Cara Hagan is currently an Associate Professor and the Program Director of the MFA program in Contemporary Theater and Performance at the New School. Before that she served as Director of the Movies by Movers film festival, which came under the auspices of the American Dance Festival in 2015 (as ADF’s Movies by Movers) for 13 seasons. She is the author of Screendance from Film to Festival: Celebration and Curatorial Practice (2022, McFarland) and Dancing for Laughs: Signifyin(g) Bodies and the Black American Sitcom, winner of the 2024 Gertrude Lippincott Award for Best English Language Article from the Dance Studies Association. Hagan’s dance films have been screened around the world in festivals and galleries most recently including Dance Camera West, San Luis Obispo Film Festival, Seattle Black Film Festival, and more.

Michele Thompson has more than 30 years of leadership experience at cultural and educational institutions including The 92nd Street Y, Trisha Brown Dance Company, Carnegie Hall, American Ballet Theater, and Vanderbilt University. She has consulted with The Jewish Museum, Urban Bush Women, The Kennedy Center, The Royal Court Theater, Jean Butler’s Our Steps Foundation and others. She trained as an Interim Executive Director through the Non-profit Support Center in New York and has served in that role with Doug Varone and Dancers and more recently with A.I.M, Abraham in Motion. She is an adjunct faculty member in Arts and Entertainment Management at Pace University, where she works with upper level undergraduates who are about to enter the field in diverse disciplines. She holds both bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Vanderbilt University.

Julia Asher (she/her) is thrilled to join Dance on Camera this season as Artist Liaison, where she helps bridge communication between the organization and the incredible artists it supports. With a background as both a freelance dancer and arts administrator, Julia is passionate about fostering creative collaboration and supporting artists in bringing their visions to life.Originally from California, Julia graduated from the Peabody Conservatory of Johns Hopkins University as part of the inaugural BFA class in Dance and was the first student to complete a dual degree, earning a second degree in Natural Sciences with concentrations in mathematics and neuroscience. Since then, she has spent the past three years in New York City performing, choreographing, and creating films with a range of companies and collaborators across the city’s vibrant dance scene.While she loves the energy of New York, she recharges by heading toward the ocean, finding quiet trails, and spending as much time in or near the water as possible.

Francisco Graciano’s career began as a member of several NYC dance companies and most notably the Paul Taylor Dance Company from 2004 – 2017. After completing his MFA in Dance at Florida State University in 2020, he fulfilled the role of Social Media Coordinator and Program Coordinator for Dance on Camera. Upon joining the Dance on Camera team he has had the privilege to moderate and co-curate the #MyDanceFilm program in the annual Dance on Camera Festival. He established Graciano Dance Projects and has presented his work in theaters in NewYork City and nationally. In 2022 his collaborative work titled Bach Dance Project, premiered at the 50th Annual Festival Internacional Cervantino. His creative work explores themes of transformation of body and psychology. He has been on faculty at Sam Houston State University and is currently an Assistant Professor of Dance New World School of the Arts in Miami.

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. From 1980 she produced video archive material for the School of American Ballet, and from 1995 she was video editor for the George Balanchine Foundation's Interpreter's Archive and Archive of Lost Choreography. She directed several documentaries on dance subjects including The Nutcracker Family – Behind the Magic (2006), and Felia Doubrovska Remembered (2008). Ms. Brooks, a beloved member of the dance film community, passed away June 23, 2025.