Candice Michelle Franklin
Director/Owner of Pro DANZ® Group, Inc.
Master Teacher in Jazz for Joffrey Ballet School
Joffrey Ballet School Jazz & Contemporary Audition Instructor/Scholarship Adjudicator
Former Head Choreographer for CEG Live Productions
Artistic Producer/Choreographer for Jazz Ain’t Dead®
www.CandiceFranklin.com
Contact:
212-426-1305
candicegetsdown@hotmail.com
www.facebook.com/candicegetsdown
Biography
Originally from St. Louis, MO, born and bred into Jazz dance and influenced greatly by the Jazz music scene, Candice Michelle Franklin is a New York based professional dancer, choreographer, and producer who has been seen in numerous film, TV shows, music videos, industrials, and, of course, on the live stage performing in plays and dance companies. She has a B.A. in Fine Arts majoring in Dance on four-year scholarship, studied on scholarship at Steps on Broadway, trained in St. Louis at Missouri Concert Ballet, and, upon invitation to New York, received her conservatory training at the Alvin Ailey American Dance Center. She owns Dance Industrial Professionals, Inc./The Pro DANZ Group in which she oversees the dance and creative direction of several performance groups, recording artists, industrials, and stage shows. Her work has been performed in a host of New York venues including Jacob Javitz Convention Center, The Syracuse OnCenter, MTV/Viacom, Capitale, Odeum Expo Center, Broad Street Ballroom, The Kumble Theater, the National Black Theater, Symphony Space, Joyce SoHo, Brooklyn Academy of Music's BAM Cafe, Webster Hall, The SPACE at Westbury/Westbury Theater, Stage 48, the Oheka Castle, The Theater of Riverside Church, The Sage Theater, American Theater of Actors, Tribeca Performing Arts Center, John Jay College, and New York’s City College, as well as numerous casinos on the east coast such as Turning Stone, the Foxwoods, Mohegan Sun, Tropicana, Borgata, and Caesar’s.
More recently, her choreography has been seen in the WEBBY-nominated music video for the rock band Black Taxi called “Shoeshine,” in the holiday stage play for Tiny Starr Productions, "Coming Home to Christmas," and in the gospel stage play, Blest Be the Tide, performed at Aaron Davis Hall in New York City. Additionally, she has been performing with the legendary master jazz pianist Onaje Allan Gumbs II's New Vintage and has served as Head Choreographer for CEG Productions LLC in addition to being an integral part, as both dancer and dance captain for the organization, for over 15 years. Moreover, she has served as choreographer for the 80′s Girl Group, Buffalo Stance, and as choreographer for a number of recording artists including Natiah, internationally celebrated Bollywood Hip hop artist, SHAKTI, the rapper BRASCO, and Grammy award winning recording artist, Macy Gray.
Currently, Ms. Franklin works as an Advanced Jazz instructor and adjudicator for The Joffrey Ballet School in the Jazz and Contemporary department for their summer intensive and elite professional bound trainee programs, instructs in Joffrey's Master Teacher National tour, and works as the producer and choreographer for Jazz Ain’t Dead®, a live band and dance production group performing at Jazz Festivals and Jazz concert series' such as Jazzmobile, the Harlem Shrines, and the Mid-Atlantic Jazz Festival. She continues her dance education as a candidate for certification in the Katherine Dunham technique and in the DVIDA Bronze Rhythm Syllabus in the Latin Ballroom styles at the Ballroom Dance Teacher’s College where she just received her Full Associate status this Spring. Ms. Franklin is a proud member of SAG-AFTRA, and a founding member of iDANZ®, Inc., a not-for-profit 501(c)3 dance advocacy foundation.
Excerpts from Jazz Ain’t Dead: Celebrating the Legacy of Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess
–All Choreography by Candice Michelle Franklin***
Dance Styles Taught: Traditional Jazz Technique, Contemporary Jazz Soul, Lyrical, Theater Jazz,
Afro-Fusion Jazz, Latin Jazz Styles, Commercial Jazz, Street Jazz for Young Dancers, Ballroom, Swing,
Studies in Jazz Rhythms for Dancers, Concert Jazz & Repertory from JAZZ AIN’T DEAD®