Staff
John Borstel, Project Advisor
John Borstel describes himself as an artist working at the crossroads of photography, performance, and text. His mother was a fiber artist and his father an editor; both parents were writers. He traces his artistic practice back to their influence and to the dress-up games he played as a child. Important teachers, encompassing visual arts, photography, performance, writing, and creative process, have included Daniel Brush, Karen Keating, Tom Wolff, Arno Raphael Minkkinen, Mark Power, Sally Nash, Celeste Miller, Regie Cabico, Devora Neumark, Pam Hall, Peter Hocking, and Liz Lerman. After pursuing self-imaging photography for over 20 years — finding an audience by mailing Valentines and launching a website — he began showing his work in gallery settings in 2004. Since then his award-winning work has been displayed in galleries throughout DC/Baltimore area and as far afield as New Mexico, England, and Israel.
John is currently working as an independent consultant following a 20 year career in programming and development for Dance Exchange, a nationally-touring contemporary dance company founded by MacArthur “Genius Grant” recipient Liz Lerman. He is co-author and illustrator of Liz Lerman’s Critical Response Process and has traveled widely to teach and facilitate this unique feedback system, which emphasizes the values of dialogue and active involvement by the artist. At other points in his checkered career John has been a puppet-maker, the art director of two veterinary journals, and a singing usher. John is an active blogger and published writer on arts practice and has served on numerous governing and advisory groups. He teaches at Photoworks Glen Echo, where his specialties include text/image synthesis and creative process for photographers.
John holds a B.A. in English from Georgetown University and an MFA in interdisciplinary arts from Goddard College. Born in Baltimore in 1957, he now lives in Silver Spring, Maryland, with his partner of over 25 years.
Danielle Conti, Scheduler
Danielle Conti is a contemporary landscape painter who works primarily in oil paints. She graduated from Arizona State University with a Bachelor of Arts in Art History and studied in Florence, Italy. She was born in Phoenix and currently lives and works out of her studio in Gilbert, Arizona. Danielle finds constant inspiration in nature, whether it’s in the hot and dry desert of her native Arizona or on the moody Oregon coast where she and her family often visit. She is endlessly fascinated by the play of light and clouds on the landscape and tries to capture that through her artwork. Danielle worked as a travel agent throughout the years and now works for Liz Lerman as a scheduler and travel logistics researcher.
Erin Donohue, Creative Producer
Erin Donohue is an arts practitioner with a background in dance and performance. Erin has spent the past nine years working with Liz Lerman, managing Liz’s last touring work Wicked Bodies and her retrospective at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. Previously, Erin was the education director at Hancher Auditorium at the University of Iowa. Working with and for other artists to achieve their vision is where she finds joy. She works on a number of other artistic projects as a freelance consultant.
Takela King, Administrative Assistant
Takela is a dancer, movement artist, and native to Phoenix, Arizona. She began dancing in her living room surrounded by family and is now a dancer on the Be Kind Crew, inspiring youth through promoting character education and civility. Takela’s creative work explores the whys and hows of humanity with a focus on interpersonal interaction. These ideas are often brought to life by written text and improvisational dance structures. Wanting to learn more about the moving body and others, she obtained a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance and Ethics from Barrett, the Honors College at Arizona State University. Takela continues to investigate and apply ways to marry the dancing body and lived experiences to inspire and understand the world just a little bit more.
Sumana Mandala, CRP certification co-director
Sumana is a certified facilitator in the Critical Response Process (CRP) and Bharata-Nrityam artist and teacher. Through CRP and its values, she centers the importance of every voice in learning together and the related principles of responsibility + response in any space she enters. Sumana’s training in racial justice facilitation and sexual and domestic violence prevention infuses her practice of CRP with the depth of new perspectives. Her ongoing project Look into my Voice, Hear my Dance uses CRP to facilitate survivors of sexual/domestic violence telling their stories in collaboration with practitioners of Indian dance. Sumana is especially interested in using CRP to develop new dance-works, promote healthy relationships among youth, create awareness about violence prevention, and enhance equity in educational settings. Sumana also lays CRP as a foundation for critical reflection on dance lessons, choreographies and performances, as director of Dansense-Nrtyabodha (www.dansense.org).
Neda Movahed, Project Manager
Neda Movahed has a background in sustainability education, dance, and creative writing. She views creative learning as essential for human evolution. Neda first connected with Liz when she took her Atlas of Creative Tools class at ASU in Fall 2017. Mesmerized by Liz’s presence, Neda asked her to serve as a committee co-chair for her arts-based Ph.D. project titled “How we wear water: Creative learning for sustainability.” Currently, Neda works for the LLC as a Project Manager where she oversees external gigs and archives management. She also supports the nonprofit Ayandeh as Programs Director and Head of Curriculum for their youth summer camp focused on the Iranian diaspora.
Phil Stoesz, CRP Certification co-director
Phil Stoesz (he/him) feels the most fulfilled when he is in a room full of people who are making art, telling stories, sharing food, processing emotions, or designing something new. His work is grounded in service, imagination and meaning-making; values that come from his mennonite heritage, theatre training, and queer family. He tumbled his way through an MFA in Theatre Directing from Arizona State University and has an eclectic teaching and artistic history including touring as a Shakespearean performer, devising theatre in an Astrobiology lab, teaching sexual education, co-directing an art project on coming-of-age stories, and maintaining a practice of visual art making and poetry. Nearly everything Phil does is the result of knowledge that has been passed on to him through the practices of his ancestry and the mentors and collaborators who continue to grace his life.
Candice Williams, General Manager
Passionate and committed to the arts, Candice Williams has dedicated most of her life to working and performing in theater, television, and films. After working as a production and casting assistant, she spent five years as the talent and operations manager of a global event company. Candice then joined the Liz Lerman team as artistic administrator, inspired by the the creative and highly collaborative environment, and by the founder’s continuously ambitious vision. Candice also manages Liz’s ASU projects.
Candice holds a Master of Business Administration degree and a Bachelor of Science in Business Management.
