Dance Intensive Week

SKooJ brings her knowledge and talents to the performing arts with experience in performance, choreography, instruction and adjudication. She created the Boston Community Dance Project (BCDP), a professional collective expressing their passion of storytelling through contemporary and fusion movements. BCDP’s work can be seen at NYC Dance Week, NYC Carnival, Boston Contemporary Dance Festival and their annual August show.

SKooJ is the former Artistic Director of the Boston-based Static Noyze Dance Company (World Of Dance: NYC/NJ Champions and 5x Best Theme Winner), a theatrical hip hop company that has performed for Governor Devaul Patrick, Harvard Business School’s New Venture Competition and colleges throughout the country. Her choreography and direction have been featured on HGTV, NESN, The Dr. Oz Show, WayFair.com commercials and MTV. She has collaborated with TedEX Boston/Philadelphia, New Balance, Broadway in Boston, LA’s own Club Jete, Carnival Choreographer’s Ball Anniversary Show and Salty Bovine Films. In addition, SKooJ travels the country adjudicating for a variety of elite dance competitions. Most recently, SKooJ joined the faculty of Artistic Dance Exchange and assists Brian Friedman at his RADIX Dance Convention classes.

SKooJ has choreographed for music videos and concert tours with such artists as Tamara Rodriguez, Erene, Lucia Marie, Makio, Bad Rabbits, Ari B and more! She recently showcased her acting talent in movies “Basic Math” starring Cameron Diaz, “TED2” with Mark Wahlberg and “Patriots Day.” SKooJ has inspired thousands of movers around the world, and she will continue to mentor the next generation.

A native of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Ana Luisa graduated from the Maria Olenewa State School of Dance, the official School of the Theatro Municipal of Rio de Janeiro. The Olenewa School is internationally recognized, with graduates performing in major Ballet Companies throughout the world. While a student there, Ms. Thompson was chosen to perform in Coppelia and La Sylphide with the Company of Theatro Municipal of Rio de Janeiro. She also danced professionally with the Brazilian Modern Dance Company, Companhia de Danca Rio.

Thompson served on the faculty at the Performing Arts School of Worcester from 1998 until 2004 where she was a former Ballet Mistress, Assistant Director and Director of Curriculum working under the direction of several known names as Dierdre Miles-Burger and Richard Rein. She choreographed ballet, modern and contemporary pieces for the Worcester Youth Ballet Company and PASOW’s The Nutcracker. Thompson has performed in numerous productions of The Nutcracker; she was guest artist with the Melrose Youth Ballet, Dance It Up and PASOW’s since 1997 dancing the roles of Sugar Plum Fairy, Snow Queen, Arabian Princess and Spanish Soloist.

Thompson has completed the DAVID HOWARD Intensive Dance Seminar for Teachers in 2000 and participated in Boston Ballet’s Adult Summer Camp. She has been the Ballet Mistress at Ballet Arts Worcester for many years.

Charlotte began her studies of classical ballet in northern Virginia where she had the opportunity to study with many wonderful teachers including Thomas Russell, Edward Caton, Leon Folkine, and Oleg Tupine. She then went on to study and perform with the National Ballet of Washington, D.C., under Frederick Franklin and Ben Stevenson. In 1972, she moved to Annapolis, Maryland and became a founding member and dancer with the Ballet Theatre of Annapolis, now Ballet Theatre of Maryland, Maryland’s only professional ballet company.

While performing with BTM, she danced many roles including the DewDrop Fairy, Grandmother, Arabian, Snow, Flowers, and Mother Gigone in the Nutcracker, and created such roles as the lead Temptress in Artistic Director Edward Stewart’s 11th Commandment and the mother in Three Faces of Eve. Other roles include the Queen in Sleeping Beauty and the nurse in Romeo and Juliet. Charlotte served as School Administrator for the Ballet Theatre of Maryland School and taught there until 2006. She also worked as Ballet Mistress and Rehearsal Assistant for the Ballet Theatre of Maryland under the direction of the founding Artistic Director, Edward Stewart.

In 2012, she moved to Massachusetts and was excited to be able to share her love for teaching with Ballet Arts Worcester, and now The Hanover Theatre Conservatory.

Edmy is a architectural designer, fine artist and flamenco dancer. Edmy was born in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic surrounded by a family of artists. Edmy is the oldest daughter of the well known musician Eduardo Ortiz. Edmy started studying flamenco at the Academy of Spaniard Dance “El Patio Andaluz” (2001), where she learned the basics of flamenco “Sevillanas, Castañuelas y Técnicas de Clásico Español” under the training of Paquita Acosta (Spanish dancer, bailaora).

In 2003 she moved to Massachusetts where she continued to pursue dance under the training of the admired Maestro Ramon De Los Reyes. Ortiz has also integrated herself into workshops from Issac and Nino De Los Reyes, Soledad Barrio, La Lupi, Pastora Galvan, and more. She now leads the flamenco community in the city of Worcester by doing demonstrations, performances, and teaching weekly classes and workshops.