Laurie De Vito (Artistic Director) is a founding director and teacher at Dance New Amsterdam (formerly Dance Space Center), where she maintains an active teaching schedule. Ms. De Vito has taught, choreographed, performed and given lecture demonstrations and workshops at schools and theaters across the United States, Canada and abroad. Most notably, she has appeared at NYU Tisch School of the Performing Arts, Hofstra University, Montreal Jazz Festival, Spirit Square Center for the Arts (NC), Gustavus Adolphus College (MN), Ecole de Danse (Montreal), York University (Toronto), Academie de Ballet de Saguenay (Quebec), Tel Aviv Dance Center (Israel), and I.A.C. Studio (Tokyo). She has created dances for Boulder Jazz Dance Company, Present Company Accepted, and Zenon Dance Company.
Katie Bailey graduated from Mount Holyoke College in Dance with a pre-medical emphasis. She has performed works by Balanchine, Mark Morris, José Limón, Rain Ross and Kellie Ann Lynch. Previously she performed with Ballet Tucson and in the 2002 Edinburgh Fringe Festival with Burklyn Ballet Theatre. She started working with Laurie De Vito and Dancers in 2009. Katie began teaching Pilates in Arizona at Anderson Pilates. She continues to teach in New York at Volution Movement Lab. She is also the founder of the Volution Foundation, working with children with special needs through Pilates and movement exploration.
Sarah Clark graduated from Indiana University in 2004, earning her B.A. in Dance Performance and English Literature. While at Indiana, she was honored to receive National Society of Arts & Letter’s first place award for Best Modern Dance Performance & Choreography. In 2003, Sarah attended the American Dance Festival (ADF), where she was cast in works by John Jasperse and Ming Yang. Upon relocating to New York City in 2005, she continued to deepen her work with dance as well as her dedication to her yoga practice. Sarah was thrilled to be invited to join Laurie’s company in 2006. In addition to Laurie, Sarah has danced in NYC for Propel-Her Dance Co., Rachel Feinerman, Ricardo Gomez Dance Theatre, and Jamie Dowd. Sarah earned her teacher training from OM Yoga Center in 2007 and has since has gone on to teach yoga privately and at OM Yoga Center, New York University, & Dance New Amsterdam.
Rachel Feinerman started dancing at Barnard College and received her BA in Dance and Political Science. She has performed with Laurie De Vito since 1999. Rachel has also been a member of Daria Fain’s Human Behavior Explorers and Ricardo Gomez Dance Theatre and has danced for Wilson Mendieta, Isabel Gotzkowsky, Sakura Shimada, Gail Accardi, Suki John, Yael Levy, Marjon van Grunsven, Katiti King, and Diane McCarthy. She has been in cast in photo and film projects including Stephanie Matthews’ black and white series “Dance: A Study of Movement and Fluidity,” Julie Taymor’s Across the Universe, and Daria Fain’s film Clocks and Clouds and has worked with visual artists Brookie Maxwell and Kelvin Robertson. Rachel’s choreography has been performed at Dance New Amsterdam, Green Space, WAX, Evolving Arts, Makor, and Greenwich House Theater. She has been on faculty at Dance New Amsterdam since 2000 and has taught at Barnard College, 3rd Ward and the Educational Alliance.
Sally Im began her dance training with Laurie De Vito in 2000. She was honored to join the company in 2005. Sally has a BA in American Studies from Mills College, Oakland, CA and is also a DJ, costume designer and an active member of the New York Mycological Society. Many of her costume designs can be seen in Laurie De Vito’s work. She currently owns an art framing business www.egganddartframe.com in Edgewater, NJ.
Megumi Onishi moved to NYC after graduating from Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, NY. She has had the opportunity to work with several choreographers including Verhoff/LoTurco DanceWorks, Paul Mosley at the Yard on Martha’s Vineyard, and Naeko Shikano at the New York Fringe Festival. She first performed with Laurie De Vito in 2002 and since then has been grateful to be part of such an amazing group of people.
Suzanne Reimann is from Belleville, NJ and a graduate of The School of Visual Arts in NYC. She has been studying and performing solely with Laurie De Vito since 1988 and has filled a diverse role as dancer and artist. Working with artist Karen Guancione, she joined her productions of “Contro il Malocchio” and “The Art of Labor”. Integrating art installation with traditional folk dances of southern Italy, the combined disciplines served to bring awareness to the historical importance of women’s work, ethnicity and labor injustices. Pilates continues to be her life’s work. A practitioner since 1987, she has been teaching at the Greene Street Studio in Soho under Deborah Lessen since 1998. She also maintains an independent practice teaching privately and in Madison, NJ with Margaret Vangeli.
Marcia-Elizabeth Thompson has worked with a variety of choreographers including Sean Curran, Deborah Pratt Tacon, and Demetrius Klein, culminating in a six-year stint with STOMP. She is currently pursuing her Masters in acupuncture at the Pacific College of Oriental Medicine. She joined Laurie De Vito & Dancers in 2009.