Faculty and Staff

The dance faculty is well-known for their excellence in teaching and ability to educate dancers by dramatically increasing students' level of knowledge about dance as an art form, about dance technique, and about dance as a profession as well as the many dance-related career options.

Nora Ambrosio

Nora Ambrosio is a full professor and has been at SRU since 1988, where she teaches dance composition, dance history, creative dance for children, teaching of dance, senior capstone, and university seminar. She has written Learning about Dance, 8th edition (Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company, IA, 2018), which is used in over 150 dance departments throughout the country and Canada and has sold over 400,000 copies. A new on-line version has also been published. Kendall/Hunt Publishers also published The Excellent Instructor and the Teaching of Dance Technique (3rd edition, 2018). Nora was a seven-year member of the Commission on Accreditation for the National Association of Schools of Dance and served a three-year term as Chairperson of the Commission. She is currently a member of the NASD Board of Directors, and a presidential appointee to the Commission on Accreditation. She also serves as an accreditation site visitor for college and university dance programs across the country. She is on the Nominating Committee of the National Dance Museum’s C.V. Whitney Hall of Fame in Saratoga Springs, NY, and has completed nine years as a Board member of the Lincoln Park Performing Arts Charter School in Midland, PA., where she spent three years and Vice President and her final year as President of the Board. She is also on the Editorial Board for the national journal, Dance Education in Practice, and serves as a Writing Mentor for journal submissions. She served as the artistic director of SRU Dance Theatre for nine years and again in 2010-2011, and as the director of the Kaleidoscope Arts Festival in 2008-2009. Nora was the chairperson of the Department of Dance from 1998-2011, successfully achieving national accreditation for the department in 2000, and reaccreditation in 2006 and 2011. She is a prolific grant writer and has secured over forty grants for the Department of Dance, the Kaleidoscope Arts Festival, and her own artistic endeavors. Nora worked diligently toward the downtown revitalization of the Village at Slippery Rock and was instrumental in bringing the arts to the downtown area and securing grant and private funding for commissioned public art pieces. Nora choreographs for both student and professional venues, and for many years created dance/theatre work with her husband, David Skeele, as part of Ambrosio/Skeele Dance/Theatre.

Contact Information
Professor Nora Ambrosio
nora.ambrosio@sru.edu
313 Stoner West
724.738.2775

Teena Marie Custer

Teena Marie Custer is a dance artist and healer based in Pittsburgh, PA. For the last 20 years, Teena Marie has studied, researched, battled and performed nationally and internationally in various street dance communities. She has been involved with street dance crews Venus Fly and Get Down Gang and has won b-girl battles such as Enter the Cypha and UnderGround Movement, and won the “House Cypher” award at Chicago’s Slick City event.

Her solo street dance theater work has been presented at various universities, Sadler’s Wells Theater in London, The American Dance Festival, Kelly-Strayhorn Theater, Ford Amphitheater in LA, The August Wilson Center, and the American College Dance Association Gala Concerts. She toured her solo show, “My Good Side” around the country from 2015-2019. She has also created hip hop dance theater works and been a guest artist at for over 35 university dance departments around the U.S.. Her tv and film credits include BET, MTV’s MADE, feature films Leading Ladies, Fathers and Daughters, and short films such as Down for the Count with director Erika Randall and In the Moment: A Drawing Dance: A collaboration with the Kennedy Center, Mo Willems, and Ephrat Asherie Dance.

Teena Marie earned a BA in Dance from Slippery Rock University and an MFA in Dance Performance from The Ohio State University. She was on faculty for 14 years at Slippery Rock University in the Department of Dance where she taught street dance styles, contemporary dance, and dance composition. She also taught for six summer seasons on the faculty at the American Dance Festival at Duke University.

Teena Marie is currently touring with Bessie nominated Ephrat Asherie Dance in New York City and has been a member since 2012. The company has performed at The Joyce, Guggenheim Works in Process, City Center’s Fall for Dance, Jacob’s Pillow, as well as venues across the country. Teena Marie has toured with Bill “Crutchmaster” Shannon’s show Touch Update, and has also danced with Dance Alloy, Attack Theatre, Erika Randall and Ursula Payne as a contemporary movement artist.

email:
teena.custer@sru.edu

Andrew Hasenpflug

Andrew Hasenpflug Andy Hasenpflug has been accompanying and composing music for dance since 1989. He has played and/or composed for artists such as Bill T. Jones, Joe Goode, members of the Alvin Ailey, Merce Cunningham, and Bebe Miller Dance Companies, Doug Varone, Katsura Kan, Rosie Herrera, Helen Simoneau, White Fox Butoh, LabCo, Dance Alloy, the Seldoms, and Zephyr Dance. Recently he has been performing internationally with Butoh artists, contemporary dance companies, experimental music ensembles, and rock bands. His experience and expertise in dance music and multi-instrumentalism have made him a popular guest lecturer at institutions like Texas Women's University, Muncie State University, The University of North Texas, Henan Normal University (Xinxiang, China), The University of Idaho, and The International Guild of Musicians in Dance Conference. Here at Slippery Rock University Andy accompanies dance, teaches the Music for Dance course, and composes music for the Dance Department and guest artists. In the summers he is the Music Director for the American Dance Festival. He holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree from The State University of New York at Purchase and a Master of Music Degree from The University of Cincinnati. More at: https://soundcloud.com/andy-hasenpflug and https://andyhasenpflug.com .

