Guest Artist
Guest artists, with equally impressive credentials, enhance the program by offering diversity in style and approach. Some of our Guest Artists and Faculty include:
Christopher Huggins 
Guest Choreographer
Since his departure from the renowned Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre,
Christopher has worked as a freelance artist for the past sixteen years. As a dancer, teacher and choreographer he has worked in five European countries, Japan and throughout the U.S. He has choreographed for several dance companie, High Schools, and Universities to include Cleo Parker Robinson Dance Ensemble, Dallas Black Dance Theatre, Lula Washington Dance Theatre, The Alvin Ailey School, Renaissance High School, CASS Tech of Detroit, MI, Howard University, Spelman College, Florida State University, University of the Arts in Philadelphia, University of Oaklahoma, Grambling University, Opus Dance Theatre, Movement Dance Theatre of Kingston, Jamaica, Oslo Dance Enseble,Olso Norway and most recently Gus Giordano Dance in Chicago. Born in Boston, MA, he trained under the Andrea Hubert Major, Danny Sloan and Martha Gray. He attended the State University of New York at Purchase and the Julliard School at Lincoln Center in New York. Christopher has appeared as a guest artist for several dance companies in the U.S and abroad. He was a featured performer for the Essence Awards, Broadway's A FEW GOOD MEN and Debbie Allen's musical Soul Possessed at the Alliance Theater in Atlanta, GA. Christopher is the 2002 recipent of the Ira Aldridge Award for best choreography from the Black Theatre Alliance in Chicago for his work Enemy Behind the Gates for Phildanco. Christopher is scheduled to work with Broadway ledgend, Hinton Battle on the movie Bolden.
Daniel Catanach 
Guest Choreographer
Born in Santa Fe, NM, his influences include his Hispanic hertiage as well as the Native American cultures of the Southwest. He attended New Mexico University where he was first introduced to the arts; he was a scholarship student at the School of American Ballet and the Alvin Ailey American Dance Center. His professional credits include:principal roles with the Ameritage Ballet, The State Ballet of Missouri, and has danced choreography by George Balanchine and Alvin Ailey. Mr.Catanach began choreographing and directing in 1981 and has been comissioned to create works for a broad range of dance, theatre, opera, recording companies and film. He served as Ballet Master for the State Ballet of Missouri, the Armitage Ballet, and the Company of Dance Arts. As an acclaimed teacher, he has taught on the faculties of such schools as the Alvin Ailey American Dance Center, STEPS on Broadway, Broadway Dance Center, and outreach work with the Henry Street Settlement Abrons Arts Center as well as sold-out master classes throughout the United States, Europe and Scandinavia.Currently Mr. Catanach is the Artistic Director of Urban Ballet Theater, New York City.
Derrick Alfonso Evans 
Jazz, Hip Hop, Salsa
Originally from St. Thomas U.S. Virgin Islands, began dancing with Ballet Theatre of the
Todd Rosenlieb .jpg)
Guest Modern and Pilates® Faculty
Todd Rosenlieb entered his professional career when Erick Hawkins selected him from a technique class to join the Erick Hawkins Dance Company in 1992. Privileged and honored to work directly with Mr. Hawkins, Mr. Rosenlieb was cast in several of the repertoire’s most memorable and historic roles. Named Company Director of the Erick Hawkins Dance Company in the fall of 1995, Rosenlieb began setting and performing Journey of a Poet, the last piece of choreography by Erick Hawkins, on Mikhail Baryshnikov and his White Oak Project. For four years Mr. Rosenlieb served as Artistic Advisor, rehearsal director, and principal dancer with the Virginia Ballet Theatre, in Norfolk, VA. He has taught and set choreography around the country at such festivals as the American Dance Festival, Jacob’s Pillow, National High School Dance Festival, and American College Dance Festival. He has also taught at Bucknell University, University of Nevada, Sarah Lawrence, New York University, Marymount Manhattan College, Virginia Governor’s School for the Arts, as well as Virginia School of the Arts. He is Founder/Artistic Director of Todd Rosenlieb Dance in Norfolk, VA. He received his BA in English and Economics from Bucknell University, and his MFA in Dance Performance from New York University where he was awarded the Morton Kramer Scholarship for his dance expertise.
