The Center of Dance faculty includes Carol Crawford Smith, Ann Kilkelly, Harry Robertshaw, Caitlin Burton, Vanessa Bush, Ashley-Doyle Lucas, Jandelle Fournillier, Lee Gibaldi, Krista Roop, Emily Grace Sarver-Wolf, and invited guest artists. All instructors are qualified professionals who teach safe dance.
Carol Crawford Smith, Founder and Artistic Director
Carol Crawford Smith is founder and artistic director of The Center of Dance. Through her dance school she provides instruction, workshops, and programs of excellence in dance and related arts. Her professional experience in dance includes a ten-year career as a soloist with the internationally acclaimed Dance Theatre of Harlem.
The dance masters she has studied and worked with and whose works she performed include George Balanchine, Valerie Bettis with Tennesee Williams, Alexandra Danilova, Agnes DeMille, Garth Fagan, Frederick Franklin, William Griffith, Geoffrey Holder, John McFall, Arthur Mitchell, Terry Orr for Eugene Loring, Domy Reiter-Soffer, Jerome Robbins, Karel Shook, John Taras, Glen Tetley, and Billy Wilson.
Crawford Smith has performed in numerous world class dance productions including Allegro Brillante (Balanchine), A Streetcar Named Desire (Bettis), Belé (Holder), Billy the Kid (Loring), Concerto Borocco (Balanchine), Concerto in F (Wilson), Dougla (Holder), Firebird (Taras), Fall River Legend (DeMille), Footprints Dressed In Red (Fagan), Four Temperaments (Balanchine), Giselle (Franklin based on Petipa), John Henry (Mitchell/Wilson), Paquita (Danilova/Franklin based on Mazilier and Petipa), Phoenix Arising (Mitchell/Wilson), Rhythmetron (Mitchell), Serenade (Balanchine), and Tocatta e Due Canzoni (McFall).
She has performed for dance enthusiasts throughout the United States, and internationally in Austria, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Israel, Italy, Japan, Spain, and the former Soviet Union. Dignitaries she has performed before include Princess Diana at the London Coliseum, President Ronald Reagan and First Lady Nancy Reagan at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, and Mayor Ed Koch at the Metropolitan Opera House.
Crawford Smith has served as Coordinators for the Black Cultural Center and for the Media Mentoring Program at Virginia Tech. As Coordinator for the Black Cultural Center, she founded and directed Ujima Dance Theatre. Crawford Smith choreographed and performed The Promise (Blacksburg Bicentennial Musical), Hard Time Blues (Dumas Theatre), Carmen (Opera Roanoke), Amahl and the Night Visitors (Opera Roanoke), Travels (Opera Roanoke), The Colored Museum (Virginia Tech Theatre Arts), and appeared solo in Flap! (Kilkelly w/ Virginia Tech Theatre Arts).
Crawford Smith founded The Center of Dance in August of 1994. As the Founder and Artistic Director, she has produced, directed, and choreographed over 200 community performances for the school including Stars and Strings, Dancing in OZ, Pinocchio, Degas Dancers, Earth and Sky, Stars and Strings II, Fantasia Corps de Ballet, and also for the school’s former resident company, UJIMA. In 1996, Crawford Smith and UJIMA were invited to perform at the 25th Anniversary celebration of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
Crawford Smith has a Bachelor of Arts in Art History and Studio Art from Marymount Manhattan College (Graduated Magna Cum Laude as Carol Ann Crawford) and a Master of Science in Human Development, with a concentration in Families and the Arts from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.
Crawford Smith has taught undergraduate courses at Marymount Manhattan College, the University of Hawaii – Hilo, and at Virginia Tech. As a visual artist, Crawford Smith creates CCDancer Designs©; greeting cards and art featuring The Huelanders© -People from the Land of Hue©, a world of color where people of all colors exist harmoniously in one colorful world©.
