2027 Jazz Intensive
June 27th – July 2nd
The Jazz Intensive is designed for students pursuing excellence in jazz and commercial dance training. Curriculum includes jazz, hip hop, lyrical, contemporary, conditioning, musical theatre, and more.
Faculty
Special Guest: Chryssie Whitehead
Chryssie Whitehead is a producer, speaker and coach rooted in the philosophy of “being who you needed when you were younger,” driving her commitment as both an inspiring educator and a mental health advocate.
With over 25 years in the entertainment industry, Chryssie’s journey began in South Carolina and quickly soared as a Rockette, leading to acclaimed performances in film, television, and on Broadway. An alumna of the American Musical and Dramatic Academy (AMDA) in New York, Chryssie debuted on Broadway in the revival of A Chorus Line as Kristine, also featured in the documentary Every Little Step. Her Broadway repertoire includes Chicago (Kitty/Velma US) and Company at Lincoln Center with Neil Patrick Harris. Regionally, she has captivated audiences as Bombalurina in Cats, Lola in Damn Yankees, and Cassie in A Chorus Line. Her screen credits extend to appearances in West Side Story (Directed by Steven Spielberg), Grey's Anatomy, Switched at Birth, and more. Her talents also led her to perform with Paul McCartney and double for Julia Stiles in Save the Last Dance.
Beyond performing, Chryssie has excelled as a director and choreographer in productions like Chicago, A Chorus Line, Rent, and Beauty and the Beast. As co-founder of Broadway Arts Community and its affiliated non-profit, Broader Than Broadway, she fosters social connections through performing arts education.
Chryssie’s creative ventures include her autobiographical play, produced by her company, In My Own Little Corner Productions, which focuses on mental health and for which she and co-lead producer Kirsten Wrinkle were awarded the 2025 Blanton-Peale Institute’s “Norman Vincent Peale Award for Positive Thinking.” She also directed a documentary titled The Stories Behind In My Own Little Corner, spotlighting the community of artists that created a show centered on mental health in New York City. Both are being submitted to film festivals to further conversations about mental health. For more information, visit www.IMOLCTheShow.com.
Christopher Aldeguer
Christopher Aldeguer is a highly accomplished dancer and choreographer from Daly City, CA with a passion for hip hop culture. With 18 years of experience under his belt, Christopher's impressive career began with 8 years of training in movement and music in Daly City, where he honed his skills under the guidance of renowned choreographers Pat Cruz and Shaun Evaristo. As a member of the world-renowned dance crew, The Company, Christopher made a significant impact in the dance world, gaining recognition for his outstanding talent and contributions.
In 2012, Christopher embarked on his professional journey in Las Vegas, NV, where he quickly rose to prominence for 10 years. His career spanned a diverse range of dance roles, from being an extra for multiple flash mobs to performing as a backup dancer for high-profile acts like the K-Pop group BTS. He even had the privilege of being a guest performer for the World of Dance Las Vegas tour.
Currently, Christopher is a dancer and choreographer for Unbound Dance Company led by Caroline Lewis Jones, showcasing his talent and creativity in a new setting. He is also training under an elite Krump crew called Lionzden based in Columbia, South Carolina, led by Davon Bush aka Lionheart. As a choreographer, Christopher's work has been featured in many corporate events and shows, including Mariah Carey's live show in Las Vegas and the new Donny Osmond show. Additionally, Christopher achieved a dream in 2021 when he was able to assist the legendary dance duo Nappytabs.
Christopher's passion for dance and dedication to his craft have enabled him to leave an indelible mark on the dance world. His remarkable talent, along with his impressive resume, make him an invaluable asset to any dance production or event.
