SUMMER INTENSIVE PROGRAM 2018 GUEST FACULTY

John Batchelor Social Dance John Batchelor comes to us from Los Angeles. He performed many times with Diane Cypher and Robert Kelley with Sacramento , most notably as the Skinny Stepsister to Robert's big-bosomed Stepsister and Diane's Cinderella. John's comedic timing is impeccable and his pointework is, well, hilarious. He danced on the east coast television series "Step by Step".

John has taught Latin, smooth and swing ballroom styles at several of The Studio's Summer Intensive Programs. He has taught at the Fred Astaire Dance Studios, Sacramento City College, Del Paso Manor School, Gifted and Talented Education (GATE) program and Pepperdine University. He has also taught a vairety of weekend workshops, seminars and cotillions in California, Hawaii, New York and Toronto, Canada. He taught Social Dance at the RDA/Pacific 50th anniversary Festival in Sacramento. John's classes are always a major hit with the ballet students at The Studio.

David King Modern and Improvisation David King is a dancer, choreographer, durational installation artist, movement educator, and Chair of the Cabrillo College Dance Department. Since 1992 he has been a principle dancer and choreographic collaborator with Cid Pearlman Performance (San Francisco/Los Angeles/Santa Cruz/Estonia). In addition to his work with CPP, he has performed with choreographers Eric Stern, Liam Clancy and Carmela Hermann, among others. In 1991 he earned a BA in Theater Arts/Dance from UC Santa Cruz and completed a four-year Feldenkrais practitioner training. In 2001 he received an MA in Dance from UCLA. King is co-founder of max10 Performance Laboratory, a monthly performance salon at the Electric Lodge in Venice, CA, and now at Motion Pacific in Santa Cruz. In 2013 he received a Fulbright Award from the U.S Department of State, and was a guest artist at the Viljandi Culture Academy of Tartu University in Estonia. Melanie Haller Ballet & Pointe Melanie Haller received her training at the Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet under world renowned teacher, Marcia Dale Weary, and with other prestigious mentors such as Darla Hoover, Alan Hineline, Leslie Hench, Richard Cook, and Melinda Howe. Over the course of a decade, her training included the annual participation with RDA/ Northeast, the International Ballet Competition, in 2004 and 2008, representing the Northeast region, and attending the Summer Dance Program for four consecutive years in the highest level under the direction of Devon Carney. With Darla Hoover’s affiliation with , Ms. Haller grew up performing Balanchine works such as , Divertimento #15, Harlequinade, , Raymonda , , Star and Stripes, Valse Fantasie, and Walpurgisnacht.

At the age of eighteen, she joined the Sacramento Ballet as an apprentice and was immediately given principal roles such as the Sugar Plum Fairy in . Her Balanchine repertoire expanded and was highlighted in , , , Scotch Symphony, , , Who Cares?, and Ron Cunningham’s productions of The Sleeping Beauty, Giselle, , Carmina Burana, Hamlet, A Street Car Named Desire, The Tempest, , Carmen, Rite of Spring, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Romeo and Juliet. After six years with the company, she retired and began teaching in the Sacramento community. California Musical Theatre credits include playing Tintinabula in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. She has also worked with The Sacramento Opera and choreographed their productions of Othello and The Marriage of Figaro. She was the Principal of The School of the Sacramento Ballet and the Artistic Director of their Sacramento Ballet Youth Ensemble.

Melanie has taught at the RDA Pacific Regional festivals, including this past spring in Spokane.

scroll down for more Deborah Hadley Ballet

Deborah Hadley was born and raised in San Diego and began her studies at the San Diego Ballet under the direction of former Principals Nancy Johnson and Richard Carter. Continuing on to the rank of with the regional company, Ms. Hadley went on to become a charter member of the Joffrey II in 1969.

