Join us for TCD's 5th annual summer intensive!
Summer Intensive: $450**
A 3-day intensive training program for students entering grade levels 3rd and up for the 2026-2027 year with guest teachers geared towards getting back into shape for the Fall Semester of dance classes and Nutcracker! There will be different level placements at our intensive. Your dancer will be placed according to their appropriate technical level. They will receive their level placement upon arrival on the first day, and it is at the faculty's discretion if they need to move levels. Students will attend daily ballet technique, pointe (if applicable) and variations classes, as well as specialty classes such as pilates, ballet jumps & turns, contemporary ballet, and seminars on topics important to the developing dancer.
Mini Intensive: $175**
A 3-day intensive workshop, 2 hours a day, for students entering 1st and 2nd grades for the 2026-2027 school year, geared towards technique, stretching, performance practice, and audition preparation.
Schedule will be sent to registrants.
**Please note, by attending this workshop your Nutcracker workshop/ audition fee is WAIVED.


Intensive, Workshop & Audition Attire: 
  • Ladies: Black leotard, flesh colored tights under leotard and inside shoes, flat and pointe shoes (if applicable). Hair must be neatly and securely tied back in either a bun or French twist. Skirts may be allowed at the intensive and workshop only, not at the audition. 
  • Gentleman: White dance shirt, black or grey tights, and ballet slippers.

*By registering for this intensive, you do not have to register and pay for the Nutcracker workshop & audition. Check the box at check out yes or no when asked if auditioning for Nutcracker.


​Emily Bromberg
Emily Bromberg grew up in Orlando, FL, training at Rolann’s School of Dance and Orlando Ballet. At 14, she attended the Kirov Academy of Ballet (Universal Ballet) boarding school on scholarship and completed her training at Boston Ballet School, where she performed in Giselle, Sleeping Beauty, and The Nutcracker as a corps de ballet member with Boston Ballet. After earning a Bachelor’s in Psychology in Providence and dancing principal roles with Festival Ballet Providence (under Mihailo Djuric) and Colorado Ballet, she joined Miami City Ballet, where she spent 11 years as a Principal Soloist performing worldwide. Emily joined the Slovak National Theatre as a principal soloist for their 2021-2022 season and served as guest principal and ballet mistress for Ballet de Barcelona in 2021. In October 2024, she premiered as both dancer and choreographer at the Alicia Alonso International Ballet Festival in Havana, Cuba and in 2025, she performed in Teatro Colon’s 100 year anniversary gala in Buenos Aires, Argentina. She was also named one of Dance Magazine’s “Top 20 to Watch” and is currently performing as an international principal guest artist and with Dimensions Dance Theater. 

Haley Winegarden
Haley Winegarden is a North Carolina-based freelance choreographer and dancer. She is a
graduate of The Juilliard School. She has performed works by Robert Battle, Justin Peck, Ohad
Naharin, James Whiteside, Sonya Tayeh, Donald McKayle, Amy Hall Garner, Troy Schumacher,
Norbert De La Cruz III, Jawole Jo Willa Zollar, and Spenser Theberge and Jermaine Spivey.
Haley has worked as choreographer with Orlando Ballet II, Kaatsbaan Cultural Park, Nevada
Ballet Theatre, Alabama School of Fine Arts, The Juilliard School, and New York City Emerging
Artists Project. Her piece returning choreographed in the fall of 2020 was invited, at the
recommendation of Juilliard Dance, to be presented in a virtual Sunday Matinee performance
hosted by the Dance Theatre of Harlem in February 2021. She was awarded the 2022 Kaatsbaan
Playing Field Choreography Award. The Juilliard Dance Faculty nominated Winegarden for a
Princess Grace Award in the choreographic category in 2023. She was awarded the Héctor
Zaraspe Prize which is awarded to a graduating senior of the Juilliard Dance Division who has
shown outstanding talent and development as a choreographer. In December 2023, she made her
debut at The Joyce Theater in the Dancing with Glass: The Piano Etudes program produced by
Pomegranate Arts. Winegarden was a member of the 2025 CBA Fellowship Program at The
Center for Ballet and the Arts at NYU where she has been in a research process exploring ideas
for a new work. Her latest works include her work One Season choreographed on The Juilliard
Dance Summer Intensive students in 2025 and whimsical nostalgia created for the dancers of
New York City Emerging Artists Project which also debuted in summer of 2025. Haley has had
the pleasure and honor of being a part of two previous TCD Summer Intensives, and she is
beyond excited to return this summer to teach!

