New Duncan Dance Project

Kelli joined Dances by Isadora in 1996 under the tutelage of Patricia Adams. She is now Co-Director of Dances by Isadora Boston and choreographs new work for the company both in the style of Duncan and through a contemporary lens. Kelli has also performed with choreographers Marcus Schulkind, David Parker, Sara Rudner, Ruth Birnberg, Brian Crabtree, Daniel McCusker, Caitlin Corbett and in her own work. Her choreography has been presented at Dance Umbrella, Dance Now Boston and Soaking Wet in NYC. She has choreographed numerous shows at The New Repertory Theatre, The Huntington, American Repertory Theatre, and Actors’ Shakespeare Project among others. Kelli is currently on the performing arts faculty at Milton Academy.

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​Sandra Zarotney Keldsen is Co-Director of the New Duncan Dance Project. She began her exploration of the Duncan work at the Boston Conservatory, studying with Dances by Isadora co-founder Catherine Gallant. Sandra joined Dances by Isadora upon completing her BFA in 1993 and continued her training with Duncan master teachers Patricia Adams and Sylvia Gold.  Sandra formed Dances by Isadora Boston with Kelli Edwards in 2012. She has performed with Daniel McCusker and Dancers, Lorraine Chapman the Company, and Kelli Edwards. She has taught Duncan Master classes at Tufts University, Stonehill College, UMass Amherst and the Southern Vermont Dance Festival.  Sandra is a certified yoga instructor, and teaches yoga and dance at Center Stage Performing Arts Studio in Quincy, MA. When not dancing or teaching, she serves as Director of Operations for Institutes and Executive Education at the Boston University Questrom School of Business.

Daniel McCusker is a dancer, choreographer, educator. His dances

have been performed in venues as varied as the ICA, Boston; Great
Friends Meeting House, Newport; the Getty Museum, Los
Angeles; Portland Performing Arts Center, Portland; Haystack
Mountain School for Crafts, Deer Isle; Danspace Project, NY, as
well as in numerous self-produced concerts. He is an Associate
Professor in the Dance Division, the Conservatory at Berklee, and
Emeritus Senior Lecturer, Tufts University.

In 2019, he was honored to perform in Los Angeles, as part of the
Merce Cunningham Centennial Project, Night of 100 Solos. He
also performed the Cunningham solos at the Akron Museum of
Art, the Spiegeltent at Bard, and the Guggenheim Museum in New
York.

Projects of the last few years include a duet with Jaclyn
Waguespack for the Motion State Dance Festival, Providence; a
work-in-progress quartet; rehearsal direction of Dan Wagoner's
"Plod" publication of "Start Here" in PAJ, a part of artist visual artist Katarina Weslien's project, Walks of Compassion; participation in a Dancing Lab, focused on dance and technology,at the National Center for Choreography, Akron; making a duet forperformances by the Christopher Watkins Dance Company,Minneapolis; rehearsal directing the Boston Conservatory
performances of Merce Cunningham, "How to Pass, Kick, Fall
and Run.”

McCusker has taught internationally in Canada, Singapore and
France, as well as at ADF, Jacob's Pillow, and as a guest artist in
many university dance and art programs. In addition to making his
own work, he performed in the work of many of his
contemporaries in New York, in the 70s and 80s, and in Portland
ME, in the 90s. He danced with the Lucinda Childs Dance
Company, 1977-1983, and 1990-91, on tour in the US and Western
Europe. For seven years, he directed Ram Island Dance, a

community dance organization, in Portland ME. After moving to
Boston, he served as the co-director of the Young Dancers
Program for Summer Stages Dance. 

A native New Yorker, Daniel McCusker trained at Alfredo
Corvino's studio, studied modern technique at the Cunningham
Studio, and improvisation with Judy Padow. In Maine, he studied
modern technique with Gwyneth Jones. In Boston, he studied
improvisation with Olivier Besson and Debra Bluth. Currently, he
takes Pilates mat classes with Joelle Garfi and Yoga classes with
Lucy Cimini.

