Contemporary Choreographers Conservatory Dance Company

Performance Dates

December 13 - 17, 2023

Location

George Rowland White Performance Studio

313 Boulevard of the Allies
Pittsburgh, PA 15222
Click here for Google Maps

Performance Times
Wednesday - Saturday 7:30pm, Saturday - Sunday 2:00pm

Ticket Price Range
$23 - $55

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The Conservatory Dance Company presents a concert featuring works by Jess Hendricks, Justin Myles, Yoshiaki Nakano, and Mike Tyus.

Jess Hendricks graduated from the University of Colorado with a BFA in Dance. Her training includes Perry Mansfield School of the Performing Arts, American Dance Festival, Harvard Dance Festival, EDGE Scholarship, Gus Giordano and Hubbard Dance Street. 

Her credits include commercials and industrials for Godiva, L’Oreal, Reebok, Toys R Us, Universal Studios, Volkswagen and Warner Brothers. Jess worked on the tour of HAIR as Dance Captain for years, performed for the opening premiers of Moulin Rouge and The Great Gatsby and can be seen in such movies as Living Out Loud and Between The Sheets. She has danced in or been the assistant choreographer to the Elan Awards, Bob Fosse Awards, Ms. America Pageant, Carnival, Dance Break and Broadway Bares. Jess has choreographed the New York musicals The Shaggs, The Book Of The Dun Cow and Dead City as well as the movie musical Free Fall. 

She has choreographed the music video Just A Dress for the Berlin Film Festival, Mia Agapi Fotia for European artist Sofia Strati’s Eurovision and has been a finalist for the ACE Awards. Jess has taught at Universities and Festivals throughout Canada, Costa Rica, Cyprus, France, Italy, Japan, Korea, Norway and the United States. Jess has danced with “The Wes Veldink Movement” and co-created her own company “Two Peas & A Pod”. 

She recently created live work for the band “A Great Big World” at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, set work to be performed at Carnegie Hall and assisted with choreography for the Alicia Keys tour. Jess recently debuted a 30-minute work on Houston Met Dance that debuted this Spring. She is currently an adjunct professor at Pace University, on faculty with 24 Seven Dance Convention and a Co-Founder of Dancers Give Back Dallas.

Justin Myles, native of Southern Maryland, is a master teacher dancer in various styles such as modern contemporary jazz, rhythm tap and body percussion. He spent his childhood surrounded by music and dance. Tapping since the age of 3, taught by his mom & dance instructor Gracie, he graduated from Point Park University in Pittsburgh, PA, with a BA in Dance, majoring in both Ballet and Jazz. Performed in the off-Broadway show Tap Dogs, Disney Cruise Lines as a singer/dancer and dance captain, Paramounts Kings Dominion Theme Parks, Pittsburgh Playhouse Dance Company, and Busch Gardens Theme Park Williamsburg, VA. He recently spent 6 years touring with the International percussion sensation STOMP traveling the US, Canada and Brazil. Justin also writes and produces his own music described as Acoustical Rock with an R&B Funk style which he has independently released and performs with his band The Justin Myles Experience around DC and Baltimore. Justin is one of the co-founders of The JaM Project and which was recently recognized by Dance Spirit and The Washington Post for choreography and concept video production.

Yoshiaki Nakano is from Osaka, Japan. He joined Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre in 2010, was promoted to Soloist in 2013, and was promoted to a Principal in 2014. He received his early training at the Elite Ballet Studio in Osaka, Japan, and went on to train at San Francisco Ballet School and in PBT School’s Pre-Professional Program. Yoshiaki won the gold medal at the 2013 Beijing International Ballet and Choreography Competition in China, and the silver medal at the 2010 World Ballet Competition in Orlando, Florida. In 2014, Dance Magazine named Nakano among its top 25 Dancers to Watch. 

