Diane Grumet
Artistic Director, Board member, Steps Beyond Foundation
Diane Grumet has been the Co-Artistic/Managing Director, now Artistic Director of Steps on Broadway for over 28 years. Prior to joining Steps, she created a professional dance program at Studio 400, and at the Ailey School she held the positions of instructor, company teacher, International Student Advisor, and school’s business manager. She danced with the Cincinnati Ballet and Cincinnati Opera Ballet companies, Contemporary Dance Theater, Edgecliff Summer Theater, Disney Productions, New York City Opera Ballet, Bat-Dor Dance Company and the Joyce Trisler Danscompany. She was a guest artist with Jose Limon Dance and Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, and on the roster of artists for New York Foundation for the Arts. Diane frequently served as a master teacher and on the faculties of The New School and Parsons School of Design, Ailey School, Steps on Broadway, University of the Arts, University of South Florida, and Sarah Lawrence. Her training included Joffrey Ballet and Metropolitan Opera Ballet. She received her degree from College Conservatory of Music, University of Cincinnati. Ms. Grumet is on the Advisory Board of Dance Magazine, Board of Directors for Buglisi Dance Theater, and held a position on the Bessie selection committee.
TEMPLE KEMEZIS
Production Coordinator, Board member Temple Kemezis is a Northern Manhattan based dancer and coordinator of events and cultural productions. As a ballet dancer, she performed with Pittsburgh Ballet Theater, Dances Patrelle, Texture Contemporary Ballet, Ballet Neo, and Sensedance, among others, and with choreographers such as Cherlyn Lavagnino, Gemma Bond, Pascal Rekoert-Valdez, and James Canfield. In 2016, she joined the cast of Isaac Mizrahi’s Peter and the Wolf with choreography by John Heginbotham at the Guggenheim Museum. Other noted venues and events include: Kaatsbaan International Dance Center, Jacob’s Pillow Inside/Out Festival, Alice Tully Hall of Lincoln Center, and New York Fashion Week. As an event coordinator, Temple began her long employment for celebrity chef Julian Medina in 2008. Rising to Assistant to the Chef and Senior Event Manager, she oversaw events of all scales for the Toloache restaurant company’s establishments (Toloache, Toloache 82, Toloache Thompson, Tacuba, Tacuba HK, Yerba Buena Perry). She organized private events for high-profile clients including Broadway Shows Mama Mia the Musical and Godspell, Hugh Jackman, and the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and lead Toloache’s team for large collaborative catered events at the Guggenheim, the Waldorf Astoria, and Sotheby’s. Additionally, Temple organized the chef’s celebrity media appearances on the Today Show, CBS This Morning, and Beat Bobby Flay, and edited and organized his recipes for articles in publications such as Time Out, and Men’s Health. In 2015, she co- founded the Higher Ground Festival in NYC with Pablo Francisco Ruvalcaba, HGF has brought over 250 Northern Manhattan artists together and has produced 38 interdisciplinary collaborations presented free to the uptown community. www.creatinghigherground.com. Combining her events skill set with her passion to produce live performances, in 2018 Temple became production coordinator for Steps Beyond Foundation and in 2020 was asked to join their board. Presently she also works as production coordinator for Steps on Broadway and teaches Beginner Ballet at the acclaimed dance studio.
Patricia R Klausner
Managing Director, Board member
Patricia Klausner’s theatrical experience includes: Broadway: Co-Producer on The Band’s Visit, Pippin, Trip to Bountiful, Stick Fly, The Scottsboro Boys; Managing Director of Shotgun Productions/Global Arts Initiative, General Manager of The Donald Byrd Dance Foundation, Assistant Director of Beyond Measure (Kampo Cultural Center, NYC), The Boys Next Door (Theater 22, NYC) and A Girls’ Guide to Chaos (Innerspace Theater, NYC), and conceived/curated The Tides of Intolerance (The Asia Society, NYC). Business experience includes the Dance Advisory Board at Marymount Manhattan College, Director of Marketing for Steps on Broadway, editor of a weekly financial trade publication, consulting for various cable television companies and arts businesses and past VP of Media Audits International and member of the Board of Directors. Ms. Klausner has a Ph.D. in sociology and has taught women’s studies, race relations, and criminology at the University of Delaware and Montclair State College. She has published academic articles on women’s roles in society, and has written plays, screenplays and short stories with similar themes. She was the Program Director for the Producers Development Mentorship Program for Theater Resources Unlimited and is a graduate of the Commercial Theater Institute.
SELENA ROBINSON
Selena Robinson received a BA in Performing Arts Management from NYU’s Gallatin School where she presented her colloquium on “The Economics of the Performing Arts Industry – Commercial Theatre and Concert Dance.”
Selena spent several years working at American Ballet Theatre as the recipient of their Project Plié: Diversity and Inclusion Scholarship, and has held a number of roles across the Development, Executive, and Marketing departments, including the Assistant Manager of Marketing. She is also a certified Diversity & Inclusion Consultant who assisted LaDuca Shoes with the release of the LaDuca Palette.
Selena has danced works by John Vincent Leggio and Nick Palmquist in New York City; has performed at Hersheypark and Dorney Park during their Christmas and Summer seasons; and has been seen in regional productions of Little Shop of Horrors and Chicago. She is currently based in both Chicago and New York City, and is repped by Take 3 Talent.
LARS ROSAGER
Lars Rosager danced on Broadway in the original casts of 42nd Street and the 1987 revival of Cabaret. He performed with the American Dance Machine and American Ballroom Theater. Television credits include “In Performance at the White House”, “The Best of Broadway” on A&E, and “Showstoppers” on PBS.
He has taught dance at Steps on Broadway, Circle in the Square, Tisch School of the Arts (CAP 21), New York University Steinhardt School of Education and The American Music and Dramatic Academy (AMDA).
Most recently he served as a stager for the American Dance Machine for the 21st Century at the Joyce Theater in New York City.
MICHELE TOLSON
Michelle Tolson is an award winning dancer and choreographer with over 35 years of experience in the industry. A sought after teacher, Michelle has taught throughout the East coast and California where she shares her joy of dance and empowers her students to be the best they can be.
Michelle is a former Miss New Hampshire and competed in Miss America in 1996. She is also a former Radio City Rockette where she performed at Radio City Music Hall for six years. While there she performed in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, on the Today Show and the Isaac Mizrahi show to name a few.
A former professor at Wagner College, she currently teaches at AMDA, The American Musical and Dramatic Academy in NYC. She also acts as the Academic Department Director for the jazz and tap programs. She is a founding Thrive Dance Experience Faculty teacher as well as a founding faculty member for Flourish Performing Arts in NYC.
Michelle is the dance director at Danbee Fine Arts and Dance Camp. She is the social media manager and member of the Rockettes of Color Alumnae. In her spare time, she is the co-host of the podcast JAM Joe and Michelle’s Dance Podcast, which can be heard on Spotify, Apple Music, or wherever you stream your favorite shows.