Faculty, Lower Division Faculty, Pre-Ballet Faculty
Chanel R. Dews is a native of Prince George’s County Maryland. She is an alum of Suitland High School where she majored in Dance in the Visual and Performing Arts Program under the training of Janette Gillis and Linda Hallman-Darr. At Suitland High School, she was a member of Explicit Dance Works Company created and directed by Shalyce Hemby and had the pleasure of working with artists such as Parris Lacey, Marcus Ball and Shawn Cosby. She received rigorous ballet and pointe training with The Washington School of Ballet SE Campus at THEARC and Paula Brown’s Performing Arts Center.
In August 2014, Chanel enrolled at Virginia Commonwealth University where she majored in Dance and Choreography. During her freshman year at the VCU, Chanel joined Johnnie Cruise Mercer/theREDprojectnyc dance company in his work, Undoing the Silence. This show was performed at Dogtown Dance Theater and was in regards to HIV/AIDS in the LGBTQ community. She also had the pleasure of working with Dr. Elgie G. Sherrod, who is now her mentor, in her work, TWINE. Chanel finished her education at VCU with professors Dr. Elgie G. Sherrod, Scott Putman, Autumn Proctor-Waddell, Courtney Harris and guest faculty, Ching-I Chan Bigelow and MK Abadoo. She trained in the summers with at Spotlight Studio of Dance under the direction of Troy Brown and Winette McGovern and Bryan Clawson’s Hollywood Biz with Alec Clawson, Bobby Dacones, Fresh Redding, Phil Wright, Sienna Lyons, Jayson Wright and many more.
Since returning to the DMV, Chanel has performed professionally with local artist, Brave Williams, Capitol Movement Inc., and Monica Warr’s Adult Company. Chanel teaches dance classes for outreach programs in the Washington, DC area and for Paula Brown Performing Arts Center. Chanel has returned The Washington School of Ballet as a Pre-Ballet Division faculty member for the 2020-21 school year.
