Rebecca Friedman ’09, dance major, and Peter Commander ’09, economics major who was heavily involved in Goucher Dance: Co-founders of Charm City Ballet 

“We never felt like we were ready to move to the next stage. You have to just go for it and see what happens.” 

As the co-founders of Charm City Ballet (CCB), a performance company and dance school, Rebecca Friedman ’09 and Peter Commander ’09 choreograph beautiful dance scenes, work with the dancers, and watch their work unfold onstage. CCB produces two shows each year with 60 to 80 dancers, more than double their cast of 32 dancers from their first show in December 2015. Their audience has grown too, and they’ve moved from a 350-seat theater to a 550-seat theater.  

Their goal, Commander says, has always been to produce professional shows and provide the mentoring and training space for dancers who want to work full-time as performers. CCB is the kind of oasis that Friedman and Commander wish they’d had after graduation, but now they get to be that resource for the next generation of dancers, and that makes their work truly rewarding.  

Be open-minded, unafraid, and don’t box yourself in by the things you don’t know, Friedman says. “I know for us at every stage of these past few years, we never felt like we were ready to move to the next stage,” she says. “You have to just go for it and see what happens.” 

“It’s like waiting for all the traffic lights to be green for five miles before you start the trip,” Commander adds. “You have to get on the road. You might only make it a block or two but get on the road. It’s the only way to start driving.”