Mary Lou Barber has had a successful performing career, participating in national tours of Cats, 42nd Street, A Chorus Line and Sophisticated Ladies. Her regional and stock credits include Me and My Girl, My One and Only, and Singin’ in the Rain at Gateway Playhouse, Paper Moon at Ford’s Theatre (Washington, D.C.), Of Thee I Sing at Arena Stage (Washington, D.C.), Rhapsody in Gershwin at Stamford TheatreWorks (Connecticut) and Showtune and The Music of Jerry Herman at Riverside Theatre (Florida). She has performed in Side by Side by Sondheim, A Grand Night for Singing and Cole, directed by Karin Baker at Blowing Rock Stage Company, NC.

Mary Lou frequently collaborates with director Bill Fabris, choreographing for West-minster Choir College, Omaha Symphony and the New York Gilbert & Sullivan Players.. Other choreographic credits include Oklahoma! for Augusta Opera, Patience and Trial By Jury for New York Gilbert & Sullivan Players, and Rhapsody in Gershwin for Stamford TheatreWorks. Also, Mary Lou has fond memories of dancing in the Princeton Ballet and Jazz companies with Bebe Neuwirth.

Lois Silk is a dancer, actress, teacher and writer. Trained in classical ballet, her repertoire began with works by Balanchine and Jerome Robbins, but soon included works by Alvin Ailey, Jean Erdman and Anna Sokolow. She developed "Silk Stretch," a system of personal awareness designed to free the dancer from anatomical misconceptions.

Karin Baker (Director/Choreographer/Writer) has been a soloist with the Cincinnati Opera Ballet Company, and performed with Alan Howard’s Pacific Ballet Company. On television she performed as a dancer on the Carol Burnett Show, and on Broadway in GEORGE M! starring Joel Gray, DIFFERENT TIMES, and GOODTIME CHARLIE also assisting choreographers Tod Jackson and Dennis Nahat, and danced in COCO with the legendary Katherine Hepburn.  Karin was Director/ Choreographer for six years of IBM recognition events.  She choreographed a series of musicals in Spanish at the Fabregas & Insurgentes Theatres in Mexico City, staging THE MAGIC SHOW in Johannesburg, South Africa and DRACULA in Madrid as well. 

She was a founding member of the American Dance Machine and it was through her work with Lee Theodore that she came to the attention of Gower Champion, who instantly offered her the job as his assistant on the original 42nd STREET.  On Mr. Champion’s death, she assumed responsibility for maintaining the high quality of the show, and recreated 42nd STREET for two national companies and the London production at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane.  She was assistant choreographer to Gillian Gregory on ME AND MY GIRL for the Broadway production. Her work, BACH SUITE, a tap ballet, was commissioned by the Dance Ellington Company and had its world premiere at Town Hall in New York City.  Off Broadway, she choreographed EXIT MUSIC based on a Noel Coward short story. Karin has directed productions of COLE, GRAND NIGHT FOR SINGING, and SIDE BY SIDE BY SONDHEIM for the Blowing Rock Stage Company in North Carolina.

She wrote and directed with Tony Parise, THE LAST OF THE RED HOT MAMAS, based on the life and music of Sophie Tucker, which had its World Premiere at the Blowing Rock Stage Company. The production then played to sold-out houses at the Steel City Theatre in Pittsburgh and the Kravis Center in West Palm Beach, Florida.  STAR SPANGLED RHYTHM, A Patriot Revue, had it’s World Premiere in Philadelphia two seasons ago and was created by Karin. Her most recent work, a new musical based on J. Hartley Manner’s PEG O’ MY HEART, had a successful reading in New York City and hopefully will be produced in the near future. Karin has been working with the Cole Porter Trust and the Rodgers and Hammerstein Organization developing new works chronicling the lives of our great American lyricists and composers. THE MELODY LINGERS ON, The Songs of Irving Berlin, with dialogue from Mary Ellin Barrett’s book IRVING BERLIN: A Daughter’s Memoir, created and directed by Karin has been published by the Rodgers and Hammerstein Organization. The show has been presented throughout the United States, the United Kingdom, has completed a tour of the Netherlands, and a production was recently produced in Los Angeles starring Kathryn Crosby. For more information on The Melody Lingers On, go online to rnh.com, Theatre Library.

Lawrence Merritt has been an avid supporter of DO40 and worked on numerous projects for us, including our Jack Cole event, but still has time for an active performing career. 

