OUR PEOPLE

We are full of passionate people dedicated to helping New York City youth

Teaching Staff

Lindi Duesenberg

Lindi Duesenberg

Founder, Lead Teaching Artist and Teacher Trainer

Lindi’s passion for dance began as a toddler and drove her to pursue a career as a professional dancer and educator. She has performed and taught for nearly 20 years in both Los Angeles and New York and has been seen in numerous music videos, industrials, musical theatre productions and tours across the country. She has also served as an adjudicator for several national dance competitions. Ms. Duesenberg holds degrees in both Dance Education and Journalism from Chapman University and has worked with children for over 15 years in many educational capacities—teacher, dance instructor, tutor and mentor.  

Since retiring from performing, Lindi has been forging her path in the NYC fitness and education world, working as a personal trainer, a leading instructor at Physique 57, creative movement director at the Nursery School at Congregation Habonim and founder her own company, Dance Motivation Fitness (DMF). She built DMF into one of the leading dance cardio workouts in NYC and become well known for her upbeat, motivational, and positive approach to wellness. Though she loved working with adults, her true passion is working with kids and teens and motivating them to achieve greatness is in all aspects of their lives. 

As a youth educator, Ms. Duesenberg has worked with children ages 3-18 in over ten dance studios throughout Los Angeles and NYC, served as a substitute teacher in the Compton and Garden Grove Unified School Districts (LA) and taught DMF specialty dance classes to underserved children in NYC for years.  She has also worked with Literacy Support Systems in New York to create and implement a unique dance and movement curriculum in K-12 classrooms to enhance and supplement traditional learning and promote key academic concepts.  As seasoned teaching artist, she provides a road to innovative kinesthetic learning that weaves arts education into language arts, math, science and social studies.  

While working as a “big sis” mentor, and teaching specialty dance classes to underserved NYC youth, Ms. Duesenberg was shocked by the lack of physical exercise in NYC schools and the dramatic rise of childhood obesity.   Arts opportunities for low income and transient families were also extremely limited and she knew she could create a program to help alleviate these issues.  DMF Youth was born out of the idea that a successful afterschool program needed to be much more than a dance class or sports program.  It needed to expose children to imperative life skills like goal setting, managing emotions, mindfulness, and growth mindset.  By working with educators, phycologists, and Social Emotional Learning (SEL) specialists, she created the DMF Youth curriculum that creatively weaves in these life skills and increases students’ self-esteem, confidence, and grit.

Rathi Varma

Rathi Varma

Lead Teaching Artist

Rathi, born and raised in Mumbai, India started dancing at the age of 15 alongside pursuing her Diploma in Visual Arts and working as an Illustrator. In 2018, she moved to New York to pursue her career in Dance professionally at Peridance Centre. In Mumbai, she trained under Shiamak Davar’s Institute of Performing Arts and The Danceworx in Jazz, Ballet, and Contemporary. Since 2019, she’s had the opportunity to perform with various choreographers, namely Anabella Lenzu, Matthew Westerby, Elise Long, Apollonia Holzer, and Dina Denis to name a few. Her work Table for Two, Imperfect, and What Will be, Will be was presented at Spoke The Hub, Flushing Town Hall, BAAD (Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance), Arts on Site, and Balance Arts Centre. Apart from being a company member with Chutzpah Dance and Treehouse Shakers, Rathi is a lead Teaching Artist with DMF Youth Inc. 

Alexa Lindberg

Alexa Lindberg

Program Director

Alexa Lindberg is a dancer/choreographer based in New York City. After graduating with a double BFA in Dance and Acting from SUNY Fredonia, she decided to take her passion for movement to New York City. By fusing her acting and dance training, she has found an immense love for teaching and creating with children in a fun and expressive way. She has spent the last 9 years teaching ages 2-18 at multiple dance studios. Her latest endeavor led her to be the dance and healthy body instructor at Wegrow school. Alexa has also recently created her very own adult dance company entitled Rubix Dance Collective. The goal of the collective is to bring dance back to its child-like form of play and to have an energized and therapeutic space to move. While she is not teaching, she is performing live music with her rock band as the lead singer. With three albums already out, her most recent accomplishment is booking a movie, in which one of her songs will be featured later in 2021. She is so excited to be a part of the DMF family and is extremely grateful to continue to teach her love for movement to this incredible community. 

