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 !

In 2015, Gail served as panelist on the 2015 Pennsylvania Partners in the Arts Advisory Panel for PPA’s Program Stream awards.

Michelle Jones Wurtz holds a BFA in Modern Dance from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia. She trained under Barbara Sandanato (former Principal of the National Ballet of Canada and Pennsylvania Ballet Company), Patricia Thomas of the Alvin Ailey and Graham Schools, Judith Jamison (currently the Artistic Director of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre) and Milton Myers (currently the head of the Contemporary Division at Jacob’s Pillow). She performed professionally with Group Motion Dance Company while still attending college. After graduating Magna cum Laude, she continued her studies in the Vaganova Method (Russian Ballet Method) at the Pennsylvania Academy of Ballet under John White, former Ballet Master of the Pennsylvania Ballet Company, and has been specially trained to teach the method.

Michelle then joined the faculty and professional repertory company at the New Freedom Theatre in Philadelphia cited by the Kennedy Center for Excellence in the Arts; and also performed with Philadelphia based Footfalls Modern Dance Company and the Liz Lerman Dance Exchange based out of Washington D.C. Later, Ms. Wurtz joined ContempraDance Theatre and eventually became the Assistant Director.   When she was not performing, she was teaching throughout the Tri-State area and has given Master Classes at Swarthmore College, the University of the Arts, and at Temple University.

Currently Michelle is the Director of the Pottstown Dance Theatre as well as the Artistic Director of the Schuylkill Valley Regional Dance Company. Under her direction the Company has performed three full length concerts per year. She was the first American instructor invited to teach at the International Dance Festival in Ladek Zdroj, Poland and received an Honorary Degree in International Dance Studies. Last summer she toured the country of Poland with ContempraDANCE Theatre Comapny, and has been asked to work at numerous other international festivals throughout Europe. She has been featured in Dance Spirit Magazine, Dancer, Dance Teacher, and Philadelphia Magazine. Ms. Wurtz is a member of the National Dance Critics’ Association, is a certified Pilates instructor, and was a panelist for the Program Stream category for the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts.