Meet Cora’s Team

shannon hummel
(SHE/HER/HERS)

Founder & ARTISTIC DIRECTOR

Shannon Hummel (she/her) is a choreographer, educator, and celebrated advocate for dance access. Her company, Shannon Hummel/Cora Dance, is best known for mounting her intimate, accessible works in communities often overlooked by the professional dance, while also having been presented by BAM/Brooklyn Academy of Music, Brooklyn Museum of Art, NYLA/New York Live Arts, among other celebrated venues. She has been a "Top 10 Critics Pick for Dance” by The New York Times, where her work has been praised throughout her career, as “poignant, funny and remarkably assured and perceptive; vivid and true; quirkily, sweetly private and delightful” and “a rare gem”. Hummel has taught and created dances in countless colleges and universities but also loves the intimacy of small studios for young dancers. She taught and developed programs for youth artists at BAX/Brooklyn Arts Exchange and Poly Prep Country Day School in Brooklyn, NY, for 12 years before establishing two equity-driven dance education centers - Cora Dance Brooklyn in NYC (2009) and Cora Dance Alleghany in Alleghany County, VA (2020). She has been a speaker at American Dance Festival NY-Intensive, American College Dance Association, BAX/Brooklyn Arts Exchange, Movement Research, New York Live Arts, and the Poverty Studies Program of Washington & Lee University; among others. She served on faculty at Queensborough College and her alma mater James Madison University, where she was School of Theatre and Dance Distinguished Alumni in 2000. She was named a 2011 Extraordinary Woman of Brooklyn by District Attorney Charles Hynes; acknowledged in 2020 by the New York Dance and Performance “Bessie” Awards for Service to the Field for her work with Cora Dance Brooklyn; and enjoyed ongoing significant support from NYC Department of Cultural Affairs and the New York State Council on the Arts. Hummel dabbles as a performer in many fun things, most recently speaking improvisationally as “the voice in your head” in Charles Atlas’ Mathematics of Consciousness installation at Pioneer Works in NYC; grooving to Bowie at the PAC NYC Perelman Performing Arts Center in The 20 Years Project by Monica Bill Barnes and Robbie Saenz de Viteri; donning four prom gowns a night emceeing the annual Red Hook Community Prom; and just singing in the kitchen of anyone willing to put on a harmony. She is a mama and god-mama who now lives in Brooklyn, NY; Clifton Forge, VA; and the roads that take her between NY, VA, and any other lovely place that offers her a chance to keep sharing dance with others. 

NIKKI ASSANTI
(SHE/HER/HERS)

Senior artistic associate

Nikki Assanti is a dance artist, administrator, and yoga instructor. Nikki is the Senior Artistic Associate of Cora Dance where she dances for Shannon Hummel/Cora Dance's professional company, teaches Modern, and directs the Modern Cora Youth Company in addition to working on the administrative team. Nikki is the founder and lead choreographer of Nikki and The Noise, a Brooklyn-based dance company. Her choreographic work with Nikki and The Noise has been shown in NYC venues such as The Cherry Lane Theatre, Cora Dance, Creative Cultural Center at St. Veronica’s Church, Gallim Dance, Green Space, and Triskelion Arts. Nikki has performed in works by Brit Falcon, Digital Movement Dance, JACKS, Joanna Mendl Shaw, Raja Feather Kelly, and Shannon Hummel. Nikki also teaches on faculty at Open Arts Studio. She has been a guest artist and speaker at multiple universities including University of Florida and University of Southern Maine. She received her BFA in Dance from the University of Florida, and is a 200 hour registered yoga instructor.

hans bilger
(he/him/his)

company COMPOSER

Hans Bilger is a musician, sound engineer, and biologist from Brooklyn, New York. The eldest child of a classical singer and a science writer, he spent his childhood playing American folk and country gospel in a family band. In the summers, he went to jazz camp, collected insects, and dissected mice at his aunt’s cancer research lab. These experiences informed his later musical and scientific studies with mentors including Greg Cohen (Ornette Coleman, Laurie Anderson), Paul Kowert (Punch Brothers), Axel Scherka (Staatskapelle Berlin), J.A. Granelli (Mose Allison), Nabil Arbaain (Arabic Music Institute Berlin), Richard Prum (Yale University), Julia Clarke (UT Austin), Mike Ryan (UT Austin), and Mirjam Knörnschild (Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin).

