GREEN STREET FACULTY BIOS

LYNN AGNEW (Movement Arts- Tap Dance) has studied under the direction of such prominent teachers as Phil Black, Charles Kelley, Frank Hatchett, Peter Gennaro, and Charles Goddertz, just to name a few. She has taught dance and fitness in a variety of community settings including Connecticut Valley Hospital, The Dance Connection, Middletown Parks and Recreation Department's Summer Dance Program, Vinnie's Jump & Jive and as a part of Central Connecticut State University's Dance Practicum Program. Lynn is known for her enthusiasm and patience when teaching. She is currently offering a Tiny Tappers dance class.

JANICE ALBERT (Literary Arts- Creative Writing) is a writing teacher with more than 30 years of experience in the California Community College system. Her writing has appeared in newspapers and publications of the National Council of Teachers of English. Her articles on California writers can be found at the website www.CATEweb.org under Publications. She is a two-time winner of the Russell Library's Jack Paton Storytelling contest in Middletown.

JOHN BERGERON (Media Arts- Sound Design) has compositions in films, videos and commercials. He has a BS Degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Colorado and has maintained his own recording studio and recording school for the past fifteen years. He has been the producer on over 40 released CDs for many artists, and currently teaches Audio Production and Electronic Music at Middlesex Community College. He maintains his own studio, DreamCatcher Recording Studio, in north central Connecticut. John currently offers courses in Pro-Tools and Private Recording Sessions.

ROSLYN N. CARRIER-BRAULT (Visual Arts- Photography) is currently finalizing her BFA in Photography from the Charter Oak State University, New Britain, CT. She received her first degree in Photography from Grossmont College, El Cajon, CA. She actively been teaching and worked as a Fine Art Photography since 1989. She also hold an AA degree in Liberal Arts from Middlesex Community College, Middletown, CT. Roslyn is an award winning fine art photographer whose work uses conventional and digital photography, video and mixed media. She mastered her craft in San Diego, CA at Grossmont College, which is affiliated with the Museum of Photographic Arts. Roslyn was the Chairman for the Shoreline Art Alliance's 20th-Anniversary show for Connecticut photographers, IMAGES 2001. She has taught beginning photographic classes for children and adults at the Tracy Art Center in Old Saybrook, CT. You can view Roslyn's work at her website, http://www.roslynncarrierbrault.com/. Roslyn currently teaches Photo Journalism in the AfterSchool Program and facilitates Flash Forward.

JUDIE CLARK (Movement Arts- Seniors) has performed in Japan, Summer Stock Theater, The Tri-Cities Opera, with Sonia Dawkins and several independent choreographers. She has trained with Garth Fagan, Milton Myers, Timothy Draper, (founder, Rochester City Ballet), Philadanco, and The Limon Institute. Ms. Clark has been teaching dance to children and adults for twenty years. She has worked as a free-lance choreographer for the last 10 years and launched her own performance group, Clark Dance Theatre, in 2006. Judie has recently continued her dance studies with Bill Evans, Don Halquist, Kitty Daniels and Debra Knapp and is pursuing her certificate in Laban/ Bartenieff movement analysis. Ms. Clark has a certificate in Dance from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, a Bachelors of Science in Dance from SUNY Brockport. Teaching credits include, New Haven Ballet, The Neighborhood Music School, Central CT State University and at The University of New Haven.

CHRIS CRETELLA (Musical Arts- Guitar) began studying the guitar under Ron Bridgsche at the age of thirteen. He began composing his shortly thereafter. Chris has studied with Mark Kuss in composition and with David Chevan in improvisation at Southern Connecticut State University. With Dave Parmelee, Chris founded a chamber/jazz ensemble called Goose Lane. The group regularly performs Chris' compositions and arrangements. Goose Lane has recorded and released two CD's on Chris and Dave's own Rehab Music Foundation imprint and is currently working on a third. Chris can also be found playing in many other local ensembles from rock bands to jazz bands and from free improvisation groups to solo classical guitar at weddings. Chris has completed a set of six studies for guitar and a major new work for woodwind quintet and is currently working on a piece for guitar and drum set. Chris currently teaches private lessons and three levels of guitar instruction.

DAVID DAVIS (Musical Arts- Saxophone) was born and raised in Connecticut, is a Hartt School of Music graduate with a degree in Jazz studies and Music Management. Davis has performed at venues along with Mary J. Blige, Deborah Cox, LL Cool J, Brian Mcknight, Keith Washington, Sean Puffy Combs, Kid Capri, Biz Markie, John P. Kee, Karen Clarke, Marion Meadows, Roy Ayers, Donald Harrison, Dave Valentine, Onaje Allen Gumbs, Sherry Winston, Chuck Loeb, Cherryl Hayes and Gloria Lynn to name a few. You can learn more about David at his website, http://davidavis.com/. David currently teaches in the AfterSchool Program and offers private lessons.

