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 Anna Donovan
has been
the ballet mistress for Texas Ballet Theatre for the past 5 years.
Prior to this position she was Ballet Mistress for Ballet Dallas, and also
for the Irish National Ballet, her home country. She received a
scholarship at the age of 10 to train at the prestigious Royal Ballet
School in London, where she subsequently passed all of the Royal Academy
Examinations with Honors. Upon graduation, she became a founding member of
the Irish National Ballet in Dublin, where she danced professionally for
15 years as their Principal Dancer. She is included in Who’s Who of
Teachers in America for 2000 and 2001.
 Rebecca
Wright's
was a principal dancer with the Joffrey Ballet from 1966 to
1975 and a soloist with American Ballet Theatre from 1975 to 1982. In
addition, she has appeared in
numerous television presentations including "Live from
Lincoln Center" as well as the Emmy-award winning CBS Television special
"Harlequin with Edward Villella". She starred on Broadway in the musical
Merlin for which she received a Drama Desk nomination for Best Supporting
Actress in a Musical. Her teaching and leadership
credits include Director of Adelphi University's Dance
program and Chair of the Joffrey/New School University B.F.A. Program in
Dance. She was most recently the Director of St. Paul's School Dance program
in Concord, New Hampshire and the Artistic Director of ABT's Summer
Intensive Training Programs.
 Mary Margaret Holt
began her ballet training in Austin, Texas receiving a
scholarship for study with the San Francisco Ballet at the age of
fifteen. She also studied on scholarship at the School of American
Ballet in New York performing with New York City Ballet in the corps de
ballet. Ms. Holt performed soloist and principal roles with
Houston Ballet in a diverse repertoire including "Coppelia", "The
Nutcracker", "Concerto Barocco", "Walt and Variations", "Spring Waters",
"Graduation Ball", "Carmina Burana", the "Don Quixote Pas de Deux" and "Ramifications".
She is currently director of the University of Oklahoma School of Dance
specializing in the area of ballet technique, performance and
methodology. As artistic director of Oklahoma Festival Ballet, Ms.
Holt has Choreographed over thirty ballets, operas and musicals and she
has lead the company on internatonal tours to Mexico, France and Taiwan.
Her former students perform with Louisville Ballet, Pacific Northwest
Ballet, Ballet Ireland, Miami City Ballet and Tulsa Ballet and she has
coached two of them as semi finalists at international competitions.
Ms. Holt maintains an active schedule as a guest teacher, choreographer
and consultant across the United States
 LAURENCE
BLAKE received his
early training from North Carolina School of the Arts. As a
professional dancer he was a soloist with the Joffrey Ballet in New York,
the North Carolina Dance Theatre, and the Agnes de Mille Heritage Dance
Theatre. He has been a faculty member of the California Institute of
the Arts since 1982, and is also an Associate Director and choreographer for
Pasadena Dance Theatre. He received the 1998 Choreography Plan Award
from the Regional Dance America/Pacific Festival, and has been nominated
three times for the “Lester Horton Dance Award in Outstanding Choreography”.
RHONDA ALLEN MURRAY
returns by popular demand for her third year to the Ballet
Academy’s Summer Intensive. A native of Auckland, New Zealand, she
received her training in the United States at Dallas Ballet Academy and
the Arts Magnet school in Dallas. Professionally she danced leading roles
with the Carolina Ballet, New Jersey Ballet, and Ballet Dallas, She is
currently a ballet instructor at the S. Carolina Governors School for the
Arts and Humanities.
 ROSINE BENA
received her early training in ballet from her mother, Anne Capozzi
Bena, and later at the Washington School of Ballet. At the age of 17
she became the first American woman to be invited by John Cranko to join the
Stuttgart Ballet in Germany, acclaimed as one of the world’s great Ballet
companies, where she performed leading roles in all the classics.
She later became a
founding member and principal ballerina of Peninsula Ballet Theatre Company
in San Mateo, California, where she also received the 1992 Outstanding
Individual Artist Award. She is presently the Executive and Artistic
Director for Sierra Nevada Ballet in Northern Nevada, and is a frequent
master teacher for the Regional Dance of America organization.
 ELIZABETH
GILLASPY
is currently an Assistant Professor of
Ballet at TCU in Ft. Worth. She received her early training as a
scholarship student at North Carolina School of the Arts and the American
Ballet Theatre School in New York. She performed professionally in
both ballet and musical theatre with Atlanta Ballet, Atlanta Ballet
Chamber Ensemble, Casa Manana, and North Shore Music Theatre. She
holds a Master of Fine Arts in Ballet from TCU, and is a frequent guest
choreographer for companies nationwide, most recently for Fernando Bujones’
Orlando Ballet in Florida.
 CHANTEL
ADAMS a native New Yorker, Chantel studied at Dance Theatre of Harlem, The Alvin Ailey American Dance
Center and Broadway Dance Center, and she received her Bachelor of Arts in
Sociology from New York University. She has enjoyed an extensive
career in dance as a performer, teacher, and choreographer. She has
danced with several companies, including Dallas Black Dance Theatre and
Philadanco, and has performed extensively in the UK, France, Greece, and
Africa. Chantel directed Dallas Black Dance Theatre's Second Company for
four years, and her choreography has been commissioned by the Dallas
Museum of Art and featured at the Dallas Morning News Dance Festival.
Chantel recently toured internationally with the Broadway musical "Fosse,"
after temporarily moving back to New York City last year to further her
dance career. Chantel has returned to Dallas. She teaches at Dallas Black
Dance Theatre, Move studio and is on adjunct faculty at Southern Methodist
University.
 LAURIE
GRANLUND
brings 23 years of voice
teaching experience to the academy. Most recently she was the featured
guest artist for the Irving Symphony’s Christmas Pops Concert, and has
also been the soprano soloist in several Dallas area symphonies in
Handel’s “Messiah” and Rutter’s “Requiem”. She has a Bachelor of
Music Degree from the University of N. Texas.
 Susan Frei joined Tulsa Ballet in 1987 and became ballet
mistress in 1993. As a
principal dancer with Colorado Ballet, she performed leading roles in
“The Nutcracker”, “Sleeping Beauty”, “Giselle”, and other
ballets. As soloist with Tulsa Ballet, she performed leading roles in
“Con Amore”, “Filling Station”, “Footage”, and “Yes
Virginia, Another Piano Ballet”. She has staged numerous productions
in Tulsa including “The Nutcracker”, Val Caniparoli's “Going for
Baroque”, “Prawn Watching”, and “Lady of the Camellias”, and
sections of ballets such as “Anna Karenina” and “Three
Musketeers” for Andre Prokovsky, “Romeo and Juliet” for Michael
Smuin, “Don Quixote” for Anna-Marie Holmes, and “Sleeping
Beauty” for Galina Samsova. Her teachers have included Doreen Gilday,
Theresa Gushurst, Anzia Arsenault, Fernand Nault, William Thompson,
Richard Sias, Meredith Baylis, and Basil Thompson. She has been teaching
since she was 19 years old, and has taught every age and ability level.
She has also attended several teacher workshops with David Howard. |
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