Board of Directors

Keith A. Thompson is an independent choreographer, performer, educator, and the Artistic Director and Founder of danceTactics, a contemporary dance and physical theater company committed to expanding perspectives through movement, interdisciplinary collaboration, and socially engaged performance. He serves as Assistant Director of Dance and Professor in the School of Music, Dance and Theatre at Arizona State University, where he supports the development of emerging artists and advances innovative approaches to creative practice.

Thompson danced with the internationally acclaimed Trisha Brown Company from 1992 to 2001, later serving as a rehearsal assistant, and has collaborated with distinguished artists and companies across the contemporary performing arts. His choreographic practice bridges dance, physical theater, and embodied storytelling, exploring the intersections of memory, inheritance, grief, resilience, identity, and collective experience. His work has been presented nationally and internationally through performances, residencies, and cultural exchanges.

A 2026 American Dance Festival Footprints Choreographer, Thompson continues to develop work that challenges conventional narratives and creates space for underrepresented voices and lived experiences. His Love Alone Anthology Project, inspired by Paul Monette’s writing, premiered at La MaMa Moves! Dance Festival in New York in 2025 before making its international premiere at Teatro Benito Juárez in Mexico City in August 2026. His forthcoming project, Archive of a Mother: Letters to Langston, investigates Black literary lineage, intergenerational memory, and the relationship between personal histories and collective remembrance.

Through his artistic leadership with danceTactics and his work in higher education, Thompson advances a vision of dance as a catalyst for connection, critical reflection, and belonging—creating encounters that invite audiences to reconsider whose stories are told, whose bodies are seen, and how performance can deepen our understanding of one another.

Valerie Albert is a Los Angeles native (we do exist!), who grew up in the dance world. She trained at the Virginia School of the Arts before joining the Milwaukee Ballet Company. Valerie earned a BFA in Fashion and Costume Design at Woodbury University, and an MPA in Nonprofit Management from CSUN.

She has worked on numerous productions in theatre, film, dance, and television, and spent seven years as the Wardrobe Coordinator for Mattel Inc. Valerie lives and works in Los Angeles with her husband, her two young sons, and two cats who she wishes were dogs.

Clarence Brooks has most recently performed as a freelance artist with Baye & Asa, danceTactics Performance Group, David Parker & The Bang Group, Pioneer Winter Collective, Sokolow Theatre/Dance Ensemble, Megan Williams Dance Projects, Aiden Feldman, Dancing Earth, and Monica Bill Barnes & Company. In the previous century, they danced with Nikolais/Murray Louis Dance, Laura Dean Dancers and Musicians, Ohio Ballet, Marcus Schulkind, Anna Sokolow’s Players Project, Robin Becker Dance, Minnesota Dance Theatre, and Ballet Oklahoma, to name just a few of the more than 100 esteemed companies.

A retired professor of dance, they are the recipient of several fellowships, awards, and honors; are featured in the documentary The World of Alwin Nikolais; are published in Exposure Doesn’t Pay the Bills: An Artist Guide to Building a Legacy in the 21st Century and One Teacher in 10: LGBT Educators Share Their Stories; were a featured model in Olto’s Infinity Bike and Allen Edmonds’ centennial celebration catalog; their performance of Talley Beatty’s Mourner’s Bench is archived in the Library of Congress; and they are the featured artist in Talia Bethany’s short documentary film, Clarence.

A high school dropout, Clarence holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in dance, as well as somatic certifications in Evans Technique and yoga, and is a Certified Movement Analyst. They sit on the boards of danceTactics Performance Group, Doris Humphrey Foundation for Dance, Florida Dance Education Organization, Miami Dance Futures, Natural Movers Foundation, Inc., and Sokolow Theatre/Dance Ensemble.

Josh is a graduate of CWU with a BA in Theatre Arts: Youth Drama (2008), Columbia College of Hollywood (2012), SCT’s Teaching Artist Apprentice Program (2014), Arts Washington’s TATLab (2019), and Leadership Tri-Cities Class XXIX (2025–26).

They have worked in children’s theatre as a director, teaching artist, actor, and writer in Seattle, Los Angeles, and the Tri-Cities area of Washington State since 2005. Josh has taught countless classes and subjects over their career, with specialties in Story Drama, Advanced Acting, and Improv.

They have directed many productions over the years, including Keeping Mr. Lincoln (2019 AACT National YouthFest Best Production), Holes, Little Women: The Musical, Peter and the Starcatcher, The Hobbit, Beauty and the Beast, Matilda, The Great Gatsby, Into the Woods, The Lightning Thief: The Percy Jackson Musical, Newsies, Romeo & Juliet, and Tom Sawyer.

In 2021, Josh was awarded the City of Richland’s STAR Award, honoring significant support of and contribution to the artistic community in Richland. They look forward to learning and growing with the danceTactics community.

Mohammed Islam, CPA, is a nonprofit finance professional with extensive experience in financial management, accounting, budgeting, compliance, and audit oversight. As a Comptroller, he oversees financial operations for a complex nonprofit organization, with experience spanning financial reporting, government grants and contracts, internal controls, audits, and organizational financial planning.

Mohammed brings his financial and governance expertise to the danceTactics Board and is excited to support its mission, growth, and continued impact in the arts community.

Kevin Kraus is a commercial growth and transformation executive with over a decade of experience building revenue, partnership, and operating systems. He currently runs his own commercial strategy advisory practice.

