Greg Miller
Founder, Executive Director and Board Member

Having worked 18 years in management for Fortune 500 companies, Greg Miller has been serving the public sector since creating Dance Parade Inc in 2006. Drawing from 9 years of living abroad, Greg seeks to anchor the Dance Parade vision by encouraging as many colorful and vibrant forms of movement as possible - nourishing a network of those who will cross generations and cultures to unite and celebrate under a single form of art. Motivated by the healing qualities of dance, he practices Salsa, Swing, Roller and the 5 Rhythms. He runs a monthly Sexy Salseros facebook group and is currently the Executive Director at OurMed.Org, an online Healthcare Information Site.

Yana Landowne
Board Member

Ms. Landowne is an accomplished Performing Arts Director for many years, including directing at the Harold Clurman, the Linhart, the Judith Anderson,and the Greenwich Street Theater,also the Public Theater, HERE, 45 Bleeker, NADA, Ohio, P.S. 122, Roundtable Ensemble, Metropolitan Playhouse, and the Tenement Museum. She is currently the Resident Director for the Billionaires for Bush Follies. She holds an MFA in directing from the Yale School of Drama and a BFA in acting from NYU. For more info check out yana.landowne.org

Trevor
Board Member (Chair)

Trevor is a native New Yorker who has contributed to and enjoyed our City's dance, art, community, and nightlife events for over ten years. He is thrilled to bring his experience as an event producer, musical artist, lawyer, dancer, and lover to the annual Dance Parade and Festival.

Brian K. Austin
Creative Director

Brian Keith Austin's need to express his love of dance and making people groove has been with him from the very beginning. Going by Aero mc he's represented at events such as the New york Tokyo Music Festival, Cut & Paste Design tournament SayWord Entertainment & Electronic Dance music parties with notable names such as TZ Islam, Talib Kweli Moving Fusion, Bad Company, Hired Gunn, Kenny Ken, Ill-isha, Dj Prayin Mantis & many more!. An energetic, creative web & art coordinator by day and musical beast by nigh, Brian K. Austin reaches out to touch souls who love the art of dance. Through his voice he releases great energy that gets the masses moving in rhythm. Music is a way of life, so let's dance to keep it alive.

Mariana Bekerman
Festival Production Director

Mariana Bekerman was born in the Ukraine and emigrated with her family to NYC in 1979. After graduating from LaGuardia High School of the Performing Arts, she received her BFA from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts in 1996. After receiving her degree, Bekerman danced and choreographed for various companies, resorts, choreographers, off-off Broadway plays, and music artists. In 2000, she founded the Mariana Bekerman Dance Company and has since choreographed more than twenty original dances for her company that have been presented at more than 35 venues and festivals. In addition to her work for and with the14-member MBDC, she continues to free-lance as a dancer and choreographer for other artists and productions, and assists with the production of other dance concerts and events in and around New York City.

Michael Israely
Finance Committee Chair

Michael grew up in Connecticut but having lived in the East Village since 2001 now considers himself a native New Yorker. This is his first year with Dance Parade, though he has appreciated the dance community in New York since his clubbing days in the late 1990's. He holds a BA in Genetics and Developmental Biology from Cornell University and a Masters of Business Administration in Finance and International Management from New York University's Leonard N. Stern School of Business. Between his time at Cornell and Business school at NYU, Michael spent 7 years working in online media operations. He has held multiple management positions at a major online advertising network and has had multiple success building new business divisions from the ground up. Michael is currently the Director of The Keiretsu Forum New York Tri-State Chapters, part of the worlds largest network of Angel Investors. Before joining the Forum Michael was worked as an independent consultant specializing in online media operations and strategy.

Lisa Goldfarb
graphic designer

After spending 3.5 years in Germany painting portraits and making lizards puppets in her studio in the famous Augsburg puppet theater Lisa is back in NYC working as a graphic design professional and portrait artist. http://www.lisagoldfarb.com

Illya Kushnirsky
Legal Committee chair

Ilya Kushnirsky is the chair of Dance Parade's legal committee and a litigator at Proskauer Rose LLP. He has experience advising clients on a range of matters, with a particular focus on intellectual property and contractual disputes. Ilya is also a co-director of Wonderland Collective and a volunteer at the Museum of the Moving Image

