Deborah Sunya Moore currently serves as Chief Program Officer and Senior Vice President for Chautauqua Institution and is responsible for establishing and leading programmatic vision for Chautauqua’s four program pillars: Education, Arts, Religion and Recreation. Previously, Deborah held the positions of Arts Education & Community Engagement Specialist and Associate Professor at the University of Trinidad and Tobago (2010-2013). She served as the Director of Education and Community Engagement for the Louisville Orchestra (2005-2010) and as the artistic director (1999-2005) and percussionist of Tales & Scales, a nationally touring instrumental quartet for youth. Deborah has been in residence at the Hermitage Artist Retreat, a speaker for the United States Department of State, and was awarded the designation of Fulbright Specialist from 2017-2019. She has held a commitment to inclusivity throughout her career and completed a Diversity and Inclusion certificate from Cornell University in 2022. She holds a bachelor’s from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music and a master’s degree from the University of Cincinnati. Because Oberlin is weird, Deborah was able to create a second “independent” major called Performance in Education in Related Arts. It was just an excuse to get into dance classes that she had no business being in. She would like to publicly apologize to her classmates, many of whom have gone on to have wonderful careers in dance. The Oberlin Dance department and Company have recovered nicely since Deborah’s brief involvement.

Kale Jette is a rising junior at Indiana University pursuing a Ballet major with an Outside Field in Education and on a Pre-Physical Therapy track. Originally from West Palm Beach, Florida, he began his training at Dance Theater of Florida, Florida School for Dance Education, and Alexander W. Dreyfoos School of the Arts under Michele Zehner, Jerry Opdenaker, and Heather Lescaille. At IU, Kale has performed works by Justin Peck, Durante Verzola, Ken Ossola, Jean-Pierre Bonnefoux, and Sasha Janes. He has also appeared in IU Opera productions, including Eugene Onegin, Sweeney Todd, and the world premiere of The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay. Outside of performance, Kale enjoys teaching dance, singing, and watching the 1966 live-action Batman series.

Ryan Murphy is a life-long Chautauquan who you may have seen lip synching in Airband at Smith Wilkes Hall, hosting Airband in the Amphitheater, or performing in a radio show with The Chautauqua Theater Company at Bratton Theater. She is excited to add Norton Hall to her CHQ performance venue list! Ryan studied Theater at Duke University and was involved in the student-run musical theater group Hoof 'n' Horn, award-winning all-female acapella group Out of the Blue, and side-splitting Duke University Improv troupe. For just over a decade, Ryan has been living in New York City and has worked on-and-off in the Broadway industry doing advertising, marketing, and events. She's also made sure to scratch the creative itch by singing in a band for a few years, doing community theater, and most recently, stand up comedy. Ryan wants to thank the Chautauqua Dance Circle for including her in tonight's event, and her family and friends who have always encouraged her to be creative and supported her at shows of every kind. Let's dance! oxoxo @murfpup

Jordan is a native of Jamestown, New York, began dancing at age 12 with the Chautauqua Regional Youth Ballet and is currently a professional dancer with the Atlanta Ballet. Jordan studied at the Chautauqua Institution School of Dance and was a recipient of a Chautauqua Dance Circle scholarship. Jordan has been a guest faculty member at the School of Dance, performed in the All-Star Alumni Gala, and is currently a Director of the Chautauqua Dance Circle. Leeper danced with Charlotte Ballet under the direction of Jean-Pierre Bonnefoux and Patricia McBride, performing at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts during Ballet Across America in 2013. He has been a guest artist with Metropolitan Ballet Theatre and City Ballet of Wilmington. He also danced with San Francisco Ballet, and Complexions Contemporary Ballet under Dwight Rhoden and Desmond Richardson during the company’s 20thanniversary season at the Joyce Theater in New York City. Jordan is thrilled to be performing with DWTSOC!

Marty W. Merkley served as vice president and director of programming at Chautauqua for 25 years. Prior to joining the Institution’s staff, he was along with Michael Tilson Thomas, a founding member and general manager of The New World Symphony in Miami Beach, Florida. His career included serving as managing director of the Opera Department at the University of Southern California, resident stage director for Portland Opera in Portland, Oregon, and working on projects such as the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. He currently serves as president of the board of directors of the Kay Hardesty Logan Foundation.

Peg is a retired physical education teacher with 30 years in the Niagara Falls School District and two years at the International School in Lahore, Pakistan. Her last 25 summers have been spent teaching fitness classes for Special Studies and the Chautauqua Health and Fitness Center. Her hobbies include competitive ballroom dancing , golf, and pickleball.

