Debra Berger

School Director

Born and raised in New York City, Debra began her dance training at The School of American Ballet.  As a young dancer she performed with The New York City Ballet Company in The Nutcracker, A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Harlequinade.  Her musical theater credits include A Chorus Line, Carmelina, and West Side Story, to name a few.
Throughout her career Debra has taught Master Classes nationally and in Brazil. Having recently moved to Wilmington, North Carolina, Debra is looking forward to contributing in the dance community.
As a Teaching Artist with Dancing Classrooms, she is very excited to pilot the program here in Wilmington and surrounding counties.  She also teaches and choreographs for Take the Lead Academy, a youth ballroom performance group.

Stella Johnson

Teacher

Stella, studied with Nicholai Morosov and Ludmila Morkovina, both graduates and professors of the Vagnova Institute and Maly Theater (Mikhaylovsky) in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Madame Morkovina also taught at Kirov Academy of Ballet and currently still teaches at the City Dance Center at Strathmore in North Bethesda, MD. Mrs. Johnson also danced under the direction of Francoise Adret, Paris opera, French ballet dancer, teacher, choreographer, and company director of the National Ballet of Panama. She studied under Estrella Kadiaj, who had danced with Bejart. She studied with Henry Danton from the Royal Ballet as a guest Margot Fonteyn from Panama. Stella performed professionally with the National Ballet of Panama and Ballet Concierto. She performed in the following ballets:Swan Lake, La Bayadere, Les Sylphides, Paquita, Dying Swan, and many more.In addition to Mrs. Johnson's extensive ballet background, she acquired a B.S in Ecomomics and a Masters in Human Resources, which opened an opportunity for her to work for HR Information Systems with the Navy and Office of Personal Management for 30 years. Married with three children, Mrs. Johnson now resides in Wilmington and teaches at the Wilmington School of Ballet and Dance.

Guest Faculty

Christine Spizzo

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(Summer Faculty)

Christine began her lengthy and distinquished career under the guidance of Petrus van Muyden in Albuquerque, New Mexico. She later recieved a Ford Foundation scholarship to San Fransisco Ballet School where she began dedicated training with Harold and Ruby Christensen.

She continued her training in high school on scholarship at North Carolina School of the Arts, and the School of the American Ballet in New York. Upon graduation, she joined the National Ballet of Washington (DC) under the direction of Frederic Franklin and Ben Stevenson.  Later she joined Richard Englund and Gage Bush at the Ballet Repertory Company

In 1975, she joined the American Ballet Theater where she was noted for her "soubrette" roles in Don Quixote, Graduation Ball,  Sleeping Beauty, Romeo & Juliet and virtually every pas de trois in the ABT classical repetoire. Christine also performed with Mikhail Baryshnikov in Appollo and appeared in ABT Live from Lincoln Center telecast and in several "Dance in America" programs between 1975 and 1988.

She appeared in both Herbert Ross/ABT motion pictures The Turning Pointe and Dancers. She was also in Phantom of the Opera for ten years on Broadway. Christine is widely recognized for her teaching, and has been quoted as an authority in ballet and in pointe publications. She is currently a full time ballet faculty teacher for North Carolina School of the Arts

Stacey Slichter

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(Since 2001)

Stacey is in her seventh season with North Atlanta Dance Theatre.  Stacey most recently danced the lead Wench and lead Topaz in Mr. Garrison's Pirates of the Phantom Waves, as well as, Sugar Plum in NADT's Nutcracker.  

In 2008 Stacey Slichter performed Myrtha in NADT'sGiselle.  In 2007, she performed the Grand Pas De Deux in Aurora's Wedding from Sleeping Beauty.  In 2005 and 2006, she performed Fate in Michael Garrison's Carmen.  She has also performed Michael Garrison's Echa Pa'Lante solo in NADT's Spring Concert 2005 and Snow Queen and Russina in NADT's Nutcracker 2005 and 2006.

Stacey began training in Miami, Florida under the direction of Lynne Dresson, Gloria Gaither and Victoria Leigh.  She spent her summers training at The Houston Ballet Academy.  After attending and graduating from The Harid Conservatory, Stacey joined The Sarasota Ballet of Florida as a company member.  She has also danced professionally with Ballet Eddy Toussaint USA, Ballet Memphis, and Atlanta Ballet, in addition to performing with The Sarasota Opera.  Stacey is currently on the faculty of North Atlanta Dance Academy.  She enjoys teaching ballet to students of all ages.  Stacey is the proud mother of eight year old Maren!

