Scarlett Fiero
Scarlett Fiero is the director of SBC. She began studying ballet at the age of 11 and received a scholarship to the New York State Summer School of Dance in Saratoga Springs for two consecutive years. She trained with many dancers of great renown, including Elisabeth Carroll, Violette Verdy, Nenette Charisse and Robert Blankshine. She has danced professionally with ballet companies in New York and New Jersey, including the Garden State Ballet. Scarlett is a guest teacher at ballet schools and universities throughout the northeast. Most recently, she has taught ballet at the Dutchess County Community College and at SUNY New Paltz in addition to teaching here at SBC. Scarlett is co-artistic director of the Ulster Ballet Company.
Quiedo Carbone
Quiedo Carbone was introduced to dance as a teenager through ballroom dance. His studies soon expanded to include and then be concentrated on classical ballet, training locally and in New York City. He stopped dancing to go to college and pursue a career as an electronic engineer. He returned to dance in 1983 and became co-artistic director of the Ulster Ballet Company in 1986. He currently directs and dances with the company, and teaches classes at the Saugerties Ballet Center, specializing in technique for the male dancer.
Celeste Graves-Hoyal, M.A.
GCeleste joined SBC in 1992, and soon found her passion and gift for teaching the very young students, in the Mother Goose class, Pre-Ballet, and Advanced Pre-Ballet. Over the course of more than 15 years, she added the well loved FUNdamentals of Dance, and then FUNdamentals 2, both of which explored a variety of dance styles, creative choreography, and innovative music and costume choices.
Other courses she has taught over the years include, Creative Modern, Yoga, Jazz and Tap, Beginning Ballet, Adult Ballet, and Dance/Fitness.
Since 2005, Celeste has begun to lighten her class load and has been slowly training several young assistants and upcoming instructors in her style and approach to teaching the youngest of students dancing at SBC. She is shifting most of her focus and energy to her practice of Yoga Therapy, most of which takes place in her Closer to Om Studio, located in her home on West Bridge St. in Saugerties.
“I am glad to be continuing to teach at least one ballet class at SBC for the season of 2009 and beyond, and I feel that we are extremely fortunate to have Justine Maletta taking over most of my other classes. She has spent many hours working with me, and along with our wonderful student assistants, I am confident that the students are being well served and nurtured in the art of early dance.”
Celeste is also continuing to perform her own choreography with the Artists Alliance Against Violence www.aaavinc.org. In addition, she is currently writing up the many movement stories she has developed over the years at SBC and plans to have them published in the near future. “For now I am keeping them alive for SBC”.
For more about Celeste and Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy, visit www.pryt.com/CelesteGraves-Hoyal/.
The following have taught (or will be teaching) one or more
Master Classes at various times at the Saugerties Ballet Center!Cubie Burke
Dance Theatre of Harlem - Principal Dancer
Cubie became a member of Dance Theatre of Harlem at the age of 17. After dancing with the company for 6 years he expanded his career, touring nationally and internationally with The Atlanta Ballet and The Alvin Ailey Dance Company. Three years ago Mr. Burke danced for popular rock star "The Artist" (formerly "Prince").
Wilhelmina Frankfurt
WILHELMINA FRANKFURT was a member and soloist in the New York City Ballet under the direction of George Balanchine and Jerome Robbins for fourteen years. During that time she was installed as Artist-in-Residence at Lincoln Center, offering educational lectures as part of the Meet-the-Artist Series at the Metropolitan Opera House. She has appeared in national and international television performances, including the PBS Dance in America series.
Ms. Frankfurt has had an extensive and diverse choreography career with projects ranging from multi-media opera to classical full-length ballets and avant-garde theater. She has served as artistic director/choreographer-in-residence for the Catskill Ballet Theater and artistic advisor/choreographer for the Ulster Ballet Company.
As a founding member of the Lincoln Center Arts and Education program, she offered numerous lecture-demonstrations throughout the New York City School system. She has taught and lectured on dance throughout America and abroad. In Spring 2002, Wilhelmina Frankfurt was named by SUNY Ulster as "Spring Artist-In-Residence where she presented world premier dances and a series of evening presentations. Previous projects at SUNY Ulster included "Balanchine and Beyond" where she shared the stage with renowned dance photographer Steven Caras. This was followed by the world premiere of "Justine" in March of 2001. Ms. Frankfurt is currently Artistic Director for The 8th Position Dance Pod.
