Education

University of Washington, MFA

University of Utah, BFA

Dale A. Merrill is currently the Dean of The Hartt School and the Hartford Art School. He is also a member of the HCD dance faculty at University of Hartford. Prior to joining Hartt, he was the dean of the College of the Arts at Cal State Fullerton. 

Prior to joining CSUF, Merrill created a highly competitive dance department and was instrumental in the formation of the College of Performing Arts at Chapman University, where he served as both associate dean and dean. His former Chapman students include So You Think You Can Dance contestants Katee Shean, Ade Obayomi and Stephen Boss, aka “Twitch”. Other former students are now performing with the National Touring Company of Wicked and the modern dance companies Momix, Shen Wei Dance Arts, Batsheva and Damagedance. He was one of the founding members and artistic director of Spectrum Dance Theater, a professional dance company and community arts organization in Seattle. Dean Merrill directed and re-staged works by noted choreographers such as Ann Reinking, Margo Sappington, Dwight Rhoden, Lar Lubovitch, Daniel Ezralow, and Lynne Taylor-Corbett.

Dean Merrill has over 25 years of choreographic and teaching credits, including numerous original works, musical theater productions, and a public television special. He has been a guest teacher for Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, Backhausdance, Anaheim Ballet, Cornish College of the Arts, University of Washington, University of California, Irvine, University of Montana, Saint Joseph Ballet, Washington Contemporary Ballet, Ballet Bellevue, Montana Dance Arts Association, Black Hills Dance Association, and The American College Dance Festival. Dean Merrill currently serves as a site-evaluator for accreditation for the National Association of Schools of Dance and serves as a member of the Visual and Performing Arts Standards Advisory Committee for the California State Board of Education.

Recognized for his community leadership, Merrill received a 2001 Rudy, a national award presented by Safeco Insurance Company for community leadership and advocacy. The following year, he was honored with the prestigious Corporate Council for the Arts’ Unsung Hero Award.

Merrill earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in ballet from the University of Utah and a Master of Fine Arts in dance from the University of Washington.

Professor Matthew Farmer ’04 teaches a broad range of courses: in modern dance, jazz dance and ballet; dance improvisation, composition, and contact improvisation; 20th- and 21st-century dance history; and a career preparation course.

Matthew’s goal in classes and rehearsals is to prepare dancers for a life in the performance world. When crafting work, he looks to see what each dancer brings, how he can marry that with his vision, and how to bring out of them something they may not have known existed in them before. He meets frequently with students in his office or at local coffee shops to discuss dance, art, life and career choices.

He and Professor Jasmine Mejia collaborate as creative co-directors of Hope's H2 Dance Company. In a typical year he choreographs two or three pieces for the H2 Dance Company and the college, ranging from six minutes in length to nearly an hour.

He also creates choreography for dance companies, festivals, dance studios and other colleges, and conducts master classes. He is the artistic co-director of R.G. Dance Productions.

Before joining the Hope faculty in 2011, Matthew was the director of dance at Anderson University. He has chaired the Department of Dance since 2015.

Professional Experience

Matthew has had great success as a director, educator, choreographer, performer and author.

Formerly an associate director and company member of LehrerDance, he has been featured in Dance Teacher Magazine, Dance Magazine Online and Dance Magazine. Prior to dancing with LehrerDance, he danced with Peter Sparling as a company member of The Peter Sparling Dance Co.

As a soloist and guest performer, his performance credits include Dance Chicago, Chicago Dance Festival, Dance in the Desert Festival, Men Dance Michigan, Next Step Dance, Chicago Humanities Festival, The Rein Orange (Duesberg, Germany), The European Cultural Bid (Liverpool, UK), The Roof (Germany), The Summer Stage (Brugge, Belgium) and various other festivals. Matthew has also had the privilege of working with and/or performing works by Avi Kaiser, Sergio Antonino, Merce Cunningham, Laura Dean, Matthew Thornton, Doug Varone and many more.

