NOBA FACULTY
Susan Bensinger
NOBA Faculty
Bensinger earned a Bachelor of Arts in dance education from Pennsylvania State University and a Master of Arts in Education from George Washington University in Washington, D.C. While there, she performed with the Maida Withers Dance Construction Company. She has taught dance at George Washington University, Foxcroft School, and was the Arts Team Leader at Willow Charter School. In 2007, she was voted Teacher of the Year at Willow. She began working with NOBA in 2012 and is a trained substitute teacher for NOBA’s Oscar J. Tolmas Charitable Trust Dance for Parkinson’s Program.
Rebecca Delery Chauvin
Senior Dance Fitness Instructor
Chauvin began her ballet training in 1986 under Kathy Gamble and continued her instruction at Ballet Hysell, where she has performed for over twenty years. She has danced with the Anne Burr Dance Company since 1993 and has also performed with Monique Moss in Drama Rama, Confederacy of Dances, Tsunami Dance Company, d’Project and many others. Chauvin has been a NOBA faculty member since 2006.
Bethani Pete Collins
Education Coordinator
Collins hails from Crowley, Louisiana. Her love of dance began at the age of two under Pamalor Joseph and Pasgwa Washington at PJ’s Dance/Art School. In 2011, she received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in dance from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, and her training continued at The Ailey School in New York City, Urban Bush Women Summer Leadership Institute and American Dance Festival. In 2015, Collins began working alongside her mentor Dollie Eaglin (Rivas) at Audubon Charter School as well as teaching dance and cheer at Adams Middle School, Grace King High School, and Alfred Bonnabel Magnet Academy High School. She was also a principal dancer and choreographer with the premier culture bearer of New Orleans’ doll-masking community, Millisia White’s New Orleans Baby Doll Ladies. Collins is dedicated to enthusiastic and dynamic teaching as a means of creating and nurturing a lifelong love of the arts. She joined the NOBA faculty in 2015 and now serves as education coordinator.
April Dayok
Oscar J. Tolmas Dance for Parkinson’s Program Instructor
Dayok earned a Bachelor of Arts in dance from Point Park University. After relocating to New York, she danced with Becky Radway Dance Project, Counter Tides Dance, Mark Dendy Dance and Theater Projects, and worked with the Mark Morris Dance Group’s Dance for PD® program and for Pamela Quinn (dancer, Parkinson’s patient and movement specialist for Parkinson’s Disease patients). Dayok has toured nationally and internationally with Lightwire Theater and has performed locally with Mélange Dance Company and ELLEvate Dance. She began working with NOBA in 2017 and is an instructor for NOBA’s Oscar J. Tolmas Charitable Trust Dance for Parkinson’s Program.
Kayla Estipular
NOBA Faculty
Estipular is a Filipino American dancer from Fairfax, Virginia, where she began her ballet training at the age of three at The Center for Ballet Arts.During her time there, she studied a range of dance styles including ballet, pointe, contemporary, jazz, and tap. This year she graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Classical Ballet at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, where she trained under Jared Redick, Angelina Sansone, April Sultana Ball, and Laura Martin. She will be joining Marigny Opera Ballet Theatre in New Orleans this fall for their upcoming season. She wishes to continue her dance journey, spreading inspiration and joy to her audience with a smile!
Aline Neves de Souza-Myers
NORD/NOBA Center for Dance Lead Instructor
De Souza-Myers, a native of Brazil, holds a degree in physical education from the Universidade Castelo Branco and is a graduate from Escola Estadual de Danças Maria Olenewa of the Municipal Theatre of Rio de Janeiro. She performed and toured with the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus as a dancer and an aerialist. De Souza-Myers has danced and choreographed for Komenka Ethnic Music and Dance Ensemble, performing nationally and internationally. She has served as the local rehearsal director for Center for Dance student projects with Complexions Contemporary Ballet, Ballet Hispánico, Parsons Dance and Limón Dance Company and is the founding and lead instructor for the Senior Dance Fitness Program. A member of the Latinx Dance Educators Alliance, De Souza-Myers completed the prestigious School of American Ballet’s National Visiting Fellows Program in 2019-20, serves as the director for The Nutcracker Suite and Spring Concert productions and joined the NOBA faculty in 2007.