Malcolm Burn 
Guest Ballet Faculty
The Ballet Master for The Richmond Ballet, Mr. Burn retired from dancing in 1993, after a career that spanned twenty-five years and five continents. He is a native of New Zealand. During his career, he danced all the leading roles in the standard classical repertory as well as numerous creations of classical and contemporary ballets. Prior to his coming to Richmond Ballet as a principal dancer, he was Co-Director of Ballet Arizona where he both choreographed and danced for the company. He has performed with the London Festival Ballet and a principal dancer with the Royal New Zealand Ballet, The National Ballet of Zimbabwe, Ballet West and P.A.C.T. Ballet of South Africa where he won the Ivan Solomon Award for Best Male Dancer in 1973, 1976, and 1980. Mr. Burn’s choreographic accomplishments include A Christmas Carol, The Travelling Players, Walpurgis Night, Classical Symphony, Pas Glazunov, and Romeo and Juliet.
Rory Foster 
Guest Ballet Faculty
Rory Foster trained in Chicago and New York with Royal Ballet teachers, Robert Lunnon, Doreen Tempest, Richard Ellis, and Christine DuBoulay, and with Maestro Vincenzo Celli and David Howard. He was invited by Lucia Chase to join American Ballet Theatre where he danced for five seasons and worked with world renowned choreographers including Antony Tudor, Alvin Ailey, José Limón, Agnes deMille, John Neumeier, and Elliot Feld. Mr. Foster later joined the New Orleans Ballet and London Ballet Theatre as a principal dancer and was a guest artist with numerous American companies, among them, the Washington Ballet, Maryland Ballet, and Colorado Ballet. He became Ballet Master for the Chicago Ballet under the direction of Ruth Page and Frederic Franklin and Ballet Master and Resident Choreographer for the New Orleans Ballet.
Mr. Foster is an Emeritus Professor of Dance at DePaul University where he held the rank of Professor and Dean of the Dance Conservatory in Barat College. He has been a Visiting Professor at Butler University Jordan College of Arts and, most recently, on the full time faulty of the Idyllwild Arts Academy in Southern California. He is also on the faculty of American Ballet Intensives, a company of teaching alumni from American Ballet Theatre.
Mr. Foster has taught extensively for ballet companies, universities, and professional conservatories both nationally and internationally. Among his many residency and guest teaching credits are the Hong Kong Ballet and Hong Kong Academy for Performing Art, Cincinnati Ballet, California Ballet, Nevada Ballet Theatre, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, New Zealand National School of Dance, Folkwang Hochschule (Essen-Germany), Chicago Academy for the Arts, SUNY-Purchase Conservatory of Dance, University of Oklahoma, University of Utah, Point Park University Conservatory, Southern Methodist University, Jacksonville University, Cecchetti Council of America, Virginia School of the Arts, and numerous dance festivals. He teaches all levels of ballet technique, Men’s class, Pas de Deux, and Pointe along with a ballet pedagogy workshop for teachers. He has written a soon to be published book: Ballet Pedagogy: The Art of Teaching. Mr. Foster is also a certified yoga teacher nationally registered with Yoga Alliance and he offers a class in Yoga for Dancers.
