Barefoot Team

Jessie Levey (she/her) is a contemporary post-modern dancer and has been teaching for more than thirty years. In addition to making her own work, she has performed with many choreographers throughout the New York Metropolitan area, Wisconsin, Lebanon, and the Hudson Valley. Jessie considers her life as both an educator and artist to be deeply intertwined.

As the founder and director of Barefoot Dance Center, Jessie continues to teach through Barefoot’s three lenses (creativity, somatics, and identity), which she developed over many years in the field. She holds an MFA in Dance from The Peck School of the Arts at University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, is a Registered Somatic Dance Educator, and certified as both a childbirth educator and yoga instructor. As a member of National Dance Education Organization (NDEO), she  attends  annual  conferences to both present and participate. Her three published articles may be found in NDEO’s journal, Dance Education in Practice. Jessie is also an Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Vassar College Dance Department and leads  professional development workshops to classroom teachers and dance  educators nationally and internationally.

Jessie is honored to have received the National Dance Education Organization’s 2023 Award for Outstanding Leadership (in the private sector) and New York State Dance Education Association’s 2021 Award for Outstanding Dance Educator. She was also the recipient of the 2015-17 Jubilation Foundation Fellowship for excellence in teaching.

Mamadouba “Mohamed” Camara is a Grand Master of the Djembe and Balafon. He is a percussionist, performer, dancer, teacher, and arranger of traditional music from Guinea, West Africa. He is a former lead percussionist with world renowned Les Percussions de Guinée. 

Mohamed came to the United States in the late 1990’s to perform with Ron Brown’s Evidence Dance Company.  Since his arrival, Mohamed has served as an important cultural ambassador of the traditional music and culture of Guinea. He continues to teach Master Drum and Dance classes, and he delivers dynamic, explosive performances dedicated to the expression of African art. He currently resides in Kingston, NY. where he offers traditional drum classes at Mountainview Studio in Woodstock and New Paltz Community Center.

Carol Chappell (she/her) is a choreographer, dancer, percussionist, and instructor of traditional West African dance forms as well as Chinese health exercise practices, including Tai Qi and Qi Gong. She had been teaching West African dance to adults in Woodstock for 40 years. She is president and managing director of Nego Gato Afro Brazilian Music and Dance, a not-for-profit organization whose mission is to empower and enrich the world community through performance and education in African-Brazilian arts of music, dance, and Capoeira. She has toured with the company as a dancer, percussionist, and historian of African Brazilian Culture in educational institutions and cultural venues throughout the United States, Europe, and Japan. Carol also co-founded and directed Lisangua Ya Bato Drum and Dance, a not-for-profit organization whose activities include residential workshops, master classes, and performances of traditional music and dance of Africa and the African Diaspora for 20 years. Since 1976 she has studied with master teachers from Kongo, Mali, Senegal, Guinea and Brazil.

Kelly Garone (she/her) knows the power of dance to enhance a life. As a professional dancer, her lifelong commitment to her craft has guided her at every post, and has given back to her well beyond the sphere of dance. So whether a child is studying dance to support their physical
strength, to move through the world with confidence and a sense of self, to enhance their coordination in a way that will help them learn anything and everything else better, to benefit from being in community with other engaged children, or to pursue dance professionally, Kelly is committed to offering fun environments in which students can blossom.

Her own dance training includes the Joffrey Ballet School Trainee Program and the Limón Institute Professional Studies Program. She graduated Magna Cum Laude with a BA from Barnard College, Columbia University.

She has performed as a concert modern dancer in the companies of Ben Munisteri and Young Soon Kim, and has developed a solo improvisational performance practice in collaboration with live musicians and visual artists. She has also worked in immersive dance theater, performing the roles of Alice and the White Queen in Third Rail Projects’ long-running show Then She Fell, which was named a ‘Critic’s Pick’ by the New York Times and ‘Best of Theater’ by Vogue Magazine.

Her interest in reconciling the demands of dance with a holistic commitment to the health of the dancer led her to train as a somatic movement therapist and educator. She is a registered professional member of ISMETA (International Somatic Movement Education and Therapy Association), and has a private practice in Red Hook, NY, offering neuromuscular re-education and hands-on repatterning support for dancers and non-dancers alike interested in finding greater ease of movement.

Judy Kurjan-Frank (she/her) is a dance educator, choreographer, and performer in the Catskills/Mid-Hudson Valley region. She holds an MA in Dance Education from New York University and a BA in Dance from the University of Maryland, College Park. As a certified PK-12 dance educator, Judy taught in New York City and Baltimore CIty Public Schools as well as studios, libraries, and other community based locations. Judy is also a Certified Movement Analyst through the Laban/Bartenieff Institute of Movement Studies and a certified yoga teacher, with additional certification in prenatal yoga (RYT-200, RPYT). Judy trained in Cecchetti ballet, jazz, tap, and contemporary modern, performing with many amazing choreographers and companies including Nejla Yatkin, Nicole Bradley Browning, Maurice Fraga, Deborah Damast, Renata Celichovska, and Douglas Dunn. She was a founding member of IsadoraNOW, a member of Effervescent Collective and a co-creator of Flux/us Dance Company. She danced and choreographed for the Baltimore Rock Opera Society, as well as music videos for artists such as Bosley, Mrs. Maki, and Patterson Trash. Judy now spends most of her time choreographing and improvising her home life with her husband, three children, two dogs, and a cuddly old cat. 

*Please note that beautiful baby bump is currently a Barefoot dancer!

Harriett Meyer (she/her) is a dancer, dancemaker, and educator based in Kingston, NY.  She received her Bachelor of Arts in Dance from Bard College in 2012, and her Master of Arts in Teaching from the same in 2016.  In her eighth year as an educator, Harriett continues to center student voice and well-being in a practice that includes teaching movement, teaching writing, and advocating for educational equity. Harriett is thrilled to work at Barefoot, where dancing artists are able to grow as movers, creators, and collaborators. 

Barefoot alumna, Ella Stier (she/her) graduated from Hobart and William Smith Colleges in May, 2023 after completing her Honor’s Project in Dance. During her tenure at HWS, Ella was awarded both The Cadence Joy Whittier Prize in Dance and The Janet Seeley Performing Arts Scholarship (for Performance and/or Choreography), and was invited to present her choreography at the prestigious American College Dance Association Conference. Ella studied dance at Barefoot for eleven years, and was a Barefoot Dance Company member for almost half of that time. She was also an assistant dance teacher in both Creative Dance and Contemporary Modern I classes, and returned to assist in our summer programs. Post HWS graduation, Ella returned to be Barefoot Dance Company’s guest choreographer and became our very first intern.