Michael Meade has studied myth, anthropology, history of religion, and cross-cultural rituals for over 35 years. His hypnotic and fiery storytelling, street savvy perceptiveness, and spellbinding interpretations of ancient myths and symbols are highly relevant to current culture. He has an unusual ability to distill and synthesize these disciplines, tapping into ancestral sources of wisdom, while connecting them to the stories of people today. He is the author of Men and the Water of Life; editor, with James Hillman and Robert Bly, of Rag and Bone Shop of the Heart; and editor of Crossroads: A Quest for Contemporary Rites of Passage. Meade is Founder/Director of Mosaic Multicultural Foundation, a network of artists, teachers and activists that fosters community healing and development efforts.

Jeanne Bresciani, M.A., I.M.A, Ph.D. is Artistic Director and Director of Education for the Isadora Duncan International Institute, an arts and education organization founded in 1977 by Maria-Theresa Duncan and Kay Bardsley. She is a solo performer, teacher, lecturer, reconstructionist, choreographer and creator of festivals, specializing in the dance of Isadora Duncan and myth and movement studies. In New York City, she directs Isadora Programs on behalf of the New York University School of Education and The Harkness Dance Center of the 92nd Street Y and two professional dance companies: The Isadora Duncan International Institute Dancers and the 'Isadora for Children™' Performing Group. A former Kress scholar in the History of Art from Williams College and Fulbright scholar in dance, she founded and leads three teaching and performance training programs at Tempio di danza in the mountain region above New York City, entitled The Certificate Program in Isadora Duncan Studies: I; The Advanced Diploma in Performance and Choreography II; and The Certificate Program in Myth, Movement and Metaphor, as well as intensives in choreographic research, entitled Movement in the Mountains and a study abroad program Sacred Topographies: The Body and The Land. Most recently she has lectured, taught and performed at The Duncan Center in Athens, The National Theater in Budapest, The New Parthenon in Tokyo and the British Museum in London.

Richard Geldard, Keynote Speaker, is a full-time writer and lecturer living in New York City and the Hudson Valley. He is married to the artist and writer Astrid Fitzgerald. Before turning to writing he was an educator, teaching English and philosophy at both the secondary, undergraduate and graduate levels. His most recent appointment was at the Pacifica Graduate Institute in Carpenteria, California, where he taught the Greek Mystery Religions. Prior to that he taught Greek Philosophy and The Science of Mind at Yeshiva College in New York, where he also supervised the General Studies program at the university’s boys' and girls' high schools. He is a graduate of Bowdoin College, The Bread Loaf School of English at Middlebury College and Stanford University, where he earned his doctorate in Dramatic Literature and Classics. He has also studied at St. John’s College, Oxford.

Geldard is the author of seven books, including studies of Ralph Waldo Emerson and Greek philosophy and culture. He is also a frequent lecturer. In June, 2003, and September, 2003, he was a featured speaker at Faneuil Hall in Boston as part of the Emerson Bicentennial Celebrations. A new book, The Essential Transcendentalists, will be published by Tarcher/Putnam in September, 2005. The book features primary materials of the movement known as Transcendentalism, with an interpretive essay exploring the important themes of the movement for our own individual journeys. Dr. Geldard is also on the Board of Directors of the Ralph Waldo Emerson Institute and is the Academic Advisor to the Institute's web site, RWE.org, the Internet's leading site devoted to the life and works of Ralph Waldo Emerson.