Randy Duncan
Department Chair
Randy began his career at age fifteen with the Joseph Holmes Dance Theatre, rising from dancer to resident choreographer and upon the death of Mr. Holmes, Artistic Director. Using elements of ballet, jazz , African and modern dance, he has created works for the Joffrey Ballet, River North Chicago Dance Company, Giordano Jazz Dance Chicago, Spectrum Dance Company (Seattle, Washington), Bat Dor Dance Company of Israel and the Tennessee Children's Dance Ensemble.

His musical theater credits include choreographing and appearing in Street Dreams, West Side Story, Carousel, Hello Dolly, Don't Bother Me I Can't Cope and Guys and Dolls. His affiliation with Chicago's Goodman Theatre has helped create acclaimed works such as Zoot Suit, Drowning Crow, The Rose Tattoo and Heartbreak House. His choreography for Apple Tree Theatre's production of Once On This Island earned him a Jeff nomination, while more recently, his work for Apple Tree's Hello Again earned him the 2005 Gay Chicago Magazine After Dark Award for Choreography. Having worked in prominent regional theatres as South Coast Repertory (Costa Mesa, CA), Actor's Theatre (Louisville, KY) and Shakespeare Theatre (Washington, DC), he continues his work with director Kate Whoriskey on such plays as Antigone, Clean House, Amadeus, The Tempest and Caucasian Chalk Circle.

Mr. Duncan's first major motion picture (by Paramount Pictures), Save the Last Dance, starring Julia Stiles, earned him a nomination for the American Choreography Award for dance on film. His made for television ballet, Urban Transfer, was produced and distributed nationwide by Public Television Station WTTW. With the production efforts of HMS Media, he has since been seen on several PBS series on dance in Chicago.

His guest classes in jazz dance with an African influence have brought him to England, France, Amsterdam, Israel and on an annual basis to Mexico. He teaches at colleges, universities and high schools nationwide. For the past 12 years, he has been on the faculty of the Chicago Academy of the Arts High School. You may also see him sitting on the panels of the NEA, IAC and Arts Midwest.

Guillermo Leyva
Faculty
Guillermo Leyva trained with the Professional School of Arts in Camaguey,Cuba. After His training, he danced professionally for 11 years with the Ballet the Camaguey as principal dancer, under the artistic direction of Fernando Alonso, 3 years  with the Ballet the Monterrey in Mexico, under the direction of Ann Marie D'Angelo, Fernando Alonso, and Fernando Bujones, 2 years with The Joffrey ballet of Chicago and The Lexington Ballet, Guillermo has also danced with the Lyric Opera of Chicago, Ballet Royal the Wallonie, Belgium, Ballet the Santiago de Chile, Illinois Ballet, Ballet Theatre of Chicago, Cincinnati Ballet, etc. Today he is a Ballet teacher at The Chicago Academy for the Arts, others schools, and freelancer .

Deborah Goodman
Faculty
Deborah Goodman began her dance training at Northern Illinois University and continued in New York at the Martha Graham School, Peridance and with Yuriko as Yuriko’s assistant and demonstrator. She has performed with Richard Move, Sandra Kaufmann Dance, Goldhuber & Latsky, Pearl Lang, Colleen Heffernan and Lacy James’ Merriminne dancers, among others. Deborah has served on the faculty of the Martha Graham School of Contemporary Dance, New York University, Long Island University, The Connecticut Conservatory of the Performing Arts and Usdan Center for the Creative and Performing Arts. Additionally, she has taught modern dance workshops at St. Paul’s School in New Hampshire and Interlochen Center for the Arts. In New York, she conducted science/dance workshops to foster excellence in learning. Currently, Deborah is back in Chicago dancing for Momenta and teaching at Loyola University, The Chicago Academy for the Arts and at The Academy of Movement and Music.

Natalie Rast
Faculty
Natalie Rast began her study of ballet in Columbus, Ohio at the age of ten. She attended Northern Illinois University as a dance major for three years transferring to Barat College to complete her studies. . She was principal dancer with Joel Hall Dancers from January 1981-December 1986, touring extensively with the company to Great Britain and Europe. She furthered her studies of ballet and modern technique at the Ruth Page Foundation, Chicago City Ballet, Joseph Holmes Dance Theater, Bryant Ballet, London Contemporary Dance Theater, and Pineapple located in London, England. She has taught at the Joel Hall Dance Studio, Chicago City Ballet, Golden’s School of Dance, Hyde Park School of Ballet, Second City Ballet, Joseph Holmes Dance Theater. Since 1988, she has bee a faculty member at Columbia College. She has served as ballet mistress for Zephyr Dance and Winifred Haun and dancers. She has been a participant in the Urban Gateways Program as an artist and also as a co-coordinator for the Joseph Holmes Dance Theater. She founded Rast Ballet; a school focused on the study of ballet for the adult student, in December 1993. In March of 2006 she opened Rast Ballet and Dance Studio to enlarge to classes to include children and young adults.