Resume
Photo by Lane J Long:
The top of Christine’s body is against a periwinkle hued wall. She is arched back with her head thrown back, eyes shut, arms bent as if in release above her head. She wears a sheer white shirt.
Education:
NYS Dual Certified: K-12 Dance & Adolescent Generalist Gr. 7-12 Special Education
2021-23 Hunter College of City University of New York MS in Education
2016- 19 University of Maryland MFA in Dance
2001-2007 University of Iowa BFA in Dance, with honors; BA in English
Continuing Education:
2021 Laban Institute of Movement Studies: Level 1, Movement Analysis
2018 Dance for PD Introductory Dance Teacher Training Course
2017 AXIS Dance Company Teacher Training
Teaching Experience:
2019- Dance for Parkinson’s: New York, NY
Teaching Artist and Assistant Teaching Artist: Dance for PD Classes
2022-2024 Brooklyn Collegiate Public High School, Brooklyn, NY
Special Education Teacher/ Dance Elective Teacher: Full-Time Faculty
2021 MOMENTA Virtual Everybody Can Dance Workshop, Chicago, IL
2019-2022 Success Academy Lafayette Middle School, Brooklyn, NY
Dance Teacher: Full-Time Faculty
2016-2018 University of Maryland, College Park, MD
Graduate Teaching Assistant
Courses Taught: Introduction to Dance, Introduction to Dance: Access and Inclusion Section,
Fundamentals of Modern Dance, Ballet: Undergraduate
2018-2019 Kinetics Dance Theater, Ellicott City, MD
Dance instructor: Children’s Dance, Modern, and Ballet
2018 Mixed Ability Movement Classes, Towson University and The Gordon Center, MD
Workshop: Dance for Movers With and Without Disabilities
2018 Movement Workshop in Voice for the Actor I Class at University of Maryland
Workshop: Exploring Efforts in the Body
2018 Movement Workshop for Science Fiction and Social Justice Honors Seminar at University of Maryland
Workshop: Embodying Science Fiction
2018 Movement Workshops for the Community through the Going Dutch Festival, Elgin, IL
Workshop: Connections and Community
2017-2018 The Collective Company Modern Class, Baltimore, MD
Guest Artist
2018 C-Unit Studio, Chevy Chase, MD
Preschool Dance Instructor
2018 Prince George’s County Park District, College Park, MD
Choreographer: Children’s Musical: ages 8-16
2017 ACDA (American College Dance Association) Mid-Atlantic North Conference
Class Instructor: Ballet with Ease, Dance for Every Body: Conference Participants
2016-2017 Dance Matrix, Crofton, MD
Dance Instructor, Competition Choreographer: Jazz, Tap, Musical Theater: ages 8-18
2016 Tiffany Lawson Dance Library Tours, Chicago, IL
Movement Facilitator: Outreach programming to libraries around Chicago: ages 5-14
2012-2016 Rogers Public School, Chicago, IL
In-School Dance Teacher: Introduction to Dance: grades K-8
2015-2016 Decatur Classical School, Chicago, IL
In-School Dance Teacher: Tap and Breakdance: grades K-6
2014-2016 DancEd Dance Center, Northbrook, IL
Competition Coach/ Dance Instructor: ballet, jazz, and hip-hop: ages 5-16
2010-2016 Performing Arts Limited, Chicago, IL
Dance Instructor: Ballet, creative movement, breakdance, tap, ballet fitness: ages 2-50+
2013-2016 Evanston Athletic Club, Evanston, IL
Fitness Instructor: Ballet Burn: Adult
2014-2016 Chicago Contemporary Dance Theatre, Chicago, IL
Dance Instructor/ Competition Choreographer: ballet, tap, jazz, modern, lyrical: ages 5-16
2009-2014 Allegro Music and Dance Academy, Lemont, IL
Lead Teacher/ Competition Team Director: assist with class schedules and program development, ballet,
tap, jazz, hip-hop, show choir, musical theatre: students age 2-17
2011 Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp, Blue Lake, MI
Ballet Faculty: ballet, pointe, repertory: grades 6-8
Choreography:
*denotes work in which Christine Hands performed
Cloudscape 2023
an interactive musing on mortality, ephemerality, and the essence of clouds
*Going Dutch Festival produced by Side Street Studio Arts: Elgin, IL
The Currency of Pleasure 2020
dance film reflecting on the view inside and out from quarantine
*Virtual Going Dutch Festival produced by Side Street Studio Arts: Elgin, IL
A Duet with My Sister (COVID Edition) 2020
a delightful romp through the neighborhood caught on camera
*Virtual Going Dutch Festival produced by Side Street Studio Arts: Elgin, IL
A Duet in the Garden 2019
a mixed ability dance work about the bugs one finds
*Going Dutch Festival produced by Side Street Studio Arts: Elgin, IL
