Irish World Academy Summer Dance Intensive

Reynolds Whalen

Founder and Executive Director

Reynolds graduated summa cum laude from Washington University in St. Louis in 2008 with a degree in Theater and African and African American Studies. For an honors thesis Reynolds filmed, edited, and produced a full-length documentary in Kenya with Haba na Haba, a group using performance for education and social change in the slums of Nairobi. This project earned him the Forum on Education Abroad Undergraduate Research Award. A year later, Reynolds organized a trip to bring Haba na Haba to the United States for a tour of St. Louis and Washington University. Immediately after graduation, Reynolds worked in Rwanda as a filmmaker for Millennium Congregations, an interfaith organization connecting communities of faith in the United States with development projects in Rwanda’s Bugesera District. Reynolds then served two years with Teach for America, teaching in the South Bronx and receiving a Masters Degree in Education from Hunter College. He completed a second graduate degree in African Studies from Indiana University in Bloomington, and his Masters thesis focused on the impact of donors on the creative process of Theatre for Development (TfD) groups in Kenya.

Reynolds has traveled extensively in Africa, spending time in Ghana, Sudan, South Sudan, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. He also studied acting, voice, and movement at Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre in London. Reynolds is a two-time Rhodes Scholarship finalist, the inaugural recipient of the Dred and Harriet Scott Award for the Advancement of Human Rights, and the winner of two research fellowships. He was also a Dialogue Fellow for the Xenia Institute, has twice served as the co-director for the Roosevelt Institution’s International Diplomacy Center (Washington University branch), and was president of the Graduate Students of African Studies (GSAS) at Indiana University.

Reynolds lives in Northampton, MA with his wife Julia who is a professional costume designer and his daughter Lily who is a cute baby. In his free time Reynolds likes to play his guitar, go hiking, act in local productions, hit the karaoke bars, sing with his dog Captain (the best doggy singer in the universe), and play various yard games such as KanJam, cornhole, “cups”, and Kubb.

Joanna Wright

Administrative Assistant

Joanna makes Performing Arts Abroad tick. She handles many behind-the-scene tasks such as processing applications, reviewing and approving participant tasks, collecting payments, and welcoming newly accepted applicants to the PAA family.

Ever since she was little, Joanna Wright has loved the creative arts. Whether organizing a backyard circus or putting on plays in the living room, she showed an early flair for the dramatic- and also the pragmatic, selling tickets and popcorn to neighbors, and even attempting (unsuccessfully) to charge her parents a penny to watch her plays. While in high school, she balanced AP classes with the responsibilities of being president of the juggling club, and her education at Swarthmore College as a Dance and Theatre Major prepared her both to perform in shows and to write about them. While at Swarthmore, she embarked on a semester-long study abroad program in Kolkata, India, where she studied Kathak (North Indian classical dance), pantomime and Bengali. Joanna continued her international education after college, earning an MFA in Lecoq-based Actor-created Theatre at the London International School of Performing Arts in collaboration with Naropa University. After leaving London, Joanna moved to Austin, Texas and rekindled her love for the circus arts at the Sky Candy Aerial and Circus Studio. Pragmatic as ever, in addition to performing and teaching circus skills such as Aerial Silks, Trapeze, Juggling and Clowning, she was hired as Sky Candy’s Marketing Director, and happily held that position for eight years. Now living in Easthampton, Joanna focuses her creative energy on teaching at SHOW Circus Studio and knitting extremely elaborate scarves. As Administrative Assistant at Performing Arts Abroad, she is thrilled and honored to help young artists find the same joy and inspiration as she did from her international studies.

Pamela Cotter

Ireland Program Director, Summer Intensives

Pam leads the training component of our summer intensives with the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance in Limerick, Ireland. She coordinates the training schedule, organizes the weekend excursion, selects the instructors, and overseas every aspect of the two-week intensive training course.

Pamela Cotter is a dancer, choreographer, and teacher from Montreal, Quebec, Canada. In 2006, she moved to Ireland to pursue the BA in Irish Music and Dance at the University of Limerick, from which she graduated with First Class honours (2010).

She went on to complete the MA in Ethnomusicology at the University College Cork (2011) with honours, where her thesis took the form of a comparative analysis of the leading organisations in traditional Irish music and dance, Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann and An Coimisiún le Rincí Gaelacha. Before moving abroad, Pamela also completed a Diploma in Honours Social Science with a double major in Child Studies and Women Studies from Vanier College, Montreal, Quebec.

Pamela began dancing at the age of ten, focusing on Tap, Irish, and Ballroom. Since moving to Ireland, she has had the pleasure of dancing with several shows around Europe and the UK, including performances at the Munich Philharmonic and the Festival Interceltique de Lorient. Most notably, Pamela was commissioned in 2010 to choreograph a new Irish music and dance show, Scéala, later performed in Torino, Italy.

Pamela is a qualified Irish dancing teacher (T.C.R.G.) with An Coimisiún le Rincí Gaelacha and is currently lecturing on both undergraduate programmes at the Irish World Academy, the BA in Irish Music and Dance, as well as the BA in Voice and Dance. She is also working on a research PhD that examines the communal participatory events which take place during Irish traditional music festivals.

John Hayes

Ireland Site Director

John supports all participants on our Ireland programs, acting as the main point of contact throughout their stay in the country. He coordinates airport pickup, arranges housing, leads cultural excursions, and manages the 24-hour onsite emergency phone.

John was born and raised in Ireland. He grew up on a dairy farm in Tipperary before heading to college. He studied at the National University of Ireland, Galway and University of Limerick. During his wonderful four years of college in Galway John loved the various productions staged by the world-famous Druid Theatre. During his year studying for his Masters in Limerick John loved attending visual art exhibitions and Drama performances at the renowned Belltable Arts Centre. Now he loves immersing himself in the cutting-edge arts scene in Dublin.

John adores travelling and has lived and worked in five different European countries. He has taught in Spain, Germany, Ireland and the United Kingdom, worked on farms in the Netherlands and has led study abroad programs in the British Isles and Austria. John believes both international education and travel are essential in today’s world and is on hand to help smooth our participants’ paths whilst abroad.

John is married to Anja – 17 years and counting! Together they have two teens (Nathan 17) and tween (Lauren 15). When John isn’t dealing with teen vs tween friction and angst he loves watching westerns, war films and watching/tweeting about sport. He’s completely crazy about almost all sports and promises to take participants to see a match of one kind or another. All in all he’s a very friendly person who always wants to help others achieve their goals.