Faculty

Karen Gibbons-Brown, Executive/Artistic Director:

Karen Gibbons-Brown's resumé contains an impressive list of credentials. She began her early training in Columbia, South Carolina under Ann Brodie, Naomi Calvert and Aldolphina Suarez-Moré. Her early training and performing included ballet as well as modern, jazz, tap and theater dance. She continued her studies at American Ballet Theatre with Maria Swoboda, Michael Lland, Patricia Wilde and Leon Danelian and studied on scholarship at David Howard School of Ballet. Her professional experiences also include South Carolina Chamber Dance Ensemble, Ballet Celeste, Bristol Ballet and the Theatre Ballet of San Francisco where she recreated Anna Pavlova's roles "The California Poppy" and "The Dragonfly". Other performing highlights include performances at the Spoleto Festival in Charleston, South Carolina, the title role in Cinderella, the Sugar Plum Fairy in The Nutcracker, Swanilda in Coppélia, Aurora in The Sleeping Beauty and "Spring Waters" pas de deux. Ms. Gibbons-Brown considers herself fortunate to have had a few works created especially for her including solos, Pentimento by Jill Eathorne Barr and the role of Anna in Richard Munroe's work, The Hussar. Throughout her career, she has made numerous guest appearances throughout the United States. Ms. Gibbons-Brown has often been invited to teach guest classes and workshops including Sicily, Italy, Fontenay le Fleury, France and the prestigious Joffrey San Antonio Workshop under the directorship of her mentor, Jeremy Blanton. She was on the faculty of Virginia Intermont College and served as Ballet Mistress for John McFall as he created his production of The Nutcracker for Atlanta Ballet. In 1985, Ms. Gibbons-Brown founded the Kingsport Guild of Ballet and became the Artistic Director of the State of Franklin Dance Alliance at its inception in 1988. Other dance administrative duties include serving on the Tennessee Association of Dance Board of Directors in many capacities including president, serving on the Performing Arts Panel for the Tennessee Arts Commission and the Dance Grants Advisory Panel for the Indiana Arts Commission. She assumed directorship of Fort Wayne Ballet in August 1998. Other career highlights include Outstanding Dance Artist Award in 1997, serving as juror for Concours International de Danse Classique in 2000, a 2002 graduate of Leadership Fort Wayne and being listed in Who's Who in the 21st Century. Her other full time job is spending time with her husband, Jim, and children Watson, Madison, Hannah, Zachary and Raleigh.

Jeremy Blanton, Master Guest Teacher:

Mr. Blanton received his early dance training in Memphis, Tennessee. His early performing experiences include seasons with the Robert Joffrey Ballet and the Metropolitan Opera Ballet Company. He was Premier Danseur with National Ballet of Canada for ten years, performing ballets by Antony Tudor, George Balanchine, Ninette de Valois and Eric Bruhn. For a second career, Mr. Blanton was in the original production of Chicago on Broadway. During this stint he was Rehearsal Coach for Gwen Verdon and Chita Rivera. When the National Tour of Chicago was staged, Mr. Blanton served as Bob Fosse’s personal assistant. Choosing to return to the classical ballet world, he became Associate Director of American Ballet Theatre II and Ballet Repertory. His directorship also took him to Joffrey II and American Ballet Theatre Studio Company. Mr. Blanton recently retired from his six-year tenure as Chair of the Dance Department at Southern Methodist University.

Rose Aimee Butler (on sabbatical):

Rose Aimee Butler holds a diploma from the School of Pedagogy at the Ecole Superieure d'Etudes Choreographiques in Paris. She has studied ballet and character dance with Serge Peneti and Yves Casati of the French Opera of Paris. She is a certified teacher of the Royal Academy of Dance (R.A.D.) in London, England, and has successfully entered students for R.A.D. exams since 1985. She had her own dance school at an early age in Burkino Fasso Africa and has performed with her students before African heads of state. She studied character with Olga Stens and in 1996-98 she developed a character program for beginning students at Cornerstone Prep School in Fort Wayne and at FAME Organization in February 1997, and at the Childrens' Choir at Choralfest Camp for three summers (1995-98). She directed Fort Wayne Ballet's Youth Company from 1999-2004. During her 2001-2002 year sabbatical from the Fort Wayne Ballet, she taught dance in France for Americans in Alsace. She also studied Flamenco with Gabriel das Rochas in Paris and in Chicago with Northeastern University "Flamenco Ensemble." Mrs. Butler has been on faculty at Fort Wayne Ballet since 1991.

