ASSOCIATION FOR BODY MAPPING EDUCATION BOARD
Meet the ABME Board, a dedicated and engaged group of volunteers working tirelessly to create engagement, increase benefits and provide support for our members, and execute the vision of our organization. Our seven voting members and three non-voting members (a trainee/affiliate member, the Director of Training, and our Immediate Past President) meet monthly from September through June.
ANITA KING
Interim President-Elect
Anita King is Professor of Music Emeritus at Willamette University, a certified teacher of the Alexander Technique and a Licensed Body Mapping Educator. Anita has performed as pianist and chamber musician throughout the US, Europe, and South America. She has given numerous presentations, workshops, and guest residencies for music teachers’ organizations, at colleges and universities, and at conferences focusing on music performance and musicians’ wellness. Intensely interested in the connections between coordinate movement and musical structure, Anita’s groundbreaking presentation, “Understanding Music’s Multiple Layers: Translating the Layered Organization of Music Into Movement,” explores how a complete marriage between the structure and emotion of the music and the movements needed to express it can be developed right from the beginning of the preparation process. Anita lives in Salem, Oregon.
MELANIE SEVER
Treasurer
Melanie M. Sever is an active freelance musician, recitalist, lecturer, conductor, and teaches flute and music courses at the University of Wisconsin-Superior. She is director of the Duluth Superior Symphony Youth Orchestras program and performs with the DSSO and other regional orchestras. An advocate of performance health for musicians, she teaches Body Mapping and is active with the Biotensegrity Interest Group. Published in Fluit (Netherlands) and Flöte Aktuel (Germany). BA, St. Olaf College; MM, University of MN-Duluth; Licensed K-12 Music Educator; ABME Licensed Body Mapping Educator. www.melaniesever.com.
BONITA BUNT
Secretary
Soprano, director, and educator Bonita Bunt is comfortable on stage in the operatic or musical theatre genres, as well as behind the scenes as director and stage manager. Bonita is a graduate of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas where she earned her Doctorate and Master of Music in vocal performance and served as performer, director, assistant director, stage manager, and administrator with many of the valley's local opera and theatre companies. Currently she can be found at the University of Alabama where she teaches voice and serves as Associate Director of Opera Theatre.
AMY LIKAR
Director of Training
Amy Likar is a California-based performing and teaching artist. She is a member of the Oakland Symphony and adjunct flute faculty at St. Mary’s College of California. For over twenty years she has been an innovator and educator for musicians’ and artists' wellness as a teacher of Body Mapping and the Alexander Technique. She is the Director of Training for ABME. She is the editor and narrator for the video, Move Well, Avoid Injury and the author of the Breathing Book for Flute. Amy Likar is pleased to be a Powell Performing Artist. Visit www.amylikar.com
VANESSA MULVEY
Immediate Past-President
A faculty member at the New England Conservatory of Music and Longy School of Music of Bard College, Vanessa Mulvey guides musicians to uncover the powerful relationship between musical expression and healthy movement. To help musicians embody high quality movement, she enhances her teaching by including movement lessons from a variety of modalities that range from Parkour to flying trapeze. Vanessa has presented workshops around the world for musicians and people from all walks of life at venues that include the Shepherd School of Music, the Boston Conservatory, and the Frost School of Music. www.breathemoveperform.com
MICHÈLE WHEATLEY-BROWN
Board Member At Large
Michèle is an active teacher, adjudicator, and examiner with the Royal Conservatory of Music and Music Development Program in Canada and the United States. She has conducted in-depth research at the University of Ottawa Piano Pedagogy Laboratory into the role and management of tension and relaxation in pedagogical approaches to piano technique. She is committed to teaching musicians to play with more ease and freedom and presents Body Mapping masterclasses, workshops, and private lessons. Michèle performs both as a solo and collaborative pianist with a wide variety of instrumentalists, vocalists, and choirs.
As founding Artistic Director for a highly successful classical concert series, Michèle has a passion for making music a vital part of community life. www.mindbodymusic.ca
DAVID DICK
Affiliate/Trainee Representative
Dr. David Dick is the Principal Trombone of the Regina Symphony Orchestra and serves as Department Head for the Department of Music at the University of Regina, where he directs the jazz ensemble, teaches music theory, brass classes, and trombone studio classes for the university and the conservatory. His previous teaching appointments have included the University of Memphis, Jackson State University, Belhaven University, and Briercrest College. Previous to his current performance position, he was the Principal Trombone player of the Mississippi Symphony Orchestra.
MAX MENDEZ
Board Member At Large
Max Mendez is a Professor of Music and Director of Choirs at North Idaho College in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. For the last fifteen years he has conducted the NIC Cardinal Chorale, Chamber Singers, Vocal Jazz Ensemble, and Cardinal Voices. Choirs under his direction have performed concerts in Mexico, San Francisco, and Carnegie Hall. As a singing artist, Max has performed on stages throughout the Northwestern United States as a soloist and ensemble artist. Max is a licensed educator through the Association for Body Mapping Education and is available for group workshops and individual coachings, both in face-to-face and in online formats.
