Faculty and Staff

MC DeBelina

MC believes life is a dance and everyone a dancer. She finds beauty in the mundane, awkward, and broken equal to the majestic, sacred, and whole. MC has been teaching dance for over 20 years, honing her craft as a teacher and artist. She is a trained modern dancer, studying under Ford Evans and Melinda Evans at Dartmouth College and Sara Rudner, Peggy Gould, Emily Devine, and Charlie Atlas at Sarah Lawrence College.

MC holds a BA in Biology and an MFA in Dance and her work often combines these passions. MC loves learning and continues to study movement anatomy and new video editing software. She has formally studied Creative Children’s Dance with Tanner Dance in Utah, Anne Green Gilbert’s Brain Dance, and is working toward certification in Dance for Parkinson’s through Mark Morris Dance in Brooklyn.

In addition to teaching many classes, MC and her colleague and friend, Ann Bosse, started a new dance company, BDB Dance. They rehearse and create right at DAMC.

Ann Bosse

Ann Bosse has been a body in motion since childhood. After early years of dancing alone in the living room Ann finally began taking dance class at age 15 in Philadelphia, PA. Her first exposure to modern dance was a Graham technique class with the esteemed Pat Thomas at The University of the Arts summer program. It was love at first contraction. Ann went on to study dance in college earning her B.S. in Dance Performance and Choreography from Skidmore College. During her years at Skidmore Ann was fortunate to be able to study with and perform the works of Ellen Sinopoli, Kenneth Topping, Niles Ford, Garth Fagan Dance and the Mark Morris Dance Group. Ann went on to dance professionally with many groups including the Ellen Sinopoli Dance Company, Saba Dance Theater, TAKE Dance, RIOULT, Trainor Dance, and Mazzini Dance. The majority of her 12 years dancing in NYC were spent studying with the Paul Taylor Dance Company and former Lar Lubovitch Dance Company dancer Christine Wright. After many years, 3 moves, and 2 children, Ann currently lives in Montpelier, VT where she can be found either in her garden or dancing in the living room.

Tai Nixa Peterson

Tai Nixa Peterson (she/her) is grateful to be part of the Dance And community! Movement is what her mind, body, and soul need to feel grounded, and she feels most joyful and balanced when dancing. Tai started dancing at age 3 and has studied several forms of dance over the past 30+ years. Originally from New Hampshire, Tai studied at Kimball Union Academy and St. Lawrence University. She has performed professionally across New England and in Buffalo, NY, participated in intensives with Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company, Salzburg International Ballet Academy, and worked with dancers in Nairobi, Kenya. Currently in Vermont, Tai is especially excited to be a company dancer with Bosse DeBelina Dance. She has also worked with Hannah Dennison's The Quarry Project and Forest, and was part of Farm to Ballet. Tai worked for over a decade as a fundraising professional in the nonprofit sector and currently serves on the Board at the Kellogg-Hubbard Library in Montpelier. She lives with her family in Central Vermont and is especially grateful to be able to dance while being a mom to her two little kiddos. Tai leads creative movement classes for ages 0-5 and teaches tap for all ages.

Chloe Schafer

Chloe A. Schafer (she/her) is a dance artist, scholar, and educator based in Vermont. Her creative works are understated, whimsical, and precise; she asks the audience to lean in and pay attention to the subtle undercurrents of drama, defiance, and silliness.
Chloe’s published research investigates aging and dance: their universality, culturally-specific formations, and mobilizing potential. Central in her study is gathering oral histories from aging artists about their ongoing careers and insights into aging and performance.
Alongside her creative and scholastic work, she continues to teach and choreograph at studios and colleges across New England. Chloe works to cultivate a classroom of joy and possibility, a space for students to gather and grow what they need to be their most embodied and kind selves.
Chloe holds an M.F.A. from Sarah Lawrence College and received her B.A. in Dance and B.S. in Anthropology from the University of Vermont. www.chloeaschafer.com

Willow Wonder

Willow has been dancing, teaching and choreographing in Vermont since 2000. She received her BFA in modern dance performance in 1998 from SUNY Purchase. Classically trained in ballet, Graham, Limon, and Cunningham techniques, she has also explored much that the Post Modern dance world has to offer. Her style is very influenced by Klein TechniqueTM, belly dance and contact improvisation. She has danced professionally in Vermont with Paul Besaw, Hannah Dennison, Polly Motley, and Pauline Jennings. She runs the Deadbeat Dance Collective and is committed to sharing the performance of Improvisation.

She resides in Central Vermont with her family and teaches Pilates Reformer classes at Essential PT and Pilates in Montpelier. She is also a certified Zero BalancingTM Practitioner.

Emma Manion

Fitness aficionado Emma Manion-Kohr is a dance educator, artist, personal trainer and native Vermonter. She holds her B.A. in Dance and Humanities from Bennington College and is a National Academy of Sports Medicine certified trainer with specializations in Corrective Exercise and Behavioral Change.

She's had a lifelong fascination with the human body's composition, capabilities, and direct link to quality of life and has collaborated with many interdisciplinary artists & companies over the last twenty years across the country. Her choreographic work is playfully explorative while determined, and her teaching aims to bring students many “aha!” moments in their own mind-body journey.

Eli Francis

Eli Francis is a dancer, artist, and poet. Eli recently graduated from U-32 and is now working, dancing, and teaching at DANCE AND Movement Center. Eli learns from and dances alongside his teachers and mentors and is grateful to be a part of BDB Dance, a new dance company who creates and rehearses at DAMC.

Sue Booth

Sue Booth is the former owner/ director of A Step Above for Dancers in Northfield Vermont, has been a staff teacher at Contemporary Dance and Fitness and Joni’s School of Dance. She began teaching in Maine at Studio One for Dancers. She has been a certified member of Dance Masters of America and is excited to continue her journey at Dance And!

Calvin Walker

Calvin Walker is a Vermont-based dancer, choreographer, and teaching artist with more than 20 years of experience in breaking. He is a founding member of the Rhythm Riderz Crew and the Executive Director of The Junction Dance Festival. His movement background also includes modern dance, acrobatics, and improvisation.

Calvin’s classes focus on building strong foundations while giving students room to develop their own style. He loves helping dancers grow more confident, creative, and comfortable in their bodies, and he aims to make every class challenging, welcoming, and fun.

Erin Barry

Erin Barry is a socially engaged change maker. Joining us from the wilds of Marshfield and the board table of Twinfield Union School, Erin’s dance steps are lifting our studio off the ground in front of the mirrors and behind the scenes. She brings her honesty, creativity, and kindness into every exchange and looks forward to welcoming you into the studio.