Chesterfield-St Louis Ballet School-Dance Classes

Meet the School's
Professionally Experienced DANCE & MUSIC Instructors

Lisa Wolfsberger
Ms. Wolfsberger’s dance background has taken her nationwide and throughout Europe. Born in St. Louis she has been a teacher of classical ballet for over 30 years. Her early training came from Alexandra Zaharias, Nathalie LeVine and Michael Simms. Her Professional career began with Missouri Concert Ballet (now Saint Louis Ballet) where she danced as a principal for over 10 years with directors Ludmila Dokoudovsky and Antoni Zalewski. She studied under Gary Hubler at Webster University while working towards a bachelors degree in Dance. She later became the ballet director at Dancers’ Alley in Jefferson City and in Columbia, MO was a guest artist in residence teaching ballet for Stephens College. In Jefferson City she also choreographed Act II of The Nutcracker for ACTPAC. Lisa continues to be invited as a guest artist, teaching master classes and summer programs throughout the country and has been on the staff of Saint Louis Ballet School since 2001

Stephanie Hogan
Stephanie Hogan studied dance locally in Kansas City as well as in New York. She performed with the St. Louis Civic Ballet, UMKC Dance Ensemble and Kansas City Ballet. She is a graduate of UMKC with a degree in biology and a minor in dance with ballet emphasis. Stephanie was a former studio owner who has been teaching dance in the St. Louis area for over 25 years. Ms. Hogan joined Saint Louis Ballet School in 2003.

Joy Adair Baker
Ms. Adair Baker comes to Saint Louis Ballet School with over 25 years of teaching experience throughout the St. Louis area as well as 10 years of professional performing experience with San Antonio Ballet and St. Louis Ballet. She received some of her training as a scholarship student at School of American Ballet and later graduated with Distinction from Principia College. Since then she has been a director at Principia College within the Dance Department as well as owning and directing her own schools. Ms. Adair Baker is certified in the Vaganova Method of Ballet training and has taught all levels of ballet from PreBallet through Adult. She joined the faculty of Saint Louis Ballet School in 2005.

Michelle De Villar spent most of her life moving about the U.S. with her family. She attended various training programs including Pittsburgh Youth Ballet, Houston Ballet Ben Stevenson's Academy and Peoria Ballet. She attended summer intensive programs at American Ballet Theatre and Houston Ballet. In 2007 she graduated from Butler University with a B.F.A in Dance Performance. While there, Michelle danced under renowned teachers and choreographers including James Kudelka, and performed in Indianapolis Opera's productions of THE PEARL FISHERS, THE MERRY WIDOW, TURANDOT, and CARMEN. Following her graduation, Michelle spent a year as an apprentice with Continental Ballet Company in Minnesota performing in THE NUTCRACKER, SWAN LAKE, PAQUITA, and COPPELIA. Since joining Saint Louis Ballet Company in 2008, Michelle has been featured as Spanish in THE NUTCRACKER, Lead Swan and Spanish in SWAN LAKE, and as Cadide Fairy and Jewels in SLEEPING BEAUTY. In addition, Michelle has performed in Horiuchi's MORE MORRA, LE REVE, and CINDERELLA, and George Balanchine’s VALSE FANTASIES. Michelle has taught in schools around the country and joined the St Louis Ballet Faculy in 2010.

Andrea Farmer
Andrea took her first dance class at the age of 5 and it was love at first step. Over the past 28 years she has studied the art of tap, ballet, jazz, hip-hop, pointe, character, modern, lyrical and contemporary. In her years of training, she has been lucky to study under some of the biggest names in the industry today, such as Tyce Diorio (Judge & Choreographer of So You Think You Can Dance) and Marguerite Derricks (Choreographer of the 2009 movie “FAME”.) She is fortunate to have made a career out of her passion and has been working as a professional dancer/singer, as well as dance instructor and choreographer for the past 12 years. This job has offered many exciting opportunities and taken her all over the country, as well as across the world. Some highlights of her career include performing in shows at the Fox Theatre in St. Louis, The Empire Theatre at Six Flags St. Louis, The Rio Hotel in Las Vegas, and the Lotte Theatre in Pusan, South Korea. For the past 5 years she has been working as a singer/dancer at Harrah’s St. Louis, including shows at their San Diego and Kansas City properties. She is committed to her craft and committed to passing on her passion and knowledge to her students. LIVE-LOVE-DANCE!

