About

LORETTA THOMAS (teacher, choreographer, artistic director of Moving Visions Inc.) has been dancing for over 40 years. Her movement education includes Isadora Duncan’s work with Julia Levien, Hortense Koolouris and Catherine Gallant, under scholarship with Merce Cunningham, ballet with Maggie Black, Tai Chi with Master Cheng Hsing Yu and an apprenticeship with Laura Dean. She performed with Michael Sokoloff Dance Ensemble in Texas and San Francisco, the Austin Civic Ballet before moving to New York City in 1977. She has since performed with Lori Belilove & The Isadora Duncan Dance Co.,  with Dances by Isadora and Catherine Gallant/Dance, in addition to presenting her own work in theater and film. Ms. Thomas has taught at her Moving Visions Studio, the Isadora Duncan Foundation for Dance, Mark Morris Dance Center and in workshop at Vassar College, Texas Women’s University, Houston Performing Arts High School and the Isadora Duncan International Symposium. She currently teaches her classes at Gina Gibney Dance Center and is the artistic director of Moving Visions Inc. Her Moving Visions Dancers have performed in the Paul Taylor Youth Ensemble Showcase, with Dances by Isadora in Central Park, St. Marks Church and Jacob’s Pillow and at Baruch College Theater and Mark O’Donnell Theater with Moving Visions. Ms. Thomas recently created four dance films with producer and editor Daniel Madoff. One of these films,The Well, was awarded best dance film in film festivals in Paris, London, Berlin, Florence, Toronto and Los Angeles. The films recently received their New York premiere screening in a Gibney Pop in the  Agnes Varis Performing Arts Center at Gibney Dance Center.

CATHERINE GALLANT has been creating work for more than 30 years. Ms. Gallant’s work often explores themes of chance, doubt and the body as a source of comfort and torment. She has presented work at 92nd Street Y Harkness Dance Center, WestFest (at Westbeth), Arts on Site, Jacob’s Pillow Inside/Out and American Dance Guild. Her latest work, Escape from the House of Mercy, will finally be presented in full in a live performance in December. Catherine is also the director of Dances by Isadora which, since 1989, performs, teaches and collaborates with dancers throughout the world, most recently with French choreographer, Jerome Bel on his new work, Isadora Duncan which Ms. Gallant will perform in 2022. Catherine began her study of the technique of Isadora Duncan in 1982 with Julia Levien. Catherine has been the dance educator at PS 89 in Manhattan since 1998. She and her students were featured in the Emmy-nominated PBS documentary, PS DANCE! Catherine is on the faculty of the Dance Education Laboratory (DEL) and leads workshops for dance teachers throughout the US and abroad. Ms. Gallant is a graduate of the Boston Conservatory and holds an MFA in Dance from Temple University. Catherine would like to acknowledge the generosity of Moving Visions Dance and Loretta Thomas for providing countless hours of rehearsal time at 19 Murray Street which has allowed Ms. Gallant’s work to continue to grow and develop.

FAITH KIMBERLING holds a B.A. in English literature from Bucknell University, graduate credits in Dance Ed from SUNY Empire State./92nd StY/Dance Education Lab (DEL), and recently completed Corvino Children’s ballet pedagogy workshops. She currently dances for Loretta Thomas, Putnam County Dance Project, and Mark Bankin. Faith danced with Lori Belilove and the Isadora Duncan Dance company from 2006 – 2021, where  she danced solo and ensemble roles in NYC, internationally, and around the country in addition to teaching company class and lecture demonstration performances about Isadora in public schools. She also choreographed for, coached and taught the Beliloveables, the children’s performing company of the Isadora Duncan Dance Foundation. Before and concurrently, Faith danced 17 years with White Wave:Young Soon Kim Dance Company, enjoying performances locally and in China, Korea, and Inner Mongolia. Other companies include Ceule Dance, Pilobolous creative services, and many regional and New York musical theater productions. Faith also currently teaches creative dance to underserved NYC public schools as a Dance Teaching Artist with Mark DeGarmo Dance and teaches creative dance, Duncan technique, hiphop, preballet and ballet to ages 3-adult at the YMCA and Bridge for Dance.

Francesca Todesco is of Swiss Italian origin and studied dance in Switzerland, Germany, and the US. She has been a dancer with Catherine Gallant/DANCE and a member of Dances by Isadora since 2000, exploring the repertory of Isadora Duncan. She continues expanding her knowledge in the Duncan style by researching and creating new dance studies in this subject. Francesca was a dancer for the Sokolow Theatre/Dance Ensemble from 2003 to 2019, where she later became managing director; currently she helps with the reconstruction of Ms. Sokolow’s repertory and she is responsible for the archival documentation of the company. Over the years Francesca has performed in repertoire by Isadora Duncan, Jose Limón, Charles Weidman and Anna Sokolow, among others. For over 10 years Francesca had her own children program in Hoboken, NJ Every Little Movement, where she created many works for children; she also conceived a program, Historical Dance Series which hosts dance workshops taught by Master Teachers in the American Modern Dance. This program has featured International Masters as Betty Jones, Fritz Ludin, Gail Corbin, Debra Carr, Jim May, Catherine Gallant and Loretta Thomas, among others. Francesca continues her teachings and explorations by offering weekly dance in NYC, classes at the MMDC for DBI and travels abroad for master workshop and repertory work. She is proud to start her own company, Dances We Dance in 2020.