Cleveland-City-Dance

We are thrilled to have as part of the CCD teaching team! This year Tami is teaching all the styles. Well, not all but a lot. You can find her teaching ballet, tap and Zena Rommett Floor Barre.

Tami grew up in Mogadore, Ohio. Her performing career runs the gamut from musicals to classical theater to ballets to TV and film. Favorite performances include “The Bakkhai” with The Great Lakes Theater Festival and La Fille Mal Gardee as Widow Simone with The Hudson Valley Dance Theater in NY. Her choreography has been seen at The Tupperware Auditorium in Orlando, Fl and Town Hall Theater in NYC.

Tami started her dance training in Ellet with Pat Lewis, later studying at The Akron Fine & Performing Arts Center under Brad French, Suzanne Winland, and Kim Raines-Colton. She’s also studied with Carole Alexis, Tom Evert, Jeff Shade, and Mdme Peff Modelski among many others. Tami still takes class whenever she can. Tami is certified in Zena Rommett Floor-Barre Technique.

Get to know Tami with four questions:

1. What is your favorite ballet or musical? Favorite ballet is La Fille Mal Gardee. It's so funny and a great introduction to story ballets. I don't have a favorite musical...I love them all, except for one...lol.
2. Who is one of your inspiring teachers? My very 1st ballet teacher, Suzanne Winland, was a huge inspiration to me. She taught me how to teach body types different from my own and how to make any body look beautiful.
3. What do you love about teaching? I love the "lightbulb moment"...every dancer has at least one in their lifetime. It's when the correction you've been giving for years (sometimes) finally makes sense.
4. What do you do when you're not teaching? Hmm...binge watching shows, listening to live music. I've just started fostering older dogs, and so far, so good with that.

Happy Monday!!

Let's meet the fearless leader of Cleveland City Dance, !

Courtney Laves-Mearini received her training in Houston, Texas studying primarily under Anne and Nicolas Polajenko, Gilbert Rome, ABT’s Alexander Minz, Claire Duncan and James Clouser. She also had the opportunity to study with Fosse jazz dancer, Delia Weddington-Stewart for five years while growing up in Houston. She trained for a year at the University of Utah under Li-Chou Chang and had the opportunity to work with Sir Anton Dolin and Toni Lander, restaging Pas de Quatre in the role of Marie Taglioni. She danced with several ballet companies including Atlanta Ballet, South Carolina Ballet Theater and Cleveland San Jose Ballet. She danced lead roles in Serenade as the Russian Lead, soloist in Paquita, Sleeping Beauty as Princess Aurora, Concerto Borocco principal, Raymonda Variations soloist, and Lynn-Taylor Corbett’s Appearances.

Some fun questions:
1. Do you have a favorite ballet? Balanchine's Serenade takes my breath away and I loved dancing the lead Russian (jump) the music carries you. Classical Ballet - Swan Lake, Giselle and Romeo and Juliette. Jazz Fosse- Chicago and All that Jazz.
2. Has there been an inspirational dancer or teacher in your life? My teacher Anne who helped me through the difficulty of my spine and ankle and believed in me.
3. What do you enjoy about teaching? Seeing the lightbulb moments when dancers realize they are growing and are becoming more confident in how they move as an individual.
4. What is something you enjoy doing when not dancing? Mine is going for hikes, cooking and reading mysteries : )

You can catch Courtney teaching ballet almost every day of the week, running, rehearsals or working on all of the office work to make sure CCD runs smoothly.

A familiar face with CCD and is . Let's get to know Heather:

Heather Young received her Master of Fine Arts from Case Western Reserve University in 2008. She is the Executive Director of City Ballet of Cleveland and teaches dance at Cleveland City Dance. She received her 200-hour yoga certification in 2017 and has been teaching at Yoga Roots since that time. In addition, Young teaches Yes!...I Can Move classes for people with Parkinson’s disease at InMotion and is a demonstrator for Dance for Parkinson’s classes at Playhouse Square.

Young worked as an adjunct faculty at Lake Erie College, Case Western Reserve University and Cleveland State University. She danced professionally with Antaeus Dance, Verlezza Dance Company, Marquez Dance Project, and Tikvah Company of Artists and currently performs with Ajayi Dance.

Now for the fun questions:
1) What is your favorite ballet, musical? My favorite musical is Hamilton with Moulin Rouge and In the Heights a tie for second place. My favorite ballet/dance is Paul Taylor's Esplanade.
2)Has there been an inspirational dancer or teacher in your life? I like to say that I am the teacher I am today because of the teachers I have had throughout my life. One of my greatest influences was a teacher I had my freshman (or sophomore) year of college, Tresa Randall, who showed me all the possibilities of dance beyond Hamilton College. She now teaches at Ohio University and remains an inspiration for me.
3) What do you love about teaching? I love to inspire people through movement and love when students can begin to express themselves in their dancing, moving beyond the technique to the performance quality.
4) What do you do when not teaching? When not teaching I enjoy doing yoga, reading, baking and spending time with my family.

Visiting

Join us this summer for classes starting Monday!

Celebrate the spirit of independence with fireworks, family, and fun this Fourth of July! 🎇

Any idea what these fungi may be at Shaker Lake?

Honoring the strength and wisdom passed down through generations on Father's Day. 💙