Elliott Geolat
Mr. Geolat began his training at the Ballet Conservatory in St. Louis under the direction of Nathalie LeVine. He also studied at the American Ballet Theater Summer Intensive and Houston Ballet Academy both on full scholarship. He was a two-time winner of the National Society of Arts and Letters dance competition and has danced principal roles as a guest artist for Peoria Ballet. In the fall of 2000 he joined Saint Louis Ballet where he has performed such roles as Snow King and Cavalier in THE NUTCRACKER, as Prince Siegfried in SWAN LAKE, as Prince Albrecht in GISELLE, in Christopher d'Amboise's CIRCLE OF FIFTHS , as Prince Desire in SLEEPING BEAUTY and featured in Balanchine's SERENADE, Dennis Nahat's BRAHMS QUINTET, Francis Patrelle's RHAPSODY IN BLUE, Jessica Lang's CONFESSIONS and Horiuchi's BOLLING SUITE and RETOURNER ENCORE. Elliot was also a guest artist for Toledo Ballet performing as Cavalier and Snow King in 2007. Mr. Geolat has taught around the St. Louis and Illinois region but joined St. Louis Ballet School for the first time in 2009

Dana Golio
Ms. Golio is a native of the Bronx, New York. She has been in the dance world for over 35 years with experience in dance training, instruction, performing and choreography. Dana comes from a dancing family. Her sister at present owns two studios in the NY area. Her parents, who were professional ballroom dancers, started training Dana at the tender age of 5. Dana along with her sister and parents won numerous awards. Dana took all subjects of dance throughout her life, such as Ballet, Tap, Jazz, Modern, Acro and of course Ballroom. Dana also trained with many teachers in the New York City area such as Mr. Al Gilbert, Charles Kelley, the Hoctor Family, and many other renowned instructors. She has always stayed faithful to her teacher and mentor Miss Dorothy who is still teaching in the Westchester area of NY. She was also a member of the dance troupe “The Doreyettes,” which traveled around the tri-state area performing for all types or organizations, primarily the New York State Beauty Pageant.

Becky Grahn-Howard (piano)
Becky Grahn-Howard brings nearly 30 years of teaching and performance experience to the Saint Louis Ballet School music program. Becky began playing piano at the age of 5 and was teaching piano by the age of 15. Becky attended Central Methodist University's Swinney Conservatory of Music on scholarship and received her classical piano training from Professor Thomas Yancey. Becky has taught piano and performed professionally throughout Missouri and Tennessee. In addition to her position with the Saint Louis Ballet School, Becky teaches piano from her home in Ballwin and is the current President of the Saint Louis Ballet Parent Society.

Susan Hubert-Jeep
Ms. Hubert-Jeep comes to Saint Louis Ballet School with a B.A. from Webster University in Management and Dance and over 35 years of dance education and teaching experience throughout dance schools in the St. Louis area of all ages and levels. She has also been the dance program director at several parishes as well as an instructor at Forest Park Community College teaching ballet, jazz and swing. In 1971 Ms. Hubert-Jeep was chosen to perform full time with the Radio City Music Hall Rockettes and some of her performance experience also includes performances with Muny Opera in 42nd Street and Romeo and Juliet and with the St. Louis Football Cardinals team to name a few. Susan joined Saint Louis Ballet School in 2006.

