Denise Townsend (she/her): Dancer. Choreographer. Skilled Figure Model. Spoken Word & Movement Artist.

Creative Approach: I am working, studying and offering my perspective to encourage the pursuit of encountering difficult emotions and truths about the self. I want to validate the ability for us all to think about our thinking. I enjoy contemplating about liberation as the capacity of holding space and offering love when change is taking place, the endless change.

Born and raised in France, Elizabeth studied ballet, Russian character and modern dance in Paris. In the 80’s, she moved to New York City and study with Merce Cunningham, Viola Farber, Maggy Black. After 15 years hiatus to raise a family and work as a physical therapist, she returned to her former passion. Since, she danced with the Dartmouth Dance Ensemble in Hanover, NH and What’s Written Within in Edgartown, MA. She choreographed most of her work with the latter with productions for Built on Stilts, the Yard and the Hebrew Center in Martha’s Vineyard, and for the 2019 Vermont Dance Alliance Winter Gala . She is a passionate of baroque dance and performed with Ken Pierce Baroque group in Boston MA.

Choreographer and dancer Hanna Satterlee grew up in East Montpelier, Vermont and creates performances and conceptual artworks through dance. By exploring the concept of landscape in a nostalgic way, her works establish a link between the landscape’s reality and that imagined by its conceiver. Hanna holds a double BA in Dance/Psychology with a concentration in Dance Therapy from Goucher College and a Masters in Interdisciplinary Arts from Goddard College. From 2010-15 Hanna served as the Director of Professional Programming & Director of Teen Jazz at the Contemporary Dance & Fitness Studio in Montpelier Vermont, USA,  and has been a guest lecturer at Johnson State College and Middlebury College, and adjunct faculty at Vermont Law School, Northern Vermont University and the University of Vermont.

Hannah Christine has been studying and performing Middle Eastern and fusion belly dance since 2005. She has studied under Ishara Gamal, Sahira Zedara, Naraya Ligouri of Vadalna Dance Company, and Aria Michaels Paradise and her dance company, Abraxas. She is a current student of Amity Alize and a member of Raq-On Dance’s student Troupe, the Raq-ettes, which performs folkloric and modern Middle Eastern Dance styles throughout the Northeast.

Hannah also has a love for improvisational and experimental dance forms and is looking to collaborate with other Central Vermont dancers.

Joy Madden is a choreographer, performer and bodyworker. She has performed throughout the US and at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Edinburgh, Scotland. In 2001 she co-founded The Moving Laboratory, an innovative performing arts incubator in Boston, MA. She served as the Managing Director of Boston Dance Alliance from 2000-2003. Since moving to Vermont in 2007, her work has been presented by The Flynn Center for the Performing Arts, Burlington Dances, Arts Riot, The Burlington Fringe Festival, UVM, and The Philly Fringe, among others. In 2014 and 2015, she served as Community Mentor for Stephan Koplowitz’s online course, Creating Site Specific Dance and Performance Works, by California Institute of the Arts. Joy joined the VDA Board of Directors in 2019.

(she/her/hers)

dancer based in New Hampshire, primarily working in jazz, theatre, modern, & experimental dance.

Liz has studied at the Martha Graham School, Broadway Dance Center, Bennington College, and Downstage Centre for the Arts. she plans to continue her dance education for years to come, as she is passionate about discovering new techniques and deeper discovering the malleability the body holds. she has performed professionally/educationally around the seacoast. her most notable works include:
The Deep Blue Sea, choreographed by Bill T. Jones (postponed due to the pandemic)
Evita, choreographed by Francis Lawrence at the Seacoast Repertory Theatre in her hometown of Portsmouth, NH
an abbreviated production of Carrie, winning first place at IMAGINE Theatre Festival 2019 in Los Angeles, CA, choreographed by Alden Caple

Lucia Gagliardone is a choreographer and dance artist from Sharon, VT with a BA in Dance and Sociology from Bowdoin College. She has debuted five original dance works: "All My Bodies" (I + II), "she cherishes this, too", "Like Water", and "Arboreal Duet", as well as the full-length dance film "Like Water". In August 2020, Lucia self-produced SURFACE TENSION, an outdoor dance happening featuring her original choreography. In her work, she deals with themes of autonomy, healing and community, disintegration and wholeness, and various iterations of the self. Lucia has performed in works by Katy Pyle, Aretha Aoki, Vanessa Anspaugh, Gwyneth Jones, and Carol Langstaff, at Bowdoin College, the Northampton School for Contemporary Dance and Thought, Moving Target as part of Portland Dance Month, and as a principal dancer in Flock Dance Troupe.

Mary Chris DeBelina’s focus since 2008 has been primarily teaching children creative dance and raising her growing family.  MC studied Biology and Dance at Dartmouth College (B.A. 2005) and combined her two passions at Sarah Lawrence College receiving an MFA in Dance (2008).  Her thesis work focused on the links between science and art.

Mary Chris founded the Hopkins Center’s Children’s Creative Dance Program at Dartmouth in 2005 and taught every class until 2012 when her family relocated to Philadelphia.  As a faculty member at Dartmouth she was fortunate to perform with, and choreograph for, the Dartmouth Dance Theater Ensemble and she was a frequent guest teacher in the advanced modern dance classes.

In Philadelphia, MC met Keila Cordova and was introduced to Dance for PD.  She attended the Teacher Training Workshop in Brooklyn in 2013, taught classes in Philadelphia and is excited to be teaching at MSAC this fall.

Bringing Dance to Life!

VDA proudly serves its members, cheering on their art and creating opportunities to feature their forms. Vda sends a free weekly e-newsletter to announce events throughout the state of Vermont, as events are always open to the public. Sign up at the bottom of this page to be included, and look for our emails! Dance Alliance members are featured here on our website, with tabs to view their upcoming events and drop-in friendly classes and workshops.

More dance in more places, more of the time!
We hope you will join us!