Danny Boy 2019
an interactive journey through familial generations
*Going Dutch Festival produced by Side Street Studio Arts: Elgin, IL
The Place Without Shadows 2019
based on Tuesday Smillie’s reading of Ursula K. LeGuin’s The Left Hand of Darkness
*Shared Graduate Dance Event, University of Maryland, College Park, MD
Hamlet 2018
a sci-fi, cyberpunk, dance theater take on William Shakespeare’s Hamlet
*MFA Thesis Concert, University of Maryland: College Park, MD
A Duet with My Sister 2018
a mixed ability dance work
*Going Dutch Festival produced by Side Street Studio Arts: Elgin, IL
Table for One, Please 2018
in which food is eaten, drinks are consumed, and clothes are removed
*Going Dutch Festival produced by Side Street Studio Arts: Elgin, IL
Zism Prism and the Astromonid 2018
an excerpt from The Chromanauts
*University of Maryland Shared Graduate Dance Concert: College Park, MD
Citizen Displaced 2018
an evening length collaboration between the UMD School of Music and the UMD Department of Dance bringing awareness to the global Refugee Crisis
University of Maryland, College Park, MD
Tertiary Spaces 2018
a collaborative evening exploring the space between humans through play and games. Choreographed by Christine Hands, Stacey Carlson, Ama Law, and Shawn Stone: an MFA Cohort at UMD
*University of Maryland Second Season, College Park, MD
Maquette 2017
a site specific work in an art gallery
*Inside the Block |Outside the Box, Baltimore, MD
A Duet with Melissa 2017
a heartfelt duet between sisters separated by distance, the catch is one sister happens to be abled and one disabled
*University of Maryland Shared Graduate Dance Concert: Rising: College Park, MD
*BIDA Choreographer's Showcase: Baltimore, MD
*NextNOW Festival: College Park, MD
The Chromanauts (full length work) 2016, 2017
collaboration with visual artist John Mosher, Co-Produced with Side Street Studio Arts
*Side Street Studio Arts: Elgin, IL
*Salisbury University: Salisbury, MD
Waltz of the Snowflakes 2015
modern dance take on the classic Nutcracker ballet ... complete with marshmallows and laughter
Cracked Nuts: Elgin, IL
I Know World Premiere 2015
a tribute to the late Matt Ryd
*Film: Self-directed and performed. Filmed and edited by Ben Winter
This is Not a Dance 2015
multimedia meditation on Surrealism
*St. Louis Fringe Festival (St. Louis, MO), *Elgin Fringe Festival (Elgin, IL), Going Dutch Dance Festival (Chicago, IL) Vaudeville Roars Night Out in the Parks (Chicago, IL)
*In Passing 2015- 2017
collaboration with guitarrist Adrian Medriano; solo and quartet version
*Going Dutch (Chicago, IL), *Vaudeville Roars Night Out in the Parks (Chicago, IL), *In Concert (Elgin, IL), Tiffany Lawson Dance (Chicago, IL)
A Place At The Table 2014
documentary style interviews serve as a video background for this work about disability and accessibility
Elgin Ties Dance Festival (Elgin, IL), Tiffany Lawson Dance (Chicago, IL)
To Be Determined 2013
a film accompanies a live performer in this exploration of present and past tense
*Continuous Present Tense (Tulsa, OK), *Bonesbare 7 (Chicago, IL)
Icicles (full length work) 2013- 2014
a full length work about numbness, explored through four acts that use seasons and states of matter as metaphors for the human condition
*Chicago Fringe Festival (Chicago, IL)
Excerpts presented at: *St, Louis Fringe Festival (St. Louis, IL), *Kansas City Fringe Festival (Kansas City, KS), Boulder Fringe Festival (Boulder, CO), Asheville Fringe Festival (Asheville, NC), *Bonesbare 8 (Chicago, IL)
*Strophe, Epode, Epode II 2013
three works based on Richard Linklater’s “Before Sunrise,” “Before Sunset,” and “Before Midnight” films about love, love lost, and love over time
Welcome to our World Vol. 2 with Creative Nests (Chicago, IL), *Going Dutch (Chicago, IL), *Bonesbare 8 (Chicago, IL)
La Couronne de Naples: Tragic Overture 2012
a comic ballet
Chicago Freelance Dance (Chicago, IL)
Shut-Up Peggy 2012
topical feminist dance theater work about the 2012 “war on women”
ArtSlam with Chicago Verge Dance Theater (Chicago, IL), *Dance Chicago (Chicago, IL)
The Next Stop 2011-2012
a short work about the spacial confines of a city
*Dance Chicago (Chicago IL), *Links Hall's THAW (Chicago, IL), *Chicago Freelance Dance (Chicago, IL)
Madly Mated 2011
a comic duet set to excerpts from “The Taming of the Shrew”
