Amy Earnest - Co-Owner, Avant-Garde School of Dance
Ms. Earnest received her training at the School of Atlanta Ballet; under the direction of Tom Pazik, School of American Ballet, Joffrey Ballet, and Pacific Northwest Ballet School.
As a professional dancer she performed with Hartford Ballet, North Carolina Dance Theatre, Tulsa Ballet, and Pacific Northwest Ballet. She performed principal roles in George Balanchine's; Four Temperaments, Prodigal Son, Apollo, Western Symphony, and Who Cares; William Forsythe's In The Middle Somewhat Elevated; Alonzo King's Map and Dreamer; Nacho Duato's Arenal; Kirk Peterson's Amazed in Burning Dreams, Firebird, Nutcracker; and Paul Taylor's Esplanade.
She also was a finalist in the prestigious New York Ballet Competition of 1996 and was a member of the Chautauqua Ballet from 1998 to 2000. Ms. Earnest has been teaching and coaching students for the last thirteen years. Ms. Earnest is also a certified Pilates instructor who trained clients at the Athletic Club at Denver Place. Her certification is through D.K. Body Balancing accredited by the University of Nevada Las Vegas and approved by the Nevada and Arizona State Boards of Physical Therapists.
Ms. Earnest is an ABT® Certified Teacher, who has successfully completed the ABT® Teacher Training Intensive in Primary through Level 3 of the ABT® National Training Curriculum.
Ms. Earnest has also been choreographing both locally and nationally for The Denver Independent Choreographer's Project and Springfield Ballet Company. This year she will be enjoying her second season as company teacher with David Taylor Dance Theatre, along with a variety of requests as guest artist including the role of the "Firebird" for the Grand Junction Symphony, in Grand Junction, CO.
Lance Hardin - Co-Owner, Avante-Garde School of Dance
Mr. Hardin received his training at the Ruth Page Foundation School of Dance where he studied with Larry Long and at the Academy of Houston Ballet . He holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Ballet from Indiana University , where he studied under the direction of Jean-Pierre Bonnefoux, Patricia McBride, Jacques Cesbron, and Violette Verdy. As a professional dancer, Mr. Hardin has danced with Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre , North Carolina Dance Theatre, Chautauqua Ballet, and Milwaukee Ballet.
He has performed principal roles from world renowned choreographers such as George Balanchine (Allegro Brilliante, Four Temperaments, Western Symphony, Who Cares), Paul Taylor (Esplanade and Company B), Dwight Rhoden (Verge), Nacho Duato (Jardi Tancat), William Forsythe (In the Middle Somewhat Elevated) Michael Pink (Romeo and Juliet), and Alonzo King (Map).
Since relocating in the Denver area Mr. Hardin has enjoyed invitations as a guest artist with Ballet Nouveau Colorado, Kim Robards Dance, Springfield Ballet Company, and the Yoko Kasai Ballet Studio located in Japan . Presently, Lance is enjoying many requests as guest artist, teacher, and choreographer.
Mr. Hardin has taught dance for the past 15 years and holds numerous choreographic credits including The Denver Independent Choreographer's Project, Springfield Ballet Company, and Boulder Ballet. Most recently Lance choreographed "Versus" for Boulder Ballet and was reviewed as "Hardin's ballet was the ultimate example of a clean, contemporary ballet"- Denver Dance Examiner.
Mr. Hardin is an ABT® Certified Teacher, who has successfully completed the ABT® Teacher Training Intensive in Primary through Level 3 of the ABT® National Training Curriculum.
Misha Izotov - Sangre de Cristo Arts
Mr. Izotov, together with his wife, professional ballerina Melian Izotova (currently dancing with San Antonio Ballet,) is the new director of the ballet program at Sangre de Cristo Arts in Pueblo.
Mr. Izotov trained with Vadim Pisarev and graduated from the Donetsk State Ballet and Opera Academy and holds a degree from the Choreographic Mastery School in Kiev, Ukraine. He performed as a soloist for the Donetsk State Opera and Ballet until immigrating to the United States.
Here, he has danced soloist and principal roles with Metropolitan Classical Ballet, Charleston Ballet, Abilene Ballet Theatre, and Artisan Dance. He is a respected and sought-after guest artist around the country, both as a teacher and ballet dancer.
Sue Knaak - Metropolitan Academy of Dance
Ms. Knaak has been dancing professionally and teaching since 1981. Since 1992 she has been the Senior Ballet Instructor and Company Co-Director for Metropolitan Academy of Dance. She also taught ballet at the Paul Taylor School in New York City, Picus Dance in Denver, Coast Ballet Company in Mississippi, Minot Academy of Dance in North Dakota, and numerous other ballet programs around the world. As a professional dancer she toured Spain, England and Greece. She trained with Northern Ballet School in Manchester, England, earning advanced diplomas in Ballet with the Royal Academy of Dancing and The Imperial Society of Teachers of Dance. Other training includes Northern Ballet Theatre, London Contemporary Dance Theatre, Ballet Rambert, and Bella Lewitzky Dance Company in New York City.
