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About Us
CoMMotion - Dance/ Pilates/ Fitness is a studio for the whole community. With three large dance/fitness studios and a dedicated Pilates apparatus studio, CoMMotion is a place where you have room to dance, get fit and have fun.
Through a combined understanding of movement, anatomy, alignment, performance and choreography we offer a fresh new approach to dance and fitness. We work with our dancers and our fitness students to attain their individual goals. Whether it is to feel better, lose weight, increase bone density, get into videos or to make it on Broadway, we are your dance & fitness home.
The programs that we offer cover a wide range of options. If you wish you could learn how to dance like they do on “So You Think You Can Dance”, then we have a class for you. We offer training with state of the art fitness equipment such as Hypergravity (whole body vibration training), and the Pilates V2Max reformer. We offer the best Zumba classes in town (with room enough to actually move), and private and group Pilates reformer and mat classes.
Come in and experience our positive energy and expertise.
All ages are welcome!
The History
Motion Mania Dance Theatre
Motion Mania…
The feeling that is invoked when the true joy of music and movement combine!
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When Motion Mania Dance Theatre (MMDT) formally incorporated as a non-profit performing arts organization in 1994, it represented the next step in the evolution of one of Maryland's premier jazz dance companies. MMDT was formed in 1987 when the founder and Artistic Director Bonnie Slawson recognized the need for a professional jazz repertory company in the DC area that offered an opportunity for a diverse group of dancers to work together on a wide variety of repertoire. The company’s requirement,was and is, that you can blend tremendously clean technigue with amazing energy and theatricality. In other words, entertain your audiance and rock the house.
MMDT boasted a distinctive repertoire of 50 dances, including works by Lisa Deyo of Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, Robert Nunez from New York's Broadway Dance Center and Derrick Evans from New York's Steps, Broadway Dance Center and Gus Giordano. Using high-energy jazz dance as our technical base, MMDT mixes theatrical dance, ballet, contemporary, street dance, and hip-hop to create a distinct high-energy choreographic style.
The dancers came from a wide range of backgrounds including musical theater, film, and a variety of contemporary, ballet and jazz dance companies throughout the U.S. The company was diverse not only in its background but in its look as well – this was no homogeneous line of Ballanchine babies, this was a company that celebrated the diversity of our world in both its dancers and its dances.
MMDT performed at Wolf Trap’s children’s program, Atlanta's Jazz and Tap Festival, The Kennedy Center Open House, and the Northern Virginia Jazz and Tap Festival. The one thread that ran through all of the company's works was a sense of passion, power and energy that it infused throughout their repertoire of dances. MMDT was not about finding hidden meanings in their movement; it was about the true joy that music and movement brings to everyone's soul.
MMDT's performance experience was extensive. Slawson choreographed and produced shows for entities such as AT&T, Gilette, Ernst and Young, the Leukemia Society and the Red Cross. The Company traveled all over the Metro area creating industrials, openings for major malls and introduced to the D.C. Metro area the concept of dancers at social affairs to start the party rolling. Slawson brought this to fruition for companies such as Washington Talent, USA Hosts, Ray Bialek’s and Top Hat Entertainment.
In 1990, MMDT opened up a training facility, Motion Mania Dance Center and established their Apprentice Program, an essential part of a system to maintain a uniform ensemble of trained dancers. Dancers who have trained with MMDT have gone on to work with many other regional, national and inter-national dance companies. Motion Mania alumnae are working as recording artists, back-up dancers for national tours, models, teachers and choreographers. Motion Mania graduates have won scholarships to a host of prestigious universities and colleges around the country. (See our list on Alumnae Bios) Many of the most sought after dance teaching professionals in the Washington, D.C. area credit the MMDT program for positively impacting their careers.
From its inception MMDT has also been committed to community outreach, with programs designed to educate as well as entertain. Senior citizens at the Jewish Community Center of Greater Washington, for one, and students throughout the DC area have shared in the creative process through discussions and lecture/demonstrations. MMDT has been seen throughout the Montgomery County Public School District, in Motion Mania’s own show “ Jazz Dance: American Histories’ Living Window”. Whether in live performances, dance classes or on television, MMDT has always been committed to bringing accessible, enjoyable dance to you.
