Darrell Cleveland recently retired from Dallas Black Dance Theatre, where he was a leading dancer for 8 years.  He has been teaching Jazz at the Ballet Academy’s Summer Intensive for the past 9 years.  He has become a regular staff member of the Ballet Academy of Texas   since his retirement, teaching Jazz and Modern to all levels.   He has performed with Toni Braxton and En Vogue, and choreographed several musicals and commercials. He received a full scholarship from the Regional Dance America/Southwest organization to attend the 2008 Craft of Choreography Workshop for his choreography of "Grace Under Fire" for the Ballet Ensemble of Texas.

Donn Edwards is an associate professor at the Dance Department of the University of Oklahoma.  He was formerly a Principal Dancer with the Joffrey Ballet in New York, the Frankfurt Ballet in Germany, and the Boston Ballet.  He is a frequent guest teacher nationally and also choreographs for professional opera. 

Leslie Peck is an Associate Professor at Southern Methodist University’s Meadows School of the Arts. She was trained by the legendary dancer Andre Eglevsky and the School of American Ballet. At the age of seventeen, Ms. Peck joined the New York City Ballet under the direction of George Balanchine. Later she danced soloist roles with Pennsylvania Ballet and later became a principal dancer with Houston Ballet, Pacific Northwest Ballet, Richmond Ballet and Ballet International in London. She is a recognized authority on Balanchine ballets, and one of the few dancers authorized to stage Balanchine ballets by the Balanchine Trust.

Carol Smitherman Anglin is the owner/director of Carol Anglin Dancenter, Inc. in Shreveport, LA. She is also the founder and Artistic Director of the Louisiana Dance Foundation (LDF) and its resident dance company, Louisiana Dance Theatre (LDT), an Honor Company of Regional Dance America/SW (RDA/SW), which has performed throughout America, in Russia and in Europe. Carol trained and performed in Chicago and New York at the Zaki Labovsky School of Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, the Alvin Ailey American Dance Center, and other prominent schools.  A multi-disciplinary artist, Carol received degrees from the University of Alabama (Dance/ Choreography) and Louisiana Tech University (Art/Education), and was one of 18 international teachers accepted to New York University where she studied with Mme. Claude Bessey and Serge Golovine, former Directors of the Paris Opera Ballet School.

Carol has taught in public and private schools, colleges and universities, and professional dance schools throughout America including New York’s Broadway Dance Center and Steps.  She was the first American to teach modern dance at the School of Marina Semyonova in Moscow in 1990. Carol has choreographed more than 25 ballets and operas for the Shreveport’s Symphony and Opera. She received SRAC’s Artist Fellowships in 1995 and 2001 and has received numerous awards for her choreography including the Jazz Dance World Congress – Choreography Competitive Event (1992-96, 2002, & 2006) where she was awarded Honorable Mention at the Kennedy Center for First Circle – Full Circle and at the Harris Theatre in Chicago for El Encierro. Her choreography has also been selected for several Regional Dance America/SW Gala Performances and to the Tanzsommer Innsbruck Festival in Austria (1999, 2004, & 2008).

Her students are regularly accepted to major dance programs and professional dance companies such as Dance Theatre of Harlem, Battleworks Dance Company, Jump Rhythm Jazz Project, Jacob’s Pillow and more. She is the proud mother of John Anthony (21), Alexander (19), and Bailey Frances Anglin (15).

Cameron Basden has had a career in dance spanning more than thirty years.  With her extensive experience working in the professional and non-professional dance world, she brings passion and spirit to her art, as well as a keen sense of organization and integrity to the projects she undertakes.

Ms. Basden served as Ballet Master and Co-Associate Director for The Joffrey Ballet from 1993–2008.  Her responsibilities included building the company as a cultural institution in Chicago, artistic planning, maintaining and growing the technical and artistic excellence of the dancers, and coordinating with the community, the administration, and the board in promoting the company.  She strategized in building The Arpino Apprentice Program and The Joffrey’s two- year 50^th Anniversary Celebration including the acquisition of Sir Frederick Ashton’s Cinderella.  As part of an alumni team, she organized the first ever Joffrey Reunion.  She conceived and brought to fruition the first Joffrey Summer Intensive leading to the development of a Joffrey Academy in Chicago.

As a repetiteur, Ms. Basden stages ballets by Ashton, Cranko, Massine, Nijinsky and Nijinska as well as more contemporary works.  She was a muse for Gerald Arpino when many of his ballets were created and she now stages his works.  She worked on the PBS filming for their Dance in America series of The Joffrey’s production of Billboards, and oversaw the filming and staging of the ballets in Save the Last Dance.  She is a noted lecturer and speaker on dance and dance related subjects.

Ms. Basden is a master instructor for professional and non-professional organizations.  She maintains relationships with Dance Academies, Universities and professional dance companies where she is a permanent guest teacher, choreographer and consultant.

As a performer, Ms. Basden danced in a variety of styles by such choreographers as Sir Frederick Ashton, George Balanchine, John Cranko. William Forsythe, Paul Taylor and Twyla Tharp.  Roles were created on her by Mark Morris, James Kudelka, Laura Dean and Choo San Goh to name a few.  Ms. Basden’s television credits include the Dance in America series “Homage to Diaghilev” and “The Search for the Rite of Spring”.  In 2003, she portrayed herself in Robert Altman’s movie, The Company. 

She serves on the board of The Gerald Arpino Foundation where she is also the main repetiteur.  She is Director of Artistic Operations for “Anne”, an educational project bringing tolerance and humanity to audiences through the medium of dance.

click here for previous Master Teachers