Charlotte Dance Events

Summer Dance Program
July 5 - 9
July 19 - 23


Open Door Studios (new location!)
1318-D Central Avenue
Charlotte, NC 28205

Thank you all for a great Summer Dance Program!

The CDF Summer Dance Program classes are Intermediate level courses. Towards the end of the week the classes will progress to Intermediate-Advanced level.

Class Fees

2010 Summer Dance Program Brochure
[Click Here]

Class Schedule

Week 1

Week 2

Summer Faculty Bios and Class Descriptions

Week 1

Contemporary Dance Technique with E.E. Balcos
This class is based in Fall and Recovery. It will focus on proper alignment and placement through highly athletic and musically phrased combinations. Concepts of release and subtle energy principles will be engaged.

Improvisation/Contact Improvisation with E.E. Balcos
The class will explore moving through space utilizing movement from a natural and organic place of initiation. Beginning on the floor with a partner sharing each others weight, the class will develop through counter-balance and counter-support.

E.E. BALCOS is originally from Minneapolis , Minnesota . He began studying dance with modern dance pioneer Hanya Holm at the age of 19 in Colorado . He is Artistic Director of E.E.Motion, created in 2006. The dance company has been featured with North Carolina Dance Festival, Charlotte Dance Festival, American Dance Festival's Acts to Follow, Dances at the Lakes in Minneapolis , and Piccolo Spoleto Festival in Charleston , SC. His choreography has also been set on the 940 Dance Company in Lawrence, KS and on Shelter Repertory Dance Theatre in Murfreesboro, TN.

As a performer he toured nationally and internationally with Shapiro & Smith Dance, Demetrius Klein Dance Company, Zenon Dance Company, numerous regional companies, and has worked with nationally known choreographers including Danny Buraczeski, Ping Chong, Sean Curran, David Dorfman, Joe Goode, Dwight Rhoden, David Rousseve, Stephanie Skura, and Bill Young. He was an artist-in-residence with the Liz Lerman Dance Exchange in Washington , DC in 2009.

Balcos has a B.A. in Vocal Music from The Colorado College, and an M.F.A. in Choreography from The University of Iowa. He is an Assistant Professor at UNC Charlotte, teaching modern technique, choreography, and improvisation. Balcos was also a guest artist-in-residence at North Carolina School of the Arts in 2009.

E.E. Balcos

Contemporary Dance Technique with Duane Cyrus

Duane Cyrus' contemporary dance classes access a cross section of movement styles as reference points for the diverse dance training required for today's concert dance performer.

Offered at different levels, from beginning through advanced, these classes incorporate the following five aspects:

• Polycentric and polyrhythmic movement (African, Afro-Caribbean, and African-American aesthetics in movement and musicality)

• Clarity of line and specificity of shape (a balletic concept applied to different movement structures)

• Wide range of dynamic choices within movement execution (a modern dance concept)

• Attention to somatic theory and anatomical motivation for movements as a support for performance (healthy movement practice)

• Critical thinking for the dancer that supports an integrated body and mind intelligence.

Cyrus' movement background is informed by modern dance (Graham), ballet (Vaganova), and jazz (Fred Benjamin and Alfred Gallman) Classes can be structured to focus with greater intensity on any combination of these styles. All classes are conducted within a setting that encourages a full range of theatrical expression for the dancer.

DUANE CYRUS ( Bronx , NY ) is the Artistic Director of Cyrus Art Production LLC as well as an Assistant Professor at the University of North Carolina , Greensboro . He holds a BFA from the Juilliard School and an MFA from University of Illinois Champaign- Urbana . He has performed with the Martha Graham Dance Company and the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, in musical theater (including the original London production of The Lion King), on television, and in a variety of other venues. He has worked as an independent artist throughout the United States , Europe, and Asia as teacher, performer, and choreographer. His list of grants and awards includes the Princess Grace Foundation Award for Emerging Artists, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the 2009 Dance Teacher of the Year award by NCAAHPERD. He is the co-author and editor of the book Vital Grace--The Black Male Dancer , a photographic celebration of black men in dance. Visit www.cyrusartproduction.com for more information.

Duane Cyrus
Photography by Werner Sandhaus

Hip-hop with Joe Fields
This class is a fun energetic class taught to mainstream music using mainstream moves. By breaking down the basics of hip hop dance this class allows one to express his/herself in a truly unique manner.

