Underscore Facilitators

Luce Mahler BFA, LMT, is a nonbinary dancer, muralist healer, and 2-time cancer survivor, and more recently a differently abled dancing body. She has taught dance and directed mural projects internationally in Cuba, Ecuador, Peru, Mexico, Europe, and the States for the last 4 decades. Her dance practice is anchored in Authentic Movement and Skinner Releasing Technique, becoming certified with master teachers Aileen Crow AM and Joan Skinner SRT ~ practices she brings to her creation of the "Urban WONDERscore," her classes of Contact Improvisation and over the last decade coordinating Nancy Stark Smith's Underscore for Movement Research, Global Underscore and for UnderscoreNYC.

Dance communion, inclusion, and celebration of our unique and creative diversity in age, race, gender identity, and expression, body shape, size, and differently-abled bodies, breaths the life force and creates the wonder in every WonderUnderscore!

She is one of the organizers of CONTACTCUBA annual festival in Havana. And is also the author of the adult children's book, Lucy Be.

Ilona Bito’s work is curious about instinct and the art of play. They have performed with Kathy Westwater since 2012 as well as with Daria Faïn/The Commons Choir since 2015, and with Gamelan Dharma Swara since 2018. Bito’s choreography has been presented by Movement Research at the Judson Church, STooPS, PPL, BKSD, and more. They teach Tai Chi, Qi Gong, and Dance to all ages. Ilona holds a B.A. and MS. Ed. from Sarah Lawrence College, and became a mom in 2020.

Nicole Touzien is a mover and shaker and life-long arts advocate. For the past ten years, she has worked to advance the mission of renowned NYC nonprofit organizations charged with stewarding open green spaces, promoting youth development and championing arts education. Nicole currently serves Brooklyn-based dance education nonprofit, Dancewave, as Executive Director. Nicole has served as faculty, guest artist and performer across the U.S. and in South Korea, Mexico, and Northern Ireland and has recently joined Global Underscore coordination efforts in addition to facilitating the NYC Underscore with Luce Mahler.

Adam Lempel is a musician, photographer and designer with a masters in music design from HKU, Utrecht University of the Arts, Netherlands. He’s composed music for commercials, collaborated with choreographers at the SNDO program at the Academy For Theater and Dance Amsterdam, been a part of the Baltimore experimental rock band Weekends, and studied contemporary classical composition at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam.

Chisa Hidaka, MD, directs the Dolphin Dance Project (www.dolphin-dance.org) in which, together with partner Ben Harley, she brings together wild dolphins and trained human dancers to co-create underwater dances in the open ocean, and to present the dances on film. Her approach to improvising with wild dolphins stems from her 25+ practice of Contact Improvisation (CI), which she has studied with many wonderful teachers, including Nancy Stark Smith. Currently, she serves on the Board of Directors and the CI Committee of Earthdance, where she has curated and co-facilitated several CI Jam events. A graduate of Barnard College and the Weill Medical College of Cornell University, she currently teaches anatomy in the Barnard Dance Department through a course developed based on her training in dance improvisation and experience in orthopedics research. In Dolphin Dance Project and in practicing the Underscore, Chisa is interested in exploring how our understanding and experience of being in community is expressed and informed by the compositional elements that arise as dancers improvise together.

Tamar Kipnis, MS, NCPsyA, BC-DMT is a Licensed Board Certified Dance Movement Therapist and a Licensed Psychoanalyst in Private Practice, NYC. Tamar has been studying Contact Improvisation, Authentic Movement, Tai Chi, Anatomical Dance and Yoga. Tamar performed with Dean Street FOO Butoh dance group in NYC 2007-2012 and has been facilitating Authentic Movement workshops in various venues nationally and internationally.

Elise Knudson (eliseknudson.org) is a New York City based dance artist. She teaches Contact Improvisation and facilitates CI at festivals and studios around the world including Beijing Dance Academy, Touch Festival (China), Moab Jam (UT), Earthdance (MA), Leviathan Studio (BC) and the West Coast Jam (CA). She created NEXToNow to provide a monthly platform in NYC for the practice of performing interdisciplinary free improvisation and currently hosts the weekly WedJam in Manhattan. Elise has enjoyed the opportunity to perform improvisation with Nancy Stark Smith, Chris Aiken and Angie Houser, Bradley Teal Ellis, Margaret Paek, Alicia Grayson and Eun Jung Gonzales. She also has enjoyed the opportunity to perform choreography with various Artists, including Christopher Williams, Jenni Hong Dance, Kiori Kawai/Purring Tiger, Risa Jaroslow, Jody Oberfelder, Koosil-ja/DANCE KUMIKO, Noemie LaFrance and, most recently, as a member of 'the community' in Bill T. Jones's Deep Blue Sea. Over the years Elise has choreographed aerial dances, experimental installations and concert dances for stages large and small. She is currently interested in developing fluidity between instantaneous and premeditated choreography.

Charles Mosey has been practicing, researching, facilitating, and teaching Contact Improvisation for over 20 years. In that time, he has had the opportunity to work in depth with Daniel Lepkoff and Nancy Stark Smith