Faculty Page

LUISA MESHEKOFF is co-founder and executive director of The Dance Project Inc. which provides dance education, rehabilitation, performances, mixed media, cultural events, and also produces educational documentary videos for national and local Public Access and PBS stations.

As a professional ballerina, Luisa has performed with the New York Baroque Dance Company, Joffrey Ballet, Joyce Tristler Dance Company, National Ballet de Lyon in France, and The National Ballet de Danza in Quito, Ecuador, and is considered on of only a dozen worldwide experts on 18th century movement and dance. She continues to work professionally as an Argentine Tango dancer.

Luisa became a master trainer in Gyrotonic® in the early 1990s and was involved in its development with founder Juliu Horvath during its beginnings in 1984. Luisa worked with Juliu while recovering from a dance injury from which she was told she would never recover. The results allowed full recovery with improved use of her body. Wanting every dancer to have these benefits, she began studying. Her training in rehabilitation is supplemented by study in Alexander Technique, Pilates, Floor Barre, and various Yoga traditions, including Iyengarand Hatha. She is also certified in E-stem electric acupuncture. Luisa has developed her own advanced system, called INTEGRATED STRUCTURAL AWARENESS,™ which interweaves these approaches.

Luisa offers seminars and private training in New York for Alvin Ailey dance theater and Sal Anthony’s Movement Saloon, and in Tampa, where she works with a variety of professionals: dancers, musicians, gymnasts, divers, swimmers, tri athletes, and anyone interested in high-level wellness and performance. Luisa has worked with
professional sports teams, including the N.Y. Mets, Detroit Pistons, Tampa Bay Devil Rays, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Tampa Bay Lightning, and Tampa Bay Mutiny. She also works with individuals who have suffered severe spinal and brain injuries.

JOHN PARKS is a teacher, performer, choreographer, director and producer. Mr. Parks received training from the High School of the Perfoming Arts, Julliard School of Music, and the Martha Graham School. He was an acclaimed dancer and choreographer with the Alvin Ailey Dance Company and has danced with, among others, the Anna Sokolow Company, and the Ruth Currier Company. Mr, Parks has appeared on Broadway and in films including "Rage in Harlem" and "Malcom X." He has served on the faculty at the American Dance Festival, Harvard Summer Dance Center, Florida Dance Festival, and Ann Reinking's Musical Theater Project. He has taught at the University of Michigan, Harvard Summer School, Ballet Company of Zimbabwe, the Alvin Ailey School and currently teaches at the Univerity of South Florida.

CECILIA ROSSEY (Choreographer) trained with Charles Weidman at Expression of the Two Arts Theatre in New York City. She also studied with Norman Walker (George Washington University), Crystyne Lawson (Ballet Center of Buffalo), and Anna Sokolow. After retiring from performing, Ms. Rossey choreographed and produced works for her own company in Porte None, Italy. Now she resides in Sarasota, Florida and continues to produce works for The Dance Project and other companies.

SCOTT KLUKSDAHL (Musical Director) is a professor of violincello at the University of South Florida and serves as an artistic director for the Faculty Chamber Players. An active performer and clinician nationally, his recent engagements included concerto performances with the Cleveland Chamber Symphony and Tampa Bay Symphony, recital appearances at Carnegie Hall's Weill Recital Hall, Philadelphia Network for New Music, St. Petersburg Museum of FIne Arts, Costa Rica Festival Internacional de Musica, and performances of the Bach Suite Cycle in San Francisco and Lake Wakes. Mr. Kluksdahl has degrees from Harvard University and the Julliard School. He has taught at the Julliard Pre-College, the Eastern Music Festival, the Eastman Music Festival, the Elaine Kaufmann Center in New York, and the Boston University Tanglewood Institute.

JUDSON GRIFFIN (Musician) serves regularly as concertmaster, soloist and chamber musician in New York with Concert Royal, The American Classical Orchestra, and Amor Artis. He has been guest soloist and concertmaster with the Dallas Bach Society and frequent soloist and conductor at the Connecticut Early Music Festival. THis season Mr. Griffin has been acting music director of the Clarion Music Society. His more than sixty recordings range from the seventeenth century to the present day.

ERIN ZIMMERMAN (Dancer and Instructor)received her early dance training from the Academy of the Dance in Wilmington, Deleware. In 1999, she received her BFA in Dance from George Mason University where she was a frequent performer and choreographer. Erin currently teaches private and semi-private sessions as well as regularly serving as guest instructor.