Director of Harkness Dance Center

Taryn Kaschock Russell has served on the Artistic leadership team of the Juilliard Dance Division for the past three years: as Associate Director in the 2016-17 and 2018-19 academic years, and as the Acting Artistic Director in 2017-18. She programmed the main stage performances at the Peter Jay Sharp Theater with four new creations during the fall and a triple bill in the spring which included Martha Graham’s Rite of Spring and Bill T. Jones D-Man in the Waters. Kaschock Russell is a passionate educator who has taught both at the Juilliard School and at the Conservatory of Dance, SUNY Purchase in the five years since she moved back to New York.

Between 2008 and 2013, Kaschock Russell directed Hubbard Street 2. During her tenure as Director of HS2, she was responsible for programming and staffing the HSDC summer intensives and curating HSDC’s National Choreographic Competition. In this capacity, Kaschock Russell realized her passion for teaching and mentoring young and emerging artists. Hubbard Street 2 created its first full-length children’s program Harold and the Purple Crayon: A Dance Adventure under her directorship. Harold premiered at the Kennedy Center to a sold-out house in October of 2010. The production went onto performances at the Joan B. Harris Theater for Music and Dance, the American Dance Festival in Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina, the Cleveland Playhouse, at the Aspen Santa-Fe Dance Festival and at the Detroit Opera House. The success of this children's program remains an enormous source of pride—a labor of love inspired by the birth of her first child, Donovan.

Over the past two decades, Russell has worked as a guest teacher with Abraham in Motion, the Aspen Santa Fe Ballet, the Lar Lubovitch Dance Company, Ballet Hispanico, Ballet BC, and Hubbard Street Dance Chicago. She also regularly teaches company class for Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. As a performer, Kaschock Russell traveled extensively over her twelve-year career with both Hubbard Street Dance Chicago and the Joffrey Ballet, performing works by George Balanchine, John Cranko, Agnes de Mille, Martha Graham, Lar Lubovitch, Jiří Kylián, Nacho Duato, Ohad Naharin, and William Forsythe. As a creator, Kaschock Russell has composed a number of site-specific installations, most notably in collaborative partnership with the Art Institute of Chicago, the Illinois Institute of Technology, and with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

Invested in the belief that access to dance should be universal and inclusive, Kaschock Russell continues to reach out to connect to other art forms using improvisation and choreographic tools. Most recently, Kaschock Russell taught movement to the 222 emerging musicians at the NYO summer programs under the umbrella of Carnegie Hall.

Director Dance Education Laboratory (DEL)

For over fifteen years, Erin has taught dance in public schools, studio, and community settings, sharing her love of dance with children, educators and families. For five years she taught with Luna Dance Institute in Berkeley, CA where she served as the Family Services Manager, specializing in family dance classes and working with parents and children in the reunification process. Erin is the former Education Director of RIOULT where she led DanceREACH, RIOULT’s education outreach program. Erin was also a founding member and Dance Specialist at Bronx Charter School for the Arts in the South Bronx, NY where she created the dance curriculum and was the dance educator for grades K-5. Erin has served as a teaching artist for New York City Center, American Ballet Theatre, Ballet Hispanico, and American Repertory Ballet Company. Most recently, Erin was the Theatre and Dance teacher at Westside school in Seattle for grades pre-k – 8th grade teaching curriculum that includes creative dance, improvisation, choreography and acting foundations. Erin holds certificates from the 92Y’s Dance Education Laboratory, the Language of Dance (LOD), and is a graduate of the University of the Arts where she earned her BFA in Modern Dance Performance. She is currently in a Master of Arts Dance Education distance-learning program at the University of North Carolina in Greensboro. Erin is thrilled to return to New York City and her roots at DEL, making the mission of Dance for Every Child a reality. Erin loves her nightly dance parties with her two children Felix (8) and Noah (6), taking delight in their choreographic skills and beautiful expression.

Director, School of Dance

Alison Manning is the former Executive Director and Co-Producer of The Yard on Martha’s Vineyard, working with the organization from 2008-2020 to provide meaningful residency opportunities for national and international dance and performing artists and bringing the performing arts to the Vineyard community. She is founding Co-Artistic Director and Choreographer of DanceTheYard, The Yard’s year-round professional dance company, with choreographic partner and company Co-Artistic Director Jesse Keller Jason. Jesse and Alison’s choreographic body of work has been presented at Jacob’s Pillow, Mass MOCA, The Yard, The Dance Complex, Ohio University, Triskelion Arts, among others.

Alison is a passionate Horton teacher and an avid tap and rhythm dancer and advocate. She discovered her love for the Horton technique as a scholarship student at Jacob’s Pillow, working with the great Milton Myers, and has continued studying with mentors Mr. Myers, Kristina Berger, Karen Gayle and other lauded Horton Teachers through the years. She taught the technique on Faculty at The Yard each summer, and as a guest teaching artist at NYU Steinhardt School, Wesleyan Univeristy, Peridance Capezio Center, and STEPS on Broadway. In addition to teaching, Alison dances and performs with The Bang Group and has worked for The Peggy Spina Tap Company, Xodus Dance Collective, Kinodance company among others. She graduated Magna Cum Laude from Marymount Manhattan College with a BFA in Modern Dance and Minor in Art History.

Photo credit: Sally Cohn

Program Manager

Chelsea Spraker, Program Manager of the Harkness Dance Center, joined 92Y in 2016. Chelsea holds a BFA in Dance with a specialty in Business Administration from The College at Brockport, State University of New York and is also a graduate of the Dance Education Laboratory. Prior to joining 92nd Street Y, Chelsea worked as an Educational Specialist with the New York State Summer School of the Arts (NYSSA), School of Dance and as a Rentals and Classes Representative with Gibney Dance Center. As a professional dancer and teaching artist, she worked with the Student Company at Mark Morris Dance Center and currently performs with the Mariah Maloney Dance Company, among other freelance artists in New York City.