Read About Our Founders

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Mark Cummings

Co-Founder, Co-Director

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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.  

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Celina Schroer

Co-Director, 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 7th season as a choreographer with the Gary Geis Dance Company, and her third season as Associate Director of GGDC. She is excited to continue Gary’s legacy and make dance training and performance accessible to everyone, regardless of their background.