Throughout the year KDT brings in Guest Artists to broaden their students dance education and expose them to different styles and techniques. These Master Dancers & Choreographers participate in the Vaganova Summer Intensive, “I Love NY” Choreography & Performance Workshop, and a variety of Master Classes held during the year.
Amber Thornton
Amber Thornton has been an active choreographer, dancer and instructor in the Houston dance scene for over 20 years and has studied and performed with various companies throughout the nation. She served as the Bay Area Houston Ballet and Theatre’s Contemporary Director and Royal Academy of fine Arts Assistant Director for almost a decade. In addition, she currently is on staff with Shawn Welling’s, Planet Funk and Barbara King’s Dance Centre, although she continues to conduct master classes, workshops, company and individual choreography projects as well as setting professional and pre-professional concert works throughout the Southwest and surrounding areas.
A National Award Winning choreographer, Amber was the recipient of the 1998 Monticello Scholarship for her choreographed work, “Unzipped Entropy” at the Regional dance America festival where her works have been performed numerous times. Amber has been honored for her choreography, for her RDA/SW 2002 piece, “Portraying Picasso” as well as her 2004 piece, “Twenty-Nine” were selected as the best overall choreography for the Southwest region and placed on the National Choreography Plan which is a National Endowment of the Arts program to recognize and support artistic choreographic excellence.
Amber was a commissioned choreographer for JCC’s Choreographers x 6, and has directed over 100 pieces of choreography which have been performed in various venues including eight full length BAHBT contemporary concerts directed by Ms. Thornton, Dance Houston, Dance Month at the Kaplan, Big Range Dance Festival, In Step, Twin City Ballet, North Houston Dance Theatre, Planet Funk and Planet Funk National Tours, Galveston Ballet and the Kirov Academy’s gala in Washington D.C. in addition to benefits, fund-raising venues, fashion shows, industrials and festivals throughout Houston.
Her stylized choreography includes extremely athletic and intense movement with her unique and diverse signature of combining fluidity with stifled movement based upon physical strength, endurance, and strong technical training. Her choreographic excellence in addition to her unique and inspiring teaching techniques has put her in demand in the Houston area. In addition to creating and teaching the art of movement, Amber’s true loves are her wonderful children, Hudson and Savannah.
Shizu Yasuda
Shizu is originally from Japan, where she started her dance training with Sakiko Ichinomiya Ballet school. After she worked with choreographers such as Slam, Brayon Davis, and Henning Rubsam in New York City, she moved to Houston to work with Ad Deum Dance Company. She got an award as a stunning performer in Dance Houston City- Wide Dance Festival 2008. She is also a faculty member and a modern dance choreographer of Dance of Asian America, as well as for Ad Deum’s trainee program in Houston. As a modern dance teacher, she has taught classes in Houston area such places as Mitsi Dance school, North Harris Performing Arts, Houston Ballet Academy Summer Program, Studio of Dance, and Ad Deum Dance Company.
Matt Shields
From the Brantford Expositor to the New York Times, Matt Shields seems to be popping up everywhere. Shields has taught and performed at the Soul to Sole tap festival in Austin, Texas, the Vancouver International Tap Dance Festival in Canada, and the Hoofin’ Ground Tap Festival in North Carolina. Matt accompanied the stage with Dr. Aurthor Duncan of the Laurence Welk show at both The Vancouver International Tap Dance Festival 2009 and at the LA Tap Fest Concert 2009.
Matt was seen live across the nation and around the world as a featured soloist and ensemble dancer in the opening number of the 2008 Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon. Matt is currently working on an O-1 artist visa based in Austin, TX where he is a sixth season principal dancer with Tapestry Dance Company. Shields works along side international tap dance artist, and the artistic director of Tapestry Dance Company Acia Gray. Tapestry Dance Company has recently been on a National Endowment for the Arts sponsored tour across America with the critically acclaimed show “The Souls of Our Feet”–A Tribute to American Tap Dance.
