About The Artists
Shana Bloomstein is originally from Freedom, ME, this is Wabanaki territory. She began dancing in nursery school with the love and guidance of her life-long teacher Lisa Newcomb. Her playful exploration of dance continued with Lisa throughout her upbringing in Maine, with a clear focus beginning by the age of 13 in creative movement and modern dance; inspired deeply by the offerings of dance teachers from West Africa and beyond. Shana studied the African diaspora with Richard Gonzales, Abdoulaye Sylla, and Arthur Hall. She danced professionally as a teenager with Arthur Hall in Ile Ife Philadelphia Maine Co., with Sara Yarborough former Alvin Ailey member and in a small Modern Dance Co. Stella Dance Theatre with Karen Tvarian and Joan Proadman. She continued her studies of dance/edu. at Hampshire College in ’98, where she met her mentor; artist and educator Nia Love (Fulbright Fellow). Shana moved to NYU in ’99 and performed as an original member of Loves' then Blacksmith's Daughter Dance Theatre Co. for 4 yrs. Shana has performed and collaborated across the country with Jesse Phillips-Fein and Sarah Sibley. Her explorations in dance have taken her abroad, including studies in Senegal, West Africa with teacher Babacar M'Baye. Shana currently works as a Pediatric PTA and runs a private practice cycles of life therapeutic massage as an LMT. She facilitates dance and yoga for both children and adults throughout the state of Maine and primarily at The Belfast Dance Studio. She facilitates residencies throughout mid coast Maine and enjoys any opportunity to work with children and adults to integrate dance a form of connection and care. Shana performs as a solo improv/modern dance based artist throughout New England and has been producing, directing, dancing in this offering called Women's Works for the past 19 years. She took on the role and honor of becoming the artistic director and manager of the Belfast Dance Studios (https://belfastdancestudio.com/) in October of 2023. Shana's greatest creative inspiration is being a mother to her two children Dawud and Nnenaya.
Dawud Bloomstein is a graduate of Maine Arts Academy in Sidney, ME where he was Piano major and member of the Chamber Singers , Civil Rights Team, National Honors Society. Dawud is currently in his final year at Berklee College of Music, studying Music Therapy and Piano. He serves as a research assistant in the Music Therapy Dept at Berklee, and was recently nominated by his professors for a Leadership Scholarship. Dawud has been a camp counselor at New England Music Camp, and works as a carpenter and farmer during the summers. Dawud has a deep love for music, family and the natural world. Dawud was in his first dance performance, nestled in a sling on his Mama’s back in NYC when he was 10 months old!
Nnenaya Bloomstein Nnenaya Bloomstein has grown up dancing at the Belfast Dance Studio, taking mostly contemporary dance classes. In high school, she was a dance apprentice for the Haitian dance company Jean Appolon Expressions for two years (2021-2022). Nnenaya is now a full time student at Williams College going into her sophomore year and plans to graduate in 2027. She hopes to major in both Psychology and Women’s Gender and Sexuality Studies. Since attending Williams College, Nnenaya has also joined a longstanding hip-hop dance team at Williams called NBC in which she performs multiple times a year. While not planning on studying dance in her academic career, Nnenaya hopes to continue to dance throughout her life to continue to foster creativity and joy.
