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Dance Faculty

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  • Andy Noble
  • Full Professor
    Associate Chair
  • amn008@shsu.edu
  Learn more about Andy Noble 

  Andy Noble

  M.F.A., Dance, with emphasis in Dance Technology, Florida State University
  B.A., Modern Dance, University of South Florida

  Andy is Executive/Co-Artistic Director of NobleMotion Dance and an Associate Chair/Professor at Sam Houston State University. He also serves as the Associate Artistic Director of the Dance Gallery Festival, an international festival that occurs every year in New York City and Texas. During the summer, Andy is a faculty member at Dance Italia in Lucca, Italy. Houston Press recognized Andy as one of Houston’s 100 Creatives.

  Andy’s body of work includes 21 evening-length productions and over 150 dances. His focus on innovation and interdisciplinary work has lead to collaborations with neuroscientists, A.I. designers, industrial designer, light artists, composers, poets, musicians, and photographers. Most notably, he worked with Academy Award winner John Ridley to create original choreography featured on the Emmy Award Winning and Golden Globe Nominated ABC TV show American Crime. His work has been set on Repertory Dance Theatre, Dallas Black Dance Theatre, Bruce Wood Dance, Malashock Dance Company, Moving Current Dance Collective, and Urbanity Dance. He has also set work on University of Texas, Dartmouth University, University of South Florida, Booker T. Washington for the Performing and Visual Arts, and High School for the Performing and Visual Arts. Additionally, his choreography has been selected three times for the National Dance Festival at The Kennedy Center in Washington, DC and performed at Wolf Trap for the Performing Arts as part of the 2022 International Workshop on the Neural and Social Bases of Creative Movement.

  Andy’s creative endeavors have been supported by the National Endowment for the Arts, National Science Foundation, Mid-America Arts Alliance, Texas Commission for the Arts, and Houston Arts Alliance. He has also received over 40 positive reviews by press including Entertainment Weekly, The Boston Globe, Houston Chronicle, Arts+Culture Texas, and the Utah Review and his work has been presented at venues such as The Lincoln Center, The Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston, and The Ailey Citigroup Theatre. Andy’s work directing NobleMotion Dance has lead to the organization being awarded Houston’s Best Dance Company 3 times by the Houston Press and a listing in Dance Magazine as one of Houston’s “A-list” dance companies.

  Andy’s performing career includes six years with Repertory Dance Theatre (RDT), where he performed in over forty choreographic works by such noted masters as Martha Graham, Merce Cunningham and Jose Limon. He also had the honor of working first-hand with many cutting edge contemporary and international artists such as Gideon Obarzanek (Chunky Move), Jø Strømgren and Zvi Gotheiner. Andy holds a BA in Modern Dance from the University of South Florida and a MFA with an emphasis in Dance Technology from Florida State University.

  Andy has served as faculty at the University of South Florida and Western Washington University as well as been a guest artist at numerous other universities and performance art high schools across the country. For more information about NobleMotion Dance, please visit www.noblemotiondance.com.

  noblemotiondance.com

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  • Dionne Sparkman Noble
  • Associate Professor
    Grad Program Coordinator
  • dln008@shsu.edu
  Learn more about Dionne Noble 

  Dionne Sparkman Noble

  M.F.A., Dance with emphasis in Dance Technology, University of Utah
  B.A., Ballet and Modern Dance, University of South Florida

  Dionne Noble is co-artistic director of NobleMotion Dance and an Associate Professor of Dance at Sam Houston State University where she directs the graduate program, handles marketing for the Department of Dance and teaches modern technique, choreography, research methods and dance and technology. Additionally, she has served as faculty at Florida State University, University of South Florida and Western Washington University. Dionne received a BA in dance from the University of South Florida and a MFA in modern dance with an emphasis in dance and technology from the University of Utah. Dionne was named one of Houston’s 100 Creatives of 2013 by the Houston Press and her choreographic work has been featured on ABC’s television series “American Crime,” at The Kennedy Center, and at Wolf Trap for the Performing Arts as part of the 2022 International Workshop on the Neural and Social Bases of Creative Movement.