Jessica Edwards
Jessica is a South Carolina native, who began dancing and competing under the instruction of Lauren Metts at The Dance Dept. While still in high school, Jessica was a featured dancer in The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, soloist in DanceWordz the company, dance captain and a featured choreographer for various performances. After graduating from the National Honors Society of Dance Arts, Jessica was invited to New York City to complete Broadway Dance Center’s most prestigious program, the Professional Semester. At completion, she was awarded “The Quiet Storm Award,” one of the highest honors.
Jessica has performed in live stage, film, TV, music video, and theme park productions. Her favorite credits include: Broadway Cares/Equity Fights Aids’ “Gypsy of the Year” with the Broadway cast of Spiderman: Turn Off The Dark, on Good Morning America, fitness video with Insanity workout video sensation Shaun T, music video with singing group Neon Trees, at Lincoln Center with the Buglisi Dance Theatre in their Table of Silence 9/11 Project and completed a contract as the lead female performer in an original Halloween production by RWS and Associates.
While Jessica is a dynamic and talented performer, she found her true talent of teaching and choreographing at a young age. She is extremely passionate about sharing her love of dance and longing for her student’s growth within the entertainment industry. She has traveled across the country adjudicating and teaching for many National Dance Competitions, taught as a middle school dance educator and artist in residence in the South Carolina Public School system, was a Raleigh based Company Director for a Competitive Studio and has choreographed for numerous pageants, schools and studios throughout the nation. She recently moved back to her hometown of Columbia and is a resident teacher and choreographer for her home studio. Jessica is also a Certified Health Coach.
Eduard Forehand
Eddie was born and raised in Miami, Florida, and had his primary dance training with Thomas Armour Youth Ballet, Miami City Ballet, and Nutmeg Conservatory as well as additional training with Houston Ballet and North Carolina School for the Arts. He went on to an 18-year professional career with Richmond Ballet (1998-2000), Charleston Ballet Theatre (2000 - 2003), Augusta Ballet (2003 - 2005), Dayton Ballet (2005 - 2009), and Louisville Ballet (2009 - 2016). During this time, Eddie had the opportunity to work with many notable choreographers, coaches, directors, and teachers as well as wonderful dancers that have all had an impact on the way he sees and teaches dance.
After retiring from the stage, Eddie accepted a fellowship at the University of Iowa where he had the opportunity to reframe the way he teaches and choreographs. While there, he was able to build upon principles of modern dance and begin to practically apply them to ballet. Eddie taught ballet to majors and non-majors and had the chance to choreograph multiple works on the students. He also acted as the rehearsal director for guest choreographer, Shannon Alvis. Eddie was then invited to join Cornell College as Artist in Residence where he experimented with many genres including jazz, musical theatre, modern, and ballet. He continued his choreography investigations while there, including a collaboration that resulted in his first dance film entitled “Black Valentine” which explored the themes of painter Jack Vettriano.
Eddie is interested in the application of dynamic alignment and kinesthetic awareness of the body as a way to assist in injury prevention. He has a desire to bring about a focus on individuality in dancing and help the student with tools on how to take responsibility for their own learning in an inclusive and positive environment. He is also a certified ABT curriculum instructor for levels pre-primary through level 5.
Carly Gallup
Carly Gallup is a South Carolina native. She is an original Unbound Dance company member, as she danced with them in their first show at the age of 15. She is also an alumni of the award winning Southern Strutt Dance Company. Carly began dancing at the age of 2 and has trained under many prestigious choreographers in all genres of dance. She has lived in Atlanta and Los Angeles where she pursued her professional performance career, highlighted by dancing for the Atlanta Hawks NBA team where she danced in London at the NBA Global Games. She also danced alongside Ludacris and 2 Chainz. Carly is pas-sionate about working with young dancers as a traveling choreographer and instructor. She has won many awards for her innovative and entertaining choreography.
