PHILLIP CARMAN

(Ballet Master/Resident Director)
Former Artistic Director of the Maryland Ballet, Mr. Carman has enjoyed an illustrious career in the ballet.  As a member of the Pennsylvania Ballet, National Ballet of Canada, Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, & Tanz Projekt Munchen, he has amassed a wealth of experience.  Phillip is in popular demand as a Master Teacher, Choreographer & Arts Council specialist.  He has served as a Cultural Ambassador in Italy, and his choreography continues to receive enthusiastic reviews in Europe and the USA.  Phillip is a "dancers' director".  As Artistic Director of the Maryland Ballet, he was recognized by the City of Baltimore for his contributions to the cultural fabric of Baltimore.  He enjoys his work as an international competitions' coach, and graces the judging panels of top dance competitions. Mr. Carman was the Artistic Director of the St. Paul Chamber Ballet and has been on faculty at Miami City Ballet, Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet and Boston Ballet.   

SEAN KELLY (Associate Director)
Mr. Kelly received his training at the Marin Ballet. He performed with American Ballet Theatre II and Houston Ballet as a Principal dancer for many years dancing principal roles in ballets by renowned choreographers such as George Balanchine, Christopher Bruce, Jiri Kylian, Ben Stevenson, Paul Taylor and Stanton Welch. He also won Best Partner at the International Ballet Competition in Helsinki, Finland. Mr. Kelly joined the Houston Ballet staff as a Ballet Master, where he was invited to stage Ben Stevenson's Cleopatra for Boston Ballet and Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre. He created two ballets for Houston Ballet, numerous works for Diablo Ballet, and is a featured guest teacher and choreographer across the country. Mr. Kelly performed in the Tony Award winning touring production of Swing where he also served as Dance Supervisor. Mr. Kelly performed in the Tony Award winning Broadway and touring productions of Twlya Tharp's Movin' Out and also served as the Resident Director. Mr. Kelly was the Resident Choreographer of the Tony Award winning musical Billy Elliot, which toured nationally and throughout Canada. He is thrilled to be working with Bad Boys of Dance and to share his knowledge of melding ballet with Broadway.

JEAN EMILE (Guest Ballet Master)
J. Jean F. Emile has danced in the Netherlands Dance theater from the years 1985-1996 while having danced in La Compania Nacional de Danza during that time in 1991-1992.  He was contracted as a talent scout for the Cirque Du Soleil from the years 1996-2006 while also working casting “A New Day” starring Celine Dion at the Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas for the company Dragone.  Choreographically, Jean has done various projects including an Opera in Osnabruck, Germany a cabaret show for Dutch artist Sanne Wallis de Vries entitled “Vier”, various ballets including “3 Bailes” for Ballet Hispanico among others.. Currently Jean teaches in Barcelona and in NYC at the Alvin Ailey American Dance Center.

DEBORAH ENGERMAN (Guest
 Ballet Mistress)
Deborah Engerman has been teaching and coaching classical ballet in the Baltimore/DC area for over 15 years. She began her training with the Baltimore Ballet in the RAD (Royal Academy of Dance) tradition, passing her graded exams. While pursuing her degree in International Policy at Dickinson College, she continued her study of classical ballet at Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet and Studio du Marais in Paris, France. She has been fortunate to have many successes as a dance educator. Deborah was the Ballet Academy Director at Mid Atlantic Center for the Performing Arts, where she staged such ballets as the Nutcracker and Swan Lake, Act II. Dancers trained by Ms. Engerman have danced with companies such as Universal Ballet, The Washington Ballet, The Vienna Opera Ballet, Boston Ballet, among others. They have also ended up in Broadway Shows such as Cats and The Lion King. Deborah has also been a coach to dancers winning at numerous international ballet competitions, such as The Prix de Lausanne, the Varna IBC, and The Youth America Grand Prix. One of her students, Adrienne Canterna, took the Junior Gold Medal at the 1998 Jackson USA IBC. Ms. Engerman is thrilled to be working with such talented, motivated, young dancers as she finds in The Bad Boys of Dance.

