Elizabeth Kurylo
Elizabeth was born in France where she began her dance career. In the 90’s, she left the profession to pursue a degree in physical therapy at the University of Medicine and Dentistry in Newark, NJ. She never really stopped dancing and choreographing while being a therapist, but now that she is retired, she is free to focus all her energy and renewed passion into creating new works with dancers from the Upper Valley community. She is dedicated to help dance artists develop their creative potential and to make dance accessible to all audience. The ChoreoLab residency and Junction Dance Festival are her brainchilds.
Erin McNulty
Erin lives in Plainfield, NH. She is a contemporary dance artist and educator. She holds degrees from Boston University and Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music & Dance in London, UK, and is currently working towards her MFA through Goddard College. She holds dance faculty positions at Boston University, Wilmington Dance Academy, and Lebanon Ballet School, and teaches barre fitness at Mighty Yoga NH. She also worked for six years as Lead Teaching Artist and Instructional Coach for Boston Ballet’s Education & Community Initiatives. Her choreographic work for the stage and on film has been supported by New England Foundation for the Arts, the Shawna Shea Memorial Women in Film Fellowship, and the City of Boston www.ErinKMcNulty.com. Erin was one of the selected 2022 ChoreoLab residents and TJDF performers. She became a board member in September 2022.
Joan Allen
Joan has been dancing since childhood, specializing in classical ballet and traditional English and American dance. More recently, she’s added Scottish and Baroque dance. She also enjoys choral singing and has appeared in musical theater productions. Joan has a vast experience writing grants and is pleased to contribute to TJDF. Her profession is natural resource conservation. Joan is pleased to be joining the JDF Board in 2021.
Edward P Childs
Edward has served on a number of non-profit boards during his 35 years in Vermont, including the Montessori School (Norwich), the Upper Valley Music Center and the Episcopal Diocese of Vermont. He currently represents the town of Corinth on the board of E.C. Fiber. Edward composes music in his spare time. His wife, sister and daughter are all dance artists.
Julie Frew
Julie Frew grew up dancing in the Washington, DC area before attending Kenyon College, where she graduated with a Drama and Psychology double major and Dance minor. She then spent several years immersed in the NYC modern dance scene before relocating to the Upper Valley to attend medical school. She currently lives in Norwich, VT with her family and studies and performs ballet, modern, contemporary, improvisation, and percussive dance techniques. Julie is excited to bring more dance to the Upper Valley community through the Junction Dance Festival.
Marie Fourcaut
Marie Fourcaut, born in Algeria and raised in France, began her professional dance career in Paris at the age of 16 and has worked with leading modern dance companies around the world. She collaborated and performed in acclaimed productions with Martha Clarke. She has taught yoga and her own movement classes in the Upper valley for the past two decades. With the “Ensemble Marie” she created events in Hanover NH, at the Black Family Visual Center and at the Hood Museum. Most recently, she collaborated with Carla Kimball, on a film around Carla’s Installation at AVA Gallery, “ Memories in Solitude”.
Mary Chris DeBelina
MC is a dance artist, living in Montpelier, VT. MC holds a BA in biology and dance from Dartmouth College and an MFA in Dance from Sarah Lawrence College. She has trained at Children’s Creative Dance Theater at the University of Utah and at Mark Morris Dance Group in Brooklyn in Dance for Parkinson’s, rounding out her dance teaching as she says “from ages 0-100.” In addition to teaching, she creates her own work, performs with local artists and the Juventas New Music Ensemble. MC is also on the board of directors for Phantom Theater and the Vermont Dance Alliance, as well as being a mother of four. When she and her family aren’t dancing, they can be found hiking up mountains or folding mountains of laundry.
Ruth Mayer
Ruth Mayer is a former soloist of the American Ballet Theatre. As a resident of the Upper Valley since 1990, she taught at the Lebanon Ballet School and White River Ballet Academy, and choreographed and performed with the Dartmouth Dance Ensemble and Revels North among others. She is currently teaching ballet at her studio in Thetford, VT.
Chloe Schafer
Chloe A. Schafer (she/her) is a dance artist, scholar, teacher, and arts administrator based in New York, with lasting ties to Vermont. She researches, teaches, and creates dance with the hope of softening the edges of our collective imagination and proposing alternative realities full of whimsy, focus, humor, and care. Chloe was one of the 2023 ChoreoLab TJDF residents and is excited to return and help organize this year’s festival. Chloe received her M.F.A.in Dance from Sarah Lawrence College and holds a B.A. in Dance and B.S. in Anthropology from the University of Vermont.