Faculty

Faculty for the School of Dance

Faculty at the School of Dance will instruct technique, composition and repertory classes. Special lectures on dance history, health and choreography will complement classwork.

Our Faculty

Julie Adams Strandberg

Co-Artistic Director

Julie Adams Strandberg, dancer, choreographer, director, writer, educator, is co-founder of Dancing Legacy and founding director of dance at Brown University where she is a distinguished senior lecturer in the department of theater arts and performance studies.

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Carolyn Adams

Founding Artistic Director

Carolyn Adams was a principal dancer with the Paul Taylor Dance Company from 1965-1982, creating roles in such Taylor masterpieces as Esplanade, Arden Court, and Cloven Kingdom, and further distinguishing herself in Taylor’s classic, Aureole, which she performed on Broa

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Laura Bennett
Associate Artistic Director

Laura Bennett has been at NYSSSA School of Dance since the first summer in varying capacities. She co-directs Dancing Legacy, a dance organization whose work celebrates the rich legacy of American modern dance and serves as a master coach and primary teacher trainer. She loves to work on puzzles—whether making dances or formulating color-coded management grids. Bennett has been dancing since she was in her mother’s womb and had her choreographic debut at age 11, when she got her gym teachers to give up their physical education periods for her to create a dance on her classmates.

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Tom Farrell
Resident Composer / Composition Teacher / Accompanist

Tom Farrell, pianist, percussionist, composer, and founding musical director of the NYSSSA School of Dance, has distinguished himself for more than three decades as a versatile artist and dedicated teacher. He has taught, composed, and accompanied classes at such institutions as Adelphi University, Brown University (under the direction of NYSSSA co-artistic director Julie Adams Strandberg), Barnard College, and Bennington College. He has accompanied classes at the Paul Taylor School and The Ailey School.

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Danny Grossman
Faculty

Danny Grossman, a narrative choreographer profoundly influenced by the theatrical masks of tragedy and comedy, was born in San Francisco in 1942. In 1963, he joined the renowned Paul Taylor Dance Company. In 1973, Grossman joined Toronto Dance Theatre in Canada. In 1975, he choreographed his first work to tremendous praise leading to the formation of the Danny Grossman Dance Company. Grossman has since created a repertoire of more than 60 works.

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Erika Pujic
Faculty

Erika Pujič was born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio where she began her dance training at the School of Cleveland Ballet and the Cleveland School of the Arts. She went on to receive a bachelor of fine arts degree from The Juilliard School where she was the recipient of the Martha Hill Award. Upon graduation, Pujič danced with Gloria Marina’s Spanish Dance Ensemble performing in New Jersey Opera’s Carmen. She was a principal dancer and rehearsal director for Henning Rubsam’s SENSEDANCE for seven years.

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Faculty for the School of Dance

Julie Adams Strandberg

Carolyn Adams

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