Danielle Fraenkel, Ph.D., BC-DMT, NCC, LCAT, LMHC, CGP
Director of Kinections℠, the only free standing institute in the USA that offers all the dance/movement therapy courses required for certification via the alternate route, received the American Dance Therapy Association’s 2014 Excellence in Education Award. Besides teaching graduate-level courses at Kinections, supervising student and practicing DMTs, and seeing adult and adolescent clients both individually and in groups, “Dr. Dance” currently teaches Dance Therapy at the University of Rochester, advises the dance therapy program at the Hochstein School of Music and Dance, and is the primary tutor and advisor for India's 1st Post Graduate Certification in Dance/Movement Therapy at the Sancheti Healthcare Academy in Pune.
Credentialed in both counseling and dance/movement therapy, Dr. Fraenkel is an innovator. In addition to advising the creative arts therapy master’s degree program at the University of Hong Kong, and creating DMT programs at a variety of agencies and partial programs in western New York, she developed LivingDance while working with people struggling with eating disorders and histories of trauma. Always open to evolution and the healing and creative processes in dance and music, Dr. Fraenkel, in 1998, and musician, Jeffrey Mehr, co-created LivingDance~LivingMusic, a synthesis of human development, creativity, dance, music, bodymind integrity, and counseling.
Dr. Fraenkel has introduced LivingDance~LivingMusic at numerous psychologically oriented conferences, and upon invitation, has written about LivingDance~LivingMusic, in texts devoted to group therapy. Currently, Dr. Fraenkel is developing a two-track training program in LivingDance~LivingMusic, one for educators and the other for therapists. To date, she has brought LivingDance~LivingMusic to a wide range of countries, in the east, west, and mid-east.
For more information, please write to kinectionsinfo@kinections.com.
Elissa Queyquep White, BC-DMT, LCAT, CMA
A charter member and past president of the ADTA, has been a dance/movement therapist for more than five decades. She studied with Marian Chace, was one of the creators of the first graduate dance/movement therapy program at Hunter College of the City University of New York, belongs to the rare breed of faculty who continued to teach and do dance/movement therapy in psychiatric settings until she retired. She has been teaching at Kinections since the inception of its alternate route program in dance/movement therapy, taught for years at New School University. Currently, she is a Visiting Associate Professor also teaches in the dance/movement master’s program at Pratt Institute.
Nana Koch, Ed.D., BC-DMT, LCAT, NCC
An Associate Professor and Chairperson of the Department of Health, Physical Education and Movement Science at Long Island University Post (LIU Post), is one of the senior faculty from Kinections teaching dance/movement therapy at Sancheti Hospital’s Health Care Academy in Pune, India. She was the Coordinator of the Hunter College Dance/Movement Therapy Masters Program before it closed in 1996. The author of several articles on dance/movement therapy that have appeared in ADTA journals, she has also been the Chair of the ADTA Credentials Committee and a long-standing member of the ADTA Approval Committee. Dr. Koch has taught courses on dance/movement therapy group process in addition to teaching courses on the work of dance/movement therapy pioneer Liljan Espenak in the United States, Japan, Costa Rica, China, South Korea, and India. She also teaches primary and high school teachers how to integrate physical activity into their lessons in Costa Rica, and school districts in New York State. A Certified Movement Analyst, Board Certified Dance/Movement Therapist and Licensed Creative Arts Therapist in New York State, she utilizes her expertise in these areas to teach the dance therapy module in the newly created Expressive Arts Therapy course taught in the Art Therapy Program at LIU Post.
Iris Rifkin-Gainer, MA, BC-DMT
A lifelong student and associate of Blanche Evan, was a member of New York University's Graduate Dance Therapy Program from 1970-1984. She has taught an ADTA approved Alternate Route course on Evan's work at Kinections since the early 1990s and utilizes Blanche Evan Methods in individual sessions, dance therapy workshops, supervision, creative dance classes and in depth movement exploration for students of dance and theater. Over the years Rifkin-Gainer has presented Evan's work at Smith College, Naropa University, Hope College, The Bucknell Institute for Lifelong Learning (BILL) as well as in London and Beijing.
Jeffrey D. Mehr, MA, MLP
Experienced from an early age with playing multiple musical instruments, composing, and arranging, Mr. Mehr discovered the rudiments of what he came to call LivingMusic at the Kinections workshop in Corfu, Greece, in summer 1998. He has been developing and exploring the methods since, to guide both himself and others to discover their own innate, body-based music which they can express in the "now." Many of the techniques of LivingMusic extend from those of LivingDance, with additional material drawn from Mr. Mehr's more than 40 years experience in the martial arts. Mr. Mehr is also a graduate of the Musicianship and Leadership Program (MLP) of Music for People, a non-profit organization that focuses on discovering and expressing the music within.
Rose Pasquarello Beauchamp, MFA, CLMA
A dance artist, somatic educator, filmmaker, and activist. Her teaching and artistic work in somatics and body awareness is rooted in her work as a Certified Laban Movement Analyst. As the Artistic Director of inFluxdance and Collaborator with SirensProof Films, her creative work has been featured in cities internationally and across the country. During the last decade, she has taught at a spectrum of universities including Alfred University, SUNY Brockport, Dean College and the University of Virginia where, as the Head of Dance, she developed the dance program from the ground up. Much of her artistic research in the academic environment is interdisciplinary, requiring collaboration across disciplines — finding ways to integrate dance with architecture, art, psychology, engineering, art, and music. Rose’s ability to integrate concepts from seemingly diverse realms include her focus on dance and social activism. Currently, she is exploring metaphor as it relates to socio-political art making and sharing the results of her research internationally through performance and presentations. As a Full-time Senior Lecturer in the Dance and Movement Program at the University of Rochester, she is teaches courses that speak to her strengths and passions for choreography and performance, arts and activism, and Laban Movement Analysis.
