Dancing Legacy
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 Julie Adams Strandberg
Dancing Legacy is a Rhode Island-based performing and teaching ensemble committed to sharing the rich dance heritage of the United States of America. The company grew out of the life’s work of dance icons and collaborating sisters, Carolyn Adams and Julie Adams Strandberg. Individually and as a team, the sisters have played important roles in the dance field, transforming the lives of their students as well as the ways in which dance is taught and understood.
As both an active performance ensemble and a teaching corps, Dancing Legacy stands apart for its unique emphasis on passing on great works of dance to new generations of audiences and performers. As well as directing Fusionworks Dance Academy, the company maintains long-term residencies at Brown University, New York State Summer School for the Arts, and Bak Middle School of the Arts and is the designated staging and training company of Repertory Etudes Project. |
Dancing Legacy Team at Fusionworks
Laura Bennett
Director of Dancing Legacy
Laura Bennett has been director of Dancing Legacy since she founded the company in 2003, has worked with Repertory Etudes Project since the late 1990s, and became Director of Fusionworks Dance Academy in 2019. She loves to work on puzzles—whether making dances or formulating color-coded management grids. Laura has been dancing since she was in her mother’s womb and had her choreographic debut at age 11, when she got her gym teachers to give up their physical education periods for her to create a dance on her classmates. A Brown University graduate, she has studied, performed, and taught techniques and repertory of the 20th century American concert dance lineage and is a former member of Fusionworks Dance Company. She holds a dance education certificate from New York City’s 92nd Street Y and has taught dance and theater in community centers, schools, private studios, and summer programs, and is associate artistic director of the New York State Summer School of the Art School of Dance. Outside of dance, Laura enjoys spending time with her treasured nephews, studying the Bible, following sports, and watching TiVo in high definition. She learned much about living a creative life from her paternal grandmother, Harriet Bennett Strandberg (1914-1991), a painter who brought the spirit of the artist to everything she touched; the name Bennett was taken as a public tribute to a private legacy.
Director of Dancing Legacy
Laura Bennett has been director of Dancing Legacy since she founded the company in 2003, has worked with Repertory Etudes Project since the late 1990s, and became Director of Fusionworks Dance Academy in 2019. She loves to work on puzzles—whether making dances or formulating color-coded management grids. Laura has been dancing since she was in her mother’s womb and had her choreographic debut at age 11, when she got her gym teachers to give up their physical education periods for her to create a dance on her classmates. A Brown University graduate, she has studied, performed, and taught techniques and repertory of the 20th century American concert dance lineage and is a former member of Fusionworks Dance Company. She holds a dance education certificate from New York City’s 92nd Street Y and has taught dance and theater in community centers, schools, private studios, and summer programs, and is associate artistic director of the New York State Summer School of the Art School of Dance. Outside of dance, Laura enjoys spending time with her treasured nephews, studying the Bible, following sports, and watching TiVo in high definition. She learned much about living a creative life from her paternal grandmother, Harriet Bennett Strandberg (1914-1991), a painter who brought the spirit of the artist to everything she touched; the name Bennett was taken as a public tribute to a private legacy.
Hayley Kenney
Assistant Director of Dancing Legacy, Studio Manager of Fusionworks Dance Academy
Hayley Kenney, a Florida native, holds a BFA in dance from Florida State University. Hayley has studied with a wide variety of teachers including Carolyn Adams, Lynda Davis, Laura Glenn, Rebecca Lazier, Anthony Morgan, Julie Adams Strandberg, and Jawole Willa Jo Zollar. She has performed with BoSoma Dance Company and Sokolow Now! and in works by Robert Battle, Colin Connor, Danny Grossman, David Parsons, Anna Sokolow, Jawole Willa Jo Zollar, among others. She believes in educating dancers not only to be performers but to be dance patrons and advocates and is currently company manager of Dance Extension, Brown University's modern dance company. Hayley is a former faculty member at the White Mountain Summer Dance Festival, Dean College, and private studios in the Boston-metro area including four years as the lead modern dance teacher at the Dancing Arts Center in Holliston. Hayley also has a deep interest in bringing anatomical depth to dance practice and is a certified Pilates instructor with 15 years of teaching experience and has extensively studied Laban Movement Analysis. She resides in the small New England town of North Attleboro, Massachusetts, with her husband and their three children who are true movers and shakers and are a constant source in inspiration! She is a mid-century style enthusiast, having purchased a time capsule 1956 ranch home; she and her husband collect pieces and do all renovations in the style of the home, using authentic materials whenever possible. Hayley has worked with Dancing Legacy since 2013, serves on the Network Leadership team, and co-directs Fusionworks Dance Academy.
