Andrea Paris, Los Angeles Ballet Academy, Creative Director
Ballet / Team Theatrics / YBT

Andrea started dancing at the age of 5 at Bernice McGough's (her mother) Ballet School in Auckland, New Zealand. She passed all her Grade and Major examinations under the British Ballet Method with Honors and holds the Solo Dancer's Diploma. Andrea was awarded the Paul Hammond Scholarship and a Full Scholarship to the National Ballet School where she studied before joining the Royal New Zealand Ballet. Andrea moved to Los Angeles in 1979 where she trained under Dolores Terry, Robert Rossoulatt and Stanley Holden. She then traveled to and performed in Japan, Europe and Mexico, where she met her husband, Iker.
Andrea toured the US and Canada with the National Touring Company of Sugar Babies as well as performed in Los Angeles productions of Sugar Babies, Song of Norway, Anyone Can Whistle, Anything Goes, My Fair Lady, Pajama Game and more. She choreographed, assisted and performed with Opera Pacific at the Orange County Performing Arts Center and the Los Angeles Opera. Her choreography has been seen on music videos, soap operas, industrials and ballet companies.
Andrea's television and film credits include General Hospital, The Academy Awards, the films Beaches and Pennies From Heaven. She was the assistant choreographer on the TV series Rags to Riches which produced 2-3 musical numbers per episode. She coached Fred Savage on The Wonder Years, Rita Moreno on a TV movie for PBS, and Tony Geary on General Hospital. Some of her more interesting jobs included, sitting in a bathtub of bubbles doing high kicks for a Japanese beer commercial, being a Dancing "Star" on The Academy Awards, choreographing an award winning video for the rock/punk band ‘Jane's Addiction’, and being a tap dancing truck in a Ryder Truck commercial!
In 1992 Andrea started her own school and has since passed the Royal Academy of Dancing Teacher's Certificate. Andrea has taught Master Classes, judged dance festivals and traveled to NY, and London to further her education as a ballet teacher and dance educator. Andrea has been awarded Outstanding Choreographer at Company Dance and the Youth America Grand Prix Regional and LABA has 3 times been awarded outstanding school at the same venue. In 2007 Andrea was awarded the Outstanding Teacher of the Year award from Dance Teacher Magazine. She travelled to New York to participate in a forum to mentor other teachers and accept her award. Miss Andrea lives in Van Nuys with her husband Iker and their children Veronica and Dylan.

Nicolette Atkins, Associate Teacher
Ballet

Started ballet lessons at the age of 3 with Sannie Marie Slabbert (her mother), who continues to teach in South Africa. Studied ballet (Cecchetti Method) and some tap, modern and Spanish with Pam Wedd and Hennie Grobbelaar. Graduated from the Pretoria High School for Art, Ballet and Music with a distinction in Practical Ballet, and completed Cecchetti Advanced Exam in the same year. Attained the Cechetti Associate Teacher's Diploma (with Honours) and is a member of the International Society of Teachers of Dancing (I.S.T.D.). Graduated from the University of Pretoria (South Africa) with a Bachelors of Arts degree (English, Afrikaans/Dutch as majors, and History of Music (sub-major)) and attained the post-graduate Teacher's Diploma. She also has a Marketing Certificate from Damelin College, Durban South Africa. Nicolette has worked in arts marketing in South Africa and at the Los Angeles Opera, and Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra. She is married to an opera singer. “I love ballet, and I love to teach at Theatrics because I believe in a solid technique, the beauty of each little person, and the positive gifts that dance brings into our lives. . I hope that everyone -- whether a dancer or a member of the audience --, will experience the joy that dancing has given me.”

Jaclyn Riesz, Associate Teacher
RAD Ballet / Contemporary /Jazz / Tap / Preschool / Team Theatrics / TDC

Jaclyn Riesz began her professional career in her hometown of Charleston, SC with the Robert Ivey Ballet Company.  She majored in Dance Performance at Oklahoma City University where she was a member of the American Spirit Dance Company, OCU Pep Dancers and Liturgical Dance Company.  Jaclyn also received a Bachelor of Science in Kinesiology with a Dance option from California State University, Northridge.   She is a certified and Registered Teacher of the Royal Academy of Dance.  Jaclyn has trained with world renowned teachers like David Howard, Edward Villella, Jo Rowan, Doug Caldwell, Gus Giordano, Joe Tremaine, Buster Brown,  and Peg Leg Bates among others.  Jaclyn has performed locally with Rei Aoo’s Dance Planet in the LA Dance Invitational, Jazz Dance LA, Spectrum concert series, Split: Dance In and Out of LA, Café of Dreams, Choreographer's Carnival, Arab Esque as well as the company's self produced concerts of Time Goes On, Antoine’s Michief and Origins at the Ford Amphitheatre.   Jaclyn has also choreographed and performed for renowned singers and artist appearing in venues like the Kodak Theatre.  Jaclyn's passion for teaching began at age 16  in the Charleston County School District’s after school program sponsored by the SC Arts Commission and in the Charleston Dance Studio. In addition to teaching RAD ballet, jazz, tap, contemporary and preschool classes at LABA, Jaclyn also enjoys working with the studio's performing groups.  This is her eighth year with Los Angeles Ballet Academy.

