Staff & Teaching Artists

Dance Program Staff

Elizabeth Epsen
Manager of College Dance, OFA Dance Program
Elizabeth Epsen (she/her) is the Manager of College Dance for the OFA Dance Program where she oversees all co-curricular dance in the OFA including artistic and pedagogic curation of programming; administration; communications; undergraduate student...
Elizabeth Epsen headshot

Teaching Artists, Accompanists, & Production Supervisor & Advisor

Latin & Afro-Caribbean Teaching Artist
Latin & Afro-Caribbean Teaching Artist
Evens “EJ” Joseph is a seasoned performer, instructor, and community leader, and the founder of EJ Dance Studio in Brockton, MA. Born and raised in Haiti, EJ began teaching local youth and choreographing performances by age 10 and by 16, he was formally...
Evens Joseph headshot; he is smiling directly at the camera and wearing a white collared shirt and blue tie.

Laura Sánchez
Embodiment Practices: Healing through Expressive Movement
Laura Sánchez is an award-winning flamenco artist, creator, choreographer and educator originally from Cádiz, Spain. She began her flamenco education as a child and received professional training from the Dance Conservatory of Madrid. She holds a...
close-up of Laura Sanchez, a light skinned woman smiling into the camera. She has wavy brown hair neck-length, and red lipstick. Wearing a mauve dress.

Liza Zayas-Sellers
DJ for House
Liza Zayas-Sellers is a poet and DJ performing as Luna del Flor. She holds the honor of being named one of Boston’s Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum's Neighborhood Salon Luminaries and was selected by The Lawrence Arts Collective as one of their 2023...
Liza Zayas Sellers, aka Luna del Flor, in front of a blue laptop DJ-ing. She has curly brown hair and wearing red lipstick, smiling.

Lonnie Stanton

Ballet; Contemporary
Lonnie Anela O’ Kalani Neff Stanton is a proud native Hawaiian raised in rural Northern California and based in Boston. She has been committed to dance education with a strong somatic focus as well as a professional contemporary performance career since...
Close-up of a woman with brown wavy hair and brown eyes looking directly at the camera and smiling.

Nailah Randall-Bellinger
Contemporary; Conditioning: Strength & Stretch Teaching Artist
Fall 2021 Artist-in-Residence
Teaching Artist-in-Residence
Nailah Randall-Bellinger is a dance educator, scholar, and choreographer. For over 35 years, she has taught modern and contemporary classes throughout the United States and abroad at national conventions and universities. She has studied, performed, and...
Nailah Randall-Bellinger, a Black woman in her 60's with long braids leans on her hand against a brick wall.

Nko "Fallou" Small
West African Accompanist
Nko "Fallou" Small is a Cultural Ambassador of West African Drum and Dance. Having parents that are natives of Senegal and Barbados, he was born into the world of African-Caribbean music and dance. At the age of five he began an intensive training on the...
Close-up headshot of Nko F. Small wearing a hat.

Smitha Radhakrishnan
Bharatanatyam in Contemporary Application
Dr. Smitha Radhakrishnan is a lifelong diasporic Bharatanatyam dancer focused on how traditional vocabularies of expressive movement can connect with contemporary personal, social, and political struggles. The daughter of Indian immigrants, she has...
Black and white close-up headshot of Smitha Radhakrishnan smiling to the camera. She has chin-length hair.

Soca Fusion Teaching Artist
Soca Fusion Teaching Artist
Hershey Bliss is a dancer, teacher, and Bahamian native with Haitian roots raised in Boston, Ma. She is well known in the New England area for her innovative twist of the latest dancehall moves and flexibility. She regularly teaches dancehall workshops...
Headshot of Hershey Bliss

Sory Diabate
West African Dance Accompanist
Originally from Bamako, Mali, Sory Diabate comes from a long line of Djelis (griots) and began drumming in the early eighties, as an apprentice with Sidiki Camara. In Mali, Diabate was a member of Troupe Pionna, and a principal drummer with Troupe Doumba...
A Black man in traditional West African garb, in bright red, green, yellow, and white, drumming with his hands. He is smiling joyfully.

Soumya Rajaram
Bharatanatyam Teaching Artist
Soumya Rajaram is an exponent of Bharatanatyam with over two decades of performance experience. She started training at the Kalakshetra Foundation, a premier institute for Indian classical arts and later under revered teachers and choreographers from this...
Headshot of Soumya Rajarim, an Indian woman with long brown hair, dangly earrings, and tear drop bindi. She is smiling subtly.

Steven Garcia
House Teaching Artist
Steven Garcia, who performs under the name Rhythm, was born in New Orleans, Louisiana. Garcia is a leader in the Boston house community and a member of Dance Fusion Family. Beyond the work Garcia has done in Boston, hosting house sessions, workshops, and...
Steve Garcia looking at the camera seated with his hands folded on his knees.

Sunanda Narayanan
Bharatanatyam Teaching Artist
Born and raised in India, Sunanda Narayanan is an acclaimed exponent of the ancient South Indian classical dance style called Bharatanatyam and practices in the ‘Vazhuvoor’ style. Narayanan is the prime disciple of Guru Rhadha, one of the foremost...
A close-up of an Indian woman wearing a red bindi on her forehead with her hair tied back in a low ponytail and wearing a traditional garment in pink. She looks towards diagonally off camera and is smiling softly.