4dancers

Catherine L. Tully

Catherine L. Tully is the Owner and Editor of 4dancers, which began in 2009.

A full-time freelance writer, her articles have appeared in magazines such as American Style, AAA Living Magazine, youngARTS and Writers’ Journal, among many others. Her dance writing credits include multiple articles in Dance Teacher Magazine, Dance Spirit and Highland Dancer.

Catherine is currently serving as the Outside Europe Representative for the National Dance Teachers Association in the UK, a position she has held for the past several years. She studied at both Chicago City Ballet and Lou Conte Dance Studio, under teachers such as Marjorie and Maria Tallchief, Claire Bataille, Paul Mejia, Inesse Alexandrovich and Rick Hilsabeck.

Learn more about Catherine’s dance background here, and about her writing here.

Contributor Matthew Powell has been working as a professional dancer, teacher and choreographer for the past thirteen years.  After receiving his training at the School of American Ballet, Matthew performed with Pacific Northwest Ballet, Kansas City Ballet, the San Francisco Opera, and danced principal and soloist roles in over fifty works by choreographers such as George Balanchine, Jerome Robbins, Paul Taylor, Merce Cunningham, Twyla Tharp, Lynne Taylor-Corbett, Michael Smuin and more.  Recently, Matthew portrayed “A-rab” in the international tour of West Side Story.

As a teacher, Matthew was a faculty member with the Kansas City Ballet School, and has taught classes at institutions such as the Universities of Iowa and Alabama, The Rock School, Marymount Manhattan, and Ballet Academy East. He has taught company class for Kansas City Ballet and Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre while on tour. Additionally, Matthew served as the company ballet teacher for the West Side Story International Tour.

Matthew’s choreography received a fellowship from the New York Choreographic Institute in 2006. He has choreographed for Kansas City Ballet and worked as Assistant Director to Dorothy Danner for the Lyric Opera of Kansas City’s production of Pirates of Penzance. Most recently, Matthew has been working with Morphoses as Ballet Master, teaching at Broadway Dance Center, and freelancing as a teacher and choreographer. www.matthewpowell.net  

Contributor Robert Stewart…coming soon…

Contributor Lucy Vurusic Riner is a native Chicagoan who has been supporting and contributing to the dance community for over twenty years. She received her BS Degree in dance and dance education from Illinois State University.  Lucy has been a member of Molly Shanahan/Mad Shak Dance Company, RTG Dance Company and Matthew Hollis’ “The Power of Cheer.”  She has also had the opportunity to be part of the community cast of White Oak Dance Project and David Dorfman Dance.

Lucy Vurusic Riner

Lucy has taught modern, hip hop, and jazz at numerous studios and high schools in the Chicagoland area.  She has been the Director of Dance at Oak Park and River Forest High School since 1999. In 2005, Lucy completed her Masters Degree in Education from National Louis University and also received the Midwest Dance Teacher of the Year award and was the youngest of four finalists in the running for the National Dance Teacher of the Year award.  Lucy and artistic partner, Michael Estanich, formed RE|Dance in 2010.  This dancer theater company investigates humanity in movement through long distance collaboration.  Lucy has also begun work on a long-term project entitled, “The Moving Vessel” which explores the impact of motherhood on the professional dancer.  When Lucy is not working with independent choreographers and producing her own shows, she is at home with her two great kids, Margie and Luka, and her very supportive husband, Jim.

Karen Hersh

Contributor Karen Hersh dances under the name of “Piper” and writes posts on belly dance for 4dancers.  

She has been studying dance for over 20 years at places such as the dance company Deeply Rooted and Belle Plaine Studio.

She then moved on to take American Tribal Style (ATS) and studied with Gabrielle Deschaine in Berwyn/Forest Park, IL at Grow In Motion dance studio.

Karen has had the wonderful experience of teaching abroad at Tribal Ford in England, as well as workshops in both Dublin and Glasgow.  

She is currently teaching her own style of tribal fusion at Pineapple Dance Studio in Forest Park, Illinois.

 

 

Karen Stelling

 

 

Contributor Karen Stelling writes about Flamenco and Spanish Dance for 4dancers.

Karen began her Spanish Dance training in 1975 and since then has performed in many venues around Chicago, the Midwest and beyond. She was the First Dancer of the Ensemble Espanol Spanish Dance Company from its inception in 1976 through 1987, performing flamenco, neo-classical and many of the regional dances of Spain. Highlighted performances included the chance to dance with the Chicago Symphony, at the Theater of the Riverside Church in New York City, for migrant workers in the fields of Southern Illinois and in many lecture-demonstration and concerts for Chicago and suburban school students. 

After leaving the Company, Karen continued to perform at a variety of concert halls, festivals and special events as a soloist/guest artist, and as a member of the flamenco trio, Los Tres. Karen was a guest artist and choreographer in 1999 and again in 2002 with the Ole Ole Puppet and Dance Theater directed by Wendy Clinard. 

In 2007, Karen provided choreography for the Halcyon Theatre’s production of Yerma, by F. G. Lorca.  Karen has taught private and group flamenco classes for over two decades including work for Hedwig Dance, the Evanston Park District, Danza Viva, Harper College Dance Program, The Salt Creek Ballet and currently at the Flamenco Arts Center and SPACE in Chicago. She received flamenco and Spanish dance training from many masters of both “old school” and the “Nuevo” styles. Karen also enjoys playing the cajon, a box drum used frequently in flamenco and teaching castanet technique.

Please note that any and all contributor posts on 4dancers are the opinion of the guest dance professional and are not researched or fact-checked by 4dancers.