Laura Colby, Director
Anna
Amadei, Artist Representative
Katie Diamond,
Contracts Manager
Laura Colby, Director
Colby began her arts administrative career in 1985 as Administrative
Director of Mark Haim & Dancers. In the 80’s
she also worked for choreographer Patricia Hoffbauer and Nancy Duncan’s
CoDanceCo. She served as Company Manager for Neo Labos
Dancetheater (Michele Elliman, Artistic Director) from 1993-2000
and was the Founding Company Manager (1997-2003) of Seán
Curran Company. Colby formed Elsie Management in 1995
specifically to provide representation to several friends at the
annual APAP (Association of Performing Arts Presenters)
conference.
Since forming Elsie Management, Colby has represented
over twenty-five performing arts touring companies from five continents,
coordinating tours to over two hundred global venues. She has served
as Project Manager, forming presenter and funding consortiums to
support the development, creation, and touring of new works for
500 Clown’s 500 Clown and the Elephant Deal (2007),
Jane Comfort and Company’s An American Rendition
(2007) and the restaging of Faith Healing (2010), nicholas
leichter dance’s Sweetwash (2006), Shawn McConneloug
and her orchestra’s SHE Captains (2006), Lingo dancetheater’s
Relatively Real (2005), Shapiro & Smith Dance’s
ANYTOWN: Stories of America (2005), and Movin’ Spirits
Dance Theater’s Brown Butterfly (2003). She has served
as Tour Coordinator for ten National Dance Project supported
projects including Noche Flamenca, DanceBrazil,
Seán Curran Company, Brian Brooks Moving Company,
nicholas leichter dance, Ballet Memphis, a
canari torsi|Yanira Castro and Korzo producties/André
Gingras. Colby has raised commissioning funds from over fifteen
performing arts venues and twenty private and public foundations
and organizations in support of new works for her clients. She has
secured, organized, and produced over thirty showcases in New York
City, throughout the United States, and globally for her clients.
Colby has secured and produced over twenty New York City seasons
at such theaters as The Joyce Theater, The Public Theater,
Dance Theater Workshop, Joe’s Pub, the New
Victory Theater, Symphony Space, Aaron Davis Hall,
Central Park Summerstage, and PS122 for her client
roster.
Colby served on the board of NAPAMA (North American Performing
Arts Managers and Agents) for six years from 2002-2008, and
as its President in 2007 & 2008. Under her direction, NAPAMA’s
membership increased 30%; the organization led the field in developing
the industry’s first educational sessions on the complex issue
of US taxation of foreign artists and touring companies; and NAPAMA
secured access to General Liability coverage for its membership
through a partnership with Fractured Atlas, among other
accomplishments.
In 2001 at the urging of Jon Teeuwissen, Colby founded Dance/USA’s
Agents and Artist Representation Council. She served as
the Council’s Founding Chair for three years and on the board
of Dance/USA for four years. Colby has served on the Advisory Councils
of Dance/NYC and Dancers Responding to AIDS (DRA).
Colby has been an invited speaker for the Association of Performing
Arts Presenter’s Winter Institute, The Joyce Theater
Foundation, Southern Arts Federation, Western
Arts Alliance, Australia Performing Arts Market, Dance/NYC,
Dance Theater Workshop, Florida State University,
Fordham University, University of Kansas, and
UMass Amherst. In 2002 Colby co-curated Boston’s
Dance Straight Up series. By invitation, she was an International
Delegate to Australian Performing Arts Market (2000, 2004, 2006,
2008, 2010), the New Zealand International Arts Festival
(2010), the Tokyo Performing Arts Market (2003), and the
Tanzmesse (2002 & 2004).
Committed to the development of policy for the not-for-profit performing
arts field, Colby served on Arts Presenters’ Ethics
Task Force (2005), Dance/USA’s Definitions Committee (2004-2005),
and directed the updating of NAPAMA’s Ethical Guidelines (2005).
She served on the Trustees, Contract Clause, and 25th Anniversary
Committees for Dance/USA and the Task Force on Ethics for the Western
Arts Alliance. She was the initiating facilitator between Dr. Edward
Fishkin, Medical Director at Woodhull Hospital and Medical Center
and the performing arts community in the creation of ArtistAccess,
the groundbreaking healthcare program for artists and arts workers
begun in May, 2005 that has now been launched at other New York
City hospitals.
