Meet our Guest Faculty
Cindy Hansen

There are two ways to live your life......
One is as though nothing is a miracle.
The other is as though everything is a miracle.
 - Albert Einstein

Choreographer and visual performance coach, Cindy Hansen, endeavors to live her life as described the second way in this, her favorite quotation. Cindy is a third generation “barbershop brat.” Her mother was active in Sweet Adelines, and her late grandfather started a very active men’s barbershop chapter in Greenville, Michigan where he, her father, uncle, and great uncle all sang in a quartet together. She regularly attended men's International Competitions during family vacations while her father competed.

Cindy began singing in Sweet Adelines while she was in college at Western Michigan University in 1981. She started coaching soon after within her region and the men’s district. In 1983 Dr. Greg Lyne asked Cindy to coach the Barbershop Harmony Society’s (BHS) West Towns Chorus (Lombard, IL), who went on to be International Champions that year. When Dr. Lyne began directing the Masters of Harmony Chorus (Santa Fe Springs, CA), Cindy became their choreographer and designed and coached their first four gold medal packages. Cindy most recently designed and coached the last five gold medal packages for The Vocal Majority Chorus (Dallas, TX).

Cindy actively coaches Sweet Adelines choruses and her resume includes San Diego, Ramapo Valley (Lion King package), Gem City, Houston Horizon, Song of Atlanta, Pride of Toledo, Pride of Portland, Spirit of the Gulf, among others. She also works with many quartets and specializes in “enhansenments” - helping quartets decide who they are and want to be. She has been lucky enough to work with groups at the International gold medal level in both Sweet Adelines and the BHS, and at the Rising Star, Collegiate, and Senior Level of competition.

Outside the barbershop world, Cindy has worked with groups like the Dapper Dans of Disney World, Rescue in the gospel world, and Rockapella in the a cappella world. She has traveled all over the world to coach in England, The Netherlands, Denmark, Scotland, Sweden, Canada, New Zealand, and Australia. Cindy has been guest faculty at the Sweet Adelines International Education Symposium (IES), BHS Harmony College, and Barbershop at Sea cruises. She loves creating, designing and teaching the fine art of visual performance that supports a musical production.

Cindy holds a Social Work degree and has been a Director of Customer Service for the Health Care Industry and Regional Director of Risk Management and Professional Liability. She has consulted as a specialist on Regulatory Licensing, and has been an Expert Witness in HMO compliance. Cindy is married to David Ellis, a wonderful man who loves four-part harmony! He is the tenor of Storm Front, 2007 3rd place International Quartet Medalist. Since their marriage in 2006, Cindy has become a step-mom of two beautiful girls who are married and both have two children, making Cindy an instant grandmother of four! Cindy and Dave make their home in Henderson, Colorado.