Meet the Board of Directors
Marta Renzi, President
Marta Renzi is a choreographer and dance filmmaker, and the recipient of 7 NEA Fellowships, a BESSIE, and the first Dancing in the Streets award as “a fearless explorer.” Her live and video works have been shown in the US and abroad, on PBS and in community centers. Renzi has served on the Board of Advisors for the New York Foundation for the Arts and as a consultant for the New England Foundation for the Arts’ program “Building Community Through Culture.” She joined the Board of Directors of DFA in September 2008.
Harry Streep, Vice President
Harry Streep has been a choreographer and director of two dance companies: the Third Dance Theater and Harry Streep and Human Arms. In 1993, Streep helped co-found the Beacon School, a public high school in New York City where he is currently the Assistant Principal. Streep has a B.A. from Tufts, and an M.A. from Columbia Teachers College. Streep joined the Board of Directors of Dance Films Association in 2009.
Anita Venkiteswaran, Treasurer
Anita Venkiteswaran is a private equity investment professional at CI Capital Partners in New York. She grew up in India where her love for dance started at the age of six, with lessons in Bharat Natyam, an Indian classical dance form in which she trained for ten years. She continued to perform and choreograph through high school in Kolkata, India and through college at I.I.T. Kharagpur in India. After graduating with a B. Tech in Biotechnology & Biochemical Engineering in 2006, she started her professional career in management consulting, simultaneously studying Salsa, Merengue and Bachata. In 2012 Anita received an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School, during which time she choreographed the annual school musical as well as performing and choreographing for a number of other shows. Anita’s passion for dance led her to join the Board of Directors of Dance Films Association in December 2012.
Nolini Barretto, Secretary
Nolini Barretto has long been part of the New York arts community. She worked at the Martha Graham School of Contemporary Dance for thirteen years, the last few years as Administrative Director of the school. She was the Director of Marketing for Dance Theater Workshop in Chelsea, helping it transition into its new building, managing its rebranding efforts and launching its Inaugural season. Nolini was originally a classical dancer in India and received a Master’s degree in Arts Administration from Teachers College, Columbia University. A frequent panelist on site-specific performance, she has lectured widely on Public Art and continues to participate in Dance juries and grant evaluations. Nolini worked at the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, where she founded the site-specific performance series, Sitelines, which she curated and produced for six years. Nolini has served on the Bessies Committee (New York Dance and Performance Awards) from 2007 to the present.
Virginia Brooks
Virginia Brooks is Professor Emerita of Film at Brooklyn College/CUNY, where she taught film production for 26 years. She received an MFA in film directing and a PhD in Theater/Film from Columbia University. From 1978 to 1981, while coordinator of the Jerome Robbins Film Archive of the Dance Collection of The New York Public Library, she wrote her dissertation,The Art and Craft of Filming Dance as Documentary. Dr. Brooks is the author and the author of reviews and reports for Ballet Review, Dance Research Journal,Dance Magazine, the Millenium Film Journal, and IRIS. Since 1980 she has produced video archive material for the School of American Ballet, and since 1995 she has been video editor for the George Balanchine Foundations Interpreters Archive and Archive of Lost Choreography. She has directed several documentaries on dance subjects including, most recently, The Nutcracker Family – Behind the Magic(2006),and Felia Doubrovska Remembered (2008). She has been on the Board of Directors of Dance Films Association since 1978.
Ron Honsa
Ron Honsa is Executive Director of Moving Pictures, a production company based in Manhattan. Since founding the company, he has overseen hundreds of television and film projects for its diverse clientele. Under his leadership, Moving Pictures has distinguished itself as a creative studio for original programming, documentaries, and commercial projects. Its work has been recognized through the years by a wide range of industry awards, including the prestigious Peabody Award, a DuPont Award for Broadcast Excellence, and Emmy Awards.
Throughout his career, Honsa has had a personal passion for directing performing arts for film and television. He produced and directed the award-winning documentary The Men Who Danced and his recent documentary Never Stand Still, narrated by Bill T. Jones, won Best Documentary at the Dance Camera West Film Festival in Los Angeles, as well as the San Francisco Dance Film Festival. Never Stand Still has been released theatrically, garnering critical acclaim and international press.
