2023 Day of Development
Meet Your Instructors
Daniel Lewis
Dr. Daniel Lewis Hon DFA, internationally-recognized dancer, teacher, choreographer and author, joined New World School of the Arts (NWSA) in Miami, Florida, in 1987, as founding Dean of Dance. Here, drawing from nearly three decades of experience in the field, Mr. Lewis created the dance division’s eight-year professional program. In addition to developing and managing NWSA’s dance program, Mr. Lewis has heightened modern dance awareness in South Florida through Miami Dance Futures, a company he formed in 1988. Miami Dance Futures produced the highly successful Miami Balanchine Conference, the Dance History Scholars’ Conference, the National High School Dance Festival and the Modern Dance Sampler. Miami Dance Futures also produces local dance companies, including Houlihan and Dancers and Rosita Segovia’s Ballet Español.
Mr. Lewis is perhaps most widely known for his association with the work of Jose Limón. From 1962-74, he danced with the José Limón Dance Company, originating roles in A Choreographic Offering, Legend, Psalm, The Winged, Comedy and The Unsung. In 1975, Mr. Lewis completed the choreography of The Waldstein Sonata, an unfinished work begun by Limón just before his death. As Mr. Limón’s assistant for seven years, Mr. Lewis staged the works of Limón and Doris Humphrey for such companies as the Royal Swedish Ballet, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre, American Ballet Theatre, National Ballet of Canada, the London School of Contemporary Dance, The Juilliard School, and the José Limón Company. In 1972 following the death of José Limón Mr. Lewis served as the Limón company’s acting artistic director and in 1984 became founding director of the Limón Institute. Mr. Lewis’s book, The Illustrated Dance Technique of José Limón (Harper & Row Publishers, 1984), has been translated in German, Spanish and Japanese. Princeton Book Company released a second addition in August of 1999.
In addition, the Technique Video or DVD, is available from Video D. He had two papers published, in Medical Problems of Performing Artists, in 1998 “Health Care for Dance Students at a Performing Arts Academy” and “Dancing with a Prosthesis“. He was Issue Editor for Dance in Hispanic Cultures, Harwood Academic Publishers. In May of 2020 his biography Daniel Lewis A Life in Choreography and the Art of Dance was published by McFarland Press.
As a choreographer, Mr. Lewis has been commissioned to create works by the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York State Council on the Arts, Dallas Civic Opera, American Opera Center at Lincoln Center, Amherst College, the University of California, Los Angeles, The Juilliard School, and companies in South America and England. His repertory company, Daniel Lewis Dance Repertory Company, known originally as Contemporary Dance System, performed and taught extensively throughout the United States, Europe, and Scandinavia for 17 years. The company performed the works of Mr. Lewis and other contemporary choreographers, as well as the master works of José Limón, Anna Sokolow, Doris Humphrey, Sophie Maslow and Lucas Hoving to name a few. Anna Sokolow was the resident choreographer for 15 of those years, creating As I Remember, a suite of three early solos, and a new full-evening work called Scriabin based on the composer’s music. Over her years as the resident choreographer, she staged and choreographed many works on the company. Her work Dreams was staged on the company, and in 1975 Anna reworked Dreams for the camera in the CBS television production of Camera 3 on the Daniel Lewis Dance Repertory Company.
From 1984-87, Mr. Lewis was Assistant to Martha Hill, the Director of the Dance Division, at The Juilliard School, where he had been a member of the dance faculty since 1967. Mr. Lewis was also an adjunct professor at New York University and a professor at Amherst College for six years while his company was in residence there. Mr. Lewis has served on the Fulbright Screening Committee and as a dance panelist for the National Endowment for the Arts. He has serves as a dance panelist and advisor to the Canada Council for the arts, a dance panelist for the Florida Department of State, Division of Cultural Affairs, and a grants panelist for many grants for the Metro-Dade Cultural Affairs Council. He has served as Vice president, president and immediate past president for the National Association of School of Dance.
Mr. Lewis graduated from New York’s High School of Performing Arts in 1962 and The Juilliard School in 1967. In 1990, the National Society of Arts and Letters awarded Mr. Lewis the gold medal for Lifelong Achievement in Dance. In 2001 he received The Florida Arts Recognition Award recognizing his outstanding initiatives, leadership and excellence in supporting the arts in Florida. In 2002 he received two awards, he was Honorary Chairman for “dance4life”, and received a Life time achievement award and was presented with the Nancy Smith Award, for consistently demonstrating outstanding leadership and excellence in dance in Florida at the Florida Dance Festival. In October of 2010 he received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Dance Educators Organization, In February of 2011, Miami Dade County and the City of Miami declared February 5, 2011 as Daniel Lewis Day. On April 6, 2011, he received a proclamation from the floor of the Florida State Senate for his work in the arts in Florida by Senator Anitere Flores. On November 28th He receive the 2011 Martha Hill “Lifetime Achievement Award in New York City. On December 14, 2012 Mr. Lewis received an Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts Degree From the University of Florida. Mr. Lewis received an Education Advancement Award from the José Limón Foundation on April 29, 2013. He received the Doris Leeper Award by the Florida Alliance for Arts Education (FAAE) in 2017. On March 10. 2019 he was Honored by Dance Now Miami at their 2019 Benefit for bringing the legacy of time and culture to South Florida. On May 11, 2019 he received the Trailblazer award from the downtown Dance Booster Club, for blazing the trail for dancers and art education that changed the future of the performing arts in Miami for generations to come. On September 12, 2020 he was awarded the 2020 “A Life for Dance” Lifetime achievement Award from the International Ballet Festival of Miami.
