Summer International Faculty
Jennifer Howard – Director of Summer Programs
Jennifer Howard began her training at Boston Ballet, completed her Royal Academy of Dance exams under the direction of Mimi Ferrell and received her BFA from The Juilliard School.
Jennifer spent her extensive professional dance career between New York City and Europe, touring and performing as a member of Mikhail Baryshnikov’s White Oak Dance Project, Twyla Tharp Dance, Eliot Feld Ballet, Liz Gerring Dance, and Unterwegs TanzTheater, and as a freelance artist with acclaimed choreographers Lucinda Childs, Douglas Dunn, Lar Lubovitch, and Sarah Michelson.
Jennifer has been a guest teacher for NextGeneration Ballet, Burklyn Ballet Theater, Dartmouth College, Wesleyan University, Denver School of the Arts and taught for Jacques D’Amboise’s National Dance Institute in New York City and the Colorado affiliate Celebrate the Beat. Before joining the faculty at CCD, Jennifer was the Director of Dance and Artistic Director of the St. Paul’s School Ballet Company in Concord, NH for six years. In 2020, Jennifer was appointed CCD Director of Summer Programs.
Dominic Walsh – Director of Compass Coaching Project
Dominic Walsh was born in Elgin, Illinois and started his training with Lisa Boehm, Frank Boehm, Warren Conover, and Larry Long in Chicago. He joined Houston Ballet in 1989, and was promoted to Principal Dancer by 1996. Walsh danced throughout Asia, Europe, and North America and performed all the major classics including Swan Lake, Giselle, Don Quixote, Romeo & Juliet, and Manon with international stars such as Nina Ananiashvili and Alessandra Ferri. Walsh danced Houston Ballet’s entire contemporary repertoire, and Ben Stevenson created numerous roles for him including Marc Antony in Cleopatra.
In 1998, Walsh created Flames of Eros on Houston Ballet. This work won the Choo-San Goh Award for Choreography. He created three more works for Houston Ballet. In 2002, while still a Principal Dancer and Choreographer with the Company, he founded Dominic Walsh Dance Theater. After the company’s debut in February 2003, Dance Magazine declared, “At last Houston has a contemporary dance company on par with its symphony, opera and ballet companies.” The company’s roster included works by Walsh, Mats Ek, Jiří Kylián, Mauro Bigonzetti, and Matthew Bourne.
In 2004, Walsh left to pursue Dominic Walsh Dance Theater full-time. He won a second Choo-San Goh Award in 2007 and received a 2008 Princess Grace Award, both for The Trilogy and Wolfgang Amadeaus Mozart. In 2012, he was inducted into the Fox Valley Hall of Fame.
Walsh continues to receive commissions to set and create works nationally and internationally. He served as the Resident Choreographer for Sarasota Ballet of Florida, creating/staging Wolfgang for Webb (2008), The Trilogy (2009), Time out of Line (2011), and Claire de Lune(2011). In addition to his travels throughout the U.S. and abroad, he is a guest teacher and coach for both companies and academies and stages the works of his longtime mentor, Ben Stevenson. The Carl Jung Center has shown interest in Walsh’s creative process and he has given lectures at Houston’s Jung Center. He has written for various publications on dance, and was a regular columnist for Origin Magazine. Walsh made his film debut as a co-director at the Brussels Short Film Festival in Spring 2015 with Malta Kano, TX. That same year, he became a proud father and closed DWDT after 12 seasons. Last month, Walsh made his debut as Costume Designer for Stevenson’s Cinderella with the National Ballet of China.