Conny Mathot. BA. CDTA. RAD Associate Teacher
Ballet / Jazz / Contemporary

At The National Theater Ballet School in Melbourne, Australia, Conny studied under the careful guidance of Director, Gaileen Stock. On graduation Conny was awarded a full scholarship to The Victorian College of The Arts – School of Dance. Completing four years of full time study, Conny Graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in dance and a Teaching Major.
Her performance experience included touring with Ballet, Opera and Musical Companies, Plays and Commercial Ventures including Video Clips, TV Commercials, Band Gigs, and Fashion Shows.
As a teacher Conny has had a variety of positions in both styles and environments. These include: Teaching formalized Dance Techniques in Dance Studios, Setting up and implementing Teaching Programs at TAFE College/University and Movement and Dance Programs in Public and Private Schools. Conny has tought Master Classes and has judged at dance festivals.
Past students have and are still working professionally in Classical Ballet Companies, Musicals and Commercial Ventures.

In addition to student design, Conny’s choreographic experience includes professional works created for corporate events, commercials, city festivals, broadcast awards, club entertainment, casino shows, theater and television.
Recently Conny won 1st place in the McCallum Theater Choreography Festival “Dancing Under the Stars”. And was awarded Outstanding Choreographer at the 2008 Youth American Grand Prix Regional.

Conny is a Full Teaching member of the Royal Academy of Dancing and an Associate Member of the Classical Dance Teachers of Australia.

Stanley Holden, In Memoriam
Ballet

"…one of the great Dr. Coppelius’s of all time."
Clive Barnes, of The New York Times

Famous for his interpetation of Dr. Coppelius with the Royal Ballet
Stanley Holden was born in London. Filled with enthusiasm for the dancing of Fred Astair, he began taking tap lessons -- at a shilling a week -- when he was nine years old. Soon adding classical dance to his studies, Holden fell in love with ballet. At 16, his teacher arranged an audition with Ninette de Valois, at the Sadler Wells Ballet, where after a few weeks with the school, he was accepted into the company. Holden went on to become a principal dancer with the Royal Ballet, Covent Garden (London) where his flair for character roles gained him a respected and beloved reputation. Retiring from the Royal in 1969 after a 25 year illustrious career, he danced his greatest creation, the Widow Simone in La Fille Mal Garde at his farewell performance at the Royal Opera House and received a 25 minute standing ovation. Presenting him with a citation for excellence that evening, Sir Frederick Ashton called him, "a unique and marvelous artist".

Mr. Holden was a principal dancer with the Royal Ballet Company for 25 years dancing numerous lead roles. In 1970, he was named Director of Dance at the Music Center in L.A. In 1971, he formed the Stanley Holden Dance Center which has become a world-renowned ballet studio where he taught such notables as Mikhail Baryshnikov, Natalia Makarova, Juliet Prowse, Gelsey Kirkland and Mary Tyler Moore - to name a few. In 2001& 2003, to rave reviews, he directed and performed his famous role of Dr. Coppelius in Coppelia for Inland Pacific Ballet. His many awards include an Emmy in 1981, the LA Area Dance Alliance Recognition Award for Dance Service in 1983, the Music Center Club 100 Award for contributions to the visual and performing arts in 1987, two Lester Horton Awards in 1994 and 1996, and the American Choreography Award in 1998. In 2001, he was awarded the California Dance Educator's Award and in April 2002 he received the Dance Resource Center LA Award for his performance in Coppelia.