NBC performance at Williams College
Jenny Cobuzzi
Throughout her life, dance has been Jenny’s privileged home, providing stability, security, challenge and a sense of mastery. Jenny is a Board Certified Dance/Movement Therapist, Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor, Certified Clinical Supervisor, and Licensed Creative Arts Therapist. She works with clients in private practice and in a community mental health agency. Jenny's own mental wellness journey motivated her to pursue the passion of helping people embody their whole self and find release. Jenny Cobuzzi’s professional dance credits include dancing for Carnival Cruise Lines, Celebrity Cruises, Princess Cruises, Sandcastle Saipan, and was an original cast member in Adrian Zmed: In Concert. Jenny was the manager and cast member of “Mystique” at Canobie Lake Park under the direction of Paul Osborne, "God of Magic". She briefly toured with David Copperfield and has performed with entertainment groups throughout New England. She has taught dance in various studios helping dancers navigate the path to becoming professional. She graduated with a Master’s degree in Dance/Movement Therapy and Counseling (Antioch University New England) and holds undergraduate degrees in Dance and Business Management (Marymount Manhattan College). www.dmtme.center
Molly Gawler is a dancer, musician and mom. She founded her own company in 2012 called Droplet Dance, a collection of solo dance works with elements of acrobatics and story told by movement created with live music from the folk traditions of Maine. As a youngster, Molly studied ballet with Andrei Bossov in Pittsfield, Maine and furthered her dance training in college with contemporary and modern at SUNY Purchase in NY. She danced with various choreographers in New York City such as Corbin Dances and Nøa Dance. After that, she toured the world with Pilobolus Dance Theater and starred in the lead role of the 'dog-girl' in the show Shadowland. While a part of Pilobolus she appeared on Oprah, the Golden Globes, the Royal Variety Show and the Academy Awards. Her life led her to study circus at New England Center for Circus Arts in Brattleboro, VT where she learned Cyr Wheel, Aerial Arts and acrobatics. Molly came full circle, back home to Maine where she performs, plays fiddle, sings and teaches movement of all types. One of her greatest joys is being a mother to six year old, Caspian, and three year old Mica.
Maria Jacobs is originally from Methuen, Massachusetts, she grew up in her local dance community both teaching and being a member of Push Factor & Stillpoint Dance Companies with Director/ Choreographers Jacqui Young and Adrienne Mincz. After cheering for a year with the New England Patriots, Maria traveled to Las Vegas where she took class with Shawn Hughes and Emmy Award winning Nappytabs to name a few. She later performed in the Dick Foster Production “Imagine” at Harrah's in Lake Tahoe. Maria had the opportunity to explore the Islands of the Eastern Caribbean & Baltic while enjoying the seas with Celebrity Cruises. New York City became her home for close to 10yrs, where she trained and danced with many artists including Jana Hicks in her contemporary company, Ginger Cox, Eric Campos & Brian Friedman. Once married to her partner Neal, she ventured back to New England. Alongside her journey into motherhood, Maria became a 200 hr Registered Yoga Instructor through Seacoast Power Yoga and completed a variety of training in prenatal/ postpartum fitness & yoga. Maria has her certification in Fly Gym, an aerial stretching and strengthening workout.. She thrives on the opportunity to provide a fun and nurturing space to allow others to receive not only a great physical workout, but leave with a sense of serenity to carry throughout their day. A mom to Maria Nettie (11), Sam Roscoe(9) & Roger John(6), she understands the need to find balance in such a hectic life and embraces each moment when one can find community and feel like they have accomplished something for their wellbeing. She became a certified Reiki Master, HypnoMothering® Practitioner and has been a doula to those at all stages of life. Since their move to Maine in 2018, her family has been given so many moments to express themselves in the arts including the entire family being in the Belfast Masker's production of “The Storm in the Barn”. She is so grateful to be a part of this incredible cast and looks forward to sharing her passion with you! Together they love to enjoy time in nature, singing silly songs, getting dirty in the garden or full of paint from crafts...but mostly connecting & sharing quality time with each other & those around them...:) Thanks for coming & enjoy the show!!
Neal Jacobs lives in Searsmont with his partner Maria and their three extraordinary children: Maria Nettie (11), Sam (9) and Roger (6). He started taking piano lessons when he was eight, stopped after maybe six months, took a break for roughly thirty five years, and picked it back up again roughly a year ago. He is quite excited and slightly terrified for his first performance. He and Maria and a few friends started a regional organization a little over a year ago called the Crock Pot, which focuses on community strengthening, mutual aid, healing, connection and transformative action within the gift economy for the greater Belfast community. He loves living in the midcoast, loves being a dad, and loves working at a delightful little restaurant in Lincolnville called Aster & Rose. Thanks to all for coming!
