Board of Directors
Cynthia Word, Artistic Director Cynthia Word is the Founder and Artistic Director of Word Dance Theater. Born and raised in Abilene, Texas, Ms. Word began her Modern Dance training at the University of Illinois with choreographers Beverly Blossom, Chester Wolenski, Mary Anthony, and Sarah Rudner. She later received her Master in Fine Arts from The George Washington University, where she served on the teaching faculty. She serves as a Dance Education Consultant with the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Based in Washington, DC, Ms. Word has created six major dance/theater productions. In 2005, Dance/MetroDC nominated her for “Best Emerging Choreographer” award for States of Mind. In addition to her dance/theater productions, Word has performed in Austria, England, Scotland and Iran. Most recently she toured Greece with the Isadora Duncan International Institute. Cynthia is the proud recipient of the Maria Theresa Duncan Award for achievement in the field of Dance.
Ingrid Zimmer, Associate Director
Rhonda Anderson-Speight, President
Melanie Lyons, Vice President and Director of Events
Valerie Durham, Past President Valerie Durham is the Artistic Director of The Duncan Dancers, a modern dance company based on the technique and philosophy of Isadora Duncan and dedicated to creating new innovative choreographies in the Duncan style for the 21st century. Her work has been performed at the Smithsonian, the National Cathedral, and venues in New York, Las Vegas, Florida and the DC area. She is a Teaching Artist for the Kennedy Center in the DC Partnerships Program, and has served as Director of Education and President for Word Dance Theater. She also has a background in public relations, marketing and multimedia project management. As a third year MFA Candidate in Dance, Valerie looks forward to founding a school of creative movement and dance for children and dancers of all ages based on the principles of breath, solar plexus initiation, endless movement, creativity, nature, art and musicality espoused by mother of modern dance Isadora Duncan. For more information, please visit www.duncandancers.com.
Debrah Shaver, Treasurer Debrah Shaver owns Lifestyle Solutions®, LLC, a life management company dedicated to organizing people, money, places and things. Prior to starting her company 18 years ago, Debrah was a corporate communications manager for Verizon and an events planner for a medical association. Debrah graduated from West Virginia University with a degree in journalism and public relations. She is a member of the National Association of Professional Organizers (NAPO) and the American Association of Daily Money Managers. She has served as president of Word Dance Theatre, and treasurer of the Bradley House Condominium Association. She has also served on the boards of NAPO and the West Virginia University Alumni Association.
Laura Tipton, Secretary Laura Tipton’s love of dance began with ballet at age 6. It quickly grew to encompass tap, jazz, and lyrical as well. During her time at the University of Virginia, Laura discovered modern dance with a focus on suspension and release. She also began sharing her love of dance by volunteering to teach dance at the local YMCA. Laura left UVa with a degree in biostatistics and with the first dance minor ever awarded at the university. Laura came to the D.C. area to work for the George Washington University at their Biostatistics Center. It wasn’t long before Laura was longing to dance again and walked into an Isadora Duncan class, taught by Valerie Durham. By the time that first class ended, Laura knew she had found the perfect style of dance for her. Laura resides in Arlington, VA and enjoys scuba diving and ballroom dancing.
Wendy Sherman, Director of Education & Outreach Wendy Sherman, an avid supporter of the arts comes to Word Dance Theater Board with the philosophy that the arts enrich our lives immeasurably and expand our view of the world. She also brings 20+ years of marketing, advertising and project management experience.
A founding member of the Potomac River Chapter of the Society Inc., a national organization whose mission is to support youth in the arts, and immediate past chapter president, Ms. Sherman was instrumental in the establishment of an annual scholarship for youth in need to study music at the Levine school at TheARC.
Ms. Sherman is married and resides in Washington DC.
Roshanak Ameli-Tehrani, Director of Fundraising
Stacy Yu, Director of Communications Stacy Yu is the Chief Marketing Strategist at Hearthstone Planners, LLC – a marketing consulting company serving small businesses and non-profits in the Washington, DC area. Prior to her work at Hearthstone Planners, she worked at Hewlett-Packard and it’s spin-off, Agilent Technologies in San Jose, California. There, she served as a worldwide product marketing manager for Fiber Optic technologies, developing business plans, new product launch strategies, marketing communication strategies, and sales training & development strategies for multiple product lines. Stacy holds a B.S in Management Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Sloan School of Management, and an Associate Degree in Hospitality and Restaurant Management from Le Cordon Bleu North America. She currently sits on the Board of Directors for MCCPTA-EPI, a non-profit organization that offers high-quality and affordable science and foreign language afterschool programs for children and youth in Mongomery County, Maryland.
Margaret Johnson, Member at Large Margaret Johnson is an Emmy-nominated picture researcher and illustrations editor for documentaries, books, and exhibitions. Prior to starting mmj research in 1990 she worked in secondary and higher education. She has an M.A. in Education and Human Development from George Washington University and a B.S. from the University of Texas, Austin.
In the early 1970s Margaret dabbled in modern dance but gave up dance for other pursuits. Through a serendipitous suggestion of a friend in 2006, Margaret took her first Duncan technique class. Since then she has studied with Cynthia Word, Ingrid Zimmer, Valerie Durham and Jeanne Bresciani.
She has served on the Board of Word Dance Theater as vice-president, president, and past president.
Word Dance Theater Advisory Committee
John Adkins
Carl E. Anderson
Vladimir Angelov
Danny Banner
Margo Brenner
Jeanne Bresciani
Erich Eiselt
John Iwaniec
Kris Kornemann
John Petruccione
Cheles Rhynes
JR Russ
Pat Smith
Nancy Squires
Heidi Sung