Laban Modular Program Faculty Bios

Jackie Hand

Rachelle Palnick Tsachor, CMA, RSMT,  is faculty in the modular training program, and coordinator for LIMS continuing education program for CMAs.  She teaches at the University of Iowa, where she offers Movement for Performers, an interdisciplinary class for musicians, dancers and actors , as well as Intro to Laban Movement Studies and Intro to the Alexander Technique for the Division of the Performing Arts,. Tsachor earned her B.F.A. in Dance at the Juilliard School and her Masters in Dance/Movement Research and Reconstruction at the City College of New York, where she also completed her Reconstructor and Advanced Notator training. As a Certified Laban Movement Analyst, she has been invited to give workshops and presentations in such diverse areas as Optimal Performance, Non-Verbal Communication, Kinesiology, Movement notations, Physical Characterization and Early Dance & Movement at conferences in Berkeley, Chicago, Ottawa, New York City, San Antonio, Jerusalem and Haifa in Israel, and Ghent, Belgium.
Tsachor taught Modern Dance and Movement for Actors at the City College of New York, Theatre Movement at The University of Iowa Theatre Department, Ballet at Grinnell College, and has been guest teacher at the Alvin Ailey School in New York City, Tel Hai Arts College in northern Israel and Tunghai University in Taiwan. Her publications in Labanotation include chapters in the Dover edition of Courtly Dance of the Renaissance, Gordon & Breach of London's Moving Notation and Terpsichore 1450-1900, published by the Institute for Historical Dance Practice in Belgium. Her reconstruction of Nido d'Amore was commissioned as the basis for the instructional video How to Dance through Time Volume III: The Majesty of Renaissance Dance for Dancetime Publications in California. As associate editor, Tsachor recently published a scholarly facsimile edition of a French manuscript on English country dance, Dances for the Sun King: André Lorin’s Livre de Contredance, [c. 1685-1687] published by the Colonial Music Institute.
A Registered Somatic Movement Therapist since 2000, and a certified teacher of the Alexander Technique, Tsachor works in the Iowa City area as a movement therapist and educator. She was board certified by the National Certification Board of Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork and is a certified member of the Association of Bodywork and Massage Professionals, Alexander Technique International and the International Somatic Movement Education and Therapy Association and is a member of the Association of Theatre Movement Educators.

Kista Tucker

Kista Tucker, MFA, MA, BS, CMA, RSMT, is the Director of Kista Tucker Dance, Inc. She has performed and presented her work throughout the US and in Europe, Japan, Mexico, and Canada. She has a wide range of performance experiences ranging from a major role in Kurt Jooss’ The Green Table to Tucker’s own Randolph County. She received over $36,500.00 toward creating and touring a choreographic project based on the Korean War Veterans Memorial located in Washington, DC. Tucker has served on the LIMS and CORD Boards of Directors. She has taught at George Washington University in Washington, DC, The Ohio State University, Sam Houston State University, The University of South Florida, and SUNY Brockport. She sets works, conducts workshops, and acts in the capacity of Guest Artist within universities and other institutions. She has established the KT Summer Intensives and continues working toward publishing her KT Warm-Ups. http://KistaTucker.com