  Dionne was a member of the Demetrius Klein Dance Company in Miami, Florida and performed with Repertory Dance Theatre, Andy Noble and Dancers, Paradigm Dance Project, and Moving Current Dance Collective. She has also had the great opportunity to work with other artists such as Joe Goode, Molissa Fenley, Stephen Koester and Sean Curran.

  Dionne’s choreographic work has been produced by Urbanity Dance, Tallahassee Ballet, Moving Current Dance Collective, American College Dance Festival, Repertory Dance Theatre, University of Utah, Bellingham Repertory Dance Company, Paradigm Dance Project, Western Washington University, University of South Florida, Florida State University and FSU’s Dance Repertory Theatre (DRT). She has also been a guest artist and choreographer at several colleges and performing arts high schools throughout the United States.

  Dionne’s technological credits include being a contributing writer and consultant for ChoreoVideo.com, a web-based media resource designed in 2007 to promote innovative instruction in the area of dance technology. In 2009, she, along with colleagues Andy Noble and Tim Glenn, were invited to attend the Hawaii International Conference on Arts and Humanities to present Dance & Video: Merging Theoretical and Aesthetic Components of Two Motion Arts, a panel presentation utilizing ChoreoVideo.com. She has had dance films show in InShadow – International Festival of Video, Performance and Technology, Lisbon, Portugal, Utah Dance Film Festival, and Motion Captured, An Evening of Dance on Film, Houston, TX. She received funding from SHSU’s Office of Research and Sponsored Programs to collaborate with AI architect Jeremy Stewart, choreographer Andy Noble, lighting designer David J Deveau, composer Alex Davis, and dancers Colette Kerwick and Evelyn Toh on the creation of a AI generated dance film, My Flesh, My Fog. Another film, Pit Stop (created in 2020 that premiered in a 40-minute live streamed NMD event titled We All Fall Down) has been selected for screening by Dance Films Association #MyDanceFilm 2022 (Lincoln Center), enCore: Dance on Film 2022 (GA), Austin Dance Festival’s Dance on Film 2022, Boston Contemporary Dance Festival’s On Film Showcase, and ADF’s Movies By Movers.

  For more information about NobleMotion Dance, please visit www.noblemotiondance.com.

  noblemotiondance.com

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• • • 
    • Francisco Graciano
      
    • Assistant Professor
    • fxg046@shsu.edu
  Learn more about Francisco Graciano  

  Francisco Graciano

  M.F.A., Dance, Florida State University
  B.F.A., Dance, Stephens College for Women

  A native of San Antonio, Texas, Graciano has been a member of Ben Munisteri Dance Company, Cortez & Co. Contemporary/Ballet, Pascal Rioult Dance Theater, Broadway Dance Lab, and was a founding member of Dusan Tynek Dance Theater and TAKE Dance Company. He danced with Taylor 2 from 2004 – 2006 and the New York Times declared Mr. Graciano a “virtuoso star” when he danced in the Paul Taylor Dance Company from 2006 – 2017. In 2009 he was featured in Dance Magazine’s “25 to Watch” hailed as a dancer with a “freshness that’s all his own.”

  In the summer of 2020, amidst the COVID pandemic, he was chosen to be the inaugural choreographer for Dance Lab New York’s Nexus Lab where he experimented with video conferencing technology to create live digital performance. He founded Graciano Dance Projects, LLC in the Fall of 2020 as a platform to present live and digital theater and is fiscally sponsored by Unique Projects. He has been a commissioned choreographer for Calpulli Mexican Dance Company, Ballet Conservatory of South Texas, Merge Dance Company and the Drama Desk Award winning Theater in Quarantine’s Closet Works series as well as for college dance programs. He has been a faculty member for Movement Migration’s virtual intensives and recently earned a spot as a dance artist with Movement Migration, “a collective of seasoned dance artists collaborating to create dynamic dance works that portray the depths of the human experience.”

  His choreographic work centers around themes of transition and transformation of body and psychology and has been presented in New York City and in theaters nationally. He’s proud to share the Taylor legacy with dance artists as a repetiteur and rotating faculty member at the Paul Taylor School in New York City as well as several dance organizations around the country. As the Program Coordinator for #mydancefilm associated with the annual Dance on Camera Festival, he curates the virtual programming to be presented online and at the Walter Reade Theater at Lincoln Center. He also works and collaborates with celebrated Irish dancer Jean Butler and her organization Our Steps, which seeks to expand the way we think about the history, practice and performance of Irish step dance.