David Taylor - David Taylor Dance Theatre, Zikr Sacred Dance Ensemble
Mr. Taylor has been professionally involved in the Colorado dance community for the past forty years. During the course of a twelve-year dance career, he began choreographing in 1976, and since then has created over 100 original works. In 1979, he founded the David Taylor Dance Theatre, which is now proudly celebrating its 31st Anniversary as one of the Rocky Mountain region's most acclaimed, well recognized, and respected dance organizations. Mr. Taylor received three National Endowment for the Arts grant awards along with the City and County of Denver 's first Individual Artist Fellowship award for dance, and in March of 1997, he and his company were proud recipients of the State of Colorado 's Governor's Award for Excellence in the Arts. He has been commissioned to create ballets for Opera Colorado, the Colorado Symphony, the Denver Chamber Orchestra, the Up Close and Musical Ensemble, the National Repertory Orchestra, the Colorado Wind Ensemble, and for the Dayton Ballet in Ohio, and has set his acclaimed "A Children's Rainforest Odyssey" on the Aspen/Santa Fe Ballet Company and the Lone Star Ballet of Amarillo, Texas. His original and innovative productions of "The Nutcracker" and "Rainforest" have garnered national critical recognition and continue to be booked extensively across the United States . Mr. Taylor has additionally served as a Board member for the Mayor's Commission on Cultural Affairs, as the Vice President for the Colorado Dance Alliance, as a peer panel member for the Colorado Council on the Arts, and in 2008, he received the Carson-Brierly Dance Library's prestigious "Living Legends of Dance" Award.
Currently, Mr. Taylor serves as the Artistic Director Emeritus of the David Taylor Dance Theatre, a faculty member of the Dance Department at Colorado State University in Fort Collins and a master class teacher in ballet technique, pas de deux, pointe, variations and dance history for numerous dance organizations throughout the state. His extensive background also includes a longtime involvement with metaphysical studies, sacred dance and ritual and besides conducting sacred dance lectures and workshops for many statewide organizations, in the summer of 2009 he founded the state's first professional sacred dance group, the Zikr Sacred Dance Ensemble.
German Zamuel -- Zamuel Ballet School
Mr. Zamuel graduated from the world-renowned Vaganova Russian Ballet Academy. He danced professionally in leading roles throughout the former Soviet Union, Europe, South America, and the United States. Mr. Zamuel was a principal dancer and choreographer of the Maliy Theatre of Opera and Ballet, St. Petersburg, Russia and professor of choreography at the All Union College of Arts and Culture, St. Petersburg. Following his performance career, Mr. Zamuel served for 11 years as senior teacher at The Royal Ballet School in London, as principal teacher at the Pittsburgh Ballet Theater School, as director of Pittsburgh Ballet Theater II, and as ballet teacher for the New York Conservatory of Dance. Mr. Zamuel's students have won numerous awards including six medals (two of them gold) by Tetsuya Kumakawa and Christopher WheeldonPrix de Lausanne, the worlds foremost dance competition. For the last five years Mr. Zamuel was awarded the "Outstanding Teacher" award from the Youth America Grand Prix.
Carol Roderick - Assistant Professor of Ballet, Colorado State University
Carol Roderick began her dance training in the Boston area and continued at Butler University in Indianapolis and at Indiana University. She received her formal pedagogical training from the late Jurgen Schneider (Bolshoi Ballet, Stuttgart Ballet, American Ballet Theatre) and Gabriela Komleva (Kirov/Maryinsky Ballet).
Roderick was a faculty member of the professional divisions of Boston Ballet School and Royal Winnipeg Ballet School. She directed the schools of Colorado Ballet, Tulsa Ballet, and Ballet Idaho, and was program manager for the Bolshoi Ballet at Vail program. She taught for many years in the Denver area at the Ballet Arts Center and
Cleo Parker Robinson Dance Ensemble, where she also served as ballet mistress and director of the Children’s Ballet program. She directed her own chamber dance company in Denver, Classical Ballet Ensemble. Her students have competed successfully at major international competitions, such as the Prix de Lausanne, Japan
Grand Prix, New York International Ballet Competition, and the USA International Ballet Competition. Many of these students have gone on to professional performance and teaching careers.
In addition to her teaching and coaching work, Roderick has a special interest in training teachers. She has developed a training course for teachers which has been presented at CSU several times, and also at various schools and companies in other parts of the USA and Japan.