Previous Guest Faculty through our Master Class Program include:

Mia Michaels

From stage to screen, Mia has turned dance into inspired and unique works of passion and beauty. She has rendered her singular style and vision of the craft for other artistic innovators from celebrities and recording artists to dance companies and educational institutions.

Mia's choreography for Celine Dion's A New Day under the direction of Franco Dragone at Caesars' Palace in Las Vegas has received stunning reviews. The New York Times raved, "The greatest pleasure…was the go-for-broke physicality of the choreography."   The show features a cast of 50 dancers and is two hours of pure dance artistry.  Currently her work can be seen on Cirque du Soleil's first touring show, Delirium, which premiered March 2006.  She has also created works for numerous recording artists including Madonna, Ricky Martin, Gloria Estefan, and Prince.. Her work in film and television includes "Cool Women" for AMC/DreamWorks Television and award-winning commercials for Mike's Hard Lemonade, Bacardi, Coldwell Banker, Ziploc, the WNBA, Star TV and VISA.

Included in her diverse concert and stage work is the critically acclaimed New York based dance company, RAW, of which she is the founder, artistic director and choreographer. She has been commissioned to create work for Les Ballet Jazz de Montreal, Jazz Dance Chicago, and Oslo Dance Ensemble. She's been off-Broadway with "If These Shoes Could Talk" and "Fort Chaffee." Mia has also held faculty positions at prestigious institutions of dance around the world including Alvin Ailey, Broadway Dance Center and the International Dance Festival of Italy.

Mia is constantly striving for new inspirations for her work. Her students and peers around the world have noted her as a memorable influence. She has a way of touching people's lives with passion, emotional expression and style of dance. See her and her Emmy-winning choreography on "So You Think You Can Dance" on FOX!

Liz Imperio

Liz Imperio has established herself as a major director and choreographer in the entertainment industry, including the staging and choreography for Jennifer Lopez's "Live From Puerto Rico" concert; director/choreographer of Gloria Estefan's most recent concert tour; and three numbers for Madonna's "Re-invention Tour 2004".

A proud Cuban-American, Liz was born and raised in Hollywood, California. Her credits make her one of the most sought after choreographers in the business, including: "The Latin Grammys (last 3 years); American Music Awards; "United We Stand" with Michael Jackson and *NSYNC" (assoc. dir.); ABC's 50th Anniversary Celebration; Disney Channel's "Gotta Kick It Up"; James L. Brook's feature film "Spanglish", CBS TV series, "Dirty Dancing" and commercials for Jack In The Box, and many others.

Imperio has also choreographed music videos for Cher "If I Could Turn Back Time," Myra, Gloria Estefan, Bloodhound Gang, Selena, Garcia B, B & B, and MTV Rock and Jock. Liz Imperio has trained such young stars as Hilary Duff, America Ferrera, Camille, Myra, and Valaria. Her most touching assignment was working closely with Gloria Estefan after her major accident years ago and not only assisted with the physical therapy to help her walk again, but later choreographed Gloria's comeback concert tour. Liz Imperio's works have been commissioned all over the United States and Europe, having worked with such dance companies as: Gus Giordano Jazz Dance in Chicago; The Houston Metropolitan Dance Theatre; K-Broadway from Japan; and numerous European companies from Italy to England. Liz Imperio is very proud to be the Artistic Director and founder of her own Los Angeles-based dance company "Instincts--Live Media Dance".

Dee Caspary

Dee Caspary has influenced dance all over the world. His works have reached Australia, Japan, Canada, Guam, New York and his hometown of Los Angeles. He has Directed and Choreographed events for The Billboard Live, Hard Rock Café, Oakley, Key Club, and The Stone Movement. Dance Magazine is quoted saying “Dee Caspary is the modern day Fosse of our time!” For five straight years Dee sold out the El Portal Theatre in Los Angeles displaying his most powerful and influential work in “ A Time No More”, “The Glass Case”, The Last Letter”, “IV”, and “Inferno of Sin”. Dee just finished working with the Lab Entertainment group in the development of “Utah” in “Pick up the Boom”, a music video premiering on MTV this summer. In 2003 Dee Caspary and Gil Stroming, head of Break the Floor Productions, came together to produce the first music video with 200 of the best dancers in the country. “The Shoot” is in its 3rd year and is one of the most talked about events in dance. Instinct Productions headed by the brothers Dave and Jeff Murphy, have taken Dee Caspary and his Artistic Direction to new heights. The Murphy brothers have influenced Dee to take his theatre work to the big screen, together with Dee’s own production company Inner Vision Productions, they are on a collision course with the entertainment industry. Dee currently teaches professionally at The Edge Performing Arts Center in Los Angeles.

