Charles Flachs

Associate Professor of Dance

Specialization
Ballet technique; partnering; pointe; dance history

Charles Flachs shares the appointment of associate professor of dance with Rose Marie Flachs. Charles and Rose Marie have choreographed and staged works in the ballet idiom on a regular basis for the Five College Dance Department and Mount Holyoke College.

Since Charles and Rose Marie arrived at Mount Holyoke, their guesting careers have thrived. The Flachs have taught and performed at the Pennsylvania Academy of Ballet, Jacob's Pillow, the Pioneer Valley Ballet, the Amherst Ballet, Columbia College, the University of Georgia at Athens, and the University of Wisconsin, Madison. They have also taught for the Southeast Regional Ballet Festival and the American College Dance Festival. As choreographers, they have created more than 20 ballets and staged excerpts from many of the classics.

Before focusing on teaching and scholarly activities, Flachs performed full-time with numerous companies, including the Nashville Ballet, the Cincinnati Ballet, and Ballet West of Salt Lake City. He has performed principal roles in the ballets Giselle, Swan Lake, Cinderella, Scotch Symphony, Square Dance, and others. Along with Rose Marie Flachs, he continues to perform as a guest artist and master teacher, at such venues as the Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival, with ballet companies and other college dance departments, and in faculty productions with Mount Holyoke and Five College dance colleagues.

Professor Flachs directed a CD for ballet teachers entitled Music for the Character Ballet Class: Complete Barre and Center Floor and produced his own series of CDs. The first is called Open Class!; the second Master Class! and a third CD, First Class!, is due out in 2005. His article on "Classical Ballet in Higher Education" was published in Ballet Alert.