JOIN OTHER DANCERS FROM THE BALLET AND CONTEMPORARY DANCE CONSERVATORY IN A FUN PREPARATORY EXPERIENCE WITH CCD FACULTY AND GUEST MASTER TEACHERS. DANCERS WILL PARTAKE IN TWO 1.5 HOURS CLASSES IN VARIOUS GENRES ( BALLET , POINTE, MEN'S, PAS DE DEUX, MODERN, IMPROVISATION) A NUTRITIOUS SNACK AND BEVERAGE WILL BE INCLUDED IN THE PROGRAM. TWO MASTER CLASS TEACHER ON THURSDAY!
THE WEEK CONCLUDES WITH 2 GUEST ARTIST MASTER CLASSES ON THURSDAY , AUGUST 10TH!
REGISTER $235 FOR THE ENTIRE WEEK WHICH INCLUDES THE TWO THURSDAY MASTER CLASSES!
2023 BCD Faculty
2023 - Master Class Guests
BIO
Vitor Luiz reached international recognition in the dance world, due to his versatile style, work ethics, dancing and partnering skills, before joining Claire Trevor School of The Arts as an Assistant Professor in 2019, with a committed enthusiasm to share his knowledge to a new generation of dancers at University of California -Irvine.
Born in Brazil, Vitor Luiz studied classical ballet by Brazilian distinguished ballet masters such as Pedro Kraszczuk, Dalal Achcar, Stella de Mello and Victor Navarro. At the age of 16, he was granted a full scholarship at the Royal Ballet School in London, and his professional career began before he was 18 years old in England, with the Birmingham Royal Ballet.
In 2001, Vitor joined the Municipal Theater of Rio de Janeiro's, Brazilians most traditional major classical ballet company, where he became a principal dancer and international guest artist, before San Francisco Ballet as Principal in 2009.
Due to his experience in both Europe and the Americas, diverse training and influences, Vitor was fortunate to be exposed to a diverse amount of repertoire and dance styles. That fed his curiosity, which led his interest in San Francisco Ballet, for its well-known reputation on innovation. He enjoyed 10 years with this company.
During his time at San Francisco Ballet, he danced major roles in classical and contemporary ballet, while also performing as a regular guest artist with English National Ballet, and many other esteemed companies, galas, and productions around the world. His strong balance between dancing and partnering, artistic versatility, and strong stage pretense had made him an important asset for the companies he belonged to when creating roles, and his classical training allowed him to perform almost every major classical ballet repertoire. Vitor has worked closely with some of the most prestigious choreographers and icons in classical and contemporary ballet today. In England, with the Royal Ballet School, Birmingham Royal Ballet and English National Ballet, he experienced the British repertoire and their disciples at its finest.
In San Francisco Ballet and at Ballet of Rio de Janeiro, he worked closely with choreographers and directors such as Helgi Tomasson, Tetley, Forsythe or Cranko, Ashton, Cragun, Vasiliev, Makarova, Scarlet, Caniparolli, just to name a few.
Vitor won the “Isadora Duncan Dance Award” for Best Ensemble Performance in Possokhov’s Classical Symphony during the 2010 Repertory Season. He has also won awards for his works in Brazil with esteemed dance organizations, ballet competitions and government recognized institutions.
Vitor was nominated as a member of CID- International Dance Council, Paris. Official partner of UNESCO, due to his international recognition and contribution to the arts.
His newest works “Sheherezade” choreographed and performed by him with his wife and partner Tara Ghassemieh was given a rave review after its debut at the Segerstrom Music Hall in the summer of 2019. Due to their success, Vitor and Tara have been commissioned to choreograph future full-length ballets for Festival Ballet Theatre and to choreograph new works for the talented musicians of OC Chamber Music Hall in May of 2020.
Besides dancing, Vitor was head of the production, conducted many masterclasses and workshops in Brazil, China, Australia, and the United States. He has taught/performed and is currently affiliated with nationwide dance organizations as a guest teacher and artist including Southland Ballet Academy in Southern California, Atlanta Ballet, Shanghai Theater Academy, Melbourne Academy of the Arts School of Dance and Australia National Youth Ballet, Hong Kong Ballet, Youth American Grand Prix among others.
Charlotte Griffin creates dynamic work for the concert stage, cinematic screen, and multimedia environments. Her repertory has been commissioned by The Juilliard Dance Ensemble, The Hartt School Dance Division, BJM Danse in Montreal, Danza UDLAP, Barcelona Institut del Teatre, The Juilliard Summer Intensive, Peridance Professional Trainees, Princeton University, Rutgers University, and more. She has had the privilege of creating ballets at The New York Choreographic Institute with dancers from the New York City Ballet and School of American Ballet, at the American Ballet Theatre Summer Intensive in Austin, and for Eliot Feld's Ballet Tech Kids Dance. Current projects include choreographing Monk Parrots’ original production ofBum Phillips All-American Opera, which premiered at La MaMa’s Ellen Stewart Theater in New York, and contributions to The Nexus Project produced by The Cambrians for premiere in 2017.
Charlotte’s own education and professional trajectory have deep ties to the American Dance Festival where she studied from 1994-1996 and was honored to receive the Scripps/ADF Primus-Tamiris Fellowship for the International Choreographers Commissioning Program in 2005. In addition, she has been a guest artist at ArcDanz in Mexico, Springboard Danse Montreal, The Yard, Cayman Island Arts Festival, and the Bates Dance Festival. Her award-winning dance films, Barefoot Negotiations (2009) and Raven Study (2007), have screened internationally and have influenced her continued research of choreo-cinematic form, motion, and style. She served on the selection committee of ADF’s International Screendance Festival in 2010 and currently acts as an Advisory Board member of TenduTV, an online dance channel.
As a young dancer, Charlotte received her BFA in Dance from The Juilliard School under the direction of Mr. Benjamin Harkarvy and performed the masterworks of artists such as Paul Taylor, Agnes de Mille, and José Limón. Upon graduation, she was honored with The Martha Hill Award for excellence in her field of study and went on to collaborate and perform with choreographers including David Neumann, Yasmeen Godder, Sue Bernhard, Toshiko Oiwa, Karen Graham, Robert Battle, and Larry Keigwin. She received her MFA in Dance from The University of Texas at Austin, taught at Marymount Manhattan College and Bowdoin College, and has offered master classes in Mexico, Spain, the Czech Republic, and South Korea. Originally from North Carolina, Charlotte is delighted to join the sunny ranks of the University of California, Irvine Dance Department.
* PLEASE DO NOT REGISTER FOR “LAUNCH INTO MOTION” UNLESS YOU HAVE ALREADY BEEN
ACCEPTED INTO THE BALLET & CONTEMPORARY DANCE CONSERVATORY FOR THE SCHOOL YEAR 2023-2024
08/07/2023, 08/08/2023, 08/09/2023, 08/10/2023
Participants must be entering grades 7 to 12.
Minimum: 12
Maximum: 20
Registration starts on 05/18/2023 and ends on 08/07/2023.
Please contact OCSA Academy if you have any questions.