Taking time off to marry and have two boys, Ms. Hadley returned to her ballet career in 1979 when she joined Pacific Northwest Ballet, where she remained a Principal Dancer for the next thirteen years. Ms. Hadley’s distinguished performing career also included appearances as a guest artist with the Kozlov and Stars, Godonov and Stars, and in the title role of “Giselle” with Anthony Dowell in addition to many companies across the United States.

Ms. Hadley’s glittering repertoire is world-class and reflects her prima ballerina status with Pacific Northwest Ballet. It includes many Balanchine works, major classical full-length and gala pieces. She has appeared in major works of , Anthony Tudor, Glen Tetley, Clark Tippet, Paul Taylor, Lar Lubovitch, Vicente Nebrada and Val Caniparoli, some of which were original choreography created for her. She appeared in many original works by Kent Stowell, among them “Firebird”, “ Portrait”, “Delicate Balance”, and most especially, “Romeo and Juliet”.

Upon retiring from her PNB performing career, Ms. Hadley founded the Washington Academy of Performing Arts in Redmonds, WA and directed it for five years. She subsequently moved to work with her former PNB partner, Benjamin Houk, as the Ballet Mistress of the Fort Worth Dallas Ballet. Now home in the northwest, she enjoys freelance teaching, coaching and staging. Ms. Hadley has served as Adjudicator for several RDA regions, most often the Pacific, and has been instrumental in helping the Pacific Region specify its artistic standards.

scroll down for more Erin Robbins Ballet, Pointe, Variations Erin Robbins was a principal dancer with the Northeast Regional honor company, Allegheny Ballet where she danced such roles as the Sugar Plum Fairy, Snow Queen, and Giselle. She also danced lead roles in Balanchine's ‘Who Cares’ and ‘Valse Fantasie’. She had many roles created for her by noted choreographers such as Paul Gibson, Cherie Noble, Richard Cook, Bettijane Sills, Jon Rodriguez and Suzanne Walker. She received additional training at the prestigious Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet and on full scholarship at the Rock School of the .

Erin graduated summa cum laude from Wright State University with a Bachelor's of Fine Arts in Dance and a minor in psychology. Mrs. Robbins is currently an adjunct professor at Wright State University and Sinclair Community College and is co-owner of the South Dayton School of Dance. She has also taught at Allegheny Ballet, Antioch College, Pontecorvo Ballet Studios and is a yearly guest teacher at the academy of Santa Cruz Ballet Theatre in California. She has served as ballet mistress and board secretary of Gem City Ballet. In the spring of 2008 she was a master teacher at the Northeast's Regional Dance America Festival.

Erin has also choreographed several ballets, including ‘Caprice’ which was chosen to be performed at the 2002 Northeast Regional Festival. Erin's version of ‘Peter and the Wolf’ was commissioned by the Dayton Philharmonic and Gem City Ballet and has been performed throughout the Dayton area. She has also created other works for Gem City Ballet, Wright State University, Antioch University and Contemporary Dance at Sinclair. Erin is an adjunct professor at Wright State University and is Associate Director of South Dayton Dance Theatre, an Honor Company with Regional Dance America/Northeast.

Christopher PratoriusChris Pratorius Gómez is a composer Music and pianist for based Dancers in Santa Cruz, California. He has written operas, a harp concerto, two orchestral works and many pieces for solo voice, choir, chamber ensembles and electronic media that have been performed in San Francisco, Istanbul, New York, Guatemala and other spots around the world.

As composer-in-residence for Opera Parallèle he wrote a trio of children's operas for their Hands-on-Opera educational program. My Head is Full of Colors, Amazing Grace and Xochitl and the Flowers premiered during this 2014-2016 residence.

Other commissions include Claroscuro en Flor, a harp concerto commissioned by the American Harp Society and San José Chamber Orchestra under the baton of Barbara Day Turner; the chamber concerto Untogether, not Apart, premiered by New Music Works; a fresh setting of Pablo Neruda’s Poema XX, commissioned by Nicole Paiement for the BluePrint project and Contraponientes, a choral song-cycle based on poetry by Federico García Lorca commissioned by Ariose Singers.