Melchor Alvarez
Managing Director

Mel's parents entered him in a dance competition at the age of five in his native country of the Philippines and he won. So began his love of dance and performing. His family left for the United State 1981 and settled in Oakland, California. After high school, Mel enlisted in the United States Navy where he served 4 years stationed in Norfolk, VA. Not to be hindered, he actually got his first professional dancing gig while still in the military and then moved to New York City to continue his passion. Mel has worn many hats; he's been a singing/dancing waiter, an actor, director, choreographer, producer - even a crowned pageant winner as a female impersonator. Before joining Dance Parade, Mel produced a variety of fundraising events for many New York City based charities. Currently, Mel manages corporate and event in-kind donations for the largest community-based AIDS service organization in the United States. As with Dance Parade, he is equally honored to work at Housing Works which combats the twin crises of HIV/AIDS and homelessness. In his fourth year with the Dance Parade, Mel is pleased to contribute his leadership and developmental skills to continue the growth of "one parade, many cultures."

Hal Lamster
Marketing Committee (Web)

I have been a resident of Manhattan for the past 45 years. I am married to the amazing Jane, and have an accomplished son Mark, married to wonderful Anna, and my fantastic nearly 4 year old granddaughter Eliza. I have been an IT Professional since 1963 having worked with mainframe, timesharing, mini computers and of course personal computers since the first IBM PC in 1981. I have also been involved with the Internet since its pioneering days in the 1970’s as ARPAnet. My primary outside interest has revolved around dance. I have been interested in dance since I was 8 years old when I spent 2 years studying tap dancing at the Charlie Lowes studio. I have been an avid dance enthusiast since I got introduced to the NYCBallet in 1967. My wife and I go to NYCB over 20 times a year and have been attending for the past 42 years. Our subscriptions to NYCB were originally my in-laws and date to the first season of NYCB in 1948. We also attend many other dance performances at City Center, the Joyce, DTW, PS122, and other venues. I am a volunteer at the NYCBallet and at Lenox Hill Neighborhood House as an assistant in their computer lab.

Luis Vargas
Outreach and Production Committee

Luis Vargas also known as loftkidluis has been a major supporter of NYC's nightlife and its culture for 33 years. It began at the ripe old age of 5 years old at the infamous David Mancuso's The LOFT in 1978. He has been doing it ever since. He is also an active board member of the arts collective know as the MELTING POT GLOBAL as well as many other parties and events in the city. He is a firm believer that social dancing is an art form and should be protected by the first amendment. Its participants are the artists and the dance floor is the canvas.

Elyce Turner
Parade and Event Production Committee

While so many members of the Dance Parade team have their background in professional dance, performance and competition, Elyce Turner comes to Dance Parade from a completely different angle. Her current involvement in dance is with Gabrielle Roth's 5Rhythms movement practice. She has been a passionate 5Rhythms dancer since 2002, and in the past 5 years has been closely involved in production of classes and workshops in NYC and on the road. Her passion for dance was born, not of the studio or the stage, but on Grateful Dead tour. It was here she discovered the bliss that could be found by simply moving the body to its edge. Elyce is involved in festival production and is excited to include the Dance Parade and Festival as part of her work.

Tze Chun
Parade Production Director

Tze Chun is the lead choreographer and Artistic Director of the Tze Chun Dance Company (TCDC). Her work has been presented in some of New York City's most prominent modern dance venues, including Dance New Amsterdam, Dance Theater Workshop, Riverside Theatre, Trisekelion Arts, Minor Latham Theatre and Merce Cunningham Studios. In 2006 Ms. Chun was an artist-in-residence at the Brentwood School in Los Angeles, California and is the JP Morgan SOAR Grant Recipient for 2008. In addition to her impressive credits in the arts, Ms. Chun has extensive experience in event planning and service staff management. She has worked with Chinese American Planning (CAP) for six years, and while pursuing her Bachelor of Arts degree at Columbia University Ms. Chun also managed the Columbia School of Mixology and CBA, its attached employment agency.

Shireen Dickson
Production Director

Shireen has an eclectic range of dance experiences -- from being a teen member of the National Tap Ensemble and a professional NBA cheerleader, to performances as an actress and dancer at major US festivals. In addition to developing and conducting professional development workshops for a variety of youth-serving organizations in the city, she is currently the Education and Access Director at STREB Lab for Action Mechanics (S.L.A.M.) in Williamsburg. Shireen also makes stuff.

Kristin DeGroat
Publicity

Kristin graduated from Fordham University and worked in healthcare public relations and hospital marketing for over 10 years. With a long list of injuries and surgeries, she had been searching for a safe, effective movement class when she discovered The Nia Technique. Nia combines nine forms of dance, martial arts and healing arts with rhythmic music to condition and release the body/mind/spirit. Now a full time instructor, Kristin has joined forces with Dance Parade to raise awareness of the transformative powers of dance.

