BFA Dance Lab Faculty

Image of Donna Faye Burchfield
Director, BFA & Low-Residency MFA

Donna Faye Burchfield is the Director of the BFA & Low-Residency MFA in Dance at Bennington College. 

email donnafayeburchfield@bennington.edu

Visiting Faculty

Image of Sidra Bell
Visiting Faculty

Sidra Bell is the founder of Sidra Bell Dance New York and a dancer, choreographer, and educator.

email sidrabell@bennington.edu
Image of Rena Butler
Visiting Faculty

Rena Butler is a recipient of the 2019 Princess Grace Foundation Award and the 2024 Isadora Duncan Dance Award for Choreography. She was Gibney Company’s inaugural Choreographic Associate, and has created works for Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, AIM by Kyle Abraham, Whim W'Him, Het Nationale Ballet, The San Francisco Opera, and many more.

email renabutler@bennington.edu
Image of Mikhail Calliste
Visiting Faculty

Mikhail Calliste is a Trinidadian dance artist and maker.

email mikhailcalliste@bennington.edu
Image of Mark Caserta
Visiting Faculty

Mark Caserta is a queer dance maker from Philly, where they direct the movement collective BIGKID DANCE.

email markcaserta@bennington.edu
Image of Kyle “JustSole” Clark
Visiting Faculty

Kyle “JustSole” Clark is an award-winning dancer, choreographer, and street dance competitor who has dedicated 20+ years to the cultivation, transmission, and preservation of Hip Hop/Street and club dance forms/cultural traditions.

email kyleclark@bennington.edu
Image of Curt Haworth
Visiting Faculty

Curt Haworth is a choreographer and improvise. He is currently designing evenings of spontaneous music and dance in collaboration with Free Fleet and Studio 34.

email curtwells@bennington.edu
Image of Kingsley Ibeneche
Visiting Faculty

Kingsley Ibeneche is a Nigerian-American Choreographer, Dancer, Musician, and published writer.

email kingsleyibeneche1@bennington.edu
Image of Shayla-Vie Jenkins
Visiting Faculty

Shayla-Vie Jenkins is a Philadelphia-based performer, maker, educator, poetry lover, writer, and mama.

email shaylaviejenkins@bennington.edu
Image of Gary W. Jeter II
Visiting Faculty

Gary W. Jeter II has a method of moving and sharing that is influenced and inspired by many years of dancing in diverse and extended ways and working with a plethora of inspiring artists. A merge of everything he has found beneficial and enjoys, translated through his specific lens.

email garyjeter@bennington.edu
Image of Niall Jones
Visiting Faculty

Niall Jones is a NYC based artist working within a constellation of curiosities, obsessions, and practices that move across dance, performance, sound, text, photography and video.

email nialljones@bennington.edu
Image of Paul Matteson
Visiting Faculty

Paul Matteson MFA '07 is a BESSIE Award performer and former member of the internationally touring Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company. 

email paulmatteson1@bennington.edu
Image of Sara Procopio
Visiting Faculty

Sara Procopio is a Brooklyn-based dance artist, educator, and arts manager.

email saraprocopio@bennington.edu
Image of Michael Sheridan
Visiting Faculty

Michael Sheridan is a Philadelphia-based artist, activist, and educator.

email michaelsheridan@bennington.edu
Image of Katie Swords-Thurman
Visiting Faculty

Katie Swords Thurman is a Philly-based dance artist whose pedagogic and choreographic work is influenced by the power, disquiet, and joy stirring within oneself.

email katieswordsthurman@bennington.edu
Image of Emily Wexler
Visiting Faculty

Emily Wexler is a Brooklyn-based choreographer and dancer whose work explores the existential capacities of dance and performance through a collective exploration of memory and time. She works collaboratively in her work with dancers, students, artists, and senior citizens.

email emilywexler1@bennington.edu
Image of Jesse Zaritt
Visiting Faculty

Jesse Zaritt's work engages drawing as dancing - a visual and physical practice linked to dreaming, drafting, and materializing futures. He is a Brooklyn-based dance artist.

email jessezaritt@bennington.edu