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Photo: Peter Zay
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Faculty
April Berry In addition to serving as the education director for BalletMet, Berry founded YouthMet!, a multi-cultural repertory dance ensemble at the BalletMet School. Berry studied at the Dance Theatre of Harlem, the School of American Ballet, and the Alvin Ailey American Dance Center. She has received Master Dance Certification in the Katherine Dunham Technique. Berry performed as a principal dancer with the Ailey Company for eleven years. She has also danced professionally with ballet companies in Italy, Switzerland and throughout the United States. Tara Winston-Conrad Conrad continued her dance education at the University of North Carolina-Greensboro where she worked towards a major in drama and a minor in dance. After two years she transferred to Catholic University in Washington, DC. While studying drama and teaching dance she commuted to New York where she performed in an Off Broadway Showcase. Later that year she traveled to the Middle East and abroad as a featured dancer in the 1982 USO tour. Conrad graduated with a Bachelors of Fine Arts degree from the prestigious Drama program at Catholic University and moved to New York City. While in New York, Conrad studied and later taught at many major dance studios, including Broadway Dance Center, Steps, and David Howard. She also performed as a Zigfield Folly dancer and was featured in several VH1 music videos. Conrad’s dance training led her to the fitness industry where she became National Spokesperson for The Body Bar and presented at many national and international fitness expos. During this time she was a member of “Team Danskin” and appeared on several talk shows as a fitness expert. Conrad has worked extensively in television, appearing in TV films, soap operas and national commercials. Mark Diamond Before joining Dance Theatre, Diamond was resident choreographer for the Cincinnati Opera, founded Ballet Artists Cincinnati, and received grants from the Ohio Arts Council, the New England Foundation for the Arts and others. Diamond was a principal dancer with the Milwaukee Ballet Company, danced with Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre and the Tamburitzans Slavic Folk ensemble. He trained with Edward Caton and attended Duquesne University and Point Park College (BA), where he studied music, history and dance. Katarina Dimitrijevic In 1997, Dimitrijevic opened her own dance school, KAYA, in Belgrade. She also completed a four-year course in Ballet Pedagogy at the University of High Culture and Arts in Rome, Italy, where she improved her knowledge in the Vaganova method. She served as assistant to Professor Ivan Goliandin in the Character Dance Department. While studying in Rome, Dimitrijevic taught classical and character dances at several dance studios and also worked as a dancer. Dimitrijevic immigrated to the United States in 2003 and obtained a position as a classical ballet instructor with the Fort Wayne Ballet Academy. She and her family moved to Charlotte in July 2005. Heather Ferranti Ferguson She has danced professionally with the Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre, Colorado Ballet, and Chautauqua Ballet Company. While at Dance Theatre Heather has danced featured roles in ballets such as Alonzo King’s MAP, Alvin Ailey’s The River, Mark Diamond’s Cyrano de Bergerac, Salvatore Aiello’s The Nutcracker and many Balanchine ballets. Ferguson spent five seasons with North Carolina Dance Theatre. Gretchen Jax Jax is the co-founder of Sinergismo, a group of dancers, artists, poets, and musicians using collaboration as a means to produce choreographic works. Sinergismo has performed at venues throughout the southeast including the Piccolo Spoleto Festival, Sumter Museum of Art, Southern Holiday, NC Dance Festival Saturday Series, Winthrop University and the Charlotte Dance Festival. Jax currently teaches modern at Davidson College and choreographs for their dance company The Gamut. Jax has been a faculty member at the School of Dance since 2003. Kim Jones As a choreographer, Jones co-created an evening-length performance entitled Signs of Awakening that combines American Sign Language, text and dance in Santa Barbara, CA (1997), works for the