HOMERichard Gibson
Director
is a former member of the Joffrey Ballet and the San Francisco Ballet. He began his teaching career in 1964 and, through the many professional dancers he has produced, he has built an international reputation as one of the most highly respected ballet masters in the United States. His experience includes the directorship of the Royal Conservatory in The Hague and the position of Ballet Master, company teacher for Nederlands Dans Theatre. He later became company teacher for the Joffrey Ballet and principal teacher for the Joffrey Ballet School in New York City. For six years he held the position of company instructor for the San Francisco Ballet. As a guest teacher, Mr. Gibson has worked with the Stuttgart Ballet, Dutch National Ballet, Scapino Ballet, Hungarian National Ballet, Irish National Ballet, Deutsche Oper Berlin, National Ballet of Canada, Frankfurt Opera Ballet, Aterballetto, Eliot Feld Ballet, North Carolina School of the arts and both the Bat Sheva and Bat Dor dance companies of Israel.
Zory Karah
Director
received his early training at the school of the Israeli Classical Ballet and the Bat Dor Studios in his native Israel. He subsequently performed with the Israeli National Ballet. He also studied with Raymond Franchetti in Paris, Maryon Lane in London, and Rosella Hightower in Cannes. Since coming to the United States, Mr. Karah has toured the country with Dance Express and performed as a guest artist with several American companies.
He has served as a company teacher for the Smuin Ballet and has taught for School of the Arts in San Francisco. He also taught as a guest teacher in Israel, Argentina and The Netherlands. He presently co-directs the Academy of Ballet and its performing company, Chamberdance.
Elizabeth Gravelle
is a graduate of the National Ballet School in Toronto, Canada. Upon graduation, she joined the National Ballet of Canada where she performed a large repertoire of both classical and contemporary ballets. From the National Ballet, she went on to perform with the Hong- Kong Ballet, Israeli Classical Ballet, and ODC/San Francisco.
Elizabeth has been a performer for young audiences and an Artist-in-Residence for LEAP. She has taught ballet and creative dance movement for the Haifa Piccolo Ballet, Golden Gate Ballet, and at Lone Mountain College.
Mary Ellen Hunt
began her training under Richard Thomas and Barbara Fallis at the New York School of Ballet continuing her training in the Master of Fine Arts program at University of Arizona, Tucson under John Wilson and George Zoritch. She has performed principal roles with Chamberdance and presently holds the position of ballet mistress-rehearsal director with Chamberdance and a member of the board. A keen observer of, as well participant in the dance community, Mary Ellen’s articles have featured in Dance Magazine, Dance Teacher, In Dance and San Francisco Magazine and her reviews have appeared in the Contra Costa Times, the San Jose Mercury News and the San Francisco Chronicle.
Joshua Trader
Born in San Francisco where he trained
at the Academy Of Ballet. After completing his training he joined Eugene ballet for two years, where he danced leading roles in many both classical and contemporary ballets. He then joined Tulsa Ballet for eight years expanding his contemporary repertoire to include major works by Jiri Kylian, Nacho Duato, Val Caniparoli, Hans van Manen, George Balanchine, Antony Tudor, Christopher Wheeldon, Stanton Welch, and Jerome Robbins as well as originating roles in ballets by Niccolo Fonte, Young-Soon Hue, Lucianno Cannito, and Ma Cong.
His teaching credits include guest engagements at The Ballet Idaho Academy, Joffrey Ballet Summer Workshop, and the Tulsa Ballet School among others. He has also choreographed for Tulsa Ballet II, Chamberdance, Ballet Idaho Academy and The Joffrey Ballet Summer Workshop.
Past
Guest Faculty Included
Joanna
Berman, Donn Edwards,
Pascal Leroy, Carmela Zegorelli,
Zoltan Peter, Julia Adam, Kristine Elliott.