Campbell Pryor, Artistic Director
Campbell graduated from the prestigious North Carolina School of the Arts. She studied at American Ballet Theater and at the Academie du Danse Classique in Monte Carlo, Monaco. She joined the Houston Ballet under the direction of Ben Stevenson in 1985 and danced the leading role of Clara in the Nutcracker as well as roles in Sleeping Beauty, Les Sylphides, La Sylphide, Cinderella, and Peer Gynt. She was awarded a full scholarship to Southern Methodist University in Dallas where she earned a BFA in Dance Performance and a BA in Communications. Campbell taught in Texas, Illinois, Indiana and South Carolina before moving to Montana in 1998.

Former students include American Ballet Theatre Soloist, Gillian Murphy, Columbia City Ballet principal, Vicki Cholkas and Ballet Arizona’s, Eric Jeffers. Campbell served as Scholarship Director on the Board of Montana Dance Arts Association and received a grant from the Montana Arts Council for continuing education with the Chicago National Association of Dance Masters.

Elsie Jenkins, Ballet Mistress
Elsie comes toQCB with 30 years of teaching and directing experience. Mrs. Jenkins, the founder and artistic director of The Florence Ballet Co. from 1976-2000. Under her direction the company performed hundreds of classical productions such as The Nutcracker, Coppelia, Swan Lake and Giselle.

The Florence Ballet Academy, produced students who have pursued professional careers with such prestigious schools as North Carolina School of the Arts, Virginia School of Art, Houston Ballet, Joffery Ballet and Ballet West.

Renee Han Kowalski
Renee is a Montana native, holds a Bachelor of Science degree with a minor in dance and graduate studies from MSU. She has been involved in Helena’s dance community since 1973. Renee taught at the Helena Movement Center and opened the Mount Helena Dance Academy in 1985. Renee continued her education by attending workshops at the University of Utah, Chicago, and Minneapolis, studying under prestigious teachers such as Gus Giordano, Lou Conte and Susan Quinn.

Rebecca Rohrer
Rebecca is a graduate of the University of Utah where she earned a BFA in Dance Performance and teaching emphasis. While at the University of Utah, Rebecca studied under Conrad Ludlow, Bene Arnold, Sharee Lane and Maureen Laird. Prior to the University of Utah Rebecca performed with the Fort Worth Ballet . She is also a graduate of the Alberta Ballet School. While there she danced in the Nutcracker, Cinderella, and Sleeping Beauty. Rebecca has also studied at the Royal Winnipeg Ballet School and Les Grand Belts Canadiens. Rebecca is also a RAD certified teacher.

Kelly Duncan
Kelly received her BFA in dance from Point Park University in Pittsburgh, PA, where she appeared in several student showcase productions and in the full-length ballet Cinderella and excerpts from Sleeping Beauty. She has also studied at Ballet West Conservatory, Summer Dance Lab, and School of the Hartford Ballet. Kelly teaches Yogalates, Jazz and Hip-Hop classes.

Martha Sprague
Martha Sprague has been actively involved in arts education in Helena for the past 17 years and has been teaching tap dance for the past 13. She has studied with tap greats Katherine Kramer, Josh Hilberman and Bruce Stegmann, and also taken class with the legendary Brenda Bufalino and Sarah Petronio. She holds a BA in Theatre from Arizona State Theatre, and worked professionally as an actress in Los Angeles before relocating to Helena where she has been an instructor with the Grandstreet Theater School for many years.

Martha has done extensive choreography for musical theatre including an off-Broadway production of “The Hollywood Way.” She is also the Managing Director of the Montana Shakespeare Co. which she co-founded with her husband, Kim DeLong.

Gilda Aparicio
Gilda holds a BA in Political Science from UNR, Masters Degree in International Relations from FLACSO, Teachers Degree in Classical Ballet and a Translators Degree in Spanish/English both from Rosario. As an Argentine Ballet teacher and dancer, she has been devoted to the world of dance for over 30 years. Gilda is VicePrincipal of the Provincial School of Dance “Nigelia Soria” in Rosario, Argentina where she has been an instructor in Classical Ballet and Methodology of Ballet teaching since it was founded in 1982.

