Performer’s Edge

Ballet Faculty

Ballet Director
Jane Hachiya-Weiner
ABT® Affiliate Teacher, certified in Primary through Level3
of the ABT® National Training Curriculum

Ellie Cessna
Sabrina Matheson
So Yon Nam
Frank Weiner
Sarah Woolgar

Guest Artists and Instructors
Sandra Peticolas
Stirling Matheson

Ballet Theatre of Carmel

Artistic Director
Jane Hachiya-Weiner

Associate Artistic Director
Frank Weiner

Rehearsal Directors and Associate Choreographers
William Patrick Dunn
Sabrina Matheson
Liberty Harris

Advisors/Consultants
Karl Kaufman
Ron Morgan
Nataly Lowder

Ellie Stutzman Cessna (Dance) grew up in Indianapolis, Indiana, and received her ballet training from the Jordan College Academy of Dance at Butler University. She also trained with Dennis Nahat at the School of Cleveland Ballet and with Laura Byram through the Broad Ripple High School dance magnet program. She graduated Magna Cum Laude from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro with a B.A. in dance. Ellie has been teaching classical ballet for nine years. She has taught in California at the Burbank School of Ballet, at Patty Gray's School of Dance in Illinois, and has taught company class in Oklahoma at the nationally certified home of Rogers and Hammerstein's Oklahoma. Ellie has danced professionally with the Georgia Ballet and as Dream Laurey in Rodgers and Hammerstein's Oklahoma. She has also performed with the Indianapolis Ballet Theatre, Indianapolis Dance Company and Dance Kaleidoscope.

Liberty Harris (Dance) Libby began her training in Indianapolis with Linda Reese and Ron Morgan at the Dance Magic Performing Arts Studio. She attended Interlochen Arts Academy on a dance scholarship for four years. While studying at Butler University, she was asked to join Dance Kaleidoscope for the 1997 production of Carmina Burana. Liberty then went on to dance with the Charleston Ballet Theater of South Carolina for two years. This is her ninth season with Dance Kaleidoscope.

Sabrina Matheson (Dance) Sabrina Matheson was born in West Lafayette, Indiana, and began her dance training at Lafayette Ballet School. She has attended several intensive workshops at schools such as Pittsburgh Youth Ballet, Ballet Austin and BalletMet, as well as the Cantilena School of the Arts in St. Petersburg, Russia. She graduated from Lafayette Ballet Company in 2004, where she performed leading roles in The Nutcracker, Twelve Dancing Princesses, and Echoes of Indiana. Ms. Matheson continued her education at Butler University, where she earned a B.F.A. in Dance Performance and danced leading roles in The Nutcracker, Coppélia, Giselle and several contemporary works. After graduation, she studied on scholarship with Nashville Ballet and performed as a soloist with Vanderbilt Dance Theatre. She spent last season with Ballet Theatre of Maryland, dancing corps and soloist roles, and is thrilled to be back in Indiana.

Stirling Matheson (Dance, Guest Artist and Instructor) Stirling grew up in Fairfax, California where he trained at “Dance Theatre Seven”. He continued his training with the Arizona School of Classical Ballet before attending Butler University where he earned a B.A. in Dance (Pedagogy). While at Butler Universtiy, he performed principal roles in Giselle, Cinderella, Serenade, and several other works. Under the direction of Marek Cholewa he performed on tour through Poland as well as studying dance at the Cantilena School of the Arts in St. Petersburg, Russia. After graduation, he danced with Nashville Ballet II for the 2009-2010 season. For the 2010-2011 season he danced with Ballet Theatre of Maryland where he performed soloist and principal roles in Alice in Wonderland, The Nutcracker, Romeo and Juliet and Frontier 1812.

