Faculty & Staff Bios

Sandra L. Burton

Lipp Family Director of Dance

Sandra L. Burton is a dancer, choreographer, educator and arts presenter. Her choreography for theatre from 1982-2008 includes 5 seasons atWilliamstown Theatre Festival, PlayMakers (Salome), The Goodman Theatre (Joe Turner Come and Gone), Henry Street Settlement (Duet), and 5 seasons with the Williams College Theatre Department. She is choreographer for composer Craig Harris' productions of Gods Trombones (two seasons at the Apollo Theatre with additional performances at the Harlem Gate House, MASS MoCA, '62 Center, and Teatro Manzoni Milano, Italy). Her film projects include collaborations with visual artist Carrie Mae Weems Coming Up for Air and a documentary Out Some Where Dancing on the life of choreographer/humanitarian Chuck Davis. Her choreography has also been performed at Dance Theatre Workshop, Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival Inside/Out, MASS MoCA, Judson Memorial Church, Theatre 4/Negro Ensemble Company and at venues in Nicaragua, Brazil, and the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago.

Burton was a member of the Chuck Davis Dance Company touring nationally for eleven years and was selected by the National Endowment for the Arts as a dancer/educator for the Artist in Education program serving from 1978-83. She was appointed to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art.

She joined the Williams faculty in 1983 and was named Lipp Family Director of Dance in 2004 and is chair of the new Dance Department.

In 2000, Burton co founded the annual conference Stalwart Originality: New Traditions in Black Performance bringing artists and scholars to campus to perform and discuss dance, film, music, spoken word, and theatre from Africa and the Diaspora. Ms. Burton has an MFA in Dance and Choreography from Bennington College.

Holly Silva

Assistant Director of Dance

MFA in Dance, Smith College

1982 - 1985, 1990 - Assistant Director of Dance at Williams College, Founder and Director of INISH (the Irish Dance Ensemble) and Artistic Director of The Williams College Dance Company (1990-2009).

Holly Silva co-directed and choreographed her own company before performing with two Boston dance companies, In Collusion and Benita Bike's Dance Art and City Dancers from Springfield. She has studied, among others, with Marcus Skulkind, Gemze de Lappe, Bessie Schonberg, members of the Paul Taylor Company and Orfhlaith NiBhriain.

Ms. Silva has an MFA from Smith College and is certified to teach Method Matwork, Joseph Pilates’ deep muscle training. In 2004 she studied and completed four grade levels of Traditional Irish Dance in Limerick, Ireland and continued training at BLAS: International Summer School for Irish Traditional Music and Dance at the University of Limerickand Scoil ui Ruairc. She also performed with Liz Lerman's company in the site-specific installation of Ann Hamilton's 'Corpus' at MASS MoCA in North Adams, MA.

Holly teaches the Method Matwork Pilates based format and Traditions of Irish Dance for the Williams College Dance Department. She continues as the Artistic Director and Choreographer for INISH and has been on the faculty of the Boston Ballet Summer Youth Division for 2005 and 2006 and OLLI. Ms. Silva continues to participate in outreach projects in the college and local communities and has served on the Board of Directors of the American College Dance Festival Association for 8 years, currently as Regional Director of New England.

Erica Dankmeyer

Visiting Lecturer in Dance

Erica Dankmeyer earned her BA in Art History at Williams College and afterward studied on scholarship in the Professional Trainee Program at the Martha Graham School of Contemporary Dance. As a Soloist with the Martha Graham Dance Company (1996-2006), she performed extensively both in the U.S and abroad in numerous Graham masterworks.

She is the Artistic Director of Dankmeyer Dance Company, a collective founded to explore the creation and performance of new work, often in collaboration with live music. DDC presented two seasons at NYC's Dancespace Project and has performed at Jacob's Pillow and beyond. Dankmeyer is also a member of 360º Dance Company, dedicated to performing modern dance masterworks alongside vibrant contemporary works; the company debuted in Oslo, Norway and has it's first New York season in 2010.

Ms. Dankmeyer is a faculty member of the Martha Graham Center of Contemporary Dance, and in New York City has also taught at the Neighborhood Playhouse School for the Performing Arts. She has been Artist-in-Residence at Jacksonville University in Jacksonville, Florida and at Williams College. She is currently a Visiting Lecturer in Dance and has taught and set 5 works on the Williams College Dance Company.

Janine Parker

Ballet Mistress

Janine Parker has been teaching for over twenty years, and has served as an adjunct faculty member at Williams College for the past three years. She has had a long affiliation with the Boston Ballet School, serving as faculty member, Associate Principal in the Boston studio, and Assistant Principal in the Metrowest studio. Prior to that, Ms. Parker ran the Children's Dance Extension Division at the Walnut Hill School for Performing Arts, a boarding school for pre-professional dancers, musicians and artists. During that time, she was also the Assistant Director for Walnut Hill School's Summer Dance Program. In 2003 Ms. Parker moved out to Western Massachusetts, and Ms. Parker was the Artistic Director for Pioneer Valley Ballet from 2003-2005. Currently Ms. Parker is the director/teacher of the Ballet School at Bement, an afterschool program she started in 2007 in Deerfeild, Massachusetts. Ms. Parker danced with various ballet and modern companies in Massachusetts, and continued to perform character roles when she retired from dance. Ms. Parker is the former ballet critic for The Boston Phoenix and continues to review dance occasionally for The Boston Globe.