In December 2005, Crawford Smith and her family were awarded a new home and renovated dance studio on ABC’s Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. The episode first aired February 12, 2006. In May 2006, she was a guest on the Montel Williams Show (The Faces of MS episode). Diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2000, Crawford Smith now openly speaks and presents as a voice of inspiration and as an advocate to find a cure for the physically and cognitively debilitating disease that affects over 5 million people worldwide-usually in the prime of their lives. Crawford Smith used her voice and talent as a contributing writer to Mental Sharpening Stones by Jeffrey N. Gingold (July 2008; Demos Medical Publishing, New York, New York). In Chapter 6, ‘The Dance of Life: Transformation to Maintain Strength, Balance and Focus,” Crawford Smith shares stories of her life as a single mother, world class dancer and community leader, as well as offers strategies and perspectives on how to maintain cognitive strength through her example of teaching dance and persevering with a positive attitude.
Ann Kilkelly, Director of Tap
Ann Kilkelly has danced in concerts at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C, the Duke Theater, the Joyce, and Symphony Space in New York City during the New York Tap Festival; and at many other festivals and venues in the region and in Blacksburg. Of her singing, dancing, ukulele-playing performance as the pink part of the Lloyd and Bunny comedy team with Tony Waag, Jennifer Dunning of the New York Times remarked, “Kilkelly brought down the house.”
As a faculty member at the Center of Dance, Ann promotes the art of Jazz-Tap dancing, bringing to her classes a wealth of experience from studying with many all time greats of the tap world, including Brenda Bufalino, Honi Coles, and Motown’s choreographer, Cholly Atkins. Her tap and Jazz classes at all levels offer the complex footwork and rhythms of percussive jazz and feature great music and fun.
Ann teaches in Theatre Arts and Women’s Studies at Virginia Tech, where she also writes, directs, and choreographs original performance work. She is a tap historian, a former fellow at the National Museum of American History in the Smithsonian, and has published widely about performance and dance.
Harry Robertshaw, Qigong Instructor
Harry Robertshaw teaches a Qigong (energy cultivating) class. The class is centered on the Liuhebafa form—the so-called fourth internal kung fu of China attributed to the Daoist sage Ch’en Po who lived in the tenth century AD. However, other exercises chosen from the North American Tang Sho Tou Association (NATSTA) curriculum are taught in order to enhance the student’s expression of Liuhebafa and to enhance their Qigong experience.
Harry Robertshaw is a certified NATSTA instructor and leads the NATSTA committee for Liuhebafa. He first studied Liuhebafa with Dr. Vincent Black, his teacher and the NATSTA founder, in the spring of 2000. He has also studied Liuhebafa with Khan Foxx, whose text will be used in the class. Harry has practiced some form of kung fu since 1984. He retired from Virginia Tech in 2006.
Caitlin Burton, Instructor
Caitlin Burton has been dancing and performing for most of her life. In addition to taking at many studios locally such as Center of Dance and Post school of ballet, she has trained extensively in Charlotte, NC. Caitlin has been awarded many scholarships including a chance to take lessons in Los Angeles as well as New York. She has competed and won top awards in several competitions including being featured as Hall of Fames top soloist twice. She also was accepted into Virginia School of the Arts summer program as one of their youngest dancers. In addition to performing she has been teaching for several years. Caitlin has assisted choreographers all along the east coast including Long Island all the way to Mississippi. She also has taught all levels and genres at Visions dance in North Carolina. Caitlin is currently attending Virginia Tech as an Interior Design major.
Ashley Doyle-Lucas, Instructor
Ashley Doyle-Lucas graduated in 2005 from the University of Utah after completing her Bachelor of Fine Arts in ballet performance. She is originally from Seattle, however, moved to Blacksburg from Richmond where she was dancing with the Richmond Ballet. Her other professional experience includes dancing with the Utah Ballet and the Aspen Santa Fe Ballet. Ashley has performed in ballets including: Swan Lake, Giselle, Don Quixote, Sleeping Beauty, Coppelia, Romeo and Juliet, the Nutcracker, and various contemporary works. She also performed in the opening ceremonies of the 2001 winter Olympic Games in Salt Lake City, Utah. She has trained and worked with Sharee Lane, Attila Fizcere, Carol Iwasaki, Bruce Caldwell, Moses Pendleton, Septime Webre, Tom Mossbrucker, Jean-Phillipe Malaty, Malcom Burn, and Stoner Winslett. Prior to her professional work, she trained and graduated from high school at the Harid Conservatory in Boca Raton, Florida. While continuing to dance and teach during her time in Blacksburg, she is attending graduate school at Virginia Tech, completing her PhD in Sports Nutrition and Chronic Disease. Her research concerns the health and well-being of female athletes, in particular, both adolescent and professional dancers. She has worked with young dancers across the country, teaching nutrition for optimal health and performance.
