Summer Dance Intensive 2022
A Two-Week, Pre-Professional Summer Dance Intensive for Students Ages 10 – 18
Summer Dance Intensive at AYDT is a two-week In-Person, Pre-Professional program taking place July 18–29, 2022.
Participants will work with guest artists from American Ballet Theater (ABT)® and Broadway, in addition to our renowned AYDT instructors.
Mornings will be dedicated to Ballet, Pointe, and Repertory, followed by varying dance styles, cross-training, and academics in the afternoon. Register Today!
SUMMER DANCE INTENSIVE FACULTY
Sophie Alpern
Sophie Alpern is a native New Yorker and professional ballet instructor. She trained at the School of American Ballet, Steps on Broadway, North Carolina School of the Arts, Houston Ballet Academy, and the Royal Ballet School. While at SAB, she performed with New York City Ballet in The Nutcracker, A Midsummer’s Night Dream, Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty, Coppelia, and Circus Polka.
Sophie holds a Masters degree in Dance Education with a concentration in ABT Ballet Pedagogy from New York University and is an ABT® Certified Teacher in Pre-Primary through Level Seven and Partnering of the ABT® National Training Curriculum. She holds a B.A. in Sociology from Vassar College, where her thesis project was titled “The Perception and Role of Dance and Classical Ballet in the Liberal Arts Academy.” Sophie danced leading roles with the Vassar Repertory Dance Theater, culminating in the principal role in Balanchine’s Valse Fantaisie. She is also a graduate of The Brearley School in NYC.
Sophie has been teaching ballet to children and adults of all skill levels in NYC for the past twelve years. She currently holds faculty positions at the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School at American Ballet Theater, and at the Steps on Broadway Youth Program. She formerly taught at LaGuardia High School and has taught company classes for Sarasota Ballet and Ballet Hispanico. She is excited to return to AYDT as a guest teacher.
Jeffry Amado
Rachel Feinerman
Rachel has been teaching dance in New York for more than 20 years at studios such as Gibney, Peridance, Mark Morris, Dance New Amsterdam, Dance Space, and Barnard College. After graduating from Barnard College with a B.A. in Dance and Political Science, she has performed for Laurie De Vito & Dancers since 1999, and also for Daria Fain, Ricardo Gomez Dance Theatre, Aynsley Vandenbroucke, Wilson Mendieta, Sita Mani, and many others. She was cast in a variety of film, photo, and art projects including Julie Taymor’s Across the Universe, and co-founded a performance workshop company for adult dance students. Certified in teaching the Simonson technique, an injury-preventative, and scaffolded dance teaching methodology, Rachel also studied qi-gong and Pilates for many years before her love for anatomy and creative somatic work finally drew her to the Kane School in 2021 where she is honored to be part of the Kinected residency program. She currently teaches mat and reformer classes, supervises students in the training program, and sees individual clients at Kinected.
Rio Tasia Guillaume
Rio Tasia Guillaume grew up in Chicago, receiving her early dance training on scholarship from Larry Long and faculty at the Ruth Page Foundation before receiving her secondary education from Point Park University in Pittsburgh, PA. In New York City, Ms. Guillaume performed in venues such as the New York City Center and Alvin Ailey Citigroup Theater. She also held Soloist and Company Manager positions for Kazuko Hirabayashi Dance Theatre and choreographed for Christian Cultural Center Dance Ministry, premiering work on ABC Television Network.
Ms. Rio spent a decade teaching at American Youth Dance Theater
There she coached students into earning acceptance from the School of American Ballet and LaGuardia High School for the Performing Arts, among others. At AYDT, Rio also achieved ABT® Certified, Affiliate, and Fellow Teacher Statuses having successfully presented her classes for annual ABT® Affiliate Examinations. Since then, Ms. Guillaume has returned to Chicago to direct her own local training program, Ballet with Ms. Rio. “My greatest joy in the dance world is to discover valuable lessons gained through dance training, connecting them to normal everyday life, and impart that wisdom to the next generation of dancers. I am thrilled to return to my NYC home at AYDT this summer!” For more information, please visit www.ballewithmsrio.com.
Simone Gutierrez
Simone Gutierrez is an actress, singer, dancer, and choreographer. Trained in classical ballet, jazz, and tap dancing, she specialized at the Open Jar Productions Institute and at the Broadway Dance Center, in New York. Her career is marked by playing humorous characters.
Currently, Simone is facing a new challenge on television. Alongside comedian Marcelo Médici, she plays a ghost in the TV Globo “Alto Astral” (High Spirits) soap opera, by Silvio de Abreu and Daniel Ortiz. Previously, she had been on the cast of several other Globo Network plots: “Jóia Rara” (Rare Gem) (as Serena Fox), by Duca Rachid e Thelma Guedes; “Cheias de Charme” (Full of Charm) (as Ariela Sarmento), a soap opera by Filipe Miguez e Izabel de Oliveira; “Passione” (Passion) (as Lurdinha), also by Silvio de Abreu, and “Malhação” (as Maria João Gentil).
