Meet Our 2018 Weekend Winter Workshop Instructors
THODOS DANCE CHICAGO welcomes back TDC company alumni at our 2018 Weekend Winter Workshop. Former company members will join Founder & Artistic Director, Melissa Thodos for our two-day workshop on Saturday & Sunday December 22– 23, 2018. Get to know more about this talent group of dance artists that will challenge and encourage you!
Melissa Thodos, Founder & Artistic Director of Thodos Dance Chicago
Melissa Thodos is a choreographer whose work has been seen worldwide by over a million people through live performance, film, and television. In 1992, following a successful performance career, Melissa founded Thodos Dance Chicago to showcase her work, which grew to a repertoire of over 30 acclaimed pieces. The company developed into an established national and international touring organization conducting over 500 performances on four continents over 25 years. Thodos Dance Chicago also nurtured the choreographic voice in Chicago by producing it’s own artists and artists from the community for seventeen years in “New Dances.” This choreography performance series continues today in partnership with DanceWorks Chicago.
Melissa has a deep commitment to dance in education in our community and Thodos Dance Chicago hosts an annual Summer Workshop Intensive where advanced artists can train, create, and grow.
Melissa has collaborated with a wide array of artists, including the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Yoko Ono, the Ravinia Festival, and architect Jeanne Gang. Most notable was her collaboration with Tony Award winning choreographer Ann Reinking, which produced two critically acclaimed story ballets: The White City: Chicago’s Columbian Exposition of 1893, voted the best dance of 2011 by the Chicago Sun-Times, and A Light in the Dark: the story of Helen Keller and Anne Sullivan, named one of the top 10 dances of 2013 by the Chicago Sun-Times. The creation of both works was captured on film and received Emmy Award nominations. In 2016, Melissa created Sono’s Journey, a story ballet about Sono Osato, a Japanese-American dancer who rose to stardom in the 1940’s despite anti-Japanese sentiment.
Melissa has been the recipient of many awards, grants and invitations, including the National Endowment for the Arts; Illinois Arts Council, Jacobs Pillow, Southern Arts Presenters Dance Touring Initiative, Ravinia Festival, National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, and City of Chicago.
Abby Ellison
Abby Ellison is originally from Crystal Lake, IL where she began her dance training at the Summers Academy of Dance and performed with the pre-professional company, The Berkshire Ballet Theatre. Abby graduated from Webster University in May 2014 with a BFA in Dance, with an emphasis in ballet and received Departmental Honors. Her Webster performances included choreography by Alvin Ailey company members Antonio Douthit and Kirven Boyd, Kirk Peterson (restaging Antony Tudor’s Dark Elegies,) Amanda McKerrow and John Gardner (restaging Antony Tudor’s Continuo), former LINES dancer Maurya Kerr and Executive Director of Dance St. Louis Michael Uthoff. Her Thodos Dance Chicago performances include choreography by Melissa Thodos, Garfield Lemonius, Ann Reinking, Kevin Iega-Jeff, Brian McGinnis, and Shannon Alvis. Abby has also had the opportunity to showcase her own choreography in The Dancing in the Streets Festival in St. Louis in 2013, the American College Dance Festival at Northeastern Illinois University in 2014, and more recently through the Thodos New Dances Choreography project from 2015-2017. Following her time with TDC, She has taken on bigger roles in her home studio choreographing and coaching the competition team. Abby looks forward to continuing to immerse herself within the Dance world
Brennen Renteria
