Pamela Fairweather, ADTR, NCC, RPC
DMT Director of Southern California Courses

Pamela Fairweather is the CMER DMT Director of Southern California Courses and a DMT faculty member. In addition to many years of clinical practice, Pamela has held faculty positions at UCLA and CSULB, served on the Board of Directors of the American Dance Therapy Association as the Committee Chair of Education, Research & Practice, and served on the Editorial Board of the Arts in Psychotherapy Journal.

Janet Lester, Psy.D., ADTR
DMT Director Of Northern California Courses

Dr. Janet Lester is a the CMER DMT Director of Northern California Courses and a DMT faculty member. Dr. Lester is a psychologist and dance/movement therapist who specializes in working with children and adolescents in school and mental health settings. She is currently Assistant Vice President of the Family Resource Center at Hathaway- Sycamores Child and Family Services, a community based prevention and intervention program for children and adolescents. Janet has extensive professional experience supervising dance/movement therapy interns.

Judy Gantz, MA, CMA - CMER Director & Founder

Judy Gantz is the Founder and Director of CMER. Judy taught and developed curriculum at UCLA (1982 to 2005). Alongside a strong academic career, Judy was the former Fitness Editor for Shape magazine, Co-Editor of Kinesiology for Dance, and she is a Certified Laban Movement Analyst.

Karen Clippinger, M.S.P.E.

Karen Clippinger received her masters in Exercise Science from the University of Washington and currently is a professor at California State University, Long Beach. She has worked for over 20 years in the areas of injury prevention and rehabilitation for dance and sports. Ms. Clippinger has worked with hundreds of dancers including members of the Joffrey, Mark Morris, Bill Evans and Alwin Nikolais companies. She has also consulted for the U.S. Weightlifitng Federation, U.S. Race Walking Team, the California Governor's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports, and various sports medicine clinics and fitness facilities. Ms. Clippinger is a well published in the areas related to dance and sports kinesiology. She wrote a monthly column for Shape Magazine, was co-editor-in-chief of the Journal for Dance Medicine and Science from 1996-2005, and recently completed her textbook titled Dance Anatomy and Kinesiology..

Irma Dosamantes-Beaudry, PH.D., PSY.D., ADTR

Irma Dosamantes-Beaudry is an interdisciplinary practitioner and scholar. Trained as a modern dancer, psychologist, and psychoanalyst, her published work bridges these disciplines. Prior to coming to UCLA in 1977 as a Professor of Dance Therapy, she had danced with Alwin Nikalois and Murray Louis at Henry Street in New York City, been an Associate Professor Of Psychology at California State University in Los Angeles, and established a clinical private practice in Los Angeles. During 1977-1999, she served as the Director of the Graduate Dance/Movement therapy program at UCLA.

Suzanne Ecker, MA, ADTR, MFT

Suzanne Ecker is a CMER DMT faculty member, dance/movement therapist and psychotherapist in private practice. She has taught workshops and courses at CSULB, Santa Monica College, and Phillips Graduate Institute, as well as provided services to a number of hospitals and mental health agencies. She is currently training to become an analyst at the C. G. Jung Institute of Los Angeles

Forest Franken, ADTR, MA, MFA

Forest Franken received both her M.A. in dance/movement therapy (1995) and her M.F.A. in choreography (2003) from UCLA. Her work as a dance/movement therapist spans thirteen years in inpatient psychiatric hospitals, intensive outpatient programs, and rehabilitation facilities with adolescents, adults, and seniors. Since 2001, she has worked at UCSF/Langley Porter Psychiatric Hospital and Clinics. Her current focus involves the teaching of Authentic Movement with attention to the discipline as a vehicle for creative work and for containing and expressing life changes/losses related to the body.

Berti Klein, MA, MCAT, MSS, NCC, ADTR

Berti Klein has spent over 35 years studying and facilitating many aspects of dance, movement, dance/movement therapy, authentic movment, somatic psychology, counseling, bodywork, meditation, and the body-mind-emotion-spirit relationship. She holds five Masters degrees and will receive a Doctorate in Spiritual Science in June, 2009. Additionally, she has a background in Nurturing Touch having studied and currently practicing CranioSacral, Polarity, Oriental Medicine, Shiatsu, JIN SHIN, and Chi Gong. Her teaching career has included courses at Yale University, University of Santa Monica, Hahnemann Medical University and the National University of Mexico while having presented workshops, trainings, classes and seminars throughout the U.S., Europe and Latin America.

Dawn Lyon, MA, ADTR

Dawn Lyon is a CMER DMT faculty member, and has over twenty-five years of experience working as a dance/movement therapist with adults in in-patient psychiatric, day treatment and residential facilities and with children, adolescents, and seniors in in-patient settings. She developed the dance/movement therapy internship training program at Metropolitan State Hospital where she is currently on staff.

Janice Meaden, MA, CLMA, RSMT

Janice Meaden is a CMER faculty member, and the Director, and faculty of the Integrated Movement Studies Certificate Program in Laban/Bartenieff Movement Studies at the University of Utah where she holds the position of Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Department of Modern Dance. She is a Certified Laban/Bartenieff Movement Analyst, a Registered Somatic Movement Therapist and a Body-Mind Centering Practitioner.

Shira Musicant, MA, ADTR, MFT, SEP

Shira Musicant is a CMER faculty member, dance/movement therapist, somatic experiencing practitioner, and body centered psychotherapist. With over twenty five years of clinical experience, she has taught, led workshops, and published in the fields of dance/movement therapy and Authentic Movement. Shira has extensive hospital and agency experience with a range of psychiatric and medical patients, and is currently in private practice, working with people recovering from both developmental and acute trauma.

Paula Perlman, ADTR, MFT

Paula Perlman, MFT, ADTR, is a member of American Dance Therapy Association, Dance and the Child International (DACI), and the California Association of Marriage and Family Therapist (CAMFT). She received her Masters Degree in Dance/Movement Therapy in 1983 from Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. In 1987 she became a Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist and in 1999 she received her certification as a Laban/Bartenieff Movement Analyst. She studied choreography at the University of California, Los Angeles, and dance/movement improvisation, “Logomotion,” with Simone Forti for six years. Additionally, she has twelve years experience as a participant in an Authentic Movement group.