HEATHER ACOMB ■ hacomb@hotmailcom
Heather is a dance artist and educator originally from the Rochester, NY area. She has performed, taught, and had her work shown in several locations throughout New York State , as well as across the country. Heather has been a member of the Bill Evans Dance Company since 2009, and in 2011 she became certified in the Bill Evans Method of Teaching Laban-Based Modern Dance Technique. She serves as a teaching assistant to Mr. Evans in his technique classes and summer workshops. She also performs on a project basis with Treeline Dance Works. Recent performance credits with Treeline include Triskelion ARTS in Brooklyn and Ravel's Boléro with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra. She has performed the works of Doris Humphrey, Larry Keigwin, and José Limón, among others, and has studied extensively with numerous master teachers and dance artists including the Limón Dance Company, Garth Fagan Dance, Sean Curran, and Mandy Moore, among others. She received her MFA in Dance from The College at Brockport, and also holds a BA in Communication with minors in Dance and English from SUNY Geneseo. Currently, Heather serves on the dance faculty at SUNY Geneseo.

DEBORAH H. BIRRANE, MFA ■ 206-852-4075
  I am a 2009 certified Bill Evans based teacher and, a soon-to-be certified Radiant Health Yoga Teacher. A mere 24 years into my career and I am grasping and digging the place I am in - that of appreciating and embracing process. Dance is so much richer when you dive deep below the surface, trusting that which is more stable (technique) and then “letting go” to ride the wave of intention, quality and sensation.

  A Philadelphia native, I began dancing “late” at the ripe age of 20 at Penn State University. Graduating with a BA in Social Work and a minor in Interdisciplinary Dance, I ultimately chose this road to dance. What most inspired me to seriously pursue this passion occurred during my premiere concert at the Philadelphia Industrial Correction Center – yes, a jail. We performed for 100 inmates. The evening began with catcalls and ended with a standing ovation. Dance communicates with people very deeply and on surprising levels. After the concert, one woman, probably about 50+, stood up, passionately looked me in the eyes and voiced: If you love something that much, you should never give it up. Hearing that from a woman who probably lost a lot during her life has meant much to me. That was 1990. The honesty, intensity and beauty of those moments is what keeps me creating, teaching and dancing on.

  To do something one needs to be. When you can be, you can then listen. When you listen, change happens. And happens it does – in abundance. After much ado about “nothing”, I have committed to being a solo performer. There is much artistic freedom here but the responsibility is great and daunting. It is a journey where I cycle through the mundane to heaven and to hell struggling, questioning and probing for a clear and honest dance image. It is a process whereby my mind, body and soul seek constant connectivity. And, simultaneously, there is much letting go which ultimately leaves me completely absorbed in the work, ego dropping out of the realm, and I becoming - becoming the dance.

     As a social being, however, I still thrive on creating and performing in group works as well as immersing myself in studying with others. I am studying Baroque dance and occasionally dancing with Seattle Early Dance under master of Baroque Dance, Anna Mansbridge. I can never get enough of studying with Bill Evans. My once-a-year immersion with Bill encourages me to continually discover myself as a more knowing, sensing, feeling and seeing choreographer, dancer and teacher. The work has given breadth to who I am as a more efficient, fluent and diverse individual and artist. It seems as if I am living in the best of both dancing worlds, time undeniably linked like a double helix inter-twining the past and the present.

