Dance and Theatre Faculty
Dance Faculty | Theatre Faculty
Dance Faculty
Carol Kyles Finley
Associate Professor of Dance, Director of Dance
Carol Kyles Finley serves as director of dance and artistic director of Meredith Dance Theatre. Her works have been performed at North Carolina State University, Ohio State University, the North Carolina Dance Festival tour, Third Avenue Performance Space in Columbus, the ACDFA Mid-Atlantic Regional Festival, Southeast Regional Festival and the National Festival in Washington, D.C. Her videodance works have been screened at Toronto's Moving Pictures Festival of Dance on Film, the New York Dance Films Association Festival and Tour, Festival Riccione in Italy, Wexner Center for the Arts and ODC Theatre in San Francisco. Finley creates staged work and videodances with Bill Brown for their company, Postcards Project Dance Company. In spring 2005 she received a Harry and Marion Eberly Faculty Development Award and in fall 2005 she was recognized by NCAAHPERD as the D.A.N.C.E. College Dance Educator of the Year.
Degrees Held : Bachelor of Environmental Design, Graphic Design, North Carolina State University; MFA in Dance, Choreography from Ohio State University
Courses Taught : Perspectives in Dance; Ballet I, II; Modern I, II; Improvisation I; Dance in Society; Participation in Choreographic Projects; Movement Fundamentals and Lab; Composition I; Music for Dance; Dance Repertory; Creative Arts Touring Company; Composition II; Meredith Dance Theatre
Contact : Weatherspoon 25, (919) 760-8015, finleyc@meredith.edu
Sherry Shapiro, Ed.D.
Professor of Dance, Coordinator of Dance Education and Director of Women's Studies
Sherry Shapiro is a professor of the dance and director of Women’s Studies at Meredith College, Raleigh North Carolina, USA. She earned Doctor of Education in Curriculum & Teaching, (Specialization - Cultural Studies), at the University of North Carolina Greensboro, her Master of Arts Degree in Leadership & Higher Education (Specialization - Community Education) and her Bachelor of Arts in Interdisciplinary Studies at Appalachian State University, North Carolina.
Dr. Shapiro is a Fulbright Scholar and has served in state, national and international organizations and presented nationally and internationally. She is the author or editor of four books including Dance in a World of Change: Reflections on Globalization and Cultural Difference, Human Kinetics (2008); Body Movements; Pedagogy, Politics and Social Change, Hampton Press (2002); Pedagogy and the Politics of the Body: A Critical Praxis Garland Publishing (1999); and Dance, Power and Difference: Critical and Feminist Perspectives in Dance Education, Human Kinetics (1998). Chapters in books and articles have been published and reviewed within the United States, Australia, United Kingdom and Brasil. She has received awards for research and artistic work, as well as her work as a dance educator. She is currently serving as a co-chair for the Program and Administration Committee and serving on the Governing Board for the National Women’s Studies Association.
Her research interests include examining embodied pedagogy, aesthetic education and its connections to personal and social transformation, and the relationship of dance to feminist and cultural studies. She attempts to interrogate what it means to "become a dancer" and the phenomenon of "being in dance" through the use of critical theory, phenomenological description, and gender studies. Her choreographic work has provided a rich context to explore the ways in which women’s identities are constructed in the context of culture, power and difference.
Degrees Held: B.A., M.A., Appalachian State University; Ed.D. The University of North Carolina at Greensboro
Courses Taught: Reading Women's Lives Introduction to Women's Studies, Crossing Borders: Women Making Change in a Global Society, Women's Studies Service Project, Research in Women's Studies, Our Bodies-Our Lives: Shaping Female Identity, Dance Research, Theory and Methods of Teaching K-6, 7-12, Reflective Teaching
Contact: Weatherspoon 15, (919) 760-2857, ShapiroS@meredith.edu
Talani Torres
Instructor of Dance
Talani’s recent choreography and scholarly interests involve the relationships between digital art and dance. She was the artistic director of Miami Children’s Dance Ensemble from 1991-2004 and co-owner of the Dance Space in Miami, Florida for 10 years. Talani danced with Mia Michaels’ Miami Movement Dance Company from 1989-94. Her commercial credits include Sabado Gigante, TV commercials and a Gloria Estefan music video. Talani has guest taught/choreographed for New World School of the Arts, KIDVISION, Coconut Grove Playhouse, Miami-Dade County Magnet schools and Danza Iluciones in Managua, Nicaragua. She is the recipient of 2007 North Carolina Dance Alliance Choreography Fellowship.