Rose Woods Dance Collaborative is a dance theatre and performance art company founded by New England dancers and choreographers, Jenna Gross and Jillian MacLaughlin. Their work offers social commentary through pantomime-inspired comedy and absurdism.  They are experts at making serious topics into jokes – and taking jokes seriously. 

RWDC’s distinct mix of full-bodied athleticism, dramatic physicality, and comedic levity brings freshness to the role dance plays in communities.  Jenna and Jillian’s keen understanding of the dualities of human nature help make their work absolutely engaging, touching, and fun to be a part of.

Irene has been dancing in the Boston area most of her life. Over the years she has had the honor of performing with many wonderful choreographers including Caitlin Corbett, Marcus Schulkind, Daniel McCusker, Brian Crabtree, Lorraine Chapman The Company, Kelli Edwards, Back Porch Dance Company, Jody Weber, and most recently Peter DiMuro/Public Displays of Motion. She is delighted to be learning the work of Isadora Duncan and performing with these beautiful women. 

Alison Ball has been dancing in the Boston area since her relocation here in 1996. She happily worked with Patt Adams soon after arriving and after a long hiatus, she returns to work with the beautiful Dances by Isadora dancers. She has also danced with Daniel McCusker, Brian Crabtree, Caitlin Corbett, Kelli Edwards, Audra Carabetta, Marjorie Morgan, Debra Bluth, and Joan Green. She holds an MFA from George Washington University and currently works as a physical therapy assistant.

Colleen Quinn teaches movement, music and theatre arts at Inly School in Scituate. She holds an MFA in Performance and Choreography from Smith College where she was introduced to the Isadora Duncan technique by the incomparable Gemze deLappe. Colleen is a frequent choreographer at TheaterPlus!, BowMassey Labs, Inly Players and Bridgewater State University. Most recently, Colleen performed in the original musical, The Pony Express, and can be heard on the cast album, available everywhere! Colleen is thrilled to be able to revive, recreate and reinvent Isadora Duncan’s work and is so grateful to do so with such lovely and talented company members.

Maya Slocum began her studies with the Jose Mateo Ballet Theater and performed for several years in the company’s production of The Nutcracker. Later she studied ballet under Cosmin and Melinda Marculetiu with the International Ballet Academy of Norwell. She has performed with David Parker and The Bang Group in Boston, and was a member of the Vassar Repertory Dance Theater at Vassar College. She was introduced to Duncan's work as a student of Kelli Edwards’ and is honored to continue learning and performing this work with Dances By Isadora Boston.

Joelle Garfi holds an MFA from Smith College. In Boston she has danced and collaborated with many choreographers, including Caitlin Corbet, Brian Crabtree, Daniel McCusker and Marcus Schulkind. As a member of the Harvard Summer Dance Center, Joelle studied and danced in the works of Donald Byrd, Sean Curran, David Dorfman and Bill T Jones/Arnie Zane. Currently Joelle owns and teaches at her pilates studio in Brookline, MA. Joelle is delighted to have the opportunity to learn the dances of Isadora Duncan with such a lovely and talented group of dancers.

Jillian MacLaughlin is a Boston-based dance performance artist, choreographer and educator from the seacoast of New Hampshire. Jillian graduated Magna Cum Laude from Roger Williams University with a BA in Dance and Performance Studies. During her time in the RWU Dance Theatre, she worked with an array of professional guest artists and spent the fall of 2018 studying in London, England. In the fall of 2019, she choreographed her senior thesis work entitled “Overshoot”, an abstract movement research surrounding the world’s climate crisis and its societal implications.  After graduating in 2020, Jillian began teaching students of all ages across the New England area. She has had the pleasure of dancing for Natalie Johnson Dance, Amy Stacy Curtis, Eliza Malecki, and Lorraine Chapman the Company. In 2022 she established Rose Woods Dance Collaborative, a comedy centered modern dance theater collective co-directed by Jenna Gross. RWDC strives to delve into social commentary through pantomime inspired movement with a whimsical and jocose approach. The primary focus of their choreographic work is to make serious topics into jokes and to take jokes seriously.  When Jillian is not dancing she can be found making a mean cup of coffee at a local café, singing at the top of her lungs or enjoying the company of her cat companion Milo.

