It’s that time of year when we celebrate the achievements of our Seniors in our studio and wish them all well on the next part of their journeys, both in dance and in life, and this year we have a very special graduate that we’d like to acknowledge.

Mr. Joe, our Marketing Director, Recital Lighting Designer/Production Manager, and Miss Mary‘s son is now a college graduate. He received his Bachelor’s of Fine Arts in Lighting Design from UNC School of the Arts this past May.

Joe has been lighting stage performances on Long Island for almost a decade, including performances of Hair and Spring Awakening at the CM Performing Arts Center. He has served as the Assistant to the Lighting Designer for productions of Cymbeline and The Tempest with Shakespeare in the Park, The Siblings Play at Cherry Lane Theatre, and as a Lighting Design Intern to Brad Fields at the American Ballet Theatre at the Metropolitan Opera House.

Recently Joe contributed to the Winston-Salem Light Project in which he used both lights and projection elements to “transform urban architecture and landscape” (“Two Lighting Designers Chosen for Prestigious New York Portfolio Review.” UNCSA. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 June 2017.) He was invited to participate in the 13th annual Hemsley Lighting Portfolio Review in New York where he was a part of panel reviews with theater professionals.

Joe has been interviewed by and participated in panel discussions about multiple aspects of running a successful dance studio and will be a presenter at the upcoming Energize 2017 Conference in Chicago this August with a seminar entitled “Standby in the Wings: Producing the Perfect Recital from Behind the Scenes”. He is also working on several freelance lighting design projects.

We are so proud of Joe and wish him the very best of luck in all his future endeavors both in his role here at Dance Connection and in his career in Lighting Design.