Natalie Brim began her ballet training in her hometown of Gainesville, GA.
She trained with various schools including Atlanta Ballet Centre for Dance
Education, Maniya Barredo's Metropolitan Ballet Theatre, and the
Washington School of Ballet. She performed with the Gainesville Ballet
Company and the Metropolitan Ballet Theatre. After graduating from high
school, Natalie moved to Denver to dance with the Colorado Ballet Studio
Company. She is now a student at the University of Colorado-Boulder where
she studies psychology with an emphasis in neuroscience. She believes that
studying ballet can be beneficial to anyone, and she is very grateful for
all that she has learned from the art form itself and the wonderful
teachers she has had. Natalie is very excited about the opportunity to
work with the Boulder Ballet School.
Katelyn Burgess has a BFA in ballet with a teaching, character dance, and performance emphasis and a minor in history from the University of Utah. In Utah, Katelyn danced with Character Dance Ensemble and performed throughout the U.S. as well as internationally in London, Vancouver, and Beijing. She has been on teaching faculty with the Salt Lake Dance Center in Salt Lake City, Utah; and Dance in the Rockies in Durango, Colorado; sharing her knowledge of ballet, tap, jazz, and character dance. Katelyn performed with Boulder Ballet from 2006-2010 dancing many principal roles including the Sugar Plum Fairy in the Nutcracker and has been teaching for Boulder Ballet since 2006.
Ana Claire is the Director of the Boulder Ballet School, which has more than tripled in size under her direction. Ana studied ballet with Maxine Williamson, Fernando Schaffenberg, Milenko Banovic, Barbara Demaree and Larry Boyette. She has performed with Fort Worth Ballet, Fort Worth Opera, David Taylor Dance Theater, Aladdin Theater, Boulder's Dinner Theater, Jan Justis Dance Company, and 3rd Law Dance/Theater, and was Prima Ballerina with Boulder Ballet for many years. She has produced, directed, and choreographed fifteen Storybook Ballets, all with original music, scenery and costumes created in collaboration with local artists, and co-choreographed the 1998, '99, and all productions since 2001 of Boulder Ballet's Nutcracker. Ana studied dance pedagogy at Texas Christian University, attended the teacher training workshop with former New York City Ballet principal Jillana, and has over twenty-five years of teaching experience.
Peter Davison has been involved with Boulder Ballet since 1986, including roles as a dancer, choreographer, administrator and teacher. A 35-year multi-disciplinary performing career has enabled him to create unique educational programs such as Boyz Dance and Physical Theater for Dancers. Peter has taught dance, theater and juggling in numerous multi-week residencies in public schools throughout the Denver area. He has taught movement and choreography at Celebration Barn Theater in Maine, Naropa Institute's Lecoq Theater Program, the national circus schools of both Quebec and France at the invitation of Cirque du Soleil director Guy Caron, and workshops for professional performers in Spain, Germany, and throughout the U.S.
Barbara Demaree is a founder of the Boulder Ballet School (originally the Ballet Arts Studio above Tom's Tavern) and of the Boulder Ballet. She was born in Britain and trained at the Bush Davies Ballet School. She has been a professional dancer, performer, teacher and choreographer. She was resident choreographer at Boulder's Dinner Theatre for twelve years, and was twice nominated for the Denver Critics Award for choreography. Barbara has been an Associate Director of Boulder Ballet - teaching, coaching, directing and choreographing for the company, and is the winner of the Pacesetter Award for the Arts in 1996. Barbara has been honored for her work by the Arts and Humanities Assembly of Boulder and the Boulder Arts Commission.
Kristen Demaree trained under her mother Barbara Demaree, and performed with Boulder Ballet for many years in soloist and character roles, receiving particular critical acclaim in the comedic role of a Stepsister in John Prinz's production of Cinderella. Kristen co-produced Pandora's Muse, a multi-media collaboration with Boulder Ballet Principal Dancer Elvira Stewart at the Dairy Center for the Arts. Kristen is a graduate of the University of Colorado Film Studies program and has created several dance films, including Ondine which was featured at the 2007 Sans Souci Dance Film Festival. Also an accomplished musician, Kristen is a member of the duo Carnelian, specializing in traditional Swedish fiddle music.
