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Ms. Sylvana Christopher - 2013 - 2015 JOM

 Before the pandemic began, I met with Ms. Sylvana Christopher to try to obtain a position in the field of the professional dance and dance consulting which was in 2013. I spoke with her in the Friendship Heights area to discuss her interest in me serving as a sub dance instructor for her dance classes held at JOM from 2013 - 2015.

"Ms. Sylvana Christopher is Guamanian American choreographer, performer and teacher passionate about creating community. She trained at Metropolitan Ballet Theatre and The Washington School of Ballet. She attended The Ohio State University earning a BFA with Honors in Dance Performance & Choreography.

Sylvana Christopher wears a patterned dress outside at The National Arboretum.

Christopher traveled to Santiago de Cuba where she was touched by the Cuban people. She studied Afro-Cuban folkloric dance with Cutumba Ballet Folklorico. After graduation, she taught at DC Dance Collective and apprenticed in Rincones & Company Dance Theater performing at The Kennedy Center with Youth Orchestra of The Americas and with DCPS students at The Lincoln Theater. Christopher joined Bowen McCauley Dance Company and became a Wolf Trap teaching artist modeling dance integration for educators of early learners. She performed with Arts United of Washington, BosmaDance, Mason Rhynes Performance Projects, Contradiction Dance and Rebollar Dance. Together with Betsy Loikow and a cohort of dancers, she co-founded Glade Dance Collective in 2009. Glade continues to serve as an outlet for choreographers and dancemakers in the District of Columbia. Christopher also danced in productions directed by Maida Withers, Michelle Ava, Nancy Havlik and Cynthia Word gleaning much from these iconic women.

SylviDances formed in 2016 with driving force: Maggie Lockhart made space for other artists to present their works within 5by5 first presented at St. Columba’s Church then at Dance Place. Their hallmark work: Then She Fell was inspired by myth of Icarus and created in collaboration with composer John Lee. SylviDances commissions include original works Who, Two by Joan Nicholas-Walker and F’OK Sarah Beth Oppenheim."

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