Nicole Kyoung-Mi Lambert

Nicole Kyoung-Mi Lambert

Teaching Artist

Nicole Kyoung-Mi Lambert is an Afro-Korean American singer, dancer, actress, music maker, and educator. She studied at the Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University where she earned a BA in Music Education. Lambert is a former member of Boom Crack Dance Company and a former music teacher at Bell Elementary. Nicole is best known for her work as an original broadway cast member of Six the Musical where during her time point played Aragon, Boelyn, Cleves and Parr.

Kiki Reyes

Kiki Reyes

Teaching Artist

Kiki is a Bronx native and passionate about bringing the power of dance to underserved NYC communities.  She began training at very a young age and is known for her versatility as a dancer and choreographer.  Kiki brings a vast understanding of Hip-Hop, ballroom, Latin, jazz, club Latin, modern, and lyrical to the DMF Youth team, and uses these many genres of dance to inspire and excite young dancers. She trained and worked with many companies including Arthur Murray’s, Piel Canela, and Contra Tiempo which allowed her perform and compete professionally around the country. Witnessing students become comfortable in their bodies and exploring the power of music and movement is Kiki‘s favorite part of teaching. She is passionate about teaching students how dance can enhance their personal lives, helping them grow strong both physically and psychologically. Kiki hopes to inspire her students to try new things and push past their perceived limits,  even if it feels uncomfortable at first. She believes you never know what you are capable of until you try and go all in!

Makayla Peterson

Makayla Peterson

Teaching Artist

Makayla Peterson is a dancer, choreographer, scholar, teaching artist, and Founder & Artistic Director of Monét Movement Productions The Collective. She is a 2020 Temple University graduate with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance and a minor in Digital Media Technologies. Makayla is a 2019 recipient of the Temple University Diamond Research Scholars Grant. This research has been presented verbally and through movement at national and international conferences. Through MMPTC, her works have been featured in numerous festivals and showcases in NYC and beyond. Most recently, she received her first commission at her high school Frank Sinatra School of the Arts for their spring dance concert in 2022. Additionally, Makayla is a dancer with CarNYval Dancers, Enya-Kalia Creations, and OKRA Dance Company, and is a Notes In Motion Teaching Artist. She is the former Program Coordinator for MOVE|NYC|.

Enya-Kalia Jordan

Enya-Kalia Jordan

Teaching Artist

Enya-Kalia Jordan is a choreographer, researcher, scholar, and teaching-artist, from Brooklyn, New York. She received a Bachelor of Arts from SUNY Buffalo State in 2017 and a Master of Fine Arts from Temple University in 2019. In 2020, she began her doctoral studies at Texas Woman’s University researching the decolonization of dance curriculum in higher education. This directly intersects with her work as a Lecturer at the University of Virginia and Assistant Professor at SUNY Erie. She has conducted ethnographic research in Tokyo, Japan; Guimaraes, Portugal; Amsterdam, Holland, Netherlands; and Paris, France. She has presented research twice at the NDEO annual conference in Miami, Florida, and San Diego, California. She founded and artistically directs her own movement-based artist collective, Enya Kalia Creations, which has performed nationally and internationally. This includes at the University of West Indies in Barbados, Pennsylvania State at Abington, CADD at Duke University, DaCi conference in Salt Lake City, BAAD! Ass Women in Dance Festival & Kun-Yung Lin’s Inhale Performance Series. Enya has won numerous grants, scholarships, and awards from the Foundation for Contemporary Arts Grant, Arts Administrators of Color Network, Dance Union, Cooper-Newell Foundation, Texas Woman’s University, SUNY Buffalo State, Temple University, for her work.