In addition to modern dance, Matthew specializes in improvisation and jazz technique, which he teaches at many universities, conventions, master classes and private studios in the U.S. and abroad. In addition to his work at Hope College he is currently on the faculty of Dancers Inc. Conventions and Competitions and has taught for the Chicago National Association of Dance Masters, Southern Association of Dance Masters and Cecchetti Council of America.

His other teaching credits include the Universidad Autonoma de Queretaro, Blue Lake Fine Arts Camps, Interlochen, Musiker Productions and Camps, Chelsea Dance Theatre, Anderson Young Ballet, Anderson University, Oakland University, the University of Michigan, Eastern Michigan University, and the Summer Stage in Brügge, Belgium.

Hope dancers have debuted more than 20 pieces Matthew has choreographed for the college. He has also choreographed pieces for Hope Summer Reportory Theater. Farther afield, his choreography has been produced by the Edinburgh Festival Fringe (ICTF), Wellspring/Cori Terry & Dancers, Dance in the Desert Festival, Midwest RAD Fest, Texas State University, Western Kentucky University, Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, Anderson University, Eastern Michigan University, Anderson Young Ballet, Chelsea Youth Dance Theatre, Musiker Productions, Spezio Dance Dynamics, Men Dance Michigan, Next Step Dance, dANCEpROjECT, Oakland University and other venues and organizations.

Areas of Expertise

• Jazz dance technique

• Modern dance technique

• Dance composition

• Improvisation

• 20th and 21st century American dance history

Education

• M.F.A., dance performance and choreography, University of Michigan

• B.A., theatre with a minor in dance, Hope College, 2004

Published Work

• Introductory Modern Dance: A Teaching Manual, with Jon Lehrer, Chicago National Association of Dance Masters, 2009

Local, Regional and National Offices

• Member, National Association of Schools of Dance Committee on Nominations, 2020–present

• On-site evaluator for accreditation, National Association of Schools of Dance, 2019–present

• Consultant to Boys Scouts of America President Ford Field Council executive board, 2018–2020

• Member, executive board of Boys Scouts of America President Ford Field Council, 2017–2018, and member of associate board 2015–17

• Member, executive board of Turning Pointe School of Dance, 2015–2017

• Member, executive board of Michigan Dance Council, 2011–2013

Outside the College

Outside of his work at Hope College, Matthew enjoys all activities related to the outdoors, home improvement, gardening, traveling and spending time with his wife and children.

Originally from St. Petersburg, Russia, Mikhail graduated with a BA from Vaganova Ballet Academy. Mikhail won a Gold Medal at the "Vaganova-Prix" Competition (1998). He danced with Mariinsky Ballet while also studying at Vaganova Academy. Mikhail started his professional career in the US when he joined Boston Ballet in 1999. He was awarded a diploma at the Paris Competition, won the highest awarded prize -- Silver Medal at the New York International Ballet Competition (2000), and won the Bronze at the Jackson IBC (2002). In 2001, he became a soloist and principal dancer with Miami City Ballet and performed a wide variety of the leading repertoire. In addition, in 2005, he was chosen by Dance Magazine as one of the 'to watch' dancers of today. Mr. Ilyin finished his professional performance career with the American Ballet Theatre. He also performed as a guest artist around the globe.

He is a faculty member at American Ballet Theatre's JKO School, SLK Ballet, and Alvin Ailey. Mikhail also is a Ballet Master for the rehearsals of all levels, teaching, staging, choreography, and evaluating auditions for ABT's Summer Intensive programs. In addition, he teaches Masterclasses for ABT's outreach groups from Brazil, Japan, Florida, and NYC; he worked with American Ballet Theatre's company apprentices and Studio Company. Mikhail is certified and has won awards for teaching ABT's National Training Curriculum.

His teaching experience includes work with New York University (mentoring master's candidates in ABT Pedagogy about the Vaganova Method and its relevance in ABT's National Training Curriculum), UNCSA, and Rutgers University. Mikhail has previously taught and choreographed for Miami City Ballet School, Pacific Northwest Ballet School (summer intensive), Hamilton College, Munson Williams Proctor Arts Institute, and has been an "Artist-In-Residence" with Ballet Mississippi since 2005 - where he has performed many times as well. In addition, Mikhail taught master classes all over the US and abroad. Mikhail enjoys choreographing and has staged different classical ballets. His original choreography credits include more than 40 works utilizing a variety of dance and music styles. Mikhail was selected from a competitive group to also choreograph as part of ABT's "Innovation Initiative" choreography project: "Unrestrained," performed at the Joyce Theater, NYC.

