Dance Theatre of Arlington welcomes back Jenny Smith and Thom Clower for 2015 Dance!Texas. New instructors this year include Chelsea Traille, Geo Hubela, Chris Jarosz, and Kimi Nikaido. View the 2014 Dance!Texas instructors.
Chelsea Traille
CHELSEA TRAILLE, originally from Flower Mound, Texas began training in tap, jazz, and ballet at the young age of 3 yrs old. Coming into her own and realizing her passion for dance around the age of 11, she continued working hard right into her early teens and was able to accumulate numerous scholarships for programs in New York City and Los Angeles. She was able to train under noted choreographers such as Jackie Sleight, Dave Carter, Joe Tremaine, Joe Loera, Mark Meismer, Desmond Richardson, Joe Lanteri and many others. After high school, Chelsea went on to earn her Bachelors of Science in Business Management and Marketing from the University of Texas at Dallas, and began teaching tap, ballet, and jazz at her local studio—Top Hat Dance Centre Inc. While attending university, she was a principal performer with local entertainment companies and joined the team to dance with the Dallas Mavericks Dancers at the Staples Center.
After graduating, Chelsea auditioned for Fox Network’s So You Think You Can Dance?” where she received a ticket “Straight Through to Vegas!!!”, thus beginning her journey on Season IV and the National SYTYCD Tour. Shortly after tour, she moved to the Los Angeles area in December 2008 where she still trains today and works as a professional dancer, choreographer, model and actress in Hollywood. Chelsea recently finished performing on three different tours back to back and then shot the movie TED 2 as a principle dancer last month. Dozens of her credits include Old Navy, Dasani, Burger King, Kodak, Kanye West, Beyonce, Shakira and many more. Her Television credits include The Closer, Parks and Recreation, American Idol, America’s Got Talent and The Mentalist.
A dear friend of Lori Woods, Chelsea is ecstatic to train and teach with all the amazing students she has heard so much about this February!! Let’s give her our best work in class!
Geo Hubela
George “GEO” Hubela’s career spans over 20 years as Choreographer, Artistic Director, Dancer, Teacher, and Owner and Director of ICON DANCE COMPLEX in New Jersey. GEO has choreographed internationally for stage and screen in France, Germany, the UK and Taiwan. GEO was seen on Season 1 of MTV’s Randy Jackson presents “America’s Best Dance Crew” and “America’s Got Talent” as Director, Choreographer and dancer for the ICONic Dance Crew. Other choreography credits include Aaron Carter, Kelly Rowland, Lil’ Mama, Brian McKnight on Celebrity Apprentice 2, and industrial shows for companies such as Prudential, Macy’s, Murphy USA, Food & Wine Magazine, the Big Apple Awards and more. He has also choreographed national commercials for Jet Blue, Best Buy, Slim Fast, and was Asst. Choreographer on the Campbell’s Soup campaign starring John Lithgow.
As a performer, GEO has danced with some of the biggest stars in the music industry such as Jennifer Lopez, Will Smith, P!NK, Britney Spears, ‘NSYNC, Jessica Simpson, Macy Gray, Selena, Smashmouth, Lindsey Lohan, Deborah Cox and the King of Pop, Michael Jackson. GEO’s other Film and TV credits include; Standing Ovation, The Wedding Singer, Boys & Girls, Step Up, That 70’s Show, Chicago Hope, The Young and the Restless, Fame LA, The Nikki Cox Show, The Miss America Pageant, The Goodwill Games, The NAACP Image Awards and the 69th Annual Academy Awards.
With 23 years experience teaching Hip Hop and Street Jazz, GEO has been on faculty and guest faculty for such Dance Conventions as Tremaine, Co. Dance, Monsters of Hip Hop, The Pulse, Starpower, Headliners and more. Today, GEO is currently on faculty and tours the country with Showstopper, Dance Olympus, Dance Educators of America and Encore Performing Arts Dance Conventions.
