Dance Lab: Summer Intensive
Overview
CSU Dance Lab is a college preparatory summer program offering immersive study in classical and contemporary dance forms, repertory, theory, and composition. In addition to dance classes and rehearsals, students will attend lectures, develop artist statements, choreograph solos, and present a public performance. Mentored by CSU Dance faculty, renowned guest artists, and current dance majors, attendees expand skills and knowledge while contributing to a collaborative creative process. Beginner through pre-professional level dancers ages 14+ are invited to register for our two-week in-person intensive. To ensure individualized attention, registration is limited to 24 dancers admitted on a first-come-first-served basis.
Dancers ages 14+ explore:
- Classical and Contemporary Dance Forms
- Choreography
- Writing
- Lectures
- Repertory and Performance
- Individualized mentorship by CSU Dance faculty, current majors, and renowned guest artists
Daily Schedule (Monday–Saturday):
- 9-10:30 a.m.: Movement/Technique
- 10:30 a.m. — 12 p.m.: Movement/Technique
- 12-1 p.m.: Writing, Choreography, Dance History, Music, Nutrition/Injury Prevention
- 1-2 p.m.: Lunch (end of day for half day option)
- 2-4 p.m.: Repertory Rehearsals
Monday
9-10:30 a.m. Yoga and Imagery for Dancers
10:30 a.m. – 12 p.m. Modern
12-1 p.m. Writing
1-2 p.m. Lunch
2-3 p.m. Classical Repertoire
3-4 p.m. Contemporary Repertoire
Tuesday
9-10:30 a.m.: Ballet
10:30 a.m. – 12 p.m.: Pointe
12-1 p.m.: Choreography
1-2 p.m.: Lunch
2-3 p.m.: Classical Repertoire
3-4 p.m.: Contemporary Repertoire
Wednesday
9-10:30 a.m.: Improvisation
10:30-11:45 a.m.: Kathak
12-1 p.m.: Collaborative process
1-2 p.m.: Lunch
2-3 p.m.: Classical Repertoire
3-4 p.m.: Contemporary Repertoire
Thursday
9-10:30 a.m.: Contemporary
10:30 a.m. – 12 p.m.: Hip Hop
12-1 p.m.: Dance History
1-2 p.m.: Lunch
2-3 p.m.: Classical Repertoire
3-4 p.m.: Contemporary Repertoire
Friday
9-10:30 a.m.: GUEST ARTIST, Flamenco
10:30 a.m. – 12 p.m.: Jazz
12-1 p.m.: Music for Dancers
1-2 p.m.: Lunch + Q&A with Current Majors
2-3 p.m.: Classical Repertoire
3-4 p.m.: Contemporary Repertoire
Saturday
9-10 a.m.: Contemporary Ballet
10 a.m. – 12 p.m.: Rehearsal and notes
12-1 p.m.: Lunch
1-1:30 p.m.: Warm-up
1:30-2:30 p.m.: Hair and make-up
2 p.m.: Showcase Performance
2024 Guest Artists:
photo credit Machmer Media
Alpine Artist Collective (AAC) is a multi-disciplinary team of artists, united by a shared love for the natural world. Their mission is to connect humans to nature through art, and they believe in the power of art to inspire action. AAC artists play a key role in communicating environmental issues in a way that helps audiences connect emotionally to nature, climate change, and other environmental challenges faced today. AAC performances and events offer transformative experiences, and members of the collective create, teach, and perform across the front range of Colorado.
Shoko Tamai, a Japanese-Korean choreographer based in New York City, conveys messages of human connection and environmental consciousness through dance.
With training in ballet, contemporary dance, and martial arts since age two, Shoko has studied at prestigious institutions such as the Central School of Ballet in the UK, Yumi Classical Ballet in Japan.
She has performed with renowned companies like Metropolitan Opera Ballet, Dance Theater of Harlem, and Cirque du Soleil.
Shoko is the founder of the New York based dance company Ninja Ballet. Her work brought her to stages around the world as well as Mother Nature, she has set the choreography in sacred cenote caves in Mexico.