Mikhail is also the Founder, Artistic, and Executive Director of iDEA in Movement workshop series: an integrated dance series focusing on body awareness and improvisation combined with professional dance and classical ballet training. He is also a Certified Practitioner of The Feldenkrais Method of Somatic Education: a 4-year professional training program in Awareness Through Movement and Functional Integration.

Elijah Alhadji Gibson, dance educator, choreographer, and activist, is the Artistic Director of Social Movement Contemporary Dance Theater, a Houston based professional dance company he founded in 2019 after an international career as a professional dancer, teacher, and choreographer and a long-standing career in Higher Education.

Gibson is also on faculty at Texas A&M University and serves as the Associate Program Director for the BS in Dance Science and Dance Minor. Originally from San Diego, California, he began dancing with the San Diego Civic Dance Association and attended the San Diego School for the Performing Arts. Gibson studied dance in college and later earned his Master of Fine Arts in Dance from the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee, focusing on dance history, somatic studies, and pedagogy. He has been on faculty and has held residencies at several universities across the nation.

Gibson’s work has received critical acclaim and has been performed by invitation at both the Kennedy Center and Jacob's Pillow. Gibson has created educational programming for Houston public schools that promote representation in Arts Education by focusing on combining physical practice and history and continues to promote and curate community engagement programming throughout Harris County.

Maria A. Konrad graduated from the A.W. Dreyfoos High School of the Arts in West Palm Beach and holds a BFA in Performing Arts from The University of the Arts in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Her work Maestro was commissioned for the Mariinsky under the direction of Yuri Fateev. She was commissioned to set two works for the 2022 and 2023 International Nervi Festival in Italy which featured dancers from ABT Studio Company and Adji Cissisko (LINES) with the music of Karen LeFrak. Her work has been presented by Oklahoma City Ballet 2, Nashville Ballet 2, and the main company for Kansas City Ballet’s New Moves series.

She spent three seasons with Philadelphia Ballet 2  for Dear Charlie, a world premiere of PHrentetic, which was a collaborative project with Mural Arts Society and Philadelphia musicians, and Behind the Stage Door with The Big Picture Society. Ms. Konrad’s choreography has been presented nationally at the Spoleto Festival, The Fringe Festival, Miami Dade Cultural Center, The Kravis Center, Next Generation Ballet and has collaborated with artistic organizations such as Palm Beach Symphony, Palm Beach Pops and Oklahoma Philharmonic. She choreographed Les Pêcheurs de Perles and Aida for Opera Tampa.

She was recognized by Youth America Grand Prix for “Outstanding Choreography”(2015, 2017) and ADCIBC Finals (2021). She received “Outstanding Choreographer” recognition for her body of work at the YAGP 2022 International Finals presented by POINTE magazine. She has been a guest teacher for institutions such as The Colorado Ballet School, Nashville Ballet, Tulsa Ballet, Philadelphia Ballet, The Joffrey (Chicago), University of the Arts,  The Art of Classical Ballet, Next Generation Ballet, St. Paul’s School, Burklyn Ballet,  Florida Dance Festival, and Youth America Grand Prix. She has worked at both The Harid Conservatory and A.W. Dreyfoos School of the Arts. She served on the 2018 faculty at The International Ballet Competition in Jackson, Mississippi. She is a judge and Master Teacher for YAGP. She serves as resident choreographer with The Next Generation Ballet (Dir. Philip Neal). She was a co-founder of Florida School for Dance Education. She has been a guest instructor for the fitness line Eleven with Venus Williams. She also hosts the series Barre Talk for So’Danca on YouTube where she chats, laughs, and loves with some of the biggest names in dance.Item description