SUMMER
Workshops, Masterclasses,
& Community Classes
Contemporary Technique
with Gavin Stewart and Vanessa Owen
Friday, May 30
5:00 pm–6:30 pm
$15 drop-in
About the Masterclass
Led by Stewart/Owen Dance Co-Directors Vanessa Owen and Gavin Stewart, this class begins with a warm-up designed to build heat and strength, and challenge balance. It is followed by traveling exercises that encourage dancers to provoke space and take risks. The class culminates in phrasework from Stewart/Owen Dance repertory.
About Gavin Stewart and Vanessa Owen
Gavin Stewart and Vanessa Owen, a husband and wife duo, are the co-founders of Western North Carolina-based Stewart/Owen Dance. Their bespoke repertoire includes a collection of contemporary choreography that’s as “intimate and intricate” (Washington Post) as it is “humorous, elegant, and wild” (Seattle Dances). Stewart and Owen are driven by curiosity and craft and have choreographed and performed nationally and internationally since 2014. As a team, they earned commissions from American Dance Festival—Made In NC and Wortham Presents and collaborated with artists like Moses Sumney and Sylvan Esso, among others. Stewart/Owen Dance, a 501(c)3, is the Wortham Center for the Performing Arts resident dance company. The company has produced stage productions, cross-genre collaborations, immersive performances, and dance films while offering community dance classes, educational outreach, and intensives like DELVE and S/OURCE, a winter program in partnership with the UNCSA School of Dance and Kenan Institute for the Arts. S/O Dance is supported by grants, including the ArtsAVL Grassroots Arts Grant (2023, 2025), NC Artist Support Grant (2022, 2024), and NC Choreographic Fellowship at Trillium Arts Residency (2023). In 2024, S/O Dance was voted the Best Performance Dance Company in WNC and featured in Dance Magazine’s Homegrown Heroes (Dec. 2024). Stewart and Owen continue to explore and refine their approach to movement, creation, and performance and pursue fresh ways of connecting with audiences. Visit www.stewartowendance.org to discover more.
Cerrudo Repertoire
with Alejandro Cerrudo
Tuesday, June 17
7:00 pm–8:30 pm
$10 drop-in
About the Masterclass
Acclaimed Choreographer and Artistic Director of Charlotte Ballet, Alejandro Cerrudo will teach choreographed works from his repertoire. Cerrudo has created over 25 works that have been performed by professional dance companies around the world. His contemporary choreography has been described as “silky, cerebral, spellbinding,” “inventive and rapturously beautiful…, wholly absorbing and emotionally compelling.” Learn to embody the movement language that stuns audiences and critics alike, as Alejandro Cerrudo joins us in the studios to teach one of his acclaimed works.
Students should arrive warm for this class.
About Alejandro Cerrudo
Alejandro Cerrudo was born in Madrid, Spain. His professional career includes work with Victor Ullate Ballet, Stuttgart Ballet, Nederlands Dans Theater 2, and Hubbard Street Dance Chicago (HSDC). Cerrudo became HSDC’s first-ever resident choreographer in 2008 and held that position until 2018. Cerrudo’s body of work has been performed by over 20 professional dance companies around the world. Honors include an award from the Boomerang Fund for Artists (2011) and the Prince Prize for Commissioning Original Work from the Prince Charitable Trusts (2012) for his acclaimed, first evening-length work, One Thousand Pieces. In 2014, he was awarded the USA Donnelley Fellowship by United States Artists. Also, Cerrudo was one of four choreographers invited by New York City Ballet’s Wendy Whelan to create and perform original duets for Restless Creatures. In 2017, Cerrudo was invited by Daniil Simkin to choreograph a site-specific performance for the Guggenheim Rotunda, a Works & Process Rotunda Project commission, featuring Daniil Simkin and original costumes by Dior. Cerrudo’s Sleeping Beauty, created with Ballet Theater Basel in 2016, was nominated as “Production of the Year” in Switzerland in the “Tanz, Jahrbuch 2016” by the Neue Zürcher Zeitung. In 2020, Cerrudo was appointed Pacific Northwest Ballet’s resident choreographer, with that, he became the first artist in the company’s history to have the honor of holding that title. Independently, he directed and choreographed his show, “It Starts Now,” which premiered in 2020 at The Joyce Theater in New York. In 2022, Cerrudo was appointed Artistic Director of Charlotte Ballet.
Salsa – Rhythmical Movement From Africa to the World
with Norberto “Betto” Herrera
Tuesday, June 24
7:30 pm–9:00 pm
$10 drop-in
About the Masterclass
Dancers will be exposed to Latin dance movement, which by nature is grounded, energetic, fun and multifaceted. We will be exploring different dance techniques and styles of the popular dance generally known as “Salsa”. This polyrhythmic music genre has many textures that we will explore and transform them into fluid and powerful movements from styles such as Rumba, Son, Pilón, Pachanga and Mambo.
