Richard Strimer    grew up in Trenton, Michigan and graduated high  school with a desire to pursue a career in acting. He attended  Michigan State University on an acting scholarship and graduated  four years later with a BA in Theatre with an emphasis in dance.   Following graduation, Richard moved to Chicago and began his  performing career and also began his path of teaching tap at  Columbia College. Richard has had the opportunity to work in  theaters throughout the Chicagoland area including: Candlelight  Dinner Theatre, Drury Lane Evergreen Park, Theatre at the Center,  Drury Lane Oakbrook and Marriott Theatre in Lincolnshire.  Regionally Richard has worked at Carousel Dinner Theatre in Ohio  and Fulton Theatre in Pennsylvania. Richard’s career has spanned  over fifty mainstage productions ranging from ensemble to  lead. Standout roles include: Bobby Child in  Crazy for You   (Joseph  Jefferson Award Nomination), Cosmo Brown in  Singin’ in the Rain  (Joseph Jefferson Award Best Supporting Actor in a Musical),  Action in  West Side Story  and Bill Calhoun in  Kiss Me Kate.

Michigan-born dancer Nic Gareiss has been described by the Irish Times as “the human epitome of the unbearable lightness of being,” and "the most inventive and expressive step dancer on the scene” by the Boston Herald. His work re-imagines movement as a musical practice, recasting  dance  as medium that appeals to both eyes and ears. Gareiss draws from many percussive  dance  traditions, weaving together a  dance  technique facilitating his love of improvisation, traditional  dance  footwork vocabulary, and musical collaboration. He has concertized internationally for over ten years with many of  the  luminaries of traditional music, including Frankie Gavin, Dervish, Bill Frisell, Darol Anger, Bruce Molsky, Phil Wiggins, Buille, Solas, Liz Carroll, Martin Hayes, The  Gloaming and  The  Chieftains. Nic holds a degree in Anthropology from Central Michigan University and an MA in Ethnochoreology from  the University of Limerick. Gareiss' essay, "An Buachaillín Bán   : Reflections on One Queer's Performance within Traditional Irish Music & Dance" appears in  the  book   Meanings and Makings of Queer  Dance    edited by Clare Croft on Oxford University Press.   www.nicgareiss.com

Dance the Tune
Utilizing improvisation, organic movement, and drawing from a myriad of traditional percussive dance styles including Irish step dance, Appalachian flat-footing, and Quebecois gigue, this class explores the sheer musical potential of your feet. Using imitation, idiomatic ornaments as well as extended techniques for shoe sounds and textures, we will learn to construct lines of rhythm imitating melody as well as create rhythmic counterpoint by setting up
shoe-grooves employing contemporary musical sensibility.
 
Video excerpt of Dance the Tune workshop 

Ericka Goss   began dancing at Bohaty’s School of Dance in Michigan and was also a member of the Children’s Ballet Theatre of Michigan. She later became a member of the senior trainee division of the Grand Rapids Ballet, the only professional ballet company in Michigan, working under Laura Schwenk-Berman and Gordon Pierce-Schmidt. Accepted into Pacific Northwest, Boston Ballet, and Joffrey Midwest summer intensives, she attended Joffrey on scholarship. After four years in Grand Rapids, Ericka was accepted into Atlanta Ballet’s Pre-Professional Division on full scholarship.  Promoted to the  company as a Fellowship dancer, she danced as a Fellowship for two  years under Sharon Story and John McFall. In the summer of 2011 she  attended the LINES Ballet Summer Intensive in San Francisco under  full scholarship.   She  is in her second season with the St. Louis Ballet and has danced soloist   roles in Gen Horiuchi’s  Vivaldi Concerto   and  Cinderella. She also teaches   in the Saint Louis Ballet School.

Ericka taught for the Atlanta Ballet for 3  years, from babies to the pre-professional division and adult classes.  Prior to that, she ran her own studio for 5 years with 40 students.  She has taught in several previous workshops for the Academy of  Performing Arts.