Rocka James

Rocka James

Teaching Artist

Born & raised in Crown Heights Brooklyn NY. Professional Dancer who specializes free form contemporary infused with the studies of KRUMP. Playing a big role as a Street Dance Community Leader, he created a Dance platform that unites all Dance Cultures, called “Roundz Of Flame”. He Participated in multiple NYFW events within time he achieved dance awards, features in The New York Times, VOGUE magazine and sponsorship by PUMA. Recently honored to perform a dance piece for “Rihanna” at Parsons School Of Design | The New School Awards . As someone who love to inspire & motivate the youth, Rocka teached dance internationally in places like, Bali Indonesia, Kenya-Africa, Sweden & Berlin-Germany just to name a few. The dream goal is to open Schools that specializes in all the different Street dance styles, fundamentals and History.

Nicole Golonka

Nicole Golonka

Teaching Artist

Golonka is a performer, creator, educator, & collaborator. She identifies as an arts activist as she values social justice in her work and strives to increase arts access. A 2019 graduate of Loyola University Chicago with dual majors in Dance and Psychology, Nicole worked for GroundWorks DanceTheater and the Oquirrh West Project as both a performer and teaching artist. She has had the honor of performing nationally in the United States and internationally in Rome, Italy and Havana, Cuba. As an educator, she prides herself in educating the whole person and guiding dancers to be active participants in their classes and lives. Nicole believes in the power of arts education to cultivate emotional outlets for students and increase their autonomy and confidence. To further her passion for the intersection of dance and disability, she served as a host committee member for the Midwest Convening on Physically Integrated Dance in 2016 and also collaborated on several dance films and education residencies in the field. Nicole is currently a freelance dance artist based out of Brooklyn, NY.

Colleen Unda

Colleen Unda

Teaching Artist

Colleen Unda is a New York based dancer, movement educator, and certified personal trainer. She received her Bachelor of Fine Arts in dance from the University of Massachusetts in Amherst and received her training certification through the National Academy of Sports Medicine. She is the founder of her own personal training company, FaceTime Fitness, and has worked with multiple gym facilities including Equinox and F45. Colleen is well versed in goal setting, dance education, and functional movement training. Colleen has been a teaching artist for DMF Youth for 2 years and absolutely loves sharing her passion for dance with her students. She is so grateful to be part of such an amazing community!

Courtney Bryan Devon

Courtney Bryan Devon

Teaching Artist

Courtney Bryan Devon is a Black, Queer, nonbinary Theatremaker, Activist, and Educator. Through community engagement in theatre, music, movement, and dance, Courtney creates revealing, reviving and revolutionary experiences rooted in facilitation, fellowship, and freedom. Courtney cultivates an eclectic arts education that is continually reinvested into marginalized communities as a teaching artist and proudly serves as the director of the Rosetta LeNoire Musical Theatre Academy. A trained mixed martial artist, yogi, and movement facilitator, Courtney has also worked with scores of NYC adults in the fitness and exercise industry as a trainer and dance cardio instructor. Courtney is most enlivened in enriching and connecting communities through creativity, believing in the universal power of the arts and storytelling to facilitate environments of learning, healing, transformative justice, and radical joy.

Albanus Strickland

Albanus Strickland

Teaching Artist

Albanus is a multifaceted artist, with belief and passion in the students he instructs. He’s taught dance, created choreography, and has danced professionally for the past 11 years. The biggest job to date being, “ SUPERBOWL LV “. His overall goal is to spread love through art to his students. 

Lihi Dor

Lihi Dor

Teaching Artist

Lihi Dor is a professional dancer and dance teacher. Lihi has been dancing for 15 years contemporary, modern, ballet, hip-hop and jazz and in a professional dance group for six years. 
Lihi participated in a dance major for three years and learned anatomy, music choreography ballet and modern dance professionally.
Sabrina Kalman

Sabrina Kalman

Teaching Artist

Sabrina is a proud multi hyphenated Actor, Dancer, Singer, Director/ Choreographer and Teaching Artist. She has performed and taught all across the country (and China!). Some career highlights include touring nationally and internationally with The Wizard of Oz, choreographing at John W. Engmen’s studio, and teaching dance with DMF! Some exciting upcoming adventures include Choreographing ACA’s production of Annie and joining the Teaching Staff at Broadway Training Center. In addition to her work in performance and teaching, Sabrina has worked as a political activist, is a passionate animal lover, and dreams of publishing a book of short stories.