About Norberto “Betto” Herrera
Norberto “Betto” Herrera, from Ecuador, migrated to New Jersey with his family in 1996 as a teenager. He started to train in Latin dance to feel in touch with his culture, an experience which inspired him to seek knowledge about the roots of Afro-Latin music and dances.
Soon after joining the US Marines in 2000, Betto started teaching Afro-Latin dance classes at Camp Lejeune, NC and the Jacksonville USO. His desire to dance, led him to the Triangle Area, where he started teaching as well, and finally founded Mambo Dinamico Dance Company in 2002, and continued teaching lessons even after his discharge from Active duty in 2004. He now teaches at Carmen’s Cuban Cafe, in a partnership that has helped create a vibrant dance scene in the Triangle area.
During his career, Betto had sought training and mentorship from some leaders in the dance and music industry, like Salsa instructor Ismael Otero, Afro-Cuban Masters Felix “Pupy” Insua (+) and Marisol Blanco, legendary Palladium Mambo Dancer Pedro Aguilar aka “Cuban Pete” (+) and Barbara Craddock (+), Percussionist Beverly Botsford, and Ethnomusicologist Prof. David Garcia from UNC-CH.
Norberto “Betto” Herrera, from Ecuador, migrated to New Jersey with his family in 1996 as a teenager. He started to train in Latin dance to feel in touch with his culture, an experience which inspired him to seek knowledge about the roots of Afro-Latin music and dances.
Soon after joining the US Marines in 2000, Betto started teaching Afro-Latin dance classes at Camp Lejeune, NC and the Jacksonville USO. His desire to dance, led him to the Triangle Area, where he started teaching as well, and finally founded Mambo Dinamico Dance Company in 2002, and continued teaching lessons even after his discharge from Active duty in 2004. He now teaches at Carmen’s Cuban Cafe, in a partnership that has helped create a vibrant dance scene in the Triangle area.
During his career, Betto had sought training and mentorship from some leaders in the dance and music industry, like Salsa instructor Ismael Otero, Afro-Cuban Masters Felix “Pupy” Insua (+) and Marisol Blanco, legendary Palladium Mambo Dancer Pedro Aguilar aka “Cuban Pete” (+) and Barbara Craddock (+), Percussionist Beverly Botsford, and Ethnomusicologist Prof. David Garcia from UNC-CH.
Exploring Kathak
with Tanu Sharma
Saturday, June 28
2:00 pm–3:30 pm
$10 drop-in
About the Masterclass
An exploration into the movement vocabulary of the Indian classical dance form “Kathak”, focusing on its subtle aesthetics.
The class will include:
- brief introduction of the artform
- introduction of the core technique including footwork, spins, unique stances, and storytelling aspects.
- compositions including fluid movement patterns focusing on elements that define the grace and beauty of the dance form.
About Tanu Sharma
Born and raised in India, Tanu Sharma is a dance artist and a choreographer. She received her Master’s in Kathak dance from BVDU, India. She received her Master’s in Computer Science from NCSU, USA. She also received her Senior Diploma in vocal music from Prayag Sangeet Samiti, India. Over the years she has taught, choreographed and performed at various local, national and international events and venues including Stewart Theatre, Resist Covid/ Take 6 ! at the Nasher Museum, Durham Arts council, Cary Arts Center, National Dance Day at Greensboro Downtown Parks, local temples, NABC (Las Vegas), Raaga Revival etc. During her undergraduate years, she served as the prime dancer and artistic director for the dance team at IET, India.
She has taught dance to all ages and has participated in several cultural outreach programs and lecture demonstrations. She has served as a judge for local and international dance competitions. She has also participated in several cultural fundraising events e.g. “Dancing with the Carolina Stars” at the Carolina Theatre of Durham, and organized fundraising events for several years for the “Two Cents of Hope” student organization at NCSU. During her journey as a dancer, she has explored varied dance styles like Indian folk, jazz, ballet, contemporary, modern, and Hip-hop. She is a longtime yoga practitioner aiming to deepen her movement practice.
She believes in a lifelong pursuit of learning and gathering knowledge while exploring creativity and pushing boundaries. She believes that art has a deep impact on our lives and is meant to make us better human beings while helping us explore our inner expression. She lives in Cary with her family.
Samuel H. Scripps Studios
721 Broad Street
Durham, NC 27705
919-797-2871
studios@americandancefestival.org
We are located on the second floor, accessible by elevator or stairs. There is ample free parking (including two handicap parking spots) in the lot connected to our building.