Leadership

Dana Tai Soon Burgess

Choreographer

Dana Tai Soon Burgess is a leading American choreographer and cultural figure. The Washington Post Pulitzer Prize winning dance critic Sarah Kaufman writes of Burgess, “Not only a Washington prize, but a national dance treasure.” Burgess directs the preeminent modern dance company of Washington, DC now in its 30th season. As the Company’s Artistic Director, his work explores the idea of cultural “confluence” with many of his dances focusing on the “hyphenated person” – someone who is of mixed ethnic or cultural heritage – and the emotions of belonging and societal acceptance. In 2016, the Smithsonian named him the first ever choreographer-in-residence. Three portraits of Burgess reside in the permanent collection of the Smithsonian as well as his family archive.  He is also the host of slantpodcast.com which explores the lives and creative processes of prominent Asian American artists. 

Burgess has served as a Cultural Ambassador for the U.S. State Department for over two decades, an appointment he uses to promote international cultural dialogue through “the global language of dance.” He has been awarded and completed two Fulbright Senior scholarships for dance. He has also recently received two prestigious awards – the Selma Jeanne Cohen Dance Lecture Award and the Aaron Stein Memorial Award. His new memoir, Chino and the Dance of the Butterfly, received a Silver Medal IPPY Award in 2023. Burgess is a professor emeritus of dance. 

Christine Doyle

Managing Director & Dancer

Christine Doyle is in her eighth season performing with Dana Tai Soon Burgess Dance Company. She was born and raised in Jacksonville, Florida, where she trained at Douglas Anderson School of the Arts under the direction of Phyllis Penney and Rhonda Stampalia and at the Florida Ballet under the direction of Laurie Picinich-Byrd. After graduating from Florida State University with a B.A. in International Affairs, she relocated to Washington, DC. Ms. Doyle has been teaching ballet to all ages in the region since 2013. She has taught at the Kirov Academy of Ballet, Georgetown University, American Dance Institute, Metropolitan Ballet Theatre and Georgetown Day School. For the past 7 years, she was the Assistant Director at Maryland School of Dance. She is currently on faculty at Mid-Maryland Performing Arts Center and is the Managing Director for Dana Tai Soon Burgess Dance Company.

Felipe Oyarzun Moltedo

Assistant Artistic Director & Dancer

Felipe Oyarzun Moltedo is in his twelfth season with Dana Tai Soon Burgess Dance Company. Mr. Moltedo is from Santiago, Chile. He began dancing at the age of 12 and has since received several awards and distinctions, among others, Chile’s Best Dancer Inter-American Circle of Dance Professionals Award. In Santiago, Mr. Moltedo ran his own company, which led to multiple national and international tours. He holds a B.F.A in dance, an M.A. in dance education with honors from the University of Chile, and an M.F.A. in dance from The George Washington University Department of Theatre and Dance. Currently, Mr. Moltedo is the Assistant Artistic Director for Dana Tai Soon Burgess Dance Company.

Anne Sidney

Rehearsal Director

Anne Sidney is in her 17th season with the Dana Tai Soon Burgess Dance Company. She previously danced with DTSBDC for two years and served as associate director. Born in California and raised in Hawaii and Maryland, she has danced with DC Contemporary Dance Theater, Shadowdance, and DC Dance Theater, for which she also served as the director of outreach programs. She also works as an artist for the Wolf Trap Early Institute for Learning in the Arts Program. Ms. Sidney received a B.S. in nursing from Georgetown University and a certificate in laban movement and analysis from the Laban Institute of Movement Studies.

Anne Sidney, DTSBDC Rehearsal Director

Sarah Halzack

Assistant Rehearsal Director

Sarah Halzack is in her 18th season with DTSBDC. She is from Suffield, Connecticut, and received her early dance training from Brenda Barna and at the Hartford Ballet. Sarah graduated from George Washington University with degrees in journalism and dance and has performed with Sonia Plumb Dance Company, Maida Withers Dance Construction Company and Unevenlane. As a dancer with DTSBDC, Sarah performed and taught in the British Virgin Islands, Cambodia, Egypt, Jordan, Mexico, Mongolia, Peru and Suriname. She has helped set DTSBDC repertory on students of the Kirov Academy. Since retiring from performing in 2018, Sarah has served as a company teacher, assistant rehearsal director and member of the advisory board.

Bianca DeLille

Director of Development

Bianca DeLille has been involved with the dance company in one capacity or another for more than 20 years. She started as the publicist for the company, assisted with strategic planning and for the last nine years served as director of development. She has worked for the past 40 years in communications and development. She worked for numerous environmental and health clients in Washington, DC, as a consultant and for public relation firms including Vanguard Communications.

Bianca has a BA from the University of Arkansas and an MBA from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She has also served on multiple DC-based nonprofit boards of directors.

Laura McDonald

Archivist

Laura McDonald holds a BA in Astronomy/Physics from Agnes Scott College, a BA in computer Science from University of Maryland and a BS in computer science from Johns Hopkins University. In 1982, she started working at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center  where she created websites for both astrophysicists and the general public. During this time she started taking dance classes taught by Dana Tai Soon Burgess and fell in love with his movement and dance aesthetic.  She then joined the Dana Tai Soon Burgess Dance Company’s board of directors and was the company’s web developer for many years. Ms. McDonald is currently the Dana Tai Soon Burgess Dance Company Archivist.

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