Susan Hancock
Susan Hancock was born and raised in Columbia, South Carolina and began her ballet training at the Calvert-Brodie School of Dance. In 1989, Susan entered the School of American Ballet, the official school of the New York City Ballet, and studied there for three consecutive summers. In 1992, she was invited to stay for the winter term, but instead decided upon The University of North Carolina School of the Arts, then known as North Carolina School of the Arts. From there Ms. Hancock went on to join The Los Angeles Classical Ballet in 1994. Susan performed roles in ballets such as The Nutcracker (Mirlitons) Coppelia (Swanhilda’s friend), A Midsummer Nights Dream (Helena, Hermia) and Paquita (principal role). In 1998, Ms. Hancock joined Francisco Martinez Dance Theater while continuing to dance with Los Angeles Classical Ballet. During her time in L.A., Susan was a featured dancer on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno, as well as the VH1 comedy hour featuring Wendy the Snapple Lady. After her time in L.A. was over, Susan moved back home to study at the University of South Carolina under the direction of Dr. Susan Anderson and Stacey Calvert. While dancing with the USC ballet company she danced numerous featured roles including George Balanchine’s Apollo, Western Symphony, Who Cares?, Walpurgisnaught, Allegro Brilliant, Mozartiana and Serenade. Susan performed featured roles alongside members of The New York City Ballet. Those included Dark Angel from Serenade and Polycythemia from Apollo. She was also a principle dancer in Alan Hineline's production of Glennies, as well as Martha Graham's Sketches from Chronicle. Ms. Hancock was featured in SCETV’s documentary following the re-staging of Sketches from Chronicle. While at USC, Susan represented the dance company at the American College Dance Festival and Spoleto Festival, and received the Director's Award for Outstanding Artistic Merit and earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in Dance Performance and Choreography.
Terrance Henderson
An International award winning choreographer, Terrance has been the creative force behind Columbia’s own Vibrations Dance Company serving as Artistic Director and Principal Choreographer for over 10 years. Terrance is now also developing independent dance/theater projects under his personal brand T.O. Henderson Dance Incorporated (TO DANCE, Inc) with whom he is presenting his latest original work HOLE IN MY BUCKET: a perspective through dance image word and sound here at the 2013 Rogue Festival. Terrance was the 2009 Artist Fellow for the state in Dance Performance and later that same year received the BRONZE LEO AWARD for Outstanding Jazz Choreography at the Jazz Dance World Congress in Chicago- a first for a choreographer from South Carolina. A company member at Trustus Theater-South Carolina’s only professional theater, Terrance’s has served as choreographer and director for multiple productions and has been seen as a performer on the main-stage in such shows as Next to Normal, Passing Strange, Smokey Joes Cafe, Hair, and Rent. Terrance is also on the dance faculty at both Columbia Ballet School and Southeastern School of Ballet and has been the long-term artist in residence in the public schools at Logan Elementary where he has been teaching dance and drama now for 15 years.
Ian Kell
Ian Kell was born in Chicago, Illinois, and grew up in Columbia, South Carolina. Ian holds a B.S. in Marketing from the University of South Carolina where he minored in dance and received collegiate and professional training in contemporary, hip hop, ballet, modern and jazz styles. He has worked professionally in Columbia since 2022 as a company member with Unbound Dance Company, under the Direction of Caroline Lewis-Jones and Morgan Holton, and as a guest artist for Anne Brodie’s Carolina Ballet. Ian has most recently worked as a company member of Gaspard & Dancers under the direction of Gaspard Luis. Ian received additional training at the American Dance Festival Summer Intensive and the David Dorfman Dance Emerging Artist Intensive, gaining technical training and collaborating in creative processes. Ian is the Founder of CREATIAN, a creative direction and community building platform centered on the collaboration between creatives across all artistic mediums."
