Bios

shawn brush

Shawn Brush is a New York-based dancer and choreographer who is a company member with both danceTactics performance group and Falcon Dance. Shawn has performed with Amber Sloan, The Dance Exchange, Meagan Woods Company, Maya Orchin, Laura Peterson Choreography, Stefanie Nelson, The New Collectives, and Artichoke Dance Company. His own work, in collaboration with his partner Molly McGrath as Brush/McGrath(works), has been presented at Arts on Site, Art House Productions, Judson Church, Dixon Place, Triskelion Arts, Green Space, and a good friend’s wedding.  Shawn is also a teaching artist and has taught at Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University and Raritan Valley Community College, and has been a guest teacher at The Dance Exchange, various universities, and public schools. He graduated with a BFA in Dance from Mason Gross School of the Arts in 2015.

sara roer

Sara Roer (she/her/hers) currently identifies as an extroverted, non-disabled, cisgender, white queer femme and hails from Waccamaw land colonially known as Wilmington, North Carolina, where she got an early start dancing as the southern drawling star of many a home video. She became the youngest member of the Wilmington Independent Choreographers and a competitive gymnast before heading North to earn her B.F.A., summa cum laude, at George Mason University. After a colorful college run that took her to China and back, she transplanted to Lenapehoking, aka NYC, in 2005—after asking to be left there on visits to her grandparents for at least a decade. Her "slash life" mosaic of activity has been driven by curiosity and a sense of adventure, with dance performance and arts administration as deeply rooted constants. In both the dance and administrative realms, Sara values collaboration for building sustainable, impactful, long-term work. While becoming a New Yorker, she has had the pleasure of working with Keith A. Thompson for nearly 20 years (earning a New York Timesmention, “eloquent,” in her inaugural season), as well as a founding dancer with Emily Berry/b3w Performance Group. She has also worked on projects with Susan Vencl, Heather McArdle, Karen Malpede, and many others, and has presented her own choreography at venues throughout NYC and North Carolina. She co-founded This Body with longtime friend and co-conspirator Diane Tomasi nearly 10 years ago. Sara has been training in and practicing traditional Thai Yoga Bodywork for nearly 20 years, starting with her mentor Al Turner II. She was at her artistic and administrative home, BAX | Brooklyn Arts Exchange, in various roles—including Senior Manager of Operations—for over 14 years before moving into work with Dance/NYC where she is currently Interim Executive Director.

emily berry

Emily Berry is an actress/dancer/choreographer who has primarily been working in dance theater and contemporary concert dance. Emily is the Founding Director of B3W Performance Group (2006-present), co-creating devised evening-length works fusing theater, dance, music, and new media scenography from a social justice perspective. She dances with danceTactics Performance group (2010-present). Emily has performed in the US, Mexico, Greece, Italy, Japan, Scotland, and Thailand. She has appeared in films by directors Bella Reith (Lottie), Manuel Rubio (Bequest), Zoe Gilfix (For What It’s Worth), and Isaiah Coleman (Knock ‘Em Dead), among others. She is an Associate Professor of dance at Queensborough Community College.

nicole mcclam

Nicole Y. McClam, CMA, MFA, has been dancing with danceTactics since 2019 and teaches at Queensborough Community College, where she delights in the awesomeness of dance with her students. She was a long-time member of Deborah Riley Dance Projects (2002–2011) and currently performs with Kayla Hamilton/Circle O. She’s proud to have been fired from Dakshina and BosmaDance because she’s remained besties with the dancers hired to replace her. Though she choreographs reluctantly, her work has been presented in Washington, DC, Maryland, New York, and Texas. Nicole is a book reviewer for the Journal of Dance Education and contributed a chapter in Dancing Across the Lifespan (2022) called “A Letter Re-Membering Ballet Class.” A DC native with four degrees, she enjoys knitting, researching zombies, vegan desserts, and nonsensical conversations with her teen.

aidan feldman

Aidan Feldman has been a part of danceTactics since 2012. He is also a member of Artichoke Dance and Valerie Green/Dance Entropy, and occasionally puts together shows of his own. In the past, he has worked with Chavasse Dance & Performance, Spark Movement Collective, and the Barkin/Selissen Project. Aidan leads multiple lives, also working to make government function better through technology, and teaching code and data skills to public policy students at Columbia University and New York University (NYU). When not dancing or nerding, Aidan can be found glaring at cars from his bicycle. He's thrilled to be sharing this work with you, thank you for supporting the arts.