Shannon Cuykendall:

Shannon Cuykendall received her BFA in ballet pedagogy from University of Oklahoma in May 2006. She has trained at many prestigious ballet schools including, Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet, Nutmeg Ballet and Milwaukee Ballet School. During her time at college, Shannon was recognized for her choreography numerous times. She was awarded the Miguel Terekhov Ballet Choreography Award in April 2006 and received both the UROP and Interdisciplinary Arts Project Grant multiple years in a row in order to fund her choreographic endeavors. In the summer of 2005, Shannon attended the Glenda Brown Choreography Project in Kansas City, Missouri, on scholarships from both the University of Oklahoma and Glenda Brown.  After graduating, Shannon worked with Burklyn Ballet Theatre in Vermont during the summers of 2006 and 2007 as the Resident Choreographer. Her choreography has also been commissioned by Abilene Ballet Theatre in Abilene, Texas and Perpetual Motion in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.  Shannon began teaching in the fall of 2006 in Tulsa, Oklahoma and has taught at prominent schools such as Tulsa Center for Dance Education and the Jasinski Academy of Dance.

Camille Grable (on sabbatical):

Camille Grable began dancing in 1990. She became a student of Fort Wayne Ballet in 1993. Ms. Grable's performing highlights include The Nutcracker, Carlotta Grisi in Pas de Quatre, Carabosse in The Sleeping Beauty and Katshei in The Firebird. Ms. Grable traveled to Sicily, Italy with fellow dancers from Fort Wayne Ballet to perform for Italian audiences. Ms. Grable has displayed her talents in several ways for Fort Wayne Ballet including: instructor of Weisser Park Arts Magnet School ballet program, artist at 2002 Chalk Walk and as an artist for the Take A Seat fundraiser. In addition to performing and being a certified Pilates® instructor, Ms. Grable enjoys sharing her love of ballet with young dance students at Academy of Fort Wayne Ballet.

Eleonora Pokhitonova Hartung,
Character Ensemble Director:

Eleonora Pokhitonova Hartung received her ballet education at the Moscow Bolshoi Ballet Academy in Russia. Her teachers were Vasilieva and Maria Kojuhkova, both pupils of the famous ballet teacher, Vaganova. Upon her graduation from the Academy, she traveled the world as a soloist of Moscow Theatre of Opera and Ballet, named after Stanislavsky, where she performed a wide range of classical repertoire. Her teaching career began in 1979 at the Government Choreographic Academy (formerly known as Moscow Academic Choreographic Institute) after her studies at The Russian Academy of Theatrical Art (GITIS) and completion of degree of Ballet and Character Teacher from The Russian Academy of Ballet. Her teaching continued following her retirement from performing in 1984. Since 1987, Ms. Pokhitonova's credit includes being a choreographer for the Moscow Ice Review, for the figure skaters of the Russian Sports Club, and for the Festival of Russian-Finland Friendship in Helsinki. In 1988 Ms. Pokhitonova was also teaching students at The Stockholm Ballet School in Sweden. 1995 marked Ms. Hartung's teaching debut in America as Principal Teacher and Ballet Mistress with The Ballet Arkansas in Little Rock, Arkansas. In 1998 she taught a Summer Workshop in Shreveport, Louisiana and the same year Ms. Pokhitonova joined the Academy of Fort Wayne Ballet as a rehearsal assistant and teacher. In 1999 she was a faculty member of the Joffrey Ballet Midwest Summer Workshop. Shortly after her marriage, Ms. Pokhitonova moved to Maryland where she instructed private lessons. In 2002, Ms. Pokhitonova Hartung became a U.S. citizen. After returning to Fort Wayne in 2003, she rejoined the Academy of Fort Wayne Ballet faculty where she teaches ballet and character dance to a wide range of students from advanced to performing levels. She choreographed Russian dance for The Nutcracker, Mazurka and Spanish dances for Swan Lake and Romanian, Moldavian, Russian, Ukrainian, Tarantella, Gypsy, Polka, and Czardas dances for the Character Ensemble at Fort Wayne Ballet. 