Carlos Guerra
(Artistic Director, Performer, Teacher, Choreographer) is a native of Cuba, and began his ballet training at the Professional School of Ballet and Plastic Arts in Camaguëy, Cuba. In 1996, he joined the Professional Ballet Company of Camaguëy as a Principal Dancer, and two years later joined the Ballet Company of Santiago in Chile, where he held the rank of Principal Dancer for the following two years. Upon a visit to the United States in 2000, through an invitation to appear on the television program Sábado Gigante, he was invited by American ballet icon Edward Villella to join Miami City Ballet, as a soloist. Mr. Guerra accepted the offer, and was named principal dancer shortly thereafter, in 2003, performing with the company as a recognized star until the spring of 2016. During his tenure with MCB, he performed most of the leading male roles in MCB’s vast repertoire, and originated roles in world premiere commissions by some of the world’s most renowned choreographers such as Twyla Tharp, Alexei Ratmansky, and Liam Scarlett. Mr. Guerra performed as a starring Principal dancer with MCB for The Kennedy Center’s prestigious Balanchine Celebration, The Vail International Dance Festival, the NYC City Center’s ‘Fall for Dance’, and was also featured in Miami City Ballet’s debut on PBS’s Great Performances “Dance in America: Miami City Ballet Dances Balanchine and Tharp”. Mr. Guerra’s professional accolades have earned him spotlights in numerous publications, including Selecta, Ocean Drive, and Complot magazines, and he was named one of the 100 most influential people in Florida by Florida International Magazine in 2005, as well as one of the top ten creatively influential people in South Florida by The Miami New Times. In 2015, Mr. Guerra was honored with a prestigious Miami Life Award in the category of “Best Male Ballet Dancer”. 2016 marked Mr. Guerra’s final season with Miami City Ballet, leaving the company with his wife and dance partner Jennifer Kronenberg, to pursue invitations to dance as guest artists both nationally and internationally, as well as to imagine and develop new a major artistic contribution to the local community, Dimensions Dance Theatre of Miami. In the fall of 2016, Mr. Guerra assumed his most definitive artistic role to date as the cofounder, co-Artistic Director and Head Ballet Master of Dimensions Dance Theatre of Miami; what has become south Florida’s youngest critically acclaimed and nationally recognized contemporary ballet company. He is also very very proud to have played an instrumental role in artistically shaping Dance For Peace, a dance concert initiative in benefit of UNICEF, for its United States premiere in 2019. From 2016-present, Mr. Guerra has been putting his wealth of professional experience, clear artistic vision, and a 22 year connection to Miami to help sculpt a ballet company that is uniquely reflective of Miami itself and has a clear identity and mission to serve the underserved in our community. While Mr. Guerra’s current artistic roles do not allow him the time to perform as often as he used to, he still does take the stage as a professional performer a few times each year, for both local productions, and as a guest artist outside of Miami.

Alden McShan
Alden McShan, TCDs Artistic Director, was born and raised in Tuscaloosa, Alabama where she grew up training at The Dance Centre, the Alabama Ballet, and performed with the Tuscaloosa Community Dancers starting at the age of 8. As a young dancer, Alden toured with the Radio City Christmas Spectacular performing the role of Clara. Alden pursued her dance training at the State University of New York at Purchase where she graduated Summa Cum Laude with a BFA in Dance Performance and a minor in Arts Management. At Purchase, she had the privilege to perform works by George Balanchine, Martha Graham, Jose Limon, Kimberly Bartosik, Sarah Mettin, John Heginbotham, Jason Parsons, and Claire Porter among others. She was also selected to perform at New York Live Arts for two seasons with the Purchase Dance Company. Professionally, she has danced various freelance work in New York City and toured with Odyssey Dance Theater in Utah for their Thriller production.She has always been passionate about the Tuscaloosa community. She was the 2012 Tuscaloosa County Distinguished Young Woman, and has served on the DYW board as choreographer and show director for the past 10+ years. She was granted the Druid Arts Award Recipient for Dance Artist of 2013, and for Dance Educator in 2022. She is currently a dance instructor at The Dance Centre where she teaches a variety of classes and serves as assistant director. This is her tenth season as TCD's Artistic Director and is looking forward to another great season!