Assistant Director of Dancing Legacy, Studio Manager of Fusionworks Dance Academy
Hayley Kenney, a Florida native, holds a BFA in dance from Florida State University. Hayley has studied with a wide variety of teachers including Carolyn Adams, Lynda Davis, Laura Glenn, Rebecca Lazier, Anthony Morgan, Julie Adams Strandberg, and Jawole Willa Jo Zollar. She has performed with BoSoma Dance Company and Sokolow Now! and in works by Robert Battle, Colin Connor, Danny Grossman, David Parsons, Anna Sokolow, Jawole Willa Jo Zollar, among others. She believes in educating dancers not only to be performers but to be dance patrons and advocates and is currently company manager of Dance Extension, Brown University's modern dance company. Hayley is a former faculty member at the White Mountain Summer Dance Festival, Dean College, and private studios in the Boston-metro area including four years as the lead modern dance teacher at the Dancing Arts Center in Holliston. Hayley also has a deep interest in bringing anatomical depth to dance practice and is a certified Pilates instructor with 15 years of teaching experience and has extensively studied Laban Movement Analysis. She resides in the small New England town of North Attleboro, Massachusetts, with her husband and their three children who are true movers and shakers and are a constant source in inspiration! She is a mid-century style enthusiast, having purchased a time capsule 1956 ranch home; she and her husband collect pieces and do all renovations in the style of the home, using authentic materials whenever possible. Hayley has worked with Dancing Legacy since 2013, serves on the Network Leadership team, and co-directs Fusionworks Dance Academy.
Stephen Ursprung
Company Manager of Dancing Legacy
Stephen Ursprung holds an MFA in dance from Smith College and a BA in economics and Italian studies from Brown University. His choreographic work has been presented by the Bates Dance Festival, the American College Dance Festival, SpringWIDEOpen, the Astoria Dance Festival, Triskelion Arts, the MixMatch Festival, the Massachusetts Dance Festival, Green Space, and Boston Center for the Arts. As a performer, he has had the privilege of performing work by Ruth Andrien, Monica Bill Barnes, Robert Battle, Danny Buraczeski, Danny Grossman, David Parsons, Pilobolus, and Paul Taylor. Stephen has been on faculty at Smith College and the University of Massachusetts Amherst and is currently an assistant professor of dance studies at Dean College and co-director of education of Fusionworks Dance Academy. He is also the acting chair of the Board of Directors at Green Street Studios in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He currently creates work with NilsSprung Dance Project and Reject Dance Theatre. When not dancing, Stephen likes to pickle vegetables and use them as cocktail garnishes, and he plans to visit all 7 continents with only 3 more to go! Stephen was first introduced to Repertory Etudes while an undergraduate at Brown studying with Repertory Etudes Project co-founder Julie Adams Strandberg. He has worked with Dancing Legacy since 2015, serves on the Network Leadership team, and co-directs Fusionworks Dance Academy.
Company Manager of Dancing Legacy
Stephen Ursprung holds an MFA in dance from Smith College and a BA in economics and Italian studies from Brown University. His choreographic work has been presented by the Bates Dance Festival, the American College Dance Festival, SpringWIDEOpen, the Astoria Dance Festival, Triskelion Arts, the MixMatch Festival, the Massachusetts Dance Festival, Green Space, and Boston Center for the Arts. As a performer, he has had the privilege of performing work by Ruth Andrien, Monica Bill Barnes, Robert Battle, Danny Buraczeski, Danny Grossman, David Parsons, Pilobolus, and Paul Taylor. Stephen has been on faculty at Smith College and the University of Massachusetts Amherst and is currently an assistant professor of dance studies at Dean College and co-director of education of Fusionworks Dance Academy. He is also the acting chair of the Board of Directors at Green Street Studios in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He currently creates work with NilsSprung Dance Project and Reject Dance Theatre. When not dancing, Stephen likes to pickle vegetables and use them as cocktail garnishes, and he plans to visit all 7 continents with only 3 more to go! Stephen was first introduced to Repertory Etudes while an undergraduate at Brown studying with Repertory Etudes Project co-founder Julie Adams Strandberg. He has worked with Dancing Legacy since 2015, serves on the Network Leadership team, and co-directs Fusionworks Dance Academy.