Jennifer Medina
Guest Modern Faculty
Jennifer Medina is originally from St. Louis, Missouri, where she received her early training with Barbara Craig. She holds a BFA in dance from the University of Missouri at Kansas City, and an MFA in dance from the University of Iowa. She is currently a Visiting Assistant Professor of Dance at UMKC, as well as a performer with the Wylliams-Henry Danse Theatre of Kansas City. With Wylliams-Henry, she has performed works by artists such as Bill T. Jones, David Parsons, Milton Myers, Hanya Holm, Fred Benjamin, Sean Curran and William Whitener, Leni Wylliams and Mary Pat Henry. She as also performed with the Union Avenue Opera Theatre, Atrek, Webster Dance Theatre, Dance St. Louis/Contemporary Moves, and was a guest performer with the Slaughter Project under the direction of Cecil Slaughter in 2004. She was named Guest Artist at Washington at Washington University in 2003, and was an artist-in-residence at Webster University, 2002-2003. Additional teaching credits include The Kansas City Ballet School, The Kansas Regional Ballet, Dance Project St. Louis, COCA, Legacy School of the Arts, and the director of Modern for the Glenda Brown Choreography Project. Her choreography has been produced throughout the Midwest, including commissions from the UMKC, The International Festival of Women in the Arts, the University of Missouri, St. Louis, Webster University, Washington University in St. Louis, the Wylliams-Henry Danse Theatre, “The Yard” at Martha’s Vineyard and COCA. Her work “Women of the Cove” was a Gala selection at the 2005 ACDFA held at Iowa State University. In June 2006 she will be guest performing with Duarte Danceworks under the direction of Armando Duarte.
Keelan Whitmore 
Guest Ballet Faculty
Mr. Whitmore, originally from Rockford, Illinois, has danced with Kansas City Ballet for five seasons. He began his training at the Rockford Dance Company and later went on to graduate from Interlochen Arts Academy. Mr. Whitmore also spent two years at the Joffrey Ballet School/New School University with David Howard, Eleanor d’Antuano, and Rebecca Wright, where he performed principal roles in Agnes de Mille’s Rodeo and Gerald Arpino’s Viva Vivaldi. He has danced Jardi Tancat, Lambarena, Square Dance, Concerto Barocco, and Strange Hero since joining Kansas City Ballet. Mr. Whitmore’s choreography has been showcased in gala performances with Regional Dance America, Virginia School of the Arts, Kansas City Ballet School Workshop, Kansas City Ballet’s In the Wings program and summer residency season in Crested Butte, Colorado. Mr Whitmore has been nominated for the Princess Grace Fellowship by Kansas City Ballet artistic director William Whitener and was awarded the National Choreography Recognition Award at the Regional Dance America Festival for his ballet Apres with Miller Marley Youth Ballet.
Alicia J. Graf 
Guest Ballet Faculty
Alicia J. Graf received her training at Ballet Royale Academy under Donna Harrington-Pidel and attended the School of American Ballet and American Ballet Theatre summer intensives programs. Ms. Graf is a former principal dancer of Dance Theatre of Harlem and was a member of Complexions. Her guest appearances include Alonzo King's LINES Ballet and performances with Andre 3000 of Outkast and Beyoncé. Ms. Graf graduated magna cum laude and received a degree in history from Columbia University. She has also written several articles for Pointe Magazine and Dance Magazine. Ms. Graf joined the Company in 2005.
received her training at Ballet Royale Academy under Donna Harrington-Pidel and attended the School of American Ballet and American Ballet Theatre summer intensives programs. Ms. Graf is a former principal dancer of Dance Theatre of Harlem and was a member of Complexions. Her guest appearances include Alonzo King's LINES Ballet and performances with Andre 3000 of Outkast and Beyoncé. Ms. Graf graduated magna cum laude and received a degree in history from Columbia University. She has also written several articles for Pointe Magazine and Dance Magazine. Ms. Graf joined the Company in 2005.
