2014 Summer Guest Faculty
Ann Vorus, Founder
Ann Vorus founded The Raleigh School of Ballet (RSB) in 1981 and Raleigh Dance Theatre in 1984. Ms. Vorus trained with Dorothy Alexander, Robert Barnett, and Merrilee Smith at the Atlanta School of Ballet with additional study at the American Ballet Theatre School and the Joffrey Ballet. She danced as a soloist with Atlanta Ballet and was on the faculty of the Atlanta School of Ballet before moving from Atlanta. Ms. Vorus retired in 2003, passing the school onto long-time faculty members Susan Galdy and Mary LeGere.
Angie Browning
Angie Browning has been a part of the dance community for over 20 years. She has a BA in Dance from Meredith College. She has taught jazz, hip hop and Modern at Meredith College, Chapel Hill Ballet, and Cary Ballet and St Mary's. Angie was a member of the Whirlwind Jazz Company based out of Chapel Hill from 1996-2001. She also teaches Pilates apparatus and does personal training. She has taught various forms of physical fitness for over 20 years including Zumba and boot camp. She is excited to return to teach at The Raleigh Ballet School's Summer Intensive She lives in Raleigh with her two boys, husband and dog.
Natasha Renee Frater
Natasha Renee Frater is a native of Raleigh, NC. Her love and passion for dance started at age 13 through a dance class at Durant Road Middle School where she was introduced to Modern and West African dance. After viewing "Cry" performed by Judith Jamison of The Alvin Aliey Dance Theater, Natasha knew it was her calling to be a dancer and choreographer. During her Sophomore year at South East Raleigh High School, Natasha received training in classical Ballet, and was privileged to receive a dance scholarship to North Carolina Dance Institute where she trained in Ballet, Jazz, Modern and Hip Hop. Natasha graduated from Meredith College in 2011 with a B.A. in Dance with a concentration in Private Studio teaching. During college, Natasha interned with The African American Dance Ensemble of Durham NC. In March of 2011, Natasha traveled to San Ignacio, Belize to teach dance to local kids. She taught Jazz, Hip Hop, and Modern at the Holly Spring School of Dance and has guest taught at Meredith College, Bugg Elementary and North Raleigh Christian Academy. Natasha is married to Michael J. Frater.
Jessica Higgins
Jessica Higgins is a native of North Carolina, Jessica received her dance training at RSB/RDT from 1992-2000. She has attended Boston Ballet, Atlanta Ballet, NC Dance Theatre and Paul Taylor’s summer dance programs. In 2004, she graduated from Wright State University with a BFA in Dance and while performing with Dayton Ballet. Since graduation, Jessica has danced with Dayton Contemporary Dance Company II, Verb Ballets, and trained with Philadanco’s first company. Jessica currently living in NYC and has been dancing with Buglisi Dance Theatre, Battleworks, Covenant Ballet Theatre, Albano Ballet, Forces of Nature, Ballet Noir, Neville Dance Theatre, and the Berlin Wall Project. She is also a certified Pilates instructor.
Kelly Higgins
Kelly Higgins is a Certified Health Coach with a passion for health and life balance. She has been on a personal health journey since her diagnosis of an autoimmune disorder. Her health challenges forced her to rethink what her body needed to be healthy. By adding whole foods her body required and making self-care a priority, she experienced positive results. This success inspired and empowered her to share her commitment to health with others on similar journeys. Kelly received her training at the Institute for Integrative Nutrition. She is certified by the American Association of Drugless Practitioners. Kelly offers individual health education and coaching to those open to transforming their lives.
Richard Krusch
Richard Krusch began his study of ballet in Budapest Hungary at the Hungarian Dance Academy. He came to the United States in 2000 to study at the North Carolina School of the Arts. In 2003, he became a member of Carolina Ballet where he is currently a principal dancer.
Kathryn Roberts Leibe
Kathryn Roberts Leibe is a native of North Carolina. She trained at The Raleigh School of Ballet from age 11 - 15. She finished High school and received her BFA from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts – School of Dance. She has been a guest teacher for North Carolina Dance Festival and UNCSA summer program. Kathryn studied on scholarship with the Boston Ballet, The Rock School of Pennsylvania Ballet, The Joffrey Ballet School, Limón Institute and was a merit scholar at the Merce Cunningham studios. Kathryn has performed, choreographed and trained dancers throughout North Carolina, New York City and New Jersey. She is currently on faculty at The Academy of Dance Arts in New Jersey where she resides with her family. Most recently Kathryn received her Pilates teaching certification through Kinected (formerly the Kane School) and Ellie Herman of Brooklyn, NY
Ellin Porterfield
Ellin Porterfield began her love of theatre at an early age and has been teaching, writing and directing theatre with both children and adults for over 20 years. She holds an M.F.A. in Children's Theater from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, a B.A. in Theater (minor in English) from Appalachian State University, and is a certified Montessori teacher. She is currently the director of cre.ate, an organization in Raleigh that offers creative classes, camps, workshops and artist studios. Ms. Porterfield is very excited to be part of The Raleigh School of Ballet this summer.
Sari Reid
Sari Reid grew up studying classical ballet at the Irine Fokine School of Ballet in Ridgewood, New Jersey. From age thirteen to eighteen, she also studied in New York City at the American Ballet Theatre School with Valentina Pereyaslavec, Maria Swaboda and Leon Danielian, as well as the private studios of David Howard and Melissa Hayden. After graduating high school, Ms. Reid was accepted as an apprentice with the Pennsylvania Ballet and then into the company where she remained for eight years under the directorships of Benjamin Harkarvy and Robert Weiss. While there, she had the pleasure of working with some of the world’s greatest choreographers such as John Butler, Lynne Taylor-Corbett, Loyce Houlton and Choo San Goh, and danced in the ballets Swan Lake (Cignet), Coppelia Dawn variation, Great Galloping Gottschalk (soloist), and Stars and Stripes (first campaign lead), to name a few. Peter Anastos cast Ms. Reid as the lead in his ballet Domino, which he created for the company. 2014 marks Ms. Reid’s twentieth year of teaching ballet to all levels, from beginner to professional dancers. In 1999 she created and directed a pre-professional ballet program for The Studio Atlanta Dance in Atlanta, Georgia which is still in place today. As Coordinator for Pacific Northwest Ballet School’s DanceChance program in Seattle, Washington – a unique program which reaches into underserved communities to discover talented, public school students – she oversaw day-to-day aspects of the program including transportation, class scheduling and all liaison duties. Ms. Reid currently lives in Connecticut with her husband and daughter where she is a full-time, special-education paraprofessional, and teaches ballet at Connecticut Ballet in Stamford, and D’Valda and Sirico Dance Centre in Fairfield. Hong Yang
Hong Yang is originally from Beijing, China where she studied dance at the school of the Beijing Dance Academy graduating in 1995. She joined the National Ballet of China and was a principal dancer there before going to Toronto, Canada where she danced with Ballet Jörgen Canada. In 2002 she joined Carolina Ballet as a soloist. Ms Yang’s repertoire is extensive. Along with being featured in many ballets by Robert Weiss, she performed choreography by George Balanchine including, Apollo, Allegro Brilliante, Concerto Barocco and The Four Temperaments; Lynn Taylor Corbett including Carmina Burana, Great Galloping Gottschaulk, and Carolina Jamboree, and Jose Limon including Moor’s Pavane. She also performed works by Dameon Woetzel, Christopher Wheeldon and Tyler Walters. She retired in 2011 with a performance of Tatiana in Balanchine’s A Midsummer’s Night’s Dream. Since then she has been passing on her knowledge and love of dance through teaching.