Kevin Thomas
Dance Theatre of Harlem - Principal Dancer
Born in Trinidad, Mr. Thomas joined the Dance Theatre of Harlem in 1995 and was promoted to principal dancer in 1999. With DTH, Mr. Thomas' credits include roles in "The Prodigal Son", "Dialogues", "The Four Temperments", "Othello", "Adrian" (Angel on Earth), "Dougla", and "Return". Mr. Thomas began his training with the Ecole Superieure de Danse du Quebec in 1980. He later joined Les Grand Ballets Canadiens, and in 1991 joined Cleveland Ballet as a soloist. He has performed leading roles in "Romeo and Juliet", "Swan Lake", "Coppelia", "Nutcracker", "Pas de Dix", "The Overcoat", "Tarantella", "Agon", "Who Cares?", "A Midsummer Night's Dream", "Don Quixote", and "Aureole". Guest performances include "Lucifer's Datter" with Fleming Flindt and Peter Schaufuss and "Sleeping Beauty Pas de Deux" for the Royal Ballet's Chance to Dance educational outreach program. This spring, Mr. Thomas made his Broadway debut in Andrew Lloyd Weber's "Phantom of the Opera".
Julie Manna
(Ransom) studied as a dance major at SUNY Purchase and also studied with many
masters of the art of dance, including James Sutton for Tap and Alexi Ramov
for Ballet. She was a member of many performing and traveling dance
groups; most recently: In Forward Motion, out of New Paltz New York.
Julie is currently performing with the Ulster Ballet Company.
She has been teaching for many years and has students who have successful
dance careers in Broadway musicals, and in the Radio City Music Hall
Rockettes.
Sara Miot joined the staff of ballet instructors at SBC in 1991.
She is a former member of the New York City Ballet Company and has danced on
Broadway as well as national television. She has been teaching and
choreographing ballet in New York City and Ulster County since 1962. Sara is
the former owner of the New School of Performing Arts, and currently
choreographs for the Ulster Ballet Company.
SBC was pleased to welcome Judith Ore to the Center's staff of
instructors in 2000. Her early professional training included studies
with the Ithaca Ballet Guild, and Cornell University. She has
performed with several dance companies throughout New York and
Connecticut, and has choreographed numerous ballets, receiving the Won
Young Choreographer's award at the Northeast Regional Dance Festival in
1974. She has taught ballet to students of all ages and levels in
Ithaca and Westchester County, New York, Stamford, Connecticut and most
recently, Portland, Maine. Now SBC students can benefit from the
wealth of knowledge, teaching experience and professionalism that Judith
brings with her.
Philip Krauter began his dance training with the Fort Worth Ballet under the direction of Fernando & Nancy Schaffenburg, receiving a Ford Foundation scholarship from the School of American Ballet. Awarded a full scholarship, he continued his training at the San Francisco Ballet School and later studied with Robert Joffrey. Philip has danced with many ballet companies, including Ballet West, Hartford Ballet, Nevada Dance Theatre and the Fort Worth Dallas Ballet. He has danced for opera, film and as a show dancer in Las Vegas. As a ballet instructor, his experience includes over 20 years of teaching dancers of all levels and ages. In 2002, he was the first American to teach at the Ankara State Opera Ballet/Modern Dance in Turkey. Between 1992-2007, he was a faculty member of Summer Dance Lab at Whitman College. From 2004-2007, he was the Ballet Master for Juneau Dance Unlimited in Juneau Alaska, where his choreography for the Nutcracker Ballet received critical acclaim. Philip now lives in Woodstock NY and is currently a faculty member with the Saugerties Ballet Center.
Sharon Penz-Rowan is a performance artist with an extensive background in dance, theatre, and music. She loves to discover and teach movement that comes from the heart. Sharon studied modern dance, choreography and theater at the University of Colorado in Boulder. She has since worked as a dancer and choreographer in both Colorado and New York. Her movement background includes Jazz, Tap, African, Ballet, musical theater and improvisational dance. Most recently, she and her husband (Zzoe Rowan) wrote, designed, and performed in a multi-media exploration of Catskill Mountain History- Shadows of the Catskills- with their puppet company, Gnomon Shadow Theatre. Sharon is a certified yoga teacher as well as a practitioner of Thai massage and Reiki, and shares her skills and interests in schools, camps, and centers throughout the Hudson valley.