Joffrey Midwest Workshop (2004), Swing Space NYC (2007.) She choreographed and performed in collaboration with Andy Noble creating an evening concert Imprint at Florida State University (2008), Mauri-A breath of Life North Carolina Dance Festival tour (2009-2010). In May 2010 Jones presented her own solo Burning Consumption at the Baryshnikov Arts Center in NYC it will also be presented in September 2010at the Pietrasanta International Dance Festival, Italy. Some of her teaching experience includes Martha Graham School of Contemporary Dance, The Ailey School and Long Island University-Brooklyn Campus. She has also taught internationally at Arke Dance Ensemble, Istituto Addestramento Lavoratori dello Spettacolo (IALS), Laban Contemporary Dance, Middlesex University, Bird College, Roehampton University and The Place in London. In the summer of 2010, Jones created a successful UNC Charlotte dance study abroad program in Turin, Italy. www.edabroad.uncc.edu/itdanc/Sarkis Kaltakchian Kaltakchian’s teaching experience includes five years in the ballet department of Les Ballets Divertimento de Montreal under the direction of Maxim Marterosian and head instructor and director of the Tulsa Ballet II since 2005. Kati Hanlon Mayo During her career Mayo had many roles created on her including the female lead in Mateo's Schubert Adagio and Salvatore Aiello's Chosen One in The Rite of Spring. She performed principal roles in works choreographed by George Balanchine, Alvin Ailey, Jean- Pierre Bonnefoux, William Forsythe, Agnes DeMille, Dwight Rhoden and Alonzo King. In 2000 and 2004 Kati was named "Best Performing Artist" by Charlotte Magazine and The New York Times reviewed that "Miss Hanlon ruled the stage with benign classical authority." Mayo began teaching at the School of Dance upon its inception in 1996 and has been a guest teacher for many studios across the country. Alyce CV Moran
Kathryn Moriarty Her training includes the Australian Ballet School, The Scully-Borovansky School of Australia and University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Moriarty has also served as Artistic Associate of Dayton Ballet, Co-Director of Dayton Ballet II and faculty member of the University of Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music. She has been a full-time faculty member of the NC Dance Theatre - School of Dance since 1998. Rene Olivier Her repertory includes Daniel Pelzig’s Nine Lives; Jerome Robbins’ In the Night and Fancy Free; Amedio Amodio’s Carmen; Val Caniparoli’s Going for Baroque, Connotations, Vivace and Lambarena; George Balanchine’s “Rubies,” The Four Temperaments, Valse Fantasie, Allegro Brilliante, Concerto Barocco, Western Symphony and Theme and Variations; Anthony Tudor’s Gala Performance, Nicolas Beriozoff’s Petruschka; Jack Carter’s Melodrama and Cage of God; Jean Paul Comelin’s Firebird Les Nuits D’ete; Nacho Duato’s Na Floresta and Coming Together; Birgit Cullberg’s Miss Julie, Ma Cong’s Folia and Samsara; Mark Hawkin’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream; Marcello Angelini’s Nutcracker and Galina; and Samsova’s The Sleeping Beauty. Olivier was an instructor at the Tulsa Ballet’s Center for Dance Education before joining NC Dance Theatre School of Dance’s faculty in 2010. Jeanene Russell Perry Perry has lived and toured all over the globe performing hundreds of ballets. She has had numerous roles created for her by well known choreographers including “The Soul” in Dreamer by Alonzo King. She has performed principal roles in Giselle, the Nutcracker, Sleeping Beauty, In the Middle Somewhat Elevated, Tango and many others. She has choreographed several ballets and plans to continue developing this talent. She is now using her talents to nurture and train the next generation of dancers. She is on staff at NC Dance Theatre School of Dance. She has been both a guest instructor and speaker at UNC Charlotte. In addition to dance accomplishment, she is a certified Pilates Instructor and Master Teacher. Her home is Charlotte, North Carolina. Vivienne Ramsey It was in Stuttgart under the influence of Marcia Haydee that Vivienne learned the ultimate importance of integrating passion and dance. She went on to become a soloist with John Neumeier's Hamburg Ballet and traveled the world, dancing in such capitals as Paris, Berlin, Leningrad, New