Read About Our Founders

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Mark Cummings

Co-Founder, Gary Geis Dance Company | Currently GGDC Founding Director

 

Currently acting as GGDC Founding Director, Mark began his training as a musical theatre major at Bowling Green State University in 1975. After his first year of dance training, he moved to Bloomington, Indiana, to major in modern dance at Indiana University.

 

Although an injury cut his college education short, his love of dance lead him to Dayton in 1978 to study with artists such as Josephine Swartz, Jon Rodriguez and Bess Saylor-Imber, and to perform with DBII. After seeing a performance by Dayton Contemporary Dance Company, he was drawn by their powerful contemporary repertory and joined the training company where he studied with Jeraldyn Blunden and James Truitt. In the early 1980's he was invited to choreograph for the University of Dayton Dance Ensemble where he began his teaching career. Mark retired as the Artistic Director of the U.D. Dance Program in 2009.  

 

Tiffany Lobertini

GGDC Artistic Director, Instructor, Choreographer | Geis Repertory Advisor

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Tiffany became Artistic Director of  GGDC in 2019, during our 20th Anniversary season.  Born and raised in Springfield, she began dancing at the age of 2 and it has remained  her passion ever since.  While in high school she was selected to participate in the Ohio Governor's Summer Institute for Dance at The Ohio State University. Tiffany continued her dance training as a dance education major at Bowling Green State University  and was a member of the University Performing Dancers as a dancer and choreographer. When she returned home to Springfield, she continued her dance training at the Gary Geis School of Dance and performed, as well as choreographed, for the University of Dayton Dance Ensemble.  She served as the Director of the Fairmont Dance Ensemble and was the modern instructor for the Dayton Ballet Summer Intensive program. 

Tiffany has a long history with GGDC, first as a company member, then as the Director of GGDC2,  and resident choreographer for GGDC. Since she studied for so many years with Gary Geis, and performed in  many of his works over the year, there was not doubt that she should become the Geis repertory advisor. In this capacity,  his legacy  continues with a new  generation of dancers who are learning his unique style and many of his signature works.   

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Celina Schroer

GGDC Associate Artistic Director, Instructor, Choreographer

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Celina began her ballet training at the New Paltz School of Ballet in her hometown of New Paltz, NY and continued her training at Mercyhurst University where she graduated with a BFA in Dance.  Growing up, she attended summer programs with the New York State Summer School of the Arts, BalletMet, and Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre and performed children’s roles in New York City Ballet’s productions of Circus Polka, and Coppelia. In college, she competed at the Youth America Grand Prix, where she placed in the top 24 in her age category, and attended the American College Dance Association conference in Athens, OH.  Celina has performed professionally with Mercyhurst Ballet Theater, Lake Erie Ballet and the Springfield Symphony Orchestra and has worked as a choreographer for the Clark State Theater Arts Program, The Springfield Arts Council, and The Springfield Symphony Orchestra.   She has performed choreography by George Balanchine, Jerome Robbins, Marius Petipa, Jimmy Orrante, and Gary Geis, and has worked with esteemed choreographers such as Nilas Martins, Hannah Baumgarten, and Kerry Skuderin.

This is Celina’s 6th season as a dancer and choreographer with the Gary Geis Dance Company, and her second season as the Associate Artistic Director of GGDC. She is excited to continue Gary’s legacy and make dance training and performance accessible to everyone, regardless of their background.