Current Members

Stacy Yvonne Claytor

Photo of Stacy Claytor
Attribution
Photo by Thomas Kay

Stacey Yvonne Claytor is the proud Founder and CEO of C4 Performing Arts in Fairfax, VA and Artistic Director of the newly formed Claytor Company, a professional dance company under the C4 umbrella.  Stacey is a passionate and dedicated performing artist, arts educator and arts advocate.  She studied at the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in New York, earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Theater and Dance from James Madison University and a Master of Fine Arts degree from The George Washington University. As a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated, Stacey always seeks opportunities to serve in her community and she is constantly working with her students to not only fill them with a love and appreciation for the arts, but to cultivate in them, a strong sense of family and social responsibility as well as empower them to become the leaders of tomorrow.

Susan Donham

Susan Donham was the director and choreographer of Spinning Yarns Dance Collective, a small modern dance company, in San Francisco for 12 years.  She is currently an interfaith chaplain at the George Washington University outpatient clinic and works for the George Washington Institute for Spirituality and Health. She received her M.A. in dance from American University in 1994. In addition to her choreographic work, Donham has performed for Eclipse Dance Theater, Khadra International Dance Theater, Right Brain Performancelab, Jenice Acosta Movers, and in the work of Apryl Seech, Marisa Pugliano, Jen Minore, and Joe Landini. She is happy to be back on the East Coast and performing with Human Landscape Dance.

Carrie Monger

Photo of Carrie Monger
Attribution
Photo by Thomas Kay

Carrie Monger received a Minor in Dance from James Madison University and a Masters in Counseling from the College of William and Mary.  She has been dancing professionally in the Metro DC area since 2001.  She has performed extensively, both nationally and internationally.  In addition to dancing with Human Landscape Dance, Carrie dances with Claytor Company and is a member and Assistant Director of UpRooted Dance. Carrie has also choreographed and collaborated with other performing arts companies and visual artists in the area.  She currently works as an Artist in Residence with Georgetown Lombardi Arts and Humanities Program and the Smith Center for Healing and the Arts at the Inova Schar Cancer Institute.

Alexander Short

Alexander Short has been dancing in the DC area for a really long time and has worked with many local choreographers.  He has studied modern, tap and ballroom dancing.  Alex has been a member of the contact improvisation dance community since attending a semester class in college taught by Nancy Stark Smith in 1983.  He has worked with Malcolm Shute and Human Landscape Dance since 2006 performing in a wide variety and performances in a wide variety of places.  His most recent international performances include the Contact Dance International Film Festival in Toronto, Canada, and Attune in Kyoto, Japan.  Most recently he performed at the Exchange Choreography Festival in Tulsa, OK.  He is a Certified Movement Analyst. 

Malcolm Shute

Malcolm (Mac) Shute is an internationally known performer and teacher of movement. He teaches a wide range of subjects in the Dance Department at Towson University and studios in the Washington DC area. He directs Human Landscape Dance, a company known for its intimate, athletic portrayal of human affection and conflict. They have presented work in Europe, and North and South America. Shute holds a MFA in Dance with a Concentration in Choreography from the University of Maryland, and is a Certified Movement Analyst through the Laban/Bartenieff Institute of Movement Studies. He has led workshops in Laban Movement Analysis, contact improvisation, dance and mythology, modern/contemporary dance, and somatics in the US and abroad.

Katie Sopoci Drake

Malcolm Shute and Katie Sopoci Drake
Attribution
Photo by Unifyed Visuals, Justin Williams

Katie Sopoci Drake has been on faculty at the University of Maryland College Park, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Nova Southeastern University, Miami Dade College, Carthage College, and Lawrence University. Her work on technology and distance collaboration has been published by the Journal of Dance Education, and her research into Laban’s space and effort affinities was presented at the 2015 NDEO conference and 2015 Conference on Teaching Somatics-Based Dance. This research resulted in the evening-length show Spacetime Suite, funded by a 2016 Dance Metro DC Presentation Grant.

