EVSPA features early childhood development, ballet, musical theater and enrichment programs

Erin Barnett, (currently in Lion King, Las Vegas) is a Dancer, Choreographer, and Actress from Chicago, Il. She began her formal dance training at age 6. Erin was exposed to every form of dance and movement but her passion was classical ballet. While in Chicago, Erin studied with Larry Long at Ruth Page Foundation School of Dance and with Homer Bryant of Dance Theater of Harlem. She continued her training as a dance major at Howard University in Washington D.C. During those four years Erin performed at the Kennedy Center, won a Best Choreography Award for Scott Joplin's Treemonisha, and was exposed to dance legends such as Talley Beatty, Walter Nicks, Max Luna, and Carmen DeLavelade. After graduating with B.F.A. in Theater Arts Erin earned a position as a member of Garth Fagan Dance, which allowd her to perform extraordinary original works all over the U..S. and abroad. After relocating to the Los Angeles area, Erin has performed in the BET Awards, L.A. Hairstylists Awards. Wayne Brady Show, numerous industrials and music videos. In addition to performing, Ms. Barnett is a freelance choreographer, teacher and voice over artist. In addition to serving as a guest teacher at Debbie Allen Institute in Fort Worth, TX and at Debbie Allen Academy in Culver City, she is also on staff teaching ballet and jazz at The Dance Factory in Encinitas, CA.

Zane Booker, a native Philadelphian, began his professional career with the Philadelphia Dance Company under the direction of Joan Myers Brown in 1982. Since then he has been a member of The White Oak Dance Project, Complexions, Les Ballet of Monte Carlo, and Netherlands Dance Theater, to name a few.

Zane has created choreographies for universities, ballet companies, operas and musical productions. His credits include works for the Philadelphia Dance Company, Mogador Theatre-Paris and the Opera of Monte Carlo. In 2006, Zane became the founder and artistic director of the Smoke, Lilies and Jade Arts Initiative (SLJ), a socially conscious, multimedia, dance theater company, promoting HIV/ AIDS awareness.

The following year, Dance Magazine chose SLJ as one of “25 companies to Watch”. Zane is a professor at University of the Arts and Howard University. He is also a 2004 PCA fellowship recipient and is an active member of the arts community. He has served on review panels for The Philadelphia Cultural Fund and the Philadelphia Arts in Education Partnership, to name a few.

Marcus Bugler is a native of Brisbane, Australia. He began his dance education in Chicago, furthering his studies in ballet and character dance. During his career he performed with the Harkness Ballet, Metropolitan Opera Ballet, and eventually promoted to Repetiteur in 2001.

Mr. Bugler has danced many principal roles on stage and television, along with restaging many ballets with Chicago Lyric Opera and Seiji Ozawa Opera Company in Japan. In 2003 became Artistic Coordinator for the production of “Zumanity” Cirque Du Soleil in Las Vegas. top of page

Jose Manuel Carreno, (American Ballet Theater, NYC) was born in Cuba, where he received his training at the Provincial School of Ballet and the National Ballet School. He won the Gold Medal at the New York International Ballet Competition in 1987 and the Grand Prix at the International Ballet Competition in Jackson, Mississippi in 1990. He has appeared extensively in Europe, Latin America and the United States, dancing such roles as Franz in Coppélia, Basil in Don Quixote, Albrecht in Giselle and Prince Siegfried in Swan Lake, and the Le Corsaire, Diana and Acteon and "Black Swan" pas de deux.

Carreño joined the English National Ballet in 1990, where his repertoire included Solor in "The Kingdom of the Shades" from La Bayadère, the Prince in Cinderella, Franz in Coppélia, Albrecht in Giselle, the Prince and the Gopak in The Nutcracker, Romeo in Romeo and Juliet, Petruchio in The Taming of the Shrew and roles in a number of one-act ballets and pas de deux, including A Stranger I Came, Etudes, Graduation Ball and Prince Igor.