Her international recognition includes the Solo Seal award, a Gold Medal in the New York Ballet Competition, and a Merit Award at Premio Capri Danza International. She's also been a Finalist in The World Ballet Competition and nominated for a New York Innovative Theater Award for Outstanding Choreography in "The Tempest".
To explore more, visit her website at shokotamai.com or follow her on Instagram @shokotamai.
Cassidy Faulhaber is a recent graduate from Colorado State University. There she received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance, extensive community outreach experience, and the opportunity to bring dance to a wide range of demographics. There she choreographed four unique and investigative pieces, one of which was featured in Oklahoma Contemporary Dance Festival. Cassidy has over 18 years of dance training experience in ballet, tap, jazz, contemporary, modern, hip-hop, musical theatre, and competitive dance.
Past Guest Artists:
2024
Melissa Hale Coyle grew up in Tulsa, Oklahoma where she received her early training from Roman Jasinski and Moscelyne Larkin. She studied as a scholarship student for two summers at American Ballet Theatre with Leon Danelion and Patricia Wilde. After graduating from high school, she joined American Ballet Theatre as a company member for three years. Coyle later joined Cincinnati Ballet Company where she performed in principal roles and Tulsa Ballet Theatre where she was a principal dancer for six years.
For the past 34 years, she lived in Charlotte, North Carolina where she was Co- Artistic Director of Charlotte City Ballet Company and was an adjunct faculty member at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte for the past 24 years. She was on the faculty for American Ballet Theatre’s Summer Intensive in Alabama for 16 years, has been a guest faculty member at North Carolina Dance Theatre’s Summer Intensive Program and a company teacher for North Carolina Dance Theatre(Charlotte Ballet). She has been a guest choreographer for the Charlotte Philharmonic Orchestra, Charlotte Civic Orchestra, Carolina Voices, Atlanta Dance Theatre, The Dance Collective, Ballet San Antonio, Civic Ballet of Chicago, Lawrence Ballet Theatre, South Carolina’s Governors Summer School, Orange County Performing Arts High School and Artist in Residence at Grand Valley State University. Coyle has appeared in two movies, The Turning Point and The Cowboy and the Ballerina. In 2001, The University of North Carolina School of the Arts awarded Coyle “Best Dance Teacher of North Carolina”. This past summer she moved to Colorado where she freelances.
Danscend’s mission is to bring mental wellness to the forefront of dance training by providing a space for education, application, and community to dancers, educators, families, and professionals. Danscend's virtual courses, workshops, and community support programs are thoroughly researched, vetted by mental health professionals and created from peer-reviewed scientific studies. Co-founders Kristin Deiss and Michelle Loucadoux are former professional dancers turned educators and have a shared sixty years between them in the dance industry. With Danscend, Deiss and Loucadoux have created a resource that they wished had been available when they were beginning their dance careers; a resource that will now benefit not only their students, but also the dance industry as a whole.
Choreographer, multidisciplinary artist, dancer, pedagogue, and movement and body nerd. Fascinated with how we understand art, dance, motion, and the psychology of performance and training. Focuses on self-knowledge, questioning, and exploration as a central tenet of learning.
Chris Harris has been choreographing and dancing in Denver for over three decades. and holds a BFA in Dance and Choreography from the University of Colorado, Boulder and an MFA in Interdisciplinary Arts from Goddard College.
Continually returning to Colorado during her training, she has been part of the Colorado dance scene for over 30 years. While working at various dance studios she was on faculty, a program advisor for Modern, Jazz, Contemporary and Composition programs, and project manager/director for many teen and adult performances. She has loved the role of festival creative director, choreographed for local theaters and dance companies, been a guest lecturer at The Arts Institute of Colorado and CSU, and been adjunct faculty at and choreographed for the University of Denver and the University of Colorado.