Adam Schiffer

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(Guest Artist)

Adam Schiffer is a native of Budapest, Hungary where he graduated from the Hungarian Dance Academy in 2005. In the following seasons, he performed with the Vienna State Opera, the Slovakian National Opera, and the Columbia Classical Ballet. While at Columbia Classical Ballet, he performed principal roles and was invited to perform as a part of Ballet Builders in New York City by Rick McCullough. In 2007, Mr. Schiffer was awarded the Viktor Fulop Scholarship from the Hungarian Ministry of Culture. He has participated in summer intensive programs at North Carolina Dance Theatre in Charlotte, North Carolina; Pergine Spettacolo Aperto in Milan, Italy; and the Ballet des Jeunes d'Europe in Marseilles, France. Additionally, he has been a Principal Guest Artist with Ballet New England, A.V.A. Ballet Theater, Covington Regional Ballet, Dance Theater Jacksonville, Appalachian Ballet, City Youth Ballet and Carolina Youth Ballet. Mr. Schiffer has toured in Hungary, Romania, Slovenia, Slovakia, Austria, Czech Republic, Italy, France, and in the USA. He joined Carolina Ballet in 2008.

Jaime Robtison

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(Guest Artist)

Alex Kedrov

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(Guest Artist & Master Teacher)

Born and raised in Moscow, Russia, Mr Kedrov graduated from Moscow Choreographic Institute.
He was a Ballet soloist with The State Bolshoi Theater, Moscow, and toured extensively around the world with them until the Bolshoi Theater USA Tour where he accepted an invitation from Boston Ballet Co. to join the company as a soloist. Here he had the chance to work with known Western choreographers and broaden his repertoire. Throughout his career, Alexander has worked with many different companies as a guest artist, teacher and choreographer in dance and musical theater productions in the USA, Canada, Spain, Germany, Japan, Taiwan. A few of them include: a tour in Germany as a guest artist with “Russian Ballet Stars” Company, staging of “Nayada and Fishermen” ballet in Japan with Myaki Dance Theater in Tokyo, and choreography and participation as a featured artist in various fragments from American Musicals with Jean Ann Ryan Productions Co. on the Asuka Cruise Ship in Japan. 

Mark E. McCullough​

(Guest Artist & Yogi)

Certified, YogaFit, Inc., Fitness First, Inc.; Yoga and Tai Chi Instructor, The Fitness Center at Kernersville; Yoga Instructor, Gramercy Research Group; Yoga and Tai Chi Instructor, ABT Summer Intensive Programs (at UNCSA)
In 2010, McCullough established the Mobile Yoga Company, with the intention of bringing yoga to forward-thinking individuals and corporations, at their homes and places of business. His Winston-Salem clientele included Orthopaedic Specialists of the Carolinas, NC Baptist Hospital, Bishop McGuiness High School (women’s basketball team), Gateway YWCA, Fulton YMCA, and Gold’s Gym. Currently, in addition to his Studio Eleve’ classes, Mark teaches yoga at The Fitness Center @ Kernersville, the Gramercy Research Group, and occasionally at the UNC School of the Arts. He is the yoga instructor for American Ballet Theatre’s Summer Intensive Programs at UNCSA (2012-2016). Mark also teaches yoga-for-dancers at various dance schools throughout North Carolina (Charlotte, Monroe, Chapel Hill, Apex, Wilmington), as well as in New Mexico and Arizona, and 2018 Southwest Regional Ballet Festival in Dallas.
Mark’s yoga practice is primarily influenced by the traditional Vinyasa style of yoga. His classes are intended for student practitioners of all levels and sports interests. He, himself, continues to take classes in yoga and Tai Chi, in order to expand and share his knowledge of the physical and philosophical aspects of holistic health. Mark is the co-founder, along with Christine Spizzo, of Studio Elevé.

Emily Bannerman

Teacher

Emily was born and raised in Whiteville NC, where she began dancing at the age of 3. She trained at The Wilmington School of Ballet and was part of The Wilmington Ballet Company from 2001-2005. Bannerman attended the University of North Carolina School of the Arts for high school and college as a ballet major and, later, as a contemporary dance major where she performed in their annual Nutcracker, Twyla Tharp's Torelli, and world premiere piece, Holden C, created for UNCSA students by acclaimed French choreographer, Eric Oberdorff.

Bannermans's education at UNCSA and summer intensives at both Boston Ballet and ABT New York provided her with extensive training in classical ballet alongside many internationally known dancers and teachers and taught her several modern techniques such as Limon, Cunningham, Nikolais, and Graham.

Currently, Bannerman is a member Cape Fear Dance Theatre as a dancer, choreographer, and teacher, representing dance on film in the Southeast and our Assitant Director.

