Nancy Nichols “Clio” is a Master teacher and, until recently, long-time Director of the Noyes School and Summer Program. She studied with many of the original Noyes group including with Catherine Stone as a young child. Nancy was BA degree cum laude Bryn Mawr College where she studied Soc. Psychology, an elementary school teacher at Shady Hill, Head of the Early Music Dep’t Concord Academy, and director and musical arranger of the Calliope Consort. She is also a member of: Concord Madrigals, Lexington Choral Society, Newburyport Chorus and has studied Early Music at Longy and Northeastern. Nancy lives in Tamworth, NH and loves to ski, travel the world, and teach Noyes workshops in the New England area.
Barbara Luke “ThaLia” discovered the Noyes Junior Camp at Portland, CT in 1972 and began to learn what it means to truly move with the universal rhythms of the earth. She led the Rhythm classes at the Junior Camp for many years, and then became a teacher in training at Shepherd’s Nine, the senior camp of the Noyes School of Rhythm. She is now a Master teacher, having taught for more than 30 years. Other dance training included being a member of the Orchesis program at Brigham Young University and then teaching with and for Virginia Tanner in LO. She was the Dance specialist and Artist-in-Residence at Greenwich Academy (CT) for 35 years, especially enjoying leading Maypole and Morris Dances each spring. She’s been leading groups of children in exploring their physical and artistic capabilities in classes, parties, programs and plays for the past 60 years, both on the East Coast and in the West.
Arline Terrell “Gaia” is a life long student of Noyes Rhythm. Arline began teaching children at the Jr. School, Shepherd’s Green, when she served as director. She also taught in the public schools in Canton, CT. She has formed classes wherever she has lived including sacred dance groups. Arline performed most recently, dancing at her Unitarian Church in Texas. Arline is also an accomplished poet.
Ruth LeBar “Antigone” began her life in the Noyes work at age four, studying with Gayle Partlow, Catherine Stone, and many others. Noyes Rhythm is the singular thread that weaves her life together. She began her serious study of the Noyes work at age sixteen and is now a Master Teacher of Noyes Rhythm. She is also a gardener, musician and grandmother. She worked in the Waldorf School system for 18 years and has been an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ since 2003. She has also been a farmer, a spot welder, a traveler and is and always will be a lover of life. (currently on leave)
Linda Rapuano has been studying and teaching Noyes Rhythm for over 35 years. In New York City, she studied under Valeria Ladd and Catherine Stone, direct students of Florence Fleming Noyes; she has continued her studies with many extraordinary teachers at Shepherd’s Nine, the summer program of The Noyes School in Portland, CT where she also teaches. As a program developer, she created healing arts programs bringing dance and movement to hospitals in the metropolitan New York area and in Durham, NC, she joined Duke’s effort to offer their Integrative Medicine program to their affiliates. Linda holds a Master’s degree in Interdisciplinary Studies in Philosophy and the Arts from The New School in New York City. She continues to study yoga under Sri Dharma Mittra and imagery under Dr. Catherine Shainberg, founder of School of Images. Linda’s joy is in sharing the gift of Noyes Rhythm with her students.
Pam Kul-Berg‘s study of dance and movement began at the Noyes School of Rhythm summer camps at age 6, following in the footsteps of her mother and grandmother who also attended the Noyes School. While continuing to study at both the Junior and Senior Schools off and on for the past 50 years, she earned her teacher’s certificate in the 1980s, under the direction of such teachers as Nancy Nichols and Barbara Litchman Luke.
Dancing with Noyes Rhythm also inspired her to study of as many movement styles as she could, including Tai Chi, Feldenkrais, African dance, contra and swing dance, Middle Eastern dancing and Flamenco.
Early on, she experienced the ability of dance to express one’s inner emotional state, and went on to earn a master’s degree in Dance/ Movement Therapy at Columbia College Chicago, preferring to work with movement as a personal form of expression, rather than as performance. Pam has helped those struggling to express their emotions through movement by working in Dance Movement Therapy at inpatient hospitals in Chicago as well as Hancock movement therapy center in Madison Wisconsin.