JOE FIELDS began his dance journey at the age of 10. He is an original member and choreographer of the acclaimed Bolingbrook Park District Danceforce and has since been a part of the hip-hop companies Dance 2xs Chicago and The Ian Eastwood Project. Through his membership of these internationally renowned companies he developed an eclectic one of a kind style. Proving to be a stand out dancer at dance conventions such as Urban Jamm (Well Rounded Dancer of the Year 2006), Monsters of Hip Hop (Year Long Scholarship Winner), Monsters of Contemporary (Debbie Reynolds Scholarship Winner), Nuvo Dance Convention (Break Out Artist Winner) and Jump Dance Convention (V.I.P. Runner Up). Through his hard work and determination he was one of 80 dancers chosen internationally to be apart of the 2009 -2010 Point Park University freshman class. He currently has a concentration in jazz and hopes to keep broadening his horizons while absorbing all possible knowledge of dance.

Joe Fields

Week 2

Gyrokinesis® with Caroline Calouche
GYROKINESIS® methodology is a movement system developed by Juliu Horvath. He combined the key principles from yoga, dance, gymnastics and tai-chi to create a methodology of working the entire body through seven natural elements of spinal movement: forward, backward, left side, right side, left twist and circular, as well as all other joint articulations.

One of the many main principles is fluidity. Through breathing the positions connect naturally to the next without holding any one position for a period of time.

With practice GYROKINESIS® shows positive results in the reduction of such medical conditions as asthma, osteoporosis, arthritis and scoliosis. Also, this method can develop a person's awareness to sensing and living their life with their entire being.

The first level begins with an awakening of the body's senses connecting with simple breathing patterns. The class progresses into mobilization of the spine and pelvis while seated on a stool or chair. The spinal movement patterns mentioned above extend into the arms and legs as the class progresses through the mat and standing exercises.

"Horvath's methodology invigorates and re-educates the body to move with fluidity, relaxation and power.”

CAROLINE CALOUCHE is the Founder and Director of the Charlotte Dance Festival and Artistic and Executive Director of an aerial and contemporary dance company, Caroline Calouche & Co. She began her dance career with Patricia Wall at Gaston Dance Theatre in Gastonia , North Carolina . She furthered her dance education at Texas Christian University where she graduated with two B.F.A. degrees in Ballet and Modern Dance. In 2004 she received a North Carolina Regional Artist Grant to further her dance and choreographic studies in New York City and Brussels , Belgium . From these experiences, she was accepted into the International Choreographic Exchange Program at the Salzburg Experimental Academy of dance for post-graduate work in choreography. After her studies and work in the U.S. and Europe, Caroline established her contemporary and aerial dance company in her hometown of Gastonia , North Carolina . In 2009, she was awarded another Regional Artist Grant to attend the 2010 Aerial Dance Festival in Boulder , Colorado .

Along with creating new works for Caroline Calouche & Co., she has choreographed for the Dance Department at UNCC and Winthrop University, Salzburg Experimental Academy of Dance, Contemporary Ballet Dallas and Florida Community College at Jacksonville, The School of North Carolina Dance Theatre. Her work has been performed in the U.S. , Austria and Germany .

Caroline is a certified trainer in Pilates (BASI™) method and GYROKINESIS®. She is has been an adjunct dance faculty member at Winthrop University and currently at UNCC. Caroline is also a Teaching Artist for the Education/Outreach Department of Caroline Calouche & Co. and North Carolina Dance Theatre.

Caroline Calouche

Safety Release Technique with B.J. Sullivan
Created by B.J. Sullivan

By its nature, art educates. As artists, then, we are automatically educators, and scholars as well. The making of art and the making of artists are deeply creative processes that require knowledge, insight, discovery, planning, execution, and reflection. For dance-making, creativity often begins at the physical, or pre-rational level, for movement alone and the act of moving may serve as a powerful stimulant to further artistic thinking. Movement and moving is a foundation to explore, originate, contemplate, and realize.

I have developed a form of training/educating dancers I term Safety Release Technique. The foundational premise of the technique is that the body can, and should, be understood as an orchestra of parts emanating from a center. Safety release Technique is not a personalized style of movement, or a way of approaching other styles, but rather a comprehensive system that prepares dancers for full-bodied and vivid expressiveness.

Safety Release Technique is grounded in my diverse background of training and education, and my ongoing examination of the energies, meanings, and aesthetic applications of movement. As a dancer, I come from both Ballet and classical modern idioms (Graham, Cunningham, Humphrey-Weidman, Horton, and Taylor ). From these rich sources I have evolved strategies to warm up the joints of the body for supple movement. Pilates, Yoga, Alexander Technique, Bartenieff Fundamentals, Feldenkrais and other somatic/body sciences have given me tools to address issues of alignment, energy visualization, development of core strength and injury prevention and recovery. Safety Release Technique enables movement in and out of the floor dynamically and safely, while informing a movement sensibility that ranges from extremely slow to extremely quick. While myriad influences are at my fingertips as I teach, they congeal around the premise of moving with support, safety and awareness.