Caleb Dowden
NOBA Faculty
Dowden is a choreographer, educator and researcher from New Orleans. She is a 2021 graduate of the State University of New York at Purchase with a Bachelor of Fine Art degree in dance. As a 2021 recipient of a Fulbright Independent research award from the U.S. Department of State/ J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board and a Fulbright Hay’s Fellowship with SUNY Purchase (July 2023), her choreographic work and research has been presented and supported locally and internationally by the French Alliance of New Orleans, Le Centre (Benin Republic), Borna Soglo Gallery (Benin Republic), University of New Orleans, Ogden Museum of Southern Art, International Dance Festival of New Orleans, The New Ohio Theatre and the Maggie Allesee National Center for Choreography at Florida State University. As the director of Dow-Dance Company, Dowden produces choreographic work at the intersection of African history and culture with a unique vision of (re)connecting the African Diaspora with the African continent.
Alice Pascal Escher
NOBA Faculty
Escher is an associate professor of dance in the Newcomb Dance Program, Tulane Department of Theatre and Dance, and was the founder and artistic director of the Newcomb Dance Company for 35 years. Escher is a native of Baton Rouge, where she studied ballet with Elisa Minet Fuchs. She earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in dance from Florida State University and a Master of Fine Arts in dance from Temple University and is a Certified Movement Analyst (CMA). Escher has been instrumental in the development of the dance major program at Tulane. She enjoys teaching in the Center for Dance Pre-Professional Program and is constantly inspired by the energy, enthusiasm and dedication of the students and staff.
Emily Farrow
NOBA Faculty
Farrow began dancing at the age of three at the YMCA in Houston, Texas. She continued her training at the Virginia Dodd School of Dance in Surrey, UK, and the Terri Charlesworth Ballet Institute in Perth, Australia, where she was a member of the Youth Ballet of Western Australia. In 2019, Emily began training at the New Orleans School of Ballet under the direction of Nikki Hefko, and she was a scholarship recipient at the Junior Philharmonic Society of New Orleans in 2020. She attended summer programs at Pacific Northwest Ballet, Miami City Ballet, Ballet West, Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet, and Carolina Ballet. Emily furthered her training in the Graduate Program at Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre and as a Trainee with Carolina Ballet on scholarship. She has danced with Carolina Ballet and Marigny Opera Ballet, performing in works by George Balanchine, Amy Hall Garner, Cassi Abranches, Zalman Raffael, and Diogo De Lima.
Kelly Harp Haber
Oscar J. Tolmas Dance for Parkinson’s Program Instructor
Haber began dancing in Monroe, Louisiana, with Twin City Ballet. Haber studied modern dance at Louisiana Tech University while earning her degree in elementary education and later received a Master of Education at Vanderbilt University. She danced with Encore Ballet Company in Madison, Mississippi. Haber taught all levels with Ballet Mississippi while serving as director of the lower school. For many years, she brought dance and movement regularly to The Blake, a senior living home. Haber joined the NOBA faculty in 2016 and is an instructor for NOBA’s Oscar J. Tolmas Charitable Trust Dance for Parkinson’s Program. Her additional education includes workshops and advanced training in Dance for PD® at the Mark Morris Dance Center in Brooklyn, New York, as well as with Donna Newman-Bluestein to bring dance to people with Dementia and Alzheimer’s.
