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MANAGEMENT TEAM

Scott Gormley, Director, Producer

With over 20 years of creative experience, Scott Gormley cut his teeth filming commercials for some of the biggest brands. His work has grown to include narrative as well documentary films. Recently he has produced creative projects for Verizon, NY Islanders, Lamborghini, Scholastic Inc., Vivendi /Universal, The Direct Marketing Association, and Thompson Financial among many others while working on several short films.

Jon & Tracy Cring, Editors

With a heart for collaboration, this duo works closely with a Director to chisel away at endless hours of footage to reveal the most compelling characters and stories of the Documentaries they edit. As narrative feature filmmakers in their own right, Tracy Nichole and Jon Russell Cring bring a combined thirty years of experience to “Danseur.”  The first Documentary they “cut” set records when it was broadcast on PBS and film festivals criss crossing the globe have showcased their many projects in the art form. Tracy has edited over forty films and even more television series; Jon Russell has Directed twenty-four films and brings that love of storytelling to the editing process.

Mirela Amaral, Production Assistant

Mirela Amaral Choreographer, Performer, and teacher, whose interest is to develop choreography mediated by digital technology. Originally from Brazil, studied at the Toshie Kobayashi Ballet School in Sao Paulo, Brazil. While at the Toshie Kobayashi Ballet School, Mirela performed solos of Coppélia and La Fille Mal Gardé and Pas de trois 1st variation of Swan Lake. She studied the Vaganova technique throughout her life, in addition to obtaining two diplomas from Royal Academy of Dance. At the age of 16, Mirela won two gold medals in two national competitions in Brazil, one being the “Dança Ribeirão” with the variation of Coppelia. Mirela has also performed solos and pas de deus of Diane and Acteon, Sleepy Beauty’s “The Blue Bird, and Le Corsare’s “Slave”, as well as corps the ballet of Swan Lake and Paquita. Mirela has performed contemporary solos by Rubens Terranova, Marina Simoes and Priscila Ferrari. She came to New York City in 2007 to study dance, and her studies took her to Steps on Broadway and Ballet Arts. There, she studied with many prestigious teachers, including Lonné Moretton; who during the first few weeks of teaching Mirela in New York, invited her to become a member of his Contemporary/Ballet company. Mirela graduated from Talent Unlimited Performing Arts High School in New York City in 2009; which was affiliated with the Martha Graham School of Contemporary Dance, and performed under the direction of the ballerina Wilhelmina Frankfurt, The Fire Bird. In 2010 Mirela joined Urban Ballet Theater performing The Nutcracker in the Lower directed by Daniel Catanach, and received scholarships to attend programs such as Jacob’s Pillow, Bates Festival, Ballet Hispanico, Carolyn Dorfman, Lar Lubovitch intensive and Bill T Jones Intensive. Mirela has performed works by Fredrick Earl Mosely, Rebecca Stenn, Nicole M Corea, Nancy Lushington, Fairul Zahid, Alex Tenreiro Theis, and David Gourov, as well as renowned choreographers including Martha Graham, José Limón, Charles Weidman, Bill T Jones, Larry Keigwin, Donald McKayle, David Parsons, Paul Taylor and Sabatino Verlezza. In 2013 Mirela graduated with a BFA in Dance at Montclair State University and joined Yoo and Dancers Dance Company in New York City. Today Mirela works towards her dream of opening her own Company and to navigate trough possibilities of collading the worlds of Digital technology and Contemporary Dance.

OUR CREW

Ben Wolf, NY Cinematographer
After winning a Student Academy Award for Best Cinematography for his first movie, “Gold Mountain”, Ben has concentrated on visual character studies in all forms of filmmaking. Pictures such as “Lustre” (Dir: Art Jones), “The Young Girl and the Monsoon” (Dir: James Ryan), and “Windows” (Dir: Shoja Azari) have garnered acclaim at numerous festivals including Locarno, Venice, Tribeca, and Bermuda. Ben has filmed experimental work, such as Shoja Azari’s Venice Biennale entry “The King of Black”, and travelled to Luang Prabang to shoot artist Shirin Neshat’s project on Lao folk songs, “Games of Desire”, which premiered in the Barbara Gladstone Gallery in Brussels.
 