A typical class begins on the floor and progresses into full-range combinations imbued with virility and elasticity. The technique inculcates in students a “flow of motion” through the body and through changes in level, challenging their ability to get into and out of the floor. The work tests and empowers the students' stamina, strength, endurance, mobility, flexibility, and kinesthetic awareness even as it provides freedom to discover and explore inside the movement. I press students into full engagement by demonstrating a variety of approaches to dancing the material, urging students to take risks with rhythmic and spatial dynamics and phrasing, and to have the courage to search for their own unique dance voice.

In 2001, B.J. SULLIVAN joined the faculty at the University of North Carolina Greensboro where she teaches courses in ballet and contemporary techniques, choreography, and repertory. The primary area of her research, choreography, is based in the ongoing development, articulation; application, and teaching of her own “ Safety Release Technique” . In preparation for full-bodied and vivid expressiveness SRT skillfully blends usages of safe and efficient methods for falling/springing in and out of the floor while integrating movement with a mixture of somatic and release applications. Considered among a handful of studio teachers worldwide who have developed a comprehensive movement/performance training system, B.J. regularly presents in both studio and scholarly forums. A regular guest faculty member at Dance New Amsterdam in Manhattan , B.J. maintains a rigorous teaching schedule globally including Interlochen Arts Academy in Michigan , North Carolina School of the Arts in North Carolina , Ascona Dance Festival in Switzerland and Le Centre Des Arts Vivants in Paris , France .

B.J. reaches for honest responses, inspired by people, to make pieces that relate to the passions, frustrations, and curiosities of our existence. Described as unique, fluid, and physical, she strives for her dances to go beyond the sentimental and the romantic, offering the audience a total and real kinesthetic experience. In 1999, B.J. was one of four selected for the Bessie Schönberg residency at The Yard on Martha's Vineyard and was also invited to choreograph there in two consecutive sessions of the Patricia N. Nanon Residency. In 2002, B.J. was honored with a Choreographer's Fellowship from the NC Arts Council. Her work has been showcased in The North Carolina Dance Festival , Independent Dance Makers in Durham, The North Carolina School for the Arts in Winston-Salem, DNA Gene Pool Series in New York City, The Isadora Project with solo artist Christine Jowers in New York City, Urban Wash Dance Company in New York City, Chelonia Dance Ensemble in Beloit, WI, Counter Groove Dance Company in Detroit, Concepts In Motion in Bermuda and the Professional School Dance Ensemble in Thessaloniki, Greece.

Her career has ranged from formal training at The Juilliard School (BFA), performing with choreographers and companies including Colin Connor, Joe Goode, Gerri Houlihan, Stanley Love, Lorn MacDougal, Renee Wadleigh, and Bill Young, to receiving her (MFA) while teaching in the dance program at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

B.J. Sullivan

Ballet with Mia Cunningham
This ballet class will explore alignment and articulation of ballet technique. We all come from a variety of training, body type, ability and artistry. The focus is on this individuality in order to challenge and engage each student based on his or her strength and weakness.

MIA CUNNINGHAM began her dance training in Amarillo , Texas . She attended the North Carolina School of the Arts for her two final years of high school. After graduating, Cunningham began her professional dance career by returning to Texas to dance with the San Antonio Ballet under the direction of Vladimir Marek. After one season, she then traveled to Europe to dance with the Zurich Ballet under the direction of Patricia Neary . After spending a year in Zurich , Switzerland , Cunningham returned to the states, to New York City , where she had trained during the summers as a teenager to search for dance companies.

During this time, Cunningham performed with the Kathryn Posin Dance and the Connecticut Ballet Theater. She also traveled to Taiwan to perform with The Stars of the Soviet Ballet, under the direction of Leonid and Valentina Koslov . As well as dance, Cunningham also found work in television commercials and landed a small part in the movie Crocodile Dundee 2 . After this, Cunningham was offered a contract for North Carolina Dance Theatre, by the artistic director, Salvatore Aiello. She remained for 17 years dancing as principle dancer under the direction of Aiello and then under the direction of Jean-Pierre Bonnefoux .

While under the direction of Bonnefoux, Cunningham performed in many works with different choreographers as well as having many roles created for her. Choreographers have created original roles for Cunningham such as Jean-Pierre Bonnefoux, Mark Diamond, Alonso King, Dwight Rhoden, Uri Sands, Nicolo Fonte and Mark Godden. She has also performed in ballets by Alvin Ailey, Twyla Tharp, Nacho Duato, Agnes deMille, Paul Taylor, William Forsythe, Jaquelin Buglisi and Donlin Foreman.

Mia Cunningham