hollins dance

faculty / staff /guest artists

Donna Faye Burchfield

Chair of Department of Dance, Artistic Director of Hollins Repertory Dance Company and Associate Professor

Dean and faculty member, American Dance Festival, Duke University, Durham, NC

BFA, MFA Texas Christian University

Currently in her eleventh year at Hollins, she has been choreographing and performing her own work since 1979.

Recipient of 2004 Hollins Faculty Legacy Award, Donna Faye has taught and lectured in festivals and venues around the US and abroad including most recently Korea and Russia. 

Ben Pranger

Assistant Professor of Performance and New Media

BA Oberlin College, MFA Art Institute of Chicago

He has taught at American Dance Festival, Southhampton College and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. 
His sculpture, works on paper and installations have been shown nationally, with recent exhibitions in Virginia at 1708 Gallery, Second St. Gallery, and Riverviews Artspace.  Ben Pranger's work has been reviewed in publications such as ArtForum, Art in America, ArtNews, and Art Papers.  He has participated in artist residency fellowships at Kohler Art/Industry, Fine Arts Work Center of Provincetown, the Marie Walsh Sharpe Program and the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts.  He received sculpture grants from the Virginia Commission for the Arts and the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts.

website.....

Jen Davies Mansfield

Executive/Artistic Director of Roanoke Ballet Theater, Hollins University and Roanoke College Faculties

BA Hollins University, MFA George Washington University, M.A.L.S Hollins University

She has been an artist/educator for over 15 years.
She has had pieces commissioned by Lycoming and West Virginia Wesleyan Colleges, George Washington and Hollins Universities, the Arts Council of Georgia, Opera Roanoke and Mill Mountain Theatre, among others. 
She has had dance research papers published in the International Planetarian Magazine and for the World Congress on Dance.

Vladimir Espinosa

Hollins Dance Accompanist and Musician in residence

Vladimir is a musician and dancer originally from the city of Havana, Cuba. His specialties include Latin and Afro-Cuban styles.
He graduated from the ENA (Escuela National del Arte) in Cuba in 1985. He has taught at both ENA and the Casa de Cultura in Havana.
He has worked, performed, taught, and choreographed for many companies such as: Caribeño (Cuba), National Folklorico de Cuba, Koral y Esmeralda (Ecuador), Compania National de Danza en Ecuador, Orilé (Cuba), and Rojo Oscuro (Ecuador).
As a performer he has traveled extensively throughout the US, Europe, Central and South America.
In 1994 he served as the Artistic Director during ceremonies in conjunction with the election of the Queen of Ecuador, in Quito.
He has played and toured with many musical groups such as Pueblo Nuevo (Ecuador) and Havana Express (Cuba).
He has recently toured the east coast with Solazo, conducting workshops for a variety of high schools and universities.
He is married to Sandra Meythaler and has two beautiful children Xavier (7) and Nicole (3).
Most recently, he has toured with Sandra to area universities for workshops and performances.

Joey Neighbors

(Theatre Facility Technical Director)

Has worked various theatres in the North and Southeast including Seaside Music Theatre (Daytona, FL), Mount Holyoke Summer Theatre, Toledo Rep. Theatre, Mill Mountain Theatre, Opera Roanoke and the Shaftman Performance Hall at the Jefferson Center.

Candy Phillips

(Secretary for Division IV, Dance and Music Departments)

Vanessa Fassié

(Webmaster)

B.A., M.A.L.S. Hollins University
She helps design and run the website for the department.

2003-04 guest artists

Spring

Gina Gibney
(artistic director of the N.Y. based, Gina Gibney Dance)

Nicholas Leichter
(artistic director of the N.Y. based, nicholasleichterdance)

Neta Pulvermacher
(artistic director of the N.Y. based, Neta Dance Company)

Lisa Race
(artistic director of Race Dance)

Preeti Vasudevan
(independant N.Y. based choreographer)

Fall

Brenda Daniels
(former Cunningham Studio faculty member, NCSA faculty)

Jefferson Dalby
(staff musician in the dance program at NCSA)

Dana Rainey
(alum and recent performer in Apollo Theatre's 'Harlem Song')

Theresa Howard
(former member of the Dance Theatre of Harlem)

Shani Collins
(alum and current company member of Ron Brown's Evidence)

Paul Matteson
(member of Lisa Race Dance and David Dorfman Dance)

Daniel Charon (member of Doug Varone and Dancers)

Karinne Keithley (independent dance maker) 

***guest artist history***

***companies in residence history***