Contact Information
andrew.hasenpflug@sru.edu
230 Stoner West

Jennifer Keller

Jennifer Keller is the Chairperson of the SRU Department of Dance and teaches all levels of modern technique, improvisation, composition, dance technology, and contemporary partnering. Her creative research explores the interactive possibilities between the projected image and dancers on stage, as well as the temporal and spatial possibilities of dancers on film. For 12 years, Jennifer directed Rock Dance Company, dedicated to children’s performances and other civic events. Keller has received awards from the Pittsburgh Foundation and Pittsburgh Magazine, as well as the SRU President’s Award for Advisement, the SRU President’s Award for Creative Achievement and the Zuzak Teaching Artist/Scholar Award. From 1988-1996, Keller worked with choreographer Mark Taylor, dancing in his companies in New York City and Pittsburgh. From 1992-1998, she studied and performed with Nina Martin and the improvisational collective Locktime Performance. From 2008-2015, she performed with the dance theater company TanzTheater André Koslowski. Her dance films have screened in festivals in Brazil, Canada, France, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Malaysia, Sweden, as well as across the US. She previously served for nine years as the Assistant to the Dean for the College of Liberal Arts and for one year as the Interim Dean of the college.

Contact Information
Professor Jennifer Keller
jennifer.keller@sru.edu
309 Stoner West
724.738.2773

Jaya Mani

Jaya Mani's dance training began with a private tutor when she was eight years old. At thirteen years of age, she had her first formal performance, known as Arangetram. She then attended the Kuchipudi Arts Academy in Madas, India, and she also trained in the Bharatha Natyam style. She then opened a school where she trained students in Bharatha Natyam. After moving to the United States, she began to teach Bharatha Natyam in Pittsburgh and Youngstown, and has been conducting classes in Bharata Natyam for more than 30 years at the S.V. Temple in Pittsburgh. More than 90 students have graduated from her dance program.

Jaya has performed in a number of stage presentations, mostly solos, as well as with professional dance groups throughout India and in many countries around the world, including the US, Canada, Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Kenya and Brazil. In connection with her professional stage shows, she has choreographed a number of individual items and dance dramas. With her husband, Dr. S.B. Mani, she has given lecture/demonstrations for many professional organizations, schools, universities and non-profit organizations in the US.

In recognition of her contribution to teaching and spreading the rich cultural heritage of India through dance, in 1994 she was given the title, Pride of India by Mayor Murphy of Pittsburgh, in conjunction with the Pittsburgh India Forum. In 2010, she also received an award from the Community Foundation of Westmoreland County and the Srinivasa Prasad International Foundation for Performing Arts, presented in recognition of her commitment and service in promoting the South Asian Performing Arts among North American Youth. Jaya has been instrumental in creating the Dance in India Program for the Department of Dance.

Contact Information
Instructor Jaya Mani
jaya.mani@sru.edu
724.738.2036

Ryan McMullen

Ryan P. McMullen received his Bachelor of Arts Degree in Dance from Slippery Rock University and was awarded: The Excellence in Performance Award and The Excellence in Choreography Award. Ryan had the pleasure of performing choreography by artists such as Rodger Belman, Rennie Harris, Alexandre Munz, Ursula Payne, André Zachery, Jawole Zollar, and more. Ryan received his Master of Fine Arts degree in Performance and Choreography from Florida State University, a three-time recipient of the Men’s Provost Performance Scholarship. In 2022, Ryan was awarded the Rock Alumni 10 Under 10 Award for his professional achievements in the field of dance.

