Eastern University | Academics | Departments and Majors | Dance

FACULTY

Dr. Karen Clemente

Dr. Karen Clemente is a Professor of Dance at Eastern University, where she directs the Dance Program and Chairs the Department of Dance and Theatre. At Eastern she directs the Sacred Dance Group and advises the student led Dance Guild. In addition to her work at Eastern, Dr. Clemente co-directs Feet First: A Center for Contemporary and Classical Dance in Phoenixville, PA. She has performed professionally with the Sybil Dance Company of Philadelphia and was a founding member and co-director of Sacred Ways Dance Company. Dr. Clemente has served as a member of both the Pennsylvania Arts Curriculum Project and the Dance Advisory Council for the Pennsylvania Department of Education. She continues to serve as a state wide advocate for the establishment of dance certification for K-12 education. Additionally, Dr. Clemente has served as the Associate Editor for the national Journal of Dance Education (JODE) and is currently the journal’s Higher Education column editor.

Dr. Clemente earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communication Arts and Literature from Grove City College, and both a Master’s and Doctorate in Dance Education from Temple University, where she received a University Fellowship for her doctoral studies. Dr. Clemente was the 2001 Eastern University recipient of the Lindback Award for Excellence in Teaching. In 2001, she received the Professional Honor Award and in 2007, The University Teacher of the Year award, from the Pennsylvania State Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance. Dr. Clemente received national recognition by being named the Outstanding Dance Educator for Higher Education by the National Dance Education Organization in 2009.

Dr. Clemente’s research interests include: dance and spirituality, K-post secondary dance education, and kinesthetic learning across the curriculum. Her published works have appeared in state wide and national journals; most recently she edited a feature issue on Dance and Spirituality for the Journal of Dance Education (June 2008).

Saleana Pettaway

Saleana Pettaway is currently an Affiliate faculty of dance at Eastern University. Native to Philadelphia, her roots in dance and theater began at the New Freedom Theater ‘s intensive training program under Patricia Scott-Hobbs, where she worked with dance legends Pearl Primus, Jawole Willa Jo Zollar of Urban Bush Women, & Deborah Chase of Alvin Ailey. Saleana later became a scholarship recipient of the Temple University Dance Department and received her BFA & Masters in Dance Education, earning national merit from the National Dance Association in 1997. For over 15 years, she has worked with renowned international scholar, artist, & choreographer, Dr. Kariamu Welsh earning a certification in the contemporary African Dance technique, “Umfundalai” (1995) and appointed as a Master Teacher joining only two others at that level (2008). She remains a principle dancer of Kariamu & Company: Traditions, through which she has had the opportunity to perform in Gala performances at the International Association of Blacks in Dance, Black College Dance Exchange, Dance Boom, as well as performing in many critically acclaimed works by such artists as Nii Yartey, Artistic Director of Noyam in Ghana and Chuck Davis of the African-American Dance Ensemble. Ms. Pettaway's research focus is on African dance within the Christian tradition. She is a performer, teacher, and choreographer, but first, and foremost, a worshipper & mom.

Janine Bryant

Janine Bryant is an adjunct faculty of dance at Eastern University. She teaches courses for dance, biokinetics and education as well as the Campolo College of Graduate Studies. Janine is also on staff at Montgomery County Community College. She has been teaching technique and choreographing classical and contemporary ballets for more than twenty years. She received her B.F.A. in Modern Dance from the University of the Arts in 1986. Janine was a scholarship student at the Martha Graham School under Martha Graham, Diane Gray, Kevin Keenan, Yuriko, Pearl Lang, Peggy Lyman, Ethel Winter, Jacqueline Bulglisi, Don Foreman, Marianne Bachmann, and Armgard Von Barteleben. While in New York, Janine danced with the Pearl Lang Dance Company and appeared in the cast of Ms. Lang's "The Beloved", filmed at Brooklyn College. Janine also worked with Lynne Lesniak and Dancers, an offshoot of the Alwin Nikolai Company. In addition to her studies at the Graham School in New York, Janine was also on scholarship at the Peridance Center where she worked with Igal Perry, Miguel Moore and Zvi Gottheiner. Independently, Janine studied with Finis Jhung, David Howard and Madame Gabriella Darvash. She also worked with Kathy Grant in New York to learn the Pilates technique. Janine was chosen to dance the solo role of Doris Humphrey's "The Call and Breath of Fire" for the Philadelphia Dance Theatre and was personally coached by Ernestine Stodelle for the role. In the fall of 1990, Janine was one of two Americans accepted for study to The Royal Academy of Dancing in London, and earned her Elementary Excutant Certification and her Pre-Elementary Teaching Certification, both certifications are recognized in 52 countries worldwide. She has been a frequent guest lecturer at The University of the Arts where she received their prestigious Silver Star Alumni Award in 1996. The Silver Star Alumni award has been bestowed upon nearly 100 graduates of the University's College of Art and Design and College of Performing Arts. The honorees are selected because they are role models and represent educational and artistic excellence that the University's faculty works hard to achieve. Janine is a frequent guest artist for the Black Rock Dance Company in Reno, Nevada, where she creates new works and teaches master classes. Janine is a new member of the International Association of Dance Medicine and Science and has also begun preliminary research toward earning her PhD in Dance Science from Wolverhampton University in the United Kingdom. Janine is passionate about teaching solid technique at a university level as well as stressing the historical and technical importance of teaching the Martha Graham technique to all dancers during their formative training years. Janine lives in Audubon, PA with her dashing husband, David, and their two sons, Noah and Nathanael.

