Chesterfield Dance Center's faculty

Carrie Hughes Hierholzer - Modern & Ballet, Studio Owner/Director

Carrie graduated cum laude with a B.F.A. in dance and choreography from Virginia Commonwealth University in 2000. During her time at VCU she performed in faculty pieces by Chris Burnside and Audrey Jung, and trained with an amazing faculty and guest artists such as: Chris Burnside, Barbara Grubel, Arnott Mader, Judy Jacobs, Audrey Jung, Melanie Richards, Nicolas Leicter, Judy Steel, Martha Curtis, Scott Putnam, Taylor 2 Dance Company, BeBe Miller, and many others. She was selected to attend American College Dance Festival in 2000 for her piece “Phantasm”, and again in 2001 for her performance in "Reel Elements". In 2002 she moved to NYC to study with Skip Costa and other NYC based dancers. While there, she realized that her true passion in dance was with her students. She returned the following year to continue teaching and has built a modern department at CDC that cannot be matched. She has received numerous awards for her choreography including Outstanding Contemporary, Outstanding Partnering, Choreographic Distinction Award, Outstanding Concept and her personal favorite; "Most Interesting Use of Music". In 2008, her piece, "The Fly" won 1st place Overall High Score, the "Judge's Choice Award", and a Choreography award at the NYLA Dance competition. Carrie has also done choreography for Cosby High School's dance team, Titania.
Most recently, Carrie has started performing again around the Richmond and D.C. area with rva dance collective, co-founded by CDC's own Jess Burgess.
Carrie is thrilled to start her 4th year as Chesterfield Dance Center's owner and director! This is Carrie's 12th year teaching at CDC.

Liz Venini – Jazz & HipHop

Liz established Chesterfield Dance Center in 1998, which she owned and directed until 2006.
Prior to that, Liz trained with many jazz and hip-hop “greats” including Frank Hatchett, Ray Leper, Barry Lather, Danny Burcheski, Pam Turner, and none other than the legendary “Luigi”. She has also worked with members of the “Rocksteady Crew”, and continues to train every chance she gets, which is not easy with two twin girls, Allie & Elizabeth and a devoted husband Chas. Liz has choreographed for Clover Hill High School's production of “Footloose”, and Cosby High School's productions of “Grease”, "Fame", and this Fall she will be choreographing "Throughly Modern Millie". She has also choreographed for The Richmond Speed, New Millennium film studios and Disney Radio. She has performed in numerous shows, industrials, television commercials, theme parks and dinner theatre productions. She has danced with Motionmania Dance Theatre, J.O.M. Jam Crew and Dupont Alley Dance Company in Washington DC. This is Liz's 12th year teaching at CDC.

Bryan Skates - Ballet

Bryan was born in and raised in Honolulu, HI, and trained at the Hawaii State Ballet from the age of 12.
In 1997, Bryan joined the Richmond Ballet. He spent seven seasons there dancing different roles in many ballets such as; Cinderella, Nuevo Tango, Coppelia, Three Preludes, Vestiges, and the Nutcracker.
In 2004, Bryan joined Ballet Theatre of Maryland as Ballet Master, Principle Dancer, and Faculty member. In his four years at BTM, he choreographed four ballets for the professional company, as well as staged classical works and new choreography for the school. Among these pieces were, Don Quixote Suites, Sleeping Beauty, Giselle, and Prince Igor.
Both he and his wife retired in 2008 and moved back to Richmond where they continue to teach dance and spend time with their son, Ethan. This is Bryan's first year teaching at CDC.

Lauren Myers- Tap & Lyrical

Lauren began her dance training at the age of 2 in Chester Va. In 1998 she made the move to CDC, and continued her training in all forms of dance, but found her true passion in tap dance. From 2001-2004, she studied dance at Appomattox Regional Governor's School of the Performing Arts. Lauren has trained with such greats as: Michelle Dorrance, Danny Wallace, Dormeisha Sumbry-Edwards, Gil Stromming, Mike Minnery, Melanie Richards, and Jason Janas. She spends weeks in NYC every summer, taking classes to further her training and abilities, in order to bring her students the lastest trends in the tap dancing world. In 2007, Lauren's piece, Technologic, won 1st overall and the "L.A. Award" at N.Y.L.A. dance convention. In the Spring of 2009, Lauren graduated magna cum laude from VCU's School of Social Work. This is Lauren's 5th year teaching at CDC.

Katelyn Hundley - Jazz

Katie began her dance training at the age of 7 at Chesterfield Dance Center, where she studied under the previous owner, Elizabeth Venini, and the current owner, Carrie Hughes. Throughout her years of taking classes at the studio, she was trained in many types of dance including: Ballet, Pointe, Jazz, Modern, Lyrical, Hip-hop, Tap, Contemporary, Broadway Jazz, and even Flamenco dance. She has studied with top Jazz and Hip-hop dancers and choreographers such as, Frank Hatchet, Dan Karaty, and Barry Lather. In the summer of 2007, she was selected from dancers across the nation, by the National Dance Alliance, to perform in the halftime show for the football game between Boise State and the University of Hawaii, at the “Thanksgiving in Paradise” game in Honolulu, Hawaii. Katie is an alumnus and past team captain for CDC’s competition group, dELIRIUM. She is also an alumnus and past captain of a Clover Hill High School’s dance team. Katie is excited to start her 2nd year on the faculty at CDC!

Brianna Winter - Jazz & Ballet

Brianna "Ginger" Winter started dancing at Fishback Studios in Albuquerque, New Mexico (rated the #1 Dance Studio in New Mexico by Dancer Magazine in 2008) at the age of ten. At the age of twelve, she joined the school of the New Mexico Ballet and performed in such productions as Dracula and the Nutcracker. At the age of fourteen she moved to Richmond, and started taking classes at the Richmond Ballet and Regency Academy until she graduated high school in 2007. She attended Radford University as a dance major for a semester, and though she really enjoyed the dancing, she missed her home and family. She is currently attending VCU as an Art major. This is Brianna's 2nd year teaching at CDC.

Jess Burgess - Modern

Jess, a James Madison University graduate, is a dancer, choreographer, and teacher. She has trained extensively with numerous professionals in the dance community, including Ed Tyler, Shannon Hummel, Toneta Aker Tolers, Isabel Gotzkowsky and Keith Thompson.
After graduation, Jess moved to Richmond VA to join forces with Danica Kalemdaroglu, touring during the 2008-2009 season in NYC, DC and VA as part of the collective, DragonFly Dance Experiment.
Burgess joined the Richmond Ballet for the 2008-2009 season as the full-time Marketing and PR Assistant.
Her recently launched solo project, jessburgessdance, toured throughout the east coast with DragonFly Dance Experiment during the 2008-2009 season. Her choreography has been presented at the Merce Cunningham Studio in NYC, the Jack Guidone Theater in Washington DC, Courtsquare Theatre in Harrisonburg, VA as well as Grace Street Theatre and McVey Studio Theatre in Richmond, VA. Most recently, Jess co-founded rva dance collective with Danica Kalemdaroglu. The modern dance company made their debut in January 2010 at Artworks and can be seen around the Richmond and D.C. area.
She continues to grow and evolve as a dancer, choreographer and person, and is thrilled to start her 1st year at CDC.