Tenley Taylor, School Director

Kansas City Ballet Guest Staff
William Whitener, Artistic Director
James Jordan, Ballet Master
Lisa Thorn, Associate Ballet Mistress

Faculty
Tamara Sanders, Principal Teacher
Angela Arnold
Christopher Barksdale
Tess Butterfield
Tamara Carson
Christine Colby-Jacques
Caitlin Cooney
Kimberly Cowen
Kelly Dacey
Leanna Uniak
Sean Duus
Kim Gatchell
Alecia Good
Leslie Kelly
Flo Klenklen
Andrew Lamar
Susan Lewis
Jennifer Owen
Juan Pablo Trujillo
Angelina Sansone
Erin Sexton
Stefani Schrimpf
Elona Sherwood
Chelsea Wilcox
Paula Weber
Emily Young

Pianists
Inna Daniels, Principal School Pianist
Sam Beckett
Brian Bates
Michael Dolman
Loretta Pang
William Puckett
Velma Tyson

School Admin Staff
Pam Pease, School Administrator
Leslie Kelly, Prairie Village Campus Manager
Ann Dubois, Prairie Village Administrative Assistant

James Jordan, Ballet Master
James Jordan is the Ballet Master for Kansas City Ballet and is celebrating his tenth season with the Company. Mr. Jordan’s responsibilities include teaching company class, scheduling and directing rehearsals and re-staging works in the Company’s repertory. Mr. Jordan was born in Staunton, Va. and began dancing as a high school senior. Shortly thereafter, he was offered scholarships to the Richmond Ballet and later to the North Carolina School of the Arts where Todd Bolender recruited him for the Company’s first season. Mr. Jordan would perform numerous principal roles over the next seven years, and he danced with the Santa Fe Opera and Santa Fe Dance Company during this period. Mr. Jordan continued his career as a guest artist in and around the New York area before accepting a press relations position with PBS television. In 1991, Mr. Bolender invited him to return as Ballet Master. Mr. Jordan has taught at Kansas City Ballet School, Dance Institute at Webster University in St. Louis, and the UMKC Conservatory of Music during summer hiatuses. In 2000, he received his B.F.A. in dance from the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory of Music and is now president of their alumni board.  In addition to his artistic responsibilities for Kansas City Ballet, Mr. Jordan has staged ballets in San Francisco, Seattle and Tulsa for Mr. Bolender and on behalf of the Antony Tudor Trust.

Lisa Thorn, Associate Ballet Mistress
Ms. Thorn was appointed Associate Ballet Mistress in fall of 2004. She received the majority of her training as a scholarship student at North Carolina School of the Arts. While dancing at the School of American Ballet in the summer of 1988, Mr. Bolender asked Ms. Thorn to join the Kansas City Ballet. During her career as a dancer with the Kansas City Ballet from 1988 to 2005, she danced in a variety of principal roles, created by choreographers such as Ailey, Balanchine, Bolender, Tharp, Cunningham, and DeMille. She has also performed professionally with the Albany Berkshire Ballet, Pennsylvania Ballet, Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre, Starlight Theatre, The Lyric Opera and Wylliams/Henry Danse Theatre.

Tamara Sanders, Principal Teacher
Ms. Sanders began studying with the Kansas City Ballet School in 1981 upon the arrival of Todd Bolender, then Artistic Director.  The majority of her training was through the instruction of Mr. Bolender, Diana Adams and Una Kai.  Additionally, she had the privilege of studying with Violette Verdy, Jaques D’Amboise, Thalia Mara, Jonathon Watts, and Judith Jamison.  Ms. Sanders danced with the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater on scholarship, Gus Giordano’s Jazz Group, Theater Under the Stars and The Lyric Opera of Kansas City. She began teaching at the Kansas City Ballet School in 1989 and upon graduation from college was asked to return to teach full-time in 1993. Ms. Sanders graduated from Loyola of Chicago with Bachelor Degrees in French and Business Administration with a Sequential Degree in anatomy and Physiology (Pre-Med.) Her philosophy of teaching stems from the Balanchine method.

Tess Butterfield, Teacher
A native of Kansas City, Ms. Butterfield  received a dance scholarship at the University of Missouri-Kansas city with the honors of receiving the UMKC Conservatory Chancellor’s Scholarship and graduated with a BFA in Dance.  She has also received scholarships to the Alvin Ailey American Dance Center, Gus Giordano and was accepted into the MidAmerica Dance Company.  Ms. Butterfield has dance in ballets such as Swan Lake, Nutcracker and Carmina Burana.  She has performed and competed nationally earning awards for her dancing and choreography.  She has also appeared in the theatrical productions of Guys and Dolls and the Wizard of Oz.  She has studied with Tatiana Dukoudovska, Mary Pat Henry, Paula Weber, Laura Reinschmidt, Gus Giordano and the late Leni Wylliams.

