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Teacher Bio
Dionna JOI PridGeon is from the Chicago west suburbs, she started her dance training after high school. She's a Point Park University graduate with 18 years of experience in Dance Education/Choreography. Dionna began her teaching journey in Education, at Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, then later faculty at The Lou Conte Dance Studio | HSDC for many years....Read more
Dionna JOI PridGeon is from the Chicago west suburbs, she started her dance training after high school. She's a Point Park University graduate with 18 years of experience in Dance Education/Choreography. Dionna began her teaching journey in Education, at Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, then later faculty at The Lou Conte Dance Studio | HSDC for many years. She’s served on faculty at 10 other prestigious facilities including, The Ailey Extension, The Joffrey Ballet School/Academy, Debbie Reynolds Dance Studio, plus more. She's taught numerous Master Classes across the US, including Columbia College, Chicago Repertory Ballet, LA Contemporary Dance, Loyola Marymount University & Princeton University, to name a few, plus workshops in Montreal, Norway, and Germany.
In her early years, she worked as a model for Lily’s Talent Agency and CTG. Her training also includes Rennie Harris: Illadelph Legends (PA), Deeply Rooted (Chicago) & American Dance Festival (NC), Monsters of Hip Hop ('09 alumni), The Pulse on Tour (Protégé,) Ballroom Dance Chicago & Self Explore by: Shaun Evaristo. Some of her commercial credits include Coachella Music Fest, Waterbomb LA, B96 Summer Bash, and the 3 Sleuths Las Vegas. She's performed work by Brian Friedman, Kevin Maher, NappyTabs, Ian Eastwood, Justin Giles, Rhapsody, Luam, and more. Her concert credits include works by Lou Conte, Robert Battle, Danny Burczeski, Margo Sappington, Doug Bentz, and Kim Bears Bailey, as well as The Pillow Project (PA), Pittsburgh Dance Ensemble, Xpressions Dance (PA), Dance 2XS (Chicago), Dancer/Resident Choreographer for Cerqua Rivera Dance Theatre (Chicago),& Black Nativity, at the Goodman Theatre.
Dionna has also shared her choreography & creative direction at multiple venues: Tedx, Chicago's Orchestra Hall, Pritzker Pavilion - Millennium Park, The Athenaeum Theatre, and Choreographer’s Carnival (CHI/LA/NY), plus The Actors Art Fund, Players Theatre, Symphony Space, Salvatore Capezio Theatre, and Ailey Citigroup Theatre; Her work has been commissioned twice by Inside Chicago Dance. Currently, she's a published poet/writer, freelance consultant for Dance Media, and Founder/Creative Director of moveDIPR (deeper). And recently received Fiscal Sponsorship from Unique Projects by Pentacle + selected for an Artist Residency in France. Find out more at dionnapridgeon.com
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Class Descriptions
Class begins with a very thorough warmup process; connecting mind/body/spirit. Dionna uses an organic approach to warmup - never starting the class in the same way. “Our bodies feel differently from day to day,” so why not experience warmup...in different ways?
Dionna’s warmup is a break from the classical and traditional forms. However, she focuses on centering, breath, finding length, conditioning, short sequences and moving away from a stationary base. In addition, a more therapeutic form of improv is also incorporated to help dancers explore their own voices.
The class will ALWAYS learn a piece of choreography that holds a more organic, human approach, which allows for subtly and freedom. Her choreography bounces from a Contemporary Modern to Contemporary Jazz, to a Contemporary Hip-Hop vibe.
Class begins with a classic form of stretching, isolations, and conditioning. Dionna's style is very clean, groovy and at times, very detailed; It varies from performance to precision! Music is the impetus for her street choreography. Dionna believes that: “Musicality is everything!”