Archives for February 2020

The Canyon Concert Ballet School Summer Intensive offers a unique 2-week program.  Week 1, June 8-13, offers a Contemporary Concentration.  Week 2, June 15-20, offers a Ballet Concentration.  Today’s dance world demands a versatile dancer.  This unique 2 week intensive offers the training today’s aspiring dancers need.  While each week may be taken individually, we highly recommend enrolling in both weeks for the full benefits of the intensive.  You can learn more about our Summer Intensive here, and you can register with the form here.

We are excited to announce our next guest faculty for the 2020 Summer Intensive:  

Kevin Shannon

Kevin J. Shannon is currently in his thirteenth season with Hubbard Street Dance Chicago. His early training was at the Baltimore School for the Arts with additional training at the School of American Ballet, Miami City Ballet School, Paul Taylor Dance Company, and Springboard Danes Montreal. He earned his BFA in 2007 from The Juilliard School. Kevin had the opportunity to tour nationally with the Juilliard Dance Ensemble and appeared in the “Live from Lincoln Center” broadcast television special The Juilliard School: Celebrating 100 Years. He has performed repertoire and original works by international choreographers such as Alejandro Cerrudo, Jiri Kylian, Ohad Naharin, Robyn Mineko Williams, Alice Klock, Florian Lochner, Aszure Barton, Kyle Abraham, Rena Butler, Crystal Pite, Peter Chu and many more. 

Shannon has taught contemporary, modern and ballet master classes and workshops around the world. He currently teaches for the Hubbard Street Youth Program and will be leading the Hubbard Street Intermediate/Advanced Summer Program. He is excited to be a part of Canyon Concerts Ballet’s summer faculty. 

The Canyon Concert Ballet School Summer Intensive offers a unique 2-week program.  Week 1, June 8-13, offers a Contemporary Concentration.  Week 2, June 15-20, offers a Ballet Concentration.  Today’s dance world demands a versatile dancer.  This unique 2 week intensive offers the training today’s aspiring dancers need.  While each week may be taken individually, we highly recommend enrolling in both weeks for the full benefits of the intensive.  You can learn more about our Summer Intensive here, and you can register with the form here.

We are excited to announce our first of four guest faculty for the 2020 Summer Intensive:  

Corina Gill

Corina Gill began training at Black Mountain Dance Center with Sylvia Palmer and Ahita Ardalan. While there, she trained in the Cecchetti Method. She graduated high school at 16 and was accepted into the University of California, Irvine’s well-known dance program on scholarship, training with David Allan. After receiving her bachelor’s degree, she danced in
several ballet companies, including San Diego Ballet, Ballet Tech, Ballet Pacifica, and State Street Ballet.

She joined Los Angeles Ballet at its launch in 2006 where she was personally coached by co-directors Colleen Neary and Thordal Christensen. She was soon dubbed the “media’s darling”. Los Angeles Times’ Lewis Segal described her in Balanchine’s Rubies as “positively radiant, untroubled by every hazard in the galvanic pas de deux and solos”. In addition to Rubies, her repertoire includes the principal roles in Bournonville’s La Sylphide and Napoli, Balanchine’s Agon, Stravinsky Violin Concerto, The Four Temperaments and Apollo, and Christensen’s the Nutcracker.

In 2009, Ms. Gill auditioned for Boston Ballet, and Artistic Director Mikko Nissinen offered her a position in the corps de ballet. She was later featured in Pointe Magazine’s “Dancer Spotlight” by Ashley Rivers, and in 2016 promoted to second soloist. Since joining, she has been able to enjoy a large variety of types of ballets and many soloist and principal roles. Among her favorite principal roles are “Kate” from William Forsythe’s The Second Detail, and Norbert Vesak’s Belong pas de deux. Mary Hierholzer of the New Boston Post said of this role that, “she excelled in the demanding role that requires strength, intricate technique, gracefulness and emotional intimacy.” Ms. Gill retired from her 20 year onstage career June of 2019.

As a teacher, Ms. Gill has been a guest at various ballet schools throughout the United States and internationally, teaching master classes and summer intensive courses including Cecchetti USA, Southern California Ballet and Hualien Dance Center in Taiwan. She has served as both a master teacher and faculty member at Boston Ballet School and Harvard University’s Dance
Center. Ms. Gill is mat certified by the Pilates Method Alliance and has her master’s certificate in Non Profit Management and a BA in dance.

The Canyon Concert Ballet School Summer Intensive offers a unique 2-week program.  Week 1, June 8-13, offers a Contemporary Concentration.  Week 2, June 15-20, offers a Ballet Concentration.  Today’s dance world demands a versatile dancer.  This unique 2 week intensive offers the training today’s aspiring dancers need.  While each week may be taken individually, we highly recommend enrolling in both weeks for the full benefits of the intensive.  You can learn more about our Summer Intensive here, and you can register with the form here.

We are excited to announce our first of four guest faculty for the 2020 Summer Intensive:  

Bianca Medina

Bianca Medina is a Chicana-Boricua Chicago native working in Los Angeles & New York as a dancer, choreographer, educator, and arts administrator. She holds a B.F.A. in Dance from the University of Iowa and has been a company member of CONTRA-TIEMPO and Viver Brasil since 2015. As a Principal Dancer and Lead Teaching Artist of both companies, she has toured and worked nationally throughout the US including Jacobs Pillow, The Joyce, Ordway PAC, Adrienne Arsht, Disneyland, Hollywood Bowl, and internationally in El Salvador, Bulgaria, and Brazil.

In 2015 she began collaborating with award-winning choreographer, Marina Magalhães, with whom she has performed in Los Angeles (REDCAT), San Francisco (CounterPulse, Dance Mission Theater), France (Centre Chorégraphique National), and in dance films (Apariciones and Retratos de Agua) that have been shown in São Paulo, London, Berlin, and Bogotá, and as a member of the Dancing Diaspora Collective.

Medina has taught choreographic residencies for Dance Departments at North Carolina State University Raleigh, University of Wisconsin Milwaukee, California State University Sacramento, and CONTRA-TIEMPO Futuro Summer Intensives. In reclaiming her Afro-Latin Indigenous roots within artistic and spiritual traditions, Medina’s movement research lies in the intersection of Modern Release and the Diaspora, honoring the divine feminine and cultivating (re)remembering practices that allow for resilient, grounded, and lush expression.