Tamara Carson, Teacher
A personal goal to share the rich tradition of Spanish dance, music and culture with others has led professional dancer Tamara La Garbancito to the international and national stage.  Combined with intensive training in the flamenco style of dance from Andalusian Gypsies in Barcelona, Spain, Tamara has also extensive training in ballet, modern, folkloric, jazz & tap dance.  “La Garbancito” is the stage name given to her by Madrid’s world renowned folkloric instructor, Don Juanjo Linares, the only flamenco dancer to be given this special title.  Off the stage and to her students, she’s known as Tamara Carson. 

Her performance resume includes work with the Frankfurt Opera of Germany, the Kansas City Lyric Opera, Kansas City Ballet and Kansas City Symphony, the Kansas City Guitar Society, the Walt Disney Children’s Art Festival, the Nelson/Atkins-Sprint Series, Fiesta Hispana, Sierra Latina and the Renaissance Festival.  She’s worked for over a decade throughout the area and region as a presenter of flamenco and the Spanish culture through the auspices of Young Audiences, Inc. of KC and later the Spanish Cultural Kaleidoscope.  Her choreographic works include time spent with the Kansas City Lyric Opera and the Chamber Ballet of Williamsburg, Virginia, the Universities of Kansas and Missouri, as well as numerous festivals and workshops and Las Vegas style floor shows.   She is currently on the Missouri Arts Council Touring Artist Roster and performs as a guest artist with Viva Flamenco!

A graduate with distinction from the University of Missouri-Kansas City Dance Division, Tamara has been an Artist-in-Residence for the University of Kansas and the Leavenworth public school system, as well as a faculty member of the American Dance Center from 1980-96, Saint Mary University 1988-90,  the Conservatory of Music UMKC 1994-2001 and began  workshops at City In Motion since 1988.  Because of her experience as an educator and working artist, she was appointed to the Missouri Arts Council from 1994 to 1999.   Currently she is on the Alumni Board of the Conservatory of Music at UMKC and teaches at the Kansas City Ballet School.

Christine Colby-Jacques, Teacher
Ms. Colby Jacques comes to the Midwest from New York City, where she debuted on Broadway as a principal in the original cast of Bob Fosse’s “Dancin’.”  She continued to work with Fosse in the Broadway revival and National Tour of his classic hit “Sweet Charity”, appearing in the role of Ursula and as one of the legendary Spender Girls.

Ms. Colby Jacques trained at the Conservatory of Music in Cincinnati and performed with Cincinnati Ballet.  She also performed with the Contemporary Dance Theatre in Cincinnati and Wolf Trap Farm Park for the Performing Arts in Vienna, Virginia before moving to New York.  She has trained with such luminaries as Maggie Black,  Melissa Haydyn, James Truitt, Finus Jhung, Thelma Hill and Peter Generro;  and take master classes from dance greats Gerald Arpino, Suzanne Farrell, Lucas Hoving, and Cora Cohan.  In addition, Ms. Colby Jacques performed and taught for the Luigi Jazz Dance Center and assisted Jacques D’Amboise in his National Dance Institute.  She has worked with Michael Bennett, Debbie Allen, Ann Reinking, Gwen Verdon, Juliet Prowse, Gary Chryst and Robert la Fosse.  Upon first arriving in New York, she performed for two years as a Rockette at Radio City Music Hall and on tour with singer-songwriter Peter Allen.

In addition to serving on the faculty of the Kansas City Ballet School, Ms. Colby Jacques has prepared the Kansas City Ballet  in the styles of jazz and Bob Fosse for the Ann Reinking ballet, “Suite Kander.” 

Ms. Colby Jacques holds a BFA degree from the University of Kansas.

Kelly Dacey, Teacher
A native of Florida, Ms Dacey attended the the Dillard School of the Performing Arts in Fort Lauderdale and received her BFA degree in dance from UMKC.  Ms. Dacey has performed as a member of the Brockus Project Dance Company in Los Angeles as well as City in Motion in Kansas City, MO.  Ms. Dacey has studied at the Alvin Ailey Dance Center in New York City and has worked with choreographer Mia Michaels.  Ms. Dacey began teaching in college and enjoys the learning process of children.

