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CONSERVATORY

  • Faculty
  • Class Schedule
  • Class Descriptions
  • Registration
  • Health and Safety Guidelines
  • Annapolis Studios
  • Forms & Downloads
  • Student Auditions
  • Summer Intensive 2021
  • Virtual Master Class Series

Faculty

Ballet Theatre of Maryland Conservatory of Ballet


Nicole Kelsch
Artistic Director


Nicole Kelsch is originally from Dallas, PA where she trained with Peter and Kristin Degnan at Ballet Northeast. She graduated with a B.A. in Ballet from Point Park University  in Pittsburgh, PA. After graduation, she danced professionally with Columbia City Ballet, Atlanta Festival Ballet, and Connecticut Ballet before joining Ballet Theatre of Maryland in 2006. Nicole has been featured as Clara and the Snow Queen in The Nutcracker, Odette/Odile in Swan Lake, the Firebird in The Firebird, Swanhilda in Coppelia, Juliet in Romeo and Juliet, as a Principal in Antony Tudor's Continuo, the Principal Couple in Italian Symphonette, Titania and Hermia in A Midsummer Night's Dream, Magdalena in An American Southwest Carmen, Cinderella in Cinderella, Guinevere in Excalibur, Aurora in The Sleeping Beauty, Pearl in The Little Mermaid, and has performed the Don Quixote Pas de Deux. Nicole also served as the Ballet Mistress for the company and the School Principal.  This is Nicole's first season as Artistic Director.

 

Faculty


photo

Emily Brennan

Emily is originally from Chesapeake, VA and began her ballet training at Virginia Ballet Theatre. In high school, she continued her ballet training at Ballet Virginia International under Janina Michalski Bove and Suzanne Long and was also a student teaching assistant to Patricia Sorrell. After high school, she performed with Nashville Ballet's second company, NB2. At Nashville Ballet, she participated in children’s community outreaches and led creative movement story-time performances throughout the community.

Emily joined the Ballet Theatre of Maryland in 2012 as an Apprentice and rose through the ranks to Principal in 2017. With BTM she has had the pleasure of teaching the students of the Conservatory and the dancers of the professional company, as well as running student rehearsals for various company productions, including The Nutcracker. This is Emily's eighth year teaching for Ballet Theatre of Maryland’s Conservatory of Dance.

 



Cindy Case

Cindy Case, DFCCA, is a Maryland native who trained locally with Pamela Moore. Since leaving home, she has been a trainee with Richmond Ballet, a second company member with Nashville Ballet, an apprentice with Charlottesville Ballet, and a company dancer with San Diego Ballet and Ballet Theatre of Maryland. Previous professional credits include Myrtha in Giselle, a Big Swan in Swan Lake, and an ensemble role in Serenade. She has danced contemporary works by Gina Patterson, Heather Maloy, R. Colby Damon, and Gregory Hancock.

With over 10 years of teaching experience, Cindy has staged a one-act Peter Pan at Jessica Morgan School of Dance, introduced elementary school students to dance through Charlottesville Ballet's Chance To Dance program, and written and performed story times for Nashville Ballet's community outreach efforts. This summer, she attained her Diploma Fellowship with the Cecchetti Council of America after completing her Final Diploma Examination. When not dancing or teaching, Cindy serves as the Communications Leader for Digital Dance Project and pursues her bachelor's degree in Business Communication.


Anne Gutcher

Ms. Anne May Gutcher was born in Ontario, Canada and started taking ballet classes at the age of 5. Her family moved to Seattle, WA where she continued her training at Issaquah Dance Theatre and attended summer ballet intensives with Pacific Northwest Ballet, Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet, International Ballet Academy, and Kirov Academy of Ballet, D.C. She graduated from the University of Utah with a B.F.A. in Ballet with a Teaching Emphasis and Ballet Teaching Certificate, along with a B.S. in Business Administration. While at the university, she performed with Utah Ballet, guested with Salt Lake City Ballet, and served as the Vice President of the Character Dance Ensemble, which trained and performed in L’viv, Ukraine, and the Basque Region of Spain. 


She has performed featured roles in Swan Lake, The Sleeping Beauty, Don Quixote, Le Corsaire, La Bayadère, Paquita, Raymonda, The Snow Queen, Aladdin, Alice in Wonderland, Snow White, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Balanchine’s Walpurgisnacht, Balanchine’s Stars and Stripes, and The Nutcracker. She has also enjoyed working with classical and contemporary choreographers Michele Wiles, Jay Kim, James Ady, Melanie Buchanan, Melissa Gould, and Diana Cuatto. Ms. Gutcher joined the Ballet Theatre of Maryland and the Conservatory’s faculty in 2018.


Picture: Nora Lang 




 Karissa Kralik

Karissa was raised on Long Island, New York where she trained with Mme. Valia Seiskaya until 2010 in Vaganova-based ballet and character techniques. Karissa attended University of the Arts in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, earning a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance Education with a Musical Theater Minor in 2014. There she continued her training under faculty including Christine Cox (BalletX), Eva Szabo, Andrew Pap, Anne White (PA Ballet), and Scott Jovovich (Joffrey Ballet). Karissa studied Modern techniques including Horton with Kim Bears-Bailey (Philadanco) and Graham with Jennifer Binford-Johnson (Martha Graham Dance Company), as well as varied styles of Jazz with Wayne St. David and Donald Lunsford (Philadanco). Karissa joined Ballet Theatre of Maryland as an Apprentice in 2016 and was promoted to Demi-Soloist in 2017 and Soloist for the 2020-2021 Season on Hope.

