Catherine Tharin is a choreographer, curator, educator, and writer whose career bridges performance, academia, and critical discourse in dance. She holds a BA from Connecticut College and an MA in Dance Education from Columbia University’s Teachers College. A former member of the Erick Hawkins Dance Company, Tharin performed nationally and internationally with the company from 1988 to 1994. Her choreographic work continues to be shaped by the aesthetic legacy of Erick Hawkins and composer Lucia Dlugoszewski.

For 15 years, Tharin served as Dance and Performance Curator at the 92nd Street Y, where she presented acclaimed choreographers across genres alongside emerging voices, as well as composers, designers, authors, critics, videographers, and photographers. She was also a senior adjunct professor at Iona College for two decades. Her writing on dance has appeared in The Dance Enthusiast, Interlocutor, Side of Culture, and on WAMC, an NPR affiliate in the Hudson Valley. She has also contributed reviews to The Boston Globe.

Tharin currently curates The Dance Series at the Stissing Center in Pine Plains, NY, and dance film at The Moviehouse in Millerton, NY. She also serves on the Dance Committee of the Cosmopolitan Club. Throughout her career, she has championed both innovative and legacy choreography, supported the work of artists across the field, and brought critical attention to the art form through curation, education, and writing.

Tharin gratefully acknowledges the women who shaped her artistic path: Joanne Tharin, Maxine DeBruyn, Nancy Meehan, Thais Barry, Jody Arnhold, Lucia Dlugoszewski, and Aileen Passloff. Their mentorship, encouragement, and example have had a lasting impact on her life in dance.

She is especially grateful to David Parker and Jeffrey Kazin, who have supported and presented her choreography over many years.

Originally from Philadelphia, PA, Hannah Kearney is a dancer and pilates teacher based in Brooklyn, NY. She graduated summa cum laude from George Mason University with a BFA in Dance and a minor in Arts Management. She also received her Accelerated Studies certificate from the Martha Graham School of Dance. Hannah danced with the Philadanco Second Company/Danco II and while doing so also had the opportunity to understudy the Philadelphia Dance Company/Philadanco!. She has performed works by Francisco Gella, Robert Battle, Martha Graham, Donald Byrd, Jim Lepore, and Susan Shields. Hannah was a dancer for a new American musical Soul Harmony. Hannah has danced with JKing Dance Company, Daniel Flores, and Ballaro Dance Company. This is her third year with Catherine Tharin Dance. 

Daniel Morimoto grew up in Orlando, Florida, immersed within an environment of theme parks, childlike splendor, and a faint sense of magic in the air. He graduated from the University of Florida with a BFA in Dance and a minor in German.

As a performer, he has worked with companies and choreographers such as Catherine Tharin, The Bang Group, Matthew Westerby Company, Amber Sloan, NIkki and the Noise, Megan Williams, Jody Oberfelder, Daniel Gwirtzman, Spark Movement Collective, and more.

As a choreographer, Daniel is the Artistic Director of Digital Movement Dance. The dance company embeds elements of fantasy, world-building, and magic into each work, creating immersive worlds with characters and stories to explore.

The Bang Group is a rhythm-driven, contemporary dance company directed by choreographer David Parker and dancer Jeffrey Kazin who founded the company in New York City in 1995.  TBG tours and performs regularly throughout North America and Europe and enjoys annual seasons in New York at venues such as New York Live Arts, Danspace Project, DANCE NOW NYC, Harkness Dance Center at 92Y and Arts On Site, among many others.  Best known for its comic/subversive, neo-vaudevillian Nutcracker called Nut/Cracked, now in its 23rd consecutive season, TBG also presents independent choreographers and dance companies at Arts On Site where it is in residence.  David Parker curates these performances and Jeffrey Kazin produces them.  In their programming, they are dedicated to aesthetic diversity, creative freedom, and craftsmanship.