GEO’s ICONic Dancers are performing professionally, appearing at Live events such as Beatstock, the Apollo Theater, Madison Square Garden and on TV specials on Nickelodeon and MTV. GEO’s students also dance for the Brooklyn Nets Kids dance team. They have also performed at special events for such brands as Clearasil, Dance You’re A** Off, ESPN and more. One of GEO’s biggest accomplishments is Creator, Choreographer and Manager of the internationally known ICONic Boyz Dance Crew. The Boyz were Runner-Up on Season 6 of Randy Jackson presents America’s Best Dance Crew on MTV and have become teen pop culture dance sensations. GEO’s biggest reward is passing on his passion for dance to the next generation of dancers and teachers.
Kimi Nikaido
Kimi Nikaidoh, a Dallas native, received her training from Canada’s National Ballet School, the School of American Ballet, American Ballet Theater, and Tanju and Patricia Tuzer. She was a member of the Fort Worth-based Bruce Wood Dance Company for five years before an injury led her to seek treatment from dance medicine experts in New York City. Nikaidoh joined Complexions Contemporary Ballet thereafter, performing at the Joyce Theater and touring nationally and internationally with the company from 2005 to 2008. She continued to perform with other groups, including Bruce Wood Dance Project, Thang Dao Dance Company, Columbia Ballet Collaborative, and Emery LeCrone Dance, dancing most recently for LeCrone in her programs for “Works and Process at the Guggenheim” and Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival.
Nikaidoh staged Dwight Rhoden’s work for North Carolina Dance Theater (NCDT, now Charlotte Ballet) and was the repetiteur for Bruce Wood when CBC performed his “Local 126” at Miller Theater in NYC. She worked as a rehearsal assistant at The Julliard School in preparation for “New Dances: Edition 2012” and as part-time faculty at Marymount Manhattan College this year, where she staged a ballet originally created by LeCrone for the men of NCDT. Nikaidoh has choreographed her own works, performed in NYC by Complexions Contemporary Ballet (The Joyce Theater), Columbia Ballet Collaborative (Miller Theater), Firebone Theater (Kirk Theater) and for The Young Choreographer’s Showcase (MMAC). She has also created pieces for Youth America Grand Prix (Texas Ballet Theater School, Dallas) and Tuzer Ballet. Nikaidoh studies with Irene Dowd, an expert in kinesthetic anatomy and neuromuscular training who is on faculty at The Julliard School and Tisch School of the Arts, and she is near completion of her own Bachelor of Science degree in Neuroscience and Behavior at Columbia University.
Nikaidoh participated in the first three seasons of the Bruce Wood Dance Project as a dancer and is honored to now serve as Acting Artistic Director. Never having respected another choreographer more than Bruce Wood, she is committed to nurturing Bruce’s extraordinary artistic legacy and hopes audiences will continue to enjoy and be touched by his work — far into the future.
Jenny Durbin Smith
Jenny Durbin Smith is one of the Dallas’s most sought after and award-winning choreographers and her resume reads like a “who’s who” list in the dance industry! She trained in jazz and hip hop during her college years at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where she was also a member of the national award winning cheer and dance teams, while obtaining a double degree in journalism and communication studies. Jenny was a two-year member of the NBA Dallas Mavericks Dancers serving as Captain in her second year. She has also been a principle dancer and actor for many national industrials, commercials, and films.
Jenny’s dynamic choreography has been featured on many national television commercials, industrials, films, reality television shows, and international stages. Jenny is the proud Director and Choreographer for the Dallas Cowboys Rhythm & Blue, a choreographer for the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders, a master instructor for Professional NFL and NBA Cheerleading & Dance Conventions including All Pro and Choreography Pros, and travels the country choreographing for numerous high school teams, collegiate teams, professional teams, and studios.
Thom Clower
Known as one of the most energetic and inspiring teachers across the country, Thom Clower’s “evangelistic” approach to teaching has touched the lives and careers of dancers around the world for nearly 40 years. With extensive training in the Vaganova, Balanchine, Cecchetti, and Bournonville styles, Mr. Clower combines the qualities of each one to present a technique that is true and versatile.
