Ballet

Judy Rice is a graduate of the National Ballet School of Canada and has performed extensively across the US and Canada including the Joffrey Ballet, The National Tap Dance Company of Canada, and American Ballet Comedy. She has 20 years experience teaching for regional companies and festivals as well as Company Dance, DMA, DEA, CNADM, 3D Dance Network, The Joffrey Ballet School, The Joffrey Ballet, Broadway Dance Center and the Dance Teacher Magazine Summer Conference.

Dwight Rhoden (Founding Artistic Director/Resident Choreographer of Complexions Contemporary Ballet) has established a remarkably wide-ranging career, earning distinction from The New York Times as “one of the most sought out choreographers of the day.”

Benoit-Swan Pouffer is a critically-acclaimed choreographer representing an innovative, less formalized approach to dance. Born and raised in Paris, he studied as a dancer at the prestigious Conservatoire National Superieur de Musique et de Danse. Early in his career he took first place in the Benetton European Dance Competition, a distinguishment that preceded seven years of dancing with the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, where he was a principal dancer.

John Selya, Native New Yorker, trained at the School of American Ballet from 1980-1988. In his final year there, he received the Mae L. Wien award for outstanding promise. He was then invited by Mikhail Baryshnikov to join American Ballet Theatre, where he performed and created works by Balanchine, Robbins, Tharp, and Mark Morris, Tetley, Kudelka, and Kylian, as well as the classical repertoire.

Jae Man Joo Started Classical Ballet training In South Korea, where he was born and raised. He has a near 20 years of experiences as a Classical Ballet Instructor, 10 years as Ballet Master for Complexions Contemporary Ballet, and 8 years as Associate Artistic Director for the company. 

Kurt Froman has made a name for himself as “The Ballet Bootcamp Guy” (-New York Times) for his work coaching celebrity actors in major motion pictures. He coached Natalie Portman, Mila Kunis, and Vincent Cassel in Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan (Associate Choreographer), and was personally thanked in Natalie Portman’s Oscar Acceptance Speech for their work together.

Christina Dooling began her dance education at the age of three under the direction of Isobel Johnson, Kim Johnson-Spolitino, and Sandra Moore (Stewart-Johnson Dance Academy.) Christina was given the opportunity to train and compete nationally, working with choreographers such as Mia Michaels and Tyce Diorio. In 2003 she was accepted to New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. There she studied with dance legends such as Gus Solomons, Jr., Kathy Grant, Deborah Jowitt, and Linda Tarnay.

Kelby Brown received his professional training from the School of American Ballet, (the official school of the New York City Ballet). Kelby has performed with Los Angeles Ballet, Pacific NW Ballet, Pennsylvania Ballet, State Ballet of Missouri and Ballet Chicago. His other credits include the Metropolitan Opera in Lincoln Center, Cirque du Soleil, Los Angeles Opera and Celine Dion’s Las Vegas Spectacular, “A New Day”.

Jim Nowakowski began his formal ballet training at the Timothy M. Draper Center for Dance Education Rochester, New York. He performed as a Rochester City Ballet company member in 2002 in productions of the Nutcracker, Cinderella, and Firebird.