Senior Programs (PARC)

Dr. Jennifer Holmes is the Inaugural Dean of Sands College of Performing Arts at Pace University. Prior to Pace, she was Dean of the College of Arts, Communications, and Design at both the Post and Brooklyn campuses at Long Island University (LIU). While at LIU, Holmes was named the inaugural Dean of two new schools, Roc Nation School of Music, Sports and Entertainment and the George Polk School of Communications. Prior to her tenure at Long Island University, she worked at The New School where she was the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs at The School of Drama. While there, she redesigned and updated the Drama BFA and MFA curricula, developed new initiatives at The College of Performing Arts, and directed the US premiere of Last Train to Tomorrow composed and conducted by Carl Davis at Alice Tully Hall and Shining Lights in the Lingering Night at The Great Hall, Cooper Union in partnership with 400 Years of Inequality.

Dr. Holmes holds a Ph.D and an MA from New York University and a BA from Vassar College and is an internationally recognized leader in arts education. Dr. Holmes served on the faculty of New York University, City College of New York, and Manhattanville College among others. She has contributed to the book, Theatre for Change: Education, Social Action and Therapy edited by Robert Landy and David Montgomery, and to leading journals, including the International Journal on Learning and The Teaching Artist Journal. Dr. Holmes also was the featured artist on the cover of the International Journal of Education and the Arts. Her work as a performer and director has been seen in theatre, film, and television. She is the co-founder and co-director of Global Empowerment Theatre, an international non-profit theatre organization. She has devised theatre in India, Kenya, Myanmar, Tanzania, the United Kingdom, and the US.

Dr. Carlo is a Latine, Queer artist, scholar, educator. and activist. His work aims at dismantling oppressive and discriminatory practice present in the theatrical industrial complex and performing arts fields writ large. Specifically, Dr. Carlo’s focus is on transformative pedagogical practice in pre-professional training, holding fast to the belief that how it is we train at the tertiary level profoundly impacts and prepares artists to be the change the industry needs. Dr. Carlo is the Chair of BFA Musical Theatre and BFA Commercial dance at Pace University’s Sands College. He holds a PhD in Interdisciplinary Studies with a concentration in Theatre and Performance Studies from Union Institute & University.

Lauren Gaul has a multifaceted professional career performing as a Radio City Rockette for over 10 years appearing in the national touring company and on the great stage at Radio City Music Hall. She was also a Rockette swing for three years and worked under the direction of; Linda Haberman, Julie Branam, Dennis Callahan, Becky Downing, and Eileen Grace. As a Rockette she appeared in numerous media tours, events, and parades and on stages such as Radio City Music Hall, the Grand Ol’ Opry, the Wang (Boston), and the Fox (Detroit). She choreographed the Drama League Nominated production of Tennessee Williams's The Mutilated starring Mink Stole and Penny Arcade (off Broadway). Her choreography has been presented at Jacob's Pillow Inside Out, Jazz Dance World Congress Emerging Artist Event, Broadway Dance Center, SUNY Purchase, Pace University, Destiny Rising at the Joyce, Jazz at Lincoln Center and many more. She assistant choreographed shows off Broadway, for regional theater (MSMT), for awards shows (Elan Awards), industrials (Footlocker, Izod, Sesame Street etc.), and cruise lines (Princess, Celebrity), and assistant choreographed for Broadway Bares for three years under the direction of Jerry Mitchell and Denis Jones.

She graduated cum laude with a degree in dance performance from Oklahoma City University under the tutelage of Director Jo Rowan and returned to school to get her MFA in dance performance and teaching from the Conservatory of Dance at SUNY Purchase College. While at Purchase she was a Graduate Teaching Assistant for Kazuko Hirabayshi and Roz Newman. For her graduate research she reconstructed a Ruth Currier piece under the direction of Ann Vachon and Alan Danielson of the Limon foundation. In her graduate concerts she worked with many repetiteurs, such as Jim May (Sokolow Foundation), Regina Larkin (Joyce Tristler foundation), The Nagrin Foundation and performed pieces choreographed by Max Stone, Cherice Barton, Daniel Nagrin, Pedro Ruiz, Mark Morris, Joyce Trisler, and Anna Sokolow.

Lauren is an Associate Professor of dance and the Associate Executive Director of Sands College of Performing Arts at Pace University where she co-wrote and co-founded the BFA Commercial Dance program in 2012. She served for five years as Co-Director of the BFA program and directed the Dance Out Loud concert as well as the Senior Showcase. She recently stepped in as Interim Program Head of the BFA Commercial Dance program where she teaches courses in Jazz Pedagogy, Jazz Technique I and III, Ballet Pedagogy, Dance History, Senior Seminar, Senior Project, Freshman Seminar UNV 101 and more. Her other teaching credits include: Broadway Dance Center, New Dance Group, Dance Masters of America, Perry Mansfield, The Rockette Experience, Oklahoma City University, MacComb College, SUNY Purchase School of the Arts and Conservatory of Dance, NYCDA SDI, The Arts Council of Pennsylvania, and numerous other schools, studios, conventions, and intensives nationwide. Lauren is an ABT® certified teacher from Primary to level 5 and was an Artist in Residence and Director of Dance at the New York School for the Deaf where she created and taught a dance program for students from kindergarten to high school. Lauren currently lives in Bergen County, New Jersey with her husband, and two daughters, she is an avid watercolor painter and crocheter and loves summers on the Connecticut coast line.