Mikhail Tchoupakov , Guest Teacher
Ballet

Born and raised in Moscow, Russia, Mikhail graduated from the famous Bolshoi Ballet Academy. He had danced with the renowned Bolshoi Ballet for eight years, during which time he performed full repertory of the theatre, including soloist parts in such ballets as Nutcracker, Sleeping Beauty, Spartacus, Swan Lake, Sketches, Raymonda, Don Quixote, Golden Age, and many others. Among his teachers are Asaf Messerer and Boris Akimov. With the Bolshoi, he toured all over the world, particularly such countries as Brazil, Australia, United Kingdom, Switzerland, Italy, France, Morocco, India, Japan, China, and the Unites States. Mikhail is a graduate of the Moscow State Choreography Institute. Under Professor Peter Pestov, he received his M.F.A. in Dance Pedagogy and Choreography.
Since 1990, Mikhail has been residing in the US. He has performed with the following companies: Sarasota Ballet of Florida, Los Angeles Classical Ballet, Vienna State Opera Ballet, and San Francisco Opera Ballet as well as appeared as a guest artist with many others throughout the United States. He spent six years with Colorado Ballet performing diverse classical and contemporary repertoire, including ballets by George Balanchine, Choo San Gogh, Alvin Ailey, Christopher Wheeldon, and Frederick Ashton. He has also served as a Ballet Master and Repetiteur for Colorado Ballet and on the faculty of the Academy of Colorado Ballet. He has taught for the Houston Ballet, Oregon Dance Theatre, David Taylor Dance Theatre, State Street Ballet, Ballet Arlington, Guangzhou Ballet of China, and Galili Dance in Netherlands. He has been a guest teacher in Brazil, Japan, Germany, Netherlands, and Great Britain, and appeared as guest lecturer at the University of Colorado in Boulder, Northern School of Contemporary Dance in Leeds, UK, Colorado College, and Wyoming State University. He served as a judge and master teacher for Youth America Grand Prix Competition as well as other international dance competitions. His choreographic credits include staging the all-Goleizovsky program for Ballet Arlington, TX, and Universal Ballet Academy (formerly Kirov Ballet Academy) as well as choreography for Opera Colorado’s Eugene Onegin, La Traviata, and Don Giovanni, and Grand Défilé for Youth America Grand Prix Competition Gala at Lincoln Center, NY. He taught for the Royal Ballet School in London and is now on the faculty of the Birmingham Royal Ballet’s official school, the Elmhurst School for Dance in Birmingham, UK.
Mikhail is an official representative and appointed trustee of the Kasyan Goleizovsky Foundation.

Philip Pegler , Guest Teacher
Ballet

Philip Pegler was born in Yorkshire, England and began his study of Classical Ballet at the age of four under the instruction of his mother, Sandra Burnham. At the age of eleven, Philip was accepted into the Bush-Davies School of Education and Theatre Arts where he began his professional training and then to the Legat School of Russian Style Ballet in 1989. In 1990, following a term of intensive training at The Vaganova Institute in St. Petersburg, Russia, he became an international scholarship student of The Harid Conservatory in Florida where he was taught by Marjorie Tallchief and Tina Santos-Wahl together with teachers Oleg Tupine, Serge Golovine and Claude Bessy of the Paris Opera School, Maria Tallchief, John Taras and Donald Sadler.
In 1992, Philip was accepted into The Royal Ballet School, where he began his training as a teacher on the internationally renowned Teachers Training Course. His professional dance training continued on The Royal Ballet School’s Dancers Course in the Vaganova System with German Zamuel as his teacher; but it was the work of Valerie Adams, Director of the School’s Teachers Training Course that inspired Philip to dedicate his professional career to students of the classroom rather than to theatrical audiences.
Since leaving The Royal Ballet School in 1995, Philip has lived and worked in the United States and has seen his own students gain employment in the New York City Ballet, America Ballet Theatre, Atlanta Ballet and the Milwaukee Ballet. His is an award winning coach in the 2000 Youth America Grand Prix and has taught extensively throughout America training and coaching students for competitions and examinations.

Nichelle Bane, Associate Teacher
Jazz

Nichelle Bane was born and raised in Central California, where she studied at The Academy of Dance throughout her youth. She was a featured dancer with the semi-professional dance group San Luis Jazz, for over 12 years, as well as a corps member and soloist with the San Luis Civic Ballet for 11 years. She left San Luis Obispo in 1990 to dance professionally. She performed around the world with Princess Cruises. In addition she was a line captain for most of her contracts. Since leaving Princess Cruises in 1995, she is living in Los Angeles, California. You can see Nichelle in television and movies such as Friends, Clueless, and The Spy Who Shagged Me. She is currently teaching full time, as well as assisting Doug Caldwell and performing with many of Southern California’s top choreographers. She also travels extensively to dance studios around the country teaching her competition choreography.

April Clawson, Associate Teacher
Tap

April's credits include: 42nd Street, the Los Angeles Company, Pennies from Heaven, The Tracy Ullman Show, The Academy Awards and Bob Hope Specials. She recently danced in the 2002 American Choreography Awards and has choreographed for Marvel Comics. She has taught Master Tap classes for Dance Masters of California and was a judge for the Miss Dance of California Pageant.

Noriko Malaby, Associate Teacher
Ballet

Noriko started her dancing career in Tokyo, Japan in 1972.  She studied modern dance as well as classical ballet at The Ballet Academy in Tokyo, and participated in performances from 1981, and started her teaching career with them from 1986.