Lindsey Jones (violin)
Ms. Jones began violin lessons at age 3 through the Suzuki method, and by age 9 was playing her first student violin concerto. She started teaching violin lessons at age 17. In 1994 she received a scholarship to study at the University of Missouri-Columbia where she earned a bachelor's degree in violin performance. In 1999 she was a stipend recipient chosen to perform in a graduate piano trio while earning her master's degree at the University of Florida in Gainesville. While in Gainesville, she began teaching group violin lessons with the University of Florida String Project. Shortly after she moved to St. Louis in 2001, she taught group lessons in the University City School district and began playing in a number of local groups including the Union Avenue Opera Orchestra, St. Louis Chamber Orchestra, and the Fox Theatre Orchestra where she particularly enjoyed playing with the Joffrey Ballet's productions of the Nutcracker, Swan Lake, and Sleeping Beauty. She has been teaching private lessons in the St. Louis area since 2002.

Mariko Kumanomido
Mariko Kumanomido is a native of St. Louis, began her professional training with Alexandra Zaharias at Alexandra School of Ballet. She studied dance at Washington University in St. Louis, and University of Missouri-Kansas City, graduating with a BFA in Dance. After graduation, she moved to New York City, and studied at the Alvin Ailey School as a scholarship student. In New York she danced professionally with Buglisi Dance Theater, C.Eule Dance, JessicaDanser/dansfolk, and the Martha Graham Ensemble. She recently completed the Teacher Training Program at the Martha Graham School and is a registered Graham-based modern teacher. While in NYC she taught creative movement and beginning ballet at Ballet Hispanico. She recently returned to St. Louis, and is currently dancing with Jennifer Medina/Common Thread Dance. She is happy to be sharing her love of dance with students in St. Louis.

Stephen Lawrence
Stephen Lawrence began teaching classes for the Bossov Ballet Theater in Maine. There he taught beginner to advance ballet classes during the year. For the summer programs he would teach hip hop for all ages. During the year he also took up a teaching job at the Thomson School of Dance in Bangor, Maine where he taught advance hip hop for two years. His students were shown on the Bangor Daily News dancing his piece, “Everybody Dance”. Once he had moved to Houston, Texas to train with the Houston Ballet Company, he took up teaching ballet again by helping teach the Houston Ballet Academy’s beginner classes. Stephen is currently a Soloist company member with Saint Louis Ballet and has danced lead roles in ROMEO AND JULIET, SLEEPING BEAUTY, SWAN LAKE and THE NUTCRACKER

Michelle Seymour
Michelle Radin Seymour began her ballet studies with Antoni Zalewski and Ludmila Dokoudovsky at The Ballet Center of St. Louis. She also trained at the Joffrey Ballet School. In 1994, she joined St. Louis Ballet with whom she performed roles in various ballets including CINDERELLA, RAYMONDA, A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM, PAQUITA, and LES SYLPHIDES. Since her return in 2003, Michelle has danced in THE NUTCRACKER, SWAN LAKE, GISELLE and Balanchine's VALSE FANTASIE, SERENADE and SLEEPING BEAUTY. Michelle joined St. Louis Ballet School as a faculty member in 2002.

Angelica Smith
Angelica began her formal dance training at the age of 18 while attending Webster University. At 20 she was accepted as a soloist for a local contemporary ballet company, who she performed with for six years before auditioning for the St. Louis Rams Cheerleaders. She cheered for the St. Louis Rams from 2006-2010, performing at all home games, visiting troops in S. Korea and the Middle East, and working with various charities throughout Missouri and Illinois. In 2010 she left the Rams to audition for a Ashleyliane Dance Company, a local contemporary company which strives to fuse technical dance with street style. Angelica still enjoys performance opportunities when they present themselves, but is also passionate about sharing the joy of dance with her students. She has been training dancers for over 12 years, and has been an instructor at St. Louis Ballet School since 2003. In addition to dancing and teaching, Angelica has worked in the insurnace industry for over 10 years. Her passion for training and coaching has carried over into her insurance carrier, as evidenced by her current position as a Training Specialist in the sales department at AAA.

