The Dance Data Project® Team
Tamara Rojo in Akram Khan’s Giselle
Photo by Laurent Liotardo©
Courtesy of English National Ballet
Advisory Council:
Research Design & Statistics
DDP is fortunate to have the following individuals as a resource in designing our research studies, to check our methodology and statistical protocols. We are grateful for their collaboration
Patrick Crocker
Project and Research Consultant
Patrick is a Senior Associate with PricewaterhouseCoopers Strategy& in Dallas, Texas, where he focuses on health sector consulting in the payer, provider, and pharmaceutical/biotechnology verticals. Prior to PwC, Patrick spent over a decade in the U.S. Army as a Judge Advocate, mostly practicing in the criminal, operational, and intelligence law fields. He is originally from Texas and has been involved with dance off and on throughout his life, including working as an accompanist, composer, and performer for the dance departments at Texas Christian University and the University of Richmond. He is thrilled to be able to contribute to the amazing work DDP is doing to support equity initiatives in classical ballet.
Patrick holds a B.S., magna cum laude, in Psychology from Texas Christian University, a J.D., cum laude, from the University of Richmond School of Law, and an M.B.A., with honors, from the University of California, Berkeley.
Melanie Doerner
Melanie Doerner is a proven arts leader and fundraiser with 19 years of nonprofit management experience, and has raised over $15M for the arts. Melanie began her career in arts administration in 2001 with the José Limón Dance Company. She is currently the Director of Development for North Carolina Theatre in Raleigh, previously working for Carolina Ballet and Children’s Musical Theater of San Jose. She is a founding board member of sjDANCEco. Melanie holds a J.D. from Osgoode Hall Law School and formerly practiced as a corporate attorney in her native Canada. Her husband Michael Doerner is a ballet dancer, having performed with the National Ballet of Canada under Reid Anderson and James Kudelka, Alberta Ballet under Mikko Nissinen, and Ballet San Jose under Dennis Nahat.
Erica Lynette Edwards
Project and Research Consultant
Erica Lynette Edwards is an accomplished consultant and public speaker who champions change to advance the art of dance. With diversity, equity, and inclusion as the core foundation of her work, she transforms visions into reality. After a rewarding 15-year career as a ballerina at The Joffrey Ballet and five years as the Director of Community Engagement, she founded Cultivating Better Tomorrows. Through this consulting company Erica reshapes the dynamics of dance communities to produce environments where all students can thrive. Highly skilled in delivering consistent success and effective change, she is passionate about facilitating results driven conversations and workshops focused on reflection and knowledge building. Her visionary leadership has earned her many honors and opportunities, including speaking on national panels, giving a TEDx talk, and being selected as a member of Crain’s Chicago Business “40 Under 40.” Visit Erica’s personal website here. Visit the website for Cultivating Better Tomorrows here.
Sumru Erkut, PHD
Sumru Erkut, Ph.D., is senior scholar and former senior research scientist and associate director at the Wellesley Centers for Women (WCW) whose research has focused on racial/ethnic diversity and gender equity in leadership and development across the life course. She was part of a team that found that three or more women on a corporate board of directors constitute a critical mass, which improves the functioning of corporate boards, and she has analyzed data from interviews with diverse women leaders, which resulted in Inside Women’s Power: Learning from Leaders. Erkut directed the postdoctoral research training program on variations in child and adolescent development funded by the National Institute for Child Health and Development.
Iyun Harrison
Iyun Ashani Harrison is a graduate of The Juilliard School, received his MFA from Hollins University, and is a doctoral candidate in education at Marymount University. He has danced with Dance Theatre of Harlem, Ballet Hispanico, Ailey II, and the National Dance Theatre Company of Jamaica. Harrison is the executive director of Ballet Ashani and his choreography has been commissioned by the Juilliard Dance Ensemble, Ailey School, Boston Conservatory, Collage Dance Collective, American Dance Festival, University of Florida, Henderson State University, Pomona College, Jamaica School of Dance, and the University of the West Indies. He has held several academic positions including Cornish College of the Arts, Goucher College, and Webster University. Harrison has also taught on the faculties of Pacific Northwest Ballet School, The Ailey School, and Peabody Conservatory.
Lory Lannon
Lory currently leads The Philanthropy Workshop’s Americas East portfolio and partners with philanthropists and social investors to establish social impact goals, create strategic roadmaps for community engagement and educational programs, and curate expert connections and resources for her members. Lory graduated from Boston College with a B.A. in Economics and received her M.S. in Global Affairs from New York University. She currently serves as an Advisor to the President of the Ethiopian Red Cross Society, is a Next Generation member of UNICEF USA and NEXUS Global, and a 21/64 Certified Advisor on Multigenerational Family Philanthropy. Lory also performed for the Quezon City Ballet from 2003-2007.
Susan West
Project and Research Consultant
Susan West is an active supporter of the arts and an advocate of diversity in the workplace. She joined the Dance Data Project® in 2016 as Lead Researcher, now serving as a research and project consultant. Susan has spent her career working for and with higher education institutions. She is a Manager in the Higher Education Strategy & Operations practice at Huron Consulting Group where she leads a discussion group on women in the workplace and engages in numerous efforts to support, promote, and recruit women in higher education consulting. Prior to joining Huron, Susan was Associate Director, Office of the Chief Information Officer (CIO), at Yale University. While at Yale Susan served as Co-Chair of Yale’s LGBTQ Affinity Group from 2013-2015 and co-founded the organization Women in IT (WIT) @ Yale in 2013.
Susan holds an M.A. in Higher Education and Student Affairs from The Ohio State University and a B.A. in Communication Studies from Furman University.
Ty Woodfolk
Ty Woodfolk is an Executive leader with thirty-plus years of driving full systems HR processes in all HR facets, including management, analysis, and diversity leadership within high profile non-profit arts organizations and for-profit corporations. Currently, as the Director of Human Resources, Diversity, and Inclusion at the Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Ty is involved in championing the organization’s core values and strategic commitment to attract, retain, advance, and support a broadly diverse workforce. Ty previously was the Director of Human Resources for the Houston Ballet Foundation. He graduated from Stephen F. Austin State University with a Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA), Human Resources Management, and is a current member of the Society for Human Resources Management.
Jason Yeung
Research Advisor
A Texas native, Jason is currently a combined MD/PhD student at the University of Texas Medical Branch. His prior education includes a BS in Biomedical Sciences from Texas A&M University and an MS in Infectious Disease and Microbiology from the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health.
Before pursuing a career as a physician scientist, Jason was a ballet dancer. Having trained at the Harid Conservatory, Jason went on to dance with Tulsa Ballet II and won awards at the 2015 Valentina Kozlova International Ballet Competition Finals and Semi-finals. In 2018, Jason started an independent blog analyzing publicly available ballet data (pointes.data.blog/), leading him to join DDP. He is excited to apply his data science and ballet experience to further the advocacy goals of DDP.