Yoshiaki has performed the roles of Prince Siegfried in Swan Lake, Basilio in Don Quixote, Albrecht in Giselle, Prince Desiré and Blue Bird in The Sleeping Beauty, Solor and The Golden Idol in La Bayadère, Conrad and Ali in Le Corsaire, Romeo and Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet, the Nephew and Sugar Plum Cavalier in The Nutcracker, the White Rabbit in Alice in Wonderland and Tony in Jerome Robbins’ West Side Story Suite. He also has performed featured roles in George Balanchine’s Agon, Divertimento No.15, Rubies and Western Symphony; Twyla Tharp’s In The Upper Room and Nine Sinatra Songs; Jiří Kylián’s Petite Mort and Sinfonietta; William Forsythe’s In the Middle, Somewhat Elevated; and Jerome Robbins’ In the Night. PBT commissioned Nakano to choreograph two new works – A Fellow Feeling and Infusion – for its 2015-2016 and 2017-2018 mainstage seasons. He has also created works for PBT School, Point Park University and Tetsuya Kumakawa’s Gala in Tokyo.

Each summer Nakano returns to Osaka, Japan, to choreograph and perform in the World Dream Gala in partnership with his mother’s Elite Ballet Studio, where he grew up dancing. He also teaches, performs and choreographs in several companies and studios all around Japan.

Mike Tyus is an award winning dancer, choreographer, and creative director from Los Angeles, California. He has been performing and creating dance works for the stage and screen for over 15 years. As a performer Tyus has worked with Cirque Du Soleil in “IRIS” at the Kodak Theater in LA and “KOOZA” as “The Trickster” - “a devilish ringleader” and lead character. Tyus Joined Pilobolus Dance Theater in 2013 performing works by Sidi Larbi Cherkoui, Penn & Teller , and Isreali choreographers, Inbal Pinto and Avshalom Pollack, while also creating company repertory that is still performed today. He has performed work by Ryan Heffington for Sia, and performed at the Oscars under the direction of Philipe Decoufle. He is a founding member of Jacob Jonas The Company and an Associate Producer for Films.Dance, a platform focused on dance film creation through unconventional collaboration.

Tyus’ choreographic work derives from techniques and styles from his past. Circus theater, acrobatics, ballet, and greco-roman wrestling are abstracted and synthesized to create something unique. He has created works for dance companies, museums, pop-stars, and universities alike. Recently he’s created work on Visceral Dance Chicago, Chicago Repertory Ballet, Peridance Contemporary Dance Company, Manhatten Youth Ballet, Ziru Dance, Utah University, Vasser College, CLI by Teddy Forance, The Lines Ballet Training Program, and Hedwig Dances Chicago. In 2020 Tyus directed and choreographed a dance film called ELSEWHERE on Whim W’him Contemporary Dance Company that was showcased on PBS. He’s created dance films for The Broad Museum in LA that was featured on StandardVision billboards throughout the city. This year he was selected to create a work on Joffrey Ballet Academy for the Winning Works program presented at the Museum of Contemporary Art. He also choreographed a Facebook commercial directed by FKA Twigs that now lives in the MOMA’s archives because of its cultural significance. Tyus’ has choreographed music video’s for Nigerian Pop-Star Adekunle Gold and new comer Anna Margo, bringing art-world sensibilities to pop culture. In 2020 Tyus created, Mike Tyus & Co, a dance company that focuses on the creation of Tyus’ work with over 13 films and the creation of a piece called “Hunger” developed at Orsolina28, a dance residency in Moncalvo Italy.

As a creative director Tyus has developed branded campaigns for Vaara, Anthropologie, Veuve Clicquot, Club Monaco, SONY, Apple, and Abercrombie & Fitch, focusing on the relationship between dance and commerce and utilizing his large social media following to share the joy of dance worldwide. Community and Creation are at the core of Tyus’ mission and continue to drive his efforts in crafting work that feeds the human spirit and reflects the times in which we live.