Sean Duus, Teacher
Mr. Duus, a native of Mesquire, Texas, has been teaching in the Kansas City Ballet School since 1987.  He was a principal dancer with KCB for 15 years, where he danced the leading roles in The Nutcracker, Apollo, Firebird, An American in Paris, Filling Station, Classical Symphony and Coppelia.  Mr. Duus received his early training from George Skibine, Marorie Tallchief, and Kevin Brown and studied on scholarship at School of American Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, San Francisco Ballet, Houston Ballet, and Pacific Northwest Ballet. In addition to teaching at the KCBS, Mr. Duus also teaches in the R.O.A.D outreach program which brings dance training to elementary schools in the Kansas City area.

Kim Gatchell, Teacher
Ms. Gatchell began to explore her love for dance at the age of three; she continued to train and perform ballet, modern, and jazz as a company dancer with Somerset Ballet under the direction of Jane Pierce through high school, and under the direction of Dianne Maroney at Louisiana Tech University in musical theater while earning her degree in early childhood education. She went on to serve as assistant choreographer for Shawnee Mission’s Theatre in the Park’s “The King and I” (1996), and perform for PIECES contemporary dance company in Dallas. In addition to Kim’s role as a teacher for KCB and mother, she enjoys her work in the fitness industry as a personal trainer and group exercise instructor, choreographing and performing for the worship and arts ministry at her church.

Leslie Kelly, Teacher
Leslie Kelly studied ballet at the Somerset Ballet Centre in Prairie Village until graduating from high school.  She continued her training in Topeka, KS at the June Landrith School of Ballet while completing her Bachelor's degree at Washburn University.  She has attended the Joffrey Midwest Workshop summer program as well as dance workshops taught by David Howard and Rebecca Wright.  She has danced with the Metropolitan Ballet of Topeka, Evansville Dance Theatre and Louisville Ballet. Leslie has been teaching ballet in Kansas City since 2000 and Prairie Village Campus Manager since 2004.  Previously she was on the staff at Evansville Dance Theatre teaching Pre-Ballet through Advanced ballet students.

Flo Klenklen, Teacher
Ms. Klenklen has been associated with Kansas City Ballet and its school as a performer, teacher and administrator for over 30 years. She graduated from the University of Missouri-Kansas City with a B.A. in dance pedagogy. Since 1998, she has been studying Anusara Yoga and participating in teacher training with Sujata Stephens. In addition she has trained with Senior Anusara Teachers: Christy Burnette and Desiree Rambaugh.

Andrew Lamar, Teacher
Mr. Lamar, former Kansas City Ballet dancer, began his professional training at North Carolina School of the Arts. He has also taught at Ailey Camp in Kansas City and has a BFA from Fordham University. He received additional training for ROAD from Linda Martin. He also performs with and choreographs and teaches for several modern dance groups in Kansas City.

Susan Lewis, Teacher
Ms. Lewis originally from Sudbary, Massachusetts where she began her early training under Jaqueline Cronsberg of the New England School of Ballet.  After spending several summers studying at the School of American Ballet she moved to New York City to study full time at SAB.  Ms. Lewis joined KCB in 1985 at the invitation of Todd Bolender. As a principal dancer for 12 years she performed in Balanchine’s Serenade, Rubies, Western Symphony, and La Sonnambula as well as Jerome Robbin’s  Afternoon of a Faun and Alvin Ailey’s The River. Ms. Lewis began teaching for the KCBS in 1991.

Jennifer Owen, Teacher
A Seattle native, Ms. Owen trained with Pacific Northwest Ballet School, San Francisco Ballet School, School of American Ballet, and the Bolshoi Ballet Academy. She went on to dance with the Russian State Ballet, Moscow Renaissance Ballet, Kansas City Ballet, Hong Kong Ballet, BalletMet, and as a guest artist with the National Ballet of Turkmenistan. Some of her favorite roles include the title role in Giselle, George Balanchine's Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux, and the central pas de deux in Todd Bolender's Arena. As a choreographer she has created an extensive body of work, and is currently Artistic Director of Owen/Cox Dance Group, an ensemble of nine dancers and nine musicians she co-founded with composer Brad Cox. Ms. Owen is the recipient of a 2000 Princess Grace Honorarium, and was a winner in the 2006 Columbus Choreography Project.

Erin Sexton, Teacher
Erin Sexton recently relocated to the Kansas City area from Evanston, IL, where she taught dance, yoga and drama for the past five years to children and adults. Erin became a member-elect of CNADM (Chicago National Academy of Dance Masters) in July 2006.  Ms. Sexton is the creator of the Magical Movement Workshop, a series of fairytale based creative movement special events, offered at the Prairie Village Campus.  She looks forward to learning and growing with her students at KC Ballet.

