Staff
Naomi Goldberg Haas – Artistic Director
Naomi Goldberg Haas is a dancer, master teacher, choreographer and founding artistic director of Dances For A Variable Population (DVP). With DVP, Ms. Goldberg Haas has created site-related public performances at many of NYC’s most iconic public spaces including Times Square, Washington Square Park, the Whitehall Ferry Terminal, and the High Line. She also leads DVP’s education programs, including the organization’s free community-based dance workshops that have served over 5,000 seniors at 45 senior centers since 2009.
Ms. Goldberg Haas has worked in concert dance, theatre, opera and film, and has collaborated with The Klezmatics, composer Michael Nyman, and Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Tony Kushner. She holds an MFA from Tisch Dance at NYU, and began her career with the Pacific Northwest Ballet.
In 2013, Ms. Goldberg Haas received the “Art + Action Award” from Gibney Dance. The Lower Manhattan Cultural Council awarded her the 2014 Presidents Award for the Performing Arts. She served on the Arts, Media and Culture Committee as appointed by the Mayors Office for Age Friendly NYC (2015-2018). She was awarded a 2019-2020 DANCE USA Fellowship for Artists addressing Social Change.
In February 2023, she received the New York State Dance Education Association Lifetime Impact in Dance Education award in recognition of her Extraordinary Life-long Imprint on Dance and Dance Education community.
TEACHING ARTISTS
Jackie Bernard (Teaching Artist/Senior Dancer), was raised in Rhode Island where she received her early dance and theatrical training. After earning her degree in Nursing and Psychology, she combined her love of the Arts with her career as a behavioral Health Nurse at St. Vincent’s Hospital in NYC, teaching a weekly tap class for clients with mental health challenges. Jackie has taught creative movement, ballet and tap to both children and adults. She also performed with, and choreographed for the Brooklyn Heights Players. Jackie is active with the Mark Morris Dance Group’s Dance for PD program as a teaching assistant and volunteer. She loves to dance, teach, perform and share her love for movement.
Bryanna Dean (Teaching Artist/Dancer) a dancer, teacher, and choreographer was born and raised in Shenandoah, Virginia. She began studying dance at a recreational studio at age nine. Since that young age, teaching and creating movement became a clear path at which she follows with eager curiosity. Dean gained her BFA degree in Dance at Florida State University where she has created work as well as taught in the Tallahassee region. Dean is now exploring the art community of her new home in Brooklyn. Along with working with DVP, she teaches jazz, contemporary, and gymnastics to young artists at studios throughout the area.
Theo Gilbert (Teaching Artist/Dancer) is a Native New Yorker, Movement Motivator, and Dance Fitness Professional. She lives in the Bronx and teaches Zumba Gold and numerous Dance Fitness classes throughout the city. She says her “favorite group to teach is elders, gathering so much from their wisdom and humor!”
Rebecca Hite (Teaching Artist/Dancer) received her MFA in dance choreography/performance from Smith College in Northampton, MA, where she was also a teaching fellow and guest artist at Amherst College. She holds a BA in dance from Connecticut College. Rebecca has worked with David Dorfman, Lisa Race, Heidi Henderson, Adele Myers, Nicholas Leichter, Jeremy Nelson, Wally Cardona, and Monica Bill Barnes. Along with working with DVP, Rebecca is a freelance choreographer and teacher in NYC and collaborates with Raja Kelly/The Feath3r Theory, MachineH Dance, and is co-creator and co-artistic director of Reject Dance Theatre.
Pamela Knowles (Teaching Artist/Senior Dancer) is international jazz vocalist, recording artist and teacher of voice. Her love of the creative relationship between improvisation, integration, and embodied performance, has inspired her work with movement. Her mentors are Al Wunder of Improvised Movement Theater in Melbourne, Linda Wise of the Pan Theatre Company in Paris, and Joan Skinner in Seattle where she became a certified Skinner Releasing teacher. Pamela completed her Master of Arts Degree at Antioch University and the New Actors Workshop where she studied with Lisa Sokolov, head of the Voice Faculty in the Department of Experimental Theatre at New York University.
Chuck Macdonald (Teaching Artist/Senior Dancer) from Michigan, graduate of Julliard Dance Program, performed with Detroit’s Harbinger Dance Company and with NYC’s Sandra Cameron Dance, former NYC public school teacher, he has been teaching and performing with DVP since 2014.
Patricia McKenzie (Teaching Artist/Dancer) Artistic Director of THE CREATIVE MOVERS dance company established at THE BOROUGH OF MANHATTAN COMMUNITY COLLEGE IN 2020 with BMCC students in which she is a returned student. A Dance Educator/Teaching Artist for the DOE (Dept. of Education NYC). An instructor of many genres of dance. Returning to DVP as a teaching artist is a great joy working with the multi-generational population. To see the creativity, camaraderie, and friendships develop is truly something to behold as well as strengthening their bodies with the movements. Patricia is also a Choreographer who choreographed the dance portions of the play 39 Steps To Freedom, this past January 2023 for Black History Month.