Previously she was artist in residence for the Denver School of the Arts for 17 years, Co-Director of the Boulder Jazz Dance Workshop, and Assistant Artistic Director of Interweave Dance Theatre. In 2005, she founded and became Artistic Director/Choreographer for Louder Than Words Dancetheater & the Colorado Youth Dance Theater. Both projects performed until 2018 in Denver. After completing graduate school in 2019, Chris has been privileged to share her multi-disciplinary artworks and lectures with so many amazing students on the Front Range. She is a co-creator/founder of a brand new (Aug 2023) business called the Colorado Movement Lab, where she is the director of the Modern, Jazz, and Choreography programming and co-directs the newly created New Paradigm Dance Theater (CML’s not-for-profit arm). Currently located in Westminster Colorado, CML brings Chris’ love for dance, Colorado, and exploration full circle. She plans to continually ask all the complicated and wonderful questions about creativity, health, grounding in self, and performativity that have guided her love of dance as an art form for all her life.
A native of Rochester, New York, Francesca began training at an early age with the Deborah MacKay School of Dance and continued through the American Academy of Ballet, as well as on full scholarship at the Garth Fagan School. In 2004, she began her professional career in Greenville, South Carolina, with Carolina Ballet Theater and became a resident choreographer with the company in 2009. In addition to her work with CBT, Francesca began freelancing nationally as a dancer, teacher, and choreographer with companies such as Configuration Dance Theater, Olney Ballet Theater, and most recently, Island Moving Company. During her time living in South Carolina, she also branched out into musical theater, choreographing for The Warehouse Theater as well as being a resident choreographer for the Younts Center for the Performing Arts from 2012 until 2015, when she returned to her hometown of Rochester to dance with Rochester City Ballet. Since retiring in 2019, Francesca now teaches full-time at Renaissance Academy Charter School of the Arts and is a resident choreographer with the youth community theater program STAGES. She served as an adjunct faculty member in the dance department at Nazareth College during the 2022-2023 academic year, creating a new work on students that was performed in the department's 'Fall Dance Review.' Ms.Genovese is excited to be invited back to CSU's Dance Lab summer program for the second year.
Jesús Muñoz is a Latin dance artist and percussionist within the complexities of Indigenous, Mexican and Cuban culture, music, and dance, and within Eurocentric dance in ballet, modern, and contemporary techniques. Muñoz is currently based in Boulder, Colorado, a recent MFA in Dance graduate at the University of Colorado, Boulder, Department of Theatre & Dance. Muñoz holds a BFA in Dance Performance from the University of Central Oklahoma, a conservatory dance program that concentrated in ballet, modern, and jazz dance. Alongside extensive communitarian and performance work, Muñoz holds twenty years of involvement in the Latin dance community internationally as a freelance dance artist, educator, performer, and choreographer. Muñoz areas of expertise include Mexican Folkloric, Cuban Popular, Cuban Folkloric, Afro-Cuban, and Cuban Contemporary dance, Latin Percussion, Ballet, Modern and Contemporary techniques, performance, choreography, and artmaking for social change. As an extranjero from México with indigenous descent of the Arapaho tribe from the Coloradoan territory, Muñoz’s aims at fostering Latin & Indigenous artistic excellence through building new accessibility spaces for his communities.
photo credit Machmer Media
Alpine Artist Collective (AAC) is a multi-disciplinary team of artists, united by a shared love for the natural world. Their mission is to connect humans to nature through art, and they believe in the power of art to inspire action. AAC artists play a key role in communicating environmental issues in a way that helps audiences connect emotionally to nature, climate change, and other environmental challenges faced today. AAC performances and events offer transformative experiences, and members of the collective create, teach, and perform across the front range of Colorado.
Grace Cooper began dancing at the age of four at American Ballet Academy in Salem Oregon, the studio where she undertook most of her training. Grace performed in various productions with American Ballet Academy and Eugene Ballet Company, studying ballet, pointe, and modern. Additionally, Grace choreographed and performed in many of her high school’s theater productions.2023
A native of Rochester, New York, Francesca began training at an early age with the Deborah MacKay School of Dance and continued through the American Academy of Ballet, as well as on full scholarship at the Garth Fagan School. In 2004 she began her professional career in Greenville, SC with Carolina Ballet Theater, and became a resident choreographer with the company in 2009. In addition to her work with CBT, Francesca began freelancing nationally as a dancer, teacher and choreographer with companies such as Configuration Dance Theater, Olney Ballet Theater and most recently with Island Moving Company. During her time living in South Carolina, she also branched out into musical theater, choreographing for The Warehouse Theater as well as being resident choreographer for the Younts Center for the Performing Arts from 2012 until 2015, when she returned to her hometown of Rochester to dance with Rochester City Ballet. Francesca now teaches full time at Renaissance Academy Charter School for the Arts and is an adjunct faculty member in the dance department at Nazareth College.