Gayla Zukevich
Guest Ballet and Pilates® Faculty
Gayla Zukevitch founded and served as the Artistic Director of Ballet Michigan and the Flint School of Performing Arts from 1974-1991. As a young dancer, Gayla studied with masters Ingeborg Heuser, Frederic Franklin, Alan Howard, and David Lichine among others. She received a Ford Foundation Scholarship to train and perform with the Dallas Ballet under the direction of Nakita Talin and was also awarded a scholarship to study at the School of American Ballet. She was a soloist for the Ballet El Paso and Ballet Michigan and guest artist for Teatro International and Ballet Austin. She has been a guest artist for the University of Texas, Michigan State’s Orchesis Dance Company, Virginia School of the Arts, Festival Ballet of Rhode Island, North Atlantic Ballet in Boston, Boston Ballet and several others. Gayla received her certification in the Pilates Method of Body Conditioning in 1994 under the tutelage of Master Teacher Romona Kryzanowska in New York City. She has recently returned from Great Britain where she taught at the National Dance School of Scotland and the TRURO Dance Centre in England. Currently Ms. Zukevitch is on faculty at the Governor’s School for the Arts and Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Va. Guest Ballet Faculty
Lorraine Graves
Kathy Brenner
Guest Ballet Faculty / Choreographer
Kathy Brenner was a principal dancer with BalletMet of Ohio for nearly a decade. Her wide range of leading roles includes George Balanchine’s Allegro Brilliante, Square Dance, Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux and Serenade, Glen Tetley’s Mythical Hunters, the title role in La Sylphide and Frederick Ashton’s Les Patineurs. Prior to joining BalletMet she danced soloist roles with the Cleveland Ballet and did guest appearances with the Louisville Ballet and Opera Columbus. Kathy has taught on the dance faculties of the University of Wisconsin, BalletMet, the School of the Atlanta Ballet, and currently in Norfolk at the Governor’s School for the Arts and as company teacher for Virginia Ballet Theatre’s professional company. She has staged numerous works for both VBT and the Governor’s School including Paquita, Grand Pas de Dix and La Sylphide. Kathy was granted special permission by the Balanchine Trust to stage the male and female variations from Square Dance and Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux on the students of the Governor’s School for the Arts. Her choreography has won national acclaim at both the National and Regional High School Dance Festivals in Miami and Baltimore and she recently staged an original work on Terpsichord Dance Company in Chattanooga, TN. Kathy received her early dance training at the North Carolina School of the Arts and in New York with Wilhelm Burmann, Melissa Hayden and as a scholarship student at the Joffrey Ballet School.
Mireille Leterrier
Guest Ballet FacultyBorn in Germany and raised in France, Mireille Leterrier studied at the Paris Superior Conservatory in the class of Solange Schwarz and graduated with a First Prize in Dance in 1972. Also studied with Raymond Franchetti, in Paris, and in New York, with Gabriella Darvash, Hector Zaraspe and Willy Burman. Principal dancer in Europe with the Carla Fracci Company, with Irene Lidova¹s Ballet de Paris and in the USA, with the Ruth Page’s Chicago Ballet, the Milwaukee Ballet and the Pittsburgh Ballet Theater. She toured England, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, Italy and Spain. As a principal dancer, she danced the classical repertoire, including Giselle, La Sylphide and Sleeping Beauty, Balanchine¹s Concerto Barocco, Raymonda Variations, Serenade and Scotch Symphony, and worked with many choreographers; among them George Skibine, Lar Lubovitch, William Forsythe and Birgitt Cullberg, dancing Miss Julie with PBT in 1984 and 1985. In 1993, Mireille Leterrier graduated as a professor for the Ministere of Culture in France, and is presently tenured at the National School of Music and Dance in Annecy, France. She has been a guest teacher for PBT Summer School since 1993 and for VSA since 1994. She is affiliated with the National Superior Conservatory in Lyon (France) as a permanent advisor for their Teachers Program.
Johanna Wilt
Guest Ballet FacultyMs. Wilt danced with Cincinnati Ballet for 11 seasons before becoming Ballet Mistress in 1992. Ms. Wilt grew up in Columbus, Ohio, and studied at the Metropolitan Ballet School, The New York School of Ballet, The American Dance Festival, Ohio State University, and Rotterdam Dance Conservatory. Ms. Wilt has staged a number of works including Table Manners for Peter Anastos at the Jacob’s Pillow Summer Dance Festival in Massachusetts, John Butler’s Carmina Burana for Oakland Ballet, sections of Madame Butterfly for BalletMet and recreated from video, The Seventh Symphony for Cincinnati Ballet’s tribute to Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo.