Anne O’Malley Castellanos

Anne O’Malley Castellanos is an adjunct faculty of dance at Eastern University. Anne received her BFA in Dance from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. With a career spanning over fifteen years and 2 continents she has performed with the Philadelphia Civic Ballet, Camerata Opera Theatre, Latin Fiesta, Flamenco Olé, Dublin’s Cuban Carnaval, The Philadelphia Orchestra and Ballet des Jeunes under the direction of Ursula Melita (with which she toured Europe several times). She also was commissioned to choreograph a number of works for these companies, including Gracias Espana (1991), Reflections (1995), Songs of Sonia Sanchez (1998) and Requerdos de Espana (2007). In addition to performing and choreographing, Anne taught weekly Spanish Dance and Flamenco classes in Dublin until 2004 and has been on the Faculty of Philadelphia’s Chestnet Hill College’s Summer Arts Program for over 10 years teaching Ballet, Jazz, Broadway, Flamenco & Spanish Dance. She founded Flamenco Y Mas International in Dublin, Ireland and has been featured on local and national television programs. At Eastern, Ms. Castellanos teaches "Fiesta Latina," a course through which students learn a global dance form and improvise with spanish musical rhythms.

Stephen Welsh

Stephen Welsh is an adjunct faculty of dance at Eastern University. He received his MFA in Dance from Temple University in 1987. Mr. Welsh has performed in the works of distinguished choreographers Anna Sokolow, Doug Varone, Moses Pendleton, Murray Louis, Jane Comfort and Jose Limon, performing at Carnegie Hall, Avery Fisher Hall, Central Park’s Summerstage, The Kitchen and the Yard. In Philadelphia, he has danced with Jeanne Ruddy Dance, Dance Fusion, Trapezius/Aerial Dance and continues to perform extensively with his own pick-up troupe, SWERVE. His choreography has received a Rockerfeller Foundation Grant, a PCA Grant, a Five-County Cultural Arts Grant, two PIAIS Grants and a Pew Foundation funded audience development project shared with David Morgan. In addition to his work at Eastern University, Stephen Welsh has been a guest artist and/or an adjunct faculty member at Swarthmore, The Community College of Philadelphia, the Montgomery County Community College, Drexel University, Bryn Mawr College and The University of Pennsylvania.

Stephen is an advocate for empowerment through the arts. He is on the board of the non-profit Indigenous Pitch Dance Collective, in which he is the chief writer and market researcher for their special outreach programs, which have included work with young Katrina survivors and students at risk.

Guest Faculty:

Cheryl Cutler

Cheryl Cutler, an adjunct faculty of dance at Eastern University, received her B.A. from Sarah Lawrence College and M.A. from Wesleyan University. She is a Certified Movement Analyst in Laban Movement Analysis. In 1967 she founded the Dance Department at Wesleyan, where she chaired the department and taught dance for 32 years, later becoming a Lecturer at Yale School of Drama. At Wesleyan in 1974. she and religion professor Randall Huntsberry co-founded Sonomama Improvisation Dance Theater. As co-founders of Listening Unlimited in 2001, they now lead movement improvisation workshops throughout the United States for dancers and non-dancers alike. In 2007, they co-authored a book on their work and the discipline and practice of creativity in all walks of life, Creative Listening: Overcoming Fear in Life and Work (iUniverse 2007).

Ran Huntsberry

Ran Huntsberry, an adjunct faculty of dance at Eastern University, received his B.A. and PhD. from Harvard University. He has taught comparative religion at Smith College, Wesleyan University, University of Massachusetts, San Diego State, Washington State, University of Idaho, and the University of Colorado. He has worked as a mediator/marriage and family counselor for the courts, in psychiatric hospitals, mental health centers, university counseling centers, and in private practice. Presently, he is a consultant/coach/educator for Fortune 500 corporations, universities, and in private practice. At Wesleyan in 1974, he and dance professor Cheryl Cutler co-founded Sonomama Improvisation Dance Theater. As co-founders of Listening Unlimited in 2001, they now lead movement improvisation workshops throughout the United States. Ran has authored Listening Out Loud: The Overcoming Fear in Life & Work (iUniverse 2007). He has published over 65 poems in various literary magazines and is presently working on a book of poems War Games: A Memoir - One.

David Berlin, composer, Carnegie Mellon 
Kristen Bissinger, creative dance and drama master teacher 
Rosaly Roffman, poet, Indiana University of Pennsylvania

Dance Faculty Photography Credits: Dave Christianson, Rose Loh, Patented Photos, RTE- Dublin, Ireland, Patti Singleton, Martha Swope