Casie McManus (Teaching Artist/Dancer) grew up in Rochester, NY, and began her dance training under Krista Cerretto and Charlotte Buckley. Ms. McManus graduated magna cum laude from The Ailey School/Fordham University with a BFA in dance and a minor in Music. She has been lucky to perform the work of many great artists, including Mia Michaels, Esmé Boyce, Helen Simoneau, Jamar Roberts, Cameron McKinney, and Shelly Hutchinson. Since May of 2022, she has been a Teaching Artist at Dances for a Variable Population.
Marisol Morales (Teaching Artist/Dancer) was born and raised in Guadalajara, Mexico where she began her training in ballet, modern and tap. Marisol moved to New York in 2013 to study at the Ailey School. Upon graduation, Marisol began her professional performance career; she danced with Mollet Contemporary Ballet and Forza Malizia Dance Company in various theaters around NYC and has performed original works by Paul Taylor and Merce Cunningham in multiples showings by the Merce Cunningham Trust Fellowship Program. Marisol has had the opportunity to collaborate as a choreographer with Filmmaker Kevin Chiu in two music videos for R&B Pop Artist Shenna and The Pennchants.
Jeana Musacchio (Teaching Artist/Senior Dancer) is a Brooklyn-born dancer and retired dance/movement therapist with a specialty of working with the frail elderly. She has been teaching dance, yoga, and group exercise classes for many years in NYC. Jeana has had many wonderful performing experiences with a variety of dance companies including Baker’s Half Dozen, the Anahid Sofian Middle Eastern Dance Company, and most recently, Dances for a Variable Population. She is currently teaching Movement Speaks in Park Slope and in Carrol Gardens, Brooklyn.
Ellen Sackoff (Teaching Artist/Senior Dancer) a classical dancer, worked with the Pennsylvania Ballet Company. Ellen received her MA in Dance Education from Columbia and MA in Developmental Psychology from CUNY. She choreographed for Dance Theater Workshop and has received a National Service Award for research on Developmental Aesthetics.
GUEST ARTISTS
Ellen Graff (Guest Artist) danced with the Martha Graham Company, appearing in New York, and touring internationally. She has performed in Broadway musicals and for many years was a regular on the Carol Burnett Show. Graff has taught at colleges and universities across the country, and has a Ph.D in Performance Studies.
Audrey Madison (Guest Artist) has been a teacher, dancer, and choreographer since she was a teenager. In addition to studying ballet and modern jazz, Audrey was an original member of the Charles Moore Dance Theater having studied Dunham technique, and various Caribbean and African styles. During her tenure as a school-based educator with the NYC Department of Education, she created extensive dance programs for elementary and middle school students and produced talent showcases for school communities. Audrey is also founder and artistic director of her own company, MoJazz Dance.
Myna Majors (Guest Artist) Studied with the legendary Baba Chuck Davis, who recently transitioned, Former Member of The Titos Sompa Dance Troupe, the legendary Baba Olatunji Drum and Dancers, Bernard Dove and The Dovetts, and for the last 16 Years, a proud dancer with The WNBA N.Y. Liberty Timeless Torches.
Sandra Rivera (Teaching Artist/Senior Dancer/Guest Artist) Extensive career as a dancer, choreographer and educator. A founding member of Ballet Hispanico, she performed as a principal dancer creating a number of roles in the company’s repertory. Since 1990 she has choreographed and performed contemporary dances with thematic content that reflects the Latino experience in the United States. Artist-in-residence at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine with the Omega Dance Co. where she served as director. Her solo dance portraits and choreographies have been presented at El Museo del Barrio, the Caramoor International Music Festival and the Abrons Art Center,the Julia de Burgos Cultural Center, Aaron Davis Hall and the 92 Street Y. She is on the faculty of Ballet Hispanico School of Dance and performs and is a teaching artist for Dancers for a Variable Population. BA in Dance in the Latino Diaspora; CUNY’s Baccalaureate for Unique & Interdisciplinary Studies.
Alfred Gallman (Guest Artist) is a celebrated dance artist who has had the privilege of working with some of the giants in the industry, including Pepsi Bethel, Fred Benjamin, Talley Beatty, George Faison, Louis Johnson, and Alvin Ailey. He is an accomplished choreographer, having created over 150 ballets and 25 musicals. He is also the founder of Gallman’s Newark Dance Theatre and School, and his works have been performed in the USA, Europe, South Africa, and even at the White House.
Kathy Sanson (Guest Artist) is a versatile dancer with a passion for Latin and jazz styles. From the roaring 20s to the present, her classes fuse mambo, cha-cha, samba, and partner work in salsa and swing. With a wealth of experience, Kathy has performed throughout Europe, North and South America, Asia, and Africa in festivals, theatres, television, videos, and even opera. Presently, Kathy is dedicated to sharing her love for dance with seniors, and has been teaching at centers such as UfT Retirees, MRHS, and now DVP.