Artistic and Executive Director

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Caroline Calouche is a choreographer, dancer and circus artist whose work bridges the two worlds. She began her dance training in the small North Carolina town of Gastonia, just outside Charlotte, before branching out to Texas Christian University, where she earned two BFA degrees — in Ballet and in Modern Dance. From there she studied, performed, and taught in Rome, Brussels, and Austria, completing a postgraduate program in choreography at the Salzburg Experimental Academy of Dance (SEAD).

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Caroline returned home to Charlotte and founded Caroline Calouche & Co. in 2006. She is widely recognized for her seamless blending of a variety of dance and circus arts disciplines into evening-length works of theatrical scope, and has created more than 100 choreographic works for the professional stage. Notable productions include Carmina Burana, Lingua, Rouge, Star Gazer, and Clara's Trip: A Cirque & Dance Nutcracker Story — the latter two of which have successfully toured in the Southeast. As Artistic Director, Caroline leads the company's touring vision, artistic programming, and education work through Charlotte Cirque & Dance Center, continuing to champion the integration of dance and circus arts on the American stage.​

 

Many people have inspired her along the way in the dance and circus field.  Some influential teachers are Li-Chou Cheng, Elizabeth Gillaspy, Mary Cochran, Susan Douglas Roberts, Kerry Kreiman, Susan Quinn, Joao da Silva, Andrew Harwood, Libby Farr, Keren Levi, Elsie and Serenity Smith, Molly Graves, Susan Murphy, Nancy Smith, Nicole Merman, Christine van Loo, Aimee Hancock, Amanda Lynch, Rodleigh Stevens and Tanya Burka.