Raina Lucas

Education

 M.F.A., University of North Carolina-Greensboro, 2015

B.A., Goucher College, 2011

Biography

Raina is a dance educator, choreographer, and creative research artist. She received her B.A. in dance and psychology from Goucher College and an M.F.A. in dance-choreography from the University of North Carolina-Greenbsoro. Raina’s studies have included classical ballet, contemporary ballet, modern dance, contemporary, jazz, tap, and Capoeira. She has had the privilege to train with nationally and internationally renowned dance scholars and former professional dancers including Janet Lilly, Duane Cyrus, Gerri Houlihan, and Elizabeth Corbett. In 2015, Raina attended the American Dance Festival summer intensive. She also had the honor of traveling internationally to train in Paris, France at the Paris Marais Dance School with Ghislain de Compreignac and to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil to work with a variety of contemporary dance practitioners and capoeira masters. Raina continues her training today, working with teacher and coach Aaron Jackson in the adult program at The Washington School of Ballet.

Raina has enjoyed opportunities to perform works by Larry Keigwin, Doris Humphrey, Elizabeth Corbett, and Elolo Gharbin. Her choreography has been performed in a variety of educational and professional settings, including the Durham Arts Council PSI Theater and The Crown at the Carolina Theater. Raina is a recipient of a Kristina Larson Choreography Award and was selected to create an original work for the 2017-2018 season of Tobacco Road Dance Productions where she later joined as a choreography mentor and panelist. She has also been commissioned to create work for pre-professional and University performing arts programs.

Raina serves at the Faculty Artistic Director for the Georgetown University Dance Company (GUDC) at Georgetown University where she trains students in ballet and contemporary techniques, choreographs original works, and advises students on arts administration, dance production, and outreach. She is also responsible for the development of the GUDC guest artist choreography program. Prior to joining the faculty at Georgetown University and Washington College, Raina taught ballet and contemporary techniques, dance appreciation, choreography, and dance history courses at UNCG, Guilford College, Salem College, and North Carolina State University.

 

Past Projects Include

Reflection, Georgetown University (production)

The Container, Georgetown University

Fall Works in Progress, Georgetown University (production)

The Invitation, Washington College

The Wrath of Gale, Salem College

The Eleventh Hour, Salem College

Gale, and with her, the Storm, Durham Arts Council PSI Theatre

Dust, Unsettled, Penn Griffin School of the Arts

And so the moment pass, The Crown at Carolina Theatre

Abscess, Salem College

Do Not Go Alone, Guilford College

Eyes on the Stars, Feet on the Ground, UNCG

 

Research Interests

Ethical Issues in Choreography/Dance Training

Embodied Agency and Ballet

Removing the rhetoric of perfection from ballet technique

Embodied Cognition and memory strategies for dance training

Dance and Accessibility for underserved communities

21st Century Ballet Technique