Mestre Foca and Instrutora Ana bring their combined 30 years experience as Capoeiristas and teachers to CSMA! Mestre Foca, originally from Brazil, and Instrutora Ana, an Ithaca native, are excited to have moved to Ithaca this fall after 7 years teaching Capoeira and building community in the NYC school system and their own academy in Brooklyn, New York. They always strive to attract a diverse group of students by welcoming participants of all backgrounds, ages, and physical abilities in their classes. They believe there is something in Capoeira for everyone and that each individual has a different gift to bring to the game. As teachers, they both strive to impart all of Capoeira’s cultural, social, physical, mental and spiritual elements, passing on a philosophy of life that benefit all who are willing to learn.

Holly Hibbert danced as a child and early teen at the Ithaca Ballet and later was a member of a dramatic dance troupe. During college she enjoyed partner dancing and acquired the habit of daily Pilates-style stretches. Her passion for dance carried her on a personal exploration of many dance forms while completing graduate studies in counseling in Seattle, WA, including modern, contact improvisation, authentic movement, and various ethnic dances, considering their integration with the process of healing and growth. She led a dance small group for three years, including choreography and performance, and offered community classes in creative movement. Her work with children has been in many contexts including nannying and teaching ballet the past year at Light a Fire Studio in Ithaca. She enjoys helping people of all ages find greater freedom and expression through dance and movement.

Katharyn Howd Machan, born in Woodbury, Connecticut, in 1952, is the author of 30 published collections, eight of which were selected in national competition, most recently Belly Words: Poems of Dance (Split Oak Press, 2009), When She's Asked to Think of Colors (Palettes & Quills Press, 2009), The Professor Poems (Main Street Rag Publishing Company, 2008), Flags (Pudding House Publications, 2007), Redwing: Voices from 1888 (FootHills Publishing, 2005), Greatest Hits (Pudding House Publications, 2004), and Sleeping with the Dead (Finishing Line Press, 2003).

She has lived in Ithaca, New York, since 1975 and since that time has actively coordinated the Ithaca Community Poets’ reading and workshop series while teaching at Tompkins Cortland Community College and then Ithaca College, where she is now a professor in the Department of Writing. In 2002 she was named Tompkins County's first Poet Laureate.

More than 1,300 of her poems have appeared in magazines (Yankee, The Writer, Nimrod, Runes, English Journal, The Hollins Critic, etc.) anthologies (Early Ripening: American Women's Poetry Now, The Poets' Grimm, Tribute to Orpheus: Poems about Music and Musicians, etc.) and textbooks (The Bedford Introduction to Literature, Perrine's Sound and Sense, Literature: The Human Experience, Gender Violence: Inter-disciplinary Perspectives, etc.)

In 2000 Dana Gioia selected her poem "Tess Clarion: Redwing, 1888" to receive the Ann Stanford Poetry Prize from the University of Southern California, in 2001 she received the ByLine Literary Award for her poem "Les Salles du Gardon," and in 2006 her poem "Gingerbread" was awarded the Luna Negra Poetry Prize from Kent State University.

She holds a B.A. in English from the College of Saint Rose, an M.A. in English literature from the University of Iowa, and a Ph.D. in interpretation (performance studies) from Northwestern University. Every March she offers “Writing in the Garden” as artist-in-residence for the Mana Project, Inc. in Key West, FL. As poet and belly dancer (Zajal) she serves year-round on the faculty of the Community School of Music and Arts and, in summers when possible, for the Greek-island holistic Skyros Centre based in Great Britain.

Preeti Panda is a recent graduate of Cornell University [May 2011, B.S. in Biological Sciences/Nutrition, Minors in Global Health and Law & Society]. She has been dancing hip hop for over 8 years, and has also been trained in Indian Classical Dance for over 15 years. Preeti currently dances with BreakFree Hip Hop Crew, Cornell's hip hop choreography dance group, and has been a choreographer and leader of the group for the last two years. She likes to live by BreakFree's motto—“Dance to Inspire”—and hopes to spread her love of dance.