TDC was seen performing in New York City at Symphony Space on Broadway for Tap City presents, Tap and Song, and Tap Forward in July 2008. TDC recreated a scene from the film “This is the Army” paying tribute to Legendary Tap Act “Stump and Stumpy” where Shields captures the role of James “Stump” Cross. Matt was a feature in Dance Spirit Magazines 20/20 article. Prior to Texas, Matt performed and trained in Calgary, AB with Decidedly Jazz Danceworks as a cast member of “Live and In Sync” (touring educational show) and also danced with tap company MADD Rhythms Canada as a guest artist. Mr. Shields is a regular on stage in Austin, not only with TDC, also at various popular night clubs, music venues, and social events around town with many of the cities finest musicians. You may even see him street performing on your favorite Austin block.
Celeste Deal
Celeste Deal has had 27 years of dance experience, and has taught jazz at KDT for the past 7 years. When she was 2yrs. of age she began taking dance classes at Giacobbe Academy of Dance in New Orleans, studying under Joseph Giacobbe. For almost 7 years she performed with the Delta Ballet Festival Dance Company, and performed roles in the Nutcracker, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, and Beauty and the Beast. She auditioned and was accepted into the Joffrey School of Ballet, and the Pennsylvania School of Ballet. She went on to dance with Company One Dance Studio in Baton Rouge, LA under Ginger Broussard, and also became co-captain for the Destrehan High School’s Dance Team. In 1995 she attended the North Carolina School of Arts Summer Program, and was invited back to attend their full year dance program. That year she also won solo for the Louisiana State National Championship for NCA dance, and the American All-Star Louisiana State Championship. She then began working for American All-Star for the next four years teaching dance teams nationwide, judging high school competitions, and choreographing for national competitions. She attended Louisiana State University and became Co-Captain for the TigerGirls who won National Championship in 1998, and later graduated from there with a Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing with a minor in Speech Communications. Celeste continues her dance training by taking classes at Planet Funk and attending dance workshops. Celeste tries to encourage her students to see that no matter what type of dance they perform, it is the technique and showmanship that make a great dancer!
Lauren Frere
A native of Houston, Texas, Lauren studied ballet at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts, where her principal teachers were Miroslav Bart and Milena Leben. Lauren’s training has also included American Ballet Theatre Summer Intensives, as well as coaching from Alla Osipenko, Gabriella Komleva, Tatiana Legat, Alia Shirkevitch, and Bernara Karieva. Lauren’s stage experience includes corps and soloist roles in The Sleeping Beauty, Giselle, Coppelia, Le Corsaire, Swan Lake, The Nutcracker, Alan Hineline’s Legend of Sleepy Hollow, Miroslav Bart’s Dracula, and performances of Amber Thornton’s Contemporary Project. She appeared with Lone Star Ballet (The Nutcracker) and Tulsa Ballet (The Sleeping Beauty) before joining Sarasota Ballet in 2006. From 2006 to 2008, Lauren was a Company Member with Sarasota Ballet and performed in Balanchine’s Concerto Barocco, Ashton’s The Two Pigeons and Facade, and Robert de Warren’s Coppelia, Firebird, Suite from Don Quixote, Othello and The Nutcracker. In 2008 Lauren joined Columbia Classical Ballet as a company member. Her repertoire has included Snow Queen and Arabian in The Nutcracker, Fleur- de -Lis in Radenko Pavlovich’s Hunchback of Notre Dame, The Chosen One in Rick McCullough Rite of Spring, and in Simone Cuttino Oz Lauren danced The Wicked Witch and in Aladdin she danced Jasmine. Lauren is currently in her third season with Columbia Classical Ballet.
Karin Celeste
Karin brings with her over 20 years of dance experience and theater training. She has ministered in dance in Simferopal, Ukraine where she led worship conferences and trained ministry teams as well as danced in the Ukraine Theatre. Karin’s dance training reaches from New York to Houston, where she is currently dancing with Benaiah Dance Company. Karin enjoys being a mother of two, and is also employed as a dance instructor at the Dance Revolution conventions.