Carreño joined The Royal Ballet as a principal dancer in 1993 where his repertoire included the Bluebird in The Sleeping Beauty, Basilio in Don Quixote, Oberon and Puck in The Dream, a leading role in Herman Schmerman and the leading role in Matthew Hart's Caught Dance. Carreño joined American Ballet Theatre as a Principal Dancer in June 1995. His repertoire with the Company includes the title role in Apollo, the leading role in Ballet Imperial, Solor in La Bayadère, Franz in Coppélia, Conrad, Ali the Slave and Lankendem in Le Corsaire, Basilio in Don Quixote, the third sailor in Fancy Free, Albrecht in Giselle, Fate in HereAfter, Des Grieux in Manon, Danilo in The Merry Widow, the Cavalier in The Nutcracker, pas de deux in Diana and Acteon, Esmeralda, Grand Pas Classique, Other Dances, the Man From the House Opposite in Pillar of Fire, Sinatra Suite, the Warrior Chieftain in the Polovtsian Dances, the Son in Prodigal Son, the leading male role in Push Comes to Shove, Jean de Brienne in Raymonda, Romeo and Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet, Prince Désiré in The Sleeping Beauty, Misgir in The Snow Maiden, Prince Siegfried in Swan Lake, the second movement in Symphony in C, the Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux, the first and second variations in Variations for Four, Without Words, and leading roles in Clear, Etudes, Overgrown Path, Petit Mort, Rabbit ad Rogue and Theme and Variations. He created a leading role in Within You Without You: A Tribute to George Harrison.
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Adrienne Dellas-Thornton (Ballet Technique, Pointe, Variations) is Debbie Allen's Dance Studio's Founding Director and is considered a Master Teacher in classical ballet. She solidified her reputation as the Founding Director of the Universal Ballet Company in Korea and establishing the Ballet Department of the Little Angels Performing Arts School. Later she received the President’s Award for Teaching and Choreography and numerous other Gold Medals for Excellence in the Arts. She is recognized the world over for her choreography of original ballets such as Shim Chung, The Blind Man’s Daughter, The Emperor and the Nightingale, Ulysses, Monument, Peter and the Wolf in Central Park, and Romanza. Ms. Dellas for 12 years was on the esteemed faculty of the Kirov Academy in Washington, D.C. She was invited to teach at the famed Vagonova Academy in St. Petersburg, Russia and choreographed her ballet Jubilee for the students of the school. She s and currently resides in Pennsylvania. top of page

Melanie Hamrick (see Alumni) Born in Williamsburg, Virginia, Melanie Hamrick began her training at Chamber Ballet and continued her training with Sandra Balestracci at the Eastern Virginia School of the Performing Arts. She was a scholarship student for five years at the University Ballet Academy (formerly known as the Kirov Academy of Ballet) where she studied with Alla Sizova for three years, as well as Nicolai Morozov and Adrienne Dellas. She has performed the wedding pas de deux and the Bluebird pas de deux from The Sleeping Beauty and the grand pas de deux from The Nutcracker.

Hamrick attended the summer program at the School of American Ballet for three years and attended ABT’s Summer Intensive Program in 2003.

Hamrick joined ABT’s Studio Company in September 2003 and the main Company as a member of the corps de ballet in April 2004. Her roles include a Shade in La Bayadère, an Odalisque in Le Corsaire, Moyna in Giselle, a Harlot in Romeo and Juliet, the Fairy of Sincerity in The Sleeping Beauty, the Spanish Dance in Swan Lake, the Prelude and Mazurka in Les Sylphides and leading roles in Dark Elegies and From Here On Out.

Ms. Hamrick is the recipient of The Margaret King Moore Dancer Award. top of page

Rachael Hamrick (see Alumni) is a member of the Hungarian National Ballet in Budapest, Hungary. She began her ballet training with Sandra Balestracci at the Eastern Virginia School of the Performing Arts in Williamsburg, VA. She continued her training at the Universal Ballet Academy (formerly the Kirov Academy of Ballet) in Washington, DC, studying with Adrienne Dellas, Nikolai Morozov, and Alla Sizova. Ms. Hamrick began her professional career with the Orlando Ballet. In 2000, she joined the Universal Ballet Company in Seoul, Korea and toured extensively in Europe, Asia, and North America. She joined the Hungarian National Ballet in 2003. Her classical repertoire includes: A Mid-Summer’s Night Dream, Don Quixote, Giselle, Mayerling, La Bayadere, La Sonabula, the Nutcracker, Romeo and Juliet, Schehereazade, Shim Chung, Swan Lake and Sylvia. Her soloist roles have included Arabian in Nutcracker, Big Swans and Spanish in Swan Lake, Six Girls in Mayerling, Three Girls in Shéhérazade, the Scarf Girls in La Bayadere.

