Melanie George
Instructor, Dance, Dance
mgeorge@american.edu
202-885-3433

Melanie George, MA, CMA, is a performer, choreographer, writer and teacher. George holds a BA in dance from Western Michigan University, an MA in dance and Graduate Certificate in Secondary Teaching from American University (AU), and the Certified Movement Analyst degree from the Laban/Bartenieff Institute of Movement Studies in New York City. While attending AU, she served as Liaison to the Associate Dean in the College of Arts and Sciences and was awarded the Multicultural Affairs Leadership Award. From 2004-2008, she was an Assistant Professor of Dance and the Dance Education Program Coordinator at Kent State University. Her choreography spans many genres, including works in concert dance, theater, musical theater and voice. Her performance history includes Dance Nonce Dance Company, Boris Willis Moves, the Detroit Electronic Music Festival and the 2002 Kennedy Center Honors. George presented her research on jazz dance improvisation in the United States, Canada and Scotland. Currently, she is an Education Consultant for the Dance Institute of Washington and serves on the National Dance Education Organization’s Board of Directors, as the Director of Student Chapters. At American University, George teaches courses in ballet, modern, and jazz dance, Dance and Society, and the African American Experience in the Performing Arts, and directs the Choreolab, Informal Dance Concert, and Spring Dance Concert.

Vladimir Angelov
Dance Instructor
vlad@dancingangel.net

Vladimir Angelov graduated from the National Ballet School in Sofia, Bulgaria. He studied Philosophy at the University of Sofia, and completed a Master of Arts degree at the American University in Washington, DC.

Mr. Angelov dances have been shown at “New Choreographers on Pointe” in New York, Paris International Dance Festival, Vienna TanzFest in Austria, Kyoto Fall Arts Festival in Japan, All Latin America Dance Festival in Puerto Rico, among others.

He has choreographed new works for companies such as Atlanta Ballet, Arizona Ballet, Indianapolis Ballet, Richmond Ballet, San Francisco Ballet, Washington Ballet, Alberta Ballet in Canada, Tokyo City Ballet in Japan, and the Kirov Ballet in Russia.

In addition, he has also choreographed for the Placido Domingo’s Washington National Opera production of “Samson et Dalila”; the Kennedy Center’s musical production of Debbie Allen’s "Soul Possessed"; for the “Brothers Karamazov” of the Stanislavsky Theater; and dances for TV advertisements with Hollywood director Mark Cartie.

Mr. Angelov won the Choreography Award of the 1996 Varna International Ballet Competition in Bulgaria , and the 2000 Choreography Fellowship Award of the Washington Commission on the Arts and Humanities and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Lora Ruttan
Dance Instructor
LR6730a@american.edu

Lora Ruttan began her dance training with the Laurel Ballet in Greensburg, PA, and she went on to dance professionally with the Charleston Ballet Company in Charleston, WV. Ms. Ruttan graduated magna cum laude from Randolph-Macon Woman’s College with a BA in dance. She also received her dance education licensure, K-12 and taught ballet and modern classes at R-MWC. Upon graduation Ms. Ruttan taught dance for three years at Huntington Magnet School for the Arts and Communications in Newport News, VA. Ms. Ruttan has studied at the Pointe Park Conservatory, the North Carolina School for the Arts and the Laban Dance Centre in London, England. She is currently a graduate student at American University in her final year and is an adjunct faculty member teaching Beginning Ballet and Intermediate Modern.