  He is a certified GYROKINESIS® Trainer and a GYROTONIC® Apprentice Trainer. Visit www.franciscograciano.com and @ciscograciano on social media for more information

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    • Adele Nickel
    • Assistant Professor
    • axn051@shsu.edu
  Learn More about Adele Nickel  

  Adele Nickel

  M.F.A., Dance, University of Washington

  Adele trained with Oregon Ballet Theater and The San Francisco Ballet before moving to New York City to pursue a career in modern dance. There she worked with Patrick Corbin, Sarah Michelson, Karole Armitage and Annie-B Parson, among others, and as a member of the Liz Gerring Dance Company (2007 – 2015) was featured in several evening-length works, including the 2013 Bessie-nominated Glacier. From 2015-2017 she performed as a backup dancer with Grammy Award-winning musician St. Vincent.

  While in NYC, Adele also trained as an AmSAT-certified teacher of the Alexander Technique and studied extensively anatomy/kinesiology and developmental movement with Amy Matthews. She received her 1600-hour Alexander Technique teacher training at Riverside Initiative for the Alexander Technique (RIAT), and subsequently served at RIAT as associate assistant director, faculty member and anatomy teacher. She also taught group classes in the Alexander Technique on faculty at Movement Research and the American Academy of Dramatic Arts.

  Adele holds a B.A. in writing from the New School University and has written about dance for The Village Voice. In 2019, she received her MFA in dance from University of Washington, and she continues to work with the Chamber Dance Company in Seattle. Adele is now a visiting assistant professor of dance at Sam Houston State University. Learn more about Adele's work at https://www.adelenickel.com.

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  • Rasika Borse
  • Lecturer
  • rnb020@shsu.edu
  Learn More about Rasika Borse 

  Rasika Borse

  MFA, Dance, Sam Houston State University
  B.A., Dance, University of Calgary

  Rasika Borse —born in Mumbai, India—started her dance training in Bharatanatyam at a very young age in Doha, Qatar. After moving to Montreal, Canada she found a new found love for Ballet and dedicated the next few years to train under companies such as Quinte Ballet School and The School of Alberta Ballet. She has also passed all her Cecchetti Ballet exams with honors.  

  During her time in Calgary, she joined the Young Canadian School of Performing Arts where she had the privilege to learn under the direction of Bryan Foley and Angela Benson. During her time here she performed at the Grandstand Show in front of an audience of 20,000 every night during the 10-day Calgary Stampede, also known as the Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth. She also got her Bachelor of Arts degree in Dance from the University of Calgary and continued her Jazz training in a pre-professional program at Decidedly Jazz Dancerworks. She later had the honour of joining the DJD dance company and toured around Alberta with their show The Great Jazz History Mystery. Borse also joined Soul Feet Dance Productions, Calgary’s leading Bollywood dance company where she not only shared her passion for dance, but also had a chance to explore and embrace her Indian roots.  

  After gaining teaching and performing experience around Calgary, Borse decided to make the move to Huntsville, TX to pursue her higher education. Borse has now graduated with a Master of Fine Arts in Dance from Sam Houston State University. Her thesis explored ideas of human connections and how meaning is rooted in past experiences, backgrounds, and cultures. Borse hopes to continue exploring these ideas in the future and is excited to learn and grow as a choreographer, performer, and educator.

   

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  • Colette Kerwick
  • Lecturer
  • crm099@shsu.edu
  Learn More about Colette Kerwick 

  Colette Kerwick

  MFA, Dance, Sam Houston State University
  B.A., Dance, New Mexico State University