Sopoci Drake is the Artistic Director of Spacetime Dance and a founding collaborator of the Mountain Empire Performance Collective. Her choreography has been performed by Momentum Dance Company, Wild Space Dance Company, The Florentine Opera, Lawrence University Opera, and many more. Her long-distance improvisation-based collaborations with Mountain Empire Performance Collective have been performed from New York to Oregon. As a performer, Sopoci Drake is described as a "sinuous, animal presence of great power" (Third Coast Digest, 6/12). She has had a national performing career with Spacetime Dance, Mountain Empire Performance Collective, RebollarDance, Mordine and Company Dance Theater, Momentum Dance Company, Wild Space Dance Company, and Rosy Simas Danse. Spacetime Dance’s 2019 and 2020 seasons have been funded by grants from the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities Fellowship Program.

Grace Stern

Photo of Grace Stern
Attribution
Photo by Thomas Kay

Grace Stern grew up in Minnesota and Nebraska. She received a BFA from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts and was also educated at American Ballet Theater, Hubbard Street, and Ballet Magnificat. She has had the privilege of working with Janis Brenner, Doug Elkins, Maurya Kerr, Helen Simoneau, Olive Prince, Myra Brazell, JCWK Dance Lab, Evalina “Wally” Carbonell, Dance Fusion as well as others. She danced with Kun-Yang Lin/Dancers from 2015-2022 and now enjoys freelancing, teaching Pilates, and being a mom to three little ones.

Former Members

Amanda Abrams

Amanda Abrams is a modern dancer based in Washington, DC. Originally from North Carolina, she has danced with several DC-based groups and her choreography has been shown at Dance Place and Joy of Motion. Amanda is an avid improviser, helps facilitate a weekly contact improvisation jam, and is the former organizer of the DC Improvisation Festival. When not dancing, she's feverishly at work trying to succeed as a freelance writer.

Heather Doyle

Heather Doyle is a dance artist from the piedmont of North Carolina currently making her home in Washington, D.C.  Heather is currently working on projects with Erica Rebollar/Rebollar Dance Theatre, mansurdancer, and Human Landscape Dance.  She recently was engaged in logistic and production support as part of the Dance Exchange's How to Lose a Mountain project.  Heather has recently performed with Tzveta Kassabova, Graham Brown, Nathan Andary, Deborah Riley Dance Projects,  and as a guest with Dance Box Theater and PEARSONWIDRIGDANCETHEATER. Heather owes deep gratitude for her creative work with Niki Juralewicz, the Informall Theater Company, and the John Gamble Dance Theater in North Carolina. Ms. Doyle’s choreography has been presented by Movement Research (Open Performance), the North Carolina Dance Project, the Greensboro Fringe Festival, Artomatic, and the Dinner Party. She practices and teaches Gyrotonic and Gyrokinesis. Heather has extensive experience in dance production, and supports emerging performing artists as a production stage manager and theater technician throughout the DC region.  She is also crazy about square dancing.

Beth Griffin

Beth Griffin is a native Washingtonian currently performing with Human Landscape Dance and Agora Dance. She graduated from Towson University magna cum laude with a BFA in Dance Performance and a BS in Cultural Studies in 2013, and has since appeared on stages at Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival, Dance Place, and The Kennedy Center's Millennium Stage, among others. Most recently, she was featured in NW Dance Project's Pretty Creatives ('16, '17), performing the works of Luca Signoretti, Anton Rudakov, Alyssa Pires, and Alice Klock. Beth has been a rehearsal assistant to local choreographers Vincent Thomas and Runqiao Du. In spring 2018, she returned to Towson University to set Vincent Thomas's Occupy on the TU Dance Company, a piece she performed first as a student and again in full-length with VTDance over the course of three seasons. While not dancing, Beth serves on the production team of the Washington National Opera and walks dogs on Capitol Hill. She is thrilled to be joining Human Landscape Dance for their Japanese engagement and looks forward to future collaborations! (Photo by Liz Lynch.)