Degrees Held: Bachelor of Arts in psychology, Florida International University with a minor in dance; Master of Fine Arts in choreography University of North Carolina-Greensboro.
Courses Taught: Jazz I, Modern I, Dance In Society, Ballet II, Modern II, Jazz II, Jazz III, Modern III, Tap Dance, Dance Composition I, Improvisation II, Dance Repertory, Dance History, Performing Arts Administration, Music for Dance
Contact: Weatherspoon 26, (919) 760-2827, torresta@meredith.edu
Alyson Colwell-Waber
Professor of Dance
Alyson Colwell-Waber has been a strong presence in the North Carolina dance community since joining the faculty of Meredith College in 1984. Alyson received her undergraduate degree at the Pennsylvania State University and her MFA in dance at Arizona State University. She has trained with contemporary dance masters Hanya Holm, Daniel Nagrin, Ruth Currier, Clay Taliaferro, Robert Small, Betty Jones, Liz Lerman, and Douglas Nielsen. In 1995 she produced and performed Soloflight, an evening of solos choreographed by Jack Arnold, Liz Lerman, Mark Taylor, and Jan Van Dyke. She has been the recipient of two Dance Artist Project Grants from the North Carolina Arts Council, a Raleigh Arts Commission Emerging Artist Award, a Perry Artistic Achievement Award, and the Meredith College Presidential Award. Alyson has served the dance community as a board member and board president of the North Carolina Dance Alliance and Even Exchange Dance Theatre, as well as a board member for Raleigh Dance Theatre. She lives in Cary with her husband Art Waber.
Degrees Held: B.S., Pennsylvania State University; Master of Fine Arts in dance, Arizona State University
Courses Taught: Modern I, Modern II, Dance Composition I, Mind/Body Integration, Dance History
Contact: (919) 760-8388, colwella@meredith.edu.
Cindy Hoban
Yi Lu
Joan Nicholas-Walker
Cailen Waddell
Technical Director and Lighting Designer
Cailen Waddell is pleased to be designing again for Meredith. Cailen recently relocated to Raleigh from touring with the National Tour of Sweet Charity, where he was the Automation Carpenter. Previously Cailen lived in Chicago where he was the Lighting Supervisor for Hubbard Street Dance Chicago. Cailen is a graduate of the NC School of the Arts.
Ken Ray Wilemon
Accompanist
Ken Ray Wilemon is a percussionist, composer and painter based in Raleigh. He has accompanied dance at Texas Christian University, University of Texas at Austin, Connecticut College, Hollins University, the American Dance Festival, and at the White Mountain Summer Dance Festival for the last 11 years. Wilemon has appeared with Stage West, Hip Pocket and Jubilee Theaters in Ft. Worth, Texas; performed with singers/songwriters Karen Tyler and Illene Weiss; periodically records with songwriter Val Davis in Vermont; recently created scores for seven dances at North Carolina State University; and is currently staff accompanist at Meredith College, Duke University and the Durham School of the Arts.
Theatre Faculty
Catherine B. Rodgers
Department Head, Professor of Theatre
Catherine B. Rodgers has acted professionally and directed regionally for the past 20 years. Recent productions include portraying Rose in Gypsy and directing After the Fall, for which she received the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival Meritorious Directing Award, and No, No Nanette for Meredith Ensemble Theatre, and performing in NCSU's Barefoot in the Park in 2005. Rodgers enjoys working on the Meredith Center for Women in the Arts and is very proud of the theatre program as it expands with the licensure program and the musical theatre concentration.