Now we turn the page and from the creators of Motion Mania, we bring you a new generation of dance education and performance….CoMMotion Dance Pilates Fitness and the Underground Dance Theater.
Faculty Bios
Dawn Hessler
Dawn Hessler has been teaching with the studio for 11 years. Originally from Toledo, Ohio, Dawn trained as a dancer and a gymnast and earned a BFA in Dance Performance and Choreography from Ohio University. She has toured as a professional dancer throughout the US and Japan and has worked as a company dancer, in musical theatre and in the fashion industry.
A skilled choreographer, Dawn has created numerous pieces for commercial and non-commercial productions. Dawn is a trained Stott Pilates instructor and a certified Zumba instructor. Dawn brings to all of her classes an unparalleled enthusiasm. She has taught for several commercial studios and guest teaches throughout the east coast. Students pick up on her exuberant spirit and style as well as her technical expertise. Dawn has consistently been among the artistic directors for the CoMMotion Youth Companies.
Bonnie Slawson
Born in New York City, Bonnie Slawson, studied with master teachers such as Phil Black, Frank Hatchett, Danny Daniels, Shimon Braun, Andrea Brown, Mia Michaels, Doug Caldwell, Jackie Sleight, A.C., Slam, Chio, Madame Darvash and Luigi. Bonnie holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Dance from Mercyhurst College. Bonnie has taught and choreographed for a number of colleges including Stephens College, Perry-Mansfield, Dickinson College, Temple University, Penn State, Shippensburg University and Elizabethtown College. Her roster of Master Classes includes James Madison University, Crickets Performing Arts Center, Georgetown Day School, Sandy Spring Friends School and New Cumberland Ballet. Bonnie performed in Summer Stock Theatre and was dance captain for Equity Theatre productions in L.A. She danced for A&M Records in MTV videos and choreographed a number of fashion videos while teaching in L.A. In Washington, D.C. Bonnie danced with numerous professional dance companies. Teaching all throughout the DC Metro area she continued to choreograph stage shows, industrials and concert works. Bonnie was chosen as a “Critic’s Pick” by The Washington Post, was honored to be a part of the National Dance Institute’s Washington residency and received the Governor's School for Visual and Performing Arts Outstanding Educator Award. Bonnie created Motion Mania Dance Theatre in 1988. They have performed for over twenty years for entities such as the Corcoran Gallery of Art, AT&T, Xerox and The Kennedy Center's Open House. Most recentl,y Bonnie has been involved with choreographing and casting stage productions for recording artisits.
Hans Nelson
Hans Nelson began his training with Joyce Morrison at the Frederick School of Classical Ballet in Maryland. At 16 he received a scholarship to attend the School of American Ballet in New York City. He later moved to the Kirov Academy for the rigorous training of the Vaganova method and then to the Ecole-Atelier Rudra Béjart Lausanne in Switzerland. He has performed with the Washington Ballet, Loudoun Ballet, and Potomac Classical Youth Ballet. Hans has been teaching since 2002 at schools including the Washington School of Ballet, the Berrend Dance Centre in Olney, MD, the City Ballet School in Hagerstown, MD, and several studios in the Frederick area.
Nicole Harden
Nicole began her ballet training in Maryland at Frederick School of Classical Ballet. She
graduated from Indiana University with a Bachelor of Science in Ballet and Biology while working towards Pre-Med. After college, Nicole decided to pursue a professionaldancing career performing with the Louisville Ballet, touring China with John Clifford's Los Angeles Dance Theatre and performing with Charleston Ballet Theatre. Through out her dance career she has worked with icons such as Violette Verdy, Suzanne Farrell,Susan Pilarre, Julie Kent, Jerri Kumery, Elyse Borne, and Elaine Kudo. She hasperformed soloist and principal roles in numerous ballets including Dark Angel in Balanchine's Serenade and Twyla Tharp's Baker's Dozen. Since high school Nicole hasbeen teaching ballet to aspiring dancers of all ages from creative movement to adult. Shehas taught at studios all over Indiana, including Indiana University, Kentucky, SouthCarolina, and Maryland. Nicole believes in following your dreams, pursuing your
passions and inspiring others to achieve their dreams.