Summer Intensive 2018 Instructors
Take Open Class with TDC Alumni July 23-July 27 and July 30-August 3! The schedule is as follows:
WEEK 1:
Monday, July 23: Ballet 9:30- 11:00a (Laura Gates) and/or Contemporary/Modern 11:00-12:30p (Abby Ellison)
Tuesday, July 24: Ballet 9:30- 11:00a (Brian Hare) and/or Contemporary/Modern 11:00-12:30p (Josh Manculich)
Wednesday, July 25: Ballet 9:30- 11:00a (Josh Manculich) and/or Contemporary/Modern 11:00-12:30p (Brian Hare)
Thursday, July 26: Ballet 9:30- 11:00a (Jeremy Blair) and/or Contemporary/Modern 11:00-12:30p (Melissa Thodos)
Friday, July 27: Ballet 9:30- 11:00a (John Cartwright) and/or Contemporary/Modern 11:00-12:30p (Jeremy Blair)
WEEK 2:
Monday, July 30: Ballet 9:30- 11:00a (Abby Ellison) and/or Contemporary/Modern 11:00-12:30p (Shelby Moran)
Tuesday, July 31: Ballet 9:30- 11:00a (John Cartwright) and/or Contemporary/Modern 11:00-12:30p (Jeremy Blair)
Wednesday, August 1: Ballet 9:30- 11:00a (Abby Ellison) and/or Contemporary/Modern 11:00-12:30p (Meilssa Thodos)
Thursday, August 2: Ballet 9:30- 11:00a (Laura Gates) and/or Contemporary/Modern 11:00-12:30p (Brian Hare)
Friday, August 3: Ballet 9:30- 11:00a (John Cartwright) and/or Contemporary/Modern 11:00-12:30p (Luis Vasquez)
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.
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.
John Cartwright
John began his training in Evansville, IN at the Children’s Center for Dance Education. He graduated from Butler University in 2008 with a degree in Dance and Arts Administration. John performed with the Louisville Ballet and Louisville’s Moving Collective, and has been a guest artist with Chicago Repertory Ballet, Cerqua Rivera Dance Theater, and NoMi Dance Company. John was a member of Thodos Dance Chicago for 7 seasons. Currently, John is dancing with Chicago Repertory Ballet and is the Faculty Head of the Secondary Program at Hubbard Street Dance Chicago’s Youth Dance Program.
Abby Ellison
Abby 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.
Laura Gates
Laura grew up in a northwest suburb of Chicago. She holds degrees in Dance and Psychology from the University of Iowa where she was privileged to train with many gifted artists including Francoise Martinet, David Berkey, Linda Crist, Alicia Brown, and Alan Sener. In Chicago, she danced with Swallow Cliff Dance Company, Concert Dance, Inc., and several independent choreographers before joining Thodos Dance Chicago in 1999. Highlights of her six-year performance tenure with TDC include Dance for Life, an international tour to Turkey, and working with Broadway icon Ann Reinking and other renowned artists. Laura worked with Thodos Dance Chicago for 18 years. After retiring from performing she served the organization in various capacities including Rehearsal Director, Ballet Mistress, and Artistic Associate. In addition, she has been a Master Teacher for many local intensive programs including TDC, CNADM, Dance Masters of Wisconsin, Inaside Chicago Dance, Gus Giordano Dance School, the Illinois State Dance Festival, and the Midwest Cecchetti Council Ballet Workshop. Deeply committed to the art of dance, Laura has taught in the Chicago area for over twenty years.
Brian Hare
Brian was born and raised in the Detroit area. After graduating high school he continued his higher education at Columbia College Chicago graduating with honors with a degree in Arts Entertainment Media Management and a minor in Dance. As a performer, Brian spent four seasons as a company member with the interdisciplinary group Chicago Dance Crash and five seasons with Thodos Dance Chicago until 2013. He has also been a guest artist for several Chicago based organizations including Cerqua Rivera Dance Theatre, The Inconvenience Theatre, JMT Choreography and Dance for Life.. He has had the opportunity to be in original choreographic processes with Melissa Thodos, Ron De Jesus, tony award winner Ann Rienking, KT Nelsen, Harrison McEldowney, Brian Enos and Gustavo Ramirez Sansano. Brian is currently an artistic associate with the aerial based company C5: Create with No Limits under the direction of Jeremy Plummer. He is also a contributing artist of LEVELdance under the direction of Eddy Ocampo.
As a teacher/choreographer Brian is the Co-Artistic Director of the youth organization Denise Sabala Dance Company in Lake Zurich IL. In addition to teaching and setting works around the Chicagoland area Brian teaches and educates for various competitive and convention organizations, including Chicago Dance Connection. Brian has recently begun various residencies at Colleges and Universities teaching master classes and setting original works. Most recently at Marygrove College and Madonna University.
Josh Manculich
Hailing from Western Pennsylvania, Joshua Manculich pursued dance and psychology at Point Park University, and then relocated to the Chicago area to dance with Thodos Dance Chicago. During his five seasons at Thodos, Josh worked with Lucas Crandall, Jessica Miller Tomlinson, Ann Reinking, KT Nelson, and Wade Schaaf. Josh’s choreography has been toured internationally by Collage Dance Collective, DanceWorks Chicago, Eisenhower Dance, and The Ohio State University. In 2015, Josh was nominated for a Princess Grace Choreography Fellowship by The Big Muddy Dance Company and had the pleasure of being one of two recipients. Josh holds an M.F.A. from The Ohio State University where he received the Susan L. Huntington Dean’s Distinguished Fellowship and currently is an Assistant Professor of Dance at Sam Houston State University.
Shelby Moran
Shelby began her early training at Bataille Academie of the Danse and continued at Dance Center Evanston under the direction of Béa Rashid. During her early education, Shelby had the opportunity to perform with the Evanston Dance Ensemble and Elements Contemporary Ballet.
Shelby continued her dance education at The Juilliard School (BFA ‘15). While at Juilliard, she performed repertory such as Jose Limon’s Missa Brevis; William Forsythe’s One Flat Thing, reproduced; Twyla Tharp’s Baker’s Dozen; and Merce Cunningham’s Biped. She also performed original works by Monica Bill Barnes, Emery LeCrone, Darrell Grand Moultrie, Larry Keigwin, and Danielle Agami. She also participated in summer programs including the Contemporary Program at Jacob’s Pillow, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, and Complexions Contemporary Ballet.
Shelby began her professional career performing with Thodos Dance Chicago for two seasons. In her time there, she had the opportunity to dance starring roles in director Melissa Thodos’ original story ballets including “Anne Sullivan” in A Light in the Dark and “Sono, the Matriarch” in Sono’s Journey. In addition, she performed world premieres by Robyn Mineko Williams, Brian Enos, and Kevin Iega Jeff. She also had the opportunity to perform as a soloist in renowned repertory such as Bella Lewitzky’s Nos Duraturi and Melissa Thodos’ original role in her Wheel Trilogy.
After TDC, Shelby danced as an apprentice with Visceral Dance Chicago. She is now in her first season performing with Cerqua Rivera Dance Theatre. Shelby has also taught at several schools in the Chicagoland area including Dance Center Evanston, Extensions Dance Company, Visceral Dance Center, R&B Dance Center, AMA Academy of the Arts, and Alma Dance School.
Brennen Renteria
Brennen 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.
Luis Vasquez
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.