Colby graduated with a BFA in Dance from The Juilliard School
in 1984, under the direction of Martha Hill. She was a member of
Mark Haim & Dancers, the Limón Dance Company,
CoDanceCo, and Seán Curran Company. Colby has also
performed with Sara Rudner, Ann Carlson, Patricia Hoffbauer, and
Mark Taylor, and has assisted choreographers Ann Carlson and Mark
Haim in restagings. She trained extensively with Elizabeth Streb's
Ringside Inc, performing as an extra in their 1994 Joyce
Theater season, and assisting the company in their Kid Action
program. Prior to moving to New York City, Colby attended the University
of California at Irvine as a dance major, then under the direction
of Eugene Loring. It was at Irvine that Colby created the student
organization, START (Support The Arts), as an early fundraising
effort. She graduated from Berkeley High School in 1979,
where she was first introduced to modern dance as a member of Dance
Production, under the direction of Marcia Sigman. She began
her early ballet training with Patricia Schuster in Ridgefield,
CT, before moving to the Bay Area where she trained as a scholarship
student at the San Francisco Ballet from 1975-1978. For
three years, she performed with the company in the annual stagings
of Lew Christensen’s The Nutcracker, performing the
roles of Clara, numerous children’s roles, and as a member
of the corps de ballet. Instrumental teachers in her dance training
included Alfredo Corvino, Risa Steinberg, and Hector Zaraspe.
An avid cyclist, Colby has ridden her road bike over 3,000 miles
for AIDS charities and served as bike support for the 2003 Breast
Cancer Walk and the 2005 & 2006 New York City Marathon. A member
of the New York Cycle Club, Colby served as a volunteer leader for
the club’s spring A19 SIG training program from 2004-2006.
Colby has taken up social dancing and dances tango and swing on
a regular basis. She lives in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Park
Slope with her Yorkie, Woodstock. Her son, Colby Marple, is the
Junior Marketing Director for Cycling Sports Group.
>top
Anna Amadei, Artist Representative
Anna Amadei joined Elsie Management in May, 2008 - then as a Contract
Manager, later as International Artist Representative, and now as
Artist Representative. A native of Italy, she worked for Daniele
Cipriani Entertainment from 2004-2008. With a special focus on dance,
Cipriani Entertainment is one of Italy’s most renowned performance
managements. Amadei was responsible for international relations
and tour coordinator working with such companies as the Martha Graham
Dance Company, Limón Dance Company, Susanne Linke, Inaki
Urlezaga and Ballet Concierto (from Argentina), Companhia Portuguesa
de Bailado Contemporaneo, among the others. She also produced dance
events, galas, and special events. In 2010, Amadei became the free
lance International Booking Agent for the Limon Dance Company. She
has toured with the company throughout Latin America and Asia. Amadei
was a 2010 Emerging Leadership Institute fellow. She has been awarded
grants from the Association of Performing Arts Presenters in support
of her international work and has served on grant panels.
Amadei entered the world of dance at the age of 9 and trained in
ballet, yoga, contemporary and jazz through 2005. In 2004 she graduated
from the University of Bologna (Italy) with a BA in Communication
and an MA in Performing Arts Management. Since moving to New York
in 2008, Amadei has returned to performing with her husband Daniel
Fetecua and his dance company Pajarillo Pinta’o, fusing traditional
Colombian dances and modern technique. (She also manages the company.)
Amadei speaks fluent Italian, English, and Spanish. She loves to
travel and to discover other cultures. Her hidden passion is tango
- she is an active member of the New York City tango scene.
Katie Diamond, Contracts
Manager
Katie Diamond joined the Elsie team in August, 2012. Diamond began
her arts administrator work in 2010 as Program Associate of José
Limón Dance Foundation. She worked in the areas of company
management, special events, fundraising, and the coordination of
the Limón Summer Workshops. Diamond is a 2012 recipient of
the inaugural Performer in Transition Fellowship in Arts Management
through the Kennedy Center and Brooklyn Academy of Music. She interned
with Ballet Hispanico and Pentacle's Cultivating Leadership in Dance
and has worked independently for Tina Croll and Jamie Cunningham's
From the Horse's Mouth. Katie holds a BFA from California Institute
of the Arts and currently serves on Jessica Gaynor Dance’s
advisory board.
As a dancer, Diamond was a soloist with the Limón Dance
Company from 2005 to 2012. Praised for her “subtle grace”
in PBS’s Eye on the Arts, Katie worked as a freelance artist
with the Mark Morris Dance Group, the Metropolitan Opera Ballet,
Albany Berkshire Ballet, and many independent choreographers including
Bessie award-winning Pam Tanowitz. On faculty at the Limón
Institute for several years, she taught at schools and universities
nationally and abroad, and on Italy’s competitive reality
dance TV show Amici. A certified Yoga teacher, Katie has performed
solo concerts of contemporary and classic works, adjudicated dance
competitions, and set Limón repertory throughout the United
States, Europe, and South America.
>top
|
|