Kathryn Elliott trained and performed in London where she was on full scholarship with the London Contemporary School of Dance, and in New York as a full scholarship student with the Jennifer Muller Dance Company. Returning to Boulder, Kathryn danced with the Hannah Kahn Dance Company, Colorado Repertory and with other independent choreographers before founding 3rd Law Dance/Theater to perform her own work and the work of her collaborators. She began her teaching career as an instructor for the University of Utah Liberal Arts Dance Program and as a guest artist at Utah State University. Kathryn graduated from the BFA program at the University of Utah, where she received the Dee R. Winterton Award for outstanding choreography, performance and teaching.
Renée Ford graduated from University of Cincinnati with a BFA in ballet and graduated cum laude. She has taught ballet at Columbia City Jazz in Columbia, South Carolina. In addition to teaching at Boulder Ballet, Renée teaches at Dance Dimensions and Longmont Dance Theatre, both located in Longmont, Colorado. Renée is also a company dancer with Boulder Ballet.
Melissa Heslep received her training at the School of Orlando City Ballet for thirteen years under the direction of Beatrix Aldana, and spent her summers training with teachers including Luba Gulyaeva, Mark Spivak, Valeria Sinyavakaya and Veronica Aldana. She performed with the student company until 2001, and upon graduation was accepted into the 2002 Youth America Grand Prix finals in NYC. In Orlando, she has performed with Russian Ballet under the direction of Vadim Fedotov and has spent the last five seasons with Central Florida Ballet under the direction of Vasile Petrutiu. She has also had the opportunity to travel as a guest artist for many venues in the United States. Her repertoire includes classics such as The Sleeping Beauty, Giselle and The Nutcracker, as well as contemporary works. Prior to teaching for Boulder Ballet, Melissa taught ballet, for ages 5-18, at the New Dimensions Dance Academy in Oviedo, Florida under Direction of Dawhone Perry.
Becky Jancosko has been teaching ballet in Boulder and Denver since 1990 and over the years has been a part of Boulder Ballet as a choreographer, teacher and Ballet Mistress. Becky apprenticed with the Joffrey Ballet in New York and danced with companies in Europe including the Dutch National Ballet, Berlin Ballet and Geneva Ballet, and with Pittsburgh Ballet Theater. Her professional career and experience brings a high level of expertise to the students. She encourages students to work hard and to the best of their ability, believing that studying ballet will enhance and enrich all areas of their lives. Becky is married to Bill and also serves the community teaching an interdenominational Bible Study.
Kit Kyle is from Winnetka, Illinois. He played many sports as a youth, including hockey and speed skating, were he won a national championship. He was a US National Cycling Team member for 5 years, living and training at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado. He participated in several world championships, winning 2 silver medals. He began studying ballet with Boulder Ballet in 2004. Kit has appeared in Boulder Ballet productions of The Nutcracker, L' Histoire du Soldat, Premieres, and An American in Paris, as well as Storybook Ballet's Wizard of Oz. He has also danced for Blue Moon Dance Company, appearing in several productions including Torque and Moving On.
Stephen Straub was born in Syracuse, NY and began his training at the Center of Ballet and Dance Arts and with Marianne Gray. In the fall of 1999 he went on to study at the School of American Ballet in New York, NY with Peter Boal, Andre Kramarevsky, Peter Martins and Jock Soto. Stephen was a member of the corps de ballet of The Suzanne Farrell ballet for four years dancing more than a dozen ballets by George Balanchine. He later moved to Colorado and toured extensively with Aspen Santa Fe Ballet performing in works by Jorma Elo, Nicolo Fonte, Jiri Kylian and Helen Pickett over the next four years. Stephen is now studying at CU Boulder and is thrilled to be working as a guest artist at Boulder Ballet.
Kathryn Wagner, a native of Colorado, trained at the Arvada Center with Christina Noel-Adcock, Eve Paris, and Lisi Elsey. Kathryn has performed in numerous productions with the Arvada Center Dance Theater, including the title role in the 1999 production of Peter Pan, as well as outreach to such places as the Children's Museum, Cherry Creek Arts Festival, and local elementary schools. In collaboration with Christina Noel-Adcock, Kathryn performed the title role in Peter and the Wolf on outreach to Lone Tree elementary schools in 2007, and she is a soloist with Boulder Ballet. Kathryn is a co-artistic director and choreographer for the Arvada Center Dance Theater, and an instructor for the Arvada Center's Dance Department and summer integrated arts camps. A graduate of Regis University with an elementary education license, Kathryn is a third grade teacher at Eisenhower Elementary in Boulder.
Top of page