Elona Sherwood, Teacher
Ms. Sherwood has a broad training background that includes studies at the School of American Ballet, the Pacific Northwest Ballet School, the Virginia School of the Arts, as well as concentrated tutelage with master teacher Denise Celestin at Wichita State University. She has performed with the Milwaukee Ballet, the Wichita Contemporary Ballet, and Ballet Wichita, but has found her true passion lies in teaching. Ms. Sherwood has been helping dancers improve their class and performance for the past eight years. As a ballet instructor and coach, she uses her eye for detail to correct and instruct, and her insightful perspective to guide. Best known for her encouraging attitude and ability to help students’ minds and bodies work in harmony, she has recently begun a website (www.strategiesfordancers.com) in order to assist professionally-minded students around the world.  In December 2006, her article "Give and Take" appeared in the "In Attitude" column of Pointe magazine.

Leanna Uniak, Teacher
Leanna Uniak is a graduate from the University of Cincinnati, College Conservatory of Music. Where she was a dance major and received a bachelor degree of fine arts. At the University of Cincinnati Leanna studied classical ballet and modern dance, under the instruction of Carol Iwasaki, Oleg Sabline and James Truitte. She did various performances with the school while she was there. Leanna has been teaching in Kansas City for 11 years. She began teaching with Jane Pierce at Somerset Ballet School which was later acquired by the Kansas City Ballet School. Leanna is currently teaching at the Prairie village campus. She greatly enjoys teaching young children and Adults classes.

Paula Weber, Teacher
Paula Weber received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Dance from Butler University and her Master of Fine Arts degree in Dance from Smith College. She has studied ballet with such masters as Maria Tallchief, Jean Paul Comelin, Dermot Burke, Basil Thompson, Larry Long, Marjorie Mussman and Maggie Black. During her professional career, Ms. Weber performed solo and principal roles of more than 45 major works which include such classics as Swan Lake, Giselle, Romeo and Juliet, and Coppelia, and contemporary works as George Balanchine's Concerto Barocco, Agnes DeMille's Fall River Legend, John Butler's Carmina Burana and Alvin Ailey's The River. She has worked with such renown choreographers as Bill T. Jones, Laura Dean, Charles Molton and Kevin Jeff. She has been a member of the Milwaukee Ballet (principal), Lyric Opera Ballet of Chicago (soloist), Chicago Ballet and the Indianapolis Ballet Theatre, and guest artist with the Hartford Ballet. She is currently a member of the Wylliams/Henry Danse Theatre and is a principal dancer/ballet mistress with the Albany Berkshire Ballet. In 1996, Ms. Weber was invited to be a guest instructor of ballet for the Shenyang Conservatory of Music, Shenyang, China, making her the second American ballet master to visit that conservatory. Ms. Weber was the recipient of the 1997 the 2001 Muriel McBrien Kauffman Excellence in Teaching Award presented to her by the Conservatory of Music, University of Missouri-Kansas City. Of most recent acclaim, Ms. Weber choreographed Toccata e due Canzone for the Kansas City Ballet. She also choreographed the highly successful Carmina Burana for the Kansas City Ballet and the Albany Berkshire Ballet, Albany, NY.

Emily Simpson Young, Teacher
Emily Simpson Young began her studies with Jane Pierce, founder of Somerset Ballet Company. In addition to her work as Ms. Pierce's student, she was also in the UMKC Conservatory Dance program, studying with Mary Pat Henry. Ms. Young earned her BA in Dance from the University of Kansas in 2000. Her KU experience included work with Jerel Hilding, Director of Dance, and performance with the KU Dance Company.  Ms. Young began teaching in 1998 at the Somerset Ballet Centre. She continued teaching ballet with Jane Pierce until 2002, when Somerset transitioned to Kansas City Ballet, Prairie Village campus. She has taught for Kansas City Ballet from 2002 until the present. Ms. Young has taught pre-ballet and creative movement at pre-schools in the Kansas City area. She has choreographed for musical theater projects at Camellot Academy, a fine and performing arts summer camp.

