Chrissy Hawley Pressley – Creator of URBAN GYPSIES modern dance company & Choreographer.  I grew up in Raleigh, NC and got my initial dance training from John & Terry Lehman of Lehman Studios including ballet, tap, jazz, folk dance and childrens’ performance theater.  I got very involved in musical theater and started choreographing at Millbrook High School in the Drama Department.  I attended the University of North Carolina at Greensboro from 1987-1995 where I was introduced to the genre of “modern” dance and danced barefoot for the first time ever….I fell in love with it. Although my undergraduated major was in Anthropology, I danced as much as possible including any class or piece with Dr. Jan Van Dyke and being one of the core members of the Van Dyke/Gamble Dance Company, which began the N.C. Dance Festival.  After earning  my Master of Fine Arts degree in Dance Choreography at UNC-G, I moved back to Raleigh, worked here and there and eventually started a retail store with my mother, Joyce Hawley, and sister, Liz Hawley Ennis, called The Eclectic FURNITURE Garden.  I have been fortunate enough to continue this business for 8 years; to set work on the dance company at Peace College under the direction of my grad-school-peer & close friend, Beth Wright Fath; and to make my own dances with adult performers since the first performance of URBAN GYPSIES modern dance company in 2004.  But the most important things I have done which take first place over dance endeavors and co-running my own business are to successfully be married to Matt Pressley, computer genius and all-around techie, since 2001, and to co-raise our two sons Liam (6) and Connor (4), future male modern dancers extraordinaire (I hope).

Please feel free to contact me about performance opportunities, educational/performance possibilities, or if you are a dancer who wants to perform with my company.