Caroline Lewis Jones
Caroline Lewis-Jones, from South Carolina, has been dancing for over 27 years. At the age of 18 she moved to New York City where she performed for six years. Her credits include the VMA’s with NSYNC, the Latin Grammy Awards, WNBA National Commercial, Commercial work, Disney Industrials, Britany Spears “Me Against the Music” video, MTV’s Body Rock Fitness Video, and more. Although successful as a commercial dancer, her true passion lies within contemporary company work, where she has had the opportunity to work for Mia Michaels Company R.A.W, Dee Caspary’s IV Dance Company, Notario Dance Company, Rhapsody and Company, A.S.H Contemporary, and Justin Giles’ Soul Escape. In 2001 she traveled to Seoul, Korea where she performed for Jason Parson’s and POZ Dance Theatre. In July 2010, Caroline performed with Sonya Tayeh from “So You Think You Can Dance” with her company in Chicago. She also choreographs for studios around the country, and teaches for Adrenaline Dance Convention and The Dance Sessions.
In December 2007, Caroline choreographed and performed a one-woman show, called Finding My Way. It was about the loss of her mother and her life currently without her. It is her greatest accomplishment yet. Caroline also founded Unbound Dance Company in Columbia, South Carolina in 2008. Her goal as Artistic Director of UNBOUND is to inspire and give dancers over 18 years old a new outlet to perform. She wants to show Columbia a new way of moving with No Boundaries.
Kiyomi Mercadante Ramirez
Kiyomi Ramirez is a dance educator with over twenty years of experience and a professional dancer with over fifteen years of performance experience. Mrs. Ramirez has an Associate’s Degree in Theatre, Film, Radio and Television. In 2017, Mrs. Ramirez earned her “Fellow” in the Cecchetti Council of America (CCA). She shares this title with approximately fifty colleagues across The United States. Mrs. Ramirez has experience as an Adjunct Faculty Member and Rehearsal Director with the University of South Carolina Dance Department, from 2011 through 2015; and was Artistic Director of Dallas Dance Company from 2009 through 2011. With over fifteen years of professional dance performance experience, Mrs. Ramirez has had the honor and privilege to perform with companies such as Ballet Dallas, The Dallas Opera, The Richmond Ballet, Ballet Austin, Dallas Summer Musicals, Rasa Dance Chicago, Dallas Dance Company, The South Carolina Philharmonic, Artists for Africa, and more. When opportunities arise, Mrs. Ramirez continues to make guest appearances.
Sidney Ramsey
In 2017, Sidney Ramsey left home in Columbia, SC, to attend the University of Southern California, where she pursued a double major in Dance (BFA) and Health and the Human Sciences (BA). Her passion for dance stems from the union of the mind and body, and she hopes to continue exploring the possibilities of intertwining dance and scientific research as she begins her professional career. During her time at USC Kaufman, Sidney has performed repertory by choreographers like William Forsythe, Jiří Kylián, Barak Marshall, Matthew Neenan, Paul Taylor, and more. She has also developed her own choreographic approach, inspired by the steps of the scientific method, through implementing structures and scores informed by psychological concepts and theories that she has found interesting in her studies. With her major in Health and the Human Sciences, Sidney has gained experience in internships exploring the correlations between dance, quality of life or holistic health, and one’s social environment. Immediately upon graduating, Sidney wants to perform and tour with a contemporary company. She also has long-term goals to use her degrees to explore how rigorous dance training impacts one’s health and aging process. Through conducting and advocating for further research into professional dancers’ health, Sidney will seek solutions to how dancers can sustain longer careers and increase their longevity.
Kyra Strasberg
When Kyra Strasberg was 17, she traveled from her home in Columbia, South Carolina to Boston, Massachusetts to dance for the summer. Years later, she would return as Kyra Strasberg to fill a position at the University of South Carolina. In the years in between, Strasberg would ascend the ladder of professional dance at the Boston Ballet, rising to the rank of Principle dancer and retiring as suc
Strasberg began her training in Columbia at Calvert Brodie with Ann Brodie and traveled during summers to train with companies and schools such as Houston Ballet, the School of American Ballet, and the Boston Ballet.