Robert Kyler has been a Chautauquan since his wife, Nancy, a Bemus Point townie, first dragged him here nearly 40 years ago, and now spends much of the season at their home on the grounds. He works as a Radiation Oncologist and has been in practice in Virginia since having completed his training at the University of Virginia School of Medicine and Georgetown University Medical Center. He has come to an appreciation of Dance over the past 10 years and enjoys the diversity of Dance companies that come to Chautauqua each summer. He has been a member of the Chautauqua Dance Circle board since 2022, and reluctantly agreed to participate with DWTSOC to show that amateurs with disabilities can be just as bad at dancing as those without.

Rebecca Janes is a Visiting Lecturer in Music (Ballet) and Co-Director of the Jacobs Academy Ballet Program. Born in Urbana, Ohio, Rebecca began her training under the watchful eye of her mother, Cindy Carmazzi. Her early training also included Dayton Ballet, San Francisco Ballet, Joffrey Ballet, and Ballet Met. Mrs. Janes professional career began at the young age of 17 with Dayton Ballet where she performed for nine years as a principal dancer. In 1999 she was awarded the Josie Award, for the Most Outstanding Female Performer of the year. Before joining Charlotte Ballet as a principal dancer in 2002, Rebecca was a member of Ballet Met and was a regular performer with the summer pick up company, Chautauqua Festival Ballet. During Mrs. Janes’ career, she has been featured in numerous full length ballets including Juliet in Romeo and Juliet, Odile and Odette in Swan Lake, Lucy in Dracula, Alice in Alice in Wonderland, Cinderella in Cinderella, Clara and Sugar Plum Fairy in The Nutcracker, and Desdemona in Othello. Rebecca has also had the joy of dancing repertoire ballets by George Balanchine, Anthony Tudor, Alonzo King, Alvin Ailey, Nacho Duato, Gerald Arpino, Marius Petipa, Septime Webre, Twyla Tharp, Dwight Rhoden, Mark Godden, Jean Pierre Bonnefoux, Sasha Janes, Stephen Mills, Lila York and more. Some of her favorites were the lead in Rubies, Serenade, Dangerous Liaisons, Na Floresta, Map, and Nine Sinatra Songs. Since retiring from the stage in 2012, Rebecca has enjoyed teaching, re-staging ballets, and choreographing for the Chautauqua Dance Program, Jacobs Academy Ballet, Charlotte Ballet Academy, Dance Davidson, Open Door Studios, and Piedmont School of Music & Dance. She has also been certified in Romana Pilates and Progressive Contemporary Technique. Rebecca lives in Bloomington with her husband and their three teenagers.

Jade King Carroll is the Producing Artistic Director of the Chautauqua Theater Company and a distinguished director specializing in new play development, most recently directing Chisa Hutchinson’s Amerikin at Primary Stages this spring. Carroll has directed over 60 classical and contemporary productions nationwide at renowned venues including Shakespeare Theatre DC, Lincoln Center Institute, New York Theatre Workshop, McCarter Theatre Center, and Chautauqua Theater Company. Notable credits include Proof of Love, Detroit ’67, Having Our Say, Red Velvet, and multiple productions of August Wilson’s work, including The Piano Lesson. During her tenure as Producing Artistic Director of Chautauqua Theater Company, she has led two seasons marked by innovative new works, including the world premieres of tiny father by Mike Lew (a co-production with Barrington Stage Company) and a commissioned piece, The Light and The Dark (the Life and Times of Artemisia Gentileschi) by Kate Hamill (co-produced with Primary Stages in NYC). She has also developed works by a diverse group of playwrights, including Sofya Levitsky-Weitz, Chisa Hutchinson, Harrison David Rivers, Anna Ziegler, C.A. Johnson, Sharyn Rothstein, Hilary Bettis, and Kate Hamill. Under her leadership, Chautauqua Theater Company (CTC) secured two NYSCA grants and partnered with the Telsey Office for casting and the Drama League to expand its directing fellows program. Carroll and CTC have successfully raised $9 million for the new Roe Green Theater Center, which will house CTC offices, rehearsal spaces, a new prop shop, a green room, and a black box theater complete with a lobby and ADR bar.

Stanley Cannon is from Chicago, IL. He trained at Hyde Park School of Dance and Ballet Chicago, and attended summer courses at Pacific Northwest Ballet School, Chautauqua Institution, and Miami City Ballet School. He is a rising senior at Indiana University studying ballet, where he has had the opportunity to perform works by George Balanchine, Justin Peck, Dwight Rhoden, and Sasha Janes.