Our Team

Directors

Nicola Iervasi – Founder, Artistic Executive Director, Producer, Staff Curator

Native of Italy, Nicola moved to New York in 1998 as a scholarship student at the Martha Graham School of Contemporary Dance, from which he graduated spring 2000. He performed with the Martha Graham Dance Ensemble Pearl Lang Dance Theater, Max Luna III, Igal Perry, and Dzul Dance.

In 2004 Nicola joined Sokolow Now/Anna Sokolow Contemporary Dance Company, directed by Lorry May and was featured in Rooms Etude for the American Dance Legacy Project.

Nicola founded Mare Nostrum Elements in 2001 with Kevin Albert and has served as Artistic Director since 2009, when the company was incorporated as a 501(c)3 organization. As Artistic Director of Mare Nostrum Elements, Nicola relies upon over a decade of experience as a dancer, choreographer, and administrator for established dance institutions, such as the Peridance Center, the Gelsey Kirkland Academy, and the Elisa Monte Dance Company.

Since 2002, Nicola has offered The Wave Within workshops and intensives in private and public schools throughout Italy and the US.

Kevin Albert - Co-founder, Dramaturg

Kevin is a graduate of The Boston Conservatory where he studied Theater with a minor in Dance. He was on the dance faculty of Jeannette Neil Dance Studio and Leon Collins Tap Studio. In NYC, Kevin studied acting for six years with the great Fred Kareman. Professional credits include European tours of West Side Story and My Fair Lady starring Richard Chamberlain and the National tour of West Side Story playing the role of Bernardo with choreography by Jerome Robbins.

For Mare Nostrrum Elements he directed, choreographed and co-produced all the original projects including Mediterranean Voices and Last Chance. Kevin performed Off-Broadway in Arthur Miller’s The Crucible and S. N. Behrman’s Biography and The time of the Cuckoo at The Schoolhouse Theater in Croton Falls.

Since 2002 Kevin has been teaching MNE’s The Wave Within workshops for adults and children as well as coaching artists throughout the States.

Manager

Rohan Bhargava – Programs & Marketing Manager, ECS Alumni, Staff Curator

Rohan Bhargava, born and raised in New Delhi, India, began dancing at The Danceworx Academy for the Performing Arts. In 2012, he relocated to New York to pursue his BFA in Dance from Tisch School of the Arts, NYU. Rohan is the Artistic Director of Rovaco Dance Company which produces immersive events and dance-theater works at the intersection of queer identity and Indian culture. In 2016, Rohan was selected as an emerging choreographer to participate in ECS #3. He joined the organization in an administrative capacity in 2019, as a marketing coordinator, and has served as the ECS Programs & Marketing Manager since 2021. Rohan has also been a mentor and a professional development speaker for the ECS.

Rohan has presented work and taught nationally in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Texas, Massachusetts, Vermont, Hawaii, and Minnesota. He has received grants and commissions from Brooklyn Arts Council, New York State Council on the Arts, Sam Houston State University, The Dance Gallery Festival, Dance/NYC, Jamaica Center for Arts & Learning, Danse Mirage Foundation, Brooklyn Org, and the CUNY Dance Initiative. 

In 2020, he was awarded the Jadin Wong Fellowship in Dance through Asian American Arts Alliance, and in 2021, he was named one of Dance Magazine's "25 to Watch."

Board of Trustees
Amy Harrison - Chair
Steven Hitt - Treasurer
Chris Andersson - Secretary
Kevin Albert - President
Brinton Parson - Trustee
Kimberly Huie - Trustee
Leslie Bryant - Trustee

Honorary Board
Hochi Asiatico
Ronnee Segal