*Dance Chicago (Chicago, IL), *Milwaukee Avenue Arts Festival (Chicago, IL)
Without You I 2011, 2009
a solo performed with a 10 foot chain as a partner, about a failing relationship
*Going Dutch (Chicago, IL), *Iowa Dance Fest
The Course of True Love Never Did 2010
musings on love set to Shakespeare’s most iconic love scenes
*Dance Chicago (Chicago, IL), Rebound Dance Festival (Chicago, IL)
Tease restaged 2010, 2007
choreographed as my BFA honors thesis; a work about gender roles and the “other”
*Dance Chicago (Chicago, IL), *University of Iowa Undergraduate Concert (Iowa City, IA)
Luke 5:10 restaged 2014 ,2007
a work about faith
*Going Dutch (Chicago IL), University of Iowa Graduate/ Undergraduate Concert (Iowa City, IA)
Performance Experience
"The Orpheus Adventure" (College Park, MD) April 2017
Dancer: Opera choreographed by Adriane Fang
"The One-Mile Radius Project" (Mount Rainier, MD) April 14, 2017
Performer: Orange Grove Dance
"Parks of Roses," Mamela Nyamza (College Park, MD) September 16, 2016
Performer
Core Project Chicago (Chicago, IL) 2013-2016
Associate Artistic Director
Mordine and Company (Chicago, IL) 2013
Guest Artist
Renegade Dance Architects (Chicago, IL) 2012-2013
Company Member
Supermarket Sweep Dance Film (Chicago, IL) 2011
Soloist
Dance Alliance (Chicago, IL) 2011
Guest Artist
Corpo Dance Company (Chicago, IL) 2010-2011
Company Member
Administrative Experience:
BodyWise Dance: Washington, D.C. 2019
Intern: Supporting filming and development of an instructional dance film for disabled peoples
Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, College Park, MD 2018-2019
Graduate Assistant in Community Engagement: focus on access and inclusion
Mark Morris Dance Center, Brooklyn, NY 2018
Intern: Dance for Parkinson’s and Education Dept. with a focus on inclusion
Core Project Chicago, Chicago, IL 2013-2016
Associate Artistic Director: Managing events, rehearsals, auditions, and fundraisers, attending board meetings, supporting with grant-writing
Invited Talks:
“Ready or Not: Preparing Our Institutions for the Next Generation of Dance Scholars” Participation in HUB discussion group at Dance Studies Association Conference in Rutgers New Brunswick, NJ October 14-17, 2021.
“Including Students With Disabilities Into a Traditional Dance Class” Faculty development at Kinetics Dance Theater: Ellicott City, MD. May 19, 2019.
“Choreographing Access: The Choreography and Performance of Audience Accessibility at a Dance Concert” PCA/ACA in Washington DC. April 17-20, 2019.
“Through the Door: Access and Inclusion in the World of Dance” GradTerps Exchange at the University of Maryland. Sept 12, 2018.
“Making Inclusive Dance Spaces: Why Disability Dance Artistry Matters In Our Community” Going Dutch Festival Talk presented by Side Street Studio Arts. May 26, 2018.
"Innovations in Inclusivity" TDPS Wednesdays Series at the University of Maryland. November 15, 2017.
"A Spectrum of Abilities: Expanding Diversity Potential Onstage Through Mixed Ability Dance" Making Interventions Symposium at University of Maryland. October 13, 2017.
“A Spectrum of Abilities: Expanding Disability Potential Through Dance” Baltimore Country Public Schools Workshop Day. September 21, 2017.
“A Spectrum of Abilities: Expanding Disability Potential Onstage” ACDA Mid-Atlantic North Conference at University of Maryland. March 10, 2017
"Masculine Men and the Search for Other Options: Masculinity Performance on the Western Stage” University of Iowa Craft Critique Culture Conference. April 14, 2007.
Recognition and Awards:
-recipient of week-long residency for creation of new work from Side Street Studio Art’s Going Dutch Festival (2024)
-recipient of a travel grant from the International Program for Creative Collaboration & Research of the School of Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies at the University of Maryland. Research topic: “Inclusive Dance in the UK” (2019)
-co-Recipient (with David Flyr) of University of Iowa School of Music M-Cubator Grant (2017)
-Recipient of University of Maryland College of Arts and Humanities Travel Grant (2017)
-Recipient of AXIS Dance Company Scholarship for Summer Study (2017)
-Recipient of the Presidential Scholarship, University of Iowa (2004-2007)
Special Skills:
costume design and sewing skills, video editing, sound editing, photography, acting, marketing, arts administration, writing skills