  Colette R. Kerwick from Santa Fe, New Mexico received her BA in dance from New Mexico State University, where she worked as an adjunct professor before moving to Texas receiving her MFA in Dance from Sam Houston State University. Kerwick is in her third season dancing with NobleMotion Dance and in her second season as co-artistic director of their pre-professional company, NMD2.  Most recently Kerwick has been named Programming Director of NobleMotion Dance. Kerwick also works at University of St. Thomas as an adjunct professor in dance.  Kerwick has presented choreography at the American College Dance Association, The Dance Gallery Festival (NY, TX), William Evans Somatic Dance Festival (NY) and the Keshet Dance Festival (NM).  Kerwick has also had the privilege of performing works by, Lux Boreal, Mike Esperanza, Gabrielle Lamb, Jennifer Mabus, Joshua Manculich, Andy and Dionne Noble, Dana Nicolay, Jennifer Pontius and Vanessa Voskuil.  She has also trained at Dance Italia in Lucca Italy, the American Dance Festival, Josè Limon and has toured with NobleMotion Dance in New York City, NY, Copus Christi, TX and Phoenix, AZ. Additionally, Kerwick works as a Pilates instructor through Balanced Body Pilates.

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• • 
  • Travis Lake
  • Lecturer
  • tlake@shsu.edu
  Learn More about Travis Lake 

  Travis Lake

  MFA, Dance, Sam Houston State University
  B.F.A., Dance, University of Utah

  Travis Lake is an interdisciplinary artist focusing on choreography, music composition, and digital production. He holds a BFA from the University of Utah (American Dance Movement National Scholarship) and an MFA from Sam Houston State University (Jonathan Charles Endowed Scholarship). Based in Texas, he serves on faculty in the Department of Dance at Sam Houston State University where he currently researches the relationship between conflict and connection in narrative-based artwork. In addition to the Department, he works closely with the 11X national champion Orange Pride Dance Team at Sam Houston.

  Travis Lake’s dynamic style and enthusiasm have made him one of the most sought-after dance team choreographers and teachers in the United States. In the last 10 years, his innovative choreography has won 15 state championships, 5 national championships, and 3 consecutive USASF world championships. He has choreographed over 50 works for organizations, including NobleMotion Dance, University of Minnesota, Brigham Young University, University of South Carolina, Sam Houston State University, and West Virginia University, among others. His work has been presented in venues such as: Capitol Theatre (UT), Disneyland (CA), ESPN’s Wide World of Sports Complex (FL), Marriott Center for Dance (UT), Hard Rock Resort (FL), The Ocean Center (FL), Daytona Beach Bandshell (FL), James and Nancy Gaertner Performing Arts Center (TX), and the Rose Wagner Blackbox Theatre (UT). 

  As a composer, Travis’ original music compositions have been commissioned and presented by notable organizations, including NobleMotion Dance, the Guggenheim, Ballet BC, Ballet West, Nederlands Dans Theater II, Arts Umbrella, Juliano Nunes, Ethan Colangelo, Flockworks, and Emma Portner.

  View more about Travis or download music from his website: www.travis-lake.com

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  • Lauren Serrano
  • Lecturer
  • lrs054@shsu.edu
  Learn More about Lauren Serrano 

  Lauren Serrano

  MFA, Dance, Sam Houston State University
  M.A. in Dance Education, Hunter College
  BFA in Dance, University of California Santa Barbara 

  Lauren Serrano is originally from Orange County where she trained at many local studios and attended Orange County High School for the Performing Arts for classical and commercial dance. She graduated from University of California Santa Barbara with a B.F.A. in dance, and in addition to her Masters in Dance Education from the Arnhold Graduate Dance Education Program at Hunter College in 2015. In New York City Lauren had the opportunity to work with choreographers such as Jennifer Muller, Young Soon Kim, Toni Renee Johnson, Pedro Ruiz, and Mike Esperanza. Lauren moved back to Santa Barbara to teach and direct the youth competitive teams at Santa Barbara Dance Arts while dancing with Santa Barbara Dance Theater and as a soloist for Nebula Dance Lab. While dancing with SBDT she performed works by Andrea Schermolly, Yusha Sorzano, Christopher Pilafian, Jennifer Muller, Stephanie Miracle, Brandon Whited, and Edgar Zendejas. She is currently based in Houston, Texas and dances with NobleMotion Dance directed by Andy and Dionne Noble. With NobleMotion Dance she co-directs NobleMotion Dance 2 and is the managing and marketing director. Lauren recently graduated from Sam Houston State University with her M.F.A. and is joining the faculty as a lecturer teaching Modern Dance, Pedagogy, Pilates and Dance and Popular Culture.

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