Donna Rubin
Donna Rubin began her professional career as a dancer with the National Ballet of Canada and went on to star as Meg in the original Canadian cast of ‘Phantom of the Opera.” She then brought her career to Broadway where she performed in “Carousel” at Lincoln Center and on the National tour. Teaming up with Jen Lobo in 1999, Donna is the co-founder of the first Bikram Yoga in NY with 4 Bikram locations in Manhattan in the last 12 years. Donna was one of the first yoga instructors to be certified as a judge for the regional and national yoga asana championships and, along with Jen, Bikram Yoga NYC produced the very first Yoga Asana Championship in New York, which it has continued to produce and host for the past 8 years.Donna has been featured in such publications as the New York Times, New York Post, Elle Magazine, Jane Magazine. She has appeared on Fox, CBS, NBC, ABC and WPIX television networks, most recently on the Today Show and The Kathy Lee and Hoda Show. Donna is currently working on the documentary “Curtain Up” about her experience growing up as a young dancer in the “National Ballet School of Canada.”
Helen Skinner
Helen Skinner is an associate attorney with Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton, specializing in executive compensation. Her love for dance started at an early age, studying at Love’s Academy of Dance in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and performing and choreographing through high school, as co-director of Expressions Dance Company at Harvard College from 1994 through 1998, and as the developer and instructor of contemporary dance classes at Harvard’s Malkin Athletic Center from 1994 through 1998. Helen joined DFA’s board of directors in October 2012.
Louise Spain
Louise Spain is Professor Emerita at La Guardia Community College/City University of New York where she was Director of Media Services in the Library Media Resources Center. She is currently the Treasurer of the New York Film/Video Council. She edited Dance on Camera: A Guide to Dance Films and Videos, published by Scarecrow Press in 1998. She has been on the Board of DFA since 1980.
Greg Vander Veer
Greg Vander Veer is a documentary filmmaker and video contributor of IndexMagazine.com. Recently, he directed and photographed the documentary film Keep Dancing, about the legendary dancers Marge Champion and Donald Saddler. The film was an Official Selection at over 20 international film festivals including SXSW, SilverDocs and DocuWeeks, and was nominated by the International Documentary Association (IDA) for the 2010 Distinguished Short Documentary Award. Greg is now directing a feature documentary film in post-production about Martha Hill, a pioneer and visionary in the field of Modern Dance. He is also producing and directing the film Church Forest. In 2012, Greg directed a feature documentary film , Another Tour, about a New York based modern dance company as they toured through Peru. He also has served cameraman on several projects with filmmaker, Albert Maysles.
Marvin Webb
Marvin Webb joined Funders for LGBTQ Issues as Office Manager in May 2010. He was promoted to Director of Operations and Member Services in January 2012. In his membership services capacity he works on strengthening and broadening the content and work of Funders for LGBTQ Issues by developing and implementing a range of collaborative projects and resources; responding to member requests for assistance and information; and directing Funders for LGBTQ Issues recruitment and retention strategies. In his operations capacity, he oversees the administrative and financial activities, human resources and operations of the organization.
Previously, Marvin completed his MBA practicum as an intern in Human Resources at the international human rights organization Witness, and before that as the HR & Business Manager of a public relations firm in New York City. Marvin moved to New York City in 1989 to begin his 17-year career as a professional modern dancer. He has danced the works of various choreographers, including Martha Graham, Doug Varone, Ralph Lemon, Ron Brown, and Liz Lerman.
A native of Kansas City, Missouri, Marvin received his BA from Creighton University, and his MFA, in modern dance, from New York University. In 2011, Marvin received his MBA in Human Resources and Marketing from Baruch College. Marvin believes in making a big impact through smaller activities. He volunteers his time as a math tutor at Manhattan Day and Night School and as a kitchen worker at God’s Love We Deliver. He recently joined the board of Dance Films Association.
Meet the Advisory Board
Advisory Board Members
Larry Billman, Dance on Film Historian
Ben Dolphin, Cinematographer, Choreographer
Dejan Georgevitch, Cinematographer
Dennis Hedlund, Kultur
Celia Ipiotis, Eye on Dance
Alla Kovgan, Filmmaker
Allegra Fuller Snyder, UCLA
Robert Johnson, Newark Star Ledger
Sol Negrin, Cinematographer
Susannah Newman, Choreographer, Teacher
Joanna Ney, Programmer, Writer
Valerie Rochon, University Neighborhood High School