Although she has acted in several successful soap operas, one of the reasons for her great success and appeal is the Dona Amélia character, who she played in the “Zorra Total” humor show. In theater, Simone has also won over fans because of her talent as a comedian. Along with her partner Edu Breton, she packed audiences with “AiPod, Uma Videomusicomedia” (AiPod, a Videomusicomedy) which had two seasons in São Paulo and toured Brazil.
In musical theater, an area in which she became known as an actress, singer, and dancer, Simone Gutierrez collects outstanding titles. Her latest work was in “Priscila, Rainha do Deserto” (Priscilla, Queen of the Desert), directed by the Australian Dean Bryant and by Tania Nardini, and in “New York, New York,” directed by José Possi Neto. In the musical “Hairspray,” directed by Miguel Falabella, she played the leading role of Tracy Turnblad. For Walt Disney Company, Simone starred in “Tarzan,” “Um Sonho e um Desejo” (A Dream and a Desire), and “100 Anos de Magia Disney” (100 Years of Disney Magic). With Wolf Maya and Fernanda Chamma, she was on the casts of “Musical dos Musicais” (Musical of Musicals) and “Ah, Se eu Fosse Bob Fosse” (Oh, If I were Bob Fosse). For ‘Time For Fun’, with the original direction of Broadway, she performed in “A Bela e a Fera” (The Beauty and the Beast) and “Les Miserábles.”
Gleidson Vasconcelos Hoffmann – Summer Dance Intensive
Andrea Peterson
I grew up playing every sport from Basketball to Softball, even dance, and then ended up playing and coaching Lacrosse in College. I never really thought of making a career out of fitness but began pursuing my yoga certification to find something that was a middle ground between dance and beating up my body in sports and fell in love with the mental and physical benefits of yoga. My yoga practice stems from Sthira Sukam; the balance of effort and ease. From yoga, my skill set transitioned into other areas of group fitness such as Cardio HIIT, Strength, Boxing, and all types of yoga. Throughout my yoga career, I have had the wonderful opportunity to work with athletes to performers, kids, seniors, and everyone in between. When I’m not teaching, I love hiking (so far, I’ve hiked in 9 different countries including a volcano in Guatemala), my happy place is skiing (zigzagging through the trees is like real-life Mario Kart for me), and you can often find me on a run with my adorable Aussie Doodle Millie (she sets quite the quick running pace).
Shreya Rawat
Shreya Rawat was born and raised in New Delhi, India where she began her training at the Danceworx Performing Arts Academy and later joined the repertoire company. She trained in a variety of styles including ballet, jazz, modern, and hip hop under the guidance of various national and international faculty.
She decided to pursue her passion and moved to the United States where she received her Bachelor of Fine Arts with a concentration in modern dance and a minor in Psychology from Point Park University in Pittsburgh, under the guidance of Garfield Lemonius. While at Point Park, Shreya had the opportunity to perform works by acclaimed choreographers such as Camile A. Brown, Keisha Lalama, and Crystal Fraizier. Currently based in New York City, Shreya is a dancer with the Gotham Dance Theatre based in Queens, NY performing in their Summer Suit. She is also a performer and a teaching artist with Ajna Dance Company- a South Asian dance company based in New York. When not performing, Shreya teaches Jazz, Hip Hop, Indo-Contemporary, and Creative Movement to beginner, intermediate, and advanced level students. Shreya values discipline, diversity, authenticity, and empathy and aims to challenge the conventional standards in the dance community by embracing these values through her work.
Maiya Redding
Maiya was raised in Chicago, Illinois, and her dance training began at The Chicago Multicultural Dance Center. She attended and graduated high school from the Chicago Academy for the Arts where she majored in Dance. Her studies took her to Purchase, NY where she graduated Cum Laude from SUNY Purchase College in the Dance Conservatory program where she received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 2016. While at Purchase she had the pleasure of training abroad for a semester at the Korean National University of the Arts, in Seoul South Korea.
Within the last couple of months, Maiya set my work “Breaking through the Generational Curse” on Alessandra Corona Performing Works, and will be working with the company again in February to extend the work. She also set another work “Chicago Luvin” on Dance Lab NY, and, in addition, created and choreographed her own film titled “The Evolution of Womb(man)hood” in August. For the past three years, Maiya has been working as a dance instructor teaching various classes including, ballet, hip hop, modern, and jazz.
