2023
Summer
Faculty
Weeks 1 & 2: June 12 - 23
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Summer Showcase - Saturday, June 24
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Weeks 3 & 4: July 24 - August 4
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Community Foundation Performance - Saturday, August 5
Week 1: June 12-16
As a West Michigan native, Deavondre Jones is an Entrepreneur, Artist, and Father. He's the Founder of DanceSpire, a dance brand working to build self sustaining outlets and communities for Dancers. Aside from DanceSpire, Deavondre splits his time running the DanceSpire Agency, a digital marketing company who's mission is to close the tech knowledge gap for artists and seasoned professionals. Deavondre is passionate about dance, marketing, fatherhood and building community. He serves on a state-wide Fatherhood board the: Michigan Action Plan for Fatherhood Involvement (MAP-FI), serves in leadership for the Iota Pi Chapter of Omega Psi Phi and volunteers for the West Michigan "Dads Count!" collective.
He’s been featured or made appearances on: WOOTV8, So You Think You Can Dance, World Of Dance - Michigan, Revue - West Michigan, The Rapidian and more media outlets. To follow his work just Google, YouTube, FB or Instagram: "DanceSpire"
Dr. Elena Ovchinnikova graduated from the Bolshoi Ballet Academy obtained her PhD in Pedagogic Science (Theory and Methodology of Professional Education in Choreography) and Master Degree in Ballet Pedagogy.
Elena has taught in Russia at Moscow State Academy of Choreography (the Bolshoi Ballet Academy) and in the USA at the Kirov Academy of Ballet of Washington DC. She is the former Artistic Director of Reston Ballet Conservatory. She is a guest Lecturer of Dance at the International Ballet Festival in Panama, guest lecturer in Methodology of Teaching Character Dance at the Dance Department of Michigan State University, and a guest teacher and choreographer for ballet academies across the USA, Austria, Spain, and Hong Kong.
Elena was awarded in three International Ballet Competitions in Vienna (Austria), Roma (Italy), and Zagreb (Croatia). She has professional performing experience as a soloist and principal dancer in ballets of the classical repertoire to include Swan Lake, Raymonda, Nutcracker, Giselle, Cinderella, Coppelia, Paquita, and Don Quixote. She performed with renowned companies to include Russian State Theater “Ballet of Russia” (Moscow, Russia), Astana Opera (Astana, Kazakhstan), New Classical Ballet (Moscow, Russia), and Moscow Ballet’s Great Russian Nutcracker (USA) which toured internationally.
Additionally, Elena graduated from Russian State Medical University in Moscow, Russia and obtained Master Doctor/Master Science degrees, and thus, possess both a PhD and MD. Dr. Elena Ovchinnikova is the author of scientific publications in ballet pedagogy, psychology and ballet medicine. Her publications and PhD thesis are stored in the database of Russian State Library – the leading scientific library of Russia.
At the moment Dr. Elena Ovchinnikova is a faculty member of the Washington Ballet/ Washington School of Ballet in Washington DC.
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Daniel H. Zook is a dancer, choreographer, and teacher.. His professional artstraining
began at George Mason University in 2007 receiving his B.F.A. and B.A. in
Business Management. During his time there he became a founding member of
Keith Thompson’s Dance Tactics Performance Group. While with Dance Tactics, he
performed and taught at the 2006 American Dance Festival Intensive and White
Wave Dance Festival. After graduating he joined CityDance’s team as an artist and
administrator. Along with dancing with CityDance resident company Christopher K.
Morgan & Artists (CKM&A), Daniel teaches in CityDance’s studio education and
community programs across the DC metropolitan area. In 2010 he was added on
as an adjunct artist with The Dance Exchange, where he can be seen performing
as well. He has been given opportunities to collaborate with James Madison
University’s Science Professors and their Associate Dance Company, the National
Building Museum, Elizabeth City Nursing Home, Met Life: Aging In America San
Francisco Conference, and Maryland Multicultural Youth Center. From Paris,
France, to Seattle, Washington, and all over the dc metro area Zook’s work has
been performed. Current projects include: artist in residence at the River Raisin
Ballet Company, a guest artist for the Cecchetti International Ballet Summer
Intensive, and teaching artist for Dance USA.
Week 2: June 19 - 23
Ashley Murphy-Wilson of Shreveport, Louisiana is in her sixth season with The Washington Ballet after dancing for 13 years with Dance Theatre of Harlem. In 2002, she trained and performed with DTH’s Dancing Through Barriers® Ensem-ble. The following year, she was accepted into the DTH Company and toured with them performing in ballets such as Firebird, Serenade, The Four Tempera-ments, and Concerto Barocco. Murphy-Wilson has also taught for Dance Theatre of Harlem’s Pre-Professional Residency at the Kennedy Center. She had the honor of performing at The White House, on BET, and Jeopardy. She also represented the U.S. in cultural exchange programs in Jamaica and Honduras. During Dance Theatre of Harlem’s eight year hiatus, she was influential in helping to restore the com-pany by performing in the Dance Theatre of Harlem Ensemble that continued to share the company’s legacy. When the DTH Company returned in 2012, Murphy-Wilson performed many principal roles in ballets including Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux, Glinka, Nacho Duato’s Coming Together, Agon, and Ulysses Dove’s Danc-ing on the Front Porch of Heaven in addition to many others. She was also featured on the cover of Pointe Magazine with Misty Copeland and Ebony Williams, in a Verizon Wireless commercial, and in the Black Ballerina documentary stream-ing on Amazon Prime Video. Mrs. Murphy-Wilson hopes that her presence in the company serves as inspiration to young aspiring dancers of all backgrounds.
