Carole Cascio Drake

OUR FOUNDER
Carole Cascio

Carole Cascio of Kent Island, was born July 5, 1943, in Dade County, Florida. Carole moved to Maryland when she was 13.

Carole earned a bachelor’s degree in Physical Education (PE) from Towson State College (now Towson University) and a master’s degree from George Washington University where her emphasis was in Modern Dance. She was a Professor of Dance and PE at Goucher College before transferring to Essex Community College (now called Community College of Baltimore County) to coach the women’s lacrosse team. While at Essex, Carole created their dance department and was the Dance Department Chairperson from 1969 to 1996. She founded the college’s original dance company, Dimensional Dance Media (DDM) in 1974. Carole choreographed and directed DDM for many years.

Carole studied with Maida Withers, Don Redlich, Al Huang, and Bill Evans. Choreographic credits include: Towson University, George Washington University Goucher College, Essex and the Dance Construction Company in Washington D.C.

Peter Pucci Executive Director Carole Cascio Fund

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Peter Pucci

Peter Pucci is a Lucille Lortel Award winner and Drama Desk Nominee for Outstanding choreography for Queens Boulevard (the musical). Peter also received a Drama Desk Award for his work on The Orphans’ Home Cycle. Peter attended Essex Community College (now CCBC) and Towson University. Peter graduated from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts with a BFA in Modern Dance. Peter was a principal dancer and rehearsal director with Pilobolus Dance Theatre for nine years. While with Pilobolus, Peter toured and taught worldwide, made several film and television appearances, performed on Broadway, collaborated on many Pilobolus pieces, before forming his own company, Peter Pucci Plus Dancers. Pucci Plus performed in New York City on Broadway and five seasons at The Joyce Theater.

Peter has choreographed over 150 dances, including commissioned works for The Joffrey Ballet, Ballet Arizona, Ballet Hispanico, Colorado Ballet, Pittsburgh Ballet, Alberta Ballet and the Big Apple Circus. He has also served as movement director on numerous theatrical productions including The Cherry Orchard, Oklahoma, Fool for Love, Carnival, Twelfth Night, Midsummer Nights Dream, The Importance of Being Earnest and Renard for the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center.

Ann K Goodman

TRUSTEE FOR THE FUND
Ann Karwacki Goodman

Ann Goodman has been serving clients on the Mid-Shore of Maryland as a planning attorney, non-profit Board member and volunteer since 1994. For over 27 years, her law practice has focused on estate and tax planning, assisting clients to meet charitable goals, elder law and estate administration. As Ann concentrated on representation of seniors, planning for individuals with disabilities and asset protection became a specialty. She drafts simple or complex documents to meet family and philanthropic goals and to minimize taxation. Ann also assists with probate and trust administration, estate litigation and guardianship matters.

Born and raised in Baltimore, Ann spent summers in Kent County. Her family permanently relocated to the Eastern Shore in the ’80s. With an undergraduate degree in Criminal Justice from University of Maryland at College Park, and a degree with honors from University of Baltimore School of Law, she was admitted to the Bar in 1994. After serving as a law clerk to Judge Raymond Thieme in Anne Arundel County, she began practicing in Easton in 1995.

Consistently active in community service throughout her career, Ann has served on the Boards of the Mid-Shore Council on Family Violence. The Women and Girls Fund of the Mid-Shore, the Chesapeake College Foundation and the Talbot and Queen Anne’s County Advisory Committees to the Mid Shore Community Foundation. She recently spent another term as a member of the Elder Law Section Council of the Maryland State Bar Association. She is a past President of the Queen Anne’s County Bar and a Maryland Bar Foundation Fellow.

Ann met Carole and her husband Andy in 2012, and worked with them over time to craft a plan that achieved their charitable vision. The Foundation endeavors to carry on that work.

Linda Kohler

ADVISOR
Linda Kohler

Linda Kohler, Executive Director of Chesapeake Charities. She has been with Chesapeake Charities since it awarded its first grant in 2005. She manages the daily operations of the organization and its 135+ funds, provides assistance to those interested in philanthropy, and secures resources to address community needs.

Linda’s background includes banking and finance. She served as Managing Director for Millenium Capital Development, an investment firm specializing in telecommunications and information technology products; and Vice President of Treasury Bank, a “boutique bank” chartered in the District of Columbia.

Linda is a Standards for Excellence® Licensed Consultant specializing in grants, evaluation, and strategic planning.

Diana Curran

ADVISORY COMMITTEE
Diana Curran

Diana Curran is a retired educator, former professional dancer and choreographer born and raised in Baltimore with 39 years of teaching experience.

After graduating from Goucher College in 1978 with honors she began her teaching career assisting Carole Drake Cascio with the Dimensional Dance Media (DDM) as a choreographer and then becoming Artistic Director of the DDM herself. Diana taught at CCBC for ten years.

