Faculty
Deo Mwano
Deo Mwano educates and motivates people to grow and to help others. As a person who loves challenges, Deo seeks to identify and solve problems for businesses, nonprofit organizations and education institutions. He is passionate about creating innovative ways to improve technology, education, customer experiences, and inspires others to engage with performing arts. Deo Mwano became the first adjunct professor at Southern New Hampshire University teaching dance courses that fused with cultural studies. Two of his special topic courses Evolution of Hip Hop and Theory of Movements and Practicality were very popular for students who wanted to fulfill an Art requirement course. Theory of Movements and Practicality, explored how danceand movements are part of everything we do. The course dissects sounds, lyrics and melodies, while discovering how it connects to movements and storytelling. The second course, Evolution of Hip-Hop explores the culture of urban city and urban music in how it contributed to the creation of Hip-Hop dance. The course highlights the connection of funk, disco, swing, and tap danceinto hip-hop dancing. Most recently, Deo became a teacher at Phillips Exeter Academy teaching the first accredited Hip-Hop course in the history of the school. His honors include being named to 40 Under 40 as an emerging leader in New Hampshire in 2016 for integrating dance, education and social impact in his work.
Deo is a versatile choreographer, dancer and educator who dances various styles of dance and music. He has been studying dance for over 20 years in the styles of fusion jazz, street jazz, African dance and variety of hip hop styles. He has conducted dance workshops all over the U.S. Mwano has been impacting people all over the United States since the early age of 11 and it was only a matter of time before his impact reached the far corners of the world. His choreography has been performed in South America, Europe, Africa, and Asia through Youth with a Mission Performing Arts Program. Mwano worked with the Pakistani Educational Leadership Institute teaching dance and as a community advisor. He has had opportunities to showcase his choreography nationally and internationally. In 2010 Deo appeared in a TV special for the show, Dancing With The Star<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSuUFPt2nSc> where he choreographed and performed with his brothers and the professional dancers of the show. Deo enjoyed collaborating with Kim Johnson whom he co-choreographed the cha cha/ Hip Hop routine he performed on the show. Deo was able to use his creative thinking of merging the two styles together into a fun entertaining number. Deo is always looking for opportunities to collaborate with creative individuals and organizations. He is the founder of the dance movement called, Movement From Above<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gc4nQomFIWY>.
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Aaron Tolson
A New Hampshire native, Aaron started dancing at the age of ten. At 14 the tap prodigy was invited to perform in the Great Tap Reunion at the Apollo Theatre alongside tap legends Derick Grant, Savion Glover, and Gregory Hines, as well as the rest of the cast of the movie TAP!
When not on the track or in class studying communications, Aaron was in Manhattan honing his tap skills. During his senior year to successfully auditioned for the New York Shakespeare Festival tap program, also known as Funk U! Soon Aaron became a company member of Manhattan Tap and worked in the show Tap Dogs. Jumping feet-first into choreography, he landed a job with Absolut in a national tour titled Absolut Tap!
Soon after, Aaron accepted a role in the national and international tours of Riverdance. He was a featured soloist and captain of the tap dancers for six years as he performed on Broadway and at Radio City Music Hall, on various TV shows, at NBA games, and on stages the world over.
In 2006 Aaron began working with longtime friend Derick Grant on Imagine Tap!, a Chicago-based show whose formation would become the subject of a feature-length documentary, titled Tap or Die.
As a faculty member at The Boston Conservatory and Plymouth State University, Aaron choreographed, produced and directed Something to Tap About, Tapped, Tapped In and Inspired, all featuring performers from his own New England Tap Ensemble. Aaron formed New England Tap Ensemble, a non-profit organization, in May of 2007 to promote the art of tap in the community while fostering a sense of individuality in a professional artist.
From Montana to Moscow, Aaron has performed and taught at numerous festivals including LA Tap Festival, Chicago Human Rhythm Project, Beantown Tap Fest, Tap United, Tampa Bay Tap Festival, Tap Kids, Brazil International Tap Festival and FeetxFeet. Other favorite performances include Brookline Chorus’ Duke Ellington Sacred Concert, The Late Show with Liam O’Conner in Ireland, and playing Drosselmeyer in Clara’s Dream in A Jazz Nutcracker.
Aaron recently taught at Broadway Dance Center and Steps on Broadway in New York City. He is also the director of The Intensive, the national spokesperson for SoDanca, and the Director of Speaking In Taps, a pre-professional dance company.
Amanda Whitworth
Amanda Whitworth is a teaching artist residing in central New Hampshire, USA, with a passion for interdisciplinary collaboration and networking. Named one of the state’s “40 Under 40” most impactful people in 2019, she continues to work as a performer of dance and physical theatre with choreographers and organizations both nationally and internationally. Ms. Whitworth is committed to diversifying her work and collaborates with partners on large-scale projects. Work samples and links are available on her website: www.tributarydance.com
As the Director of Dance at Plymouth State University, Ms. Whitworth has moved the curriculum toward interdisciplinary thinking and collaborative performances. Highly unique in academia, the "Dance Entrepreneurship" degree concentration/track has spearheaded networks of growth, service and advocacy across New England through innovative partnerships with on and off campus constituents including Canterbury Shaker Village, Art Front- Manchester, Pemi Arts Region Community Group, Arts Alliance of Northern New Hampshire and Voices Against Violence to name a few.
Deeply passionate about the visibility and equity of dance across northern New England, Whitworth and a team of dance professionals founded the New Hampshire Dance Alliance, 501(c)(3) in 2015. In her term as President, the NHDA played instrumental roles in revising the NH State Curricular Standards for Dance Education with the Department of Education, raised a voice for dance in the creative economy at the State House and Legislative round table sessions, and provided networking and professional development opportunities for dance educators and artists across private and public sectors. NHDA unveiled a public website with a statewide community calendar and a free repository of resources for dance educators, performers and enthusiasts at: www.newhampshiredancealliance.com .
Whitworth sustains a deep artistic practice and feels that the rigor embedded in the process of creating and performing art is at the core of all her endeavors. A sought after master teacher, choreographer and performer, she continues to work locally and abroad in works of dance, theatre, film and physical theatre. In the past decade, Whitworth, under the alias of Tributary Dance, has focused on collaborative and innovative projects that bring together thinkers from opposing disciplines. Projects have infused dance into technology, design, 2D and 3D visual art, science, business, and public schools and beyond.
In the upcoming year, Whitworth along with colleague C. Robin Marcotte, MFA (actor) and partner Bobby Kelly, MD will pilot a “healing arts” program in New Hampshire’s seacoast region. Bringing doctors and artists together to build healing curriculum and client services, the budding company, ARTicine, will be the first of its kind in New England, USA, to put medical providers and artists side-by-side in a room to facilitate group visits for the aging community. www.articinelife.com