Madeline Cantarella Culpo  is the Company’s Founder and Artistic Director. She was a member of the first dance class at the Julliard School, studying with such legendary teachers as Margaret Craske, Antony Tudor, Alfredo Corvino and Martha Graham. She studied extensively at Jacob’s Pillow and performed in Ted Shawn’s Mountain Whippoorwill. She served on the board of directors at the Pillow and was a faculty member there for five seasons. Ms. Culpo is a nationally recognized teacher of dance, having taught throughout the United States. In 1955, she opened the Cantarella School of Dance which evolved into the Berkshire Ballet. Many of her students have entered the world of professional ballet, dancing with internationally known companies; The Boston Ballet, the Joffrey Ballet, Pacific Northwest Ballet, Pennsylvania Ballet, Ohio Ballet and others. A recipient of three choreography fellowships from the NEA; she has choreographed many of the works in ABB’s extensive repertoire, including The Rockwell Suites, Nutcracker, and Mushabiuyyah. Ms. Culpo was featured in “Dance Magazine: in an article entitled “Great Starts American Teacher Series — A Tribute to Teachers Who Have Produced Outstanding Results.”

 

Mary Giannone Talmi holds a BFA in Dance from The Juilliard School and is co-founder and co-producer of Talmi Entertainment. She received two Choreography Fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, an Achievement Award in Choreography from Massachusetts Council on the Arts and was selected for American Ballet Theatre’s Choreography Workshop under Mikhail Baryshnikov. She was the founder of Connecticut Dance Theatre, a modern dance repertory company which specialized in the reconstruction of the works of Doris Humphrey. As Associate Artistic Director of ABB, Ms. Talmi is directing the company’s Process and Performance initiative – an ongoing project to support the creation of new works in music and dance. She is currently working on Rockwell In Our Time, a collaboration with playwright Kevin McGerigle and composer Chris Culpo. Freedom from Want was featured at the Norman Rockwell Museum on September 8, 2018 as part of their Four Freedoms celebration.