Jenny Boissiere (Choreographer)

Jenny Boissiere (she/her) is a Washington Heights-based choreographer. Originally from New Orleans, her movement style reflects her background in modern dance, jazz, Black southern line dances and rhythms, and contact improvisation. Her work examines themes of power, dependence, empathy, and identity.

Jenny was selected for Doug Varone’s Choreographic Mentorship and Chen Dance Center’s New Steps Choreographer Series in 2017. She produced her first evening-length show, Reflections//Refractions: The Empathy Project in 2019. After a two-year hiatus, she created Running Into Joy in 2021 and ReStart in 2022, a site-specific dance set in Fort Washington Park.

Jenny’s work has been supported by an NYC Artists Corp Grant (2021), three Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone’s Creative Engagement Grants (2019, 2022, 2023), and three Lower Manhattan Cultural Council’s Creative Engagement Grants (2019, 2021, 2023). She is also an inaugural recipient of UMEZ and Mertz Gilmore Foundation’s Seed Fund for Dance in Upper Manhattan for Summer 2022.      

Jacquelyn batten (Performer)

Jacquelyn Batten (she/they) hails from East Spencer, NC and is a graduate of UNC Greensboro with a BFA in Choreography and Performance and an Arts Administration minor (‘18). Her work centers around Black movement, social theory and spirituality, using these ideas as tools to further understand herself and the world around her. She explores these concepts through movement vocabulary rooted in her modern, Black social dance, and traditional West African dance training. She has also developed her own movement based media platform entitled (soul)lection, where she shares her work, dance journey, and other movement based content. Jacquelyn is also an early career arts administrator, who got her start as an Arts Administration Intern at the Weatherspoon Museum (UNCG). After completing her degree she accepted an Education internship at Dance Place in Washington, DC, where she worked with the Junior Staff Program. From there they moved to New York for the Dance Programming apprentice role at New York City Center. She was involved in the archival process of NYCC’s programming history and sat on the annual Fall for Dance Festival panel. Upon completion of her apprenticeship, she accepted a General Management position at BAM working in budgets and contracts, and is now a Finance Coordinator. Jacquelyn continues to perform and create work and plans to produce and curate in the near future.

Madelyne Clark (Performer)

Madelyne Clark was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana and grew up in Monroe, Louisiana, where she began her formal competitive dance training at Linda Lavender School of Dance. During her off seasons with Twin City Ballet, Madelyne spent her summers studying at Joffrey South Ballet Summer Intensive, Next Generation Ballet, and Regional Dance America’s National Choreography Intensive. Madelyne graduated Summa Cum Laude from the University of Louisiana at Monroe with a Bachelor of Science degree in Kinesiology. She soon moved to New York to continue her training at The Ailey School. As a student in The Ailey School Scholarship Program, Madelyne has worked with renowned choreographers such as Omar Roman de Jesus, Earl Mosley, and Martha Nichols and was featured in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. As a member of the Ailey Student Performance Group, she had the opportunity to not only learn repertory by Alvin Ailey but also work with Ronald K. Brown and Tina Bush. Madelyne enjoys all styles of dance and exploring new movements through both improvisation and choreography of her own which has been been recognized and awarded through Regional Dance America (Monticello Award 2017). Madelyne is very excited to collaborate these fellow artists in the Restart Project.

Sara Crayne-Dedrick (Performer)

Sara Crayne-Dedrick, Westchester NY, graduated magna cum laude from Mason Gross School of the Arts in 2015. While at college, she performed works by Pam Tanowitz, Doug Elkins, Larry Keigwin, Keith Thompson, Randy James, Kim Gibilisco, Paul Ocampo, and Julia Ritter. Her work has also been shown during the Rutgers Summer Series, annual student concerts, and ACDFA. She has had the privilege of dancing for Kelley Donovan, Monteleone Dance Collective, Tangent Dance under NACRE Dance Company and her own work throughout New York, New Jersey, and Boston.

Molly Gorin (Performer AND COstume design)

Molly is a Brooklyn-based mover and native New Yorker. She graduated from Oberlin College in 2016 with a double major in dance and creative writing. Since then she has been making and performing contemporary dance and physical theater with a variety of emerging choreographers. 

Sarah Hillmon (Performer)

Sarah Hillmon is a native of Rochester, NY. There, she trained with Garth Fagan, Timothy M. Draper, and the Rochester City Ballet. She graduated with a BFA in Dance from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts where she had the privilege of performing works by talented artists including Sidra Bell, Lucinda Childs, Gus Solomons Jr, and Charles Weidman. While in New York, Sarah has worked with artists such as Solange Knowles, and has danced for Lucinda Childs Dance Company, Mark Morris Dance Group, Robert Mark Dance, Suzanne Beahrs Dance, BodyStories, Daniel Gwirtzman Dance Company and DanceBoissiere. Sarah Hillmon appears courtesy of the Mark Morris Dance Group.

becky hutt (Performer)

Becky Hutt, from Lancaster, Pennsylvania, is a dancer, visual artist and occupational therapist living in Washington Heights. After graduating from Washington University in St. Louis with a BA in Social Thought and Analysis, Becky performed over the next decade with companies in Chicago and New York and toured throughout the US, Canada and South America with Disney Live. Becky then pursued her master’s degree in Occupational Therapy at Tufts University. During her time in Boston, she began studying salsa dance and performed as a company member of Caramelo Boston. Becky was a founding member of DanceBoissiere from 2014-2017 and has been a collaborator since then. In 2021, Becky returned to NYC and now works as a school-based occupational therapist. She is thrilled to be rejoining DanceBoissiere as a performer.  

Genna Mattana (Performer)

Genna Mattana, from Syosset, New York, is a Brooklyn-based dance artist. She graduated Summa Cum Laude from Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University with a BFA in Dance, where she performed in works by choreographers including Kyle Abraham, David Parker, and Pam Tanowitz. Since graduating, she has worked with David Dorfman Dance, Krissy and the Works, Taryn Vander Hoop, Jenna Riegel, Brush/McGrath (works), Nattie Trogdon, Katie Skinner, and DanceBoissiere.

Jessica Robling (Performer)

Jessica Robling, Brooklyn NY, graduated from The University of Wisconsin Madison in 2019 with a BFA in Dance and Pilates Certificate. While at UW-Madison, Jessica has performed works by Kate Corby, Li Chiao-Ping, Chris Walker, Jin-Wen Yu, Michel Kouakou, Scott Ewen, Heidi Latsky, Brooke Smiley, and Anna Halprin. Since graduating, she has had the opportunity to work with choreographers Jenny Boissiere, Jin Wen Yu, Li Chiao Ping, Liz Sexe Dance, Kanon Sapp, Michel Kouakou and was a member of Nimbus2 Dance.