Culver City High School AVPA

Julie Carson (Creative Director of Dance)
note4julie@gmail.com

Julie Carson has been teaching for the Academy of Visual and Performing Arts at Culver High School since 2006. She has served as an adjunct professor on both the Santa Monica College and West Los Angeles College dance faculties. Prior to her work with the AVPA, Ms. Carson has taught technique and creative elements of modern dance in private studio, elementary school and university settings, including Cal State Los Angeles and Rio Hondo College. She received her Bachelor of Arts in Dance from California State University at Long Beach and her Master of Fine Arts. in Choreography from UCLA. Her dance work has taken her from the streets of Disneyland to high sacred pageantry, from regional musical theater work to performances for the U.S. President. Ms. Carson has recently completed 8-years of Program Management of The Irvine Dance in California Program, a statewide funding source for professional choreographers working in western and world dance forms. [top]

Sheila Silver (Creative Director of Theatre)
sheilasilver@ccusd.org

Sheila Silver comes to CCHS/AVPA with 25 years of teaching drama and directing theatrical productions at the secondary level. She also served as Director of Education at South Coast Repertory Regional Theatre. Sheila obtained both her BA and MFA in theatre from California State University Fullerton with an emphasis in Educational Theatre. She has served on the boards of the American Alliance for Theatre Educators and American Theater for the Disabled. Sheila was honored in 2002 by the National Endowment of the Arts/Kennedy Center as Outstanding Theatre Educator of the Year. [top]

Cari Ann Shim Sham (Dance Professor)
cariann@avpa.org

Cari Ann is in her seventh year with the AVPA and her fourth year of serving as the Chair of the Culver City Academy of Visual and Performing Arts Dance Department. She designed, developed and founded the department in June 2003. She teaches various techniques of dance and choreography, and produces the bi-annual Dance Off! Dance concert. She is a professional Choreographer and dancer serving the greater Los Angeles Art Scene for the past 13 years. She is an Alumni of the UCLA World Arts and Cultures Department, with a BA in Choreography and Performance Art. She specializes in Choreography for film, and works as a film maker in her field. She's screened her films at Dance Camera West Film Festival and at UCLA. She's performed professionally for Victoria Marks, David Rousseve, Nzingha Camara, Nina Kaufman, Julie Carson, Dmitri Kmelnitski, Ichuro Irie and Norton Wisdom. She has choreographed for the UCLA WAC department, the UCLA Opera Department, Los Angeles Guild Opera, Cirque du Soliel, Narnia Productions, The Chance Theater, Tiny Band Productions, Cabaret X, Track 16, Fresh Tracks, and Highways. Cari Ann is a first year Graduate Student pursuing an MFA in Choreography at UCLA's World Arts and Cultures Department. [top]

Lisa Michel (AVPA Chamber Singers Director, Vocal Director for various AVPA productions)

Lisa Michel has been a member of the teaching staff at Culver City High School and the AVPA since 2001. She is director of the Chamber Singers, the AVPA’s elite after-school singing group, and has been vocal director of many of the high school musicals and Cabaret Nights. In 2008 she won a SURDNA teaching artist fellowship and was thrilled to spend a summer in Italy participating in the Sarteano Chamber Choral Conducting Workshop. Before coming to Culver City, she lived in New York and enjoyed a career as a professional vocalist and voice teacher, recording cds and performing and touring around the U.S. and in Germany. [top]

Keith Mitchell (Film/Theatre Professor)

Bio coming soon. [top]

Nate Nichols (Film Professor)

Nate Nichols graduated from the University of Michigan with a degree in English. He earned the Hopwood writing award while at Michigan. He went on to study film at Columbia University in New York City were he received his M.F.A. Nate has years of experience as a writer for the L.A. New Times, the Dallas Observer, MCA Records and Launch.com. He has also had numerous positions on production and post-production with New Line Cinema where he worked on over 20 feature films. [top]