Julia Wilkinson Manley – Artistic Director of Colorado Conservatory of Dance
Julia Wilkinson Manley began her training with Cristina Munro (London Festival Ballet, Eliot Feld) in Corpus Christi, Texas. Julia continued her training with the Boston Ballet Centre for Dance Education and the Houston Ballet Academy. At the University of Oklahoma, she earned a BFA in ballet pedagogy and danced soloist and principal roles in Balanchine’s Serenade, Miguel Terekhov’s Four Moons, Sleeping Beauty, and The Nutcracker, as well as numerous soloist roles choreographed for her by Mary Margaret Holt (Houston Ballet, San Francisco Ballet). She toured with Ballet Ireland under the direction of Günther Falüsy, and performed with David Taylor Dance Theatre and Ballet Nouveau Colorado. Her choreographic work has been performed by numerous companies, including Corpus Christi Ballet, David Taylor Dance Theatre, Ballet Nouveau Colorado, and she has created over 30 full-length and short works for Colorado Conservatory of Dance.
Julia joined the faculty of the School of Ballet Nouveau Colorado in January 2002, transitioning to School Director in 2003, as a traumatic injury lead to an early end to her performing career. In 2009, Julia served on the committee to rewrite the Colorado Academic Standards for Dance for the Colorado Department of Education and completed the Community Arts Education Leadership Institute (CAELI) under the mentorship of John McCann in 2015. In 2013, she lead the school in becoming a new non-profit organization, Colorado Conservatory of Dance, focused on making lives better through dance education and performance. Many of her students have gone on to enjoy professional careers in dance with companies such as Atlanta Ballet, Colorado Ballet, Eugene Ballet, Houston Ballet, Oklahoma City Ballet, Royal Winnipeg Ballet, Wonderbound, Verb Ballets, and more. Similarly, many of her students have gone on to illustrious careers as brain surgeons, architects, scientists, teachers, engineers, visual artists, writers, physical therapists, and more – all with the love of dance bolstering their success. Julia is committed to using her experience with injury to positively impact the way dance can and should be taught. She is passionate about providing an environment for learning where dancers can feel vulnerable and authentic, where dance technique is taught kinesthetically and without judgement, and with which the community is emboldened with curiosity, artistic sensibility, and tolerance.
Shannon Alvis
Shannon Alvis originally from Greenwood, Indiana, received her training at Butler University and the University of Utah. She began her career with the second company of Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, then going on to dance and perform professionally with HSDC for nine years. In 2009, Shannon went on to further her growth as a dancer at Nederlands Dans Theater under the direction of Jim Vincent and Paul Lightfoot. During her time in Chicago and Europe, Shannon toured internationally dancing works by many world renowned choreographers such as: Jiri Kylian, Nacho Duato, William Forsythe, Ohad Naharin, Jorma Elo, and Crystal Pite. Having since returned back to Chicago, and after
having given birth to a little baby girl, Shannon is once again sharing her artistry with the community. She has appeared in six productions at the Lyric Opera including Rob Ashford’s Carousel, Susan Stroman’s The Merry Widow, and Les Troyens with Helen Pickett. She has been on faculty at the Joffrey Academy, Interlochen School for the Arts summer faculty, and Visceral Dance Center. Shannon is very happy to now be exploring her creativity through works of her own. She has choreographed for Visceral Dance Chicago, Thodos Dance Chicago, DanceWorks Chicago, Chicago Repertory Ballet, and was a recipient of the Joffrey Ballet’s Winning Work’s Choreographic Competition. Beginning to share her work outside of Chicago, a project with the University of Iowa premiered in their 2018 Dance Gala, and her most recent creation for Charlottesville Ballet will premiere in 2019. She feels very fortunate for every one of these opportunities. Being able to find inspiration for her work in all of the things that she loves is a true gift.
