LEA KOHL

 

Lea has become quite accomplished as an actress/dancer/singer and  teacher/choreographer. She has had 15 years of training at JKSD and was a member of the Dance Extensions Company for 7 years.  In 1998, she graduated from DANCE MASTERS OF AMERICA’S TEACHERS TRAINING SCHOOL at the University of Buffalo in New York to become certified by DANCE MASTERS OF AMERICA.  She has studied dance in New York, New Orleans, Birmingham, Chattanooga, Atlanta, Nashville, and Memphis with DANCE EDUCATORS, DANCE OLYMPUS, DANCE MAKERS, PROFESSIONAL DANCE TEACHERS ASSOCIATION, and at New York’s BROADWAY DANCE CENTER, STEPS ON BROADWAY, NEW DANCE GROUP, and DANCE SPACE CENTER. She has won many awards for her tap routines in competitions including a National Dance Masters of America Competition in New York.

Theatre credits at the Whole Backstage include “Fiddler on the Roof”, “The King and I”, “Annie”, “The Wizard of Oz”, “Amahl and the Night Visitors”, and “West Side Story”. While an honor role student at GHS, she choreographed senior plays, spring shows for the Cherokee Elementary School Choral Group, and is a past captain of the GHS Danceline.

Lea is a graduate of Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green Kentucky, with a B.F.A. in Performing Arts with a dance emphasis. There she was a featured dancer in numerous dance concerts, and performed in dramatic roles as well as the lead role of Roxie in their production of the musical, “Chicago”.  Summer stock theatre credits include actress/dancer at the Papermill Theatre in New Hampshire, performing in “A Chorus Line”, “Anything Goes”, “West Side Story”, and “She Loves Me”, and at the Granbury Opera House near Dallas, Texas, performing in “Meet Me in St. Louis”, “Damn Yankees”, and as Ziegfeld’s Favorite in “The Will Rogers Follies”. She appeared as a featured dancer in the new musical “Romancin’ the One I Love” at Cumberland County Playhouse in Tennessee in 2002, and she played the leading role of Peggy in the July 2003 production of “42^nd Street” at the Mill Mountain Theatre in Roanoke, Virginia.  Lea, now a New York City resident, was also featured in the world premiere of Josh Walden’s “All is Full of Love”, and in the Broadway touring company of “42^nd Street” in the ensemble and as understudy for the principal role of Peggy Sawyer, www.42ndstreetbroadway.com/tour/ .