Jandelle Fournillier, Instructor
Jandelle Fournillier is a native of the island of Trinidad and Tobago,WI. She received her formal dance training in ballet at the Caribbean School of Dance, in Port-of-Spain Trinidad, under the directorship of Roe, Herrera, and Villaroel. She later developed an interest in aerobics and aerobic dance and began training and competing. In 1996, she came to the US to pursue her undergraduate studies and received a Bachelor’s degree in Exercise Physiology from Barry University in Miami Florida. During her undergraduate studies, she danced with the Barry University Repertory Dance Ensemble (modern, afrocentric, ballet, ballroom and latin dance) and also performed at that time with the Harambe Dance Company under the direction of Yvonne Houston. She came to Blacksburg VA in 2001 to pursue a Master’s degree in Health Promotion, and at that time received training as a fitness instructor with the Virginia Tech Recreation Sports Department and was then hired to teach student, faculty and staff aerobics classes (hi-low impact, step, cardioboxing, water aerobics, and later, graduate student fitness and dance.) In 2004 she joined the Contemporary Dance Ensemble of Virginia Tech, as a dance member and choreographer and remained an active member till 2006. She has also served as the Dance Coordinator for the Virginia Tech Caribbean students from 2002 – 2005 choreographing for the Dance of Nations and the annual International Cultural Extravaganza. She has also guest taught Afrocentric dance at the Center of Dance in Blacksburg VA, and most instructed the summer session of Afrocentric Dance as well as put on the first ‘Calalloo’ Dance Workshop. At present she is pursuing a PhD in health promotion at Virginia Tech under the advisement of Dr. Ann Kilkelly and Dr. Kerry Redican. The focus of her dissertation research will be community-based arts, more specifically community-based dance and its potential use as a tool for health promotion. Her dance background is eclectic, and influences her style of dance, teaching and choreography. She seeks to bring many of the traditional and non-traditional styles of dance and movement together on one stage so that everyone can participate and enjoy the art of moving.
Lee Gibaldi, Instructor
Lee Gibaldi is a senior biology major at Virginia Tech. From Yorktown, VA, she trained before college with Sandra Balestracci at the Eastern Virginia School for the Performing Arts. She’s performed in several musicals and ballets such as The King and I, The Sound of Music, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum and The Nutracker. She is now a member of the Contemporary Dance Ensemble (CDE) at Virginia Tech. Lee enjoys choreographing, performing, teaching and loves to have dance be apart of her life; it’s always been and always will be her greatest passion.
Krista Roop, Tap Instructor
Krista Leigh Roop is a graduate student in Virginia Tech’s Education department where she is studying to become a high school Math teacher. She is also a Marching Virginian, so look for her on the field at any VT home football game! Previously studying under various instructors in Charlottsville and Amy Farley in Richmond, Krista has been tap dancing for almost 19 years. While attending Virginia Tech as an undergraduate she was lucky enough to run into Ann Kilkelly her freshman year who took her under her wing and introduced her to a whole new form of dancing. Krista’s style of dancing infuses everything from hip hop to Fred Astaire. Krista has been teaching at the Center of Dance since the Spring of 2006 and since then has re-instated the Tap Ensemble at Virginia Tech, the event put on by TE@VT “Tap Extravaganza” during Arts Fusion every spring bringing on and off campus tap dancing together, as well as the COD’s first tap performance at Steppin’ Out Fall 2009. For Krista, it’s not about competing to see who’s best, it’s about dancing with a passion and entertaining others with that passion.
Emily Grace Sarver-Wolf, Instructor
Emily Grace Sarver-Wolf has been passionate about dance since she was a
pre-schooler. She has been faculty at The Center Of Dance for the past 3 years.
Emily Grace has experience with many different styles of dance, including Ballet, Pointe, African, Jazz, Tap, Belly Dance, Clogging, Ballroom, Modern, Lyrical, Hip Hop, and more. Emily Grace has a myriad of performance experience, as well as experience with interacting, teaching, and dancing with children and adults of all ages. She looks forward to sharing her great love of dance with her students!