Ryan presented work at Bucknell University, Dixon Place, Dogtown Dance Theatre, Small Plates Choreography Festival, Koresh Dance Company’s Come Together Festival, Louisburg College, Exchange Dance Festival, Slippery Rock University, Gibney Dance Center, NewGrounds Dance Festival, and Florida State University. Ryan was on faculty at Cabrini University, Cab Calloway School of the Arts Summer Program, Suzanne Farrell’s Young Dancers Workshop, Forge Summer Dance Intensive, DeSales University Summer Dance Intensive, The American College Dance Association, The Middle Tennessee Youth Ballet, and The Tallahassee Ballet. Ryan served as the Director of Dance at Louisburg College for three years, where he was also the Artistic Director of Louisburg Dance Company. In addition to teaching, Ryan also danced with Elevate, a dance performance and production company based in Raleigh, NC. Ryan was recently a Visiting Professor at Bucknell University in Fall 2021.

email:
ryan.mcmullen@sru.edu

Ursula Payne

Ursula Payne, is currently serving as the Interim Associate Provost for Academic Finance, Planning and Strategic Initiatives at Slippery Rock University. Prior to this role, Payne was a Professor of Dance for 27 years, served as the chairperson for nine years, and director of the Frederick Douglass Institute for five years. In 2021, Payne was appointed to serve as the SRU Diversity Liaison Officer to the State System of Higher Education. To enhance her academic leadership skills, Payne completed the management development program for mid-level administrators in higher education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Payne’s research interests include higher educational leadership, dance studies, Black social and vernacular performance practices, Laban Movement Analysis and Motif Notation, Womanist and Black Feminist theory, wellness and stress management, pedagogy, and curriculum development. Payne received her M.F.A. degree in Direction from Labanotation Score and Performance from The Ohio State University in 1995 and advanced training and certification from the Laban/Bartenieff Institute of Movement Studies in New York City 1997. Payne's MFA thesis project included staging Donald McKayle's seminal work Rainbow Round My Shoulder on Ohio State University's University Dance Company. In 1995, Payne formed Mills and Payne Dance Company with Tiffany Mills and performed in various dance festivals and notable professional venues in New York City, Toronto, Washington, D.C., Memphis, Dallas and Eugene, OR. In addition to her work with Mills and Payne Dance (1995-2000), Payne performed as a dance extra in the film The Beloved choreographed by Diane McIntyre, and as a featured dancer in McIntyre's evening length work Love Poems to God which premiered at the Brooklyn Academic of Music Opera House as part of the acclaimed 651 Arts and Next Wave production of Dance and Spiritual Life featuring Bebe Miller Company, Jawole Willa Jo Zollar/Urban Bush Women and Diane Mcintyre's collaboration with composer and poet Hannibal Lokumbe. Also, Payne performed as a soloist in Eva Gholson's Two for the Love of One, presented in the production Dance Fusion featuring Eva Gholson, Ron Brown/Evidence, Philadanco and Ursula Payne in Philadelphia, PA. Ursula Payne's own solo choreography has been presented globally in Mexico, Taiwan, Monaco, Uganda, Belize, Scotland and throughout the United States.

Payne’s most recent creative commissions include choreography and movement direction for the 2021 film Obi Mbu (The Primordial House) directed by acclaimed photographer Mikael Owunna and traditional African cosmologist and multimedia artist Marques Redd. The 30-minute experimental film was screened in New York, Los Angeles, Big Sur/CA, Pittsburgh, Chautauqua/NY, Martha's Vineyard/MA, and Raleigh/NC. Professor Payne participated in the Archiving Black Performance: Memory, Embodiment, and Stages of Being project at the Ohio State University where she staged Dr. Pearl Primus’s Bushasche Etude with permission from Dancing Legacy. Professor Payne was a featured guest on three podcast episodes based in Canada, Atlanta, GA and Youngstown, OH from 2020-2021. Payne has presented her research on soul line dancing at the Colloquium for African Diasporic Dance at Duke University in February 2022 and at the Calabasa Calabasa African Diasporic Dance Intensive in Durham, NC. During the 2000's Payne taught contemporary dance, repertory, and motif notation at the American Dance Festival's six weeks and Young Dancers School. During that time, she staged Robert Battle's Primate as a special repertory assignment in 2012. Associate Provost Payne has performed, taught, researched, or presented academic papers in national and international venues and conferences since 2000. Payne has traveled to over 30 international countries such as Brazil, Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, Uganda, China, Taiwan, Norway, Germany, Monaco, Mexico, Scotland, England, France, Canada, Trinidad, Barbados, Belize, and Cuba for dance research, performance and guest teaching opportunities. Payne was inducted into the Lawrence County Hall of Fame in 2010 for her numerous athletic achievements in Basketball and Track and Field through the 1980's.

Contact Information
Professor Ursula Payne
Ursula.payne@sru.edu
233 Stoner West
724.738.4509

Dr. Sally Sherman

Dr. Sally Sherman graduated from Slippery Rock University’s B.A. Dance program in 1999. She spent over a decade with Dance Alloy and the Dance Alloy School as a senior dance teaching artist and managing director in addition to performing as a competitive ballroom dancer, independent dancer, and choreographer. Sally later obtained a M.Ed. in Teaching and Curriculum, a M.S. in Exercise Science, and a Ph.D. in Exercise Physiology.