Thaddeus Davis 
Guest Ballet Faculty
Thaddeus Davis was featured in Dance Magazine’s January 2002 issue, as on of “25 to Watch in the World”. The premier of his first choreographic work, Once Before Twice After was named one of the top ten moments in dance for 2002 by The New York Times, calling it “reassuring evidence of New York Dance’s promising future.” A year later he was the 2003 recipient of the prestigious Choo San Goh Award for Choreography. In 2006 he received the First Prize in Ballet Austin’s New American Talent/Dance Choreography Competition.
Mr. Davis dance with Donald Byrd/The Group for four years, where he also served as Mr. Byrd’s creative assistant. In addition he has danced with Indianapolis Ballet Theatre, Fukuoka City Ballet, Atlanta Dance Theatre, Dance Theatre of Harlem, Complexions Contemporary Ballet, and Fugate/Bahiri Ballet NY (Dance Galazy). As a teacher ad choreographer he has done residencies at The Juilliard School, Alvin Ailey American Dance Center, Butler University, Arizona State University, Ballet Austin Academy, and served as guest faculty at the Alabama School of Fine Arts.
Mr. Davis has created choreographic works for Fugate/Bahiri Ballet NY, Donald Byrd/The Group, Complexions Contemporary Ballet, Spectrum Dance Theatre, Ballet Austin, Ballet Memphis, Configuration Dance Company, Reflections Dance Company, and Wideman/Davis Dance.
Born in Montgomery, Alabama he began his studies with the Montgomery Civic Ballet, The Carver Creative Performing Arts Center, and the Alabama Dance Theatre. After graduating high school he studied and danced with Barbara Sullivan’s Atlanta Dance Theatre and Dyanne Robinsons’ Tuskegee Cultural Arts Center, before attending Butler University where he graduated in 1993 with a BFA in Dance.
Laura Faria 
Guest Ballet Faculty
LAURA FARIA, Artistic Director, is originally from Pocasset, Cape Cod, MA where she began her earliest ballet training at a number of ballet schools, including Boston Ballet and Hartford Ballet. Ms. Faria received a full scholarship to the prestigious Harid Conservatory in Boca Raton, Florida where she spent her high school years. Upon graduation she danced for a number of professional ballet companies throughout the country including Milwaukee Ballet, Channel Islands Ballet, Sarasota Ballet, Ballet Wisconsin and Configuration, a Cape-based professional dance company that recently received rave reviews in New York City. Ms. Faria has performed leading roles in such classical ballets as Romeo and Juliet, Swan Lake, The Nutcracker, Le Corsaire, and Don Quixote, as well as her favorite leading roles in George Balanchine’s Apollo and Valse Fantasie. Most recently, she has had the honor of working with renowned choreographers such as Harrison McEldowney and Graham Lustig. In the June 2006 issue of Dance Europe magazine, Ms. Faria was described as "sleek and lovely" for her work in Lustig's "Six Pianos".
Ms. Faria’s students and classical and contemporary choreography have received national high recognition and awards including “Best in Ballet,” the honorable “Critics Choice Award” at New York City Dance Alliance, and first place overall at L.A. Dance Magic, which was the first ballet ever to receive this honor in the history of this competition. In 2002, Ms. Faria’s Bach’s Suite was broadcast on national television for being the highest scoring ballet at the Showstopper finals in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. In 2003, Ms. Faria coordinated and helped to choreograph a production of “Breezes of the Sea,” involving over 300 elementary school students who received the opportunity to perform with a group of professional dancers from around the world. Ms. Faria's students have been accepted to, and have received scholarships to, prestigious dance programs such as Milwaukee Ballet, American Ballet Thetre, Virginia School of the Arts, Walnut Hill, Pacific Northwest Ballet, and The Harid Conservatory.