Sofia Ameglio (Teaching Artist/Dancer) is an Argentine dancer and actress based in New York City. A graduate of the Martha Graham School's Teacher Training and 2-Year Certificate Programs, she continues to pursue her passion for performance. Sofia performs with various dance companies, including Dance Action and Nuevo Tango Ballet, and works on diverse projects, including commercials. Dedicated to making movement accessible, she has taught dance and movement to people with visual impairments at the Blind Library in Argentina and volunteered at senior centers, sharing her love of movement with older adults. Sofia is excited to be part of the DVP community. 

Jackie Bernard (Teaching Artist/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.

Jill Forger (Teaching Artist) grew up on Long Island and has dedicated over 40 years to yoga and meditation. With a background in Iyengar Yoga, she taught it at Columbia University for fifteen years and worked as a massage therapist. Early in her career, she was a middle and high school science teacher before transitioning into administration at Columbia University, where she later retired. Jill has a lifelong love of dance, with early training and studies at Barnard College. She finds joy in movement and community, especially assisting with outdoor dance at Grant’s Tomb and other classes.

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/Dancer) is an 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/ Dancer)from Michigan, a graduate of the 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/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.

Marie Pedraza (Teaching Artist/Dancer) was raised in Morelia, Mexico where she began  her training in ballet at the age of 3 under the prestigious Royal Academy of Dance ballet technique. Marie has extensive training in ballet, jazz, theatre, hiphop, heels dance and Latin rhythms. Over the years she has had the opportunity to teach, choreographed and performed in different programs and schools in Mexico, Ecuador and USA. In 2019 she became a Royal Academy of dance (RAD) certified teacher. She recently moved to New York and she teaches ballet, jazz and heels throughout the area. 

Ellen Sackoff (Teaching Artist/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.

Elena Sundick is a NYC-based dancer, choreographer, and educator. In addition to DVP, she teaches for Ailey Arts In Education & Community Programs and Marquis Studios, serving K–12 students, older adults, and diverse communities across NYC. A graduate of The Ailey School, she also holds a bachelor’s degree in Dance and Cognitive/Somatic Studies (Summa Cum Laude) from Hunter College. Passionate about mental health advocacy in dance, Elena was a 2022 Mellon Public Humanities Scholars Program fellow. She presented her research at the DANCE/NYC 2022 Symposium and was published in Dance Spirit Magazine. Additionally, she teaches ballet and modern at Berest Dance Center.