As Dance Place looks to the end of our 2019-2020 AMPLIFY season, we extend immense gratitude to our Board of Directors for their support and guidance.
This year’s ending is particularly bittersweet; we will be transitioning Board Chairs, welcoming four new board members, and saying goodbye to four long-tenured members, including outgoing Board Chair Denise Rollins. Dance Place is incredibly grateful to our Board who continue to support our institution’s longevity.
Announcing the Dance Place 2020-2021 Board of Directors
Welcoming our Returning Board Members:
Louisa Buatti (she/her/hers)
Jannes Waples Gibson (she/her/hers)
Makila James (she/her/hers)
Julia Johnson (she/her/hers)
Maura Keefe (she/her/hers)
Janice Marks (she/her/hers)
Rhea Norwood (she/her/hers)
JR “Nexus” Russ (he/his/him)
Erin Skinner (she/her/hers)
Amanda Sweet (she/her/hers)
Adam Weers (he/his/him)
Introducing our New Board Members:
Anitra Androh (she/her/hers)
Chris Hornig (he/his/him)
Irfana Noorani (she/her/hers)
Daniel Woofter (he/his/him)
Saying Farewell to our Departing board members:
Carol Bradwell (she/her/hers)
Joseph Gangloff (he/his/him)
Denise Rollins (she/her/hers)
Michael Walton (he/his/him)
Dance Place extends its thanks to our departing board members, Carol, Joseph, Denise, and Michael, for their collective years of dedicated support and involvement. Each of them have made long-standing impacts on our organization, and we are excited to continue to share Dance Place with them and their communities past their board membership.
We also look forward to growing, learning, and engaging with our new board this upcoming year. To learn more about our board, please take a look at our website.
Read below for parting thoughts from our outgoing Board Chair Denise Rollins.
LOVE IN THE TIME OF LOVE
After several years of taking dance classes and performing at Dance Place, I joined the U.S. Foreign Service and moved overseas for many years. I continued to support Dance Place and looked forward to DanceAfrica in the summers. I was most excited about the youth programs and classes. To see all of the children fill the lobby of Dance Place after school and get excited about learning and dancing was thrilling to me. I also loved experiencing the children perform during Kwanzaa. Dance Place is a community center that welcomes the neighborhood to rejoice in creativity, education, and learning. What a wonderful environment to share love.
Since my return to the U.S., I have served on Dance Place’s Capital Campaign Committee, which raised $4.5 million to renovate and upgrade the building, on the Board of Directors, and as the Chair of the Executive Search Committee to find the successor to Founding Director Carla Perlo and Co-Director Deborah Riley. Most recently, I have enjoyed three years as the Chair of the Board of Directors. It is now time for me to pass the torch to a new generation of Board leadership. I am so proud of the work we have accomplished and the bright future ahead. You will still see me around once we open up again. There is no way that after 39 years I can simply leave this marriage. I made my vows for life, and this union continues to bring me immense joy, gratitude, and love.
Denise Rollins (she/her/hers)
Chair of the Dance Place Board of Directors, 2017-2020