February 27, 2026
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Curt Steinzor, Director
curt@danceforce.org
NYS DanceForce Welcomes 2 New Members
The New York State DanceForce Member Search Committee has just concluded a five-month long statewide search. We are proud to announce our two new members:
Neva Cockrell (she/her) is a professional dancer, director, and educator. She is the co-founder and co-director of WildHeart: Center for Performance and Embodiment Practice, where she lives, creates, and works in the Hudson Valley, NY, since 2022. She danced with Pilobolus from 2016-2019, as Dance Captain 2017-2019, and now teaches with the company. With Pilobolus she toured extensively to Germany, Switzerland, Austria, China, Mexico, Israel, Dubai, and within the US.
She is also a writer/director/choreographer who uses dance-theater as a tool for social change. In 2010 she co-founded Loom Ensemble, which has toured across the US, Europe, and UAE for 14 years. For her directorial work with Loom Ensemble, she is the recipient of several grants including the NEFA New Work New England Grant. In all her work, she is deeply passionate about the overlap of somatic work and breaking down systems of oppression. She has been offering workshops integrating somatics, art-making, and culture shift work for the last 5 years.
Gregory A. Hallock is the Executive Director of the Genesee–Orleans Regional Arts Council (GO ART!), where he leads regional arts development, cultural planning, and community-engaged programming across rural and small-city communities in Western New York. He holds an M.A. in Arts Management from the University at Buffalo, a B.S. in Theatre with an acting concentration and minor in dance from SUNY Brockport, and an A.A. in Theatre Arts from Genesee Community College. His professional background includes work with Shea’s Performing Arts Center and Squeaky Wheel/Buffalo Media Resources, along with extensive experience in nonprofit leadership, arts administration, and presenting interdisciplinary and dance-centered performance.
Hallock’s perspective is shaped by international study, the main being Singapore, where he participated in the Theatre Training & Research Programme, The Arts and Cultural Identity in a Borderless World, focused on global models of arts funding, public policy, and performance practice. He is also the Founder of GLOW OUT! – Regional Pride Center. Through initiatives such as “What Is Your Story?”, a community-based storytelling project, he centers lived experience, identity, and belonging, collecting stories that culminate in school dance performances focused on diversity and acceptance. A proud gay, single father of two amazing bi-racial children, Hallock’s work is deeply rooted in equity, representation, and expanding access to dance, interdisciplinary performance and the arts as a whole, while strengthening sustainable cultural infrastructure in underserved and rural regions of New York State.
“We’re very happy to see this influx of new talent into our ranks,” says DanceForce Director Curt Steinzor. “These two dance advocates will assist us tremendously in our pursuit of geographic, artistic, racial, and professional diversity representing upstate New York’s broad and varied citizenry.”
Cockrell and Hallock will officially become new members on July 1, 2026 and will design their first projects to occur during the July 2027 to June 2028 project cycle.
The New York State DanceForce is a consortium of dance activists committed to increasing the quantity and quality of dance activity throughout New York State. Each volunteer member receives an annual allocation (currently $10,000) to create projects that bring dance artists to upstate New York communities in customized residencies. Since its founding in 1994, the DanceForce, through the work of its members, has funded 568 projects, raising more than $4 million in support of these endeavors. The NYS DanceForce receives major support from the New York State Council on the Arts. More information about the NYS DanceForce can be found at danceforce.org.
About the New York State Council on the Arts The mission of the New York State Council on the Arts is to foster and advance the full breadth of New York State’s arts, culture, and creativity for all. For FY 2026, the Council on the Arts will award over $161 million, serving organizations and artists across all 10 state regions. The Council on the Arts further advances New York’s creative culture by convening leaders in the field and providing organizational and professional development opportunities and informational resources. Created by Governor Nelson Rockefeller in 1960, and continued with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature, the Council is an agency that is part of the Executive Branch. For more information on NYSCA, please visit arts.ny.gov, and follow NYSCA’s Facebook page, on X @NYSCArts and Instagram @NYSCouncilontheArts.