She started in the French tradition then she deepened her skills by taking classes with Prestigious Russian specialists in the methodology of Ballet teaching like Nigelia Soria (Colon Theater), Margarita Yussim (Bolshoi Theater), Nader Hamed (Kirov Ballet ) and Tatiana Fesenko (Kirov Ballet Theatre) Coming from South America, she also broadened her background by getting into the world of tango, and other Latin America popular dances.

Kim Schleicher
Kim holds a B.S. from Utah State University and has continued her studies in health movement and spirit for 25 years. She researches and develops yoga programs for the Feathered Pipe Foundation.

GUEST FACULTY and ARTISTS
We are pleased to have the following artists assist us this season.

Steve Brule
Steve began his training with Stanley Hall of the Royal Ballet and Ballet de Paris. He was a soloist with the Frankfurt Ballet and the Houston Ballet where he toured extensively throughout the U.S., Europe, and China.

In Houston, under the direction of Ben Stevenson, Mr. Brule eventually became the Assistant Principal of the Houston Ballet Academy. He considers teaching his “first love and true calling” and considers himself fortunate indeed to have learned from one of the greats – Stevenson himself. For 18 of his 20 years with HBA he directed summer choreographic workshops where choreographers such as Trey McIntyre and Dominic Walsh got their start. He currently holds a fulltime position at the School of Dance at the University of Oklahoma.

Blair Bybee
Blair is a Director/Choreographer /Performer based in New York City, where he has been a professional actor working in Musical Theater for over 15 years. He recently left the Broadway National Tour of “Cats” where he played the role of Skimbleshanks for two years. His performing career has been full of work on established shows and new musicals, including the role of Gilligan in Serhood Schwartz’s stage version of “Gilligan’s Island, The Musical”. He has worked as an actor in film and television but finds that the stage is his home.

Eric Jeffers
Eric trained at the renowned North Carolina School of the Arts and at School of American Ballet in New York. He joined the Houston Ballet in 1995 where he danced roles in Lila York’s Rapture and Kenneth MacMillan’s Manon as well as many other classical works. He joined Ballet Arizona in 1998 and was featured in Kurt Jooss’ The Green Table, Billy The Kid and Moses Pendelton’s Opus Cactus. Recently, Eric has been performing with MOMIX.

Rosemary Miles
Rosemary Miles (Ballet Mistress) trained at Elmhurst and the Royal Ballet School in England. She danced with the Royal Ballet, the National Ballet of Canada and the London Festival Ballet. She performed with the educational division of the New York City Ballet and as a soloist with the National Ballet of Washington , Chicago Ballet, and Houston Ballet. Upon retiring as a dancer, Rosemary has been a principal teacher at the Houston Ballet Academy; a guest teacher throughout the United States, England, and the Far East; artistic director of the Lexington Ballet; and a member of John McFall’s artistic team at Atlanta Ballet.

Sergei Perkovskii
Sergei Perkovskii received his education from the Kiev Choreographic School. His career began with the National Theatre of Opera and Ballet of Ukraine. Upon arriving in the United States, Sergei performed as a soloist with the El Paso Ballet. Roles included Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet and Cavalier in Cinderella. Since joining Ballet Arizona, he has performed in Balanchine’s Rubies, Agon, Duo Concertante, The Four Temperaments and Serenade; Anthony Tudor’s The Leaves are Fading; Bournonville’s Konservatoriet Brandenburg Concerti, and Swan Lake; and Land’s Edge by Pilobolus.

Shamil Yagudin
Shamil holds the prestigious title of a People’s Artist of the Russian Federation, USSR, Mr. Yagudin had a 22-year dancing career as a soloist with the famed Bolshoi Ballet. He has taught and coached at the Bolshoi Ballet since 1976. Among his more famous students Bolshoi Ballet Premier Danseur, Andris Liepa, now principal dancer with the Royal Ballet in London. Mr. Yagudin is a graduate of the Moscow Choreographic Institute and he holds an advanced degree in dance from the Institute of Theatrical Arts in Moscow.