Degrees Held: B.A. in religion and American civilization, Meredith College; M.A. in speech communication and theatre arts, Wake Forest University; and an MFA acting and directing, UNC-G
Contact: Jones 133, (919) 760-8586, rodgersc@meredith.edu
Steven Roten
Assistant Professor
Steven Roten is a professional actor and a member of the Actor's Equity Association. He is artistic director for Stillwater Theatre , Meredith's professional theatre company in residence. He is also a proud member of the New River Dramatists, an organization that exists solely to support playwrights and screenwriters. Steven received the Pauline Davis Perry Award for Artistic Achievement in 2007. Some of his film/TV credits include Follow the River, Jane and the Evil Spinstresses, Dawson's Creek, One Tree Hill, Madox One Metal Skin Panic. Stage credits include: George in Veronica Vavoom: Volcanologist, Players Club NYC, Jack Burden in All The King's Men (directed by Adrian Hall), George in Suddenly Last Summer (starring Diane Kagan), Daisy in Baby with the Bathwater, Malcome McLaren in Lipstick Traces, Guido Contini in Nine, and probably his favorite role, Frankenfurter in the Rocky Horror Show. His directing credits include Un Becoming, Ledge, Ledger, and the Legend for Stillwater Theatre; Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, The Trojan Women, Gypsy, David's Redhaired Death, Nightingale, The Apple Tree, and Abraham and Isaac for Meredith College; and Alice in Wonderland, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, and Dragonsong for Applause youth theatre in Cary.
Degrees Held: BFA, Western Carolina University; MFA in acting, UNC-Greensboro
Contact: Jones 134, (919) 760-8719, rotenjo@meredith.edu
Curt Tomczyk
Assistant Professor
Curt comes to Meredith College via Maryland, New York and Massachusetts. He most recently worked as the Scene Design Supervisor at the Williamstown Theatre Festival which provides hundreds of college interns and apprentices the opportunity to work with Directors and Designers; Nicholas Martin, John Rando, Michael Greif, Scott Ellis, Thomas Kail, Allen Moyer, Jim Noone, Alexander Dodge, and Donyale Werle among others. Prior to Williamstown he was the Paint Charge for Bay Street Theatre in Sag Harbor, New York and at Centerstage in Maryland. As a designer and technical director Curt has been on staff at North Carolina State University and Minneapolis Community and Technical College. In 2007 Curt was honored to contribute to the Broadway productions of Cyrano de Bergerac, Sunday in the Park with George, South Pacific, and Seattle’s Fifth Avenue Theatre production of Lone Star Love.
Degrees Held : Master of Fine Arts in Scene Design from North Carolina School of the Arts; Bachelor of Arts in Theatre and Studio Arts Minor from Hamline University in St. Paul, Minnesota.
Contact: Jones 135, (919) 760-2891, tomczykc@meredith.edu
Judy Dove
Elizabeth Grimes Droessler
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Staff
LeGrande Smith
LeGrande Smith joined the staff in 2007 after completing a second major in theatre at Meredith College. She has worked box office in the area including Theatre In The Park, Cary Academy and Actors Comedy Lab. LeGrande has also designed costumes for Raleigh Ensemble Players, Theatre In The Park, Cary Applause Children’s Theatre and Justice Theatre Project. At Meredith, she has designed costumes for Into the Woods, Gypsy and No, No, Nanette. LeGrande is an adjunct instructor in the Dance and Theatre Department teaching box office, house management, and publicity classes. She also supervises the costume shop and theatre practicum students. LeGrande is married to Doug and has 2 children. Maggie is a sophomore at St. Mary’s High School and Jacobi is a sophomore at NCSU.
Degree Held: BS in education, Western Carolina University. Completed a second major in theatre, Meredith College
Contact: Jones P10, (919) 760-8834, smithleg@meredith.edu