Jesse Phillips-Fein iJesse Phillips-Fein grew up studying modern and post-modern dance at the Brooklyn Arts Exchange/BAX in New York City, and continued in African Diasporic forms with nia love, Yvonne Daniel, Baba Richard Gonzalez, Peniel Guerrier, and Danys La Mora Perez. She holds a B.A. in Dance & Cultural Anthropology from Smith College (2001), a Diploma in Dance Studies from the Laban Centre in London (2000), an M.A. in Interdisciplinary Studies from the Gallatin School/NYU (2015) and she participated in the Hemispheric Institute for Performance and Politics’ EMERGENYC program (2012). Her choreography has been produced at venues throughout NYC and her writing on dance is published in several journals and anthologies. She currently collaborates with nia love on her performance and research project, UNDERcurrents, and teaches middle school dance in the NYC Department of Education. Thank you to my ancestors, teachers, parents, my partner, and to Nalo, who make my living and dancing possible and joyful. More at www.jumpoffdance.org
Margi Pulkingham is delighted to be dancing with Women’s Work. She is grateful to Shana for her spiritual energy and effervescent approach to the dance of life! Margi was a dancer in NPC (The NeoPolitical Cowgirls) on the east end of Long Island and in NYC from 2011 to 2019. In 2015 she also appeared with Lukie Bernstein and Dancers at the Hampton Ballet Theatre School. In 2016 Margi was a docent dancer in Jody Oberfelder’s Brain Piece. She played Rachel Carson in Megan Chaskeys The Beautiful and the Senseless as part of the 2012 Plant and Sing Festival at Sylvester Manor Educational Farm on Shelter Island, NY. In the 90’s in Houston, Pulkingham was a dance teaching artist for the Texas Institute for Arts in Education modeled after the Lincoln Center Institute in NYC. During that same period she was a dancer for ART STREET with Ian Leffler in Galveston Texas. In the 70’s and early 80’s she toured extensively throughout Great Britain and Europe with the Fisherfolk, a theatre/dance /music ensemble. One of the many reasons she thrives in Belfast is her regular participation at Belfast Dance Studio!
Daisy Xu Daisy began her dance journey with 10 years of pre-professional ballet training, starting in her early childhood. She studied with the Washington School of Ballet, and Ballet Austin, before transitioning into Contemporary dance with CityDance Conservatory in Maryland, and then leaving the dance world completely. Women’s Works Reunion 2024 coincides with Daisy’s reunion with dance.
Daisy moved to Downeast Maine with her partner, Emel, in 2019 to homestead and they are in their 5th season of operating a Ecological greens farm. In return for the water and soil needed to grow food, they work to restore their land into the healthy and biodiverse forest ecosystem it once was.
She is passionate about the resiliency of local food systems. In addition to growing Salad mixes for market, she also cooks in Farm to Table restaurants and hosts events that celebrate local Farms throughout Downeast and Mid Coast Maine.
For her first season with Women’s Works ‘Reunion’ 2024, Daisy choreographed “We seek to heal the broken trail back to our ancestors”, which is a phrase that is spoken to open an exploration of repairing relationships with the Earth. This process is a living dance, kept alive by all who participate in it.
She thanks Shana for her tireless work in all that is involved to facilitate and revive artistic movement post-pandemic, and she thanks all the dancers and participants of Women’s Works for holding space to explore, create and witness.
PREVIOUS ARTISTS & COLLABORATORS:
Hanna DeHoff grew up in Camden and attended Camden-Rockport schools and is a graduate of the North Carolina School of the Arts in Winston-Salem, The University of Maine in Orono and the Swedish Institute of Massage in NYC. After a career of dance and theater in NYC and many hours working in restaurants she returned to Mid-Coast Maine in 2005 with her husband David Troup. She has worked locally with many groups and most recently has danced and choreographed pieces for Women’s Works with Shana Bloomstein and dancers from 2010-2017. She also choreographed a full length production of “L’Histoire du Soldat” for Everyman Repertory in 2014 and most recently John Burstein’s “Night Kitchen” for its premier in December 2016. She continues to teach Modern Dance and Yoga in the area and also has a Massage Therapy Practice in Rockland.
Caleb Anthony Green is a dance and theater practitioner from Brooklyn. They are currently finishing their BFA at Middlebury College in Vermont, where they met their collaborator, Matea. They are graduating early next year with a joint focus in Dance and Theater. At Middlebury, they has been mentored by Christal Brown, Michole Biancosino, Lida Winfield, their peers and countless other performers who have passed through the space. They have spent the past year producing two original works autobiography of red // decreation and alone abides in the house of heaven. After graduating, they are planning to move west with their partner and continue to study dance, join liberatory organizing efforts in their community and make art.
