Laurie De Vito (Artistic Director) is a founding director and teacher at Dance New Amsterdam (formerly Dance Space Center), where she maintains an active teaching schedule. Ms. De Vito has taught, choreographed, performed and given lecture demonstrations and workshops at schools and theaters across the United States, Canada and abroad. Most notably, she has appeared at NYU Tisch School of the Performing Arts, Hofstra University, Montreal Jazz Festival, Spirit Square Center for the Arts (NC), Gustavus Adolphus College (MN), Ecole de Danse (Montreal), York University (Toronto), Academie de Ballet de Saguenay (Quebec), Tel Aviv Dance Center (Israel), and I.A.C. Studio (Tokyo). She has created dances for Boulder Jazz Dance Company, Present Company Accepted, and Zenon Dance Company.
Company Members
Dancers:
Marcia-Elizabeth Baker-Thompson began her dance life at 16, practicing pirouettes in her living room after everyone else went to bed. As a biochemistry/pre-med major at Vassar College, she had a moment of awakening her sophomore year as she watched the school's dance company perform. She changed her major the next day, auditioned for the dance company, and began her life as a dancer. Since then, she has worked and studied with a variety of choreographers including Sean Curran, Deborah Pratt Tacon, and Demetrius Klein at Harvard University. She performed for seven years as a principal with the international tour of STOMP, appearing on the Roseanne show, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, The Rosie O'Donnell show, and a wide array of international television programs. Marcia-Elizabeth now holds a Master's degree in Chinese Medicine and is currently completing her doctoral degree in the same while while growing two practices in Manhattan and Rye, NY. Joining Laurie De Vito & Dancers in 2008 has proven to be the most gratifying of her experiences to date, and she is deeply honored to have this opportunity.
Rachel Feinerman started dancing at Barnard College and received her BA in Dance and Political Science. She has performed with Laurie De Vito since 1999. Rachel has also been a member of Daria Fain’s Human Behavior Explorers and Ricardo Gomez Dance Theatre and has danced for Wilson Mendieta, Isabel Gotzkowsky, Sakura Shimada, Gail Accardi, Suki John, Yael Levy, Marjon van Grunsven, Katiti King, and Diane McCarthy. She has been in cast in photo and film projects including Stephanie Matthews’ black and white series “Dance: A Study of Movement and Fluidity,” Julie Taymor’s Across the Universe, and Daria Fain’s film, Clocks and Clouds, and has worked with visual artists Griselda Healy, Brookie Maxwell and Kelvin Robertson. Rachel’s choreography has been performed at Gitler & _____ gallery, Gibney Dance, Queens College, Dance New Amsterdam, Green Space, WAX, Evolving Arts, Makor, and Greenwich House Theater. She has been teaching since 2000 and is on faculty at Gibney Dance and has taught at Dance New Amsterdam, Dance Space Center, Barnard College, 3rd Ward and the Educational Alliance. She is a co-founder of New Dance Collective and has choreographed for its performance workshops since its founding.
Youn Hadar
Sally Im began studying with Laurie De Vito in 2000. She was honored to join the company in 2005. Sally is a native New Yorker and has a BA in American Studies from Mills College, Oakland. She loves being a part of the company and strongly connects with Laurie's movement style.
Stephanie Lau
Megumi Onishi moved to NYC after graduating from Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, NY. She has had the opportunity to work with several choreographers including Verhoff/LoTurco DanceWorks, Paul Mosley at the Yard on Martha’s Vineyard, and Naeko Shikano at the New York Fringe Festival. She first performed with Laurie De Vito in 2002 and since then has been grateful to be part of such an amazing group of people.
Suzanne Reimann is from Belleville, NJ and a graduate of The School of Visual Arts in NYC. She has been studying and performing solely with Laurie De Vito since 1988 and has filled a diverse role as dancer and artist. Working with artist Karen Guancione, she joined her productions of “Contro il Malocchio” and “The Art of Labor”. Integrating art installation with traditional folk dances of southern Italy, the combined disciplines served to bring awareness to the historical importance of women’s work, ethnicity and labor injustices. Pilates continues to be her life’s work. A practitioner since 1987, she has been teaching at the Greene Street Studio in Soho under Deborah Lessen since 1998. She also maintains an independent practice teaching privately and in Madison, NJ with Margaret Vangeli.