CAROL NOLTE
Founder/Artistic Director/Curator
CAROL NOLTE/DANCE COLLECTIVE (Artistic Director) founded WestFest 14 years ago as a response to the financial strain of the recession, offering choreographers free or low-cost performance opportunities at the Westbeth Artisits’ Residence, her home for the last 35 years. She has also created over 50 dances for her award-winning company Dance Collective. Recently, her work has been seen at Merce Cunningham Studio, The Kitchen, Joyce SoHo, The 92nd Street Y Fridays at Noon. She has also co-founded and produced three dance festivals, DanceBLITZ, Taos Dance 2000, and, currently, WestFest.
She graduated from Brown University with honors in American Civilization and took an advanced degree in dance at The New School.
DYLAN BAKER
Producer/Curator
DYLAN BAKER is a New York City based dancer, choreographer, and teaching artist, Dylan is originally from the boondocks of Wisconsin where he acquired a BFA in Dance at The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
Along with works by BOiNK! Dance & Film, Dylan can be found dancing with David Parker & The Bang Group and Matthew Westerby Company. Behind the scenes for once, he is proud to be a producer for the annually held WestFest dance festival at Westbeth Artist Housing and Center for the Arts.
When Mr. Baker is not performing or producing, he wears his teaching hat at The Steffi Nossen School of Dance in White Plains, NY and Rivertown Dance Academy in Tarrytown, NY.
RACHAEL LIEBLEIN-JURBALA
Producer/Curator
RACHAEL LIEBLEIN-JURBALA (she/her) is a New York City-based dancer, choreographer, producer and arts administrator. She serves as Program Manager for the Dance Education Laboratory (DEL) at the 92nd Street Y, NY, and sits on the board of the Sasamani Foundation - an organization dedicated to increasing access to education and employment opportunities for women and girls in Bagamoyo, Tanzania.
In her capacity as choreographer, Rachael’s work takes the form of non-linear narrative, exploring themes from grief and lineage to obedience and conflict. She holds a bachelor's degree in Dance and Sociology with a certificate in Community Action and Public Policy from Connecticut College.
Producer/President, Westbeth Artists Residents Council
ERIN QUINN PURCELL has worked as an actor/director/writer in New York City for over 25 years. She serves as President of the Westbeth Artists Residents Council. She is currently working with Jay Reiss (The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee) on a new musical, Iceboy! (music and lyrics by Mark Hollmann) at the Pasadena Playhouse starring Megan Mullally, Nick Offerman, Adam Devine and Laura Bell Bundy. You can watch 4 numbers from the musical on their website:
www.playbill.com/article/watch-megan-mullally-and-nick-offerman-in-the-upcoming-musical-iceboy
ERIN QUINN PURCELL
2025 Top Floor Guest Curators
DONALD LEE
2025 Top Floor Guest Curator
DONALD LEE is a disabled artist and conceptual mover whose creative practice centers on his evolving body, narrative, and belonging. His methodology transforms the aesthetics of damage into a system of repair.
Donald has danced with Heidi Latsky Dance and Tap: On Tap. He has been profiled by PBS and New York Times and was featured in a documentary short that premiered at 2024 ReelAbilities. He presented at the 2023 HASTAC conference at Pratt Institute. In 2024, Donald was awarded Dance Place’s Dance & Disability Residency and WADE Pride Residency. He is also a contributing artist in Miranda July’s latest work “F.A.M.I.L.Y.” in her solo exhibition “Miranda July: New Society” at Fondazione Prada.
LOU SYDEL
2025 Top Floor Guest Curator
LOU SYDEL is a choreographer whose work draws from the study of gesture and experiences of transness, imagining dance as a living journal for a body moving toward new directions. He is the artistic director of Gesture Theater, a queer-led movement company currently in residency at NYU Tisch through WADE. His ensemble connects clowning, mask, puppetry, improvisation, linguistics, and more to tell trans stories through image and metaphor.
Lou is in the Artistic Leadership Circle for NYC’s first ever Physical Theater festival, PhysFest, at Stella Adler. He is also the company manager for Jody Oberfelder Projects. Past work has been shown at NYLA with Ellen Robbins, Celebration Barn Theater, Triskelion Arts, La MaMa Puppet Slam, Brooklyn Art Haus, The Center at West Park, Edinburgh Fringe, Bowdoin College, Accademia Dell’Arte, Sokolow Theater / Dance Ensemble, Norte Maar Dance at Socrates, and the International Society for Gesture Studies. Find more at lousydel.com.
2025 All Over Guest Curators
GLENN POTTER-TAKATA
2025 All Over Guest Curator
GLENN POTTER-TAKATA is a Japanese-American dance maker, media designer, and performance artist based in the Bronx. He received his MFA from Sarah Lawrence College, where he focused in multimedia performance and studied butoh under Kota Yamazaki and Mina Nishimura. Glenn has presented work in a variety of dance and gallery contexts around NYC, including as part of programs with Mabou Mines, PAGEANT, Center for Performance Research, WestFest, New Dance Alliance’s Performance Mix, Grace Exhibition Space, Movement Research at Judson Church, DraftWork at Danspace Project, Trotter & Sholer, Flux Factory, among other places. Outside of New York his work has been presented by Cannonball in Philadelphia, and his first solo gallery exhibition opened in January 2023 at Rogers Studio Gallery in Las Vegas. Glenn has been an artist-in-residence with Movement Research, Gibney Dance Center (Work Up 6), CUNY Dance Initiative at Lehman College, and Rogers Art Loft. He is the recipient of a MAP Fund Award, Bronx Cultural Visions Award, and Bronx Dance Fund Award. He is currently a teacher of sound and projection design for live performance at Sarah Lawrence College.
ELLIE KUSNER
2025 All Over Guest Curator
ELLIE KUSNER is a teacher, Bessie Award-winning performer, and a passionate advocate for dancer health and wellbeing.
She began performing as a student of The Boston Ballet School, where she danced with the company in many large-scale productions. Realizing that a career in pointe shoes was not her destiny, Ellie went on to earn her BA from Barnard College before embarking on a freelance dance career, working with numerous choreographers including Mark Morris, Pam Tanowitz, Ellen Cornfield, Nilas Martins, and Patricia Hoffbauer, in venues ranging from warehouse rooftops to The Metropolitan Opera.
Ellie is a faculty member of the Dance Department at The Juilliard School. She holds an MSc in Dance Science from Trinity Laban, London, UK and enjoys exploring and implementing evidence-based teaching practices to enhance the learning, health, and performance of dancers. She has also taught at Hofstra University, American Ballet Theater’s JKO School, Boston Ballet, Barnard College, Slippery Rock University, Mark Morris Dance Center, Gallim, and Trinity Laban.
Ellie is a member of the Dance Educators’ Committee of the International Association of Dance Medicine and Science. She is the co-founder of DanceWell Podcast, an acclaimed resource dedicated to exploring 360 degrees of health and wellness for dancers. She has contributed articles to Dance Magazine, Dance Teacher and Pointe.