Location work has taken Ben from the deserts of Xinjiang to the hill stations of India and the streets of Prishtina, where he shot the award winning short film “Refren per Kosoven”. The six hour road movie about all the towns in America named Amsterdam, titled “Amsterdam Stories USA” (Dirs: Rob Rombout & Rogier van Eck), stretched the documentary form in 2012. Recent documentary films range from “Deceptive Practice” (Molly Bernstein & Alan Edelstein), a Kino Lorber release about the magician Ricky Jay, to “Food Chains” (Sanjay Rawal), a James Beard award winning film – exec-produced by Eva Longoria – on farm workers.
 
Additionally, he helped develop and shoot a web series for The Indian National Congress Party entitled “A Billion And One Voices”, which served as a collage of modern India. Current releases include Arthur Vincie’s lo-fi, sci-fi feature “Found In Time” and the musical “Life Of An Actress” (Dir: Paul Chau). In addition, Ben teaches Cinematography at Montclair State University and has taught lighting seminars at DocNomads in Brussels, Fairleigh Dickinson University, School of Visual Arts, Brooklyn College, Wright State University, and SACAC in New Delhi.
Manfred Reiff, NY Cinematographer
Manfred Reiff is a cinematographer and still photographer working in advertising, television, and feature films. He has filmed commercials for many global brands, such as L’Oreal, RayBan, Maybelline, Vidal Sassoon, AT&T, and Mercedes. 
Manfred has additionally shot several features, among which is the film “Glow Ropes – The Rise and Fall of a Bar Mitzvah MC” (with Judy Reyes of NBC’s “Scrubs”), winner of the HBO Best Picture Award. His further feature credits include films such as “Under Heat”, with Lee Grant and Robert Knepper, and “The Suitors”, an official selection of the Cannes Film Festival.
 
For television, he has co-created trailers for the shows “Rockstar DJ”, produced by Endemol and featuring Mark Ronson (Grammy Award winner for producing Amy Winehouse), “SteelWars”, produced by IMG, as well as the pilot for “The David Monn Style Show” (working title), for the internationally acclaimed, preeminent high-end event designer David Monn. 
 
     
Chat Gunter, NY Audio Engineer
Chat Gunter has been production and sound mixer for numerous feature films, documentaries, and television movies of the week. Credits include “After Hours” (directed by Martin Scorsese), “Little Gloria… Happy at Last” (starring Bette Davis), “Stay the Night” (starring Barbara Hershey), and “An American Dream—The Jackson Five“. Documentary credits include “The Weavers: Wasn’t That a Time“, “Woody Guthrie: Hard Travelin‘”, “Whales Weep Not“, and “Let’s Get Lost”. He has additionally worked on music videos with such artists as the Rolling Stones, Dire Straits, Ashford & Simpson, and Frank Zappa.
Mikon Haaksman, TX Cinematographer

With nearly twenty years of experience, Mikon first began my career in Los Angeles working in production on motion pictures.  He also spent some time as an assistant editor on numerous films.  During that time, he produced and directed two low budget features and several short films.

After moving to Houston, Texas, he  began a ten year stint in the corporate world producing videos for Fortune 500 companies such as BP and Budweiser.

Most recently, he has begun producing for television as a field producer on several shows for HGTV and Ride TV while also acting as a DP for documentaries, and other national television programs.

RESEARCH SUPPORT

Doug Risner, PhD, MFA

Dr. Doug Risner has researched gender and dance for over two decades and has published three books on the topic: Gender, Sexuality & Identity: Critical Issues in Dance Education; Dance & Gender: An Evidenced-based Approach; and Stigma & Perseverance in the Lives of Boys Who Dance, which inspired the film,Danseur. He is the recipient of numerous awards including the President’s Excellence in Teaching Award from Wayne State University, the Outstanding Dance Education Researcher Award from the National Dance Education Organization, and the Distinguished Alumni Award from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. The Doug Risner Prize for Emerging Dance Researchers was established in 2016 by the Journal of Dance Education to honor his commitment to excellence in research and research education in dance. His forthcoming book, Case Studies in Dance Education: Toward Ethical & Humanizing Pedagogies with Karen Schupp will be published by McFarland in 2018. Dr. Risner holds a PhD in Social & Cultural Foundations of Education and MFA in Dance Performance & Choreography. 

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