Susan Quinn Williams
Susan Quinn trained under the famed Gus Giordano, becoming a Faculty member, Principal Dancer with Gus Giordano Jazz Dance Chicago and later it's Associate Artistic Director. Susan owned a professional school and became founding co-director of First City Dance Theatre, the only jazz company funded by the state if Florida. Her choreography opened the 1st Jazz Dance World Congress in Chicago, her Oriental flavored jazz work, FANtasy, was televised by Japan's largest station, NHK Television. Invited to be the first jazz choreographer of the festival Cours des Capucins in Luxemburg, Susan's choreography has been performed at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington D.C. to the Amsterdam School of the Arts in Amsterdam, Holland. Her Spanish flavored Sabor a Mi was performed at the 1998 International Jazz Dance World Congress. Susan's work, Texas Canyon won a choreographer's award at the National Association of Regional Ballet. and will be submitted in the dance archives, The Craft of Choreography. The adjudicator's from N.A.R.B. chose Texas Canyon to be performed at the 1998 International Ballet Festival in Jackson, Mississippi. In the Summer of 2000, Susan was invited to teach master classes in jazz and lyrical dance techniques in Edinburgh, Scotland. Her award winning peice, St. Teresa was performed at the prestigious "Kings's Theatre". A Master Teacher for D.M.A and D.E.A, she is the director of the 10th Annual Arizona Jazz Dance Showcase, with former guest artists Joe Tremaine, Sherry Zunker-Dow, and Mia Michaels. Along with Michael Williams, Susan was honored with the 2005 Jazz Dance Congress Award for her contributions in jazz dance.