 


 Christina Jadra

Christina Jadra began her training at the age of two with White Marsh Ballet Academy. Christina was a member of the Baltimore Dance Ensemble and the White Marsh Ballet Academy Dance Company from 2005-2016, and danced many lead roles in their productions, such as the Sugar Plum fairy  and Snow Queen in the Nutcracker. From 2012-2016 Christina attended George Washington Carver Center for Arts and Technologies Dance Program where she was trained by Maria Royals, Elizabeth Ahearn and Stephanie Powell. From 2014-2016, Christina was apart of Carvers Inertia Dance Company, and performed in contemporary and modern works as well as ballets, such as Petrouchka and was Princess Tsarevna in The Fire Bird. In the summer of 2015 Christina attended the American Ballet Theatre’s summer intensive where she trained under Carla Stallings Lippert, Carmela Gallace, Melissa Hale Coyle, Pamela Levy, Coleen O’Callaghan and Roger Van Fleteren. After graduating, Christina was in the trainee program at the Ballet Theatre of Maryland from 2016-2018. At the end of the 2018 season Christina was promoted to an Apprentice, she was an apprentice for the 2018-2020 seasons. Christina will be returning to school in the fall in hopes to study Radiology Technology. 




 

Mark Andrew McCormack

Mark began his early dance training at the Brisbane Academy of Dance in Queensland, Australia. At 16 he was received a scholarship to the Queensland Dance School of Excellence at the Queensland Ballet under the direction of Angus Lugsdin. Mark then earned his Diploma of Arts also on scholarship, majoring in Classical Ballet from the National Theatre Ballet School in Melbourne, Australia, under the directorship of Beverly Jane Fry. His international career began in 2007 when he joined Cinevox Dance Company in Switzerland. Since then he has worked with Atlantic City Ballet (New Jersey), Double Take Dance (Manhattan), Galveston Ballet (Texas), Montgomery Ballet (Alabama) and Alabama Dance Theatre (Alabama). He has performed a vast selection of classical and contemporary roles in many productions including; Le Scare Du Printemps, Don Quixote, Dracula, Le Patineurs, Giselle, Cinderella, La Mal Gardee, Sleeping Beauty, Phantom of the Opera, Peter and the Wolf, Carnival of the Animals, Les Sylphides, Paquita, Concerto Vivaldi, Macbeth and The Nutcracker.  

Mark began teaching at the National Theatre Ballet School in 2008. During this time he received his certification for Personal Training from the Australian Institute of Fitness. Since moving to the United States, Mark has guest taught and adjudicated for numerous schools and companies. Highlights include: Atlantic City Ballet company auditions at Ailey Studios in Manhattan, company class at Montgomery Ballet, Montgomery Ballet School, the Montgomery Ballet’s Youth Company auditions, master classes with Galveston Ballet, adjudicating for the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Houston, Delaware Arts Conservatory, guest teaching and adjudicating the Priscilla Payson Foundation.

 


  

Victoria Siracusa

Victoria Siracusa began her ballet training at the Albano Ballet Company under the direction of Joseph Albano and Julia Fredrick. She then joined the Hartt School Community Division to further her training under Samantha Dunster and Eddy Tovar. During high school, Victoria taught ballet at Alyson’s School of Dance at the beginning and intermediate levels. It is there that she gained her passion for teaching dance to the next generation. After graduation, she joined Charlottesville Ballet as a trainee and the Sarasota Cuban Ballet School before joining the Ballet Theatre of Maryland in 2017. She has had extensive training in multiple methods and styles of ballet including, the Vaganova, Cecchetti, Cuban, and English methods. This will be Victoria’s second year teaching for Ballet Theatre of Maryland’s Conservatory of Dance.

 



 

Anmarie Touloumis

Anmarie is a Power Pilates Certified Pilates Instructor at Evolutions Fitness Center in Annapolis and teaches Pilates for BTM's Summer Intensive and company classes.  Anmarie received her B.F.A from the University of Utah. She is Power Pilates Certified Teacher and has been teaching since 2001.

As well as Pilates, she danced professionally with the Ballet Theatre of Maryland for 13 years. She enjoys working with clients at all levels, especially clients with special needs, “Everything counts. I enjoy supporting and motivating my clients in their own personal Pilates journey and help teach that Pilates can be very functional in people’s everyday life and activities.”

She is a dancer at heart and plans to continue dancing for her own spiritual benefit along with her Pilates practice. Being active and in good health is very important to her as she looks forward to an energetic lifestyle with her son, Jackson.


Copyright 2019 by Ballet Theatre of Maryland, Inc. : Terms Of Use : Privacy Statement
Copyright 2019 by Ballet Theatre of Maryland, Inc. : Terms Of Use : Privacy Statement