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​Daniel H. Zook is a dancer, choreographer, and teacher.. His professional artstraining
began at George Mason University in 2007 receiving his B.F.A. and B.A. in
Business Management. During his time there he became a founding member of
Keith Thompson’s Dance Tactics Performance Group. While with Dance Tactics, he
performed and taught at the 2006 American Dance Festival Intensive and White
Wave Dance Festival. After graduating he joined CityDance’s team as an artist and
administrator. Along with dancing with CityDance resident company Christopher K.
Morgan & Artists (CKM&A), Daniel teaches in CityDance’s studio education and
community programs across the DC metropolitan area. In 2010 he was added on
as an adjunct artist with The Dance Exchange, where he can be seen performing
as well. He has been given opportunities to collaborate with James Madison
University’s Science Professors and their Associate Dance Company, the National
Building Museum, Elizabeth City Nursing Home, Met Life: Aging In America San
Francisco Conference, and Maryland Multicultural Youth Center. From Paris,
France, to Seattle, Washington, and all over the dc metro area Zook’s work has
been performed. Current projects include: artist in residence at the River Raisin
Ballet Company, a guest artist for the Cecchetti International Ballet Summer
Intensive, and teaching artist for Dance USA.
Week 3: July 24 - 28
Shakurah Nuruddin began dancing at the age of six and was awarded a scholarship to the Acting Conservatory Theater (ACT) in San Francisco, CA. While attending ACT, she studied dance, acting, and improvisational movement. In 2003, she relocated in Indiana where she led Penn High School's Winterguard to their first state title. Shakurah led Colorguard programs at John Glenn High School for 16 years and you years leading Colorguard at Concord High School (2018 IHSCGA Regional A Silver Medalists). Additionally, Ms. Nuruddin, was and esteemed faculty member of Clay High School's Magnet Dance Program and at Southold.
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Born and raised in Moscow, Russia, Misha Tchoupakov has performed with the Bolshoi Ballet in Moscow as well as Colorado Ballet, Sarasota Ballet of Florida, Los Angeles Classical Ballet, San Francisco Opera Ballet in the U.S., and Vienna State Opera Ballet in Austria. He also holds an M.F.A. in Dance Pedagogy and Choreography from the Moscow State Academy of Choreography and he has taught for Colorado Ballet, Houston Ballet, Oregon Dance Theatre, State Street Ballet, Ballet Arlington in the U.S.; Tokyo City Ballet in Japan; Guangzhou Ballet in China; Galili Dance in the Netherlands; Cluj Opera Ballet and Sibiu Ballet Theatre in Romania; Cia Brasileira de Ballet and Teatro Municipal do Rio De Janeiro in Brazil; Ballet Nacional Sodre in Uruguay; and Tivoli Ballet Theater in Denmark. He was also on the faculty of the Royal Ballet School, the Elmhurst School for Dance in Association with Birmingham Royal Ballet, and the English National Ballet School in the UK and served as Assistant Professor at the University of Utah Department of Ballet. Mr. Tchoupakov has been a member of the jury for many prestigious dance competitions around the world, such as PBK Ballet Competition in Kyoto, Japan; Domenico Modugno International Ballet and Contemporary Dance Competition in Lecce, Italy; FEDIFEST in Santos City, Brazil; For the past 23 seasons, he has worked with YAGP Ballet, and Contemporary Dance Competition in New York as Rehearsal Director, Judge, and Master Teacher and he is an internationally renowned guest teacher. Since 2013 Mr. Tchoupakov serves as Associate Professor of Ballet on the faculty of the School of Dance at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts.
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Jenny Hegarty is a professional dancer, teaching artist and repetiteur currently living in NYC. Her career spans both the concert and commercial world. She has worked with multiple companies throughout the country including Elisa Monte Dance, Emerge125, Dance Now Miami (Senior Company Member and Rehearsal Director), DeXdance, Gehring Dance Theatre, Florida Grand Ballet, Heritage Dance Project and RIOULT.
Some of her favorite theater credits include Seize The King (Classical Theatre of Harlem) Chicago, On the Town, Cabaret, Flashdance (Dance Captain), Saturday Night Fever (Asst. Dance Captain), La Cage Aux Folles (Asst. Choreographer).
Jenny has had the opportunity of performing works by José Limón, Doris Humphrey, David Parsons, Stephen Petronio, Robert Battle, Daniel Lewis, Carolyn Dorfman, Tiffany Rea-Fisher, Edward Stierle, Johannes Wieland, Eduardo Vilaro, Bradley Shelver, and Elisa Clark, and also was selected to perform at the Metropolitan Opera House in the Kirov Ballet's production of Sleeping Beauty. She has set works by José Limón, Daniel Lewis, Carolyn Dorfman, Edward Stierle, and Doris Humphrey, and has worked as a repetiteur for multiple choreographers, including Daniel Lewis (Limón Dance Company / Daniel Lewis Dance Repertory Company) and Hannah Baumgarten / Diego Salterini (Dance Now Miami).
Jenny is on faculty at New Jersey Dance Theatre Ensemble, directed by Nancy Turano, and also recently began freelance teaching at Mark Morris Dance Center. Through Elisa Monte, she was previously on faculty at Lake Placid Center for the Arts, teaching ballet and modern to ages 8-18 and also worked within NYC public schools teaching dance via the Police Athletic League (PAL). She is faculty at Interlochen Arts summer program in Michigan, and is an adjudicator for multiple competitions, including VIP Dance. Jenny was previously the Associate Director and Ballet Faculty at TAME Dance Academy in Pembroke Pines, FL and she holds a BFA from Marymount Manhattan College.