York, Montreal, Buenos Aires, and Salzburg. Ramsey began her experience in "Exhibition Ballroom Dancing" in 1992. Very quickly she and her partner, David Howland, began to challenge the best couples in the word. Since 1995 they have dominated Exhibition Ballroom Dancing by repeatedly taking the World and British Exhibition titles as well as winning four United States Championships. As an experienced teacher of all levels ranging from adult beginners to accomplished professionals, Ramsey’s ballet class is presented with kindness yet clear disciplined instruction. Kyle Garrison Shawell Shawell has been a teaching artist for North Carolina Dance Theatre and North Carolina Blumenthal Performing Arts Center, and a dance educator for the Governor's Award-winning Janice Wyatt Summer Arts Institute at Delta State University in Cleveland, MS. His choreography has been seen at Gaston Dance Theatre, Girl Talk Foundation of Charlotte, NC, KAOS Dance Company, SCDA, SCAHPERD, Winthrop Dance Theatre and Valley Forge Dance Theatre, and he choreographed the summer musical production of Once on this Island at Delta State University. He has been a guest teaching artist in several Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools, most recently at Northwest School of the Arts. As a Lecturer of dance, Shawell taught modern, jazz, hip-hop and musical theatre for several years at Winthrop University. Shawell’s performance career includes such classic works as: Doris Humphrey’s Life of the Bee, David Parson’s The Parson Etude, Charles Weidman’s Christmas Oratorio, and he was a soloist for Donald McKayle's Rainbow Etude. He has been a member of KAOS dance company of Charlotte, Martha Connerton/Kinetic Works, Theater West Virginia, Philadanco II and the Valley Forge Dance Theater, and has performed for the American Dance Festival ,Charlotte Dance Festival and North Carolina Dance Festival. He has appeared in performances for Opera Carolina and in musical theatre productions of Anything Goes, Bye Bye Birdie, Bubbling Brown Sugar and West Side Story. Lauren E. Skrabalak Skrabalak’s professional experience includes dancing at the Medals Plaza in the 2002 Salt Lake Winter Olympics as well as working for Bodiography Contemporary Ballet in Pittsburgh. For seven years, Skrabalak danced principal roles for the company and then was promoted to Rehearsal Director as well as the Assistant Director of the school. She has extended her mentoring talents to Point Park University and Carnegie Mellon University, and is a certified Pilates instructor. Skrabalak is currently pursuing her Master of Fine Arts in Dance and is thrilled to be part of the faculty. Rachel Tucker While living in New York, Tucker taught modern/jazz for the young adult program at the celebrated dance studio, Steps on Broadway. Her classes mix traditional jazz dance with Lester Horton-based technique. In addition, Tucker performed as a Rockette in the Radio City Christmas Spectacular at Radio City Music Hall, New York City. She also performed in The Wiz national touring company. Tucker was a member of the Dayton Contemporary Dance Company, where she danced works by Ulysses Dove, Talley Beatty, Donald McKayle, Eleo Pomore, Donald Byrd and Dwight Rhoden. Tucker is also a Pilates instructor trained in both the classical and contemporary methods. This training includes mat work, as well as, apparatus. Tucker graduated from the Baltimore School for the Arts and then received a BA in Dance Performance with a minor in Psychology from Point Park College, Pittsburgh, PA. ShirLee Wu (Summer Intensive Faculty) Ms. Wu received a merit scholarship from Beijing Ballet Academy in China with Vaganova Russian syllabus, where she graduated and earned an honor certificate from the Royal Academy of Dance. She left China for freedom and was immediately invited to join the Hong Kong Ballet Company in the early 70’s as a principal/soloist and perform with British Ballerina Margot Fontynn in “Coppelia” as a soloist. She has danced many principal roles in classical ballet and contemporary repertory. She also has been invited as a choreographer with Hong Kong British Television Company for three years. Musicians Guest Teachers Guest Teachers who have taught at the School of Dance include:
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