Founding Artistic Director - Sharon Seder Meko
“....turning out stars-to-be.”
- The Arizona Republic
CHARIS has had the opportunity to share her love of ballet as a member of "Christian Dance Artists" under the direction of Brooke Healy, and as a cast member of "Ballet West for Children", touring southern Utah along with Ballet West II Company, teaching children in public schools about the art of ballet, through a presentation entitled "Ballet and The Sleeping Beauty." (2007) Charis has been trained in a variety of ballet styles through the many teachers she has studied with, including: Janna Halcomb of Mesa; Gretta Wagstaff with Starz Unlimited; Brooke Healy, directress of Utah Dance Artists (and her amazing staff); former Principal Jan Clark Fugit of Classical Ballet Classes; and the many professionals of Ballet West Academy and of summer intensives she has participated in.
KELSEY has enjoyed performing in productions such as Coppelia, Peter Pan, Cinderella, and The Nutcracker, where her roles have included Clara, Chinese, Sr. Snow Corps, and Court Fairy. Other performances Kelsey has been privileged to dance include Overture, Farandole, Paquita, and Anon, an original choreographed contemporary piece by Kellan Meko. Kelsey has been honored to attend the prestigious summer intensive program at Pacific Northwest Ballet, as a scholarship recipient for the past two years. She has also been accepted to the summer programs at American Ballet Theater, Joffrey Ballet, Milwaukee Ballet, School of American Ballet, and San Francisco Ballet.
PERRY has enjoyed performing in such productions as Coppelia, Peter Pan, Cinderella, and The Nutcracker, where she has danced roles from Baby Mouse, to Clara, to Dew Drop Fairy. Additionally, Perry has been privileged to perform in pieces including Overture, Farandole, Paquita, and the contemporary Anon, with original choreography by Kellan Meko. As a two time scholarship recipient, Perry has felt honored to attend the summer intensive program at the prestigious Pacific Northwest Ballet in Seattle, WA. Perry has also been accepted into the summer programs at American Ballet Theater, Joffrey Ballet, Milwaukee Ballet, School of American Ballet, and San Francisco Ballet.
ROCHELLE was eight years old when she was chosen to dance at four concerts with The Phoenix Symphony during “Symphony for the Schools,” using her own choreography to an eight minute segment of Carmen. By the age of ten, she had personally choreographed and danced in two mass media DVDs; Creating Ballet Fun and Creating Ballet Dreams. Rochelle has been spotlighted in many media forms, including television interviews and the COSTCO magazine. In the summer of 2009 she attended Houston Ballet’s summer intensive program. Some of Rochelle’s roles have been Mechanical Doll and Spanish in Nutcracker, the Sprite and Bird in Cinderella, and Lost Boy and Indian Maiden in Peter Pan. She also danced in Farandole and The Steps of St. Paul’s at Arizona Celebration of Dance.
LAUREN has performed in The Nutcracker as a Party girl, Bon-Bon, Clara, Bon-Bon Fairy, Senior Snow and Flower Corps. Lauren has also been honored to perform as Ballroom and Wedding corps in Ballet Etudes production of Cinderella, an Indian Maiden in Peter Pan, and a Girlfriend in the premiere of Coppelia. She has also been cast in Cappriccio Extravagante, Intermezzo, The Steps of Saint Paul’s, La Vie en France and Anon. Over the past two summers she has received training in American Ballet Theater’s Detroit Summer Intensive program.
ERIC has performed as Nutcracker Prince, Snow King and Spanish in past Ballet Etudes’ Nutcrackers. Eric has also participated in several other Ballet Etudes productions including Franz in Coppelia, Peter Pan as John, Spring Repertoire in the pieces Flames of Paris and La Vie en France as well as Short & Sweet and Spanish at the Mesa Arts Center Open House. This past summer Eric attended the San Francisco Ballet Summer Intensive with a full tuition scholarship. For the five weeks, he studied under world renown teachers including Parrish Maynard, soloist with American Ballet Theater and Principal of SFB, and Jorge Esquivel, long-time partner of Alicia Alonso. Past summers include Milwaukee Ballet Summer Intensive program on a full tuition, room and board scholarship where he studied for six weeks with Denis Malinkine and Rolando Yanes.
