Adam Crawley is an electron herder and air pressure motivator born of stardust and sprinkles hailing from Earth. His primary objective is peace and unity through strange attractors.
A rock and roll piano and keyboard player, Jefferson Dalby accompanies classes using percussion, flute, electronics, electric percussion, and many piano styles. He is the bandleader of the Jazzphibians and has performed with Fort Worth’s Hip Pocket Theatre, Jubilee Theatre, and Sojourner Truth Players. He is a former accompanist at Fort Worth Ballet, Boston Ballet, and White Mountain Summer Dance Festival and has been an accompanist at North Carolina School of the Arts since 1992. BalletClassMusicforFree.
Matthew Dixon, composer and multi-instrumentalist in the field of music for dance, received his Bachelor of Arts in percussion performance from the University of North Texas School of Music, focusing on world music, jazz, drumline, and classical genres. He apprenticed under the tutelage of composer/accompanists Claudia Howard Queen at the University of North Texas and Keith Fleming at Texas Women’s University. As a multi-instrumentalist dance musician, Mr. Dixon uses piano, percussion, voice, electronics, samplers, and loops to create symphonic soundscapes allowing for a supportive and free environment.
Natalie Gilbert is a pianist, accompanist, composer, and teacher and was the American Dance Festival's Music Director from 1981 to 2011. Natalie is also a nationally certified massage therapist and bodyworker licensed in North Carolina. She has an active piano teaching studio with students of all ages, emphasizing improvisation and all styles of music. She currently plays for dance classes at Duke University and for the Carolina Ballet summer dance intensive. She also was music coordinator at The Ohio State University Department of Dance and a founding board member of the International Guild of Musicians in Dance. Her music degrees include Oberlin (BA) and Ohio State University (MA). Natalie lived in NYC for 16 years, freelancing as a cocktail pianist, and was on the faculty of the NYU Tisch School of the Arts Dance. A featured interview was published in The Body Eclectic: Evolving Practices in Dance Training, edited by Melanie Bales and Rebecca Nettl-Fiol. She has composed music for choreographers including Liz Lerman, Dan Wagoner, Ze’eva Cohen, Sally Hess, Linda Tarnay, Jessica Fogel, Peter Goss, and Viola Farber. Past faculty positions include C.I.D. in Paris, New World School of the Arts in Miami, and Carolina Friends Middle School. She was also part of ADF/Korea from 1990 through 1992. nataliegilbert.com
Andy Hasenpflug has had the great pleasure of working as a musician in the dance world since 1989. He is the dance music director at Slippery Rock University and the American Dance Festival. As a composer and dance musician, he has collaborated with countless choreographers and filmmakers over the years. Andy also works as a drummer and percussionist, having played with the United States Air Force Band, Chicago Shakespeare Theater, and too many others to count. andyhasenpflug.com & so
West Oxking is a multi-instrumental sound wizard. She has a diverse background including dance accompaniment, metal, musicals, folk singer songwriting, nihilist dad rock, lofi-beats, sad girl bedroom rock, daft punk cover bands, noise bands, worship, and a song-spell practice on TikTok. She was born in El Paso, TX, and holds a degree in modern languages in Russian from UT San Antonio. West had a rich musical life as the resident accompanist for Texas Woman’s University in Denton, TX, for 5 years. She led a Texas rock and roll band entitled West Oxking & the One Night Crusade. West hopes to put together another band in the future.
Percussionist, musician, and former musical director for the African American Dance Ensemble, Baba Khalid Saleem has lived, worked, and studied in the Ivory Coast and worked and studied with Rose Marie Guiraud, Babatunde Olatunji of Nigeria, Ladji Camara of Guinea, Titos Sampa of Zaire, Les Ballet Africains, and the National Dance Company of Guinea. Khalid has been on faculty in the Dance Department at The College at Brockport, State University of New York, since 1994. Khalid was very active during The College at Brockport’s annual diversity conference and was invited to present African percussion workshops in Salvador, Brazil, in November 2008. Khalid’s latest International cultural exchange travels took him to Haiti in January 2011, traveling with SUNY Oswego’s Psychology Department as a consultant, teacher, and musician. He performed at the August 2011 National Black Theater Festival in Winston-Salem, NC, Sankofa, and the African Dance and Drum Ensemble at The College at Brockport. He is the recipient of the Greater Rochester Cultural Arts recognition award, November 2011. Khalid also participated in Konkoran’s 2011 annual conference in Washington, DC, where Chuck Davis and Melvin Deale were honored. He has been on the American Dance Festival faculty since 1985.
Michael Wall is an internationally recognized composer, performer, and educator who collaborates with dancers, choreographers, and filmmakers around the world. He composes original music, accompanies dance classes, and teaches sound design for dance and performance with Ableton Live. Michael has worked at Rutgers University, Princeton University, NYU, The Ohio State University, the Bates Dance Festival, the American Dance Festival, and The University of Utah, School of Dance. He continues to support independent artists in digital music distribution and offers a comprehensive online library of music for dance students, teachers, and choreographers. You can find all of his music at soundFORMovement.com.