NWD Projects
Event Staff and Advisory Board

Event Staff and Advisory Board

Beacon Dance – Atlanta, GA. Photo by Patton White


National Water Dance Staff

Dale Andree
Founder and Director
Dale Andree first conceived and directed the Florida Waterways Dance Project in 2011; she created the national event in 2014, deepening her commitment to arts and the environment. She was an Artist in Residence with AIRIE (Artist in Residence in Everglades) in 2018, creating a site-specific dance event in the sawgrass prairie in Everglades National Park. Her interest in site-specific work has taken her across the world; to the streets of Paraty, Brazil, the Adrienne Arsht Performing Arts Center in Miami, and the tidal flats of Maine. In Maine she created her first dance for camera film, “Between Earth and Sea”, which has been shown in film festivals in Miami, Oklahoma, and Portland, Maine. Her second film “Home” was also created in Maine with Miana Jun and premiered at Screendance Miami in 2018. Dale taught for many years in the dance and theater departments of New World School of the Arts in Miami. She has directed her own company, Mary Street Dance Theatre, as well as creating the children’s’ improvisational dance company, The Good for Something Dancers. She is a Knight Arts recipient, has twice been the recipient of the Florida Individual Artists Fellowship and has received multiple state, regional and federal grants for her choreography as well as grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Fund for Artists at International Festivals. She is a graduate of the Boston Conservatory of Music and received her certification in Laban Movement Analysis from LIMS in NYC.


Kristin O’Neal
Outreach Coordinator
Outreach Coordinator and all around cheerleader for National Water Dance, Kristin has worked with Dale on a myriad of engaging projects for nearly two decades from dancer to administrator, including the Florida Waterways Dance Project 2011 that inspired Dale’s vision for the national project. After receiving her MFA in Dance/Choreography from Hollins University/ADF, Kristin taught at the University of Florida (2008-2014) where she continued her graduate research of solo performance and character creation. Her character investigations led to an unfolding series of solos inspired by the lives of her Grandmothers, Glenna and Dorothy as well as Aunts and Great Aunts named June, Helen, Diane, Connie and Nell. Kristin lives in Decatur, GA where she creates dances and dance films with her husband Gregory Catellier of Catellier Dance Projects and where she also teaches dance courses at Agnes Scott College and Emory University.


Catherine Messina
Social Media and Web Design Coordinator
Catherine Messina, a graduate of Emory University, has been dancing for over 20 years throughout New York and Atlanta. With Atlanta-based company Kit Modus, she worked with choreographers Jillian Mitchell, Mark Caserta, Ruben Julliard, Alexander Espinosa, and Maddie Hanson. She has also worked with George Staib, Niv Sheinfeld, Oren Laor, Yuki Ishiguro, and Animus Movement. Her company, rogue wave, has performed throughout New York, Atlanta, Richmond, Portugal, New Jersey, and Philadelphia, her hometown. She is a recipient of grant support, and has experience in arts administration, teaching, and technical production. Community work is important to her and seen through her creation of a twice-a-year outdoor dance festival – Fall for Fall, a summer class series, and volunteering for DanceATL and Dance/NYC.


Lynne Wimmer
Video Editor
Lynne Wimmer was Professor in the School of Theater and Dance at the University of South Florida for 27 years. Her education includes a BFA from Juilliard and an MFA from U. of Utah. She danced with Repertory Dance Theatre for 9 years & had her own company for 5 years. Grants include NEA, arts councils of Pennsylvania, Florida and Utah, 2 Fulbrights ( Mexico, Costa Rica). Presently she is a videographer and editor creating both video design for choreographers as well as documentary videos.

Ambassadors

Jame McCray | Alliance for Watershed Education, Wilmington, DE
Karen McShane-Hellenbrand | University of Wisconsin, Madison WI
Camille Arroyo | Tercera Ola, Puerto Rico
Tina Kambour | University of Central Oklahoma, Edmond, OK
Lara Segura | Keshet Dance, Albuquerque, NM
Jane Hawley | Luther College, Decorah, IA
Tina Mullone | Bridgewater State University, Bridgewater, MA
Karin Stevens | Karin Stevens Dance, Seattle, WA
Kellie Ann Lynch | Elm City Dance Collective, New Haven, CT
Augusto Soledade| University of Florida & Augusto Soledade Brazzdance, Gainesville, FL
Solveig Santillano | Mercyhurst University, Erie, PA

Recognition of Daniel Lewis and Miami Dance Futures

We recognize the contribution of Daniel Lewis, who was an original supporter of this project and his organization, Miami Dance Futures. Lewis is also a consultant for the José Limón Dance Foundation in New York. He was the founding dean of dance of the New World School of the Arts, from 1987 to 2011. From 1962-74, he danced with the Limón Dance Company. Following the death of José Limón, Mr. Lewis served as the Limón Company’s acting artistic director and became founding director of the Limón Institute. His book, The Illustrated Dance Technique of José Limón, has been translated in German, Spanish and Japanese. As a choreographer, Mr.Lewis has been commissioned to create works by the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York State Council on the Arts, Dallas Civic Opera, American Opera Center at Lincoln Center, Amherst College, the University of California at Los Angeles, and The Juilliard School. Mr. Lewis was Assistant to Martha Hill, the Director of the Dance Division, at The Juilliard School, where he was a member of the dance faculty from 1967 to 1987. He has received many local and national awards, among them the Lifelong Achievement Award from the National Society of Arts and Letters, The Florida Arts Recognition Award recognizing his outstanding initiatives, a Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Dance Educators Organization and an Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts Degree from the University of Florida.

Recognition of Past Leaders

Juan M. Vargas
Technology Advisor
Juan M. Vargas is a Systems Engineer from Colombia who worked in R&D at the Universidad de los Andes for 13 years. He has been working on Internet related projects since 1992, including government and institutional websites. Juan has also participated in media-rich projects, where the integration of video, audio, video conferencing and programming was a necessity. This diverse knowledge and skill set has made possible the growth of the National Water Dance website into a social-based platform. Juan was also in charge of orchestrating the different institutions that participated in previous NWD events, by using Google Hangouts as a tool to livestream the events on YouTube.