Guest Artists

brendan mccall

Brendan McCall has worked in over 40 countries on 5 continents as a performer, choreographer, director, and producer, and has had the pleasure of working with Paul Langland, Lars Øyno, Alexandra Beller, Moisés Kaufman, Maureen Fleming, David Gordon, Stephen Petronio, among others. He performed in and co-produced Brain to Brain (2019), the final work created by his mentor Mary Overlie; performed in the Ibsen Award-winning production of Svanhild in Norway, Russia, and Japan (2015-17); and a number of his choreographies were presented by Danspace Project between 1995-2008. He was the Manager of the Cummins Theatre in Australia (2012-14), served as Producer & Director for Grusomhetens Teater (2014-17), and was Production Manager for Tulsa Ballet (2019). He first collaborated with Keith Thompson on Human Behaviors (Danspace Project) in 2001, and has been a member of danceTactics since 2015. Since first performing at La MaMa in Sin Cha Hong´s Pluto (1994)), Brendan has subsequently produced world- and US-premiere productions by Grusomhetens Teater, Kari Hoaas, and Nela Kornetová, as well as worked with Pavel Zustiak/Palissimo. As a teacher, he has taught at the Yale School of Drama, the New School for Drama, the Actors Studio, New York University, Pace University, Bilkent University (Turkey), Ballettakademien and the University of Dance (Sweden), and The International Theater Academy Norway, where he also served as Dean from 2008-10. He teaches regularly at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, as well as master classes at Terry Knickerbocker Studio and elsewhere. He has written numerous articles and award-winning pieces related to performance since 1997, which have been translated into ​French,​​Norwegian,​ ​Russian,​ ​and Belarusian, and is a staff writer for thINKingDANCE and a contributing writer to Culturebot. He is a designated instructor of Allan Wayne Work, the Jean Hamilton Floor Barre, and Mary Overlie´s Six Viewpoints; co-founder of Interzone Films, an independent production company, with Akira Veintidos; and has published award-winning fiction under a pseudonym. BFA with Honors in Acting, New York University. MFA in Dance, Bennington College. MPhil in Ibsen Studies (ABT), University of Oslo. 

clarence brooks

Clarence Brooks toured the US, Europe, and Asia with 80 plus companies including Nikolais/Murray Louis, Laura Dean, Ohio Ballet, Marcus Schulkind, Robin Becker, Jean Erdman, Creach/Koester, and Spoleto Festival/USA. A former associate professor, who has lectured, choreographed, and taught in institutions across the nation, founded the Repertory Dance Theatre Ensemble which performed in curated festivals from Miami to Boston. They can be seen in the 5-part video documentary The World of Alwin Nikolais and their essay, Dancing with the Issues, was published in One Teacher in 10: LGBT Educators Share Their Stories. Additional distinctions include induction into the OCU Performance Hall of Honor, two Atlantic Center for the Arts Associate Artist-in-Residences, a Japan Foundation Grant to study Butoh, and the Library of Congress recording their interpretation of Talley Beatty's masterpiece "Mourner's Bench" for the national archive. A founding member and past president of the Florida Dance Education Organization, Clarence holds advisory positions with FDEO and Natural Movers Foundation and sits on the boards of the Sokolow Theatre/Dance Ensemble, danceTactics Performance Group, Miami Dance Futures, and Doris Humphrey Foundation for Dance. A high school dropout, they hold an MFA, a bachelor of performing arts, and several somatic certifications including Laban Movement Analysis, yoga (200 hour), and the Evans Method of Teaching Dance Technique. Clarence freelances with the Dance Exchange, Pioneer Winter Collective, Sokolow Theatre/Dance Ensemble, danceTactics Performance Group, Megan Williams Dance Projects, and David Parker & The Bang Group. Follow them on Instagram: @clbdreadeddancer 

george hirsch

George Hirsch graduated from the Macaulay Honors College at Hunter College, receiving an Honors Degree in Dance. He has since had the privilege of dancing for Liz Lerman/Dance Exchange, Artichoke Dance Company, David Capps/Dances, Eva Dean Dance, Daniel Gwirtzman Dance, Regina Nejman and Company, and GoCo, in addition to working with Keith Thompson’s/danceTactics.

darla stanley

Darla Stanley is a dance maker, performer, and teacher. Her work has been supported by the PEW Charitable Trusts, Philadelphia Live Arts Festival, Philadelphia Fringe Festival, Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Susan Hess Choreographer’s Project, Connecticut Commission on Culture and Tourism, and Dakshina/ Daniel Phoenix Singh Dance Company. She performed with Philadelphia companies (ZeroMoving, Karen Bamonte Dance Works, Leah Stein, Melanie Stewart, Subcircle) from 1989 to 2005, and has also been featured in the work of Chris Burnside, and in London choreographer, Siobhan Davies’ Philadelphia Bank Project. Darla currently dances with David Appel, Emily Berry/B3W Performance Group, Aviva Geismar/Drastic Action, Jenni Hong, and Keith Thompson/danceTactics in NY. She has taught dance at the University of Maryland Baltimore County, and at Temple, Drexel, and Wesleyan universities.