Millette White Lin
Education Manager
Lin acquired a Bachelor of Arts in anthropology from the University of New Orleans. She formerly danced with Sandra Organ Dance Company, Michele Brangwen Dance Ensemble, Ballet Hysell and Ballet Apetrei. Lin received training from the Atlanta Ballet Center for Dance Education, Joffrey Ballet School, Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre School, NOCCA and Apetrei Dancenter and has taught at the New Orleans Dance Academy, Body Expressions Center of Performing Arts, the Conservatory of Ballet Aviv, Main Street Dance and Activity Center and Apetrei Dancenter. She began working with NOBA as a teaching artist in 2010 and now serves as education manager. Under Lin’s leadership, NOBA’s Oscar J. Tolmas Charitable Trust Dance for Parkinson’s Program was established.
Sumayah McRae
Visiting Master Artist
McRae’s performance career spans concert dance, Broadway, and the commercial field. Formerly a member of Parsons Dance Company, she performed David Parsons’s iconic solo Caught. Her Broadway credits include the First National Tour of Disney’s The Lion King and The Color Purple. She spent over a decade as a featured dancer for Cher in residencies, world tours, and television appearances including “Dancing with the Stars,” “The Voice,” and “America’s Got Talent.” A lifelong educator, McRae has taught at her alma mater LaGuardia High School, Ballet Tech, and studios nationwide. She served as Ballet Mistress and Rehearsal Director for Contemporary West Dance Theatre, and Director of its Conservatory’s Ballet Division. McRae currently serves as Head Judge for Artists Simply Human Dance Convention and Competition and is an instructor and choreographer for The Joffrey Ballet School Summer Intensives (NYC, Detroit, Las Vegas), as well as Complexions Contemporary Ballet’s Las Vegas intensive. She owns a boutique dance studio in Las Vegas, where she has privately coached students into acceptance at School of American Ballet, Dance Theatre of Harlem, Complexions, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, and Lines Ballet intensives, and choreographed solos for a two-time National Bronze Ballet winner at the NAACP ACT-SO Awards. She is passionate about instilling professionalism, developing artistry, technique and self-empowerment in the next generation of dancers.
Nyna Moore
NOBA Faculty
Moore (She/Her, Denver, CO) received her formal education at the Cleo Parker Robinson Dance Academy as a member of the youth ensemble under the direction of Bashir Page-Sanders. In 2022, she graduated Summa Cum Laude with her BFA in Dance from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, under the direction of Donna Faye Burchfield. She has worked with the Cleo Parker Robinson Dance Ensemble and as a member of the Contemporary Modern Company and Nu-World Contemporary Danse Theater (2016-2022). Nyna is a dance artist with The Marigny Opera Ballet and previously danced with Saint Louis Dance Theater (2023-2026) and has worked with many notable artists, including Tommie-Waheed Evans, Norbert De La Cruz, Jamar Roberts, Jessica Lang, Mark Caserta, and Kirven Douthit-Boyd. She is passionate about individuality and authenticity in her work and teaching style. She is very excited to be working alongside many great teaching artists!
Amira Mumford
NOBA Faculty
Mumford is a whirlwind of creativity, enthusiasm, and power. She graduated from Bennington College with a BFA in Dance. Mumford is driven by musicality and rhythm to create movement works that combine her life’s discoveries. Her movement demands an internal process of asking, listening, and then surrendering to the answer that is found, even if it is not what is wanted. She strives to dance and perform as a reflection and testament of her culture and history. Amira has been in process with choreographers such as Gary Jeter, Rena Butler, Shayla Vie-Jenkins, Paul Matteson, Jhelan Gordan-Salaam, and Song Tucker. She has trained with companies such as Evidence/Ronald K. Brown, Cleo Parker Robinson, Urban Bush Women, and KM Dance Project to inform and grow her personal practices.
Jaelyn Robinson
NOBA Faculty
Robinson began her formal dance training with NORD/NOBA Center for Dance at the age of 11. During this time, she was selected by top artistic directors for performances projects both locally and abroad with acclaimed dance companies, such as Complexions Contemporary Ballet, Parsons Dance, Limón Dance Company, Ronald K. Brown/EVIDENCE and Dance Theatre of Harlem. Robinson acquired her Bachelor of Arts in public policy at Louisiana State University in 2021 and has since devoted her time to community projects and teaching. She began working with NOBA in 2022 and, during the 2022-23 season, she served as outreach coordinator for NOBA’s “Championing Movement” Dance for Parkinson’s project, developing and implementing a series of community-building and outreach activities for under-resourced and rural areas in Southeast Louisiana.