Noyes Rhythm also influenced her desire to live in nature, which prompted a move to rural southwest Wisconsin in the beautiful driftless region. She has worked extensively with older adults and is now employed as a Dementia Care Specialist for the Aging & Disability Resource Center.
Noyes Rhythm continues to be a continual resource of renewal and spirit for her. She is excited to see it continue to evolve as the Noyes community develops an online presence, where she now continues to teach.
Mara Bennett “Aurora” has danced all her life. She has been a full teacher of Noyes Rhythm for 3 years. She wandered into the Noyes camp 22 years ago. The Noyes relationship of the feet with the floor or earth was the 1st aspect to fascinate her, a kind of magic not seen or experienced in dance training so far. Most summers since she has been regular member of the summer program at camp. She also has a background in Modern, ballet, African, theatre. She teaches international folk dance, especially Rom/Gypsy and Greek. She is a also Paneurhythmy teacher. Most recently she has taken up belly dancing. She lives in Atlanta near her daughter and baby granddaughter.
Emily Mott “Pegasus” is a musician and dancer in the Boston area. She teaches music and movement to all ages through her own Songiver Studio and is a Certified Level 1 Music Together family music instructor. Emily has also recently acted as the “Rhythm” (Program) Director for the Noyes School of Rhythm. She has studied Noyes Rhythm for 17 years and is now a certified teacher, teaching classes and workshops throughout the year. Additionally, Emily works with a therapeutic horseback riding program for children with physical and emotional challenges.
Amy Colon has been studying and teaching Noyes Rhythm for over 20 years. Her love of herbs, the natural world and mythology inform and inspire her teaching. She has studied, performed and taught belly dance for over ten years. Amy has a BFA in painting from Pratt Institute and has taught mask-making, sculpture and creative art at the Shepard’s Nine campus.
Karen Fenswick first came to Camp at age 10, through the invitation and inspiration of her aunt Thalia. She has returned most of the last 33 summers as a camper, dancer, and eventually Noyes Rhythm teacher of dancers of all ages. Working with Waldorf-inspired methods and other arts-integrated approaches, Karen teaches school in Los Angeles. Karen is also a member and graduate of the Ubuntu Choirs Network, an international community of choirs dedicated to vocal music as a public practice. She lives with her wonderful husband and three goofy cats. She would like to share her gratitude for her teachers, fellow campers, and the land of Shepherd’s Nine and Green. They have been, and continue to be, the gift of a lifetime.
Meg Brooker, Assistant Professor Middle Tennessee State University, is a dance artist and scholar focused on early twentieth century movement practices. Meg earned her full Noyes Rhythm teacher certification in 2013, has served on the Noyes School of Rhythm Foundation Board of Directors, and is currently the Archive Director. Meg has presented workshops and scholarship on Noyes for the Dance Studies Association, Society of Dance History Scholars, Congress on Research in Dance, and the Isadora Duncan International Symposium. Meg is also a legacy Isadora Duncan dance artist with an international performance background and holds an MFA in Performance as Public Practice from UT Austin and a BA in Theatre Studies from Yale. www.megbrookerdance.com.
Carol Ribner “Selene” was first introduced to Noyes Rhythm in 1982 when she worked as a camp counselor and assistant to the Rhythm teacher at the Noyes Junior Camp. She has now been involved in Noyes Rhythm for three decades and counting. Carol has danced with the Children’s Ballet Theatre, The Parparim Folk Dance Ensemble and has choreographed for the Israel Folk Dance Festival at Lincoln Center. In addition to teaching at Noyes, Carol has worked as the Director of the Dance Department at Bronx House Community Center, Director of the Hashachar National Dance Group, elementary school teacher in the North Shore School District and Principal of the Beit Rabban Day School (where she has been given the nickname of Director of Celebrations because of her penchant for incorporating dance and movement into the curriculum and the fabric of school life.) Carol holds a BA degree from Hunter College, summa cum laude, an MS degree in Elementary and Early Childhood Education from The Bank Street College of Education, and a Professional Diploma/Advanced Certificate in School District Administration from CW Post College.
