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M E E T O U R J U D G E S
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Jillian Ducharme - Spirit of Dance Awards Emcee and Specialty Judge
Jillian graduated with her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. She was a member of the University Dancers touring company and was awarded the Chancellor's Talent Award for three years. While at UMass, she set three works of her own for their Emerging Choreographers Series and Alive With Dance concert. Jillian has worked with New York choreographer Randy James and has performed as a company member of the New York based Push Factor Dance Company. In CT, Jillian has been a company member with Full Force Dance Theatre, DancEnlight, and Dance Connect for whom she has performed as well as choreographed for. Jillian has many years of competition experience both as an instructor and an adjudicator, and for 3 years was the model choreographer for DesignWorks costume catalog. Her teaching experience includes classes in ballet, jazz, contemporary, and modern, at several studios in the New England area including The Connecticut Concert Ballet, The Hartt School and the Massachusetts Academy of Ballet. Jillian is thrilled to be working with Spirit of Dance Awards again this season as their Emcee and Specialty Judge!
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Sarah Keegan was born in England and trained at the prestigious Elmhurst Ballet School. She continued her training earning her BA in Musical Theatre from the London Studio Centre. Sarah studied classical ballet, contemporary dance, jazz, tap and musical theatre, and she was a member of the Contemporary Ballet Company. Her performing career has taken her from the theaters of the West End to Europe, where she has performed and taught extensively for various companies. Upon moving to the U.S., Sarah became a Radio City Rockette and has appeared in musicals, film and television. Her credits include Singing in the Rain, George M, Law and Order, Stepford Wives, Without a Trace, and a Paramount Pictures dancer.
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Liz Piccoli has worked professionally as a performer, an instructor and a choreographer for over 10 years. Liz has choreographed several top award winning numbers for collegiate dance teams, and was herself a member of the First Place National Champions, Rutgers University Dance Team. Among her professional credits are industrials, television, film, stage and theater. For three seasons Liz was a dancer with the Metropolitan Opera in NYC, as well as with the Lyric Opera, has appeared in West Side Story, 42nd Street, MTV’s "Making the Video", and as a featured dancer in Joe Lanteri’s Zoot Suit Strut. Always busy, she has choreographed and performed her own original off Broadway show, Crazy, Sexy Disco, is a choreographer for the New York City Jazz Choreography Project at Alvin Ailey and has recently booked an SDC Observership/ Assistant Choreograper with Dan Knechtges for a new Off-Broadway production. Liz’s love and passion for dance and the arts continues to be a force in her life.
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Shawn Mahoney has a distinguished list of credits throughout his career as a dancer. His early training included The Boston Ballet Center for Dance and the American Ballet Theatre School, where he was an ABT apprentice. Shawn subsequently went on to become a principal, soloist and a corps de ballet dancer with The Boston Ballet for six years before becoming an invited member of Twyla Tharp's "Twyla Tharp & Dancers". Through his career, Shawn has had the honor of performing at The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, and as a guest artist with Suzannne Farrell & Company and The Balanchine Project to name a few. In 2001 he founded Mahoney Agency, in which to represent dancers, providing them opportunities for performance engagements. Shawn has since continued teaching master classes, choreographing, coaching, adjudicating, and in 2006 was appointed a faculty position at Emerson College.
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