Ashlee Heet:

Ashlee Barbara Heet began her dance training at Academy of Fort Wayne Ballet at the age of seven. She assisted the Academy faculty in a teacher preparation program for five years prior to beginning her teaching career in 2003. Her training with the faculty of Fort Wayne Ballet has been supplemented with training from internationally known teachers such as Jeremy Blanton, Todd Eric Allen, Stephen Stone, Lees Hummel, Gregory Schramel and Marjorie Hardwick Schramel. Ms. Heet has appeared with Fort Wayne Ballet in several productions including The Nutcracker, Frankenstein, The Firebird, The Sleeping Beauty and Coppélia as well as numerous outreach performances throughout the region.

Elizabeth Massey:

Elizabeth Massey was trained in R.A.D. by her mother, Rose Aimee Butler, and has taken all levels of the children's examinations of R.A.D. She studied at Fort Wayne Ballet, the Conservatory of Strasbourg in France under the direction of Mr. and Mrs. Champion, Centre du Marais in Paris and Indiana University-Purdue University, Fort Wayne. She has studied ballet, jazz, character and the Al Gilbert Method of tap. Ms. Massey pursued a dance minor at IPFW. As a part of Fort Wayne Ballet's outreach work, Ms. Massey often works with area children with creative movement as well as co-curricular classroom activities.

Radmila Teodorovic Novosel, Permanent Master Teacher:

Radmila Teodorovic Novosel is a native of Belgrade, in the former Yugoslavia. A graduate of State Ballet Academy of Belgrade, she studied under Nina Khyrsanova, a former prima ballerina and choreographer from Russia. During her working career of 25 years she was a member and a soloist of the Belgrade Opera Ballet, which allowed her to dance on stages throughout the world, from Italy, Germany and Austria to Russia and Japan. Mrs. Novosel has performed such ballets as Pathetique Symphony by Tchaikovsky, Carmen, "Symphony in C Major" by Bizet, The Nutcracker, Swan Lake, The Sleeping Beauty, Les Sylphides, Giselle, Prince Igor, Don Quixote and Romeo and Juliet. She has had roles as a dancer in several films by Avala Film. Mrs. Novosel stopped dancing in 1979 and worked as a ballet teacher, choreographer-in-residence and ballet mistress for several schools in Italy. She came to Fort Wayne in July 1992 and almost immediately began to work as a teacher and a coach for Fort Wayne Ballet. She held the position of Interim Artistic Director in 1995-1996 and 1997-1998. Her talents as a coach for Fort Wayne Ballet's professional and youth companies have been seen on stage in The Nutcracker, "Swan Lake Act II" and "Spartacus" Pas de Deux. Mrs. Novosel was instrumental in the implementation of the cultural exchange between Fort Wayne Ballet and Corppo di Ballo di Ragusa in Sicily, Italy, in June 2001.

Lucia Rogers:

Lucia Rogers began movement classes in Ashland, Ohio when she was eight year old, and her formal dance training began with Fort Wayne Ballet in 1995. She has studied with Karen Gibbons-Brown, Derek Reid, and Radmila Teodorovic Novosel. Some of her summer studies have included working with Jeremy Blanton, David Howard, Susan Jaffe, Nancy Raffa, and Dwight Rhoden. Ms. Rogers has attended summer intensives here at Fort Wayne Ballet, Burklyn Ballet Theatre, and American Ballet Theatre in New York City. She was chosen to represent Fort Wayne Ballet in Sicily, Italy in 2001 and again in Paris, France in 2002. Fort Wayne audiences have enjoyed Ms. Roger's performances for many seasons.

