User:Williamcharlescrowley

William Charles Crowley (b. March 14, 1970) is an American dancer and choreographer.

Crowley was born and raised in the northwest suburbs of Chicago, Illinois. He was first exposed to the arts through active involvement in both the Art and Theater programs offered at his high school.

Upon graduation in 1988, he was accepted to Hope College in Holland, Michigan. There, Crowley began his dance training at the age of 20. Dance soon became his primary focus. In the spring of his senior year, Crowley was accepted into an internship program for Arts Administration at the Martha Graham School of Contemporary Dance in New York City. After completing the internship program and graduating from Hope College in the spring of 1992, Crowley returned to Michigan and performed with Aerial Dance Theater in Holland, MI from 1992 - 1994.

Crowley enrolled in the MFA program at the University of Michigan in the winter of 1995. While at the University of Michigan, he began choreographing many of his own works, including Kawabata Suite, a five dance suite based on the short stories of Nobel Prize winning Japanese author, Yasunari Kawabata. After graduation in the spring of 1996, Crowley joined Dance Gallery/Peter Sparling and Company in Ann Arbor, Michigan from 1996 - 1998, where he performed in Martha Graham's masterwork, El Penitente.

Crowley then moved to Paris, France in the summer of 1998. Although the move was short lived, it was a life changing experience. He moved back to Chicago later that year and taught classes downtown, before being asked to join Kim Robards and Dancers in Denver, Colorado in the spring of 1999. While in Denver, William danced for both Kim Robards and Dancers and David Taylor Dance Theatre.

In the spring of 2000, Crowley accepted a three year teaching position at the prestigious New World School of the Arts in Miami, FL. He then joined the faculty at Miami Dade College, where he taught Modern, Ballet, Composition, and Repertory.

In the fall of 2004, Crowley became the Founder and Artistic Director of Next Step Dance, a contemporary dance company based in Miami, FL. Next Step Dance holds their annual dance series every Spring at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts in Fort Lauderdale, FL.

Currently, William is Adjunct Faculty in the Department of Fine Arts at Barry University in Miami Shores, FL where he teaches Modern, Ballet, Composition, Repertory Ensemble, and Dance Appreciation. He is also a Part Time Lecturer in the Department of Theatre Arts at the University of Miami in Coral Gables, FL where he teaches Intro to Dance.