About Crystal/ Artistic Director
Crystal Lewis is a freelance dance artist as well as dance educator specializing in modern and contemporary techniques. She holds a Master of Fine Arts in Dance with a focus in performance and choreography from Sam Houston State University and a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance with a focus on performance from Southeast Missouri State University. As an educator teaching in higher education, Crystal also regularly teaches courses in Improvisation, Choreography, Dance Appreciation, Dance History, Somatics as well as Ballet and Jazz technique.
As a dancer/performer Crystal has performed the works of Robert Battle, Sean Curran, Erin Reck, Astrid von Ussar, Jennifer Walker, Andy and Dionne Noble, Delma Iles, Kris O'Shee, Megan Durham-Wall, Hilary Peterson, Lenna DeMarco and Meghan Bingle, to name a few. She has performed in such venues as the Dance Gallery Festival Houston, performing the work of Astrid von Ussar with her New York based company Von Ussar Danceworks, the Miami Open Stage and at the ODC Theater in San Francisco, California in a shared evening with Flux Dance Project. She is a former dancer with professional modern dance companies Momentum Dance Company based out of Miami under the artistic direction of Delma Iles, the Southeast Dance Ensemble and pre-professional company Physical Graffiti. As a choreographer Crystal has presented her work in Wyoming, Virginia, West Virginia, Arizona, Texas, Missouri, South Florida and at college and universities including Casper College, Abilene Christian University, Radford University, West Virginia University (ACDA), James Madison University, Paradise Valley Community College, Chandler-Gilbert Community College, Arizona State University (ACDA), Sam Houston State University and Southeast Missouri State University. Crystal is also a 2014 MCLI grant recipient.
Lewis has taught Master classes and various workshops in Wyoming, Missouri, Virginia, West Virginia, Texas, Louisiana, South Florida and Arizona, as well as at the American College Dance Festival Mid-Atlantic Region, West Region and South Central Region. Lewis has been invited as a guest artist to set work on students in the dance program at Chandler-Gilbert Community College (CGCC) and has also set original work on dance students in the dance program at Paradise Valley Community College (PVCC). Her original work set as a guest choreographer on the student dance company TranscenDANCE at CGCC was subsequently selected for the Gala concert at the 2014 American College Dance Association West Region held at ASU and her original work set on the PVCC dance performance I class was selected to be performed in the 2013 Arizona Dance Festival at the Tempe Center for the Arts. Most recently, her work set on students at Radford University was represented in the JMU/RU Dance Share, a collaborative concert between faculty and students at James Madison University and Radford University. Also, her original work set on Radford University dance students represented the college in the informal concert at the Mid-Atlantic ACDA held at West Virginia University in the spring of 2016.
Additionally, Crystal has served as the Interim Dance Instructor at Casper College, dance guest artist in residence at Abilene Christian University, Visiting Assistant Professor of dance at Radford University, the Director of Dance for the Virginia Governor's School 2016 summer program at Radford University and has served as adjunct dance faculty at Miami Dade College, Barry University, Chandler-Gilbert Community College, Mesa Community College and Paradise Valley Community College. Also, while earning her MFA degree Crystal served as a graduate teaching assistant at Sam Houston State University teaching courses such as Intro to Modern, Intro to Ballet, and Ballet II, teaching both non-majors and majors technique courses. Lewis is excited to begin her new dance journey in Natchitoches, Louisiana as the new Dance Instructor/Director at the Louisiana School for Math, Science and Art. In addition to this new teaching position at LSMSA beginning fall 2018, Crystal is excited to also be teaching dance courses in the dance program at Northwestern State University (NSU).
Special Note:
Crystal frequently attends and enjoys partaking in master classes, workshops and intensives to continue exploring current movement trends as well as to keep her own dancing skills sharp. In the past she has attended larger festivals such as the American Dance Festival New York where she took daily technique classes with Gerri Houlihan, Lisa Race, and Jennifer Nugent. She has taken classes in advanced contemporary technique with Janice Garrett and advanced ballet with Augusta Moore at the ODC/School in San Francisco. Crystal has taken modern and ballet classes at Hubbard Street's Lou Conte Dance Studio in Chicago, classes at STEPS on Broadway and Gibney dance studios in NYC and participated in the two day artist intensive with Kyle Abraham at Inkub8 in Miami. Some of the professional dance artists she has also studied with via master classes include Staibdance, Belinda McGuire, LeeSaar Company, Kathryn Alter, Kara Davis, Dominic Walsh, Andrea Miller, Lazaro Godoy, Heather Maloney, Kota Yamazaki, Yael Zuckman, Astrid von Ussar, Meghan Durham-Wall, BJ Sullivan and Charlotte Boye-Christensen. She has also taken master classes and workshops that focused on traditional techniques such as Limón, Cunningham, and Graham Techniques, as well as classes which focused on release technique. Crystal also had the wonderful opportunity to take a Gaga for dancers master class and most recently a Gaga workshop with Ron Amit exploring the movement language created by O'Had Naharin. All of these movement experiences provide her with a rich palette of various movement ideologies and modalities to pull from when teaching her own technique classes.
Lastly, Crystal also enjoys writing about dance. In June 2012 she wrote an article for The Bell House danceinthemix on the importance of professional dancers taking master classes as part of their training, and most recently contributed to the Houston based dance company Rednerrus Feil Dance Company Blog, on the topic of Somatics in August 2013.
Crystal's Teaching Style and Method
- Crystal teaches master classes in the modern/contemporary dance genre focused on moving from the inside out. Great detail and time is spent on explaining and demonstrating how to soften into the floor while dancing, allowing for fluid, natural transitions involved in modern /contemporary floorwork. Lewis' warm-up draws from Bartenieff Fundamentals focusing on breath and core support, before progressing through to focus on initiation exercises. Class then leads into more expansive and full bodied movement, honing concepts of spatial awareness, effort, intent, suspension, fall and recovery, being off-balance, groundedness and the redirection of energy. This flow of class structure is designed to help students find the artistry within a technique class.
Crystal also teaches various concepts of improvisational technique. Lewis' various improvisational exercises are designed to attune the dancer to his or her body, heightening sensitivity to achieve more kinesthetically aware movement. The studies and exercises are also meant to help students learn to use their technique as merely an under layer of support enabling them to move inside free form, while simultaneously focusing on the performance aspect of improvisation. This is done in an effort to help dancers find more textured and inventive movement that celebrates the individual.
CDP Artistic Director Crystal Lewis creating class phrase work in the studio.