After completing his B.S. at Yale University in 2016, Bilger moved to Austin, Texas, where he became a sought-after sideman and session bassist. His debut solo album, Meridian, was released in 2019 by Good Child Music. Bilger has been composer-in-residence for Brooklyn-based dance company Cora Dance since 2017. In 2020, he moved to Berlin, where he continues to perform in the jazz, folk, experimental, and Middle Eastern music scenes.

Bilger began his training as a sound engineer and music producer at the Fred Plaut Recording Studio at the Yale School of Music, assisting in solo/chamber music, symphonic, and big band recordings. He has also worked as an audio engineer at the American podcast network Panoply Media. In 2023, he and composer Eli Greenhoe launched Miniwagon, a music and media production company.

Bilger remains deeply fascinated by the natural world. He holds a PhD in Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior from the University of Texas at Austin, where his dissertation focused on the evolution of the voice in frogs, bats, and humans. He has published scientific papers on musical structure in birdsong and the anatomy of the avian voice box. He is currently a Visiting Scientist at Berlin’s Museum für Naturkunde – Leibniz Institute for Evolution and Biodiversity Science.

sofia Blasco McClarnon
(SHE/HER/HERS)

CDB FACULTY

Sofia is an alumna of Marymount Manhattan College with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance Performance and a Concentration in Classical Ballet. She is a certified Pure Barre Teacher in NYC and has been performing, teaching, and studying dance on a professional level for many years. In College she studied with and performed pieces by a multitude of well known choreographers including Katie Langan, Adam Barruch, Chase Brock, Trebien Pollard, and Fredrick Earl Mosley. Sofia is the Co-founder and Executive Director of the Company The Dancer Movement Corp: reimagining dance for people with disabilities. Sofia currently teaches around the NYC area bringing the joy of dance to both children and adults. Sofia has a passion for teaching all people and is excited to join the Cora Dance team!

carter Adcock
(she/her/hers)

cda programs & production manager

Carter Adcock is a young professional based in the Alleghany Highlands of Virginia. She was born and raised in Clifton Forge, and she has been an active member of the community and an avid supporter of the arts her entire life. Throughout high school, Carter was heavily involved with Virginia 4-H and had the opportunity to teach musical theater classes every year at their youth summer camp. Her first job fresh out of high school was with the Alleghany Highlands Arts Council, where she interned as the Summer Youth Activities Coordinator for their 2016 “Summer Youth on Stage” series.

 For the past three years, Carter has served as a Deputy Commissioner of Revenue for Alleghany County. She is currently attending online courses through Old Dominion University and is planning to graduate with her Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with a concentration in Management in May of 2025. Her hobbies include flow arts, particularly hula hooping and fire dancing, and attending concerts and music festivals. Carter is very excited to return to her passion and join the CDA team as Programs and Production Manager for their 2023-2024 season!

eleanor crawford
(she/they)

advancement manager

Eleanor Crawford is a choreographer, educator and arts administrator invested in making dance accessible for all. Eleanor grew up dancing at the Brooklyn Arts Exchange (BAX) where she is still involved in creating performance and community building opportunities for BAX alumni. Eleanor graduated from Hampshire College with a focus in choreography, cultural studies and youth studies. Eleanor’s passion for supporting young people has manifested in many years of teaching and administrative work in arts education spaces, summer camps and special education schools. She has shown her choreographic work at BAX, the School for Contemporary Dance and Thought, Atland, Accademia dell’Arte, Anchor House of Artists, and virtually through freeskewl. Eleanor is very excited to be a part of the Cora Dance team!