ASHLEY DAY (Lighting Designer)
Ashley graduated with a BA from the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts, initially studying as a composer and session musician.  He worked as a technician at his local theatre in Cambridge in between musical engagements, giving him the opportunity to learn and practice his lighting skills with the variety of shows that toured through the venue.  He has since toured extensively around the UK and Europe, lighting numerous rock acts and theatrical shows, including two other shows for AIS Productions - Tango Pasion and Wild Woman Blues.  He has also completed two world tours as lighting designer for Grammy nominated artist Joan Armatrading.

LUTIN TANNER (Lighting Designer/Production Stage Manager/Tech Director)
Hails from Mankato, MN. He received a BA in Dance and Theatre from Western Michigan University. He started his career as a dancer with Garth Fagan Dance, whom he performed nationally and internationally with for 5 years. He then went on to become Resident Lighting Designer & Production Manager for Dance New Amsterdam. In recent times Lutin has lit pieces for Arthur Aviles, Sara Baird, Brian Brooks, Theresa Duhon, Larry Keigwin, Alex Beller, Earl Mosley, Oliver Steele, Camille A. Brown, Troy Powell and Kevin Wynn. He is currently Resident Lighting Designer for EMIA. Using his unique dance lighting perspective he has lit theatrical performances such as 7 Veils and Funeralogues. Lutin is proud to have been with Rasta Thomas's Bad Boys of Dance since its premier at Jacob’s Pillow, 2007. Thanks and love to his wife Adrienne, for her understanding of the late nights. Big UP! To his sons Lucien & Ellington, Love & Peace!

MAURICE BRANDON CURRY (Director of Development)
In addition to a celebrated career as a director, choreographer, and educator Maurice Brandon Curry has developed a distinguished reputation as an arts administrator. He has worked in both an artistic and/or administrative capacities for DancEllington (directed by Mercedes Ellington), Lexington Repertory Dance Theatre (SC), the Usdan Center for the Performing Arts, Repertory Dance Theatre (PA), and Jazz Dance America. Additionally, Mr. Curry was the Director of Educational Programs for the Joffrey Ballet School. Mr. Curry has served on the board of directors for dre.dance (a company directed by Andrew Palermo and Taye Diggs), Bangor Ballet, and is currently on the advisory board of DANCER magazine. In addition to his BFA in Choreography, Mr. Curry holds a degree in Digital Filmmaking and Multimedia. He is currently the Creative Director for the NYC-based production company, Innovative Arts and Media and is extremely proud to be a part of the team at Bad Boys of Dance.

TONY MARQUES (Lighting Supervisor/Production Stage Manager)
Tony recently toured with the Kirov Ballet as lighting supervisor and designed two world premieres productions for Ardani Artists’, “Beauty In Motion” and “The Kings of Dance.” In 2010 he designed New York Seasons for Elisa Monte Dance, Youth America Grand Prix Ballet, Rebecca Kelly Ballet, Kim Gibilisco & Dancers, Thomas/Ortiz Dance, and C. Eule Dance. In the field of dance, Mr. Marques has created lighting designs for some of the world's top dance companies and choreographers. 

Brandon Russell (Operations Manager)
Brandon Perry-Russell is a native of Fort Worth, TX. He began his dance training late at the age of 17 at Dian West Dance Studio, Texas Ballet Theatre School and Debbie Allen Dance Academy. He Brandon continued his academic and training at Southern Methodist University studying a variety of dance techniques and composition, where his choreographic aspirations were nurtured by Larry White and Nathan Montoya. While attending SMU Brandon was awarded numerous scholarships and trained all over the country, including such prestigious institutions as Edge Performing Arts, The Ailey School, Dance Theatre of Harlem School, Joffery Ballet School, Houston Ballet School and many more. Upon leaving SMU Mr. Perry-Russell moved to New York, to pursue his career in dance. He has performed with Dance Theatre of Harlem Ensemble, Pascal Rioult Dance Theatre, Lydia Johnson Dance, Errol Grimes Dance Group, Rohan Bearden Contemporary Ballet, Balance Dance Theatre, Subtle Changes Inc. Mr. Perry-Russell has taught ballet, modern, jazz, contemporary, hip-hop, gymnastics and choreographed for various companies, schools, studios, fine arts programs, summer intensives and is a proud founding choreographer for Bad Boys of Dance.

