Our Awesome 2008 Team!

Peter Zehren
Managing Director
peterz@danceparade.org

Peter Zehren has been a professional fundraiser for 27 years staging major appeals and raising millions of dollars for various causes. He has also spent 25 years in radio wearing several hats—Fundraising Director, News Director, Business Manager and Producer of, as well as the character voices on, the internationally acclaimed children’s radio show Secret Clubhouse. He has been listed in the 5th edition of Personalities of America from the American Biographical Institute. He has performed on stage with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, danced at the Minnesota Star Ball and sang at Carnegie Hall. In addition to a degree in Mass Communications, he holds a BA in Ballroom Dance.

Greg Miller
Board Member, Founding Director
greg@danceparade.org

Having worked 18 years in management for Fortune 500 companies, Greg Miller is now serving the public sector after creating Dance Parade Inc in 2007. Drawing from 9 years of living abroad, Greg seeks to anchor the Dance Parade vision by encouraging as many colorful and vibrant forms of movement as possible—nourishing a network of those who will cross generations and cultures to unite and celebrate under a single form of art. Motivated by the healing qualities of dance, he practices Salsa, Swing, Roller and the 5 Rhythms.

Trevor Hochman
Board Member, Project Manager, Events Coordinator
trevor@danceparade.org

Trevor is a native New Yorker who has contributed to and enjoyed our City's dance, art, community, and nightlife events for over ten years. He is thrilled to bring his experience as an event producer, musical artist, lawyer, dancer, and lover to the groundbreaking first annual Dance Parade New York.

Mahayana Landowne
Board Member
yanaland@yahoo.com

Ms. Landowne is an accomplished Performing Arts Director for many years, including directing at the Harold Clurman, the Linhart, the Judith Anderson,and the Greenwich Street Theater,also the Public Theater, HERE, 45 Bleeker, NADA, Ohio, P.S. 122, Roundtable Ensemble, Metropolitan Playhouse, and the Tenement Museum. She is currently the Resident Director for the Billionaires for Bush Follies. She holds an MFA in directing from the Yale School of Drama and a BFA in acting from NYU. For more info check out yana.landowne.org

Samir Bitar
Marketing Director
samir@danceparade.org

Samir Bitar is a dancer and arts manager based in Brooklyn, New York. Samir's affair with dance began as an undergraduate dance student of Theresa Dickinson's at New College of California in San Francisco. Since college he has studied dance and composition at the Merce Cunningham Studio, Bates College and the prestigious Royaumont Centre de Recherche et de Composition Choreographique in France. In 2003 Samir launched The Art of Consulting, an arts consultancy firm. In 2007 he graduated from Carnegie Mellon University with a master's degree in in arts management. Currently Samir is the Executive Director of Sens Production.

Brian K. Austin
Creative Director
brian@danceparade.org

Brian Keith Austin's need to express his love of dance and making people groove has been with him from the very beginning. Going by Aero mc he's represented at events such as the New york Tokyo Music Festival, Cut & Paste Design tournament SayWord Entertainment & Electronic Dance music parties with notable names such as TZ Islam, Talib Kweli Moving Fusion, Bad Company, Hired Gunn, Kenny Ken, Ill-isha, Dj Prayin Mantis & many more!.An energetic, creative web & art coordinator by day and musical beast by nigh, Brian K. Austin reaches out to touch souls who love the art of dance. Through his voice he releases great energy that gets the masses moving in rhythm. Music is a way of life, so let's dance to keep it alive.

Tze Chun
Parade Production Director
tze@danceparade.org

Tze Chun is the lead choreographer and Artistic Director of the Tze Chun Dance Company (TCDC). Her work has been presented in some of New York City's most prominent modern dance venues, including Dance New Amsterdam, Dance Theater Workshop, Riverside Theatre, Trisekelion Arts, Minor Latham Theatre and Merce Cunningham Studios. In 2006 Ms. Chun was an artist-in-residence at the Brentwood School in Los Angeles, California and is the JP Morgan SOAR Grant Recipient for 2008. In addition to her impressive credits in the arts, Ms. Chun has extensive experience in event planning and service staff management. She has worked with Chinese American Planning (CAP) for six years, and while pursuing her Bachelor of Arts degree at Columbia University Ms. Chun also managed the Columbia School of Mixology and CBA, its attached employment agency.

Mariana Bekerman
Dance Fest Production Director
mariana@danceparade.org

Mariana Bekerman was born in the Ukraine and emigrated with her family to NYC in 1979. After graduating from LaGuardia High School of the Performing Arts, she received her BFA from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts in 1996. After receiving her degree, Bekerman danced and choreographed for various companies, resorts, choreographers, off-off Broadway plays, and music artists. In 2000, she founded the Mariana Bekerman Dance Company and has since choreographed more than twenty original dances for her company that have been presented at more than 35 venues and festivals. In addition to her work for and with the14-member MBDC, she continues to free-lance as a dancer and choreographer for other artists and productions, and assists with the production of other dance concerts and events, such as the New York City Dance Parade and the American Dance Guild.