Jenna Gross is a dancer, choreographer, and multi-media artist from Westford, MA. They received their BA in Dance and Performance with a minor in Graphic Design Communications from Roger Williams University. Jenna has worked with Lorriane Chapman (LCTC), Catherine Siller, Eliza Malecki, Natalie Johnson Dance, Providence Ballet Theatre. Their current research and practice revolves around kinesthetically sound movement and exploring dynamic partnering. Their passion for comedy intertwines within their practice by discovering quirky movements and poking fun at the prestige of dance.  Jenna is also the codirector of Rose Woods Dance Collaborative, a performance art-focused dance theatre company, along side Jillian MacLaughlin. Their work approaches social commentary through pantomime-inspired comedy and absurdism. The main focus of their choreographic work is to make serious topics into jokes and to take jokes seriously. When Jenna is not dancing she can be found knitting, creating ceramic pieces, or acquiring another craft hobby.

Julia Keldsen is a recent graduate of Roger Williams University (RWU). She graduated with a dual degree in Anthropology-Sociology and Dance and Performance studies. In the fall of 2023, Julia studied abroad in London with the RWU dance program where she worked with many amazing dancers/choreographers such as Renaud Wiser and Stephan Pelton. During her last year at RWU, Julia worked with artists Claudia-Lynn Rightmire and Heavy Boots,  directed Layne Willis and Anna Tse. Julia is happy to now be a part of the New Duncan Dance Project.

Cara Grady holds a BA in Dance and Performance Studies and a minor in Global Communication from Roger Williams University. While at university, she studied Bartenieff Fundamentals, Laban Movement, Cunningham Technique, Contact Improvisation, and many somatic movement practices.  She has worked with Shawn Ahern, Mike Tyus, Nattie Trogdon, Hollis Bartlett, and Nicole Gallo. Cara spent a semester in London researching movement and current performances. While there she worked with Renaud Wiser and Stephen Pelton. During her time a Roger Williams she choreographed two pieces and a solo work.  She joined Dances by Isadora in her first year post graduation and she teaches dance within the Merrimack Valley.

Jennifer Binversie began her dance training at the Jean Wolfmeyer School of Dance and continued on scholarship at the Virginia School of the Arts, later graduating from the Alabama School of Fine Arts under the direction of David Keener. Her summers were spent studying at various dance intensives, most notably Interlochen Center for the Arts, Milwaukee Ballet, Atlanta Ballet, and Hubbard Street Dance Chicago. Upon graduating from the University of Hartford- Hartt School, with a dance pedagogy degree and minors in entrepreneurial studies and performing arts management, Binversie began dancing overseas in the South Pacific aboard Holland America Cruise Line. Upon returning to the US, Binversie headed the dance department at a private boarding high school in downeast Maine, where she developed a new curriculum for the dancers that included abstract movement. She has performed in works by George Balanchine, Antony Tudor, Martha Graham, Jose Limon, and Isadora Duncan. Binversie is also an active company member of Dances by Isadora, performing classical Duncan technique, and Rosewood Dance Collaborative, a contemporary movement company. Binversie has also performed with NACHMO Boston and Malden Dance Mile. She has taught dance at Interlochen Center for the Arts, and Boston Ballet where her choreography was presented on the international stage. Binversie has completed educational teacher trainings at  the Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet, and Boston Ballet’s Adaptive Dance Teacher Training, where she has consistently been a guest presenter. Binversie holds her Masters Degree in Arts Leadership and Cultural Management from Colorado State University and is excited to be part of the Duncan lineage.