Chris teaches theory, history, composition and piano at the UCSC and at CSUMB. He is a frequent Concert Director for Santa Cruz Chamber Players, plays piano and teaches Music for Dancers at The Studio, School of Classical Ballet and maintains a private studio. Ron Cunningham Ballet

Inspired by the Russian defector, Rudolph Nureyev, Ron Cunningham began his career in dance with Robert Lunnon and Doreen Tempest, former principals with . In his home town of Chicago, he performed with the Allegro , the Chicago Lyric Opera, concert dance with various groups, and musical theatre. Moving to New York in the late 1960’s, he studied at the School, the Merce Cunningham School, and with Maggie Black. In New York he performed with the Ballet, the Connecticut Ballet, the Agnes DeMille Heritage Dance Theatre, and in the modern dance companies of Lucas Hoving, Daniel Nagrin, Morse Donaldson, Kazuko Hirabayashi, Lotte Goslar’s Pantomime Circus, the New York City Opera, and several touring Broadway shows.

Cunningham joined the Boston Ballet in 1972 for thirteen years and was promoted to principal dancer and resident choreographer by 1975 along with being appointed director of Boston Ballet II. While in Boston, he created dances for the American premiere of Prokofiev’s War and Peace for the Boston Opera. He created over 20 ballets for the Boston Ballet including his Cinderella which was the first American to tour the People’s Republic of China in 1980. His Cinderella on opening night in Beijing was televised to over 30 million people. On international tours with the Boston Ballet, his ballets have been performed in China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Israel, France, and extensively throughout Italy including a full evening of his work at the Teatro Massimo.

Leaving the Boston Ballet in 1985, he joined as an Artistic Associate and freelanced as a choreographer. His original works are in the repertory of , ABT II, Joffrey II, New York Dance Theatre, New Jersey Ballet, Washington Ballet, Charleston Ballet Theatre, , Tampa Ballet, Ballet Mississippi, , , , , , , Southwest Ballet, and .

Cunningham accepted the position of Artistic Director of the Sacramento Ballet at the invitation of founding director, Barbara Crockett in 1987, a position he and his wife, Carinne Binda, have held for the past 30 years. Under their leadership the Sacramento Ballet grew the company to 26 dancers under a 36 week contract and achieved national recognition for its diverse repertory and community engagement. Cunningham created or staged over 50 of his original works for the Sacramento Ballet including; The Nutcracker, Swan Lake, Cinderella, La Fille Mal Gardee, Romeo & Juliet, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Hamlet, The Great Gatsby, Dracula, Carmen, The Firebird, Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan, A Streetcar Named Desire, Carmina Burana, Etosha, Bolero, and The Seven Deadly Sins among others. In addition, he and his wife have added 18 Balanchine masterworks to the repertory and dozens of the most sought after contemporary choreographers in the nation. A strong advocate for Regional Dance America (RDA), Cunningham has served as an adjudicator for SERBA twice, SWERBA once, and as the Director of the Craft of Choreography twice. As a choreographer, he has created approximately 20 works for RDA companies.

Cunningham has received two National Endowment Fellowships, and Choreography Fellowships form the states of Massachusetts, Maryland, and California. During their tenure with the Sacramento Ballet, they have received many State Assembly, City Council, and Mayor awards along with multiple Arts Excellence awards from the Sacramento Arts & Business Council. In 2012, in recognition of their years of service to the community, they were the recipients of the Lifetime Achievement award from the Arts & Business Council. At the Sacramento Metropolitan Arts Council’s 40th Anniversary, philanthropist Joyce Raley Teel honored Cunningham by presenting him with the 2017 Sacramento Legend of the Arts award. This past January, they were honored to receive the Muriel Johnson Award for Arts Advocacy from the Sacramento Region Arts & Business Council.

Cunningham holds a B.S. Degree in Marketing from Roosevelt University and has served as an Adjunct Professor at the University of California/Davis campus.