Dance Summer Intensive for Emerging Dancers

Richard Ashworth is an educator, choreographer, and performer whose interest in technical foundation and corresponding social cultures have made him a resource in social and percussive African Diaspora dance communities. Richard attended the University at Buffalo, receiving a BFA in Dance in June 2007. After graduating, Rich performed aboard Royal Caribbean’s Voyager of the Seas and upon returning to the States, danced in several crews for live performances and industrials including for artists such as Flo Rida and The Goo Goo Dolls. Rich has performed, choreographed, and toured with several internationally celebrated dance companies including Lehrerdance (dir. Jon Lehrer), Chicago Dance Crash (dir. Jessica Deahr), Be The Groove (dir. Stephanie Paul) serving as educational director, and Chicago Tap Theatre (dir. Mark Yonally), where he served as a choreographer and rehearsal director. As an educator Rich has been on the faculty of several dance based organizations including Dance Masters of America, Flow 40 Dance, Beyond the Stars dance convention, and Interdanza of Mexico. He has taught classes and courses at the University at Buffalo, Hope College, and Salve Regina University. Rich most recently attended the University of Wisconsin- Milwaukee, achieving a Masters of Fine Arts in Dance in May 2021.

Gina Laurenzi graduated from UW-Milwaukee with a BFA in dance. Before beginning her chapter in Milwaukee, Gina was awarded a full merit scholarship to train at Giordano Dance Chicago and later performed with Giordano Il and Inside Chicago Dance, among other Chicago artists. For seven years, Laurenzi owned and operated Laurenzi Dance (Kenosha, WI). In her hometown of Kenosha, Laurenzi presented work regularly and mentored many local artists through the performance groups she founded including; Project Innovate: A Performing Dance Company, Captivate Dance Company and Momentum Dance Project. Laurenzi has set work on dancers of the UW-Milwaukee Dance Dept., Water Street Dance Milwaukee, Danceworks Youth Performance Company, Danceworks Performance MKE, Danceworks Intergenerational Performance Company, Milwaukee High School of the Arts, Makaroff Youth Ballet (Appleton, WI), as well as Milwaukee Ballet’s summer intensive and pre-professional program students. Laurenzi works as a teaching artist for both Milwaukee Ballet and Danceworks and is an associate lecturer/teaching assistant at UW-Milwaukee where she is currently pursuing her MA in dance.

Dawn Springer was fortunate to perform internationally with many wonderful choreographers throughout her training and performance career. Her own choreography has garnered critical acclaim, and her writing is published in libraries and universities throughout the country. She is a senior lecturer in Dance in the Peck School of the Arts at UWM. BFA, University of North Carolina School of the Arts, MFA Hollins University. As a dancer, she was fortunate to work with a number of choreographers including Helen Simoneau Danse, Camille A. Brown, Sara Hook, and Sarah Skaggs, among others. Her professional performance career has taken her to many theaters and international festivals including Lincoln Center, The Kennedy Center, The Venice Biennale Danza, The American Dance Festival, The Baryshnikov Arts Center, New York Live Arts, the Brooklyn Museum of Art, The United States Botanic Garden, The Banff Center, Mt Tremper Arts Festival, Washington D.C.’s Dance Place, New York City’s Danspace Project, Dixon Place, the New York Historical Society, The Chocolate Factory, The 92nd St Y, and Movement Research at the Judson Church.

Karlies Kelley Vedula was born and raised in Panama, and is currently living in Milwaukee, WI. She has over 15 years of experience performing, teaching and producing events. She earned her BFA and MFA in African Diaspora Dance from the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee. Her constant research and passion for dance have molded her into a versatile dancer, educator, and choreographer, ranging from traditional Afro-Latin forms to vernacular Salsa and Modern. She founded Panadanza Dance Company in 2008 as a way to stay connected with her roots, to build a community around music and dance, and to create safe, healing spaces for women and young people. Karlies travels often nationally and internationally to learn and to teach, and is actively involved in the Milwaukee community, engaging youth and adults to move in positive and unifying ways. She believes dance belongs to all, in all spaces, dance is key to living a more colorful and meaningful life.

Cyenthia Vijayakumar is a Kathak(North Indian Classical Dance) performer, teacher and choreographer from the Milwaukee area. She  has undergone her training in Lucknow gharana from Guru Murari Sharan Gupta and Guru Hari and Chetna from Bangalore India. She is currently undergoing her training under Guru Sujatha Banerjee from London. She founded Aarambh Kathak Dance School in 2019 in Milwaukee which is the only ISTD (Imperial Society for Teacher of Dance) certified school in WI. She has performed extensively in India and the US across various prestigious platforms.

Christal Wagner is an Alumna of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee dance department (BFA) where she is also adjunct faculty. She is a screendance artist and has produced work as a cinematographer, performer, editor and director for Joe Goode, Josh Halverson, Maria Gillespie, Danceworks Inc, Milwaukee Dance Theatre Network, Milwaukee Opera Theatre, UWM Dance, The Saint Kate Arts Hotel, The Cactus Club, and Li Chiao-Ping Dance where she was a 2020 SEED Creation Fund grant recipient. Christal is the artistic director of Danceworks Performance MKE and has danced for Your Mother Dances, Gina Laurenzi Dance Project, Dawn Springer Dance Projects, Skylight Music Theatre and spent 14 years as a company member with DPMKE. Christal is a cofounder of the music and dance trio Cadance Collective, co-creating pieces through processes where music and dance are worked on simultaneously through improvisational practices and original soundscapes. In 2020 Christal Wagner became the Saint Kate Art Hotel’s FIRST artist in co-residence. She is the recipient of 8 Wisconsin Jerry Awards for her work in musical theatre and has choreographed over 20 musicals in the city of Milwaukee.