Mr. Clower has staged and created ballets for companies all over the United States. He has also worked with many opera companies, including the Santa Fe Opera, the Dallas Opera, and the Lyric Opera of Dallas. All over the world, companies have performed his choreography. Since 2001 Thom Clower has worked around the world as a freelance master teacher and choreographer. His work has included regional companies and schools, and professional companies such as Pittsburgh Ballet Theater and Atlanta Ballet. He has been a guest teacher at Broadway Dance Center, Associate Ballet Master for Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo, and serves annually as Ballet Master for Young! Tanzsommer in Austria. He joined the faculty of Allegro Ballet of Houston in 2009.
Chris Jarosz
Christopher Jarosz started his dance training in Dallas, Texas in high school. He later was accepted to the prestigious Southern Methodist University dance program on scholarship. At SMU, Chris studied ballet, modern, and jazz, and performed works by Twyla Tharp, Alvin Ailey, William Forsythe, Paul Taylor as well as many others. His choreography at SMU was often featured in Best of Student Choreography showcases. In 2008, Chris auditioned for the fourth season of hit reality TV show So You Think You Can Dance, and made it all the way to the top 20 dancers. There, he had the honor of working with Mia Michaels, Tyce Diorio, Wade Robson, and Shane Sparks. After the show, Chris returned to college where he graduated with a BFA in dance. Immediately after graduation he was offered to be an original cast member of Cirque Du Soleil’s Viva ELVIS! in Las Vegas. Cirque Du Soleil handpicked Chris to represent the show on many television shows, such as So You Think You Can Dance, Dancing With the Stars, The Bachelor, and The Emmy’s.
He now resides in Los Angeles, where his dance credits continue to thrive. He was a featured dancer on television shows such as Glee and ABC’s The Secret Life of an American teenager, and was a dancer in the film Behind the Candelabra, choreographed by Marguerite Derricks. Some of his other credits include, 2014 Toyota commercial and Lindsay Sterling’s music video. He can also be found right next to pop star JLO on her “Dance Again” single album cover. Chris danced in Justin Giles’ contemporary dance company Soul Escape. Chris rejoined Cirque Du Soleil in the cast of IRIS at the Kodak theater in 2012. He has been fortunate to work closely with choreographers such as Stacey Tookey, Tabitha and Napoleon D’umo, Vincent Paterson, Bonnie Story, Zach Woodlee and Brooke Lipton. Most recently, Chris performed with Taylor Swift at the 2014 VMAs, back up dancing for her newest single Shake It Off. In his spare time, Chris’ classes and choreography takes him all over the United States and internationally.
Gelsey Weiss Mahanes
Gelsey is a graduate of the Edge Performing Arts Center’s Professional Scholarship Program in Hollywood, CA and was a Hunt Scholar at Southern Methodist University. She has adjudicated and taught for Encore Nationals, Champion Dance Nationals, Shine Dance Festival, and a number of other studios, companies, and teams. She spent 15 years performing professionally in LA and NY. Her professional credits include 8 years as a Radio City Rockette at Radio City Music Hall in NYC and also on the National Tour. Her stage credits include The Radio City Christmas Spectacular, Finding Nemo at the El Capitan Theater in Hollywood, Steps in Time at the Hyperion Theater, Host of Goofy’s Beach Party Bash at Disney’s California Adventure, Viva Aviva, and the L.A. Dance Invitational. In LA, Gelsey was a company member of Mosaic’s Urban Poets and Word in Motion. As a certified Pilates instructor, Gelsey has trained some of your favorite dancers and choreographers on So You Think You Can Dance and Dancing with the Stars.
As a Media Rockette, Gelsey performed and appeared as a spokeswoman on Oprah, Entertainment Tonight, The Today Show, NBC Weekend Today, MSNBC, CNN, The Mike and Juliet Show, The Paula Deen Show, and for the President in the White House! Gelsey’s film credits include You Again, 500 Days of Summer, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Starsky and Hutch, Looney Tunes Back in Action, A Time For Dancing, Thank Heaven! and Angels, Baby. Television credits include The Young and the Restless, Boston Public, MTV Movie Awards, and TV Land Awards. Gelsey has appeared in a number of commercials and industrials for ABC, ESPN, M&Ms, Pace Picante Sauce, Cricket Cellular, Disney, 7-Up, Microsoft, The WNBA, Sunrider, The Isreali Cancer Foundation, World Financial Group, and the University of Phoenix.