Kurt Lichtmann

Heather Carlsen - Ellie Foust - Kelly Douglass - Christel Trutmann
Kristin Germeroth - Meredith Lutz - Leah Wright - Ariel Conant - Maria Bodiu
Lauren Kutik - Camila Marquez - Ruonan Cheng - Iska Ziver - Erica Mallare - Christine Halter
Liz Welch - Jamie Roden - Tatiana Echeverry - Jade Wu - Joyce Marx
Olga Desyanik - Isabella Hanu - Karin Edsall - Beth Faulstick - Sarah Feinbein - Jillian Lyon
kpL5@cornell.edu
  

Kurt, with his teaching assistants, instructs in Swing Dance, Ballroom Dance, and Latin Dance at Ithaca College, in the Physical Education Department. He also has an exclusive arrangement teaching dance at the Island Health and Fitness Center. Kurt taught dance at Cornell University for 13 years, created the original Cornell PE website, and was its webmaster for 7 years. he is the founder of ithacadance, and his Wedding Dance DVD has been riding at the #1 spot on Amazon.com for most of 2010. . He and his teaching partners offer private dance lessons in Kurt's Cayuga Heights studio. Kurt is an avid club dancer, and competes in West Coast Swing. Our complete philosophy of social dance:  "FUN!"

Kurt competes regularly in West Coast Swing. He has studied West Coast Swing, Lindy Hop, Balboa, and Shag in classes, workshops at national competitions, and private lessons dance with many top USA Competitors and instructors, especially in Swing Dance: Frankie Manning, Steve Mitchell, Ryan Francois, Skye Humprheys, JoJo Jackson, Ramona Staffeld,Nathalie Gomes, Mario Robau, Robert Cordoba, Angel Figeroua, John Festa, Deborah Szekeley, Bill Cameron, Blake Hobby, Charlie Womble, Jackie McGee, Ellen Taylor, and that is just the beginning. He has learned ballroom from the Cornell Ballroom Club, and in classes and workshops with pros in the field, including Eulia Baranovsky, Tom Eurieck, Andy Proudy, and more. His main salsa teachers include Edie "The Salsa Freak", Jorge Elizando, Henry Herrera, Nedim Catal, Brian Bromka, Felipe Rivera, and others. He learned merengeue and bachata from Domincans both in NY, and in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. He feels that his continuing learning of the Spanish language is essential to a deeper appreciation of Caribbean music and dance. He has attended numerous large-scale dance events such as Boston Tea Party, American Swing Dance Championships, Summer Hummer, Swing Into Spring, etc.

Born in Highland Park NJ, Kurt graduated Cornell '70 B.A., Ithaca College '82 Masters Degree in Music Education (Voice,Piano). He brings the perspective of a musician, composer, and professionally trained educator to dance instruction. He led the retro-rock band THE CORVETTES for 10 years, and has been couples dancing since the early 1990s. He was founder/ producer/ DJ for 93.5 WVBR SATURDAY SWING radio show, now on temporary hiatus after 12 years on the air. He also founded the CSMA (Ithaca Community School Of Music & Art) WHITON CHORALE, and directed it for four years. Let's not forget ten glorious years giving hundreds of workshops in songwriting at Central New NY public schools, and writing a whole lot of songs. He DJ's weddings and events: CAYUGA PRO DJ.