Jennifer Lauren
Jennifer Lauren is an American artist, choreographer, rehearsal coach, dance instructor and former prima ballerina with Miami City Ballet. As a choreographer, Jennifer Lauren began collaborating with New World Symphony and Miami City Ballet in 2024. Lauren's choreographic voice has been shaped by 27 years of working with ballet's most visionary artists. As a principal dancer she originated roles in works by Alexei Ratmansky The Fairy's Kiss and Symphonic Dances, Justin Peck’s Heatscape, Pontus Lidberg’s Petrichor as well as in works by Liam Scarlett, Durante Verzola, Brian Brooks and others. Working closely with Ratmansky on his reconstruction of the ballet masterpiece, Swan Lake, Lauren developed a deep interest in both creating new works and restoring historical repertory. Lauren's repertoire spans over 20 Balanchine ballets and principal roles in works by Jerome Robbins, Twyla Tharp, Paul Taylor, Christopher Wheeldon, Sir Frederick Ashton, and classical ballets including Giselle, Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, Firebird, Coppelia, Carnival in Venice, Don Quixote and others. 
Lauren rose from Corps de Ballet to Principal Dancer twice during her career, at both Alabama Ballet and Miami City Ballet, retiring in December 2024 after 18 seasons with MCB. Lauren’s retirement was celebrated by MCB for two performances, after she danced the Divertissement Pas de deux in George Balanchine's A Midsummer Night's Dream, and a second time after taking her final bows as a dancer following her performance as the Sugarplum Fairy in George Balanchine's, The Nutcracker. In her last year at MCB, Lauren taught company class and shadowed Artistic Director Lourdes Lopez in her artistic and administrative duties. 
Lauren first trained with regional schools, The Royal Academy of Dance, Alabama Ballet and American Ballet Theatre Summer Intensives. In 1998, at age 16, she joined Alabama Ballet under the direction of Wes Chapman & Roger Van Fleteren. In her nine years under Chapman, she performed Principal roles in many full-length classics including Giselle, Firebird, Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, Romeo and Juliet, Swan Lake, Don Quixote and others, as well as many Principal Balanchine roles. In 2007, Lauren joined Miami City Ballet in the Corps de Ballet and was promoted to Soloist in 2011, by Edward Villella. In 2014, she was named one of Dance Magazine’s “Top 25 to Watch.” In 2017, she was promoted to Principal at Miami City Ballet by Lourdes Lopez. Lauren also credits as mentors, Bolshoi Ballerina Tatiana Ledovskikh, Darla Hoover, Roma Sosenko, Joan Latham, Arnold Quintane, Amanda McKerrow, Cynthia Harvey, Shawn Black and Tracy Alvey.
Mary Margaret Scalici
Mary Margaret Scalici has a B.A. in Dance from the University of Alabama and her M.A. in Dance Education at Texas Woman’s University. After completing her undergraduate work Mary Margaret moved to Birmingham to join Southern Danceworks, the first modern dance company in Alabama. In addition to performing, she has built her career teaching ballet, modern dance, and Pilates at The Dance Foundation, The Alabama Ballet, and Birmingham-Southern College. She is currently teaching ballet in the musical theatre department at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) and Red Mountain Theatre’s The Conservatory. She emphasizes body awareness in her classes, educating students about biomechanics in such a way that they can work with efficiency and power at the highest level of performance.
Mary Margaret is a certified Body Arts and Sciences Institute (BASI) instructor and has incorporated Pilates in the curriculum for student and adult programs at The Alabama Ballet School and in the dance department at the Alabama School of Fine Arts. She has taught Pilates for the American Ballet Theatre Summer Intensive at the University of Alabama and virtually for more than ten years. Mary Margaret teaches the Dance for Parkinson’s program, a partnership between Southern Danceworks and UAB Arts in Medicine program, and Movement To Music (M2M) through the UAB/Lakeshore Collaborative.

Rainer Krenstetter
Rainer Krenstetter was born into a dance family in Vienna where he began his ballet training at the Ballet School of the Vienna State Opera. In 1999, he joined the Royal Ballet School in London and continued his training there until 2000 when he became a member with the Vienna State Opera Ballet. In 2002, he joined the Staatsballett Berlin under the direction of Vladimir Malakhov and went through the ranks up to Principal dancer. He joined Miami City Ballet as a Principal dancer in 2014 and gave his last performance in April 2022. In 2020 he was appointed Artistic Director of the company Unblanche in Tokyo and in 2021 he became Associate Artistic Director at The Margot Fonteyn Academy of Ballet in Arizona. Since leaving Miami City Ballet he is dancing as an international guest principal dancer all around the world. Throughout his training, Krenstetter participated and won medals in various international ballet competitions including in Vienna, Brasilia and Luxembourg, culminating in his first place win at the Prix de Lausanne in 1999. Throughout his prolific career, Krenstetter has danced principal and leading roles in most ballets in the classical repertoire including Swan Lake, Giselle, Don Quixote, Le Corsaire, The Nutcracker, Coppélia, Onegin, Firebird, The Sleeping Beauty, Romeo and Juliet, La Sylphide, Cinderella and La Bayadere. Additionally, he has danced in ballets by George Balanchine, Jerome Robbins, Vladimir Malakhov, Kenneth MacMillan, Auguste Bournonville, Michel Fokine, Alexei Ratmansky, Roland Petit, Maurice Béjart, Hans van Manen, Uwe Scholz, Clarke Tippet, Jirí Kylián and William Forsythe among others. Krenstetter has also performed as a guest artist in various companies and galas internationally in Europe, Australia, North and South America and Asia; been a member of the jury at the International Ballet Competition in Seoul, Vienna, Rome and Riga as well as at the Prix de Lausanne in 2024; and guest taught at several dance workshops, schools and companies in many countries. Rainer received the 2016 Miami Life Award for “Best Classical Dancer” and released a book “Not without tears a life lived on stage”. In 2023 he was awarded the “Fonteyn Legacy Centenary Award”.

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