PHOTO CREDIT: Tyler Stableford
Seia Rassenti Watson grew up dancing in Southern Arizona. Training with Flamenco Y Maś by Olivia Rojo, and Tucson Regional Ballet established her base of movement appreciation. In 2006, she graduated from Kirov Academy of Ballet, Washington DC, as Salutatorian; before joining North Carolina Dance Theater, where working with choreographer Dwight Rhoden solidified her love for contemporary ballet. Seia spent eleven consecutive seasons creating + performing with Aspen SantaFe Ballet.
2022
Alessandra Garcia is a teacher, choreographer, and dance-artist. She has been dancing since 2003, when she started tapping in her humble hometown of Spring Valley, NY. A Bronx native, Ally has been studying hip-hop dance for the longest and has trained with a multitude of artists, such as Jose “Hollywood” Ramos, Will “Willdabeast” Adams & Janelle Ginestra, KK Harris, Ysabelle Capitulé, Ephrat Asherie, Kadee Jacobsen, and Shakia Johnson. She has also collaborated with various hip-hop choreographers/dancers in the Five Colleges through the student org Dance and Step at Amherst College (DASAC). For the past six years, Ally has been assisting and teaching various levels and genres of hip hop technique including house, lockin, commercial, grooves, and old school. She loves the freedom that hip-hop provides to innovate and build on one’s personal movement style. She is in a constant state of researching new artists, taking risks with her dance-making, and keeping the positive, self-expressive energy of hip-hop alive in her work. Ally is currently a dance instructor at Ascendance Inner World Arts in Florence, MA. In addition, she is a co-facilitator of the Diaspora Dance Party held through Rooted Essence Dance, a Springfield, MA-based platform founded by Moriah Wilkins to promote community, healing, and culture through dance and other forms of artistic expression. Starting this September, Ally will be teaching hip hop in Terryville, CT at The Dance Project, a new dance studio that centers technique, competition dance, and private instruction. Ally plans to gain her M.F.A. in Dance in the future, focusing on how Hip-Hop can empower young people to be social and political agents, promote cultural relevance to youth of color, affirmation to urban identities, and foster a deeper connection with their learning.
Born in Vienna, Austria, Christina Johnson began her dance education at age seven. She trained at the Boston School of Ballet, the School of American Ballet, and the Dance Theatre of Harlem and began her professional career at age 17.
She was a member of the Boston Ballet for two years before joining the Dance Theatre of Harlem, where she rose to become a principal dancer within four years. In her 13-year tenure with DTH she danced leading roles in much of the company’s repertoire, including Swan Lake, Giselle, Firebird, Voluntaries, Prodigal Son, Serenade, The Four Temperaments, and Fancy Free. Christina has worked with distinguished choreographers and coaches, among them Jerome Robbins, Frederic Franklin, Suzanne Farrell, Allegra Kent, and Sir Anthony Dowell. She also has had original works created on her by Glen Tetley, Rui Horta, Alonzo King, and Dwight Rhoden, among others. She was a member of the Swiss companies, Le Ballet du Grand Theatre de Geneve for five years, and the Ballett Basel for two years, where her repertoire expanded to include works by William Forsythe, Jiri Kylian, James Kudelka, Ohad Naharin, Jean-Christophe Maillot, Twyla Tharp, Amanda Miller, and David Parsons, to name a few. Johnson has been a featured guest artist with various companies worldwide, including the renowned Royal Ballet of London. She is an original member of Complexions Contemporary Ballet. Johnson made her Broadway debut in The Red Shoes. She is also featured in The African Americans, a book which portrays accomplished African Americans in various fields.
