staff
Kay Gayner, Artistic Director
Kay Gayner rejoined the National Dance Institute (NDI) team in 2000, and currently directs programs in three New York City schools including programs for special needs and wheelchair mobile children. With NDI founder Jacques d’Amboise, she served as producer and co-choreographer in the launch of Toni Morrison’s Atelier program at Princeton University. Currently she co-directs a hands-on graduate program for educators studying Multiple Intelligences at St. Joseph’s College in Hartford, CT. As a teacher/performer, she has appeared in NDI exchanges with children in Shanghai, and Moscow. With Jacques and Artistic Director, Ellen Weinstein, she has co-directed, produced, performed and choreographed for more than thirty residencies and performances worldwide, and was instrumental in the planning and implementation stages for NDI affiliate programs in Trenton, NJ and Santa Fe, NM. In 2006, she conceived, directed and choreographed NDI’s annual Event of the Year, an original version of A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
Highlights of her career as an actor/singer/dancer include performing as Diana Morales/Bebe in A Chorus Line (National Tour/Regional), Annie in The Norman Conquests at Primary Stages in NYC, The Central Park Jogger in Gorgeous Mosaic (Circle Rep), and Maria in West Side Story (Regional). She appeared in the world premiere of Frank Gilroy’s Contact with the Enemy, nominated for 2002 Drama Desk Award for best play. As a dancer, singer and actor, she has performed at the Kennedy Center, Alice Tully Hall, Playwrights Horizons, E.S.T., Circle Rep, HERE, and Westbeth, and performs regularly at Carnegie Hall with the Oratorio Society of New York. Films to her credit include Tully, Heroines and A Special Place.
Lisa Van Deman, Executive Director
Lisa Van Deman joined NC-AIA in April 2008 after spending nearly 20 years in non-profit management and administration. Most recently, she served as Vice President and later as senior consultant to the National Children’s Museum in Washington, DC, where she directed the development of the museum master plan and created a variety of fundraising materials and presentations for the $130m project. She also served as a program consultant to the Association of Children’s Museums for their new national child-health initiative, Good to Grow! She began her career as an Equity actress at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago, where she fell in love with informal learning and founded the museum’s resident theatre company. She has written extensively on using theatre as an interpretive strategy for learning, and was an adjunct Professor of Theatre at Rollins College in Orlando, FL She holds a B.A. in American Literature from Washington University in St. Louis and an M.F.A. in Theatre Performance from Southern Illinois University.
Alton Tisino, Associate Artistic Director
At 9 years of age, Alton Tisino participated in the Texas affiliate program of the National Dance Institute (NDI) of New York. For two years he danced in the in-school program and later joined the SWAT Team (Scholarships for the Willing, Achieving and Talented) and the Celebration Team (a semi-professional troupe) which allowed him to perform at venues across the state. At 15, Alton received scholarships from Jacques d’Amboise to participate in the National Dance Institute’s 2000 Teacher Training Program and the Irene Diamond Summer Institute. The following summer, he was invited to be the assistant to NDI’s Summer Institute Director Lori Klinger. Inspired by his experiences with the National Dance Institute, he became a teaching artist with the Texas NDI affiliate program. Alton’s training includes tap, jazz and musical theater. For the past 3 summers, Alton assisted Jacques d’Amboise, NDI founder and Kay Gayner, NDI Master Teaching Artist, at a hands-on graduate program for educators at St. Joseph’s College in Hartford, CT. After an introduction from Jacques, Alton is currently serving as Associate Artistic Director for NC-AIA. In Dec 2007 he received his BA in communication studies from Texas State University. In January 2008 Alton conceived, directed, and choreographed his first residency for the 5th grade students of Rashkis Elementary in the original production An African Journey. In 2009-10, Alton serves as Lead Teacher for all NC AIA partner schools and has spearheaded the development of the 2010 curriculum, "Think Big!"
Marlon Torres, Teaching Artist
A 22 year professional dance veteran, Marlon Torres began his career as a principal dancer in Mini-Pops — a highly-rated Venezuelan TV dance ensemble featuring child performers, which enchanted millions of loyal viewers in his native Venezuela and the Caribbean. Marlon is a lead dancer and choreographer for Galumpha, a modern acrobatic dance ensemble with a worldwide following that features inventive choreography and striking visual effects. Marlon is a regular guest teacher at Binghamton University, has taught master classes in dance at Ithaca College and co-directs performance camps in partnership with the Discovery Center in Binghamton, N.Y. Prior to joining Galumpha, Marlon completed a BA in theatre with an emphasis in dance at the State University of New York at Binghamton, where he received the prestigious Friars Foundation Award for Excellence in the Arts. He is currently pursuing an MBA from the University of Leicester, England.
In spring of 2006, Marlon volunteered his talents to North Carolina Arts in Action. His love of children and dance experience has now made him an important part of NCAIA's team as a teaching artist, lead teacher in our Fayetteville Street program and assistant choreographer to the NC-AIA artistic director.
Julie Flinchum Bradley, Music Director
Julie is a graduate of NC School of the Arts and UNC-CH. While still in school, she began working as assistant to conductor McCrae Hardy at NC Theatre, and spent a fulfilling 20-year career there. She is also very involved in area opera, community theatre, and youth education, including the Opera Company of North Carolina, Wake County Public Schools, Raleigh Conservatory of Music, and Chapel Hill Ballet School. Her work as orchestrator and arranger includes such clients as Ipo Productions, the Jimmy V Celebrity Classic and Going Barefoot, Inc. She also serves as the orchestra contractor for Broadway South, a presenter of touring musicals.