Board of Directors

Katie Cook

Katie Cook

President

Katie Cook is a licensed real estate broker with Elegran. With her family’s background in construction and real estate investing, Katie has a broad knowledge of the real estate landscape and is committed to providing her clients creative solutions to their needs. Prior to joining Elegran, Katie worked for Wellness in the Schools, a national nonprofit that inspires healthy eating and fitness for kids in public schools. She works in high need schools in Manhattan and Brooklyn, providing nutritional education, cooking lessons, and culinary support to the school community. Katie received her bachelor’s degree in communications from Loyola College, and a Culinary degree from Institute of Culinary Education. Katie is an active member in the community volunteering with the New York Junior League. There she currently serves on the Management Council, overseeing critical community programming. In her free time, she likes to stay active by running and playing tennis.
Served since 2018

Elizabeth Candido Petite

Elizabeth Candido Petite

Treasurer

Elizabeth Candido Petite is an attorney at Lindabury, McCormick, Estabrook & Cooper in Westfield, New Jersey. Elizabeth’s primary practice area is trusts and estates. She also has experience with corporate and tax matters such as forming entities and obtaining tax-exempt status for nonprofits.  She has been involved with DMF Youth since its inception and ensures that the organization is in compliance with all corporate matters and tax requirements and advises on other legal issues as they arise. Elizabeth received her undergraduate degree from the University of Pennsylvania and her law degree from New York Law School. As a student, she tutored underserved children in Philadelphia and New York City, which made her aware of the great need for quality programming that focuses on the whole child, as DMF Youth does. In her spare time, Elizabeth enjoys cooking and spending time at the Jersey Shore with her family.  

Anne Koksi

Anne Koksi

Secretary

Anne Koski serves as senior legal council for the Segal Group, an international benefits, compensation and human resources consulting firm.   She focuses on drafting, reviewing and negotiating contracts, with an emphasis on regulatory (Investment Advisers Act, ERISA) and data security (particularly HIPAA) issues.  Prior to joining the Segal Group, Anne worked for the Metropolitan Opera in the development department.  She brings her knowledge of foundation research, donor acquisition, and development to the DMF Youth Board.  In her spare time, Anne volunteers for the Junior League of NYC. 

Member since 2019

Lindi Duesenberg

Lindi Duesenberg

Executive Director & Board Member

Lind’s passion for dance began as a toddler and drove her to pursue a career as a professional dancer and educator. She has performed and taught for nearly 20 years in both Los Angeles and New York and has been seen in numerous music videos, industrials, musical theatre productions and tours across the country. She has also served as an adjudicator for several national dance competitions. She has worked with children for over 15 years in many educational capacities—teacher, dance instructor, tutor and mentor.

Since retiring from performing, Lindi has been forging her path in the NYC fitness and education world, working as a personal trainer, a leading instructor at Physique 57, creative movement director at the Nursery School at Congregation Habonim and founder her own company, Dance Motivation Fitness (DMF). She built DMF into one of the leading dance cardio workouts in NYC and become well known for her upbeat, motivational, and positive approach to wellness. Though she loved working with adults, her true passion is working with kids and teens and motivating them to achieve greatness is in all aspects of their lives.

While working as a “big sis” mentor, and teaching specialty DMF classes to inner-city youth, Lindi was blown away by the lack of physical exercise in NYC schools and the dramatic rise of childhood obesity. After further research, she found the majority of NYC public schools fail to meet the state PE requirements due to lack of space and lack of teachers. Afterschool opportunities for low income and transient families were also extremely limited and she knew she could create a program to help alleviate these issues.

Lindi’s motivational approach to teaching worked extremely well with K-12 children, but she wanted to create more than just a dance-fitness program. She wanted a program that exposed children to imperative life skills like goal setting, dealing with emotions, and facing fears. By working with educators, phycologists, and Social Emotional Learning (SEL) specialists, she created a unique curriculum that increases her students’ self-esteem and confidence, helping them realize their ultimate potential.

What our community say about us

My favorite part about DMF is the teachers. I love them.
C.J.

5th grade student

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