Goucher College: ACDFA Adjudicators

Virginia Johnson is currently Editor-in-Chief of Pointe® magazine; the new publication dedicated to the art of ballet. She was formerly a principal dancer with Dance Theatre of Harlem (DTH). Born in Washington D.C., Johnson graduated from the Academy of the Washington School of Ballet. She briefly attended the School of the Arts at New York University where she was a University Scholar before joining DTH in 1969.

Johnson performed most of the DTH repertoire, with principal roles in Concerto Barocco, Allegro Brillante, Agon, A Streetcar Named Desire, Fall River Legend, Swan Lake, Giselle, Voluntaries, Les Biches, and other ballets. A Streetcar Named Desire was recorded for broadcast for Dance in America on PBS, and Creole Giselle was the first full-length ballet broadcast for NBC. In addition, Virginia was included in two acclaimed television dance series: Margot Fonteyn’s The Magic of Dance, and Natalia Makarova’s Ballerina.

Johnson’s choreographic credits include the television film Ancient Voices of Children, which she also danced, and an early solo concert which she produced. Later choreographic works include ballets created for Goucher College, Dancers Respond to AIDS, the Second Annual Harlem Festival of the Arts, Thelma Hill Performing Arts Center, and Marymount Manhattan College, where she was also an adjunct professor. The latter two projects were an outgrowth of Dancers Making Dances, a collaborative project with former DTH colleagues, Judy Tyrus and Melanie Person, that was founded to further their interests in choreography.

Johnson’s honors include a Young Achiever Award from the National Council of Women, Outstanding Young Woman of America and the Dance Magazine Award. Virginia also appeared as a guest artist during a tour of Australia with “Stars of World Ballet,” the International Festival of Dance in Cuba, and the Royal Ballet at The Royal Opera House in London. Johnson continues to perform, and is in current pursuit of a degree in communications from Fordham University.

Steve Rooks

Steve Rooks began his dance training in Washington D.C. after graduating with honors from Dartmouth College. He continued his training on scholarship in New York City at the Alvin Ailey American Dance Center. Rooks has danced and toured with multiple companies including the Greg Reynolds Dance Quintet, the Mary Anthony Dance Theater, Peter Sparling, Dancer's Eye, and the Alvin Ailey Repertory Ensemble, and has performed classic works by Alvin Ailey, Donald McKayle, Talley Beatty, and Ulysses Dove. Rooks joined the Martha Graham Dance Company in 1981, and was a principal dancer until 1991. Rooks has appeared in Metropolitan Opera House presentations and other televised performances including the "Dancing for Life" AIDS Benefit held at the New York State Theater in 1987 and the television special The Martha Graham Company in Japan. Rooks has been honorably recognized as performer and choreographic contributor to the Martha Graham Dance Company repertory.

Rooks has been a guest artist with the Hakodate Ballet in Japan, has toured in Israel with the Morning Star Classical Biblical Theater, and has been granted multiple opportunities for international appearances as a dancer and choreographer. He also received a Vassar Research Grant for an Artist Residency in Latvia in 2002, and won the Sixth Annual National Choreographic Competition sponsored by Hubbard Street Dance Chicago in 2004. Rooks was also invited to participate as resident artist in 2005 at the Bliss Center for the Arts and Dramatic Force in Belize and in 2006 at International Ballet School in Guadalajara, Mexico.

Rooks is currently a resident choreographer and associate professor of Dance at Vassar College, and one of the founding faculty members for the dance degree program at Howard University. He has taught internationally at several dance festivals and been a guest instructor the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, the Martha Graham Dance Company, Dallas Black Dance Theater, Ballet Nacional de Mexico, the American Academy of Ballet, the Houston Ballet, and the Symposium on Dance at Yale University. He is also a member of the International Association of Blacks in Dance.

JoAnna Mendl Shaw

JoAnna Mendl Shaw is currently a choreographer and teacher whose work stretches the boundaries of traditional dance. After establishing her dance career in New York City, Shaw went on to complete an MFA at The University of Utah. She also taught, toured, and performed with the Bill Evans Dance Company in Seattle, taught on the faculty at Cornish Institute, and directed her own Seattle-based company, Danceworks Northwest.

Shaw moved back to NYC in 1991, taught on the faculty at NYU/Tisch School of the Arts, Princeton University, and Montclair State. In 1994, Shaw completed her certification in Laban Movement Analysis, which initiated an interest in developing an interdisciplinary movement language that would bridge dance and athletic training. These investigations led Shaw to teach and choreograph for the Swiss Gymnastic Federation, become a performance coach for the Swiss Olympic Gymnastic Dance Team, and choreograph for ice dancers and in-line skaters. Of the five commissioned works Shaw created for Ice Theatre New York, two remain in their permanent repertory. Shaw is also the recipient of two NEA Choreographic Fellowships.

In 1997 Shaw began investigating a merger of dance and equestrian artistry. In 1999, she formed The Equus Projects: a company of NYC based dancers who collaborate with high-level equestrians throughout the country, creating performance works for dancers, horses, and equestrians. Merging the worlds of arts and athletics, The Equus Projects has produced full evening performance works for arts and equine venues, performed with live orchestras, and trained with internationally recognized equestrians. The company has gained national recognition for its innovative teaching of clinics for equestrians.

Shaw continues to teach composition for The Juilliard School. She also teaches improvisation, composition, and choreography for the Ailey/Fordham University BFA program.

Please refer to our Anonymity Reminder regarding interaction with the adjudicators during the conference