Steve Norlin-Weaver, Chair
Steve has been a lifelong supporter of the Arts and ARENA DANES in particular. A retired educator, Steve was the principal of Ramsey Fine Arts Center, where they launched the “Learning Through Music” program in collaboration with New England Conservatory, followed by Field School in Minneapolis. In addition, he has served in school administrative positions internationally in Saudi Arabia and Guatemala. He is a former board member and executive director of the Minnesota Middle School Association (MMSA) and served on the Association for Middle Level Education (AMLE) board of trustees. In addition to serving on the board for ARENA DANCES, Steve also serves on the AMLE Foundation Committee.
Brandon Plombon, Chief Financial Officer | Northeast Bank
Brandon Plombon is a seasoned banking veteran with a strong background in commercial lending and risk management. Currently serving as Vice President of Commercial Lending at Northeast Bank, he brings over a decade of experience in driving financial growth and fostering long-term client relationships. Brandon’s expertise spans project management, policy development, and process improvement, which have consistently led to enhanced operational efficiency and client satisfaction. His strategic vision and leadership have been instrumental in supporting community banks and non-profit organizations, ensuring they meet the evolving needs of their customers.
Caroline Glawe, Administrative Director
Marisa Baker, Board Member | Daily Harvest
Marisa graduated from Duke University with a major in Public Policy and a minor in Dance. After spending some time in Boston working in consulting, she now resides in New York City and works in strategic analytics for Daily Harvest, extracting insights from data to enable others to make more data-driven decisions. Marisa has been dancing since the age of 3 and today continues to dance recreationally whenever possible. She also enjoys volunteering for arts organizations, leveraging analytics to assist organizations in achieving their goals, and is excited to be contributing her time to ARENA DANCES.
Betsy Maloney Leaf, Board Member | University of Minnesota
Betsy Maloney, PhD, MFA, is an assistant professor in the Arts in Education program at the University of Minnesota, where she works with the interarts (visual art, dance, theatre arts) license program and teaches both undergraduate and graduate courses in the department of curriculum and instruction. In addition, Maloney Leaf also serves as Associate Director for Arts Education with the Center for Climate Literacy, where she participates in community engagement and research experiences to better understand the connection between arts education and a climate future. She holds a MN K-12 dance and theatre teaching license.
Ricardo Torres Rivera
Always a dancer. Always a performance/performing arts creator. Now a patron and a very (very) active audience member, Ricardo Torres-Rivera (he/his) is a Puerto Rican gay man who today calls Minnesota home. Since a teenager, Ricardo has been training in various dance, body/space awareness, and performing art forms, including site-specific, voice as a driving force of movement (healing voice), experimental, Alexander Technique, classical ballet, jazz, modern, contemporary, contact improvisation, and mask theater. He has participated in classes and workshops with Myrna Renaud, Viveca Vázquez, Waldo Gonzalez, Deborah Hunt, Ñequi González, Olaya Muentes, and Vanessa Ortiz. Ricardo was part of the Cowles Center Programs and Education Advisory Committee. Ricardo is committed to ensuring that the voices of BIPOC, LGBTQIA2+, Latinx, and especially the diverse and polyphonic voices of dance artists from the Caribbean are represented and heard. Professionally, Ricardo is an entrepreneur and owner of Xevalics Consulting, a technology consulting company in the life sciences industry.
Elliana Vesely, Board Member | Freelance Artist
Elliana Vesely is a Twin Cities, MN-based dance artist who grew up in a small town in Northern Wisconsin. As of May of 2020, she holds a B.A. in dance from the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities. She complemented this degree with studies in biology and health & wellness promotion, receiving minors in both. While at the U of M, Elliana was humbled to be cast in works by acclaimed artists; Leah Nelson, Joan Smith, Robert Moses, Eko Supriyanto, Kjara Wurst, and Carl Flink. While in school, she also had the pleasure of working with Crash Dance Company & Shapiro and Smith Dance (S&S) and performed in the 2018 North-Central American College Dance Association Gala. Elliana is honored to have been a recipient of the Beth Hope Suran Scholarship (2016-2020) and the Jean Congdon Scholarship (2019-2020). She is ecstatic to be dancing with Shapiro and Smith Dance, Black Label Movement, and ARENA DANCES as a company member. Elliana has most recently performed in The Walker Art Center’s Paradox of Stillness and LDV choreographed by two independent Twin Cities artists, Berit Algren & Helen Hatch.
Catherine Malmberg Dannenbring, (Board Chair Emeritus) | Malmberg Projects
Catherine has worked as a real estate developer on mixed-use, transit-oriented, urban infill developments with a focus on a triple-bottom-line investment approach that incorporates environmental, social, and economic goals. In 2017, she founded her own practice with the aim of positively impacting our built environment through a creative, cross-disciplinary practice. Design excellence, resiliency planning, and innovation are common threads in her past projects throughout the U.S. She completed her undergraduate work magna cum laude in History & Literature at Harvard and holds a Master’s degree in Architecture from Princeton University.
Gustave Mutombo (Emeritus) | Best Buy
Gustave Mutombo is a graduate of St. Thomas University with an MBA from Hamline. His career in corporate banking and finance has led him to his current role as a Legal Financial Analyst with Best Buy. His commitment to service was instilled by his education and through his work with Project for Pride in Living, coupled with his desire to expand his horizons, led him to Board service with ARENA for six years.
Jerry Burg (Emeritus) | The Law Office of Jerry A. Burg of Counsel to Capistrant Law, PA
In addition to our current members, ARENA DANCES is seeking new board members with expertise in any of the following areas: Event planning, Donor cultivation, Education, Finance, and Marketing.
ARENA DANCES Staff
Founder + Artistic Director | Mathew Janczewski | arenadances@gmail.com
Creative Design Manager | Kate Sebes | cdmarenadances@gmail.com