Amber Henrie
Publicity

Amber Henrie is an independent media consultant with considerable experience in arts, consumer electronics, technology, advertising, and entertainment industries. She has consistently worked in an entrepreneurial environment - coordinating and developing branding and media outreach initiatives with companies such as Ancestry.com, 3Com, Sony, Drum Corps International, InChairTV, Trovix (acquired by Monster), Lulan Artisans. Her media relationships with reporters and bloggers span the globe in Dubai, London, Canada and the U.S. Amber began her career teaching ballroom dance professionally in New York City and became involved with various community and public affairs initiatives in Harlem, before transitioning into a career in public relations. She holds a B.A. in Dance from Brigham Young University.

Manaw
Recruitment Committee

In May of 2008, Manaw ran across the Dance Parade while doing an internship at Boston Consulting Group. The unifying elements of various cultures really made an impression and after upon his graduation (MBA) from the Indian Institute of Management (Bangalore), he joined Dance Parade's volunteer committee once he got back. Manaw is amazed at the dedication of everyone working without salaryj just for the pure joy of spreading dance in the world.

DJ McDonald
Recruitment Committee (Chair)

As playwright, director and choreographer, DJ McDonald has been the creator of three full-length music theatre works. He has directed and/or choreographed more than a dozen book musicals, served as co-producer, co-director and choreographer for 15 original dinner theatre reviews and 4 seasons of professional cabaret, headed his own professional modern dance and theater company for 15 years and was one of seven American choreographers chosen by the American Dance Festival to tour France, as part of the first Franco American young choreographers exchange. Having contributed as a writer for the Village Voice and other publications, he now hosts and creates arts and culture commentary on the blog "City Of Glass" at http://www.cogartsculture.blogspot.com.

Samir Bitar
Sponsorship Committee (Chair)

Samir Bitar is a dancer and arts manager based in Brooklyn, New York. Samir's affair with dance began as an undergraduate dance student of Theresa Dickinson's at New College of California in San Francisco. Since college he has studied dance and composition at the Merce Cunningham Studio, Bates College and the prestigious Royaumont Centre de Recherche et de Composition Choreographique in France. In 2003 Samir launched The Art of Consulting, an arts consultancy firm. In 2007 he graduated from Carnegie Mellon University with a master's degree in in arts management. Samir was formerly Executive Director of Sens Production. and currently Marketing Director at the Smithosian Institute.

Alex Aslan
Volunteer

Alex Aslan, Masters in Information Technology, has 15 years of experience in delivering enterprise IT solutions. He is currently employed with IBM as a Senior Technical Delivery Leader/Architect. He has been involved in analysis, design, and solution delivery of large scale projects and award winning clients such as ABC News, Mori Luggage, Altria (formerly Philip Morris), AmericasMart, Weight Watchers, Sotheby's, and Tiffany & Co. Alex is Microsoft and CompTIA certified. He has been awarded various awards from Outstanding Leadership (GSU), Employee of the Quarter (Enterpulse), The Fire Fighters' Award for troubled project ownership (Enterpulse), Outstanding Achievement Award (Tiffany & Co.), Service Excellence Award and the Top Contributor Award (IBM).

Luo Ren
Volunteer

Luo Ren grew up in Singapore and is particularly interested in choreography. When she was 5, she used to dance to “Sukiyaki” everyday for her family, with hangers in place of fans. She has no proper training but was involved with dance, choreography and theater in school and hopes to continue with dance in her work life. Luo Ren currently works at Disney Media Networks. This is her first year with Dance Parade

Joon Shin
Web Committee (Chair)
joon at danceparade dot org

Joon Shin's strong affinity to Dance Parade is borne from his connectedness with Pop and Lock, and Latin dancing. He possesses a history in performing arts that started early in his childhood, which involved formal training in violin and classical vocals that eventually led to performances at Carnegie Hall. During his years in higher education, he was a dancer and co-choreographer for two dance troupes, U-Groove and Fusion, which incorporated many dances from different cultures. In addition to the performing arts, he has experience in the fine arts, which has strongly influenced his style as a professional photographer. Beyond his passion for the arts, Mr. Shin has helped other non-profit organizations raise financing and carries strong competencies in both business and technology management as he completed the Executive Master's in Technology Management (EMTM) program from Wharton School of Business and Penn Engineering at the University of Pennsylvania, received his Bachelors of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Lehigh University, and is currently the President and CEO of IPNetZone Communications Inc., an Internet Service Provider (ISP) and Managed Service Provider (MSP).