Graduate Teaching Fellows 2009-2010
Phone: 541.346.4096
Office: Gerlinger 230
Third Year Candidates
Marcie Mamura
Marcie Mamura graduated from Kansas State University in 2002 with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Theatre with a Dance Concentration. Following graduation, she moved to Chicago to continue dance studies in conjunction with her volunteer involvement in AmeriCorps. She studied on scholarship with Chicago’s Jump Rhythm Jazz Project and at the Joel Hall Dance Center. She is currently a Graduate Teaching Fellow pursuing a Master of Fine Arts Degree in Dance at the University of Oregon. As a graduate student, Marcie has attended the 2008 LEVYdance Summer Intensive in San Francisco, CA and the 2009 Urban Bush Women Summer Leadership Institute in New Orleans, LA.
A.T. Moffett
A.T. Moffett is pursuing her M.F.A. at the University of Oregon. As a graduate teaching fellow, she teaches Modern, Ballet, Jazz, and African dance. Before coming to Eugene, she worked as a free-lance artist in New York where she performed at Lincoln Center with The Little Orchestra Society and in a series of site-specific works with Stephan Koplowitz. After two years in NYC, she moved to Philadelphia where she performed with Myra Bazell, Philadanco’s Second Company, and toured with Tania Isaac Dance. She also performed for two seasons with Dance Fusion where she worked with choreographers Mary Anthony, Donald McKayle and the Anna Sokolow Foundation. She has taught at the Philadelphia Performing Arts Center, Cardinal Bevilacqua Community Center, and for UO’s Summer Enrichment Program. She has attended Bates Dance Festival, Anne Green Gilbert's Brain Compatible Dance Education Training, and the Bill Evans/Cornish Dance Teacher Training.
Alex Taylor
Alex Taylor grew up near Detroit, Michigan dancing and teaching at her mother's studio. In 2007 she received her B.F.A. in Dance at Western Michigan University where she danced in works by George Faison, Martha Graham, and Helen Tamiris. Alex also has a strong interest in Dance Medicine and Science and participated in the Dancer Wellness Screenings at WMU, where she performed data entry and helped to develop protocol for screenings. She recently attended the 2009 American Dance Festival at Duke University as a scholarship recipient and took part in the Paul Taylor Project with Ruth Andrien and other visiting Taylor guests. She took classes with David Dorfman, Linda-Denise Fisher-Harrell, Gerrie Houlihan, HeJin Jang, LaShawn Jones, Amanda Miller, Jillian Peña, and many others. During her time at the University of Oregon, Alex has reveled in collaborating with local artists such as Ari Denison, Desirée Townley, Sam L. Richards, and Ben Kruase. She is excited to take advantage of her third year as a GTF, and looks forward to her final projects at the University.
Second Year Candidates
Laura Katzman
Laura Katzman began dancing and participating in competitive gymnastics while growing up in Nashville, TN. She received her B.F.A in Dance with an additional major in Sociology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2008. Laura danced in works by Kathleen Hermesdorf, Larry Keigwin, Li-Chiao Ping, Risa Steinberg, Jin-Wen Yu, and Nina Watt. At the UW, she performed in a restaging of an excerpt of “A Choreographic Offering” by José Limón. She also attended the American Dance Festival, the Bates Dance Festival and most recently the Brain-Compatible Dance Education Workshop with Anne Green Gilbert. Laura has performed her choreography at the North Central ACDFA 2008 and at the Tribeca Performing Arts Center in New York City in 2008 for the "Badgers Dance the Big Apple." In Madison, she served as Director of the Wisconsin Union Theater Student Programming Board in 2006-2007 where she brought world and concert music and dance to the local community. Laura taught dance to children at Storybook Ballet as well. She is excited to further her dance studies by continuing to choreograph, teach ballet and ballroom, and conduct her research here at the University of Oregon.
Erinn Thompson-Ernst
Erinn Ernst began dancing in her hometown, Osage City, Kansas, at the age of three and has never stopped. She attended Kansas State University for two years where her choreography was taken to American College Dance Festival in 2000. She attended the Alvin Ailey Summer Dance Intensive in 2000. She then transferred to the University of Colorado at Boulder and finished her Bachelor of Arts in Dance in 2005. While in Boulder, she also attended The Guild for Structural Integration and graduated a Certified Practitioner of Structural Integration and Certified Massage Therapist in 2005. Following her completion of schooling, Erinn taught at Washington Dance Studio in Manhattan, Kansas where her choreography was taken to regional competitions winning "Best Overall Performance" and "1" ratings in Modern, Jazz, Ballet, and Lyrical dance. Here at the University of Oregon, Erinn teaches Jazz, Modern, Tap, and African dance.
