August Intensive

Ballet Chesapeake's August Workshop is designed for the serious professional or pre-professional dance student at an intermediate to advanced level of training. The workshop will include daily Ballet Technique classes as well as Contemporary, Pointe, Variations, and Pas de Deux classes with renowned guest professionals and Ballet Chesapeake faculty. The program is designed to help students continue technical and artistic progress over the summer so that they are ready to begin the school year dancing at their best. 

Housing with Ballet Chesapeake families is available Monday-Thursday of each week for out-of-town students. Please contact the Ballet Chesapeake office for more information and registration details. 

Female dancers will need to wear a solid color traditional style leotard (no halters, criss-cross straps, or keyholes), pink convertible tights, pink ballet slippers and/or pointe shoes. 

Male dancers will need to wear a white leotard or form fitting t-shirt tucked into black convertible tights, and black ballet slippers or white ballet slippers with white socks. 

Catherine Horta-Hayden received her M.F.A in Dance from Florida State University and her B.A in Dance from Florida International University.  She is a Professor of Dance in Towson University’s Department of Dance teaching all levels of the ballet technique, pointe, variations, and repertory. Mrs. Horta-Hayden also served as the Artistic Director for the Towson University Dance Company and as Assistant Provost for Academic Affairs. She is currently President of CORPS de Ballet International and is a National Association of Schools of Dance (NASD) Evaluator.  She has engaged in extensive performing and has been invited to create and restage numerous works and teach master classes internationally.    

Rhodie Jorgensen received her training at the School of American Ballet and that American Ballet Theatre (ABT) School. She spent the majority of her career dancing with ABT. She has worked with choreographers Balanchine, Tudor, Robbins, Ailey, Smuin, and Feld. Ms. Jorgensen has been responsible for rehearsing many children's roles for ballet productions at the Kennedy Center. She has also been on the faculty at the International Ballet Competition in Jackson, MS in 2002, 2006, and 2010.    

Roberto Munoz has been teaching and coaching young dancers for over 30 years, both in the USA and abroad. Mr. Munoz served as the Director of the Conservatory of Dance and Music at Point Park College (now University) where her created the pre-professional division and the International Summer Dance Program. Mr. Munoz also spent several years on faculty at the Baltimore School for the Arts. He was then invited to become a Ballet Master/Coach for both Pittsburgh Ballet Theater's Company and its school. In 2005, Ms. Munoz became Executive Director and Ballet Master at Gulfshore Ballet in Florida, and he is program co-founder and Director of the Saratoga Summer Dance Intensive and the Vail Valley Dance Intensive Programs.     

Amanda McKerrow has enjoyed a career as one of America's acclaimed ballerinas. She has the honor of being the first American to receive a gold medal at the International Ballet Competition in Moscow in 1981. Ms. McKerrow joined American Ballet Theatre in 1982 and has been the recipient of numerous other awards including the Princess Grace Foundation Dance Fellowship, the Deane Sherman Award for Excellence in the Field of Dance, and the New York Woman Award for Dance. In 2000 Ms. McKerrow together with her husband John Gardner began staging the works of Anthony Tudor for the Anthony Tudor Ballet Trust. Since retiring from performing in 2006, she devotes the majority of her time to teaching, coaching, and staging ballets for professional companies around the world.    

John Gardner began his ballet training at age twelve. He joined American Ballet Theatre in 1978 and was promoted to the rank of soloist in 1984. Mr. Gardner's diverse repertoire included many soloist and principal roles affording him the opportunity to work with many of the great choreographers of the 20th century including Anthony Tudor, George Balanchine, Jerome Robbins, and Twyla Tharp. In 1991 Mr. Gardner joined Mikhail Baryshnikov's White Oak Dance Project where he toured extensively. He is currently working at both the professional and student levels and has taught, choreographed, and staged ballets for professional companies and schools in the U.S. and Europe.     

Bio coming soon...