katie dean
(she/her/hers)

artistic associate

Katie Dean is a performer and graphic designer. Dean has performed in work spanning from physical theater to durational work for museums, for visual artists and choreographers including Phoebe Berglund, Kim Brandt, Xavier Cha, Jessica Cook, Ayano Elson, Jennifer Harge, Megan Chu, Ivy Baldwin Dance, Julie Mayo, Melanie McLain, Phoebe Osborne, Shannon Hummel/Cora Dance, Nadia Tykulsker, Hannah Walsh, and Rebekah Windmiller, in collaborative work with Heather Robinson, in music videos, and in video work by Mia Lidofsky and Celia Rowlson-Hall. She has performed in spaces including MOMA PS1, the Brooklyn Academy of Music, the Guggenheim Museum, the New Museum, the Jam Handy, the Queens Museum, a storage unit, and a dinner table. Dean has performed with Shannon Hummel/Cora Dance since 2010 and in 2023–2024, Katie will be working as a dancer in the professional company and as a graphic designer for the organization. She currently shares time between NYC and Sperryville, VA. katiedeandesigns.com

peter farrell
(he/him/his)

general manager

Peter Farrell has lived in New York City for over 25 years and in Park Slope, Brooklyn, with his wife and two children for over two decades. His professional experience includes working in the financial services sector as a credit risk manager and legal assistant, in information technology as a computer network security engineer, in non-profit management as a treasurer and webmaster, and as a performing artist. He holds a B.A. in Musical Theatre with a Minor in Dance from Catawba College in Salisbury, NC. Peter has performed as an actor, singer, and dancer with theatre companies, including the Workshop Theater, New Perspectives Theatre, Algonquin Theater Productions, and Asterism Theatre in New York, and with regional theatres such as Downtown Cabaret Theatre, Shenandoah Summer Theatre, Muhlenberg Summer Music Theatre, and Theatre Harrisburg. He has also appeared on television and in film, most recently in the Academy Award-winning live-action short film The Neighbors’ Window.

 Peter and his family are members of Grace Church Brooklyn Heights, which proudly participates in the Red Hook Initiative by supplying volunteers and materiel to projects in the neighborhood. He also supports Brooklyn Neighbors for Refugees, which works to resettle newly arrived refugees in New York City. Peter is thrilled to become part of the Cora Dance community.

jose joaquin garcia

(he/him/his), CDB faculty

Jose Joaquin Garcia was born and raised in Alphabet City on Manhattan's Lower East Side where he learned his passion for singing and developed the incredible sense of urgency that is palpable when he steps up to the microphone.  Jose has graced the stage with the Pregones Theatre Company since 1986 as a singing actor performing original musical theater works. He appeared with Marc Anthony and Ednita Nazario on Broadway in Paul Simon’s "The Capeman", understudying for Ruben Blades.

One of the most versatile singers in New York City, Jose transitions seamlessly from rock, roll, rhythm & blues to a wide array of Latin styles to European works he has classically trained to sing. He performed Robert Schumann’s Dichterliebe with San Francisco’s Zaccho Dance Theatre in October 2016. He has performed with the Lehman College Orchestra and the Boricua College Chorus as a tenor soloist in works by Mozart, Handel and Mendelssohn. He and his group Rubi Theatre Company have frequently collaborated with Dan Zanes, most notably on Catch That Train, which won the 2006 Grammy for Musical Album for Children, and 2008’s ¡Nueva York!, which won the Independent Music Award for Best Children’s Music Album. Jose will also be heard on an upcoming Leadbelly tribute album on Smithsonian records, to be released in April. He is the co-founder and Lead Vocalist of Rubi, Brooklyn’s premier rock & roll neoyorquino band. This is his second year as a faculty member for Cora Dance.

ross honaker
(he/they)

dancer & CDA CYC Co-Director

Ross Honaker, an Appalachian native of Lewisburg, WV, began studying dance in high school with a local youth performance group like CYC. This experience was pivotal in the pursuit of his passions and spurred him to complete first a BFA in Dance and Choreography at Virginia Commonwealth University and then an AAS in Massage Therapy at Queensborough Community College. Before adding the focus of healthcare, Ross developed his dance career in NYC where he studied and performed with world class artists and companies including Doug Varone and Dancers, David Dorfman Dance, and the Limón Company. He also enjoyed a short international dance career with Arch8, an Amsterdam-based company. With the pandemic Ross came back to his roots in Appalachia, opened a massage therapy clinic, and is thrilled to share his love of dance through teaching and performing throughout these beautiful mountains we call home!