Lora Robertson (b. 1971, Ann Arbor, MI) is a Leica Master Photographer and a filmmaker known for her large scale works in color. As Executive Director of Satellite Collective in New York, she is an advocate for women to stand in their own power and is committed to the retelling of classic story forms from the perspective of female characters, putting their voices forward as flawed heroes. Bringing the discipline of fifteen years of commercial advertising experience into her fine art projects, she uses very little digital manipulation, but instead is devoted to studio lighting, set design and the power of in-camera processes. Lora also believes in taking technical and creative risks which might break these comfortable habits, always from a place of hard work and forward motion. Recent shows include, “Agony In The Scrub Pines” at Mriya Gallery and “Summer Blockbusterz” at Canada Gallery, both in 2024. Her work has appeared at the Baryshnikov Arts Center, Brooklyn Academy of Music, Open Source Gallery, and 92Y in New York, with public commissions in Michigan at The Grand Rapids Art Museum, Urban Institute of Contemporary Art, Rosa Parks Circle, The Gerald R. Ford Museum, SiTE:LAB, and Fountain Street Church which was awarded recognition from the ACLU. She will take on a muse but only if bets are lost.

A New York City based dancer, choreographer, and producer, Dylan Baker is originally from the boondocks of Wisconsin where he acquired a BFA in Dance at The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Apart from dancing with Catherine Tharin, you can find Dylan in works by Matthew Westerby Company, The Bang Group and with his own company, BOINK Dance & Film. When not on stage, Mr. Baker is a producer for the WestFest Dance Festival every spring in New York City!

Jenny was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. She attended the Conservatory of Dance at SUNY PURCHASE as an undergraduate and Bank Street College for her Masters in Early Childhood Education, Family Development and Early Intervention. Jenny has toured nationally and internationally with MOMIX. She has also had the pleasure of dancing with companies such as Douglas Dunn & Dancers, isadoraNOW and AlleRetour Dance Company. Jenny is honored and grateful to be dancing with Catherine Tharin.

​Jack Murphy is a contemporary dancer and performer originally from Novi, Michigan. He began his dance training at the age of six and later continued his studies as a trainee with the Joffrey Ballet in Chicago. He went on to earn his Bachelor of Fine Arts from The Juilliard School, where he had the opportunity to perform works by renowned choreographers including Martha Graham, Ohad Naharin, José Limón, Matthew Neenan, Andrea Miller, Bryan Arias, and Nelly van Bommel. Since graduating, Jack has performed with Matthew Westerby Company, Jacqulyn Buglisi, and Sandra Parks. He is currently thrilled to be working with Catherine Tharin.

Colleen Gibbs Howland holds a BFA in Fashion Design, AAS in Architectural Technology, and Certificate in Horticulture-Landscape Design. She worked on Seventh Avenue and had designs featured in Vogue magazine. Her couture commissions include pieces worn at inaugural balls and international galas. Colleen is committed to sustainable living, waste reduction, and the power of art in all forms. She is delighted to collaborate with Catherine Tharin Dance and her talented team to bring the highest order of emotion, expression and shape in every dimension to the stage through dance.

Photo © Lynn Saville

Jon Kinzel maintains a deeply interrelated choreographic and visual art practice. He feels fortunate to have performed and collaborated across disciplines with numerous artists. He has served as a sound designer, movement dramaturg, and curator, and taught at several universities, conservatories, festivals, and schools throughout NYC. A series of works—Queens Terminus, The Chocolate Factory, Long Island City, NY (2022); Pacific Terminus, Telematic Media Arts, San Francisco, CA (2019); and Atlantic Terminus, The Invisible Dog Art Center, Brooklyn, NY (2016)—brought together his drawings and paintings, video, sculpture, and dance forms, addressing technology's effects on visual culture, social relationships, performance, haptic interaction, and the presentation of the moving body. He is the recipient of an FCA Grants to Artists (2025), a NYSCA Support for Artists (2025), MacDowell Fellowships (2024, 2020), and a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship in Choreography (2023).