When Strasberg attended the summer program at the Boston Ballet, it was she who took it upon herself to demonstrate, by taking extra classes and seeking guidance from her instructors, her intentions to be accepted as a year-round student. She recalls being pulled aside by Bruce Wells, director of the program and future assistant director of Boston Ballet, and told that her work had been noticed and they would see if she could “keep it up.” The young spitfire had set her sights on a contract with the Boston Ballet.
That first year, Strasberg became an apprentice with the company, getting her first exposure to the choreography of George Balanchine when she was selected to understudy the 1946 ballet The Four Temperaments. When Bruce Marks was brought in to take the artistic reigns of Boston Ballet in January of 1985, Strasberg was the only ensemble member hired. She developed a tutorial relationship with the former Metropolitan Opera Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, and Royal Danish Ballet principle who maintains still that she was the first person he hired. While under Marks’s artistic leadership, Strasberg had the opportunity to work with Mark Morris, Twyla Tharp, and original members of the Ballet Russe.
Strasberg competed at the New York International Ballet Competition and had the privilege of being coached by the likes of Kirk Petersen and Frederick Franklin on variations from Swan Lake, Flower Festival, and Blue Danube. Of the many roles she performed she counts “Fate” in choreographer Choo San Goh’s 1984 Eastern version of Romeo and Juliet, the female lead in Marks’s The Lark Ascending, and Twyla Tharp’s athletic In the Upper Room amongst her favorites. Strasberg was later promoted to Principle dancer with Boston Ballet.
Upon her retirement from the Boston Ballet in 2000, Strasburg danced briefly with Suzanne Farrell, long-time advocate and teacher, but soon decided to direct her energies elsewhere. Having been introduced to the practice of yoga in 1999, Strasburg soon devoted much of her time to the study and practice. She went on a retreat, was hooked, and began teaching. Strasberg continued training, was certified in Pilates and ultimately in yoga.
In 2007, she took the position of Distinguished Artist in Residence at the University of South Carolina, and moved back to Columbia. In 2011, Strasberg opened her own Hot Vinyasa studio called Yoga Masala. Strasberg has many plans for her bustling studio, but as for herself, she plans simply to “Enjoy the sweetness of this present.”
Photo by Forrest Clonts.
Susan Anderson
MFA, University of California at Irvine. 2011 SC Professor of the Year. 2009 Michael J. Mungo Distinguished Professor. 2009 Governor's Professor of the Year.
Professor Anderson is the founding director of the USC Dance Company, USC Dance Conservatory, and South Carolina Summer Dance Conservatory, which hosts international students and world-renowned faculty and choreographers.
Under her directorship, the dance program implemented a BA major in Dance Performance and Choreography in 2004, with concentrations in Ballet or Contemporary Dance. Soon after, the program added an emphasis in Dance Education, a K-12 Teacher Certification program, in partnership with the College of Education. Since this time, the dance program has become nationally recognized, earning distinction from Dance Magazine as one of the top three collegiate programs to consider for classical ballet study. The program now has more than 65 course offerings and approximately 3,000 students enroll each year taking dance courses.
Some of Susan Anderson’s professional artistic works include the creation of over 200 ballets such as Scheherazade, Ondine, Taming of the Shrew, Plant Dance with artist Blue Sky, The Firebird, Phantom of the Night, Crown Jewels, Sylvia, Carnival of the Animals, Pleasures of Paris, and The Young Man and Death. She has choreographed and taught master classes for Gus Giordano Dance Company in Chicago, the University of California, University of Buffalo, University of Georgia, Several Dancers Core in Atlanta, Murray State, Knoxville Dance Theatre, Loyola University, Inco Ballet in Colombia, South America and Stadtische Opera in Gera, Germany.
In 2009, she was named the Michael J. Mungo Distinguished Professor of the Year and Governor’s Professor of the Year.
In 2011, she was named SC Professor of the Year by the Carnegie Foundation.