Ceylon Seiber
NOBA Faculty
Seiber is a New Orleans native who carries a deep passion for dance. She is a NOCCA Alumnae and has furthered her dance education at Florida State University, graduating with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in dance. As an independent performing dance artist, Ceylon has built connections with many local dance artists and had the pleasure working on projects with Dow-Dance Company, Kesha McKey Dance Project, Making Space by Maya Taylor, New Orleans Museum of Art, and ESSENCE festival. Although she enjoys performing on stage, Ceylon appreciates exploring the instructional side of dance by teaching and spreading knowledge to the younger students she encounters across the city. Her teaching experience has opened opportunities for teaching inside public schools, non-profit dance organizations, NORD community centers and local dance studios. Alongside teaching dance, she has presented choreographic works in New Orleans at local art spaces such as the Contemporary Arts Center, JazzFest (Kids Tent), Binge Dance Festival associated with Dow-Dance Company. Ceylon’s top priority as a dance instructor is to bring out the best in her students and prepare them with the necessary skills to feel confident moving around inside their bodies, wherever their dance journey leads them.
Amanda Silvertooth
NOBA Faculty
Silvertooth started her ballet training at age 3. Later in her training she coached with Natasha Bar (Odessa Ballet) and attended various summer programs including Miami City Ballet and the School of American Ballet. She then attended the University of the Arts on a presidential scholarship. While earning her BFA in Ballet, Amanda began performing professionally with Philadelphia Ballet and BalletFleming. After graduating Amanda joined BalletFleming, where she danced many principal roles. She then went on to join the Brandywine Ballet Company and most recently Dance Del Bello, continuing to dance principal roles. Amanda has also guest danced in Pennsylvania, New York, and Maryland. Amanda has taught throughout the Philadelphia area, including for Swedesboro Performing Arts Academy and Settlement Music School. Amanda is absolutely thrilled to be joining the NOBA team!
Tai Ashley Teamer
NOBA Faculty
Teamer began dancing at the age of two and has studied with the NORD/NOBA Center for Dance, Willow Charter School, NOCCA and New Orleans Dance Academy. She has trained with artists from Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Ballet Hispánico, Paul Taylor Dance Company and Complexions Contemporary Ballet. Teamer received a Bachelor of business administration from Loyola University New Orleans and a Master of arts administration from the University of New Orleans. She has received local and national training in movement programs for aging populations of all mobility levels and joined the NOBA faculty in 2013.
Emily Wagner
Visiting Master Artist
Wagner, a Michigan native, trained under scholarships at the Flint Youth Ballet, Virginia School of the Arts, the American Ballet Theater and coach Sabrina Pillars of the New York City Ballet. Wagner’s dance career began to blossom when she received an invitation to dance with American Ballet Theater’s (ABT) Studio Company. Since then, she has performed both nationally and internationally for some of the most celebrated ballet companies, including ABT, Ballet Austin, Eglevsky Ballet, Ballet Noir, Terra Firma Dance Theater, Pennsylvania Ballet, and Ballet X, among others. Notable performances include: Thomas Ades’ See the Music, Hear the Dance (2015), in London, England. Peter Breuer’s Bolero in Salzburg, Austria with the Salzburg Ballet (2005), Movement Network of Amsterdam in the Netherlands (2006) and dancing as the Vixen, with critical acclaim, in New York Philharmonic’s celebrated production, The Cunning Little Vixen (2012). In perhaps her most exciting moment to date, Wagner also performed in Monte Carlo for the Prince of Monaco in 2009. For her final 10 seasons, Wagner danced as a soloist with Karole Armitage’s Armitage Gone! Dance in New York City as a contemporary ballet artist and toured Europe. She also freelanced as a tango artist with the New Generation Dance Company. Additionally, she modeled dance wear for Sansha and KD Dance. In addition to her accomplishments on stage, Wagner also worked as the assistant choreographer for Harvard ART’s highly praised play, Marie Antoinette, and worked as rehearsal director
during Kansas City Ballet’s Spring season. She has also been teaching master classes nationally and internationally for several years and is a fully certified Pilates Instructor, Personal Trainer and Nutrition Coach. She has a Bachelor of the Arts in the performing arts from Saint Mary’s College of California. Now living in Cuenca, Ecuador, Wagner is delighted to be sharing her love of ballet with the local community and running her growing online health and fitness business, Training in Transit. She is currently dancing with La Compañia de Danza in Ecuador in addition to teaching master classes and workshops around the country. Wagner began working with NOBA in 2014 and is thrilled to be back teaching the talented youth of New Orleans.
