CANDICE THOMPSON grew up in Phoenix, Arizona and has been immersed in the dance culture since the age of five. She trained with Kee Juan Han at the School of Ballet Arizona and spent summers at the Milwaukee Ballet School and the Princeton Ballet School.

Upon graduation, she attended New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, majoring in dance. She spent five years as a member of the Milwaukee Ballet Company. Her roles have included Papagena in Mark Godden’s The Magic Flute, Clara in Michael Pinks’ The Nutcracker, Rum and Coca-Cola in Paul Taylor’s Company B, Little Swans in Simon Dow’s Swan Lake, and a soloist in Susan Jones’ staging of Paquita as well as works by George Balanchine, Trey McIntyre, Kathy Posin, Lila York, John Utans, Jimmy Gamonet de los Herros, Kurt Jooss, and Lee Wei Chao.

She is currently a dancer with ad hoc Ballet and looks forward to their Lincoln Center debut in May of 2007. She also currently teaches ballet and costume design at the Creative Arts Studio in Brooklyn.

In addition, Candice Thompson has designed costumes for a variety of ballet and theater, working with such companies as Milwaukee Ballet Company, Eugene Ballet, New Chamber Ballet, Chamber Dance Project, Andhow! Theatre company, The Thursday Problem and Williamstown Theatre Festival Workshop. Her designs have been seen in F***plays (Ohio Theatre, Soho), Dread Awakening (45th St. Theatre), Cascadia (Director Jessica Davis-Irons), Oblivia (director Pat Diamond) and Faint at the NY international Fringe Festival (director Eric Sanders).

Now a Brooklyn-based designer as well as dancer, she launched her own dancewear and legwarmer line, LOLAstretch, in the fall of 2005; her designs have been featured in such publications as Dance Magazine and Dance Spirit as well as Vogue’s Trend Watch TV (October ’06) and are available at www.lolastretch.com

Top photo by Steven Schreiber

Middle photo by Michael Labozzetta