Dance Foundations - About Us - About the Director - dance school, dance studio, Columbia, Maryland, art of dance, dance class

Lori Struss-Pryor

Lori is trained in ballet, pointe, jazz, tap, modern, musical theatre, hip hop, lyrical, and acrobatics. She has her certifications in beginning levels of Cechetti and Vagonava ballet techniques, in addition to her certification in Ballet and Modern from Dance Educators of America. She graduated from UMBC Cum Laude with a Bachelor of the Arts degree in dance, where she performed with the Phoenix Repertory Dance Company under the direction of Liz Walton, former Paul Taylor Dance Company Soloist.

She has choreographed for ballet performances as the Children’s Ballet Mistress for the Donetsk Ballet of the Ukraine and competitions for her students and Susan Ina’s. She has choreographed and danced in musicals for high schools, colleges, and community theatres such as “Pippin”, “Drowsy Chaperone”, “Oklahoma”, “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum”, “Guys and Dolls”, “Sugar”, “ No, No Nannette”, “Boys From Syracuse”, “Fabulous Fable Factory”, “Free to Be, You and Me”, and “Hello Dolly”.

She has created choreography for a professional band- Gazze – as well as for television, fashion shows, and bridal shows. She has performed professionally in two local modern companies in Maryland and Ohio, and was a featured performer and choreographer at Merriweather Post Pavilion for the Columbia Festival of the Arts.

Her competition choreography has won high score, best in age group, and best choreography. She has directed, taught, and stage managed shows for Kinetics Dance Theatre, Ballet Royale Academy, and Aesthetics/Howard County Ballet. She has taught and choreographed for Howard High School (beginning-advanced ballet, modern, and jazz) and Glenelg Country School (jazz and hip hop).

She has assisted ballet master Jo Rowan, jazz masters Nan and Gus Giordano, as well as Frank Hatchett, and hip hop master Excel Garner. She guest taught as a master ballet instructor for Dance Olympus in NY and NE and Dance Dynamics (now called Mid Atlantic Performing Arts Center). She worked as a jazz master teacher for UMBC and Howard Community College. She guest taught master classes in ballet, jazz, modern, and tap for LKW Dance Center in PA and Preston Center Dance in TX.

Lori has continued her training as a teacher, student, and choreographer all over the US in all forms of dance. She has attended:

Gus Giordano’s Workshop at Jazz Dance World Congress (1995)
Two-day workshop on Matt Mattox with Bob Boross, Dancespace, NY (December 2000)
Teacher Workshop with Broadway Dance Center, NYC (2004 and 2005)
Traditions in Tap Workshops: Jimmy Slyde, LaVaughn Robinson, Cook and Brown, The Silver Bell, Harold Cromer, Miriam Nelson, Danny Daniels, Skip Cunningham, and Bob Audy (May 2005 - Fall 2009)
Jazz Dance World Congress, Chicago, IL with Nan Giordano, Jon Lehrer, Frank Hatchett, Bob Rizzo, Joe Tremaine, Pattie Obey, Randy Duncan, Kirby Reed, Masashi Mishiro, John Crutchman, Ray Leeper, and Liz Imperio (August 2005 and 2007)
Giordano Workshop, NYC with Nan Giordano, Jon Lehrer, and Elijah Gibson (August 2006)
Oklahoma City University Master Dance Teacher Workshop, OK with Jo Rowan and faculty (June 2006 and July 2007)
The Pulse, NJ with Shane Sparks, Wade Robeson, Brian Green, Luam, Laurie Ann Gibson, Chris Judd, Jeff Amsden, and Rhapsody (January 2007)
Dance Olympus, Las Vegas, NV Nationals where she assisted Jo Rowan in Senior room, classes with faculty (July 2007)
Broadway Dance Center’s Teacher Workshop, NYC classes with Pulse choreographers and BDC staff (July 2007)
University of Arizona Jazz Workshop classes with faculty and guests (October 2007)
Dance Educators of America Teacher Workshops at Nationals in Las Vegas, NV (July 2008 and 2009) and teacher workshops in Maryland (2008 and 2009) and Buffalo, NY (2010)

Lori is also a regular at Steps on Broadway and Broadway Dance Center, where she has taken numerous classes with numerous artists, but she most frequently studies with Jeff Shade, Ann Reinking, Diana Laurenson, Frank Hatchett, Germaine Salsberg, Sheila Barker, Miss Vee, Chio, Jack Hertzog, Suzie Taylor, Milton Meyers, Jeff Amsden, and Peter Schabel.

Ms. Pryor has studied locally at Maryland Council for Dance with Gus Giordano (and assisted him as his demonstrator), Daniel Catanach, Rhodie Jorgenson, and Laura Hausmann, as well as at Columbia Festival master classes with Pennsylvania Ballet, Doug Varone Dance Company, David Parsons Dance Company, and Momix.

In addition to dance and theatre training, Lori has received fitness training in aerobics with Sinai and Normandy Health and Fitness. She is a certified Zumba instructor and danced onstage with Beto himself in PA last summer!

Lori has directed Dance Foundations for 14 years, taught dance for 25 years, and looks forward to the 15th year of her business being the best one yet! She welcomes you to a completely new organization filled with staff looking to fulfill your dreams of dance, theatre, and fitness!

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