Kennedy Walker
NOBA Faculty
Walker is a movement artist from Baton Rouge, Louisiana with a background of training and performing in several styles such as ballet, tap, hip hop, modern, and jazz. She earned a Bachelor of Arts in dance and a Bachelor of Science in neuroscience from Tulane University and trained and performed with the Newcomb Dance Company. The combination of her passions led Walker to complete a Master of Science in dance science in London, England at Trinity Laban Conservatoire where she worked collaboratively with artists across the University as well as across the city of London. She is currently a company member with Marigny Opera Ballet and joined the NOBA faculty in 2025.
Donald Williams
Visiting Master Artist
Williams, a Chicago native, became a member of Dance Theatre of Harlem in 1977 and ended a 27-year career with the company as premier danseur in 2004. Known for his versatility, Williams’ repertoire encompasses ballet, jazz, African and contemporary idioms. As a principal guest artist, Williams has performed with London’s Royal Ballet at Covent Garden and International Ballet Festival in Cuba and has starred in many other international galas. He has worked with Complexions Contemporary Ballet, Dances Patrelle and Fugate/Bahiri Ballet NY, creating critically acclaimed, original roles with them. Williams made his film debut in The Cotton Club, starred in numerous award-winning films, and has made television appearances and commercials. In 1998, Williams made his Broadway debut in the Tony Award winning musical Ragtime. In 2000, he was guest artist in the New York City Ballet/Dance Theatre of Harlem collaboration for the Diamond Project, dancing the principal roles in Robert Garland and Robert LaFosse’s Tributary and Balanchine’s Agon. He was featured in the national tour of The Phantom of the Opera and with Phantom: The Las Vegas Spectacular at the Venetian Resort and Casino. Williams’ teaching credits include company teacher for Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Dance Theatre of Harlem, Complexions Contemporary Ballet, Celine Dion: A New Day, Nevada Ballet Theater and Contemporary West Dance Theater, among others; school instructor for Dance Theatre of Harlem, The Ailey School, Ballet Academy East (NYC) and The Rock Center for Dance (Las Vegas); and guest teacher for Marymount College, Florida State University and Tulane University, among others. He was also personal trainer for Keanu Reeves for the film Devil’s Advocate. Williams began working as a Master Artist-in-Residence with the Center for Dance Pre-Professional Program in 2013.
Britteny Williams-Reese
NOBA Faculty
Williams-Reese, a native New Orleanian, began her formal dance training at the NORD/NOBA Center for Dance. She has also studied at New Orleans Dance Academy, NOCCA, Dance Theatre of Harlem and The Ailey School. Williams-Reese has worked with choreographers including Daniel Catanach, Monique Moss, Nanette Ledet, Joya Powell, Rebecca Stenn and Eduardo Vilaro. In 2009, she received her Bachelor of Arts in natural science from Fordham University and received her Master of Arts Administration from the University of New Orleans in 2024. As an educator, Williams-Reese focuses on the connection between the art of dance and the science of movement. She joined the NOBA faculty in 2012.