Sam Cohen
Legal Affairs Director / Secretary
sam@danceparade.org

Sam Cohen is a second year law student at Brooklyn Law School, focusing in creative intellectual property issues and advanced civil litigation. Between his undergraduate studies and law school, he worked for three years as a commercial litigation paralegal and administrator for the law firm of Jaffe & Asher, LLP. He received his B.A. from Hampshire College in 2003 with a focus in international relations, and spent the school year 1998-99 abroad in Jerusalem, studying at Hebrew University while interning at a local entertainment newspaper. Devoted to the arts and to organizing events to bring art to the people, Sam revived and rebuilt the then-dormant Hampshire College Slam Poetry Collective during undergrad and currently serves as a founding organizer of the East Village's Theory Events Collective, which since 2006 has produced free art and music events at local venues such as China1, Karma and Niagara. His first book of poems, Strange Fire, is available from Destructible Heart Press.

Claudia d'Apice
Development Director
claudia@danceparade.org

Claudia d'Apice, a tireless advocate of Weltschmerz and blue Play-Doh, renders monoliths out of variegated oddments, from the letter to the gum wrapper and back again. You may find her in a swimming pool, cooking up her next dream or scheme whilst lapping up the lanes like an insatiable mongrel. She's also raised several million dollars for various people she may never see nor here, but such is the nature of the biz'. NYU educated, a writer, and an artist, Claudia will be absorbing herself fully into the cause that is Dance Parade 2008.

Amanda Punsoda
Outreach Director
amanda@danceparade.org

Amanda Lucia Punsoda-Rodríguez was born performing. Started dancing ballet from an early age until curiosity began to direct her into different paths. She started to play with different styles of dance that natured her understanding of the body and movement like Capoeira, Bomba, Yoga and finally Contemporary Dance. Her training in contemporary is supplemented by a mix of techniques, improvisation and body consciousness. Since then she has been collaborating with different companies (Hincapie, en la Brega co., Palpando) and many independent Choreographers She has trained and performed in Puerto Rico, Cuba, México, Nicaragua, Spain, New York and London were she recently finished her Masters degree in European Dance Theater Practice at the LABAN Center. In addition to getting the word out about Dance Parade, she is currently a choreographer, performer, improviser and teacher.

Mel Alvarez
Sponsorship Director
mel@danceparade.org

Mel comes to us by way of California and Virginia and parallels keen development skills with many years on the dance floor. Once a jazz and hip-hop dancer, he became part of a dance troupe which performed among the hottest gay clubs in New York. Mel has managed fundraising events for a variety of non-profit organizations like GMHC, Jacobi Medical Pediatrics, Live Out Loud, Aid for AIDS and most recently with Axis Danz flag dance company.

Tatiana Smith
Marketing/PR Assistant
tatiana@danceparade.org

Tatiana Smith is a Haitian-American fashion editor (Lavish Magazine) and visual artist from New York who leads an eclectic life of fashion, culture, and travel. She has studied Haitian folklore, Dunham, Senegalese Sabar, and Guinean African dance techniques. Dancing and performance are her life, and even when faced with adversities in her dancing career, she will always continue promoting the dances and dance teachers of the African Diaspora.

Vlad Ilin
Web Director
vlad@danceparade.org
web design by fusionsyndicate.com

For 6 years now Vlad has worked as an event coordinator, helping to organize many great events, including free street parades as the "First Warm Night" & "One Night of Fire". Although he changed careers to become a fulltime web-geek, he still tries to contribute to the free dance scene in any way he can.

Ruby Vanderzee
Outreach Coordinator
ruby@danceparade.org

Ms Vanderzee is well versed in fundraising, event planning, writing, and networking. Her experience in Hollywood and the television industry, has made her keenly adept at identifying key people, and creating liaisons. Since the 1990's, she has held various fundraisers for Rainforest preservation in the Amazon Basin, and individuals without medical insurance.

Nieta Greene
Treasurer
nieta@danceparade.org

Nieta M. Greene has five years of non-profit finance experience. Ms. Greene graduated from Manhattan College in 2003 with a BS in Business Administration from Manhattan College. She is currently studying at Manahttanville College for a MS in Leadership and Strategic Management.

Judith Atrubin
special events coordinator / dance patrol coordinator
judygrooves@hotmail.com

Judy comes from a background in organizing. She spent years managing and working on political campaigns throughout the U.S. and working for a U.S. Congressperson. After a career in politics, she took the next natural step and became a yoga teacher in NYC. She still keeps her nose, hands and dancing feet involved in organizing. Jude has danced her way through life and is honored and excited to create space for all sorts of folks to dance on May 19th and beyond.