Brennen Renteria first began his dance training at the age of 10 in his hometown of Corona, Ca. He pursued a BA in dance at California State University, Fullerton where he performed and choreographed for the dance concerts, in addition to performing works set by Louis Kavouras and Colin Connor. In 2011, Brennen attended the American Academy of Ballet Summer Intensive with a full scholarship and had the honor of taking ballet classes taught by David Howard, Sean Lavery, Galina Samsova and Brian Loftus. While in college, Brennen was featured in several local ballets including Snow White in the Old West and The Little Mermaid for Ballet Etudes of Huntington Beach in addition to playing the role of the Nutcracker prince for American Pacific Ballet Company in 2012. During this time, he also collaborated with Golsanam Dance and Music Company, learning and performing various styles of traditional Persian dance. Brennen He earned his B.A. in Dance from Cal State Fullerton in 2014 where after he joined Thodos Dance Chicago, working with choreographers Brian Enos, Lucas Crandall, Garfield Lemonius, Brian McGinnis, Kevin Iega Jeff, and Ann Reinking among others. He toured nationally with TDC, performing and educating through dance as well as producing new dance works through the company’s New Dances yearly initiative. In 2017 Brennen began dancing Elements Ballet and later joined Cerqua Rivera Dance Theatre, where he has performed alongside the Chicago Sinfonietta Orchestra in addition to the company’s own jazz band. He has since assumed the position of rehearsal director for CRDT’s dance ensemble. His other work includes choreographic collaborations produced at Noumenon Dance Ensemble’s New Moves in 2015 and Links Hall’s annual Thawalls in 2017. Brennen has been on staff at Glenwood Dance Studio in Chicago since 2015 in addition to teaching at Duet Dance Studio, Von Heidecke School of Ballet, American Dance Center, and the North Suburban YMCA.
Briana Arthur
Briana Arthur (Gary, IN) graduated and received her BFA in dance from The Juilliard School in 2013. Mrs. Arthur joined Thodos Dance Chicago in 2014 and performed with the company for three seasons. Her second professional choreographic work, “Uncovering”, was performed at the Auditorium Theatre, for Thodos Dance Chicago’s finale season in 2017. Briana is looking forward to the opportunity to continue sharing her passion for movement. She just completed her first season with Cerqua Rivera Dance Theatre.
Jeremy Blair
Jeremy Blair is a choreographer, performer, and teacher based in Kalamazoo, MI. Jeremy received an MFA in choreography from the University of Iowa and a BA in theatre from Millikin University. Jeremy has performed with Thodos Dance Chicago, Lucky Plush Productions, Chicago Moving Company, Khecari Dance Theatre, Aerial Dance Chicago, and Lookingglass Theatre in Chicago, and with Friches Theatre Urbaine in Paris. His choreography explores the politics of gender in a variety of forms including concert dance, solo work, and ballroom. His choreography has been presented at Jacob’s Pillow, City Center, Gibney, Harris Theatre, and other venues throughout the United States. Jeremy currently serves on the dance faculty at Western Michigan University and is a 500-hour registered Hatha yoga teacher.
Luis Vazquez
Luis was born and raised in Chicago and began his dance training with various studios throughout the city before attending the dance program at Interlochen Summer Arts Camp with an emphasis in modern technique. His passion for dance grew as he went on to earn his BFA in Dance from the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign. While studying at the University of Illinois, he had the pleasure of performing works by Rebecca Nettl-Fiol, Jennifer Monson, Tere O’Connor, Sahar Azimi, Elijah Gibson, and Jennifer Archibald, among many others. Vazquez continued his professional training through numerous intensives including Deeply Rooted Dance Theatre, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, and Alonzo King LINES Ballet, for which he received a scholarship to attend. Vazquez began his professional career when he joined Thodos Dance Chicago for two seasons, where he performed works by Melissa Thodos, Ann Reinking, Brian Enos, Shannon Alvis, Kevin Iega Jeff, and Garfield Lemonius. Luis then joined Chicago Repertory Ballet for their 2018 season performing works by artistic director Wade Schaaf, Tenley Dickey, and Ryan Jolicoeur-Nye. He made his debut as a professional choreographer when his piece Siren premiered at the 2017 Thodos New Dances concert. Luis was then selected as one of four winners of the Joffrey Ballet’s Winning Works choreographic competition, where his work Sea of Comets premiered.