Diego Blanco & Ana Padron
Diego Blanco, born in Colombia, came to the U.S. at the age of 9 and quickly embraced dance. Dance became for him a means of expression and integration into the new culture. Trained in the traditional Argentinian Tango filtered through the multicultural influences of Miami. Diego has been performing the tango since the age of 11, winning awards and gaining recognition as a skilled performer and choreographer with a highly personal, evocative style. Diego is a graduate of New World School of the Arts and holds a BFA in Dance Performance from the University of Florida. In 2001, he received first place in choreography from the NFAA’s ARTS program now the YoungArts Foundation. Later, he became an apprentice with Jennifer Muller/The Works Dance Company. Diego has performed in Jacobs Pillow, Bangkok Kind Power Theater, with Montana Symphony, Giraudo Tango Orchestra, has traveled with Hector Del Curto’s,
Eternal Tango and Washington Pan-American Symphony. His residencies include Dance STL and Albany Tango Society. Diego was awarded the Soka Gakkai Malaysia an award presented to organizations dedicated to championing art that embodies Buddhist principles of humanism and peace. It was presented in recognition of his “dedication to Argentine tango as a form of expression.”
Ana Padron, born in Miami to a family of Cuban parents, has been studying ballet since the age of 4 and is well acquainted with the rigorous training required by classical studios and
Cuban-influenced classical dance with its emphasis on virtuosity and high physical skill. The daughter of a professional musician, she has embraced musicality as part of her training since
her earliest years. Upon graduating from Miami’s New World School of the Arts under the direction of Daniel Lewis, Ms.Padron became a company member of Martha Graham 2nd company and co-founded the non-profit Dance Company, Tango For All where alongside Diego Blanco created and directed full-length production of BLIND: Strength in Vulnerability, presented at Brooklyn Academy of Music-Fisher. Ms. Padron currently works in the Field of Arts in Health, as the Specialist at Miami Cancer Institute, where she assists in the oversite and launched the Arts in Medicine program into the healthcare environment.
Mona Baker
Mona Baker is a former professional dancer and practitioner with over 35 years of helping clients to move pain free, I am the founder of the Actionomics Movement Method (awarded two patents). As a former dancer with American Ballet Theatre with a career ending injury, I truly understand the challenges dance professionals experience in maintaining their needed career wellness.
Following my career my passion for dance took a new direction into the field of movement becoming a Certified Movement Analyst and Certified Teacher of Labanotation. I realized I still didn’t have the injury prevention information I needed, so I created Actionomics, a language moving through action. I am very excited about sharing my passion for movement and dance with dance professionals, teaching Actionomics’s cutting edge mind and body conversations so they can enjoy and experience performing its freedom through movement.
I am a Registered Somatic Movement Therapist, Registered Somatic Movement Educator, and Registered Dance Educator, currently practicing at Florida Integrative Medical Center. I am also the Actionomics Wellness Movement Consultant with Brandon Ballet.
Dr. Meredith Butulis
Dr. Meredith Butulis, Dance Medicine Physical Therapist, Strength & Conditioning Coach, Pilates/Yoga Instructor, and dancer, looks forward to spreading health & wellness throughout the dance community.
Meredith graduated from Northeastern University with a Doctorate in Physical Therapy, and Boston University with a Master's in Physical Therapy, Bachelor's in Health Studies, and minors in Psychology and Dance. She maintains over a dozen active health and fitness certifications in addition to her Physical Therapy license.
Currently, she is an Assistant Professor at the State College of Florida and Strength & Conditioning Coach at IMG Academy in Bradenton, FL. She has worked as a Physical Therapist for Broadway Shows "The Lion King," "Beauty and The Beast," and "Hairspray," as well as the Radio City Rockettes. She also spent over a decade in Minneapolis as a founding member of the Minnesota Dance Medicine Foundation.
As a dancer, Meredith danced professionally with Boston-based companies Impulse Jazz, Kelly Donovan, and Medusa Dance. She was awarded the Boston Globe's "Top 10 Choreographers" in the early 2000s. Meredithcontinues to both take ballet and contemporary dance classes on a regular basis, and occasionally perform.
She is a published author, having published 3 books, over 3 dozen magazine article contributions, and 2 peer-reviewed original research articles in the Journal of Dance Medicine & Science.