In 1979 she co-founded the The Naked Feet Dance Company where she was a principal dancer and choreographer for six years while also performing extensively for Young Audiences. She performed as a soloist with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and has been the recipient of choreography awards and grants from the Md State Arts Council and Baltimore City.

She has also taught at Goucher College, Towson University, Loyola University, the Chatauqua Institute in New York and The Bryn Mawr School for Girls where she shifted her focus to world dance and choreography. She has studied at the Graham, Limon and Ailey schools in New York. She has also studied with Lar Lubovitch, Bill Evans, Kathy Wildberger, June Finch(Cunningham), Luigi, Nat Horne, Arthur Hall, Bebe Miller, and Jawole Willa Jo Zollar to name a few.

She has been on the Boards of the MD State Arts Council and the Baltimore Commission on Arts and Culture.

Anna Rider

ADVISORY COMMITTEE
Anna Rider

Anna Rider is a somatic movement behavioral health therapist that has integrated her skills as an educator, dancer, teacher, choreographer and dance advocate. She received her MFA from Temple University, her MSW from Highlands University, her certification as a Laban Movement Analyst from the Bartenieff/Laban Institute of Movement Studies and is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker.

Anna has taught creative movement to children and provided professional development for classroom teachers. Anna has worked with; MATI (Maryland Artistry in Teaching Institute), Forklift Danceworks and Mindpop’s Creative Learning Initiative. Anna has also taught at the University of Iowa, the Laban/Bartenieff Institute of Movement Studies extension program at University of Maryland College Park, Community College of Baltimore County CCBC, Baltimore School for the Arts, and Patapsco High School and Center for the Arts, where she directed the dance magnet. Anna worked with Carole Drake Cascio as the Assistant Director of the Dimensional Dance Media DDM at CCBC and was also an Artistic Director of DDM.

Anna’s private practice is where she works somatically with a solution focused perspective to move creatively, attentively and efficiently in their everyday lives. While working at the Sports Training Institute in NYC she started to integrate and utilize her studies in Bartenieff Fundamentals, Kinesiology, Ideokinesis, and Body-Mind Centering.

During the last forty-two years, she has worked with dancers, musicians, actors, athletes, people with post-traumatic injuries, those affected by Parkinson’s Disease, Cerebral Palsy and the elderly to bring awareness to their body patterns and movement choices.

Anna enjoys working with the very young to the very young at heart using the language of movement.

Leslie Weiss Tinios

ADVISORY COMMITTEE
Leslie Weiss Tinios

Leslie Weiss Tinios received her AB in Dance Performance and Choreography, Phi Beta Kappa, from Goucher College, her CMA (Certificate in Movement Analysis) from The Laban/Bartenieff Institute of Movement Studies in New York, and her MALS in Interdisciplinary Arts from Wesleyan University in Connecticut.

She has also studied at the Laban Art of Movement Centre in London, at Bill Evans’ Seattle Dance Theatre, and with Robert Ellis Dunn, Kenneth King, Nora Guthrie, Trisha Brown and Marcia Siegel in New York. In 1980, Leslie joined the Dance Faculty at Essex Community College, where she later choreographed for and then directed Dimensional Dance Media from 1982-1992. Upon Carole Cascio’s retirement, Leslie became Dance Department Chair in 1996. Additionally, Leslie’s passion for movement and meaning led her to the study and teaching of yoga, meditation and health and wellness. She retired from teaching in 2020.

She continues to discover the wisdom of the body and is an avid sewist and budding gardener.

Adrienne Kraus Latanishen, CCF Teaching Artist

CCF TEACHING ARTIST
Adrienne Kraus Latanishen

Adrienne Kraus Latanishen is a teaching artist for the Carole Cascio Fund for Mind Movement Dance Connections. Her dance career began at The Community College of Baltimore County where she graduated with her A.A. in Dance before earning her B.A. in Dance from University of Maryland, College Park. She has danced professionally for Trajectory Dance Project, Molly Jean Kirkup Heer, BlueShift Dance, The Collective, B3W, Andary Dance, withhart.dance.projects, and independently as a freelance dancer. She has choreographed for theatre companies, studios, high schools, Baltimore Composers Forum, and Maryland Opera Camp since 2011. For several years, AKL was the Director of Dance at St. Timothy’s School and Artist is Residence at Patapsco High School and Center for the Arts. Currently, Adrienne works at CCBC as adjunct dance faculty, a choreographer for their dance company, and the Performing Arts Coordinator for Continuing Education. In addition, Ms. Kraus Latanishen serves on the Baltimore County Commission on Arts and Sciences as the Chair of the Performing Arts Subcommittee. She feels fortunate to work for the Carole Cascio Fund given the connection to CCBC she, Carole, and Peter all share.