Bashir Shakur

Accompanist/Musical Director

Bashir Shakur is a composer, performer, educator, and recording artist, working across an extensive range of idioms in traditional and experimental music. Originally self-taught in composition, piano, trumpet and percussion, he has collaborated with a wide variety of impressive artist including Khalid Saleem, Fahali Igbo, Waley Reyes Jr., Bradley Simmons, Chief Bey, Titos Sampa, Michael Wimberly, Osei Appiagyei, Willie Terrell, Modibo Keita, Sadiyah Shakur, Gaynell Sherrod, Chuck Davis, Katherine Dunham, Walter Nicks, Louis Johnson, Rachel Taiouvoner, and Jawole Zollar among many others. Shakur won first place in hand percussion at the annual North Carolina School of the Performing Arts drumming competition, and was awarded the Darryl Ellman award for composition and performance. Going on to receive a scholarship to attend the Percussion Institute of America in 1996. Since then Shakur has performed recorded and/or toured with Clarke Edgerton, Freddie McGregor, Chuck Davis and the African American Dance Ensemble, Shiloh Vibrations, Pop Garston, Reparations the Musical, Urban Bush Women, Mark Perryman Jazz Collective, Mbemba Bangoura, Kosa International Drum Conference, The Switzerland Arts Association, Kariamu and Company, Youssouf Koumbassa, Harrambee Dance Company, Yalani Bangoura, Gouza Dance Conference in Nurnburg Germany, Peridance International, Collage Dance Company, (Musical Director), Dance Africa in New York Brooklyn Academy of music, Joffrey Ballet, and The North Carolina Philharmonic Orchestra.

Bashir has been an artist-in-residence and or faculty member at many schools including New York University’s Steinhart School of Education, Florida State University, Florida A&M University, Guilford College, Jacob’s Pillow, Future Leaders Institute, and North Carolina Central University. In 2007 Shakur recorded and released his first solo album entitled “Steady Hands”. Mr. Shakur would like to thank Allah for all his many gifts and blessings.

Ernest Brown

Professor of Music, Co-Director Kusika and Zambezi Marimba Band

Ernest D. Brown, Jr., professor of music, received the Ph.D. in music from the Ethnomusicology Program at the University of Washington in 1984. In 1969 he received the B.A. in philosophy from Harvard University. He also took graduate courses in ethnomusicology at UCLA. He is Co-Director of Kusika and Director of the Zambezi Marimba Band.

His research includes articles on music in Trinidad, Black children's gamesongs, and relationships between African and African-American musics. His dissertation was on Zambian royal xylophone and drum bands, and he is currently writing about the impact of African performers, such as Miriam Makeba, on American music in the1960s. He conducted research in Zambia in 1974-76, and received a Fulbright Fellowship for research in Zimbabwe in 1987. He conducts short-term research projects in Trinidad, Cuba, and Ghana.

He has been at Williams since 1988. Courses taught include "Music Cultures of the World," "History of Jazz," "History of African-American Music, and " Black Music and Post-modernism." Co-taught "Musics of the 20th Century." Brown has also taught at Harvard University, Mt. Holyoke College, and Northeastern University.

As a performer, he has studied Zimbabwean marimba and mbira music from Dumisani Maraire and Ephat Mujuru, and Ghanaian drumming with master drummer Obo Addy.

Mary Pfister

Production Manager, Dance Department

BA, Theatre, Grinnell College
MEd, Education, Lesley University
MFA, Technical Theatre, U. of Iowa

Since 2003 – present, Production Manager for the Dance Department. Mary comes to the Dance Department with a background in technical theatre. In her previous positions she has worked on a variety of theatre productions ranging from professional programs (The Eugene O’Neill Playwrights Conference, Wagon Wheel Playhouse) to academic programs (Yale Dramat, U of Iowa Repertory Theatre) and community theatres in New York, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts. She is currently the Program Manager for the Williams College Summer Theatre Lab. In dance she has done technical work with such companies, as Alvin Ailey, Pilabolas, Ballet Folklorico, and the companies that have performed and been in residence at Williams College.

Matthew E. Adelson

Lighting Designer

Matthew has been the principal lighting designer for the Williams Dance Department since 2006. Additionally, for the ’62 Center: ReWind Cantata (Center Series), the Un-Symposium (Murphy Exhibit/WCMA) and the 2007 ACDFA Dance Festival (Production Manager/Lighting Supervisor). Additional credits include: Berkshire Theatre Festival, Shakespeare Festival of St. Louis, Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey, Florida Studio Theatre, Shakespeare and Company, Portland Stage, Merrimack Rep, Burning Coal, Miniature Theatre of Chester, Yale Rep, American Music Theatre, Lyric Opera of Kansas City, Berkshire Opera, Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, The Joyce Theater, Hopkins Center, Cathedral of St. John the Divine (NYC), Lincoln Center and City Center, among many others. From 2001 to 2005, Matthew was the Production Coordinator/adjunct faculty, for the conservatory dance program at New York University/Tisch School of the Arts. Matthew is also the Production Manager and Lighting Designer for the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center, in Great Barrington. MFA: Yale School of Drama, BA: SUNY-Albany.