Faculty
| Alexandra Botti | Ballet, Ballet Conditioning, French for Ballet Dancers |
Ms. Botti is currently on faculty at The Boston Ballet, where she is a sought out teacher of both children and adults. She was classically trained at Boston Ballet and Walnut Hill and received her B.A. cum laude from Smith College where she danced in the prestigious Five College Dance Program. She is a dual citizen of France and the U.S. and has taken masters-level coursework at the Sorbonne.
| Christine Campbell | Ballet, Ballet History |
Ms. Campbell studied ballet at the Royal Academy of Dance in London and holds an MFA in Dance. She has studied modern dance with Martha Graham, the Alwin Nikolais Co. and the Donald McKayle Co., and jazz with Gus Giordano. She is also an accomplished choreographer for regional theatre productions, and is the 2008 recipient of the TAMY Award for Best Choreographer in a high school musical production.
| Audra Carabetta | Modern, Jazz (summer) |
Ms. Carabetta is a professor of Dance at Holy Cross University, and received her MFA in dance. She has choreographed and performed extensively with dance companies in the Boston area and overseas, including Weber Dance Company and Marcus Schulkind. She was the 2004 recipient of Lef Foundation’s Emerging Artist Award. She is on the faculty of Ballet Arts Centre of Winchester.
| Patricia Estorino | Guest Teacher, Ballet, Modern |
Ms. Estorino began studying ballet in her native Cuba, studying at the Alejo Carpentier school. Her teachers included Fernando Alonso (head and founder of the National Ballet of Cuba), Laura Alonzo, and Jose Manuel Carreno (American Ballet Theatre). She graduated with a teaching certificate from the Pro Danza Center of Cuba and performed with the Contemporary Dance Company of Cuba. Since coming to the Boston she has performed with the Marcus Schulkind Dance Company and Lorraine Chapman The Company.
| Marianne Harkless | African (summer) |
Ms. Harkless was a member of Danny Sloan Dance Company, Ballet Theatre of Boston, Impulse Dance Company, Bandanca Afro-Brazilian Dancers & Musicians, Brasiliero, Inc. and the Arts of Black Dance & Music. She has performed and taught at colleges, public and private schools and dance studios throughout New England, France, Switzerland, Sweden and Jamaica. Marianne was a 1996 recipient of the Dance Belt Award and is a former member of the Board of Trustees of the Boston Dance Alliance. Marianne currently teaches at Wellesley College, the Cambridge School of Weston and Move for Youth, Cambridge.
| Erika Lambe-Holland | Ballet, Ballet Conditioning, Repertory |
A native of Brookline, Massachusetts, Ms. Lambe-Holland is the granddaughter of famed tenor Roland Hayes, who opened the doors of classical music to African Americans. Ms. Lambe-Holland trained at the Boston Ballet School, the School of American Ballet and the Dance Theatre of Harlem school. She performed with Boston Ballet II before joining Dance Theatre of Harlem, where she danced an extensive repertory for three years. As a member of Miami City Ballet, she was a featured dancer in the 1999 PBS production, “I’ll Make Me a World”, which chronicled the careers of African Americans in the Arts.
Ms. Lambe-Holland joined Boston Ballet as a member of the corps de ballet in 1993. Besides performing an extensive repertory with Boston Ballet, in 2000, Ms. Lambe-Holland became the first African American Sugarplum Fairy in Boston Ballet’s production of The Nutcracker.
