INSTRUCTORS

Ms. Saad trained extensively in Florida, South Carolina, and North Carolina, and danced as a soloist with the Greenville Civic Ballet in Greenville, South Carolina. Her performance highlights include Spoleto Festival USA, summer study with Edward Villella, the director of the Miami City Ballet. She has performed with members from New York City, Augusta, and Atlanta Ballets. Ms. Saad has appeared in numerous productions with the East Carolina Summer Theater including “Carousel” and the “Sound of Music.” After teaching and choreographing throughout eastern North Carolina, she founded the Greenville Civic Ballet as a training facility for the pre-professional dance company, the Dance Collective. Her choreography is in residence with the Dance Collective, the Farmville Community Theater, the Gallery Theatre in Ahoskie, the Charlotte Choral Society and has been presented at NC School of the Arts in Winston-Salem and at RDA/SERBA.  In 201o she authored a book about her dance technique and became a contributing author to the Pitt County Women’s Journal.

Cherita attended East Carolina University and graduated in 2002 with a B.F.A in Dance Education and holds an Elementary Education teaching certificate. Cherita participated with East Carolina University’s Dance Theatre in 2001, and has continued her dance training by attended the conferences and classes around the country. She has attended the Dance Teacher’s Web Conference and Expo this past summer and also attended the University of North Carolina School of the Arts Dance Festival in Winston Salem, Broadway Dance Center in New York, Gus Giordano Summer workshops in New York, North Carolina Youth Tap Ensemble Tap Festival in Durham and the Boulder Jazz Dance Conference at the University of Colorado. Alongside her training she has also performed with the East Carolina University Dance Team where she also served as the E.C.U. Dance Team’s coach in 2003-2004. She continues to perform with the Dance Collective. This is her 10th season with the Dance Collective and serves as the Company’s manager and a choreographer.

Anna Whitlow earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance Performance from East Carolina University. She has performed in several festivals including RDA/SERBA, American Dance Festival,NC School of the Arts and the Fringe Festival of Greensboro. She has done Choreography for Farmville Community Theatre in Farmville, NC. She has also been a member of Sidelong Dance Co. where she performed around North Carolina’s Triad region. She continues her training by attending various workshops and classes across the country. As a once certified Pilates instructor, she incorporates Pilates into some of her dance classes. Currently she is a licensed Zumba instructor. She teaches ballet, tap, jazz, modern, and Zumba classes at the studio.

Jade began her dance training in Orlando Florida at Raskin Dance Studio where she studied ballet, jazz, tap, hip hop and musical theatre. She was a member of the Raskin’s Competition Squad where she received numerous awards from a variety of national dance conventions and competitions. Jade began dancing with the Greenville Civic Ballet and the Dance Collective in 2002. She has performed with the Dance Collective at the North Carolina School of the Arts annual dance festival and at the Regional Dance America’s SoutheasternRegional Ballet Association/SERBA festival in Knoxville TN. Jade has studied dance at the North Carolina School of the Arts, Broadway Dance Center, STEPS on Broadway and she attended the Boulder Jazz Dance summer workshop in Boulder Colorado. She has been a faculty member at the Greenville Civic Ballet for three years now. Jade is currently a junior and a dance performance major at East Carolina University.

Krystal Cole received her early training in Allentown, PA at That’s Dancin where she studied Ballet, Modern, Jazz, Tap and Hip Hop. She attended the Lehigh Valley Charter High School for the Performing Arts in Bethlehem, PA where she graduated as a Dance Major. Krystal was also the main choreographer for the Emmaus high school dance team where she focused on hip hop. She has taken classes at Broadway Dance Center and Disney’s Magic Music Days workshop. Krystal has also performed with That’s Dancin in Disney’s Magical Kingdom in the years 2006 and 2009. Krystal is continuing her dance training at East Carolina University where she is currently a dance performance major and has performed in numerous shows with ECU. She is very honored and excited to be a part of the GCB family.

Ellie is the 20 year old daughter of John and Karen Stevens. She is currently a freshman at East Carolina University and an intern working and assistant teaching at the Greenville Civic Ballet. She began dancing at Greenville Civic Ballet in 1999 at the age of 8. She became a performing member of the Eastern North Carolina Dance Collective in 2005 and has risen from an Apprentice to Senior company member during her tenure. She has studied at North Carolina School of the Arts in Winston Salem from 2006-2008 and performed at this festival in 2010. She has danced with the Greenville Civic Ballet summer intensive program for 4 years. She attended the Jazz/Contemporary Dance festival at the University of Colorado during the summer of 2006 and the Catalyst Bournonville Ballet summer intensive program in Phoenix, Arizona during the summer of 2010.

     The newest member of the GCB family, Joshua Chambers, received his Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance Education from Shenandoah University in Winchester, VA.  It was with the Shenandoah Dance Ensemble that he was featured in a “Dance Across the Oceans Tour of Taiwan.”  After graduation, Josh danced on scholarship as part of the River North Jazz Dance Chicago Summer Intensive.  As dance captain and dancer, he has also been responsible for rehearsing the entertainment cast aboard the Regent Seven Seas Navigator for Peter Grey Terhune Presents, as well as the  Shenandoah Summer Music Theatre productions of CATS and Footloose.   Josh most recently pioneered a public middle school dance program in the Eastern Panhandle of WV and started his own studio-Footwork Fitness- exclusively for adult dance and group fitness.  Under this umbrella, he finally got to direct his rep company, FootWORX.  Now, he is beyond excited to be sharing his collection of experiences with GCB as an administrator and guest instructor.