In 1984 she joined the Yagishita Modern Ballet Group, danced with them for over 10 years, and served as assistant ballet mistress for most of their productions. Noriko started her own teaching studio in Tokyo Japan in 1991 where she taught a broad range of ages and levels. 

From 1996 to 1999 she studied at the National Ballet School in Toronto, Canada.  There she learned all 3 different syllabi; Cecchetti, Vaganova, and Royal Academy of Dance along with other academic training.  She graduated from the National Ballet School with Distinction. There she earned I.S.T.D. Associate in National Dance Branch as well as RAD Student Teaching Certificate.  She kept studying after graduation at the National Ballet School and finished her Diploma with RAD in 2001. She converted her Student Teaching Certificate to full Teaching Certificate in 2007 with Diploma status.

In 2002 Noriko moved to the United States and restarted her teaching career in Tampa, Florida. She moved to Pasadena California in 2006 and is excited to be teaching at Los Angeles Ballet Academy. She finds Andrea and the other teachers to be very warm yet very motivated to teach all the students with careful attention, which helps make the students highly motivated to reach their goals.

Courtney Landry, Associate Teacher
Contemporary

Stage:
Carnival: Choreographer's Ball - Dancer
"Momentum" - Dancer
2006 Destination Dance 4 - Dancer/Choreographer
2005 Jazz Dance World Congress - Dancer
"Kaleidoscope" - Dancer
2004 Destination Dance 3 - Dancer
"Fest For All" Baton Rouge La - Soloist

Training:
Machita & Company (1994-2007)
Cangelosi Dance Project (2005-2006)

Awards:
Senior Magic Performer La Dance Magic
Senior Elite Dancer West Coast Dance Explosion
Broadway Dance Center Scholarship
Brian Friedman Intensive Invitation
Miss Starpower 2005

Choreography Awards:
Starpower
Showbiz
VIP Dance
Primetime

Stacey Valentino, Associate Teacher
Jazz

Stacy, born and raised in Los Angeles, began her intense dance training under the direction of Marguerite Derricks.  She became a part of Marguerite’s Teen Company “Generation Next” where she was able to train with top choreographers such as Liz Imperio, Doug Caldwell, and Michael Rooney.  She grew into assisting Michael at the Performing Arts Center in Van Nuys and Millennium Dance Complex in North Hollywood.  She also assisted Michelle Elkin under Jackie Slight’s competition/convention “LA Dance Magic” and is currently involved in Gregg Russell’s company Tapsounds Underground.  Stacy’s live show credits include “Promotion for candies Perfume”, “Relay for Life Cancer Benefit”, “Dancer’s Unite 3”, and guest artist in “S.H.E. Dance company”.  She is presently signed with Trio Talent dance agency and can be recently seen in a webisode aired in the presentation of Cisco video telephones.  Stacy has an Associates Degree in Psychology/Child Development and loves working with children of all ages.  She started teaching at the young age of fourteen, has choreographed award winning competition numbers for several years in a row, and she shares her passion for dance in teaching technique, discipline, self-confidence, and poise. 

Kristi Munoz, Associate Teacher
Hip Hop

Manette LaChance, Master Pilates Instructor

Manette LaChance is a former professional dancer and performer appearing on Broadway, in films, television and musics videos, working with all time greats like Bob Fosse, Michael Peters, Michael Jackson, Mel Brooks, Kenny Rogers, Julie Andrews, Carol Burnette, Gwen Verdon, Chita Rivera, Lionel Richie, Dick Van Dyke, Jay Leno, Anne Jillian, Dolly Parton and others.

After a successful dance career lasting over 25 years, Manette successfully transitioned to Pilates and has been a full time Pilates teacher in the greater Los Angeles area for the past 15 years. She trained under some of the world's greatest Pilates masters including Marie Jose-Blum, Michelle Larson and Jillian Hessel. As a result, Manette became a certified Pilates Instructor affiliated with the Physical-Mind Institute. She is genuinely one of the originals in this art and is a master in her own right.

Manette is well known for training professional and up and coming dancers as well and collegiate and Olympic-bound athletes. She has extensive experience with people in need of chronic rehabilitation from injuries, chronic conditions (even polio and cerebral palsy) and surgery, and works cooperatively with other healthcare professionals. She has seen huge improvements in her clients, many of whom started with severe limitations, or those with extraordinary physical goals, and were ultimately able to achieve amazing results.

Manette is passionate about what she does, helping others attain their goals and "be the best that they can be".

Samantha Weber , Apprentice Teacher
Preschool Dance, Tap

Eryn Wingate , Apprentice Teacher
Preschool Dance

Laurie Weber , Office Manager