Meet the Safety Release Team
B.J. Sullivan | Founder
Billy J. Hawkains III | Master Teacher
Caitlyn Schrader | Master Teacher
kt williams | Master Teacher
Safety Release Founder
B.J. Sullivan began dancing in upstate NY and attended the Buffalo Academy of the Visual and Performing Arts then went on to receive her BFA from The Juilliard School and MFA from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. She’s internationally known for creating SAFETY RELEASE (SR) technique and is now working on building a certification program for it at UNCG where she’s been on faculty since 2001. B.J. teaches courses in addition to her SR technique classes in choreography, repertory and performance, and the body in motion and somatic practices for dance. In recent years, B.J. has been a guest artist at the American Dance Festival in Durham, NC, University of North Carolina School of the Arts in Winston-Salem, NC, North Carolina State University and Kennesaw University in Atlanta, GA, and presented her research and choreography at the annual Body Mind Centering Conference at Hobart Williams and Smith College in Geneva, N.Y and the Bill Evans Somatics and Movement Conference in Port Townsend, SA. B.J. also adjudicates and curates films with her colleague and Director of Greensboro Dance Film Festival, Robin Gee, and is currently pursuing her certification in Kinetic Awareness with her mentor and former colleague, emeritus Dr. Jill Green.
SR Master Teachers
Billy James Hawkains III is a dedicated Safety Release Master Teacher who explores dance as a physical, mental, and spiritual practice. From Detroit, MI, he holds a BFA in Dance Performance from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts and an MFA in Dance Choreography from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, where he trained under BJ Sullivan. At Kennesaw State University, he teaches the holistic technique of Safety Release, focusing on freeing dancers from physical and mental constraints to achieve radical expressivity. Hawkains encourages a practice that honors vulnerability and imperfection, creating an environment where dancers can explore the interplay between body, mind, and spirit. He has taught across the United States, offering transformative workshops and classes. As founder and director of The Third Collective, Hawkains creates innovative works that challenge norms and inspire transformation, earning acclaim in various media outlets.
IG: iambillyjhawkains
— Billy J. Hawkains III
kt williams is a contemporary movement artist, choreographer, dance filmmaker, and Safety Release Master Teacher based in Chicago, IL. kt is on faculty in the Dance Program at the College of DuPage in Glen Ellyn, IL where she teaches Safety Release Technique to both beginner and advanced students. She also leads Safety Release classes and community workshops to advanced/professional dancers across the Chicago area, where her contemporary classes offer a foundational approach to releasing frozen tension through a somatic lens. kt’s pedagogical and artistic practices are equally collaborative and holistic in nature, as she genuinely believes working in community fosters the wellbeing and sustainability of the artist-citizen. She received her MFA in Dance/Choreography from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, and her BFA in Dance from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where she received the Donald Carducci Memorial Scholarship Award for overall excellence in dance performance.
IG: __ktwilliams
— kt williams
Caitlyn Schrader is a movement artist, choreographer, curator, and Safety Release Master Teacher based in Greensboro, NC. She leads weekly Safety Release classes for advanced/professional dancers within the Greensboro and surrounding Triad dance communities. She takes pride in facilitating a holistic and humanistic approach to teaching and learning, with an emphasis on self-exploration to encourage somatic awareness, intelligence, and authority for her students. She earned an MFA in Dance (Choreography) from the University of North Carolina Greensboro (UNCG), an MS from the University of Rochester, and a BA from Hobart and William Smith Colleges. At present, she holds a dual-role at UNCG – Director of the School of Art’s off-campus art space, Greensboro Project Space, and Director of Community Engagement for the College of Visual and Performing Arts. She also teaches courses in the Schools of Art and Dance, as well as serves as Co-Director of the Interdisciplinary Art and Social Practice minor program.
IG: caitlyn_schrader