ARTISTIC DIRECTOR
TERI WEKSLER

Teri Weksler graduated from New York's Juilliard School and has danced professionally for over twenty years appearing in New York as a prominent member of the companies of Mark Morris, Hannah Kahn, 5 by 2, Daniel Lewis, and Jim Self. In 1984, she achieved the status of Prima Ballerina in the Rome Opera Ballet's premier of Robert Wilson's "CIVIL warS". In 1985, she was honored with one of the first "Bessies", a New York Dance and Performance Award for "a career of virtuosic dancing whose richness has extended from the works of modem dance pioneers Humphrey, Limon, and Sokolow to the innovative contemporary works of Mark Morris and Jim Self”.

Ms. Weksler was a member of the Mark Morris Dance Group from 1980-1990. She has appeared as a guest artist with this company, in the premier production of Mr. Morris’ "Hard Nut" which aired on the PBS television series "Dance in America". In 1989-'90, she was in residence at the Theatre de la Monnai, Brussels in Mark Morris's first season as director of the national company of Belgium. And she was featured as guest artist at the Paris Opera with the American Ballet Theatre under the direction of Mikhail Baryshnikov.

Ms. Weksler was featured in Mr. Baryshnikov's 1991 White Oak Dance Project which showcased "The countrys best modern dancers". Her television credits include Great Performances and Dance in America on PBS, Camera Three and Good Morning America. She was featured in the award winning short film by Frank Moore, "Beehive".

Ms. Weksler has worked as special assistant to Mark Morris on various choreographic projects including; Robert Redford's Sundance Institute and Ballet West, Les Grandes Ballets Canadiens in Montreal, and the London Contemporary Dance Theatre. Ms. Weksler was also choreographic assistant to Jim Self for Robert Wilson's "CIVIL warS", and his full length ballet "La Ruche Des Abeilles".

Ms. Weksler's extensive teaching credits include; The Juilliard School, Amherst University, New York University, Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival, The French National Institute of Contemporary Dance in Angers, France, The Boston Ballet Summer Program, and The Boston Conservatory, and Miami's much acclaimed New World School of the Arts.

She currently lives in Birmingham, Alabama where she is Artistic Director of Southern Danceworks and is on the faculty of Birmingham Southern College and The Alabama Ballet. Ms. Weksler danced as a guest artist at the prestigious Edinburgh Festival in Scotland and Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival in Massachusetts for Mark Morris. She has choreographed many works for the company, and has set work at Sam Houston University and Birmingham Southern College. In March of 2000, she premiered a new work for the Alabama Ballet, “The Body Electric” for which she won a prestigious “Panoply” award. Ms. Weksler has taught in recent years at the American Ballet Theater Summer Workshops and at the Alabama Ballet's Summer School where she currently teaches.

"Weksler was worth the price of admission alone."-NewYorkTimes

"A dream of a dancer, physically perfect, technically impeccable, never less than fully expressive in every iota of movement. - Washington Post

"lacerating" - Ballet Review

ROSEMARY WOODDY JOHNSON
Executive Director
The Alabama Dance Council
Managing Director
Southern Danceworks

Experienced in arts programming and administration, higher education administration, teaching and performing. Specialized skill in project development, implementation and management. Successful grant writer to local, state, regional and national organizations. Effective fund raiser from business, industry and the private sector. Experienced in community arts development, curriculum development, professional development and student development. Instructional emphases in piano and music theory. Performance experience as a soloist and chamber music recitalist. Experienced in church music as an organist and choir director. Education includes a BM, MM and DMA in piano performance.
Primary responsibilities since becoming executive director of the Alabama Dance Council in 2002 include the publication of the biannual newsletter Synchronicity and the Alabama Dance Resource Directory, planning and coordinating the annual Alabama Dance Summit, managing and coordinating ADC member services such as health insurance and student scholarships, grant writing and fund raising. Since 2002, increased participation in the Alabama Dance Summit from 175 to 450, instituted a residency program at the Dance Summit by a nationally renowned dance company and developed showcases for Alabama dance companies. Companies presented at the Summit include Donald Byrd/the Group, Dayton Contemporary Dance Company, North Carolina Dance Theatre, Philadanco and in 2006, Rennie Harris Puremovement.
Primary responsibilities as managing director of Southern Danceworks include organizational and business administration, grant writing, fund raising, touring and residency programs, and marketing. Recipient of the 2004 Artist Fellowship in Arts Administration for Dance from the Alabama State Council on the Arts. As former Fine Arts Director of the Goodwin Theatre and Fine Arts Center at Wallace Community College Selma, responsibilities included programming and scheduling, marketing supervision, personnel and budget management, box office management, fund raising, acquisition of equipment and maintenance supervision. Served as the principal college representative on the design team for the Wallace Community College Fine Arts Center. Initiated the Performing Artists Series in 1991, which gained national recognition for quality of programming from Chamber Music America, regional recognition from the Southern Arts Federation, and state and local recognition from the Alabama State Council on the Arts and the Selma Arts Council. Later known as WCCSpresents, each season featured artist residency programs that promoted arts education and community arts development. Selected as a grant recipient of Chamber Music America’s Presenter-Community Residency Program for the Amherst Saxophone Quartet residency in 1997. Nationally selected as one of 32 presenters and artists to be a 1998-99 participant in Chamber Music America’s A Musical Celebration of the Millennium project for the String Trio of New York residency. Selected in 1998 as a host coordinator of one of eight national sites in Chamber Music America’s Chamber Music Rural Residencies Program, which placed talented, emerging artists in rural communities for a nine-month residency for three consecutive years. From 1999 - 2001, the resident ensembles performed over 700 concerts and residency activities for over 50,000 people in the state of Alabama, including the First Lady’s Children’s Arts Festival and the Alabama State Council on the Arts’ annual Arts Awards Program. Received a second grant award in 2000 for Chamber Music America’s Presenter-Community Residency Program for the Ethos Percussion Group Residency. Panelist on planning and implementing residency programs at the 2001 International Association of Jazz Educators International Conference. Served on review panels in 2000 and 2001 to select artists for showcases at the Southern Arts Exchange Booking Conference.