Auction & Benefit
2024 Auction and Benefit Dashboard
Our Honorees
Eleanor Bunker
Arts Department Chair and Teacher of Dance
Eleanor Bunker is a dance performer and educator who has devoted her career to working in the modern dance tradition. Originally from Connecticut, she began her dance training and performing experience with the Hartford Ballet and Hartt Opera. Ms. Bunker was a performer and teaching artist in residence under the auspices of the Maryland National Capital Park and Planning Commission where she served as artistic director of The Dance Transfer. In New York City, she performed in the companies of Daniel Lewis, Dan Wagoner, Martita Goshen, the Lincoln Center Institute, and for eleven years was a soloist and rehearsal director with Rondo Dance Theater, a company which showcased the masterworks of American modern dance. She continues to perform the Duncan repertory with Dances by Isadora and has been a long-standing member of the companies of Anna Sokolow, currently serving as an associate director of the Sokolow Theater/Dance Ensemble. Recognized as an authority of the Sokolow repertory, Ms. Bunker restages Anna’s work for professional dancers and student groups internationally.
Ms. Bunker holds degrees in interdisciplinary studies from Hartford College for Women and SUNY Empire State College, and an advanced certificate in dance pedagogy from the Dance Education Laboratory/Harkness Foundation. Ms. Bunker is an authorized teacher of the MELT Method, a certified teacher of Pilates mat choreography, a CYT500-hour yoga teacher specializing in trauma informed chair and restorative yoga, and a second-degree Reiki practitioner.
Recognizing the importance of keeping the body strong and supple, the mind focused and vibrant, Ms. Bunker feels honored to share the nuances of her training with the Dominican Academy students, whom she finds to be a constant source of inspiration and faith.
Gwyneth Mooney
Teacher of Music and Drama
Gwyneth Mooney grew up in Somerville, NJ, where she gained a strong musical foundation participating in her school instrumental and choral music programs. As an undergraduate student, she attended Indiana University School of Music studying clarinet, voice and conducting. Gwyneth’s fondest memories from her time in Bloomington, Indiana, include recording and touring with the Pro Arte Singers, an early music vocal ensemble, and working with the IU Opera Theater productions both on stage as a performer and behind the scenes as a member of the stage and costume crews. During that time, she also studied abroad her senior year at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna, Austria.
After graduating from Indiana University, Gwyneth worked as an administrative assistant for a company that produced concerts at Carnegie Hall. While she loved being a part of the NYC classical music scene, Gwyneth felt music administration did not provide the independence and creativity she sought in her career and, therefore, turned towards teaching. She continued her education at Westminster Choir College where she received a Master of Music Education degree. Gwyneth came to Dominican Academy in 2005 after teaching music in the New Jersey suburbs. She was thrilled to be back in the city, especially in the same neighborhood as St. James’ Church where she was already working as a staff singer.
Gwyneth currently teaches music and drama courses for all freshmen and sophomore students at DA as well as Music Theory, an elective for juniors. She also directs the Glee Club and Liturgical Ensemble. Outside of DA, she serves as treasurer on the board of the Masterwork Music and Art Foundation which provides grants to artists and arts organizations. Gwyneth’s second great love after music is the outdoors. She spends as much time as she can at her home in Vernon, NJ enjoying hiking, skiing, and golf with her husband, Mark.