of BodiBalance and Modern Dance classes and workshops at Dance Forum NY since 2000.

Duhon Dance is a pick-up dance company, so the specific dancers involved in each performance change as needed. Most of our pieces include only a small cast of dancers, although some pieces, such as the October 2007 full-evening concert of Sand and Sea, involve as many as 15 dancers. The individuals below are a sampling of dancers who have participated in Duhon Dance projects over the years.

Masanori Asahara, a native of Japan, has been living and dancing in New York since 2004. He studies at Dance New Amsterdam.

Morgan Bussonnais was born in Upstate NY and earned her BA from Hofstra University, where she had the opportunity to work with Martha Clarke, Chris Elam, Stormy BrandenBerger, Judith Moss and Nancy Allison, in the Jean Erdman Dance Notation Project. With Judith Moss she performed at the 80th Anniversary Dance Celebration at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and at the American Dance Guild Performance Festival 2007.

Elizabeth Bragg grew up in Denver, Colorado, where she trained with Colorado Ballet and Cleo Parker Robinson Dance. She graduated Summa Cum Laude in 2005 from Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas, receiving her B.F.A. in dance. Elizabeth then moved to New York, studying primarily at the Taylor School. She has also trained with the David Parsons Dance Company, Mark Morris Dance Company, and at the Martha Graham School. Elizabeth has performed with Lydia Johnson Dance, RedWall Dance Theatre, Dex Dance, and Take Dance Company. Elizabeth is excited for her first season with Duhon Dance. She would like to thank her family and friends for all of their support.

Sophie DeVore danced with the Nevada Ballet Theatre for seven years while pursuing a Literature major at UCLA. Since moving to the East Coast, she has performed in several festivals including Copenhagen, Fringe Festival of Edinborough and touring through China. At home in New York, Sophie is currently working with Theresa Duhon, John Ollom and Ballet Mink Colbert, as well as instructing in the Pilates method.

Cristina Jesurun is from Austin, Texas, where she earned a BA in dance and a BA in English at UT Austin. After graduating she had the pleasure of dancing with Ellen Bartel's Spank Dance Company, Caroline Sutton Clark's Wicked Cricket Dance Company, the Kathy Dunn Hamrick Dance Company and Deborah Hay. She was also an active member of and choreographer with Austin Independent Choreographers, a collective working to create performance opportunities for and recognition of new choreographers in the community. In NY she has performed with Maria Colaco Dance at both Hatch and V-day Brooklyn.

Johannah-Joy Magyawe grew up dancing, acting, singing and performing in a suburb of New York City with the Coupé Theatre School . She continued her education at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts for modern dance. Since graduating in 1998, she has performed with KDNY/Kathleen Dyer New York and Murkofsky/Tsukayama Dance Theatre. She is currently performing and touring with the Hudson Vagabond Puppets.

Naoko Matsumoto is originally from Kyoto, Japan. She danced for Midori Ballet and Mariko Dance Theater in Japan, and has worked for various choreographers in NYC, with performances at Joyce Soho, St. Marks Church, etc. Currently, she is a faculty member of Dance Forum NY, where she met Theresa Duhon, and teaches Alexander Technique at NYU and New School for Drama as an AmSAT certified AT teacher. Dancing is a base for strength, sensitivity and flow for her life. Dance movement is her soul and passion...

Marianne Pohle, a Texan at heart, danced professionally for many years with the Corpus Christi Ballet. After moving to NYC, she performed with several small modern dance companies, including KDNY, which she now is involved with as President of the Board. Marianne is also on the Board of Directors for Danspace Project. Marianne has a BFA from Texas Christian University, as well as an MBA and MA, Arts Administration from Southern Methodist University. She was an intern in the Dance Program at the New York State Council on the Arts and the first House Manager at Joyce SoHo. She currently holds the position of Manager, Contributions for Altria Corporate Services, Inc., working primarily with the Arts program.