She is now a professor and researcher in the department of Health and Human Development at the University of Pittsburgh where she teaches exercise science, dance, yoga, Pilates, and education courses. As a researcher, she engages as an investigator in NIH-funded research studying the impact of yoga and meditation on various health outcomes. Her original research validated Vinyasa yoga as a viable form of moderate-intensity physical activity and is published in the Journal of Physical Activity and Health. Sally holds advanced certifications in both yoga and Pilates and can be found presenting research and leading yoga and meditation trainings all over the world.

Although no longer performing as a dancer, Sally is an ultra-endurance athlete and competes in ultramarathons, Ironman triathlons and long-distance mountain bike races. She resides in Wexford with her husband (an epidemiology and biostatistics professor at West Virginia University) and her 15-year-old daughter, Lorelei.

email:
sally.sherman@sru.edu

Melissa Teodoro

Melissa Teodoro holds an MFA degree in Performance and Choreography from the University of Hawaii at Manoa, and an MA degree in Dance Ethnology from the University of California in Los Angeles. She has worked at the Department of Dance at Slippery Rock University since 2003. When not in the lecture room or dance studio, Teodoro continues to develop her research of Afro-Colombian dance forms. She has been awarded various grants that have supported her research such as the UCLA Latin American Studies Research Grant, The University of Pittsburgh Center for Latin American Studies Fellowship, the PASSHE Professional Development Grant, and the SRU Diversity Grant. These awards have enabled her to travel to both urban and remote regions of Colombia to pursue ethnographic research. Other grants such as the SRU President's Award for International Professional Development has allowed Ms. Teodoro to present her research at various international conferences such as Congress of Research in Dance (CORD), Society of Dance History Scholars (SDHS), International Council of Traditional Music (ICTM), and the Caribbean Studies Association Conference. Ms. Teodoro is the Artistic Director of the SRU Afro-Colombian Dance Ensemble (ACDE), a company that promotes Latin American culture through dance and tours the Western PA region.

Contact Information
Associate Professor Melissa Teodoro
melissa.teodoro@sru.edu
308 Stoner West
724.738.4508

Lindsay Viatori

Lindsay Viatori Headshot Lindsay Fisher Viatori spent the bulk of her career in New York City dancing with Helen Simoneau Danse (rehearsal director), Nathan Trice/RITUALS, Carolyn Dorfman Dance Company, Collective Body/ Dance Lab, Ellen Cornfield, Daniel Charon, Camille A. Brown, Ayo Jackson, Steve Rooks, Sidra Bell and VIA Dance Collaborative (founding member). She has also had the pleasure of performing works by Twyla Tharp, Jiri Kylian, Ton Simons, Esther Baker-Tarpaga, Tatiana Baganova, Simoné Ferro and Miguel Gutierrez among others.

She has performed in Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera’s West Side Story and North Shore Music Theater’s Victor/Victoria. Film credits include Lead Arabian in Robert Lindgren’s The Nutcracker (PBS/UNC-TV), feature film Across the Universe (directed by Julie Taymore and choreography by Daniel Ezralow), music video Pieces of You by The Hot Seconds, dance film SILKEN : EDGE, and she is currently collaborating with director Cara Hagen on an upcoming dance film titled Color Theory. Her choreography has been presented at the Ailey Citigroup Theater (nyc), St. Mark's Church (nyc) and University Settlement (nyc) as well as commissioned for SUNY Fredonia, VIA Dance Collaborative, Point Park University, and Slippery Rock University.

She received her BFA from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts in 2002 where she was the recipient of the prestigious Sarah Graham Kenan Endowed Fellowship of Excellence. She also received her MFA in Choreography from the University of Iowa in 2014 as a Graduate Teaching Assistant and as the first recipient of the Strategic Initiative Fellowship recognizing excellence in her field. She was awarded a Community Supported Artist Grant through the New Hazlett Theater (Pittsburgh, PA) and presented an evening of her work titled OverExposed in April 2017. For this performance, she was also recognized as an “Outstanding Performance” in the Pittsburgh City Paper.

In 2017, she began performing for The Blanket (a Pittsburgh based dance company) where she performed the iconic works of Lucinda Childs and was featured in Dance Magazine Online. Additional performances with The Blanket include the works of Christopher Williams and Beth Gill.

Currently, she is co-authoring research on ethical jazz dance pedagogy with collaborator Jeremy Blair. She is also the co-founder and director of the FORGE Summer Dance Intensive, hosted at Slippery Rock University. She is an assistant professor of dance at Slippery Rock University teaching all levels of Ballet, Modern, and Jazz Techniques, as well as, Composition, Repertory and Lecture Courses.

Contact Information:
Assistant Professor Lindsay Viatori
lindsay.viatori@sru.edu
236 Stoner West
724.738.4708

Melanie Martin

Contact Information
Department of Dance Secretary Melanie Martin
Melanie.martin@sru.edu
232 Stoner West
724.738.4215