Janelle R. Ayón
Janelle R. Ayón Janelle was born and raised in Denver, Colorado. She trained in multiple dance techniques including: Traditional Mexican Folklórico, Classical Spanish, Flamenco, Tap, Jazz, Ballet, Contemporary and Lyrical. She trained and worked closely with Jeanette Trujillo Lucero, Larry Boyette and Cleo Parker Robinson, early in her career. In 1993 Janelle travelled to Mexico City for an audition with the world renowned Ballet Folklórico de Mexico de Amalia Hernández. This was the beginning of a 17 year career of weekly performances in Mexico City´s Palace of Fine Arts and international tours. Janelle is the only American artist in the 70 year history of the institution to dance as a principal
and soloist, and also work as an artistic coordinator, public relations representative and tour manager. In 1999 with The Aspen Santa Fe Ballet and the Denver Foundation, Janelle piloted a free after school program in Mexican Folk Dance for K-12 students in Aspen, Basalt and Carbondale, Colorado. Today the program serves 300 plus students in The Roaring Fork Valley and Santa Fe, New Mexico. Since 2009, Janelle has created works and programming for The Denver Art Museum, The Colorado Symphony Orchestra, The Denver Botanic Gardens, The Longmont Museum and Cultural Center, Denver International Airport, Cleo Parker Robinson Dance and The Kennedy Center’s VSA Arts, Very Special Artist program. As a master instructor of the Amalia Hernández style and approach to enhancing traditional folk dance with classical and contemporary techniques, Janelle has been a guest artist for multiple universities and dance academies in the U.S. and Mexico as well as numerous community driven organizations, foundations and schools, to implement programs in dance and the history of our ancestors to promote diversity, cultural appreciation and sensitivity across demographics.
Aubrey Klinger Fearns
Aubrey Klinger Fearns began her dance training under the tutelage of her grandmother Nan Klinger, and performed with the Cuyahoga Valley Youth Ballet for ten seasons. Aubrey graduated magna cum laude from Point Park University earning her B.A. in dance performance. There she performed Myrta in Giselle, Rodeo and original works choreographed by Francis Patrelle, Jay Kirk, Nicholas Petrov, Ron Tassone, Melissa Barak, Erin Halloran, Peter Merz, and Andrew Blight. Currently a free-lance dancer, teacher, and choreographer, Aubrey has worked throughout the country in both concert and commercial dance. Her performance and choreography credits include; Principal Dancer with
Davis Contemporary Dance Company, Jacob Mora: Exhibit M, Chicago Improv Group: Octavarius, Apex Contemporary Dance Theater, Renegade Performance Group (NYC), Carnival! Choreographer’s Ball, Dance Chance Chicago, The Dayton Arts Project, Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s Welcome Yule!, and So You Think You Can Dance season 9. She also performed with Opera Colorado in their production of Aida and starred in the lyric video for Brazilian artist Paolo Meola’s “Sweet Lie.” Aubrey is currently a Resident Guest Artist teaching Ballet and Barre Fitness at Denver School of the Arts Classical and Contemporary Pro-Professional Dance Program, where she also choreographs on DSA’s Senior and Junior Dance Ensembles.
Rosalynde LeBlanc
Rosalynde LeBlanc has spent over twenty-years in dance as a performer, choreographer and educator. She holds a BFA from the State University of New York at Purchase and an MFA from Hollins University. She was a member of the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company (1993-1999), Mikhail Baryshnikov’s White Oak Dance Project (1999-2002), and the Liz Gerring Dance Company (2003-2006). In addition to performing the work of various independent choreographers, LeBlanc Loo has also danced with New York City’s Metropolitan Opera and for the 250th Mozart Celebration in Salzburg, Austria. July 19-23
She has had her writing published in the leading international dance periodicals, Dance Magazine and Ballettanz, and her choreography presented in venues around the country.
She continues her work with Bill T. Jones in the preservation of his legacy and pedagogy, most notably, directing the LMU Dance-Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Educational Partnership. She is also producing and co-directing, with acclaimed cinematographer, Tom Hurwitz, the documentary film, Can You Bring It: Bill T. Jones and D-Man in the Waters. The film was awarded an Arts and Cultural Heritage grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and the Graves Award in the Humanities, as well as funding from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and the Ford Foundation. In 2020, Rosalynde was inducted as an honorary member into the Jesuit Honor Society, Alpha Sigma Nu.