Jason Parsons

Jason Parsons has danced with such notable Companies River North, Mia Michael's R.A.W., Dinyos Dance Company (Japan) and Poz Dance Theatre (South Korea). His Industrial credits include work with Sony, BMW, DaeWoo and General Motors. Jason danced with Recording Artist's SWV, Diana King and Celine Dion. His choreography has been seen Internationally at Gwang Ju Biennale Festival (South Korea), ArteDanza (Italy), Nokia Awards (Czech Republic), Minjockchom Cultural Festival (South Korea), Puglia Danza (Italy) and the Seoul Contemporary Jazz Dance Festival (South Korea). As a Master Teacher Jason has taught in the U.S., Canada, England, Japan, South Korea and Italy.

Lauren Adams

Lauren Adams was featured in the original musical, "Falco", in Vienna Austria. She was a member of Dee Caspary's IV Dance Company, and Jason Parsons' Parsons Dance Project, with which she performed in the New York/Seoul International Dance Festival, in Korea. Her choreography was showcased in "Terpsichoreal" in Los Angeles, as well as in Prague, and most recently Tropea, Italy. Lauren's choreography was also recently seen at the 2004 Jazz Dance World Congress performed by Melissa Hough of Boston Ballet. She has worked extensively with Danny Tidwell of So You Think You Can Dance, Season 3, who has performed Lauren's choreography for many DRA events, and recently at the Jackson International Ballet Competition's 25th Anniversary Gala. Lauren continues to perform, she was honored to perform a work of Mia Michaels' "Resevoir, That's French" staged for Ash Contemporary Dance Company. Other performances with Ash include the Festival Des Arts in Montreal. In NYC, Lauren has taught at Steps on Broadway, and is on faculty with New York City Dance Alliance. Lauren choreographed the photography book, Moving Still inspired by her original show of the same title, produced in May of 2005. She is currently working on the second edition of Moving Still the show, for more information visit www.movingstill.net. She is also one of the Senior Editors of the upcoming magazine, movmnt.

Nick Bass

Born and raised in Nashville,TN, Nick Bass started dancing soon after he was walking. Bass danced with Justin Timberlake at the 2006 and 2007 Video Music Awards. He went on to dance and be an additional choreographer on Justin's "Future,Sex,Love show" tour and was an additional choreographer on Janet Jackson's "Rock Witchu" tour. He has also performed with Christina Aguilera, Britney Spears, Beyonce, Prince, Chris Brown, Jamie Foxx, Omarion, Kylie Minogue, Nelly Furtado, Toni Braxton, and Ciara. Bass has danced on the TV shows "Dancing with the Stars", "So You Think You Can Dance", and on "Saturday Night Live". He has performed on The GRAMMY's, The American Music Awards, The B.E.T. Awards, as well as performing at The Superbowl. He was also a feature dancer on the Michael Jackson “This Is It” tour documentary.

Cindy Welik Salgado

After training at Dance Academy USA, Cindy moved to New York to continue her training at Julliard, where In 2004 she was awarded the esteemed Princess Grace Award. She has performed in pieces choreographed by Dwight Rhoden, Lar Lubovitch, Adam Hougland, Charlotte Griffin, Ethel Winters, Crystal Pite, Jose Limon, Robert Battle, and William Forsythe. She participated with Mia Michaels for the DRA Benefit (Dancers Responding to Aids), and has worked with the Dee Caspary IV Company. In June 2002, Cindy Co-Founded ArtREACH, a community outreach organization which uses art to break down cultural, racial and ethnic barriers. She has taken an active role in teaching, choreographing, and performing for various community projects including an annual arts summer camp in Florida. She was most recently a finalist in the Seoul International Dance Competition.