As a choreographer and instructor, Maiya’s intention is to show the audience the beauty of artistry. She is a strong believer in individuality and is attracted to dancers that dare to be different. Her goal as a choreographer and dance instructor is to empower her students and make them feel powerful and strong.
Callie Rekas
Callie Rekas is a choreographer, dance educator, actor, and model. She is a graduate student at NYU pursuing a master’s degree in Dance Education, with an emphasis in Ballet Pedagogy. Callie grew up in Bloomington, Indiana, and received her B.A. in Theatre & Drama from Indiana University. After building an extensive theatre resume, she moved to LA to focus on on-camera technique and became a member of SAG-AFTRA. Since beginning her studies at NYU, Callie has been certified in American Ballet Theatre’s National Training Curriculum (Pre-Primary-Level 5) and will be fully certified in the curriculum by August 2022. Callie has taught students of every age and skill level, in competitive and recreational studios, in public schools, and in conservatory-style environments. She is passionate about bridging technique and performance, as her two greatest loves are ballet and musical theatre. For more information, please visit www.callierekas.com.
Cassie Roberts Rossi
Cassie Roberts Rossi holds an EdM in Dance Education from Rutgers University and a BFA in Dance Performance from Arizona State University, graduating summa cum laude from both programs. She teaches dance full-time in a public high school’s Performing Arts Program. Cassie is an ABT® Certified Teacher, who has successfully completed the ABT® Teacher Training Intensive in Pre-Primary through Level 3 of the ABT® National Training Curriculum. She is a Language of Dance® Certified Master Practitioner and teaches for the Language of Dance Center, USA. Cassie was a Part-Time Lecturer at Rutgers University for the Graduate School of Education and Mason Gross School of the Arts. She was the Assistant Director for the Rutgers Pre-College Summer Dance Conservatory for three years and on faculty for five years. She taught on faculty at the New Jersey School of Ballet for five years. Cassie has presented at the National Dance Education Organization Conferences and at Dance and the Child International (daCi) in Copenhagen, Denmark. Cassie is on the committee for Dance Against Cancer, an organization that directly benefits the American Cancer Society and hosts its annual performance event at Lincoln Center. She also served on the Board for Dance New Jersey for five years. She is a friend of Zeno Mountain Farm, a non-profit in Vermont that hosts camps for adults with and without disabilities, where she also assists with choreography for their annual musical. Cassie teaches Barre, Pilates, cardio dance, and strength training fitness classes in Hoboken and Jersey City.
Eriko Sugimura
Eriko Sugimura was born in Japan and moved to Hong Kong at the age of 4. She began her dance training at a local studio under Akiko Takahashi’s (RCBA) direction and learned Contemporary/Modern styles by Tomoko Imanaka. She trained in Japan, Hong Kong, and Russia (Vaganova Ballet Academy), and officially entered the State Ballet School of Berlin in Germany at the age of 15. At 19, she moved to New York City with a full scholarship to train at the Peridance Capezio Center. Eriko joined Peridance Contemporary Dance Company in 2016 under the direction of Igal Perry. She has worked and performed works by Igal Perry, Jae Man Joo, Vivake Khamsingsavath, Jana Hicks, Marijke Eliasberg, and Ballet Inc; she also appeared in a music video for Grammy Award Winner, Nile Rodgers. In 2017, Eriko joined Complexions Contemporary Ballet under the direction of Dwight Rhoden and Desmond Richardson. As a lead dancer of Complexions Contemporary Ballet from 2017-2022, Eriko performed on some of the world’s most famous stages. Eriko has been performing worldwide (Germany, New Zealand, Italy, Ukraine, Jamaica, and more) as a soloist and was covered by Harvard Business Review May-June 2020 and featured in Dance Magazine.
CLASSES
Pointe
Repertory
Broadway Jazz
Hip Hop
Contemporary
Pilates
Yoga
Restorative Kinesiology
Dance History
We also offer Dance Camps for younger kids!
Exciting and inspiring Broadway Dance and Musical Themed Programs for children 3.6-11 years.
INTENSIVE DETAILS
REQUIREMENTS
Participants not enrolled in American Youth Dance Theater’s school year program are required to send a video audition submission to admin@aydt.nyc before enrolling.
- Ballet Barre: pliés, tendus from 5th position, rond de jambes, adagio and grand battements
- Ballet Center: tendus from 5th position, adagio and petit allegro
- Jazz or Contemporary: a combination or solo demonstrating turns, jumps, and floor work.
Students enrolled in American Youth Dance Theater’s Graded Level Ballet 5 and up, and Open Level Ballet 3 and up, are eligible to register without video submission.
NYC’s FAVORITE SUMMER DANCE INTENSIVE
Mon – Fri 9:30AM – 7PM
Sat 10AM – 2PM
Sun Closed