     A snippet look at my past: The works of Deborah Birrane Dance have been passionately embraced by audiences here in the States and abroad. I have created for the Company a repertory that is both eclectic and rich in its content, style and musical partnership, as well as broadening the repertory with works by many wonderful choreographers. Most recently my solo work has been presented by Contemporary Dance Fort Worth; An Evening with Bill Evans & Friends; Wild Grace Dance Theatre; by Denise Lievtaghi (Vancouver, BC); and, in the informal showings sponsored by Next Stage Dance and Arts Launch. Specifically in Seattle, DBD has been presented by artsEdge, Juan de Fuca Arts Festival, Dance Fusion and Choreofest. As an educator and choreographer, I was selected as the dance artist for Seattle’s ARTS UP program. In May 2002, I performed in Belgrade & Novi Sad, Yugoslavia and then in December 2002, taught in St. Petersburg Russia at the Exercise 2002 International Festival as Guest Dance Educator. My work has been commissioned by Belhaven College (performing my work in China and Mississippi), Western Wyoming College, Kaleidoscope, Fremont Danceworks, Komen Foundation for Breast Cancer, and PSU-Abington Dance Collective. Prior to Seattle, the Company has been presented at the ACDF Gala Concert, The Fringe Festival in Atlanta, Georgia; the Australian Embassy in Washington, D.C.; the Philadelphia Dance Alliance; and at Penn State University-Abington. 

     I have served on the faculty of Pacific Northwest Ballet; the Creative Dance Center; taught as a permanent and/or visiting artist-in-resident in the elementary, middle and high schools as well as college and graduate levels of dance and education; and, the Kaleidoscope Pre-School Enrichment Program, a pilot project for the arts in early education under the Clinton Administration. Currently, I teach at the University of Washington - Bothell campus, continue to teach as artist-in-resident in the elementary schools and visit as guest artist on the college level.

Artistic Director - Deborah Birrane Dance ■ 800 1st Avenue North, #5 ■ Seattle, WA 98109 ■ 206-852-4075  

JENNY BURNETT ■ jburnett@hb.edu ■ 440-387-1901
Jenny received her BFA in Dance from the University of Akron and her Masters in Education from Kent State University .  She recently became certified in Evans Dance Technique at SUNY Brockport.  Jenny has taught many different dance styles and methods courses at various institutions, including the Wayne Center for the Arts, Cleveland Ballet Conservatory , Kent State University, and Lake Erie College .  She serves as a member of the board of trustees of Ohiodance and has performed with numerous choreographers and companies in Ohio as well as presenting her own work.  Jenny has presented at education conferences and workshops throughout Ohio as well as National conferences.  She has written articles for The Orff Echo and helped to pen the Ohio “Service and Resource Guide for Educators of Gifted Students”.  She teaches dance for Preschool through 12^th grade and is the head of the Performing Arts Department at Hathaway Brown School , located in Shaker Heights , Ohio .

600 Parkside Blvd. ■ South Euclid, OH 44143 ■ 440-387-1901

JOANNA CASHMAN, RN, E-RYT, MFA
Joanna Received her Master of Fine Arts degree in Dance from Arizona State University. She is a certified teacher of the Evans Method: A Laban-Bartenieff Based Approach to Teaching Dance Technique. A former member of the Barbara Mettler Dance Company, she has performed and taught internationally and is the recipient of numerous grants and awards for her creative work. She has taught dance/movement studies as an adjunct member of the faculty at The Evergreen State College and Lesley University. Notably in 1988 she co-directed an Arts for Peace Tour which produced an American-Soviet Concert of Contemporary Dance while in residency at Shevchenko University in Kiev, Ukraine. 

  Joanna is a certified Integrative Yoga Therapist and founder of the Radiant Health Yoga® Teacher Training Program which features a therapeutic, neurodevelopmental approach to hatha yoga. Following an intuitive desire to blend the ancient teachings of yoga with expressive dance she created Chakra Dance as a holistic practice that illuminates universal truths about the human experience and offers a rich vehicle for creative expression and personal growth. As a mental health nurse, listed in Who’s Who in American Nursing, she specialized in expressive arts therapies and has twenty five years of clinical experience facilitating yoga and dance therapy sessions for individuals with neuropsychiatric and chemical dependency issues. Her inquiry takes place at the intersection of art, psychology and spirituality and is based on the premise that contemplative and expressive movement practices are basic human needs. She currently directs Wild Grace Dance Theater and teaches yoga, modern dance, and Brain Dance at her studio, Wild Grace Arts, in Olympia, WA