Ms. Lambe-Holland has taught and choreographed pieces for the Boston Arts Academy, Boston Ballet Center for Dance Education, Charles River Ballet Academy and Walnut Hill School. She has served on staff at Boston Arts Academy, Boston Ballet School and the Walnut Hill School for the Performing Arts and Charles River Ballet Academy.
| Arthur Leeth | Guest Master Teacher, Ballet |
Mr. Leeth graduated from Butler University before moving to New York to study at SAB and at the school of ABT. In 1976 he joined Boston Ballet where he danced for 13 years before becoming the Company’s ballet master and music librarian. His many teaching credits include current appointments at the Boston Conservatory and Burklyn Ballet Theatre.
| Meghan Meehan | Ballet, Jazz, Modern |
Ms. Meehan holds a B.A. in Dance from Muhlenberg College where she danced extensively. She has served on the ballet faculty of the Rock School and the ACPPA Cooperative School in Philadelphia, and continues to perform and choreograph professionally. Ms. Meehan is also an accomplished artist working toward her MFA, and is a graduate of ASB.
| Chip Morris | Director, Ballet |
Mr. Morris began his dance training in Madison, Wisconsin where he directed Jazzworks Dance Theatre and choreographed for Choreographer’s Consortium and the Madison Savoyards. Since coming to Boston in 1985, Mr. Morris has performed with the modern dance company, Choreo, and danced as a soloist with The Dance Prism. Mr. Morris has choreographed for several companies in the Boston area including the Harvard-Radcliffe Dance Company and Wheaton College. With Kathryn Anderson he is co-founder of the Commonwealth Ballet Company and currently serves as its Artistic Director. He has choreographed more than 25 ballets, including full-length productions of Dracula, Beauty and the Beast, Hans Christian Anderson’s The Nightingale, and The Secret Garden. Mr. Morris holds a PhD in mathematics from the University of Wisconsin, Madison.
| Melissa Morris | School Administrator |
Mrs. Morris holds an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from Lesley University and has had an extensive career as a visual designer. She co-wrote the scenario for The Enchanted Toy Shop and The Pharaoh’s Daughter, and has designed sets and props for ballets such as The Nightingale and The Secret Garden, and The Pharaoh’s Daughter. She is married to ASB Director, Chip Morris.
| JoJo Tsacoyeanes | First Steps |
Ms. Tsacoyeanes is a senior member of Commonwealth Ballet, for whom she has danced leading roles such as “Snow Queen” and “Dew Drop Fairy” in The Nutcracker. She has attended ASB, taught in ASB’s Pre-Ballet program, and attended summer programs at Walnut Hill, Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet, North Carolina Dance Theatre, and American Ballet Theatre.
| Denise Pons (Leone) | Ballet (Senior Faculty), Variations, Choreography |
Ms. Pons began her dance training in New Orleans, LA with Joseph Giacobbe and has been coached by Michael Smuin, Mark Morris, Bruce Marks, Natalia Dudinskaya, Edward Villella, Dinna Bjorn, Georges Garcia, Bojan Spassoff, Bruce Wells, and Anna-Marie Holmes. She received the Nordan Fine Arts Scholarship and attended Texas Christian University. She performed with New Orleans Delta Festival Ballet, Fort Worth Ballet (now Texas Ballet Theater), San Francisco Ballet, Eglevsky Ballet, and Boston Ballet (1982 - soloist).
In 1990, Ms. Pons was selected by Mark Morris and Mikhail Baryshnikov as one of the eight founding members of the White Oak Dance Project. As a guest artist, she performed the Black Swan Pas de Deux, Firebird and Les Sylphides with Ballet Oklahoma and New Jersey Ballet. Ms. Pons has taught extensively throughout the US and France. Her background also include extensive training in tap, jazz, flamenco, and modern dance.
| Anthony Williams | Guest Master Teacher |
Anthony Williams was a principal dancer of The Boston Ballet, and an original charter member. He has been a member of The Joffery Ballet, and a principal dancer of the Royal Winnipeg Ballet and The Norwegian Ballet. He is currently Director of BalletRox in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts.
| Kristina Wright | Creative Dance, First Steps, Ballet |
Ms. Wright is a graduate of ASB, and has performed soloist roles with Metrowest Ballet and Dance Prism. She has trained with Edra Toth and Cathy Hazeltine-Fallon, and studied at American Ballet Theatre in Alabama. She has served on the faculty of the Studio Ballet of Hudson and ASB.