Mykal laidlow

(He/him/his), CDA Teaching assistant, production assistant

Mykal Laidlow is a graduate of Cora Dance Brooklyn, where he studied dance for nine years. He was a member of the CYC/Cora Youth Company for four seasons, a dancer with the professional Apprentice Company for two seasons, and a Production Intern and Production Associate for two seasons. Mykie relocated to Clifton Forge, VA from Red Hook, Brooklyn in 2020 and has worked as a Production Associate and volunteer for CDA and professional company productions. This is is his first season working, not only in production, but as a teaching assistant to Founder, Shannon Hummel, at Boys’ Home in Alleghany County. Mykie is a student at Mountain Gateway Community College in Clifton Forge, pursuing a General Studies degree.

Alma scott
(SHE/HER/HERS)

CDA Programs Associate

Alma Scott, a dynamic young entrepreneur and Spanish/American dual citizen, brings a global perspective shaped by her extensive travels across Europe. Enthralled by the rich tapestry of diverse cultures, Alma has a deep-seated passion for the universal language of dance, recognizing its ability to transcend borders.

Her appreciation for the arts fuels her inspiration, particularly in conveying stories through the captivating medium of movement and artistic fervor. Eager to contribute to her newfound community, Alma looks forward to joining a team that strives to make dance more accessible, with a special focus on making a meaningful impact within the Spanish community. 

Having recently settled in Clifton Forge with her partner, Alma is actively engaged in transforming their home in the heart of Clifton, laying the groundwork for a lasting connection with the town. In addition to her entrepreneurial ventures, she runs a small catering business specializing in charcuterie—a delicious fusion of her European roots and culinary expertise—aiming to share her passion for food with the local community. Alma is not just renovating homes; she’s building bridges through dance and gastronomy.

ammara shafqat
(SHE/HER/HERS)

artistic associate

Ammara Shafqat (Artistic Associate) is a dance educator, performer, and arts administrator from Harrisonburg, VA who has worked professionally throughout the state as well as in New York City. She holds a BA in Dance from James Madison University, where she was a member of JMU’s pre-professional touring company, the Virginia Repertory Dance Company, as well as serving as the Co-Director of JMU’s Associate Dance Ensemble, for first-year dance majors. Ammara is currently a dance faculty member at Mary Baldwin University, Cora Dance Alleghany, and several independent studios in the Shenandoah Valley and Alleghany Highlands regions of VA. She has worked as a dancer with globally recognized artists Kyle Abrahama/Abraham.In.Motion, Rubén Graciani, Shannon Hummel, Kiki Lucas, Matt Pardo, among other choreographers. Ammara's work extends beyond her growing body of credits as a performer and teacher to include arts advocacy, production, administration, and community engagement. Ammara will be touring internationally as a manager and assistant with historic post-modern dance icon, Lucinda Childs, and her company in 2024-2025 as well as expanding her role within Cora Dance. She has served as lead faculty, Youth Advancement & Programs Manager, and Youth Company Director for both Cora campuses - New York City (Cora Dance Brooklyn) and in Virginia (Cora Dance Alleghany) - and recently has moved into an Artistic Associate Directorship role over CDA programs in collaboration with Artistic Director, Shannon Hummel. She will continue in this role in 2024-2025, supporting the organization in deepening its education and access work in the Alleghany Highlands, VA; Petersburg/Richmond, VA; and Red Hook, Brooklyn, NYC communities, while continuing to dance with the professional company, Shannon Hummel/Cora Dance, on tour for her fourth season.

keon washington
(he/him/his)

artistic associate

Keon Washington is a New York City native, who has been dancing and performing for twelve years. Once he gained an interest in dance, he began training in Hip Hop and other styles with some of the best teachers in New York City, such as Robert Cecil Brooks III, Amanda Pope, and the late Maurice C. Dean. Throughout high school and post-graduation Keon began realizing his love of training dancers as well as performing. To further cultivate his skill set as a teacher, dancer and choreographer, he began working alongside his mentor Amanda Pope as a teaching assistant at Lower Manhattan Arts Academy, Harlem School of the Arts, Amanda Pope Dance Company and Chimera Concept dance team. Keon has taught at the Harlem School of the Arts, Aubrey Lynch-Extra Essential Arts (AL-EEArts), among others. He has been a dancer with Shannon Hummel/Cora Dance and also a teaching artist at Cora since 2016. In 2023-2024, Keon will be dancing in the professional company Shannon Hummel/Cora Dance; directing CDB’s CYC/Cora Youth Company-Hip Hop; and teaching all levels of CDB in-studio hip hop classes.