Kevin Lee-y Green

Teacher

Kevin Lee-y Green trained with the Theater Dance Workshop of Wilmington under the instruction of Judy Greenhut & Nicole Bennett at the Wilmington School of the Performing Arts. He is a graduate of the University of NC School of the Arts, where he studied dance. During the summer, Kevin works as a dance teacher with “Broadway on Second Street,” a children’s arts camp in Wilmington. Kevin keeps busy choreographing and directing full-length musicals for the Wilmington Thalian Association, Journey Productions & South Brunswick High School. Kevin created and runs a small dance & theater company, TECHMOJA. His company made their debut theatrical appearance with their production ofDreamgirls and have also put on the production of The Wiz. He recently staged an original work for Black History month entitled The House That Gordy Built. Kevin performed the “Harlequin Doll” and Russian variation in the Wilmington Ballet Company’s 2012 and 2013 production of Nutcracker.

Anne Firmender 

Teacher

Anne Firmender is orignally from Stratford, CT and has called Wilmington home since 1998. She has trained at a number of prestigious schools including The School of American Ballet, California Institute of the Arts and Cornish College of Arts(where she received her BFA in Dance summa cum laud). She has taught dance in both public and private schools to students of all ages and backgrounds since 1982, including New Haven's Performing Arts High School Educational Center for the Arts (her alma mater). Additonal teaching residencies include New Haven Ballet, the Wilmington School of Ballet & Dance, the Educational Center for the Arts of New Haven, and DREAMS of Wilmington, an arts education program serving impoverished youth. Anne's choreography has been performed in a wide range of venues, including North Carolina Dance Fesitval, Dance-a-lorus, and innumerable benefits and community showcases. A founding member of The Dance Cooperative ,where she served as a School Director for many years, Anne organized two annual events: Community Dance Day and the Emerging Choreographers Showcase, for which she has mentored multiple young dancers. In addition to her artistic background, Anne has many years of experience working with special needs youth, including children on the autism spectrum and with mental health issues. She continues to choreograph and teach throughout Wilmington.

Raleigh School of Ballet Staff

Mary LeGere

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(Guest Artist from RSB)

A native of Rotterdam, NY, Ms. LeGere began her ballet training at age 9.  In 1976 she won a scholarship to the Pensylvania Ballet where she studied with Barbara Weisburger, Benjamin Harkavy, and Lupe Serrano.  In 1980 she joined the company and in 1986 was promoted to soloist.  While with the Pennsylvania Ballet, she danced principal roles in Balanchine's Nutcracker, Seranade, Stars and Stripes, Four Temperments, and Concerto Barocco.  In addition, she was featured in works by Paul Taylor, Merce Cunningham, Lynn Taylor Corbett, Robert Weiss, and Peter Martins.

In 1990 she retired with an acclaimed performance of Myrta in Giselle.  After moving to North Carolina with her husband, Ms. LeGere became Associate Director of the Raleigh Dance Theatre in 1992 and became Artistic Director  in 1994 when Raleigh Dance Theatre founder Anne Vorus resigned to concetrate her energies directing the Raleigh School of Ballet.  It was under Ms. LeGere's tenure that the company changed its name to Carolina Ballet and reached the final step in becoming a professional company. Choosing to no longer direct the Carolina Ballet, Ms. LeGere is once again directing the re-established Raleigh Dance Theatre, where she contnues to uphold the tradition of high standards and excellence.  Ms. LeGere has choreographed several works for Raleigh Dance Theatre that have been chosen to be performed at the RDA/SERBA annual festival.  She was honored with the 2006-2007 North Carolina Dance Alliance Annual Award.  This prestigious award honors individuals who have made significant lifetime contributions to the growth and development of dance in NC.  Ms. LeGere lives in Durham with her husband and two children.

Megan Marvel

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(Guest Artist from RSB)

Megan Marvel grew up in Raleigh and trained at The Raleigh School of Ballet until moving to Pittsburgh at sixteen to study with the Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre School-Schenley High School Program.  Other training included The School of the Atlanta Ballet, and the Houston Ballet Academy.  Ms. Marvel returned to Raleigh to obtain a Bachelor’s degree in psychology from NCSU, and became a member of the NCSU Dance Company under the direction of Robin Harris.  She has continued to perform and choreograph for the NCSU Dance Company since 1994, and keeps a Master of Fine Arts in Liberal Studies Degree from NCSU, focusing on Choreography and Dance Design. Ms. Marvel also served as the Assistant Director of the NC State Dance Program. Ms. Marvel joined The Raleigh School of Ballet’s faculty in 1997and became Associate Director of RDT in 2006.