
Jeanne Ruddy
Executive Artistic Director,
Co-Founder, Resident Artist
215.569.4060 ext 206
Jeanne Ruddy is a former Principal Dancer with the Martha Graham Company where she performed throughout the world and was featured in the PBS Great Performances series in Graham's Cave of the Heart. She also performed leading roles in such Graham works as Andromache's Lament, Diversion of Angels, Deaths and Entrances, Seraphic Dialogue, Clytemnestra, Cortege of Eagles, Embattled Garden, Herodiade, and Appalachian Spring. She has also danced on Broadway in The King and I, starring Yul Brynner and was an original member of Agnes de Mille’s Heritage Dance Theatre. In addition, she directed, choreographed and danced in her own company, Jeanne Ruddy and Dancers, in New York City. She received her early dance training in Miami, earning her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from North Carolina School of the Arts and her Masters of Arts degree from New York University. She directed the Graham-based modern department at The Alvin Ailey American Dance Center from 1986 to 1995 and was a faculty member of The Juilliard School from 1988 to 1998. In addition to her work in New York, Ms. Ruddy was invited to numerous international symposiums: The Congress of the Dance in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; The International Sommerakadamie des Tanzes, Cologne, Germany; and The American Dance Festival in Moscow, Russia, where she was the first to teach the Martha Graham Technique to an advanced group of Russian artists after Russia opened. She has been a guest artist where she has taught and choreographed in many of the United States’ leading colleges and universities of dance such as Sarah Lawrence College, Connecticut College and Florida State University. Local teaching appointments have included Temple University, The Rock School of the Pennsylvania Ballet, and as company teacher at Philadanco. Ms. Ruddy served as Co-chair of the Executive Council of The Rock School from 1994 to 2001 and served for six years on the board of Dance Affiliates. She founded Jeanne Ruddy Dance in 1999 and received The Independence Foundation Fellowship Award in 2000. Other awards and grants include the National Endowment for the Arts Challenge Americas well as the NEA’s Artistic Excellence award, three Pew Foundation Dance Advance awards, three William Penn Foundation grants, six Fels Foundation awards, and nine years of support from the Independence Foundation as well as the Suzanne F. Roberts Cultural Fund, the Dolfinger McMahon, PECO—an Exelon Company, Land Services Inc, among others. Ruddy recently received her first endowed fund—the Martha LaVallee-Williams Community Outreach Fund for her Company’s work in the broader community. Since founding the Performance Garage in 2000, Ms. Ruddy, with the help of her Board, contributors, company dancers and staff, developed the space—an incubator for classes, rehearsals, workshops and performances.

Matthew F. Lewandoski II
Touring has taken Mr. Lewandowski throughout the Americas, the Far East, and Europe serving in various management and design capacities for tours such as Cats, Crazy for You, Disney on Ice and as Lighting Director and Director of Production for the New York City-based, international dance company, Shen Wei Dance Arts. His work with Shen Wei includes world premieres with MacArthur “Genius” Fellowship recipient, multi-disciplinary artist, and choreographer, Shen Wei, at the American Dance Festival, Het Muziektheater, the Lincoln Center Festival and the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, as well as The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Park Avenue Armory, Hong Kong’s New Vision Arts Festival and the Edinburgh International.Design credits include work at Harlem’s Apollo Theater with the New York Hip-Hop Theatre Fest, New Year’s Eve at the Hammerstein Ballroom with Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, various works with Dance CT/Hartford Ballet, and The University of Hartford as well as Shen Wei’s Collective Measures, premiering at The American Dance Festival. Additional management credits include Music@Menlo based in the CA Bay Area, the New York Music Theatre Festival, American Repertory Ballet, North Carolina Theatre, Philadelphia Theatre Company, The Performance Garage and the TONY Award winning, Crossroads Theatre Company. Mr. Lewandowski is a graduate of the Hartt School of Music with a degree in Music Direction and Conducting and a proud native son of Philadelphia.

Molly Dougherty
After a long career organizing gallery exhibitions and catalogs for contemporary artists at Moore College of Art and Design and the Philadelphia Art Alliance, Molly Dougherty joined the Foundation for Self-Taught American Artists as its first director. While establishing a lively internet and social media presence and developing programs to raise public awareness about the Foundation’s work, she served as associate producer for its first feature-length documentary film, James Castle: Portrait of an Artist. Molly switched gears in 2015 to focus on fundraising and grantwriting at such institutions as the James A. Michener Art Museum, Pennsylvania School for the Deaf, and Children First (formerly Public Citizens for Children and Youth). Today, in addition to serving as the Director of the Keen Collection of Outsider Art at Bethany Mission, Molly is the Development Director at Performance Garage.

Cédric Jouin
Graphic designer generalist (2D & 3D), former music professional, sports coach, Cédric is drawn towards exploring, understanding and learning with a passion for sharing cultural experiences. Born and raised in France, Cédric moved to Philadelphia in 2010. He has a degree in social sciences, as well as a degree in physical education and coaching. For the past 25 years, Cédric worked in various industries, in both creative and business capacities, including 14 years in the music industry. Throughout these experiences, he had the opportunity to live and travel internationally and to learn about new cultures and traditions, collaborating with people from different countries.

Joyce Stein
Joyce Stein has been an accomplished Chief Financial Officer and Certified Public Accountant with great depth in Non-Profit organizations. She has demonstrated ability to streamline business operations to drive growth and increase efficiency and cash flow. Highly qualified to develop and implement financial controls as well as productivity improvements. Possesses solid leadership, communications and interpersonal skills to establish rapport with Board members and all levels of staff and management.

Charles Tyson
Charles Tyson, Jr. received a BFA in Dance & Choreography from Temple University in 2000. He was Artistic Director and choreographer of Underground DanceWorks (UDW) from 1999 to 2014. He founded and directed the ETC. Performance Series in partnership with the Community Education Center (CEC) from 2007 to 2014. He is currently the director of NeverSkurred Productions, a multimedia production company. He became an international award-winning filmmaker with his collaborative work with Jaye Allison and JADA Dance Company. A member of the Philadelphia Arts community for 25 years, Charles is the host and producer of Philadelphia Dance Talk Radio (sponsored by philadelphiadance.org), and the Arts and Culture Contributor for City Cast Philly. Additionally, he is the co-host and producer of Full Circle (the Podcast) with Charles Tyson, Jr. & Martha Madrigal, producer for Just Say Julie - The Podcast, hosted by actor, comedian and MTV alum Julie Brown.