Kevin Harris (Hip Hop) is part DADA’s inaugural class and has been teaching at DADA since 2003. He has performed in all six of Ms. Allen's original productions, and was Assistant Choreographer for The Bayou Legend and Brothers of the Knight, and the TV show, Everybody Hates Chris and a principal dancer on episodes of the TV show, Just Jordan. Kevin has taught Hip Hop classes in the Los Angeles Unified School District, L.A.'s Best, P.S. Arts, and master classes across the US. Kevin has toured all over Europe, Asia and South America with the singer, Fergie, and has appeared on Jay Leno, Tyra Banks, MTV, Nickelodeon, Pepsi's Super Bowl Smash, and the VH1 and Billboard Awards. top of page

Christina Johnson (formerly Dance Theater of Harlem) Ms. Johnson’s international career has kept her in the forefront of dance for several decades. Her work with Dance Theater of Harlem catapulted her into stardom and her work with Desmond Richardson and Dwight Rhoden in the contemporary company “Complexions” redefined dance, as we know it today. She continued her career with her most recent work with North Carolina Dance Theatre, as Guest Ballet Master; with Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet as Rehearsal Director, Switzerland Company.

After a 23-year career as a professional ballet dancer Christina continues to do the things she loves... She is a coach and teacher for professional dancers, a Professional Life Coach, and a business owner in the health and wellness industry.
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Brandon Christopher O'Neil (Currently, "FAME " the movie/Lion King Broadway) star of stage and screen is a Native of Knoxville, TN. He trained under Debbie Allen and was a scholarship student at the Joffrey Ballet. His is currently filming a remake of the move “Fame” in Hollywood and is on leave from the Broadway production of the “Lion King” His other credits include Wicked, NBC’s “Fame” and “That’s So Raven.” He thanks his mother, Eboni, dad and family for love and support. top of page

Jonathan Stafford (New York City Ballet, NYC) Born in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, Jonathan Stafford began his dance training at the age of eight with the Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet in Carlisle, under the direction of Marcia Dale Weary. Mr. Stafford entered the School of American Ballet (SAB), the official school of New York City Ballet full time in the fall of 1997. Mr. Stafford was invited to become an apprentice with New York City Ballet in October 1998 and joined the Company as a member of the corps de ballet in February 1999. In March of 2006 he was promoted to soloist. Mr. Stafford was promoted to principal dancer in May 2007.
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Sherman L. Steward (Jazz) was born in Little Rock, Arkansas and has studied and performed with some of the best the dance masters the world has to offer, including Arthur Mitchell, Dance Theatre of Harlem, Frank Hatchett and Broadway Dance Centre. Dancing, choreographing and instructing in all major cities around the world, Sherman has earned a reputation throughout Europe, Asia and Africa for his extraordinary talent. Since his return to the U.S., Sherman has dedicated himself to the development of dance as a whole: Instructing both children and adults, creating www.kidzdanceklub.com, a website for dancers both young and old, as well as premiering his own dance company, "Santa Monica Dance Theatre of the World.” top of page

Jose Traba (formerly, Metropolitan Opera Ballet, NYC) has performed soloist and principal roles in Cincinnati Ballet, Cleveland Ballet, New Orleans City Ballet and Ballet Chicago. He has also performed with New York City Opera and Metropolitan Opera Ballet. In addition, he has performed as a guest artist on stage and television both domestically and abroad. Among his teaching credits are Broadway Dance Center, The Ailey School, Miami City Ballet, Ballet Academy East, South Carolina Dance Conservatory, International Dance Academy London, Academia de Bellas Artes Madrid and Festival of Theater and Dance in Japan. He continues to teach and perform in New York and abroad. top of page

Stevie Oakes became enamored with dance at her first ballet performance while living in Amsterdam. Her serious study of classical ballet later began under the tutelage of Sandra Balestracci in Williamsburg, VA alongside other ballet masters including Rudolph Kharatian, Adrienne Dellas and Marcus Bugler. As a student at the College of William & Mary, she earned a BS in Chemistry and Kinesiology while beginning to explore the world of modern dance. A recent graduate of the MFA program at Tisch School of the Arts, New York University, Stevie has had the privilege of performing works by Tere O’Connor, Gus Solomons, jr., Gina Gibney and Gerald Casel. She continues to freelance as a performer, choreographer and teacher throughout New York City. In collaboration with Kim Larimore-Goldman, her work has been shown throughout New York as part of danceNOW NYC, the chashama Oasis Festival and Danspace’s “Food for Thought.” From the age of 15, teaching, coaching and choreographing for young dancers has been an integral and meaningful part of her dance career. Stevie is thrilled to have the opportunity to return to EVSPA to share her love for movement and give back to the community that has provided the foundation for dance career. top of page

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