Brooke Manker

Brooke Manker graduated with honors from Towson University where she received her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance Performance and Choreography in Spring of 2019. Throughout her training, she has been able to focus her studies in modern and ballet, In addition to contemporary, jazz, tap and hip hop from various instructors and intensives. During her time at Towson University, she performed with Towson's Dance Company for 5 seasons and was rehearsal assistant in fall of 2018. She has also performed at Baltimore Theatre Project with VT Dance (2017) under the direction of Vincent Thomas, and with ASEID Contemporary Dance (2019) under Alison Seidenstricker. Other showcases include, Koresh's "Come Together Dance Festival " (2017) in "Subsequent " choreographed by Marissa Kaufmann and American College Dance Festival (2017) in the selected Gala performance "Threshold" choreographed by Susan Mann. Her own Choreography has also been selected to be presented at "Artistry Unfolded" with Project Moshen (2019). Post graduation, Brooke joined Motion X Dance DC as a Company Member for the 2019-2020 season. In addition to performing, Brooke spends most of her time teaching and choreographing for dance studios in the DMV and northern Pennsylvania areas.

Nicole Y. McClam

Nicole Y. McClam is fumbling her way through as an MFA candidate in Dance while also pursuing her studies in the Laban Certification Program at the University of Maryland; introducing students to the awesomeness of dance as an adjunct at Howard Community College; and bouncing to and fro as a founding member of B3W Performance Group based in Queens, NY.  Her own work has been presented in Washington, DC, Baltimore, MD and Brooklyn, NY.  She has lived in the DC area since 2001 where she was a long time member of Deborah Riley Dance Projects.  Prior to that she apprenticed with Pennsylvania Dance Theater for their 2000-2001 season where she had the pleasure of performing works by Ben Munisteri and Claire Porter.  She graduated from East Carolina University with a BFA in Dance Performance and a BA in Chemistry.

Olivia Serrill

Olivia Serrill is a modern dancer based in Baltimore, MD. Originally from Charlottesville, VA she began her journey into the dance world at the age of 4 at the Academy of the Arts. After moving to MD she began her pre-professional dance training at The Metropolitan Ballet Theatre and Academy in Rockville, MD. She focused a lot of her energy on pre-professional classical ballet training but as she became exposed to many other dance forms, she found a passion for modern dance. Olivia received her BFA in Dance Performance and her BS in General Design Studies at Towson University and trained with a variety of instructors including Linda Denise-Fisher Harrell, Runqiao Du, Vincent Thomas, Nicole Martinell, Malcolm Shute, and Catherine Horta-Hayden among others. Olivia has also spent many summers studying with Pilobolus Dance Theatre in their workshop series which has played an important role in her contact improvisation and partnering background. Olivia was a dancer in Deep Vision Dance Company from 2012 to 2015. She worked with several artists in the Baltimore/DC area with this group and was able to collaborate on many projects including the Akimbo art and movement festival. Olivia is excited to be a part of Human Landscape Dance and the exploration that is to come.

Mary Szegda

Mary Szegda, a native of Connecticut, is a Board Certified Dance Therapist, Licensed Professional Counselor and Massage Therapist at The Spa Room. She has been dancing in Washington DC since 1999. She studied with teachers Mim Rosen, Ed Tyler and Lou Antonini. She has presented work at the Jack Guidone Theatre and The Dinner Party. Mary is excited to be working with Human Landscape Dance.

Eliza Talbott

Eliza Talbott began her dance training in the ballet studio at age 9. She immersed herself in modern dance, including Jose Limon and Erik Hawkins technique, beginning in college at the University of California at Santa Cruz and then in classes and intensives in London, New York, Boston and San Francisco.  She has also studied choreography techniques and improvisation both at UC Santa Cruz and here in DC. In the DC area, Eliza has performed with Deborah Riley Dance Projects, Taffety Punk, Force Collision, Alight Dance Theater, Kista Tucker Insights and many sight specific independent projects including the filming of "Cinderella" at Sky Meadows State Park this year with Human Landscape Dance

Hannah Whitley

Since the age of four, Hannah Whitley has been expressing herself through creative movement and dance.  She studied dance for most of her life in North Carolina, where she performed with various companies.  Movement enriched her life and her connections in such a way that she realized a big part of her path was to create healing and transformational opportunities for others through this modality. Hannah is a practicing dance/ movement therapist in the DC area.  She continues to cultivate awareness and connection through expressive movement in her work as both a dancer and dance/ movement therapist.  She is currently performing with Nancy Havlik Dance Performance Group and Human Landscape Dance. Hannah loves working collaboratively.  She finds meaning in the movement connections we experience every day.