So Yon Nam (Dance) Ms.Nam studied classical ballet in her native Korea, entering the Seoul Art High School in Korea and majoring in dance. Upon graduation in 1993 she went on to Moscow`s Bolshoi Ballet Academy studying the Russian Vaganova style. In 1995 she graduated and invited to join the world-renowned National Ballet Company of Korea. Since joining the National Ballet Company of Korea, Ms. Nam has danced many leading roles in classical ballets including Giselle in Giselle , Nikia From La Bayadere and Odette in Swan Lake. She toured internationally with the National Ballet Company of Korea in Egypt in 1997 and at the 1997 Karmiel Dance Festival in Israel. From1999 to 2005, Ms Nam danced with Ballet Internationale, She has performed the principal roles in Phaedra, A thousand and One Nights, Don Quixote, Creation of the World, Swan Lake, Romeo and Juliet, Sleeping and Beauty, Marz, Peter Pan, Giselle, Dracula, Raymonda and The Nutcracker. She toured in Canada, China and Taiwan with Ballet Internationale.

In 2003 she performed at the Korea Word Dance Stars Festival from 1996 to 2010. She has taught master classes for universities and studios in Korea. From 2006 to 2010 Ms. Nam worked with Russian Ballet Academy of Indiana as a Ballet Instructor.

Frank Weiner (Associate Director of the Ballet Theatre of Carmel) Born in Zimbabwe, Africa, Frank started dancing at the Studio School of Dance in Massachusetts under Dede Guercio-Renko. He then studied at the State University of New York at Purchase and New York School of Ballet. Frank performed with the Hartford Ballet in Romeo and Juliet, Copelia, and Carmina Burana, and Soloist roles in Hansel and Gretel, The Nutcracker and The Moor in Jose Limon’s The Moor’s Pavane. While in Hartford, Frank was also a member of Works Contemporary Dance Company. During the seven seasons Frank danced with the Indianapolis Ballet Theatre, he performed pieces choreographed by Choo San-Goh, Lambros Lambrou, Jill Bahr, George Balanchine and Jose Limon. Including solo and principal roles in Spartacus, Spring Waters, The Moor’s Pavane, Tybalt in Romeo and Juliet, the Snow King and Drosselmeyer in The Nutcracker and Hilarian in Giselle. Frank then joined Dance Kaleidoscope, under the direction of David Hochoy, where he was featured in such pieces as Puccini People, Love Lies Bleeding, Seasons, and Farewell. During his time with Dance Kaleidoscope, Frank also performed in Indianapolis Civic Theatre’s productions of A Chorus Line, Anything Goes and La Cage Aux Follies.

