Faculty
Carol Dilley: Assistant Professor in Dance, Director of Dance
Carol Dilley joined the Bates Dance Program in the Fall of 2003. She has been an international choreographer, performer and teacher for nearly 20 years. Based first in New York, then Barcelona, Seattle, Sydney and now Maine, she has worked with many companies and independent choreographers as well as her own companies, Radio Suec and Carol Dilley & Co. She has performed her work in the USA and Europe both as a solo artist and as director/choreographer of those companies.
Carol has also dedicated a lot of energy into the creation of opportunities for the development and performance of dance works. She co-founded La Porta, a performance series dedicated to the creation and promotion of independent dance in Barcelona and Europe, and later founded Dance Briefs, a similar initiative in Sydney, Australia. She received her MFA from the University of Washington and a Graduate Certificate in Arts Management from the University of Technology in Sydney. She served as Coordinator of the Bachelor of Dance Education at the Australian College of Physical Education before coming to Bates as Assistant Professor of Dance and Director of Dance at Bates College.
Marcy Plavin: Lecturer Emeritus in Dance
Marcy Plavin is responsible for the development of the Dance Program from the time she arrived at Bates in 1965. She launched the Bates Dance Company four years later in 1969 and became a Lecturer in Dance in 1971. Marcy has an M.A. in Dance from Wesleyan University. In addition to teaching academic and studio courses, she has produced over 100 dance concerts, contributing choreography of her own as well as advising student choreographers and touring with the Company to schools around the State. She has always encouraged an active guest artist residency program and has brought to Bates such artists as Trisha Brown, Stephen Petronio, Doug Varone, Mark Dendy, Pilobolus, Eiko and Koma, Kei Takei, Murray Louis, Doug Elkins, Tere O’Connor and others. She is an active member of the national academic dance community and has served on the Board of the American College Dance Festival Association as well as hosting the American College Dance Festival six times at Bates. She was founder and co-director of the now internationally renowned Bates Dance Festival and still serves on the Artistic Advisory Board of the Festival. Marcy is active in the Maine dance community and has lectured at a variety of institutions as well as contributing articles to the Maine press and National Dance Journals.
Adjunct Faculty
Debi Irons
Debi Irons is a professional dancer/choreographer with over 20 years experience in all aspects of the dance world. She has created a method of dance education that encourages dancers to develop personal creativity and expression along with healthy technique. Debi inspires self-motivation in life through dance, guiding each individual to aspire toward their own unique potential; teaching correct yet natural technique in variant dance forms for a broad foundation. She is trained in modern, jazz, ballet, acrobatics, afro-Brazilian, street, tap, choreography, improvisation, and musical theatre dance. All are used in her teaching. She continues to study, collaborate and produce, challenging herself as an artist and human being. http://www.artmovesdance.com
Sarah McCormick
Sarah McCormick received her BA in World Arts & Culture from UCLA and her MFA from SUNY Brockport, where she has taught as an Adjunct lecturer in dance. The core to Ms. McCormick’s modern dance technique is based on her training with Bella Lewitzky and Alwin Nikolai who both encouraged her to choreograph. Currently, Somatics and Laban Movement Analysis influence her teaching approach to modern dance technique and choreography. Her company Tyndale/Sarah Pogostin produced works in New York and abroad in such venues as Movement Research, DIA Art Foundation, Cunningham Studio, St. Mark’s Church and DTW, in addition to performances in Barcelona and Vienna. Her work has also been highlighted at various Universities and Festivals, including SUNY Brockport, Iowa University, Providence College in Rhode Island, Loyola Marymount in Los Angeles, Bates Summer Dance Festival and Los Angeles Olympic Arts Festival and Fringe Festival. She has also performed and presented papers at various conferences including, NDEO (National Dance Education Organization), CORD (Conference on Research in Dance) and at the National Women’s Studies Organization. Ms. McCormick’s work confronts gender and feminine historicity, culture, and movement identity. Sarah has been associated with Bates College since 2006 as Lecturer, a guest artist, Acting Director of Dance and currently is Applied Dance Faculty.
Rachel Ganteaume Richards
Rachel Ganteaume Richards, born in Trinidad, first studied the Royal Academy Dance Syllabus, at The Caribbean School of Dance in Port of Spain. Her accomplishments there led her to being honored with a scholarship to the Joffrey School in New York City, where she also studied with David Howard and Maggie Black; performing feature roles in the Joffery II Company before joining the Joffrey Ballet in 1975. In the Joffrey Ballet, she performed principal roles in Oscar Ariaz’s Romeo and Juliet, Gerald Arpino’s Sacred Grove on Mount Tamalpais, Sir Frederick Ashton’s Jazz Calendar, Jose Limon’s The Moor’s Pavane, and others by Agnes de Mille, Vaslav Nijinsky, Gerome Robbins and Twyla Tharp. Her television performances include Rodeo, presented at the Kennedy Center at the request of the White House, marking the historic meeting of President Jimmy Carter and Deng Xiao Ping, then Vice Premier of the People’s Republic of China. Moreover, her national television broadcast history included “The Joffrey Company at Wolftrap”, and “Nureyev and The Joffrey Ballet on Broadway”. In 1982 she moved to Maine; joining the faculty of the Ram Island Dance Center and later The Portland Ballet where in 1996, she performed “Tituba” in Sam Kurkjian’s The Witches of Salem. Rachel now teaches at the Portland School of Ballet and at The Dance Center in Auburn.
PE Faculty
Bruce Tracy -Hip-Hop, Street Funk, Breakdancing Instructor
A Major element in Hip Hop culture, Urban Dance forms (Breakin', Poppin', Lockin', Step, House & those incredible routines on MTV) are surfacing everywhere. Bruce has immersed himself in the "streets" self taught atmosphere for 8 years and has been teaching them to others for 5 years. His choreography has won awards in New Jersey, Boston and Maine. He recently took 2nd place in a popping contest in Boston held by the "Floor Lords", a major group in the break dance world.
Bruce is the only professional teacher of break dance in Southern Maine. When not teaching he can be seen performing as a local DJ. He's worked in many nightclubs and as a DJ opened for names like Bad Boy Bill, Eminem and MTV's DJ Scribbles. You can also find him in the band "Miravie" performing vocals and turntablism.
Bruce's motto for class: "If you can't find your right foot, feel free to bring both of your lefts".