In her 12th Women’s Works season Katenia Keller is revisiting and adding to a work that she choreographed in 1999, ‘Evolve’, from the full-length piece ‘Universal Solvent’. She has created 13 original full-length dance works that she toured and performed with her company Flying Feet Dance Theatre. She is Dance Director and Choreographer for the Maine Dance Institute, Dance Artist-in-Residence for the Maine Alliance for Arts Education, and on the Maine Arts Commission Teaching Artist Roster. Katenia is also a visual artist whose work first appeared as full stage set paintings and sculptures for dance. She is the author and artist of Pythias Sacred Geometry Tarot and her work can be seen on-line at kateniakeller.com.
Lisa Newcomb started dancing at the age of 6 with creative dance teacher Mrs. Gage. She taught her first creative dance class in the family basement at 14. It wasn't until her late 20s that she met Arthur Hall and discovered her next love, African & Caribbean dance. Dance has taken her many places including Africa,
Brazil, NYC, throughout the United States, with opportunities to study with many amazing teachers. In 1985 she founded the Belfast Dance Studio and the following year began teaching dance residencies in the public schools throughout Maine along with Drummer Jeff Densmore. She and Jeff continue to work together both in the studio & school settings.
Joan Proudman trained with the Classical Ballet Academy of Connecticut. At age 16 she received a full scholarship to Boston Ballet and performed with the company at the Music Hall and as a guest artist with the Lyric Opera of Chicago. In Maine Joan danced solo roles with Portland Ballet including Mercetes and Queen of the Gypsies (Don Q), Winter Fairy (Cinderella) and Arabian and Rose (Nutcracker). She was a full-time
member of Ram Island Dance Company under Daniel McCusker for six years. At Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival Joan got to work with noted choreographers Ralph Lemon, Wendy Perron, Trisha Brown and Yoskiko Chuma. Joan taught Ballet and Modern Dance in Portland, Camden and Belfast before meeting Shana Bloomstein and Stella Dance Theatre was formed. Joan joined Women’s Works in 2006. A free-lance artist with a Fine Arts degree from USM, Joan is the resident graphic designer for Women’s Works.
Born and raised in South Korea, Kyung-sun is originally trained in Korea’s prestigious Korean National University of the Arts as a dancer and choreographer. Kyung-sun lived in the Netherlands from 2001-2011 where she studied at the School for New Dance Development, was regularly in demand by a diverse range of european choreographers and was a member of the Magpie Music Dance Company (2004-2006) in Amsterdam (NL)—one of the world’s leading improvisation-based dance groups.
Kyung-sun’s career as a modern dancer in Korea and the Netherlands gives her a rich background for what’s evolved into a deeply rewarding second phase of her professional life: working with women to help them feel fit, free and empowered by working synergistically with both body & mind. She works with individuals and groups to help them gain more energy, flow, strength and personal freedom. Kyung-sun is currently certified in Both Gyrotonic Expansion System and The UZAZU Embodied Life Coaching method. She started the Freeport Mind-body Fitness Studio out of her home in Freeport Maine where she lives with her husband Dylan Newcomb and their very active and 'embodied' six year old daughter Kiana.
After a more than 7-year break from dancing on stage, Kyung-sun feels very grateful to be involved in Women’s Work. "Feeling, listening, sharing this space with these people… Creating rich new experiences through movement… It’s so deeply rewarding for me!"
Matea Mills-Andruk is a Maine based choreographer, dancer, and teaching artist. She graduated from Middlebury College where she studied and danced with Laurel Jenkins, Lida Winfield, Christal Brown, Jennifer Ponder, and Julian Barnett.She is interested in radical communication and hopes to share the delights of the baby leaves in the spring and the awe towards life that comes out of intense emotions. Her creationprocess includes compositional improvisation, radical interaction exercises (drawn from performance art and theatre), and somatic experiences. She believes in dance as a medium in which to reimagine the ways we interact with each other and our environments within the world. She draws from an interest in holistic medicine and plant communication, and a background in neuroscience and gender, sexuality, and feminist studies. Her work celebrates creation over production and is informed by menstruation, collective living, disruption of the nuclear family, the generative power of staying, and the moon.