Patricia Carhart Collins currently serves as a Rhythm Director and teacher for the Noyes School summer program. A past member of the Board of Directors for several terms, Patricia is currently a member of the Rhythm Committee and the 2019 Anniversary Committee, and is a past member of the Property Committee. Patricia was the Rhythm Director for the Noyes children’s program, where she taught theatre and Noyes Rhythm for many summers. She apprenticed with Barbara (ThaLia) Luke for several summers during “Children’s Weeks.”
At the Noyes Senior School summer program, private lessons with Nancy (Clio) Nichols, Arlene (Gaia) Terrell, Cornella Wilder, Ruth (Tig) LeBar, Barbara (ThaLia) Luke, Jeanne (Palchen) Hoge, and classes, masque work and teacher training with these teachers, as well as time with Catherine (Stoney) Stone, Ruth (Daphne) Davis, Barbara (Orion) Brown, Jason, Philippina (Flip) Buwalda, Catherine Faye, Gina Ryan-Kenney, June Roche and Linda Rapuano allowed Patricia a rich and deep foundation in the tradition and scope of Noyes Rhythm. Patricia credits her time serving as “Onion head,” for several entire seasons as another contributing factor to her becoming the Noyes teacher she is today.
In her capacity for ten years as Director of Sacred Dance at the Hancock Church in Lexington, MA, and more recently at the Umbrella for the Arts in Concord, MA, Patricia has hosted and taught Noyes classes, serving as the Co-Director of the Boston School with colleague Emily (Pegasus) Mott. Patricia also has worked with the Umbrella’s Musketaquid arts and environment program creating outdoor dance. At the Concord Children’s Center, Patricia leads”Changing Seasons” intergenerational movement workshops.
Patricia holds a BA in the Performing Arts from Hampshire College, where she created and performed a one-woman show about the painter Georgia O’Keeffe. Patricia’s training as an actress includes Shakespeare voice work with Kristin Linklater designated teacher Antonio Ocampo-Guzman, and work with Boston theatre groups including the Chekov Theatre Company, and the Shakespearean Ever Theatre, where her favorite roles included Titania in “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” and Rosalind in “As you Like it.”
Early dance training includes study at the Joy of Movement Center in Cambridge, MA and the Walnut Hill School of the Performing Arts, with the Concert Dance Company, study with Peggy Brightman, Deborah Wolf, Ann Asnes, Sydelle Gomberg, with classes in Modern, Jazz, and Ballet. Patricia’s earliest training began with Gloria Castano in Creative Dance, Improvisation and Choreography. As a member of the Dance Workshop in Natick, MA, Patricia performed in churches, temples, and on local television, and participated in the Sacred Dance Guild yearly festivals. Patricia completed a Creative Dance apprenticeship with Ms Castano and for many years taught Creative Dance in the greater Boston area. Patricia remains forever grateful to Gloria for bringing her home to Noyes to paint the kitchen, and dance forever.
As a child Mark “Bimmy” Hoge accompanied his mother Jan “Palchen” Hoge to the Jr. Camp and the Sr. Camp. As a child he enjoyed the nature-immersion immensely, including dancing to the playtime music in the evenings on the Rhythm ground, making art with Janet Roller, his grandmother, in the schoolhouse, and performing ridiculous skits on Saturday nights. When Mark turned 18 he petitioned Thetis to allow him to attend the Sr. Camp for the full summer. Surprisingly, she agreed. That was life changing. What followed in the ‘80’s were two summers as the Boys Counselor at Jr. Camp (while continuing to study Rhythm at Sr. Camp), a break for 3 summers to work at his uncle’s camp, then 3 summers working with the wonderful Ruth LeBar at Noyes Family Camp. The 80’s also earned him a Noyes Teacher’s Certificate, as well as a BA in Dance/Dance Therapy from Naropa University, and extensive graduate studies in Dance/Movement Therapy. The first five years of the ‘90’s he directed the Noyes Family Camp. Since 1995 Mark has not attended the Noyes camp regularly due to busy summers directing Renaissance Adventures, an experiential education summer camp in Colorado. Much gratitude to the many deep and wonderful Noyes teachers and dancers who graciously mentored him as a child and young adult!
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