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Join South Georgia Ballet this summer for H.O.T. Summer Dance Intensive, a week of spectacular training from South Georgia Ballet instructors and three distinguished guest artists. 

From June 20-24 at the Thomasville Center for the Arts, dancers will have an exclusive opportunity to have fun and grow in their technique. In addition to South Georgia Ballet’s instructors, SGB will also be welcoming three guest teachers to train dancers throughout this week. 

Teneise Mitchell Ellis, a native of Chesapeake, Virginia, performed six seasons as a Radio City Rockette. She made her Broadway debut in Wicked in 2017.Teneise has performed with a multitude of dance companies including: Philandanco, Camille A. Brown and Dancers, Bad Boys of Dance, and Giordano Jazz Dance Chicago II. 

In addition to these performances, Ellis has danced with Beyoncé and Nas as well as on television shows Saturday Night Live, Jimmy Fallon, Project Runway, The Today Show, and The Chew. Most recently, Teneise filmed her first short film, “Keep the Change.” 

Ellis will be teaching contemporary, jazz, musical theater, Jazz (rockette precision style jazz class), and some choreography from Wicked at Summer Intensive. 

At age 12, Lesley Bories-Scalise was invited to attend the National Ballet of Canada under full scholarship. Following this, she continued to study dance with Royal Winnipeg Ballet School, Interlochen Arts Academy, North Carolina School of the Arts, and the Chicago Ballet School. 

Bories-Scalise was also one of six U.S. dancers accepted to attend a summer intensive with training from Suzanne Farrell and Paul Mejia in New York. Professionally, she danced with Chicago City Ballet, Ballet Chicago, and the Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre under the direction of many acclaimed instructors. 

During her time with Ballet Chicago, Bories-Scalise was a soloist guest artist in Ruth Page of Chicago, The Nutcracker. She has performed many principal roles including George Balanchine’s Square Dance, Western Symphony, Jewels, Apollo, The Four Temperaments, and The Nutcracker; Daniel Duell’s Hansel and Gretel; Marius Petipa’s Sleeping Beauty; David Parson’s Hairy Night on Bald Mountain; and Lisa de Ribere’s Amazing Grace. 

Since retiring from professional dance, Borie-Scalise has been a ballet educator for more than 20 years. She has served on the teaching faculty at multiple universities, fulfilled the role as lead adjudicator for Ballet Michigan’s The Nutcracker, and was executive/artistic director of the Lake Erie Ballet School and Company. 

In her most recent endeavor, shee created an online course, Virtual Ballet Company, which offers dance and conditioning education for all levels and ages. Bories-Scalise has been on the teaching faculty of the Mercyhurst University Dance Department since 2003 and will be teaching ballet and pointe at Summer Intensive. 

The final guest is Christopher Huggins, who has an extensive repertoire of training and has learned from modern dance’s biggest names. He appeared as a guest artist and worked as a master choreographer for several dance companies in South Africa, Europe, Japan, Korea, and many high schools and universities in the U.S. 

Huggins is a sought-after choreographer, and he has created ballets for many different ensembles and companies including Ailey II and Broadway Dance of Tokyo. He is a past recipient of the Alvin Ailey Award for Best Choreography and the Black Alliance Award in Chicago. He was also recognized as a silver medalist from the 4th annual Seoul International Contemporary Dance Competition. 

Huggins currently serves as resident choreographer at Duke Ellington High School of the Arts in DC, choreographer in Cape Town, South Africa, and faculty member of the Dance Convention Tour, ASH-Artists Simply Human. 

H.O.T. Summer Dance Intensive is by audition only and open for dancers ages 9-18. These auditions (along with auditions for South Georgia Ballet company) are Thursday, April 21. New dancers will audition from 4:30-6 p.m., and 6-8 p.m. is for dancers by invitation only, trainees/apprentices, and seniors. 

For information regarding auditions please call (229) 228-9420.