MICHAEL ENNIS (Literary Arts-Screenwriting) is a local writer and teacher who has been screenwriting since 2002. Two of his scripts have become finalists in Los Angeles-based screenplay competitions. He is also active in Middletown's Floating Theater Company and contributes to The Middletown Press and The Chronicle newspapers as a columnist. Michael currently offers an Introduction to Screenwriting course.

JOSEPH GETTER (Musical Arts- Clarinet, Saxophone, Carnatic Flute) graduated from Oberlin College, where he studied clarinet and world music, and is a doctoral candidate in music at Wesleyan University. Joseph has a wide range of musical experiences, from performing wind ensemble, jazz, rock, Bollywood, klezmer, experimental and orchestra music, to composing for dance and theater. He also studies and performs several world traditions including music of India and Indonesia. Joseph has been music director at Art Farm and Oddfellows Playhouse, and teaches children at the Independent Day School Summer Camp and as Director of the Youth Gamelan at Wesleyan. He teaches woodwinds, world music, and Western music at Southern Connecticut State University and the University of New Haven. Joseph currently offers private lesson.

BRYAN GILES (Movement Arts- Break Dancing) is known regionally in the Break Dancing circuit and teaches at Vinnie's Jump and Jive as well as in Green Street's Afterschool Program. Bryan is a member of the break dancing squads Of Shadow and Earth as well as, Losst Unnown, and he is a founder of Battle Royale, a yearly tournament held in Middletown CT. Bryan currently teaches in the AfterSchool Program.

SHAWN HILL (Media Arts- Web Design) has sixteen years of teaching experience in seven different countries, the most recent being at the Mosholu Montefiore Community Center (Bronx, NY) where he taught children and adults classes in Photography, Video Production and Computers. Shawn has had a number of one person shows (photography and drawing) and has recently participated in group shows at Green Street and the Buttonwood Tree Cafe. He designs and builds furniture and gardens organically, here in Middletown. Currently, Shawn works as a Desktop Support Specialist for Wesleyan University. You can view Shawn's work at his website https://wesfiles.wesleyan.edu/home/shill/web/. Shawn currently teaches in the AfterSchool Program and is offering a Blogging & Web Design course and a Digital Animation course.

GIA KHALSA (pronounced JEE-uh CALL-suh) (Movement Arts- Yoga) has been studying and living a natural lifestyle since 1970. Gia has has a degree in Art Education and has helped to operate several yoga centers. She has worked with young children in Connecticut at the Old Lyme Summer Program and psychiatric patients at Mid-State Behavioral Health. Studying ballroom and country dancing has enhanced her study and development of her own style of Middle Eastern belly dance. Gia has studied Feng Shui, the Chinese art of placement since 1990. Beginning in 1996, she began been giving Feng Shui lectures and consultations for private and commercial clients. Gia is a renaissance woman of the new century, embracing all these aspects of holistic living into her own life and extending her knowledge into her teaching workshops, classes and lectures in the areas of Belly Dance, Feng Shui and yoga. Gia currently teaches yoga.

KERRY KINCY (Movement Arts-  Movement & Dance) is a teaching artist with the Moving Matters! Residency Project, a comprehensive elementary program aimed at bridging movement with language arts and the Shared Abilities Dance Ensemble, where dancers and children with and without disabilities collaborate to make and share movement and create performances. In her work, she combines her focused study in Education, Movement and Social development from Trinity College, with her genuine passion for children, community and dance. As a native of Middletown, she sees movement as a means to build self-esteem and close the educational/ developmental fissure between our cities and suburbs. Kerry also volunteers with the Judy Dowrin Performance Ensemble at Niantic Women's Prison, which seeks to increase awareness of human rights issues pertaining to women's incarceration through the arts behind the razor wire. Currently works with the Children's Home of Cromwell in a residency program.

CAROLYN KIRSCH (Movement Arts- Drama) has performed in fifteen Broadway musicals, including How to Succeed in Business, Sweet Charity, and Chicago. She was in the original company of A Chorus Line, for which she won a Theatre World Award. Carolyn has worked extensively with the choreographers and directors Michael Bennett and Bob Fosse, and studied acting with Uta Hagen of HB Studios. She is currently on the faculty of the Greater Hartford Academy of the Arts and the Hartford Children's Theatre, and studies with Actor/Director/Playwright, Austin Pendleton, also of HB Studios, NYC. Carolyn currently offers private lessons.

LEAH MAILLE (Movement Arts- Hip Hop) is a recent graduate of Middletown High School and attends the University of Hartford where she is studying Sociology and Political Science. She is involved in many activities both in and out of school. She has experience in many different styles of dance including hip-hop, jazz, modern, African and ballet. Leah recently started dancing at Rhythm-N-Sync in Meriden. She has been an active member of Stage Left Dance Extreme Company for six years and is also a teacher and assistant teacher at Stage Left Dance Studio. Leah has performed in a variety of venues such as Rock Cats Stadium, Disney World's Magic Kingdom, and she has also performed in many local talent competitions and shows. Leah currently teaches in the AfterSchool Program.

