Virginia Civic Ballet

The Director

Background

Ms. Kelly has been dancing professionally for 30 years and teaching for 20 years.  She holds her Cecchetti* Teachers Certification to the Advanced Level.  After founding Ballet East (later Crossroads Dance Project) and touring for ten years, a hip injury required her to make a change, so she started Virginia Civic Ballet as a way to train professional dancers and bring a professional dance company to an underserved area.

Ms. Kelly has raised two daughters (who dance, of course!).

*Cecchetti (pronounced Check-HET-ee) is the oldest classical methodology of dance.  Teachers are required to train with a coach a minimum of one year before examination.  Exams include dance presentation of exercises and oral examination in theory, anatomy and music theory.

Performing Experience

San Francisco Conservatory:  Tour to Mexico City.  Dance selections.

Long Island Ballet Theater:  Director:  Kaleria Fedicheva, former soloist with the Kirov Ballet. Tour of New York State and performances in New York City of The Nutcracker.  Corps de ballet roles.

Chamber Ballet:  New York City performance of Swan Lake.  Corps de ballet.

Windermere Ballet Theater:  Member, four years.  Resident company at Queensborough Community College, Queens, NY.  Corps and solo roles in ballets such as The Nutcracker and Swan Lake, and contemporary ballets Anniversary and Rhapsody in Blue.

Chamber Ballet:  Washington, D.C. under the direction of Rex Bickmore, former Ballet Master of the Washington Ballet.  Contemporary ballets by Mr. Bickmore.

Asaph Ensemble:  Director:  Robin Conrad Sturm, formerly of the Washington Ballet.  Contemporary ballets by Mr. and Mrs. Sturm.  Performance at the Kennedy Center and tours of Virginia.

National Ballet of Maryland:  Member, four years.  Director Pam Moore. Local and touring performances in Maryland. Classical works such as The Nutcracker, Swan Lake, Coppelia, and Sleeping Beauty, and contemporary ballets by Ms. Moore.  Resident company of Bowie State College.  Corps and solo roles.

Crossroads Dance Project (formerly Ballet East):  Founder.  Tours of Virginia under the aegis of Young Audiences, the largest talent manager of performers for youth in the U.S.  CDP produced full-length ballets and contemporary concerts in Arlington, VA, and received a residency grant there.  CDP was named “Pick of the Town” by The Washington Post.

Training

Ms. Kelly has studied with the following:

 

San Francisco Conservatory

Benjamin Harkarvy:  teacher at Peridance and Julliard

Igal Perri:  Founder and Director of Peridance and dancer from Bat-Dor Dance Company, Israel

Nancy Hutchingson:  teacher at Peridance and Ballet Mistress of Trocadero

Eleanor D'Antuono:  teacher at Peridance and “baby ballerina” of American Ballet Theater

Marjorie Mussmann:  formerly of Joffrey Ballet

Betsy Haugue:  Jazz in New York City, contemporary of Luigi and Phil Black

Pam Moore:  National Ballet of Maryland

 

VCB Director Cynthia Kelly

Cynthia Kelly

Bringing the Arts into the Community