Laura Wade is on the faculty of the Lou Conte Dance Studio, Visceral Dance Center, Roosevelt University, and Northeastern Illinois University. She has taught company ballet classes for Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, River North Dance Chicago, Visceral Dance Chicago, Giordano Dance Chicago, Thodos Dance Chicago, Chicago Repertory Ballet, and Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake; and she has taught at Northwestern University, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Stephens College, Columbus Dance Theatre, and the Ruth Page School of Dance. Ms. Wade has been the Children’s Director for the Ruth Page Nutcracker since 2011. As Artistic Director of Akasha Dance Company, Rehearsal Associate for Visceral Dance Chicago, Assistant Director for Giordano Dance Chicago, Company Teacher for River North Dance Chicago, and Guest Company Teacher for Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, Ms. Wade has toured the U.S., England, Scotland, Germany, Austria, and Russia. Ms. Wade had her early training at the Toledo Ballet with Marie Vogt and Velta Cernonok, where she danced in works by Fokine, Balanchine, Ashton, and Vogt. She then earned a BS in Dance from Indiana University, dancing for Nicolas Beriosov, Marina Svetlova, Anna Paskevska, and Colin Russell. Moving to Chicago to train with Larry Long, Ms. Wade was a soloist in The Chicago Tribune Charities’ Nutcracker for 18 years and danced with Ballet Theatre of Chicago, Ballet Chicago, The Moose Project, Scott Putman, Robin Lakes/Rough Dance, and Concert Dance Inc. For 14 years Ms. Wade directed and danced for Akasha Dance Company, which commissioned original work from Claire Bataille, Ginger Farley, Jan Bartoszek, Shirley Mordine, Austin Hartel, Martin Kravitz. Akasha was a leader in outreach programs, performing for over 100,000 students in the Chicago area under the auspices of Urban Gateways.