Tanya Strautmann
Ms. Strautmann is a native of St. Louis and began her training with Berkely Evans continuing on to St. Louis Ballet School. She spent summers on scholarship training with Kansas City Ballet, Gus Giordano and the Joffrey Ballet Trainee Program in NY. As a professional with Saint Louis Ballet Company Ms. Strautmann has been featured as Odette/Odile in SWAN LAKE, Sugar Plum Fairy in THE NUTCRACKER, the title role in GISELLE, Waltz Girl in Balanchine's SERENADE as well as those in Francis Patrelle’s RHAPSODY IN BLUE, ASTAIRE: A TRIBUTE, BLACK FORREST CAROUSEL, Dennis Nahat's BRAHMS QUINTET and Gen Horiuchi’s BOLLING SUITE, WAKE UP, ONCE IN A BLUE MOON and RETOURNER ENCORE. In 2000, she was a guest artist in Osaka, Japan performing Horiuchi’s TWO OF A KIND. She has been a faculty and staff member since 1998.

Pamela Swaney
Ms. Swaney is a native of Pittsburgh , Pennsylvania where she trained with the Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre School and participated in the PBT Schenley Program. She also trained with the Pittsburgh Youth Ballet and attended various summer programs, including Chautauqua, BalletMet, the Joffrey Ballet, and the School of American Ballet . Prior to joining the St. Louis Ballet, Pamela danced professionally with the Lake Erie Ballet. She graduated Summa Cum Laude from Mercyhurst College in Erie , Pennsylvania with a B.A. in Dance Teaching/Choreography and a minor in Arts Administration. As a professional with Saint Louis Ballet Company she has been featured as Marzipan and Chinese in THE NUTCRACKER, in Balanchine's SERENADE, Horiuchi's MORE MORRA and lead wili in GISELLE. She has been a faculty member with Saint Louis Ballet School since 2007.

Erin Swinney
Ms. Swinney is from Albuquerque, New Mexico. There she trained with Randall Graham, Suzanne Johnston, and Patricia Dickinson. As a student, she performed with the New Mexico Ballet Company in DRACULA, THE NUTCRACKER, and Balanchine's SERENADE. Erin attended summer intensive programs at the Joffrey Ballet, and the School of American Ballet. She went on to train year-round in New York at the School of American Ballet, and also privately with Michael Vernon. While in New York, she performed in Francis Patrelle's THE NUTCRACKER. Erin has her B.A. in Mass Communications from Principia College in Elsah, Illinois. Since joining the company this year, Erin has performed in Balanchine's SERENADE and SLEEPING BEAUTY. Erin Swinney joined St. Louis Ballet School as a faculty member in 2009.

Kaoru Wada (violin, viola)
Ms. Kaoru Wada has experience teaching violin, viola and piano to a variety of ages. With a Master of Music in Performance from Webster University, a Graduate Diploma in Performance from St. Louis Conservatory of Music and a Bachelor of Music from Musashino Academia Musicae (Tokyo, Japan), Ms. Wada also is an experienced professional musician. She has performed with the American Kantorei Orchestra, St. Louis Chamber Orchestra, Civic Orchestra of Chicago, National Orchestral Institute, National Repertory Orchestra, Spoleto Festival Orchestra (U.S.A. and Italy) as well as substituting in the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra, Illinois Symphony Orchestra and the Tokyo Symphony. She has taught for over 13 years at the college level including UMSL, St. Charles Community College and the Community Music School of Webster University.

Vanessa Woods
Ms. Woods is originally from Cinnaminson, NJ . She received her training from the Princeton Ballet School, Miami City Ballet and at SUNY Purchase. Upon completing her training in Miami under Truman Finney, she moved to Denver to perform with the second company of the Colorado Ballet, followed by performing with the Suzanne Farrell Ballet, Connecticut Ballet, Opera New Jersey, Pennsylvania Ballet and freelancing in New York City. Vanessa has taught at Core Academy of Movement in NJ, School of Steps on Broadway in NYC, Princeton Ballet and has been on faculty with the Saint Louis Ballet School since her arrival in the spring of 2010.