After her performance career, Johnson has been sought after as a teacher, coach, and ballet master, and has worked with companies and schools such as the Pacific Northwest Ballet, Boston Ballet, Washington Ballet, Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre, Joffrey Ballet, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Dance Theatre of Harlem, Pennsylvania Ballet, Complexions Contemporary Ballet, Ballet Hispanico, North Carolina Dance Theatre, Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet, Spectrum Dance Theater, Gotesborg Ballett, Ballett Basel, Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo, Armitage Gone! Dance, Cornish College of the Arts, and the University of Washington. In addition, she assisted Frederic Franklin with the re-staging of Giselle for the Joffrey Ballet, and also assisted choreographers Dwight Rhoden, Nicolo Fonte, Trey McIntyre, and Karole Armitage in creating world premieres. Johnson held the position of Rehearsal Director for Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet, Armitage Gone! Dance, Trey McIntyre Project. She is currently the rehearsal director for Complexions Contemporary Ballet.
Johnson holds a M.F.A. in dance from Hollins University in collaboration with the American Dance Festival, The Forsythe Company, and Frankfurt University of Music and Performing Arts in Germany. She is a certified life coach and marathon runner, and speaks French and German.
2021
Keesha Beckford began her dance studies in Queens, New York, before graduating cum laude from Princeton University with an A.B. in American history and a minor in dance. She has performed the choreography of Milton Myers, Teri Lee and Oliver Steele, Danny Herman, Paige Cunningham-Caldarella, Amy Marshall, Michael Foley, and Lorn MacDougal, among others in the U.S. and abroad. Her teaching credits include Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, Columbia College Chicago, Dance Center Evanston, Charlotte Ballet, the UNC Charlotte dance department, and as a guest teacher for Thodos Dance Chicago. Beckford most recently served as the Youth Programs Manager at Hubbard Street Dance Chicago and is honored to be a member of the Joffrey team.
Damaris Ferrer is a multi-disciplinary dancer, teacher, and choreographer with an M.F.A. in choreographic research from Jacksonville University. As a New York-trained dancer, Ms. Ferrer’s movement language was formed through the technical foundations of classical ballet, Graham technique, classical Spanish Dance, Limon technique, Flamenco, and world folk dances. By age 15 she was a member of the Ballet Hispanico of New Yorks Junior Company with whom she performed and toured. From 1989-1993 she performed and toured nationally and internationally with José Molina Bailes Españoles, All Nations Dance Company, Ballet Argentino Raices, Gerald Otte’s Otteco, and the Rod Rodgers Modern Dance Company.
After relocating to South Florida in 1994, she began teaching at the University Center for the Performing Arts, where she developed a Flamenco dance department and was also co-director of the children’s ballet department. During this time she also became a member of Miami’s Mary Street Dance Theater under the Direction of Dale Andree where she trained in contact improvisation. In 1995 she founded Bailes Ferrer, a non-profit arts organization that focused on Flamenco music and dance concerts, classes, and workshops and where she also formed the Flamenco in the Sun flamenco festival along with fellow dancer and choreographer Niurca Marquez.
In 2016, Ms. Ferrer became an adjunct faculty member at Florida Atlantic University (Department of Theater & Dance) and is currently an adjunct faculty member for the Visual and Performing Arts Department at Broward College as well as Nova Southeastern University’s Department of Communication, Media, and the Arts.
Currently, she is involved in the development of FARO (Facilitating Accessibility. Reciprocity and Ontologies), a new initiative that focuses on Art Makers in the margins that are currently unseen and unheard by academic establishments.
2020
Demi soloist with Czech National Ballet. Talented ballerina from Romania, member of the company since 2015. Her soloist roles include Gerda in Snow Queen (Corder), Lise in La Fille mal gardée (Ashton), and Laundress in Kafka: The Trial (Bigonzetti).
Born in Romania, she grew up and studied in Canada and the US. Upon graduation, she danced with The Washington Ballet, Alberta Ballet, and Ballet Met, before joining the Czech National Ballet in 2015. She was promoted to Demi Soloist one year later, in 2016.
