WestFest Team
CAROL NOLTE
Founder/Artistic Director/Curator
CAROL NOLTE/DANCE COLLECTIVE (Artistic Director) founded WestFest 15 years ago as a response to the financial strain of the recession, offering choreographers free or low-cost performance opportunities at the Westbeth Artisits’ Residence, her home for the last 35 years. She has also created over 50 dances for her award-winning company Dance Collective. Recently, her work has been seen at Merce Cunningham Studio, The Kitchen, Joyce SoHo, The 92nd Street Y Fridays at Noon. She has also co-founded and produced three dance festivals, DanceBLITZ, Taos Dance 2000, and, currently, WestFest.
She graduated from Brown University with honors in American Civilization and took an advanced degree in dance at The New School.
DYLAN BAKER
Producer/Curator
DYLAN BAKER is a New York City based dancer, choreographer, and teaching artist, Dylan is originally from the boondocks of Wisconsin where he acquired a BFA in Dance at The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
Along with works by BOiNK! Dance & Film, Dylan can be found dancing with David Parker & The Bang Group and Matthew Westerby Company. Behind the scenes for once, he is proud to be a producer for the annually held WestFest dance festival at Westbeth Artist Housing and Center for the Arts.
When Mr. Baker is not performing or producing, he wears his teaching hat at The Steffi Nossen School of Dance in White Plains, NY and Rivertown Dance Academy in Tarrytown, NY.
RACHAEL LIEBLEIN-JURBALA
Producer/Curator
RACHAEL LIEBLEIN-JURBALA (she/her) is a New York City-based arts administrator, producer, dancer, and choreographer, and has served as producer and curator of the WestFest Dance Festival since 2022.
Rachael is Associate Director, Dance Education Laboratory (DEL) and Artistic Programming for the Harkness Dance Center at the 92nd Street Y, NY, and is the director of Rachael Lieblein-Jurbala Dance Works – a company creating narrative-driven, socially-engaged performance since 2020. She is proud to serve on the board of the Sasamani Foundation – an organization based in Bagamoyo, Tanzania dedicated to increasing access to education and employment opportunities for women and girls through holistic sponsorship and empowerment-driven programming.
Rachael holds a bachelor's degree in Dance and Sociology with a certificate in Community Action and Public Policy from Connecticut College.
Producer/President, Westbeth Artists Residents Council
ERIN QUINN PURCELL has worked as an actor/director/writer in New York City for over 25 years. She serves as President of the Westbeth Artists Residents Council. She is currently working with Jay Reiss (The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee) on a new musical, Iceboy! (music and lyrics by Mark Hollmann) at the Pasadena Playhouse starring Megan Mullally, Nick Offerman, Adam Devine and Laura Bell Bundy. You can watch 4 numbers from the musical on their website:
www.playbill.com/article/watch-megan-mullally-and-nick-offerman-in-the-upcoming-musical-iceboy
ERIN QUINN PURCELL
2026 Guest Curator
STEPHANIE SAYWELL
2026 All Over Guest Curator
Stephanie Saywell (she/her) is a NYC-based choreographer, performer, clown, dramaturg, devised-theatre maker, and published poet. She holds a Certificate of Completion from the Dell' Arte International School of Physical Theatre, plus a BA in Dance and a BA in Written Arts from Bard College. In addition to apprenticing for the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company, Saywell has had the pleasure of performing for Arthur Avilés, Paul Matteson, Peter Kyle, Peggy Florin, Sharleen Chidiac, Witness Relocation, Sam Asa Pratt, Ainesh Madan, and at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. She is a graduate of Doug Varone's DEVICES choreography mentorship program and a recipient of both the Ana Itelman Prize for Choreography and the Streb GO! Commissioning Program for Emerging Artists. Her work has been presented by Streb Lab for Action Mechanics, All Over Westbeth, CreateART, Gibney, Movement Research, Triskelion Arts, Mark Morris Dance Center, Green Space, BAAD!, and Bard College, among others.
