Summer Dance Intensive 2020

Students will study ballet, modern, and jazz techniques and will learn three different pieces of choreography that will be used throughout the 2020-2021 season. Additionally, participants will be able to connect with dancers who have danced on Broadway, at Disney, in professional companies, and more.  Other guest speakers will include professors at universities, dance teachers, studio owners, and dance therapy counselors.

There will be a photo day in which dancers can get their standard head shot (needed for most professional and university auditions), and a few other images of full body dance poses. The sitting fee for the photos is included in the price of the intensive and students will be able to purchase prints and files of the photos directly from the photographer for additional discounted costs.

Students will have a short performance at CDT at 6pm on Friday, July 17th. Family and friends are invited to attend. This is a free event, no tickets necessary

Deposit to hold spot

$100

Remainder

Due July 1st

$395

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Early Bird

Pay remainder by June 22nd 

$365

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One Week

Monday-Friday

$175

(+ $100 deposit)

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Daily Rate $60

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Class Rate $20

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Dancers not currently enrolled at Chattanooga Dance Theatre, must pay an audition fee of $17. Those auditioning must take a drop-in class as an audition, or send in a dance resume, letter of recommendation, and dance video showing ballet adage, pirouette, allegro, pointe if applicable, and at least 16 counts of a contemporary combination.

Monica Ellison

Ballet 

Monica (Coates) Ellison was born and raised in Baltimore, MD. Her early dance training began with Ms. Ava Fields who encouraged her to audition for TWIGS. Monica was accepted and danced in the TWIGS program from 6th-8th grade and graduated from the Baltimore School for the Arts in 2000. She earned a BFA in Dance Performance from Southern Methodist University in Dallas, TX. Highlights of her professional performance credits include ensemble work with Dayton Contemporary Dance Company 2 (Dayton, OH), principal work with Balance Dance Theatre (Brooklyn, NY), and guest work with Sudden Enlightenment Theatre (Queens, NY) including a performance in Seoul, Korea. Her last work before heading south was at the North Shore Music Theatre Company (Beverly, MA) as an ensemble dancer in the off broadway production of Susan Stroman's CONTACT directed by Tome Cousin.
  Monica's teaching career began in Chattanooga, TN where she has taught ballet, pointe, modern and jazz for beginner- advanced levels at various dance studios. She has had the pleasure and good fortune to dance and choreograph many dances in Chattanooga including choreographing for two operas at the University of Tennessee Chattanooga, Treemonisha and The Gondoliers. She currently serves as a lead dance instructor at the Creative Arts Guild/Ballet Dalton in Dalton, GA. Monica and her husband Aaron "Cherokee" had a desire to make a larger impact in their community and founded Move N Groove Kidz in 2019, a mobile creative dance, gymnastics and capoeira company that offers classes on site at preschools and daycares in the Greater Chattanooga area.  

Louie Marin-Howard

Modern

Louie Marin-Howard began his training at Independence High School in San Jose, CA; where he trained with Gary Masters and performed with Jose Limon Dance Company. He then moved to Miami, FL where he attended the University of Florida New World School of the Arts, under the direction of Daniel Lewis; on full scholarship. He received his B.F.A. with High Honors in 2005. Louie was a scholarship student of the Martha Graham Center of Contemporary Dance, and Jennifer Muller/The Works School. He has performed with Dance Now! Miami, Freddick Bratcher and Co., Sasha Soreff Dance Theater, Amanda Selwyn DanceTheater, Paskal Rekoert/ Flexicurve, Graham II, and Carolyn Dorfman Dance. Louie has taught regionally, nationally, and internationally; and is known for classes that explore the power, breath, speed, and passion of contemporary modern dance, and the demands of today’s repertory. Locally, Louie has been a guest teacher at Baylor School, and was commissioned to set his work “Birds of a Feather'' for their 2019-2020 performance season. He has also taught Masterclasses at Chattanooga Center of Creative Arts, and has been working with Hamilton County’s Dance Chair, Karen Wilson, to curate ProjectDance- a new program working towards introducing Dance to Hamilton County’s Elementary Schools. Louie is also a Teaching Artist with Northside Neighborhood House and Austin Hatcher Foundation for Pediatric Cancer; where he continues to develop and introduce Chattanoogan children to “Speaking Through Dance''; his unique and visceral approach to Dance Education.

For Louie, class is a dialogue; in which we work together towards mastering the art of specificity and creating an open space where it is safe to learn. Rooted in Classical Modern Dance, class will focus on dancers’ dynamics, shift of weight, line, intention,and nuance.