Jane Hachiya-Weiner (Director of Ballet, Artistic Director of the Ballet Theatre of Carmel) Jane comes to Indianapolis from Japan where she was one of the Principal Dancers of the Hirofumi Inoue Ballet company, in Tokyo, and danced under her given name of Jane Godsoe and later her stage name of Noriko Hachiya. She danced the leading roles in such ballets as Swan Lake (Odette/Odile), Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty and Giselle. She was given the role of Marie Taglioni in Sir Anton Dolin’s staging of Pas de Quatre on one of his visits to the Hirofumi Inoue Ballet Company as guest choreographer. During her days in Tokyo, Jane was a frequent guest artist in both the touring and Tokyo performances of the Japan Ballet Association and also for the NHK’s (National Broadcasting Company of Japan) annual “Evening at the Ballet”. Her dance experiences as guest artist spanned contemporary and original works by local choreographers to Sugar Plum Fairy in Nutcracker, Odette/Odile in Swan Lake and Lilac Fairy in Sleeping Beauty. During her tenure at the Hirofumi Inoue Ballet Company, she was partnered by such notable dancers as David Wall of the Royal Ballet, Michael Birkmeyer of the Vienna State Opera Ballet and Cyril Atanasoff and Patrick Dupond of the Ballet de l’Opera de Paris. She was featured in André Prokovsky’s staging of Faust Divertimento and in Alfred Rodrigues’ staging of Berlioz’ Symphonie Fantastique. In l980, Jane was awarded the Akiko Tachibana National Dance Award for her interpretation of Giselle. She has studied in Tokyo, Paris and Toulouse France, New York and at the Boston Ballet. Her teachers include Nina Vyroubova, former Etoile of the Paris Opera who coached Jane for the roles of Aurora and Giselle. She has had extensive tutelage in the Royal Academy of Dance syllabus under Frank Freeman, Julia M. Cross and Nicola Wallis. who were resident RAD instructors for the HIrofumi Inoue Ballet Company. Her other teachers of note include Mr. Serge Peretti, Mr. AlfredRodrigues, Mr. Naoto Seki, Miss Nobuko Haruyama in Tokyo. During her career transition from the Hirofumi Inoue Ballet Company to dancing in the USA Jane danced for a brief time at Boston Ballet, which was, then under the directorship of Ms. Violette Verdy. She also danced with Boston Ballet Ensemble under the directorship of Bruce Wells. Miss Elaine Bauers, Principal Dancer of the Boston Ballet at the time, recommended helped her make the connection with Mr. Verdak who was Artistic Director of the Indianapolis Ballet Theatre. She owes the success of her career in the U.S. to these three mentors to a great extent. Jane joined Indianapolis Ballet Theatre (later known as Ballet Internationale) in l985. She danced with Indianapolis Ballet Theatre under the direction of George Verdak, Dace Dindonis and finally Eldar Aliev. Since joining this company, she continued to dance lead roles in the standard classics as well being given the opportunity to gain experience in Balanchine ballets such as Night Shadow staged by John Taras and Allegro Brilliante staged by Victoria Simon. In modern dance she danced in Waldstein Sonata staged by Nancy Scattergood Jordan and as Emelia in Jose Limon’s The Moor’s Pavanne staged by Risa Steinberg of the Limon Foundation. After the arrival of Eldar Aliev, Jane was instructed in the Vaganova methodology under Irina Kolpakova a former Prima Ballerina of the Kirov Ballet. (She is currently a Ballet Mistress at the American Ballet Theatre and was Assistant Artistic Director of the company at the time. Of note, Mme Kolpakova coached Jane for the role of the young girl in Spectre de la Rose and Fanny Cerrito in Pas de Quatre .) Vladilen Semenov, Principal company teacher coached her for the Female lead in the Flower Festival at Genzano. Jane retired from full time dancing in l995. She spent a few additional years dancing with Hosanna Sacred Arts, a Christian Dance company under the artistic direction of Kenneth Tolle and served as Ballet Mistress during her time with them. Jane has served as rehearsal assistant and as one of the company teachers for the Indianapolis Ballet Theatre during the latter part of her dancing career with them. In the summer of l995, Jane served as the Interim Ballet Mistress for the Indianapolis Ballet Theatre during the Ballet Mistress’s maternity leave. Jane has experience teaching all levels of ballet. She began her teaching career as a faculty member of the Hirofumi Inoue Ballet Gakuen Academy, during her years there as company member In Indianapolis, Jane became the founding director of the Academy of the Indianapolis Ballet Theatre after Indianapolis Ballet Theatre moved to their new downtown location. She continued in the capacity of director, co director and finally principal of the Academy between the years of l989 - l996. She left this position upon the arrival of her first child. Most recently, Jane has been a Faculty Member at the Jordan Academy of Dance at Butler University - teaching levels 2 - 5 and pas de deux and variations. At the same time, Jane has also been an adjunct faculty member for the Butler University Dance Department Majors Program at the Jordan College of Fine Arts teaching pointe technique for the past several years.

 

Ballet Theatre of Carmel (pdf)

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ABT
National Training Curriculum

Jane Hachiya-Weiner is certified in the ABT curriculum.

For more information go to www.abt.org

For more information go to www.ballettheatreofcarmel.org

 

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Performer's Edge Dance Theatre