Karolina Bryl, Ph.D., R-DMT, CMA, RMST, RSME
Dr. Bryl earned her PhD in Creative Arts Therapies from Drexel University, and is a certified DMT psychotherapist (in both Europe and USA). She is a member of the Polish Association of Dance Movement Psychotherapy – Ethics and Research Committee, American Association of Dance/Movement Therapy - Global Membership and Research and Practice Committees, and Schizophrenia International Research Society (Ethics Committee). Able to work clinically both in Polish and English, she has worked individually and in groups with children who have suffered neglect and abuse, have the difficulty of adaptation and autistic spectrum and adults with mental disorders, depression and schizophrenia. She has led dance/movement psychotherapy and somatic therapies sessions in the psychiatric setting in both Polish and American psychiatric hospitals while also maintaining a private practice in DMT psychotherapy. Since 2013 she has been a research team member at Mind, Movement, Interaction, and Development Research Group MMID-RG/The Sossin Lab at Pace University, New York, International Psychoanalytic Association Lifetime Research Fellow, and 2016-2017 Contemporary Freudian Society psychoanalytic fellow. She has taught DMT, Research, Anatomy/Kinesiology and movement observation courses (KMP, LMA) across the world, in countries that include Poland, USA, China, and India. Among her research interests are: (1) dance/movement therapy/ psychotherapy effectiveness in adults with mental illness, (2) movement/nonverbal behavior observation and analysis and the body’s relevance to psychic processes, and (3) kinesic attributes and neuropsychoanalytic and developmental research with perspectives on mirror neurons, joint attention, shared affects and attachment processes.
Robin Glenski, MA, LCAT
has practiced dance/movement therapy since 1986. She has specialized in working with emotionally disturbed hearing and deaf youth at Hillside Children's Center in Rochester, NY. As a clinician, the agency has relied on her for trauma work using the TF-CBT model. Robin has held other positions there as well including Clinical Manager of a residential Unit for young boys, Family Clinician, and Care Coordinator for Service Integration (this department manages admissions and emergency community calls).
Michele Iemolo, PsyD.,BCBA
Assistant Professor, Department of Pediatrics, University of New Mexico, Center for Development and Disability, and member of Kinections’ teaching faculty at Sancheti Hospital’s Health Care Academy in Pune, India, has over 15 years of experience assessing and treating clinical populations across the life span including individuals with autism spectrum disorder, developmental disabilities, psychiatric conditions, neuro-behavioral disorders & dementia. She has extensive training and experience in applied behavior analysis, cognitive behavior therapy, dance/movement therapy, mindfulness based stress reduction, collaborative problem solving, crisis intervention & language acquisition.
A licensed psychologist, board certified behavior analyst, graduate of the Alternate Route Program at Kinections, and registered- dance/movement therapist candidate, awaiting approval from the Dance/Movement Therapy Certification Board, Michele also break dances, teaches Yoga (200-hour Certified), plays djembe and pan drum, writes children songs, and is teaching herself how to play guitar.Michele's ability to interact with individuals on a nonverbal plane permeates all aspects of her work. She understands that all movement and behavior communicates, and that understanding their roles facilitates awareness of self and others, aides in the development of language, fosters socialization and creates feelings of effectiveness.
Stephanie “Stevie” Oakes, MFA, CSCS
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Valerie Perdue, PhD, BC-DMT
is a clinical psychologist who has been a licensed in NY State for over 30 years. She was originally trained as a scientist/practitioner with an emphasis on empirically validated methods such as behavior therapy and CBT. Over the years she expanded her clinical skills to include neuropsychology, personality based approaches, and couples and family therapy. She has published book chapters and peer reviewed journal articles, and presented at national and international scientific meetings, on broad ranging topics in child development, non-verbal communication, neuroscience, and health psychology. She has been an adjunct faculty member at Binghamton University supervising doctoral students and teaching both graduate and undergraduate courses.
She began her dance/movement therapy studies in 2005, becoming a board certified dance/movement therapist in 2015. This was a labor of love stimulated by having experienced the transformative power of dance while studying the technique and repertory of Isadora Duncan. Dr. Perdue works with children, adolescents and adults individually and in groups. Children’s dance/movement therapy groups give her special joy. She specializes in embodied psychotherapy with adolescents and adults with dissociative disorders.
Shannon Seddon, MA, BC-DMT, LCAT
Shannon is a Dance Movement Therapist at Heritage Christian Services where she specializes in working with adults and children with developmental and intellectual disabilities as well as Autism Spectrum Disorder. Other experience includes providing Dance Movement Therapy (DMT) for those diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, HIV/AIDS, Parkinson’s disease, Multiple Sclerosis, and traumatic brain injury. Working individually and in groups, she works with a person centered approach recognizing the unique needs of each individual. In addition to therapy, she also leads creative movement sessions with a developmental focus for children ages 2-5 . Shannon is passionate about the benefits of dance and enjoys seeing how this modality helps people cope with life’s challenges. Shannon received her master’s degree in Dance Movement Therapy and Counseling from Antioch University, New England and received her bachelor’s degree in Performing Arts from Wells College.