For more information visit www.d-mandocumentary.com/about-rosalynde
Kevin O’Keefe
Kevin O’Keefe is one of Colorado’s original Hip Hop teachers. He has an extensive background in all Hip Hop styles and received training from industry pioneers- Clyde Evans, Eric Finn, Quickstep and Rennie Harris. Kevin has performed with Don Campbell Lock, Jr., Electric Boogaloos, Lady Jules of the BeatFreaks and the late Gary Kendall of the Jabbawockeez, and he is a former member of Motion UnderGround’s Hip Hop company EOM. Kevin has been a guest artist at the Arena in Switzerland, The San Francisco Hip Hop Festival, the Colorado College Dance Festival, The Breaking Point in Montana, CU Boulder, and CSU Fort Collins,
Red Rocks Community College and Front Range Community College. Kevin is now bringing this unique flavor to many studios in Colorado and is the Founder/Director of True 2 Form Dance Group. He has for years been spreading a fire about the history of Hip Hop and a vision for where it could go. At this time, Kevin is a member of Street Stylez b-boy crew, Performing Core member with Machinez Remainz popping crew, and Rennie Harris Grass Roots Project, which has just finished a small performance tour of the East Coast.
Rachel Oliver Young
Rachel Oliver Young is the Education Director of the Classical and Contemporary Pre-Professional Dance Program at Denver School of the Arts, and a certified teacher through the Colorado Department of Education. Rachel holds an MFA in Dance, as an Arts and Sciences Fellow at CU-Boulder, and a BS in Dance and Biochemistry from Beloit College, having graduated Magna Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa. Rachel is an American Ballet Theatre® Certified Teacher, who has successfully completed the ABT® Teacher Training Intensive in Primary through Level 3 of the ABT® National Training Curriculum.
Rachel has performed professionally across the country as a freelance dancer and a company member. Her choreographic work has been commissioned by Bare Bait Dance Company, Centennial State Ballet, and West Virginia Dance Company, sponsored by the Atlas Black Box Experimental Studio in Boulder, CO and selected for performance at WestFest Dance in New York and Performática in México, and presented at the University of Iowa, WV Wesleyan University, the Philly Live Arts & Fringe (PA), Dixon Place (NY) and Triskelion Arts (NY), as well as other locations across the country.
Rachel’s teaching credits include public schools, dance studios, women’s prisons, community centers and universities across the country including University of Colorado-Boulder, Metro State University, for the Colorado Ballet, Cleo Parker Robinson Dance, Longmont Dance Theatre, Presidio Dance Academy, Radford University, Performática, and Pikes Peak Community College.
Learn more at racheloliveryoung.com
Caili Quan
Caili Quan was raised on Guam, trained in New York, and was a dancer with BalletX from 2013-2020. Caili has choreographed for BalletX, konverjdans, Columbia Ballet Collaborative, DanceWorks Chicago’s ChoreoLab, CelloPointe, and St. Paul’s School. While with BalletX, she performed new works by Matthew Neenan, Nicolo Fonte, Gabrielle Lamb, Penny Saunders, and Trey McIntyre and danced at Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, Vail Dance Festival, Central Park SummerStage, Belgrade Dance Festival, the Joyce Theater, and the Kennedy Center during DEMO by Damian Woetzel. July 26-30
Her duet Fancy Me was performed at the Vail Dance Festival in 2018, and in the summer of 2019, Caili served as an Artistic Partnership Initiative Fellow at The Center for Ballet and the Arts at NYU. She subsequently choreographed and edited a short dance film 100 Days, a virtual commission for The Guggenheim’s Works & Process. Before retiring from BalletX in Summer 2020, she virtually choreographed Love letter, a dance film inspired by Guam’s culture for BalletX’s virtual platform, BalletX Beyond. Caili is currently an Adjunct Instructor of Ballet at DeSales University.