Larry’s Broadway credits include Applause, Evita, Pippin, Dear World, No Strings and On the Town (revival).  On TV, he has danced on specials starring Ann-Margaret, Raquel Welch, Liza Minelli, Anne Bancroft, Lucille Ball and Ginger Rogers.  He has studied with the British American Drama Academy at Oxford; John Barton, Fiona Shaw, Deborah Warner and David Leveaux as well as Joanne Zipay and David Le Grant.   He most recently performed Life Is a Dream at the Weller Theatre, in 2007 and in Moliere’s The Miser at the Bank Street Theater last year.  To quote Mr. Merritt on his new acting chops:  “Acting is an ever amazing journey.” 

Marcus Galante has worked extensively as a choreographer and teacher throughout the world. Trained at the American Ballet Theatre School and the School of American Ballet, he was also a trainee at the Harkness School of Dance. Some of his teachers include Patricia Wilde, Nancy Clement, Richard Rapp, Stanley Williams, George Balanchine, David Howard, Chuck Kelley and Phil Black (Jazz). He went on to dance with many companies including the Chicago Lyric Ballet under Maria Tallchief, Cleveland Ballet, Cincinnati Ballet, Eglevsky Ballet, Garden State Ballet, New York City Ballet, when at SAB (Coppelia etc.) and was a soloist with the National Ballet of South Africa C.A.P.A.B. performing the classical repertoire. On Broadway and national tours, he sang, danced and acted in A CHORUS LINE, PIPPIN, CAROUSEL and other shows including Trockadero on Broadway at the Palace Theatre.  He has also worked Off-Off Broadway, in Opera, film and in television performing on the NBC special “Where do We Go From Here” staring Shirley MacLain.

Mr. Galante has created works for Ballet Chicago, Garden State Ballet, Eglevsky Ballet, Houston Grand Opera, Ballet Trockadero, Ballet Grandiva, the Buffalo Opera Company (Carousel), Chautauqua Dance Institute, Helsinki Ballet Competition, Pori Dance Company (Finland), Lone Star Ballet, Cultural Park Theatre Company (Charlie Brown, Ft. Myers), the National Ballet School of Bulgaria, Kannon Dance Company in Russia and many other companies and schools. He has done television and film choreography including the HBO special DRAGTIME in 1998. In 1995 he nominated for a DANCE IN FILM AWARD by the International Dance Film Association for the short film PRIVATE PERFORMANCE with Super Size Me director Morgan Spurlock. He has been awarded fellowships from the NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS (Choreography) and the HARKNESS FOUNDATION FOR DANCE that bestowed five grants on him for choreography.  He is the founder and artistic director of the comic ballet company Les Grands Ballets de Loony.  The company performed many times in NYC and received excellent reviews. 

As a teacher, Mr. Galante has been on the faculty of some of the most prestigious schools in the country. Included are the New York City Ballet (guest teacher company class), Alvin Ailey American Dance Center where he was invited to be the company teacher of Ailey II, Pennsylvania Ballet School and Company, the Pacific Northwest Ballet, Lines Contemporary Ballet Company in San Francisco, Eglevsky Ballet, Ballet Chicago, Steps in New York, Broadway Dance Center, The Virginia School of the Arts and many others.  Mr. Galante was a faculty member at the Midwestern Regional Ballet Festival in Columbus Ohio and The Chicago National Association of Dance Masters.  He has been invited to St. Petersburg, Russia, Germany, Japan and 5 times to Finland where he taught ballet and Fosse/Bennett style Broadway and ballet. He has also taught and choreographed extensively in Japan, and other international locations.
In 2004 Mr. Galante’s Tutti Frutti, a tribute to Josephine Baker and Carmen Miranda was performed at City Center for the Dancers Transition Gala “Gotta Dance! A Tribute to Hollywood”.  He received praise from movie stars such as Jane Powell, Cyd Charisse and Esther Williams.  He also had 2 other works shown in NYC that year, Garnets and Star Spangled Ballerina. His ballet Fiddle Faddle was premiered in NYC and then in Tokyo Japan where it was so successful that excerpts were staged in Sofia Bulgaria in 2009.

Mr. Galante is a pianist trained at the Manhattan School of Music. He has played for every major ballet school in New York and has always been in demand because of his extensive repertoire, which ranges from classical and obscure ballet music to Stravinsky, Hindemith and the most recent Broadway shows and movies. He released two ballet class CD arranging and playing the music himself.