Her soloist roles include Lise in La Fille mal gardée (Ashton), Clara in Nutcracker – A Christmas Carol (Vàmos), and Laundress in Kafka: The Trial (Bigonzetti). Her other repertory includes roles such as pas de six (Swan Lake; Cranko), main temple girl (La Bayadère; Torres), or Dark Angel (Serenade; Balanchine).
Repertory
Pas de trois (Swan Lake; Greeve), main temple girl (La Bayadère; Torres), Gerda, Fox (Snow Queen; Corder), Clara, Spanish dance, Valse (Nutcracker – A Chritmas Carol; Vàmos), Laundress (Kafka: The Trial; Bigonzetti), Pas de six (Swan Lake; Cranko), Lise (La Fille mal gardée; Ashton).
Vertigo (Poklitaru), Ohad Naharin: decadance (Naharin), Tremble (Zuska), Aspects (Kozielska), Symphony of Psalms, Six Dances, Petite Mort (Kylián), Serenade(Balanchine), The Rite of Spring (Tetley).
Originally from Buenos Aires, Argentina, Lucas started dancing at age 16. Three years later, he joined Ballet Argentino as a soloist under Julio Bocca’s direction. By the end of the second season, he was promoted to Principal Dancer, being the only dancer, along with ballet star Manuel Legris, to perform a solo piece in Bocca’s farewell performance for over 300,000 people and broadcast on national TV.
Lucas has also been part of The Washington Ballet and of Morphoses/The Wheeldon Company, directed by Christopher Wheeldon and with residency in both New York and London. He has, additionally, danced with The Joffrey Ballet for six seasons, performing in virtually the entire repertoire of the company as a soloist or principal dancer.
Mr. Segovia has appeared in Drury Lane’s production of West Side Story, starring as Bernardo. He has also toured with the Broadway production of An American in Paris and was recently seen in the New York City Center production of Brigadoon, both directed and choreographed by Christopher Wheeldon. In March of 2018, he starred in the musical Oklahoma! as Dream Curly.
Throughout his career, he has danced in more than 300 cities around the globe, performing in some of the most important venues for dance in the world and dancing pieces of some of the most relevant choreographers, such as Balanchine, Robbins, Alvin Ailey, Jirí Kylian, William Forsythe, Christopher Wheeldon, Wayne McGregor, Alexei Ramansky and Twyla Tharp, among many others.
Lucas has been awarded the Premio Clarin, the most prestigious recognition for the Arts in Argentina, and was recently granted Permanent Resident Status as an Alien of Extraordinary Ability. Additionally, Mr. Segovia currently serves in the Adjudicator Committee for CHIArts Chicago, one of the most prominent schools of Art in Illinois, and teaches masterclasses in some of the most prestigious dance schools and companies around the world, from cities like Atlanta and San Francisco to uncommon markets like Puerto Rico and Hong Kong.
Dates: August 3-16, 2025
Registration Deadline: June 14, 2025
Enrollment limited to 24 participants
Pricing (does not include room and board):
$75 registration fee
$1,400 tuition (includes public showcase)
Week 1 only: August 3-9 (includes informal showing)
- $75 registration fee
- $725 tuition
Incoming Dance Majors Week 2 only: August 9-16
- $50 registration fee
- $725 tuition
Housing is available at an additional charge.
Students who are not affiliated with CSU can select the residential option at an additional cost of $800/week plus tax. This rate includes a shared room, full breakfast, and catered lunch. Residential students dine as a group each night at the dining hall or local restaurants. Students are responsible for purchasing their own dinner. Residential students are housed at the Best Western University Inn with full-time supervision by CSU dance majors vetted through a rigorous application process.
Incoming CSU dance majors with fall housing assignments have the option of early move-in on August 9. An additional fee for the dorm room and meal plan will be charged through CSU Housing and Dining Services.
Free diagonal and two hour zoned parking options are available on a first-come-first-served basis. The Lake Street Garage is another close option. Z-lot parking permits (directly behind our building) can be purchased online by Visiting the parking services website.