ANTHONY CUTRONA (Managing Director and Treasurer)
Anthony  J. Cutrona, is a Certified Public Accountant with a fifty year career in general and financial management. After being associated with a major accounting firm for many years, Mr. Cutrona was involved in the founding, development and eventual sale of several businesses. Mr. Cutrona served as the Chief Executive Officer for a publicly traded telecommunications software company and has served as a consultant in the corporate, entrepreneurial venture capital, government and non-profit sectors. Mr. Cutrona has a great interest in the field of the performing arts and served as the Managing Director for the Russian Ballet Theater of Delaware and now serves as the Managing Director and Treasurer of Rasta Thomas LLC and The Bad Boys of Dance LLC. 

Mel Howard (Producer) 
After founding the literary cabaret La Contrescarpe in 1960 with French actress Arlette Reinerg, Arlette and Mel took the lease of the Theatre De Poche Montparnasse where as La Compagnie Reinerg-Howard they produced and directed the first productions of original plays by the likes of Dubillard, Arrabal and Obaldia. Their production of Naives Hirondelles by Roland Dubillare, which he also translated into English, won the critics prize for Best Play of the year in 1961 and is now considered a classic in France. He also produced in Paris Leroy Jones’s Slave Ship and Michael McClure’s “The Beard”. Among other plays Mel produced was the original version of La Maison D’Os by Rolond Dubillard. While running La Contrescarpe Mel toured his theater productions throughout France and on to Italy, Germany and England.

Mel returned from Paris to the United States in 1967 with a taste for doing things first and doing them well. He created and toured the French review Paris Rive Gauche for five years, brought back to the U.S. and produced the first and only U.S. national tour of the Living Theater, the first tours of Stars Of The Comedie Francaise and Stars Of the Royal Shakespeare Company, was first to bring La Mama, The Martha Graham Dance Company, A Chorus Line, Merce Cunningham, Robert Wilson, 42nd Street and his creation Tango Pasion among others on tour in Europe. He toured Ain’t Misbehavin’ around the world as the first Broadway Musical straight from Broadway to perform in Germany, Austria, Sweden, Mexico, Finland and Spain, among others. Mel was the first to present Shirley MacLaine Live in many European countries and the first to present Cats in Paris, where his production won the coveted Prix Moliere for Best Musical in 1989. He produced the musical review Black and Blue at the Chatelet in Paris and then moved it to Broadway where it garnered 17 Tony nominations, winning 3 Tony’s. On Broadway he also produced Flamenco Puro, Tango Argentino, Medea at Lincoln Center, Bejart on Broadway, Notre Faust, Wonderhouse and Tango Pasion, which has been touring the world these last 19 years.

For some name-dropping: Mel Howard was the first to produce an arena tour for Placido Domingo, starting at Madison Square Garden and two tours of North and South America with ballets produced especially for Rudolf Nureyev, Giselle and Don Quixote. He toured Shirley MacLaine Live in 5 countries Shirley had never performed in before.
Mel brought for the first time to the U.S. major dance troupes from Bali, Cambodia, Turkey, Morocco, Colombia, Venezuela, Trinidad, Thailand, Japan, Brazil, Peru, Greece, Yugoslavia and Argentina. Mel Howard is also producer of the world tour of Ain’t Misbehavin,’ performing internationally since October 2011

Currently Mel is pleased to be presenting Rasta Thomas’s Rock the Ballet internationally with partner Thomas Collien. Rock The Ballet has given over 500 performances for more than 500,000 spectators’ world wide since Howard and Collien first produced it in Hamburg at the St. Pauli Theater four years ago. Rock The Ballet 2 is set to open a new world tour in January of 2013.