SAMANTHA GÉRACHT, MFA (Artistic Director, Sokolow Theatre/Dance Ensemble) performed with Anna Sokolow’s Players’ Project for eleven years and is a founding member of the Sokolow Theatre/Dance Ensemble. In 2017 Ms. Géracht was appointed the ensemble’s artistic director. She has toured and taught Sokolow’s repertory nationally and internationally, setting Ms. Sokolow’s works on professional companies, university dance programs, and solo dance artists, including the Centre de Danse Nationale de Paris, the Boston Conservatory, Williams College, The Ailey School/Fordham University, Loyola Chicago, Franklin and Marshall College, Barnard College, Clarence Brooks, Jennifer Conely, Sandra Kaufman, Kanopy Dance Company and Academy, Ellen Robbins Dance, and Christine Dakin.

Ms. Géracht studied technique and composition with Alwin Nikolais and Murry Louis, Humphrey/Limon with Jim May, Betty Jones, Fritz Luden, and Gail Corbin, and Weidman with Deborah Carr. She has taught in the Professional Studies program at the Limon Institute, the Herbert Berghoff (‘HB’) Studio, and is on the faculty of the Hoboken Charter School. Ms. Geracht performed the Humphrey/Weidman repertory with Deborah Carr Theater Dance Ensemble and Gail Corbin. She has appeared with Rae Ballard’s Thoughts in Motion, and as a guest artist with David Parker and The Bang Group. In 2016 she choreographed Shadowbox Theatre’s The Earth and Me, a critically acclaimed climate change puppet/dance opera created for NYC public schools and community centers. Ms. Géracht served as a panelist for the Library of Congress opening of the “New Dance Group” archives. She holds an MFA in dance from Montclair State University (NJ) and a BS in dance from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Ms. Géracht is committed to the preservation of early American Modern Dance, making the works of modern dance pioneers more accessible to dance education programs, young artists, and new audiences.

LAUREN NASLUND (Associate Artistic Director, Sokolow Theatre/Dance Ensemble) began her modern dance studies in Chicago with Frances Allis. She studied in the Humphrey/Weidman/Limón tradition with Ina Hahn, Ruth Currier, Jim May, Risa Steinberg, Betty Jones and Fritz Ludin, among others; Graham technique at the Martha Graham school and with Erica Drew; in the Isadora Duncan tradition with Francesca Todesco, jazz with Lynn Simonson and Katiti King, and ballet with Janet Panetta. Lauren performed in Cambridge, MA with the Performing Arts Ensemble and the Massachusetts Dance Ensemble and in New York with the theater/dance company Plath/Taucher Productions, Andrew Jannetti & Dancers, and Alan Danielson. She has performed the works of Charles Weidman and Doris Humphrey with Deborah Carr’s Theatre Dance Ensemble, and under the direction of Gail Corbin. She has also worked with Rae Ballard’s Thoughts in Motion for many years. She was a member of Anna Sokolow’s Players’ Project for 15 years, and is a founding member of the Sokolow Theatre/Dance Ensemble. Lauren reconstructs, stages, and coaches Anna Sokolow’s repertory for the company and for schools and professional dancers.

CLARENCE BROOKS has performed with more than 80 American companies and toured the USA, Europe, and Asia working with Nikolais & Murray Louis Dance Company, Marcus Schulkind Dance Company, Loyce Houlton’s Minnesota Dance Theater, Laura Dean Dancers and Musicians, Ohio Ballet, and Anna Sokolow’s Players’ Project at prestigious venues like the Paris Opera, Joyce Theater, American Dance Festival, and Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival. Clarence tours with the Dance Exchange (DC), Pioneer Winter Collective (Miami), Sokolow Theatre/Dance Ensemble (NY), danceTactics Performance Group (NY), and David Parker & The Bang Group (NY). He can be seen in the video documentary The World of Alwin Nikolais and his essay “Dancing with the Issues” was published in One Teacher in 10: LGBT Educators Share Their Stories (Alyson Books).

Clarence has taught, choreographed, and lectured at universities across the nation. Now a retired associate professor, he directed the dance program at Florida Atlantic University and founded the Repertory Dance Theatre Ensemble, the University’s resident professional dance company. The Ensemble performed in festivals from Miami to Boston including Rebound Dance Festival (New Haven), NewGrounds (Tampa), Inkub8 (Miami), Green Street Studio (Cambridge), Daniel Lewis Miami Dance Sampler (Miami), and Piccolo Spoleto (Charleston) performing works by Talley Beatty, Danielle Jolie Dale, Bill Evans, Michael Foley, Juliet Forrest, Demetrius Klein, Andrea Ollarvide, Crystal Patient, Kristin Bender Polizzi, Marcus Schulkind, Jinx Strelkauskus, Charles Weidman, and Leni Wylliams.

Awards and honors include induction into the OCU Performance Hall of Honor, two Associate Artist-in-Residences at the Atlantic Center for the Arts, Japan Foundation Fellowship, and recipient of the Clyde Fyfe Award and the Randolph A. Frank Prize for Performing Arts. The Library of Congress recorded Clarence performing Talley Beatty’s seminal solo “Mourner’s Bench” (1947) for the national archive. A founding member and past president of the Florida Dance Education Organization, he holds an advisory position with FDEO and sits on the boards of the Sokolow Theatre/Dance Ensemble, danceTactics Performance Group, Miami Dance Futures, Natural Movers Foundation, and the Doris Humphrey Foundation for Dance.

A high school dropout, Clarence holds an MFA (University of Washington/Seattle), a bachelor of performing arts (Oklahoma City University), and a certification in Laban Movement Analysis (Laban/Bartenieff Institute of Movement Studies). A 200-hour yoga teacher and National Registered Dance Educator, he is certified to teach the Bill Evans Method of Teaching Dance Technique. In his free time, he enjoys biking, kayaking, hiking, camping (tent), and traveling.