Inna Daniels, Principal School Pianist
Ms. Daniels earned her masters degree from the Azerbaijan State Conservatory, Baku (of the former Soviet Union.) Ms. Daniel’s principal training was in solo piano, accompaniment and music instruction, with further studies in composition. Prior to moving to Kansas City, she was the principal pianist at the National Academic Theatre and School of Ballet, Yerevan, Armenia.  Ms. Daniels joined Kansas City Ballet in 1993 and works as a pianist for both the company and the school. For the past 17 years she has dedicated herself to working in ballet. She plays and improvises classical, modern, jazz music and has worked with Hubbard Street Dance Company and the Joffrey Ballet.

Sam Beckett, Pianist
If you’ve ever wondered who sings that “Shawnee Mission Kia!” commercial, Sam does.  A graduate of William Jewell College with a Bachelor of Science in Theory/Composition and Piano Performance, he has also written music for numerous TV/Radio spots as well.
As a composer, he has published two instrumental works with several more being prepared for submission.  As a pianist, for six years he accompanied the Paseo Academy of Fine and Performing Arts’ Ballet Department, with even more time invested into church music from the age of 12.  He is an accompanist with the Lyric Opera Education Office and continues to play for various vocal studies, recitals, festivals, contests and concerts.  During the summers out at Kauffman Stadium, pay special attention to the house organist!  Sam lives in the Brookside area of Kansas City with his wife, Ana, and their four teenage children.

Brian Bates, Pianist
Mr. Bates is a songwriter/arranger who studied at UMKC with Gerald Kemner (composition) and Ruth Ann Rich (piano.)  Mr. Bates brings a unique creative energy to the ballet classroom in that he has composes many of the pieces he uses in class.  His standard repertoire is drawn from a large source of influences and styles in order to give students a variety of musical experiences. Mr. Bates also serves as the Assistant Choir Director /Accompanist for the Center  School District and is the pianist for the First Baptist Church of Independence.  He has played for KCBS since 1999.

Michael Dolman, Pianist
Mr. Dolman has degrees from the University of Missouri at Kansas City, the University of Northern Colorado and has done advance piano studies at the University of Iowa and the University of Kansas.  He has also been of the staff of City College of San Francisco, Colorado College, and Dance Aspen Summer Festival. In addition, Mr. Dolman has been a pianist for San Francisco Ballet, company pianist for Oakland Ballet, and currently pianist for Kansas City Ballet School.  "As a pianist I still get a thrill playing the piano - as a ballet pianist it is incredible to realize that dancers physically respond to the music I play."

Loretta Pang, Pianist
Ms. Pang has graduated from the University of Kansas, where she received her Bachelor in Music in piano performance. She is also a Licentiate of Trinity College of Music (LTCL) holder and a member of Mid-America Music Association (M.A.M.A.). She has been the pianist for the Metro Philharmonic Youth Choir in Singapore, Singapore Lyric Opera, Woman’s Chorale in the University of Kansas, Opera Kadopera in Kansas, and currently Kansas City Ballet School and Avila University. As a performer, Ms Pang has won numerous awards in music competitions in Singapore, Hong Kong and the United States. She was also the Singapore National Arts Council Bursary Award (Overseas) recipient in 2000 and later obtained a Music and Dance Scholarship from the University of Kansas. Furthermore, Ms Pang teaches piano lessons to all ages and levels.

William Puckett, Pianist
Mr. Puckett has been performer in many musical venues from the Classical Concert stage to the Rock Music Arena, and has worked with several ballet schools in Santa Cruz, CA and the University of California. A working musician for over 30 years, he is also a Studio Owner/Engineer in North Kansas City and a Sound Designer supporting the Electronic Music Industry. A composer as well as a pianist, Will has many original pieces, arrangements, and music for dance and film ranging from whimsical to more serious moods.

Velma Tyson, Pianist
Ms. Tyson grew up on a farm in SW Kansas and after graduating from Tabor College in Hillsboro, KS went on to study at the Conservatory of Music at UMKC earning a M.M. degree in Piano Performance, having studied with Dr. Ruth Anne Rich.  She has taught private piano for over 40 years and enjoys teaching all ages with various levels of skill.  Music/Arts Institute in Independence includes Ms. Tyson as one of their contracted accompanists.  In addition to her accompanying and teaching career, she continues to enjoy solo performances at the Independence Music Club and as the accompanist for the Jacomo Chorale. She considers it an honor to have been involved in the well-known Multiple Piano Festival in Independence for four years as a teacher, coach, and parent of students in performance. Her community involvement includes accompanying several classes at the renowned K.C. Ballet School and for the Jacomo Choral. Besides the joy of musical interaction with gifted and inspiring musicians, Ms. Tyson enjoys being a part of the KC Ballet School because it allows her to observe the developing personalities and progress of the Pre-Ballet and Children’s classes.