COMPANY BIOS

Artistic Director | Assistant Director | Board of Directors | Dancers

Gail Vartanian Artistic Director

Gail Vartanian is originally from Philadelphia, Pa., where she began her training in modern dance and ballet under the direction of Brigitta Trombler and Meli Davis. She continued in the path of Modern Dance at York University in Toronto, Canada where she studied Cunningham, Graham, Horton and Limon techniques.

Over the years, Ms. Vartanian has had extensive Jazz Dance training with Eva vonGercsy, Robert Archard, Jo Jo Smith, Frank Hatchett, Luigi, and others. Ms. Vartanian has performed in various modern and jazz dance companies such as City Center Dance Theater of Atlanta, Company Kaye, L'Image Dance Company of Miami and the Palm Beach Ballet. She was the lead dancer and assistant choreographer with Miami's Les Folles Theater Dance Review, and also with Resorts International's "Le Cabaret" Dance in Paradise Island, Bahamas and in Atlantic City, N.J.

Ms. Vartanian was invited to compose the only modern/jazz solo for The International Gala Dance Festival in Finland, under the direction of Margarita Von Bahr, National Ballet of Finland. She has also choreographed and performed in Andrea Lauren's opening act for Salt 'N' Pepa. Her choreography has been presented throughout Florida and the Philadelphia and Delaware area.

Ms. Vartanian has choreographed over twenty eclectic dance works ranging from modern, ballet, jazz, hip hop and elements of comedy such as the “Philly-Nutt-Crak-Up” and “Twas the Nite the SugaPlum Crak-ed”. Her choreography has been presented at the Florida Dance Festival in Tampa, Delaware Dance Festival, Philadelphia 2000 Feet World Dance Festival, Ladek Zdroj International Dance Festival in Poland and various venues such as the Mandell Theater, Painted Bride Art Center, Drake Theater, University of Tampa, Centennial Hall and Pearson Hall. Ms. Vartanian’s choreography for ContempraDance Theatre has been successfully reviewed in Florida and Philadelphia and quoted as being, “Breathtakingly Flawless,” “Powerful and Bold,” “Vartanian’s brilliant choreography shines,” ”A vibrant addition to the area’s dance scene.”

Ms. Vartanian enjoys collaborating with other artists and musicians. She has received various grants for conceptual visual art projects and multimedia dance works.

In addition to her dance training, Ms. Vartanian attended fashion and costume design school in Atlanta, GA. She designs the costumes for most of the characters in the productions for ContempraDance Theatre. She has also designed for other dance companies.

For the past twenty-five years, Ms. Vartanian has been a dance educator teaching her own style of modern, jazz, lyrical and blues. Her classes are technically based, emphasizing physicality and musicality. She is the owner of her own dance studio, ContempraDance Center in Wayne, offering classes in various genres of dance as well as director of the ContempraYouth Dancers, the studio's pre-professional youth performance group. Her students have performed for the President of the United States, numerous Broadway musicals, Ballet Companies worldwide, and Madonna’s touring company. Ms. Vartanian has taught in various cities such as Montreal, Atlanta, West Palm Beach, Miami and Philadelphia.

Ms. Vartanian is the director/coordinator for the Youth Regional Dance Festival she founded in 2005. This festival is an exciting opportunity for youth dance groups throughout Pennsylvania to perform in a non-competitive atmosphere.

Most recently, Ms. Vartanian and her dancers were selected to be involved in a film documentary with singer/composer Michael Sembello dancing to his infamous Flashdance hit, “Maniac” The film will be released in Spring 2013 !