Kevin previously served on the board of an organization that supports children with limb loss, where he helped lead fundraising and partnership efforts. His connection to danceTactics is personal as much as professional — his two young daughters’ love of dance has given him a deep appreciation for the art form’s power to bring people together. Kevin lives in Los Angeles and is focused on helping build danceTactics’ next chapter.

Corey Lancaster is a cybersecurity executive with 26 years of experience protecting federal, defense, and commercial enterprises. He is an Air Force combat veteran (1994–2002) who later volunteered as a contractor to deploy to the Baghdad Green Zone.

His career spans Northrop Grumman, Raytheon, BAE Systems, General Dynamics, Oracle, Freddie Mac, and CenturyLink, and includes leading a large contractor IT Security and Operations team at HHS during COVID. In 2025 he founded CISO-as-a-Service (CAAS), a veteran-owned practice that provides fractional CISO leadership, compliance, and AI security advisory to mid-market organizations.

Corey holds an MS in Information Systems Security Management and the CISM, CDPSE, and Associate C-CISO certifications. He is a five-time published author and has built and served on several nonprofit boards.

Sean Minner is the Chief People Officer at WPAS, Inc., where he leads People Services across the company’s offices in Mercer Island, Los Angeles, Capitol Heights, and Middletown, along with its remote teams. His responsibilities include talent acquisition, compensation, benefits, payroll, employee relations, labor relations, and organizational development.

Sean brings more than 25 years of human resources leadership experience across education, technology, healthcare services, and manufacturing. Before joining WPAS, he served as Chief Human Resource Officer at Trox and at BASIS.ed, where he built scalable HR strategies and led succession planning, culture, and merger integration work.

Sean holds an MBA in Human Resources from Strayer University and a BA in Business Communications from The Ohio State University. He is a member of the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) and is based in Phoenix, Arizona.

Tamara Hurwitz Pullman has been in the dance field for 30-plus years as a performer, educator, choreographer, curator, community engager, dance dramaturge, and screendance maker.

The Passing Project — Co-creator. A multidisciplinary performance piece investigating themes of passing and dying, layering seven dancers, original music performed live by four musicians, and a stage-sized linen sculpture suggesting the veils between worlds. Commissioned by The Chandler Center for the Performing Arts in Randolph, Vermont, in collaboration with Vermont dance artists.

The Good Water — Co-director. A short dance film centering on one woman’s struggle to provide and protect the earth’s most precious resource. Commissioned by The Root and The Bloom Collective as part of their Rich Hill Water Project in Butte, Montana, in collaboration with Montana dance artist Joy French. It features an original score and was filmed on location in Montana.

The Wild Hunt — Movement Director. An original play with songs by Bill Pullman, developed by Denver’s Visionbox Studios and NY Stage and Film.

9th Rib — Creative Producer and Performer. An intergenerational, site-specific dance/theater/music collaboration with choreographer Keith Thompson incorporating community members alongside professional dancers; originated in Butte, Montana, and toured to New York City.

Healing Wars — Collaborator and performer. During her decade-plus of dancing with MacArthur Genius Award winner Liz Lerman, she spent four years developing and performing in the touring dance theater piece Healing Wars (nominated for six Helen Hayes Awards), the inaugural production of the National Civil War Project. Her work with Liz also encompassed the use of her Critical Response Process.

Others she has performed with include José Limón Dance Company, Rosanna Gamson World/Wide, The Yard, Ann Vachon/Dance Conduit, and Pacific Dance Ensemble (Hae Kyung Lee, Stephanie Gilliland).

She has served as Dance Dramaturge for the Los Angeles Dance Resource Center’s Home Grown @ Bootleg series, Theater Choreographer for The Latino Theater Company of Los Angeles, and Dance Curator for the Los Angeles Theater Center.

As a dance educator, she teaches Modern Dance Technique, José Limón Repertory, Dance-Making, and Improvisation in many different settings including universities, dance conservatories, YMCAs, dance studios, elementary and secondary schools, and rural storefronts. Community engagement with people of all ages and abilities is an area of special interest.

Ellen PutneyMoore is the Executive Director of The New York Choral Society, where she brings together a lifelong passion for the performing arts with extensive experience in nonprofit leadership, fundraising, marketing, and audience engagement. Prior to joining NYCHORAL, she held leadership roles at several New York and Michigan cultural institutions.

A former professional opera singer who performed throughout the United States and Europe, Ellen has experienced the arts from both sides of the stage and is deeply committed to creating vibrant, welcoming cultural organizations that connect artists, audiences, and communities.

Shivaji Sarkar is a technology governance executive with more than 21 years of leadership experience, including over eight years in regulated-industry compliance environments. He has founded and chaired four enterprise governance bodies, including an AI Governance Council and a Technology Executive Council, and has advised CIOs, CTOs, and executive teams on risk, strategy, and digital transformation.

Shivaji currently serves on the Executive Committee of Soikot, a nonprofit organization, where he holds fiduciary responsibility for Finance and Diversity. He brings that experience in financial stewardship, accountability, and inclusive governance to danceTactics.

His work spans legacy-to-cloud modernization, Zero Trust security, and DevSecOps governance under HIPAA, NIST, FedRAMP, and FHIR frameworks. He holds an M.B.A. and a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering, and is a Certified AI Transformation Leader and Certified TOGAF Architect. Shivaji is based in Lutz, Florida.