Ryoji Sasamoto, from Japan, began his dance training at age 15 at the Japan Aviation Academy (JAA). After high school, he moved to NYC and continued his professional training at DNA. He has performed here with Early Mosley, Diane McCarthy, Sunhwa Chung (Ko-Ryo Dance Theater), Maija Garcia, and Nicole Wolcot. In 2006 he joined Nathan Trice/RITUALS, with whom he has performed, taught master classes, and assisted in setting choreography nationally and internationally.

Born and raised in Israel, Maya Seidel began dancing at an early age. Upon arriving in the U.S. at the age of 13, Maya continued her dance education at the Joffrey Ballet School in NYC. In 2005 Maya graduated from the New School University where she earned a B.A. in Liberal Arts. Since graduating, Maya has worked with Dialogue Dance Collective, Ellis Wood, Pascal Rekoert / MidGet Dance, and performed work by Germany-based conceptual artist Jonathan Monk. She appeared in The Bentfootes, a mockumentary directed by Kriota Willberg. Working as technical assistant in Guta Hedewig Dance's production DOG DAYS in Feb. '07, Maya met Theresa Duhon and is delighted to join Duhon Dance this summer. Aside from dancing, Maya also enjoys teaching yoga for children and adults in NYC.

Megan Shaw was born in Kennewick, WA . She earned a B.A. in Dance from Hofstra University and had the opportunity to perform for an array of choreographers, including Martha Clarke, Anita Feldman, Amy Marshall, and Stormy Brandenberger. This past year, while working with Judith Moss, Megan performed in the 80th Anniversary Dance Celebration in Madison, Wisconsin, and recently danced in the American Dance Guild Performance Festival 2007.

Jillian Sweeney received her MFA in Dance from Smith College, where she was also a teaching fellow. She has most recently performed her solo, Imaginary Lines, at HERE Arts Center, and has presented work at DancenowNYC/The Festival, WaxWorks, Dixon Place, Galapagos, Paper Mills Studio (MA), One Arm Red, Chimera Movement Theater (MA) and University of Texas-Dallas. Sweeney has danced with Jen Rosenblit/BottomHeavy Productions, elledanceworks (TX)and Pi Dance Theatre.

Uta Takemura received her BFA in dance from SUNY-Purchase and her MFA from Tisch School of the Arts at New York University where she was a recipient of the Siedman Award for Dance. She has performed with FREEFALL, ltd., Amy Cox, XIPóLYTOS Dance Theatre, Mark Jarecke, JoAnna Mendl Shaw, Carol Fonda, Maja Lorkovic, KDNY/Kathleen Dyer, Rebecca Katz-Harwood, and WIL SWANSON/DANCEWORKS among others. She currently dances with Mark Morris Dance Group, Pam Tanowitz Dance, Paz Tanjuaquio, and Andrea Haenggi/AMDaT.

Lutin Tanner hails from the mov'en & shak'en Mankato, MN. (think Little House On the Prairie). He received a BA in Dance and Theatre from Western Michigan University. A technical internship at Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival, introduced him Garth Fagan Dance, who he performed nationally and internationally with for 5 years. While performing in the Musical Famous Orpheus, Lutin met his wife Adrienne Hurd. Moving to New York City in 2000, Lutin has performed with Dzul Dance, Silver/Brown Dance, toured to China with Nai Ni Chen Dance. He has been commissioned to choreograph two pieces for Middle Collegiate Church. Lutin continues to perform as a freelance dancer and present his own choreographic work throughout NYC and abroad. He most recently returned for teaching and performing in St. Petersburg Russia at the Open look Festival. Thanks and love to his wife Adrienne, for her understanding of the late nights. Big UP! to his son Lucien, Love & Peace!

Sylvie Thode is in the fourth grade. She has performed at Middle Collegiate Church for the past 3 years in works choreographed by Theresa Duhon, Brittany Reese, and Lutin Tanner. She has also studied ballet at the ABT school. This summer she participated in a two-week acting camp with the New Acting Company, including a public performance, and also performed ‘TRANSIT(ION)’ with Ballet Mink Colbert.