Nikolay Todorinov, Music Director:

Nikolay Todorinov graduated the Academy of Music in Sofia, Bulgaria and holds a masters degree in piano performance from Indiana University School of Music, Bloomington. His artistic career includes great numbers of solo recitals of works by Bach, Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven, Brahms, Liszt, Debussy, Franck, Tchaikovsky and Prokofiev. As a soloist of Plovdiv Philharmonic Orchestra he performed concerts for piano such as Beethoven no. 3 C minor, Mendelssohn G minor, Mozart E flat Major, Tchaikovsky no 1. He spent twelve years teaching piano at the School for Gifted Children, Sofia and Music School in Plovdiv, Bulgaria. His students won local and international piano competitions (Schumann, Aaron Copland) and some of them are currently enrolled in colleges and conservatories in Bulgaria and USA, with music scholarships. Nikolay joined Fort Wayne Ballet in 2005 as an accompanist and bravely meets the challenges of his new career and new repertoire in the environment of beauty and professionalism. He has been married for over twenty years and has two awesome daughters.

 Tracy Tritz-Hartman, Faculty:

Tracy Tritz-Hartman began her training in Stevens Point, Wisconsin under the direction of James Moore and Joan Karlen. She began studying ballet, jazz, tap and musical theatre. After beginning her performing career in ballet, she decided to pursue her love of both singing and dance by performing with touring companies of the Broadway Musicals Guys and Dolls, 42nd Street and Les Miserables. She then decided to switch her focus back to dance, with an emphasis on studying the movements of jazz, modern and contemporary dance. She attended the University of Wisconsin Stevens Point, where she completed the Dance Certificate Program. She then moved to Chicago where she studied with Gus Giordano, Frank Chaves, Lou Conte and at Ruth Page Center for the Arts. From Chicago, she moved to Los Angeles, where she danced as a company member with L.A. Danceforce and Jazz Dance L.A. There she also danced on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno, The Howie Mandel Show and with various musical artists in concert. While in Los Angeles she studied with Randy Allaire, Bill Prudich, and Marguerite Derricks, Claude Thompson and Luigi. Her career brought her back to Chicago, where she continued dancing as well as choreographing for various companies and performances. She has also taught at several dance schools, including Giordanos Dance Center. Tracy recently relocated to Fort Wayne with her husband, where she joins the Academy of the Fort Wayne Ballet Faculty.

Joellen Wojtowicz, Youth Company Director:

Ms. Wojtowicz began her training in the Cecchetti Method of Ballet passing graded examinations in grades 1-6. Her teacher at that time was Sylvia Hamer, FISTD, the co-founder of Cecchitti Council of America. She furthered her studies at Texas Christian University with the Nordan Fine Arts Scholarship in Ballet and received her BFA in Ballet. While at TCU, she studied ballet, modern and jazz dance with such notables as Fernando Schaffenburg, Stephanie Rand, Lisa Fusillo, Li Chou Cheng, Jerry Bywaters Cochan, Ellen Page Garrison, Susan Douglas Roberts, Donna Faye Birchfield, Diane West and Richard Walker. Also at TCU, she served as Vice-President and President of XTE, the National Dance Honor Society, Alpha Chapter. Ms. Wojtowicz joins us from a performing and teaching career at Chattanooga, Tennessee. She served on faculty for Chattanooga Ballet, Chattanooga High School Center for Creative Arts and Allegro Dance Theatre. She has taught various master classes and workshops for University of Mississippi for Women, Middle Tennessee State University, Paula Duff's School of Dance in Cleveland, Tennessee, and The Baylor School and Orange Grove Dancers, a performing group of physically and mentally challenged students from Orange Grove Center in Chattanooga, Tennessee.