Dawn Urista
Dawn Urista graduated from University of California - Irvine in 2002 with degrees in Dance and History. Prior to beginning her studies at the University of Oregon, she performed professionally in San Francisco with group A dance and the with the Conservatory of Classical Ballet. In undergraduate and professional work she danced for Alyssa Lee, Donald McKayle, Ann Fisher-Ratto, Michael Lowe, Sally Streets, Xiao Liu-Moore, Larry Rosenberg, Glenda Carhart, Cory Antipa, and David Allen; and has acquired a repertory of post-modern dance as well as both classical and contemporary ballet. She intends to research Ulysses Dove's work with the Royal Swedish Ballet.
First Year Candidates
Liana Conyers
Liana Conyers received her B.A. from Bennington College in 2003, where she concentrated in dance and psychology. There she studied under the direction of Dana Reitz, Susan Sgorbati, Terry Creach and Peggy Florin. Liana has studied at the Martha Graham School of Contemporary Dance and The Merce Cunningham Studios. She has completed internships with The Merce Cunningham Dance Foundation and the Joyce Theatre SoHo, N.Y. Liana has performed with Keith Thompson and Eva Kraczag both former members of the Trisha Brown Dance Company. She was an Associate Dancer for Several Dancers Core, CORE Performance Company during 2007 (Atlanta, GA), and danced with Wayne Smith (SmithWorks) and Jhon Stronks (There in the Sunlight) from 2003-Present. Liana has choreographed for Spelman College Dance Theatre, taught movement classes for Several Dancers Core, Dynamic X-Change Program and the Ballethnic Summer Dance Intensive. She is excited to continue her dancing journey as a first year graduate teaching fellow at the University of Oregon.
Wenwen Dong
Wenwen Dong started dancing as a child and has been immersed since middle school, when she received ballet training at the Beijing Dance Academy. Wenwen graduated from Wuhan University in China with B.A. in Biology in 2006. She continued to study dance in Ballet and Folk Dance, attending college dance festivals each year, and teaching folk dance for the teachers’ union. Before graduating from college, she started a dance studio of her own where she put art management into practice, teaching adult folk dance, yoga and jazz, culminating in a music and dance concert. After deciding to pursue academic dance, she moved back to Beijing where she won three championships in civic and nation-wide dance competitions. In 2008, she attended the Refined Chinese Classical dance program in Beijing Dance Academy where she was attracted to the dance theory known as Zhengyi Li which is a post-modern term evolved from Chinese Kungfu and Taiji. Wenwen is excited about being exposed at a different culture here in the US. She’s interested in and eager to learn and is excited about teaching jazz in her first year.
Jean Nelson
Jean Nelson has been an Adjunct Instructor of Dance and Yoga at the University of Oregon since 1995. She teaches courses in modern dance technique, tap dance technique, Dance Conditioning, and Vinyasa and Ashtanga Yoga. She graduated with a B.A. in Art History from Carleton College in 1982, and then performed with Shirley Jenkins' company, STRONG WIND, WILD HORSES,in Seattle from 1984-1986. She received an M.A. in Dance from the University of Oregon in 1989, and was a founding member of Eugene's Northwest Tap Consort. After studying with Master Teacher David Swenson, she became certified to teach Ashtanga Yoga in 1998. Jean completed her Gyrotonic Certification in 2005 and works with individual clients at the Movement Center at the Downtown Athletic Club. She is excited to be going back to school in the Dance M.F.A. Program where her research will focus on the integration of yoga into the academic dance curriculum.
Amy Ward
Amy Ward earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree in Dance from the University of Wisconsin in Madison. She received numerous grants and scholarships including a senior honors research fellowship from the University of Wisconsin School of Education, and was the first to be awarded the Jody Gottfried-Arnhold Scholarship that supported an intensive program of study at the Dance Education Laboratory in New York City where she earned a level one certification in the Language of Dance. She has worked extensively with University of Wisconsin dance faculty and companies including Jin-Wen Yu, Li Chiao-Ping, Claudia Melrose, Marlene Skog, along with resident instructors Chris Walker, Sara Pearson, Patrik Widrig, Barbara Grubel and guest artists Dan Wagoner, Heidi Latsky, and Tandy Beal. Following her graduation in 2003, Amy taught ballet, pointe, jazz, tap, lyrical, and hip-hop at multiple dance academies, fostering a new passion for teaching dance. Amy is pursuing a Master Of Fine Arts Degree to further her knowledge base, develop curriculum, and to teach adults and children in a creative atmosphere where they learn in a fun and interesting way that increases their love of movement and fosters their artistic voice.