Hancock Center Staff

Our Professional Staff includes seven registered dance/movement therapists and two office staff.

Hancock Center is a non-profit organization created in 1983 to promote the informed and effective use of dance/movement therapy in the Midwest.

It offers services to individuals and to a variety of human services agencies in Dane County and the State of Wisconsin. Hancock Center is a supporting agency of the Marian Chace Foundation, the charitable branch of the American Dance Therapy Association.

Staff Members

Rena Kornblum, MCAT, ADTR, DTRL is the executive director of Hancock Center. She coordinates children's outreach programming and leads individual, group, and family dance/movement therapy sessions in schools, at Hancock Center, and at other agencies. She teaches and presents on her work at workshops and training seminars, in addition to serving on the University of Wisconsin-Madison faculty. Her book, Disarming the Playground: Violence Prevention through Movement, describes the in-school violence prevention curriculum developed at Hancock Center and replicated across the country. Rena earned her M.A. at Hahneman University.

Deborah Thomas, PhD, ADTR, DTRL founded Hancock Center in 1983 and served as its executive director through 2004. She provides individual dance/movement therapy to adults, as well as therapy with a Jungian approach. She also teaches Alexander technique. She was a founding member of the American Dance Therapy Association and taught in the undergraduate Dance Therapy Program at UW-Madison. She is in training to become a Jungian analyst.

Grace Valentine, MA, ADTR, CPC, DTRL coordinates Hancock Center's adult programming and offers individual dance/movement and verbal therapy. Her work focuses on personal growth, socialization and relationship skills, coping with developmental delays, emotional and physical illness, and sexual and substance abuse. She facilitates women's groups and teaches in the U.S. and abroad. Grace earned her M.A. from Lone Mountain College and her PhD in English at the University of Missouri-Columbia.

Jeanine Kiss, MA, ADTR, DTRL provides individual, group, and family dance/movement therapy in the Child & Family Program. Jeanine's study and practice of yoga often influences her therapy practice. She coordinates and provides dance/movement therapy services in elementary and middle schools and presents her work at conferences and workshops. Jeanine earned her M.A. at UCLA.

Ann Wingate, MA, ADTR, DTRL coordinates the Hancock Center's on-site child and family program. She provides individual, group, and family dance/movement therapy sessions at the Center, including a creative dance class for teens with developmental issues and a therapeutic class for moms. She also works with the In-School Therapy and Prevention program. Ann supervises graduate interns and presents on her work at conferences and workshops. Ann earned her MA at Naropa Institute in Boulder, CO.

Robyn Lending Halsten, MA, ADTR, DTRL provides individual and group dance/movement therapy for children, teens, and adults. Robyn incorporates her training in Internal Family Systems Therapy and Mindfulness Meditation into her practice. She presents locally and nationally at workshops and training seminars for professionals. Robyn is a graduate of Columbia College in Chicago, IL, where she continues to lecture and supervise graduate interns.

Dori Regnier Weigel, Associate Director
Laura Rogers, Administrative Associate
Stephanie Resnik, Development & Marketing Coordinator
Joseph Schmitt, Building Maintenance

Staff is supplemented by graduate interns.

Hancock Center

is a non-profit supporting agency of the

Marian Chace Foundation

and the

UNITED WAY
of Dane County