Our Team
Daniel Levin, Executive Director
Cellist Daniel Levin is “one of the instrument’s most brilliant contemporary practitioners” (The Wire). He was born in Burlington, Vermont, and began playing the cello at the age of six. In 2001, he graduated with a degree in Jazz Studies from the New England Conservatory of Music and arrived on the New York City jazz scene shortly thereafter. Since then, Daniel has developed his own distinctive voice as a cellist, improviser, and composer. Ed Hazell noted upon release of Levin’s first record as a leader, “Cellist Daniel Levin is a major new voice on his instrument and in improvised music.” Elements of European classical music, American jazz, microtonal and new music, and European free improvisation all figure prominently in his unique sound. He has recorded more than 25 albums as a leader or co-leader, which can be found on Clean Feed, HatOLOGY, Not Two, Trost, Riti, Mahakala, and various other record labels. Daniel is a REMIC Microphones and Glasser Bows Artist Endorser.
In addition to his career as a performing artist, Daniel has more than 20 years of experience in arts education: teaching students, coaching and developing teachers, and providing support to school leaders and networks of schools to build, sustain, and improve performing arts programs. He has built and run several showcase orchestra programs for schools, and is the founding Arts Director and Orchestra Director at Durham Charter School in Durham, NC.
Michael Temkin, President
Michael Temkin is a visionary entrepreneur, working at the intersection of media, community and technology, in addition to being a lifelong musician. Michael grew up in New Jersey. He studied particle physics at Harvard, and went on to found multiple companies focused on educational technology, and synchronous, distributed social experiences as a means of bringing service and human purpose to technology. As CEO of Rabbit, he raised money from top investors in silicon valley, including Andreessen Horowitz and Bessemer Ventures, to create a new type of online social experience that would empower people to be their authentic selves online.
Michael started playing violin at age 4, as well as singing, playing guitar and writing music in three different bands, and has performed in Carnegie Hall as part of a youth orchestra, at CBGB’s as part of a punk band, and Candlestick Park to raise money for music education in San Francisco. Michael believes passionately that music can transform and empower individuals and communities, and can powerfully inspire all of us, whether it's as a performer, participant, aspiring artist or just part of the extended community around the arts.
Mark Adams, Secretary
Mark is a longtime North Carolinian who spent more than a decade overseas responding to disasters in Zimbabwe, Pakistan, Sudan, and Micronesia on behalf of the United Nations and US Government, where his efforts facilitated assistance to those affected by conflict, drought, urban displacement, cholera, election violence, typhoons, and floods. His postgraduate studies focused on social work, social enterprises, and initiatives to empower children living with disabilities. Mark currently works remotely on the humanitarian situation in Iraq for USAID, and in his spare time enjoys yoga, breathwork, and buying too many records.
Mark returned to the US in 2016, hoping for a reprieve from poor governance, extremism, and dictatorial leadership, only to find all of these in growing abundance. Thankfully, the Triangle’s arts scene offered welcome respite: specifically, Duke Performances programming, Nightlight and Neptune's gigs, house concerts, and – though further afield in Knoxville – the Big Ears festival. He particularly appreciates unpredictable live and improvisorary art, as they place him in closest approximation of disaster-related and intense overseas experience, challenging him to be fully present in a state of non-labelling and appreciation. Mark fully believes in art’s healing, transformative, and redemptive power, and is proud to be a part of the Synchronicity Arts team.
Barbara Dickinson, Artistic Advisor
Barbara Dickinson, Professor Emerita of the Practice of Dance at Duke University, served as teacher for 34 years, and as Dance Program Director for eighteen years, overseeing faculty growth, guiding the focus of a greatly expanded curriculum, and establishing a major in dance.
Founder and Artistic Director of the Ways and Means Dance Company from 1986-2002, and of Three For All, a company of dancer, poet, and pianist, from 1981-87, she has performed, taught and presented her choreography in schools, colleges, private studios and dance festivals throughout the United States. She has created many large scale, full evening collaborative choreographic presentations including Walking Miracles, an original dance/theater production based on the stories of six survivors of child sexual abuse; and Contents Under Pressure, an exploration of the many faces of bias in society co-choreographed with Ava LaVonne Vinesett. Barbara was a member of Manbites Dog Theater, a professional experimental theater company based in Durham, NC, from its founding in 1987 to its closing some 35 years later, serving as actress, choreographer, and movement consultant.
Her research in age and the dance artist has produced a chapter in Staging Age, eds. Marshall and Lipscomb by Palgrave Macmillan, 2010; and the article “Margie Gillis: The Indelible Art of an Integrated Artist” in Dance Chronicle, 41:2, 2018. She is working on two more articles for publication - “Ballet and logos: Persistent Identities”; and “Choreographing Empathy in Walking Miracles.”
Currently, she works closely with Michael Kliën as part of his Laboratory for Social Choreography at Duke’s Kenan Institute for Ethics, as well as furthering her movement investigations with Daniel Levin of Synchronicity Arts.
Jennifer Pomales, Treasurer
Jennifer Pomales is a CPA with over 20 years of experience in accounting and finance across a wide variety of roles, including as an external auditor for a Big 4 accounting firm, and as a financial reporting manager for global companies. She was instrumental to the successful implementation and administration of multiple ERP systems, managed corporate consolidations and internal reporting functions, and led the design and deployment of several consolidation and reporting tools. She incorporates her multi-functional experiences with for-profit and non-profit entities in her current capacities as a Management Consultant for various international companies, and as Treasurer for Synchronicity Arts.
Jennifer also brings her life-long fascination with and enthusiasm for the arts and cross-cultural community building to her role as both co-host and in-house culinary aficionada for Sanctuary Series. She started playing the violin when she was 9 years old and, as a teenager, she also played alto saxophone in several musical ensembles within Congregation Mita. More recently, she has been exploring and expanding her love for music and dance by playing the Puerto Rican güiro, learning how to play the cello, and taking introductory modern dance classes with Gerri Houlihan at American Dance Festival.
Jennifer is thrilled to be able to pursue her passions for challenging conventions, supporting the arts, and sharing her love of cooking through her work with Synchronicity Arts.