Today we hear from dancer and director Charlie Abel. We talk about how he got started in dance, as well as some of his strategies and focuses as a director.A former high-school wrestler and semi-pro baseball player, Charlie fell in love with ballet in his home state of Louisiana where he performed with the Louisiana Ballet. Since then he has performed principal roles with the Yugoslav National Ballet, New Jersey Ballet, and the Baltimore Ballet. He has appeared in numerous theater production including two Helen Hayes nominated stage plays with the Keegan Theatre in Washington, DC. Charlie has taught classical and theater dance at Dance Institute of Washington, Mid-Atlantic Center for the Performing Arts, Ballet Royale Institute of Maryland, and the Columbia Center for Theatrical Arts. He has served on the faculty at Catholic University and University of Maryland in Baltimore County, and he is currently the Director of Ballet Performance at Metropolitan School of the Arts.