THOMAS MONAGHAN (Musical Arts- Piano) graduated from the New England Conservatory of Music with a bachelor's degree in Jazz Performance and a Concentration in Music in Education. He appears in bands throughout the region and has performed with Hankus Netsky (Klezmer Conservatory Band), Frank Carlberg (Steve Lacy), Michael Winograd (Frank London), and Jorge Roeder (Herbie Hancock) and has studied piano with Vedran Mehinovic, percussion with Gary Chaffee, Billy Hart and Bob Moses, composition with Joe Maneri, Frank Carlberg and Ken Schaphorst, bass with Bob Laramie and guitar with Sean Frenette. Tom has composed over 100 original works that draw from such diverse traditions as 12-tone technique, Klezmer, third stream, jazz and rock 'n' roll. He is on the faculty of the Hartford Conservatory. Tom currently offers private piano lessons.

DAN NOCERA (Media Arts- Videography) has worked and taught in all areas of media production for the past sixteen years. He has a BA in Television Production from Ithaca College and a MALS with a concentration in Film from Wesleyan's Graduate Liberal Studies Program. Currently Nocera is the coordinator of the Corporate Media Center at Middlesex Community College where he produces, directs and edits award-winning films (corporate, documentary, fiction). A recent television ad he produced won three national awards including a Telly, a Communicator and a Gold Medallion.

JOCELYN PLEASANT (Musical Arts- Percussion) was born in Hartford, CT, and began playing concert percussion at the age of 9 in the Bloomfield middle school band program. She has studied at The Hartt School Community Division, The Artists Collective Inc., and other programs throughout Connecticut. She graduated from George Washington University in Washington, DC in 2004. Jocelyn has performed with such artists as Warren Byrd, Nat Reeves, Kalim Zarif, and Jay Hoggard. Through the Hartford Monday Night Jazz Series, she has been able to sit in with trumpet legends Frank Lacy and Dr. Eddie Henderson. Jocelyn currently teaches at Green Street Arts Center, the Artists Collective, the Greater Hartford Academy of the Arts, and is an artist-in-residence at Children's Home of Cromwell.

GWEN STENGEL POND (Musical Arts- Early Childhood) is an early childhood music teaching artist with an extensive background in vocal studies, performance and in musical theater. Gwen holds an ARC (Alternate Route to Certification) certificate for K through 12 music education in the State of Connecticut. She has enjoyed directing children's musicals and a youth choir, as well as composing original songs and collaborative songs with her children's author mom, Joyce Stengel. Look for Alexander and His Fuzzy Duck at www.gwenpond.com! Gwen received her BA in English from the University of Connecticut and has begun working towards a graduate degree in Music. Gwen currently teaches Music Blossoms.

SARI ROSENBLATT (Literary Arts- Creative Writing) writes fiction and non-fiction. Her publications include short fiction in Glimmer Train, Nimrod International Journal of Poetry & Prose (2002, 2004), and The Iowa Review (1998, 1986). Her writing awards include the Glimmer Train Award in Short Fiction, 2007; PEN New England New Discovery Award in Fiction, 2003; Katherine Anne Porter Prize in Fiction, 2002; and New Millennium Writings Fiction Prize, 2002. She is a graduate of the Iowa Writers' Workshop. Sari currently offers a memoir writing class.

CHRISTINE SAARI (Musical Arts- Flute) has recently relocated to New Have, CT while on leave from her tenured positions as Principal Flute with the Santa Fe Sympnony and Associate Principal Flute with the New Mexico Symphony Orchestra. She looks forward to guest appearances with both orchestras during the 2009-2010 season. She is active with Chatter, an Albuquerque-based ensemble specializing in music of our times and with Church of Beethoven, a weekly Sunday morning chamber music series recently featured on NPR's radio show Weekend Edition. Outside of the practice room, Christine enjoys making bread with alternative flours, painting in oil on huge canvases and having overly elaborate dinner parties with friends. Learn more about Christine at her website www.christinesaari.com.

JENNIFER THEOKARY (Visual Arts- Multimedia) was born and raised in Philadelphia, PA, and is an artist, using Computer Aided Design (CAD) and Computer Aided Manufacturing (CAM) to design unique jewelry. Using alternative materials created by Rapid Prototyping (RP) she creates three dimensional pieces that are wearable as eccentric adornment for the creative person. Jennifer graduated from Moore College of Art and Design in 2003 and completed her MFA in Metals/CAD-CAM at Tyler School of Art, Temple University in 2006. Although, she is trained as a traditional jeweler her primary research is in the innovative materials produced using Rapid Prototyping( RP). Jennifer recently contributed to Susan Kasson Sloan's "500 Plastic Jewelry Designs," published by Lark Books, A Division of Sterling Publishing, 2009. Jen currently works in the AfterSchool Program.

KIM RENEE THIBODEAU (Movement Arts- Nia & Yogalates) has a passion for working in the fitness and healing fields. She is a professional NIA, Yoga, Yoga-lates, Hula Hooping and guided progressive relaxation teacher. She specializes in teaching in spas, studios, gyms, schools, and community centers. Additionally, she has taught as a personal trainer, in corporate functions, and other special events since 2004. Kim currently teaches Yogalates and Hooping.