Faculty and Production Staff

Cristin Carole, M.A.T.

About

Cristin Carole began her dance training under the tutelage of her aunt Shirley Hall-Bass at the Sammy Dyer School of the Theatre in Chicago. She went on to study ballet at the Boitsov Classical Ballet School with Mme. Elizabeth Boitsov, and Modern Dance with Timothy Buckley and Doug Wood. In 2001, Cristin passed The Royal Academy of Dance Ballet Instructor’s Exam in Nassau, Bahamas. She has performed for audiences at Mo Ming, Links Hall, the Athenaeum Theatre, Lyric Opera, Auditorium Theatre and as a principal dancer in University of Chicago productions at Mandel Hall. Cristin has also choreographed for various organizations and venues in the Bahamas including the National Dance Company, National Youth Choir and led master classes in dance education for Bahamas Dance Theatre. Cristin also choreographed for the Bahamian National Festival Junkanoo group “Colours” in its 2001 debut. In 2005, she staged the opening event of the Central American and Caribbean Games in Nassau, Bahamas with a cast of 200. Also in that year, Ms. Carole joined The Joffrey Ballet as a teaching artist and curriculum development consultant and was instrumental in the creation of its Bridge Program for children of color. Cristin has worked as the dance consultant and choreographer in prominent Chicago theaters including The Steppenwolf Theatre, Timeline Theatre, Writer’s Theatre, The Court Theatre productions of Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, Home, and the critically acclaimed Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess. Most recently, her work could be seen in the Goodman theater’s production of Toni Stone, Milwaukee Rep’s Production of Seven Guitars, The Gospel at Colonus at the Court Theater and Classical Kids LIVE! National tour of the Sword and the Bow.

Cristin has served on the faculty of the City Colleges of Chicago and the College of The Bahamas (now University of The Bahamas) as an Arts Integration Specialist, and for ten years as adjunct faculty for  Columbia College Chicago’s Graduate Program in Education and most recently as adjunct faculty Loyola University’s theater department. She has developed programs and workshops for the Golden Apple Foundation, Hedwig Dance Company, Urban Gateways, Chicago Park District, South Side Community Arts Center and the Arts Center of Cannon County Tennessee. Over her 20 years of teaching in Chicago Public Schools, Ms. Carole has led numerous professional learning workshops for teachers on the practical implementation of movement and dance across the curriculum. She is a member of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society and was most recently accepted into Columbia College’s Intimacy Directors Certification Program for Stage and Screen. As director of the Shirley Hall Bass Foundation, a registered 501-c-3, she advocates for quality performing arts education in The Bahamas and hosts an annual Dance Educators Forum in partnership with the University of The Bahamas.

Degrees

B.A. Technical Theater, University of Illinois, Chicago

M.A.T. Educational Studies, Columbia College Chicago