• ELLIE BARRETT
• JEAN COURTER
• CAROLE DICKENS
• KATHRYN ESPOSITO
• MONIKA MACBETH

ELLIE BARRETT trained at Boston Conservatory and graduated with a B.A. in Dance from the University of South Florida. She is an internationally known teacher and choreographer. She danced professionally with the Ina Hahn Modern Dance Company and the Boston Dance Group. She has choreographed for Walt Disney World, Sea World, the Hyundai Corporation, Lotte World Theme Park and the Everland Theme Park in Seoul, South Korea, and most recently, Urinetown, The Musical, and Rent for the Seensee Musical Theatre Company of Seoul. She has taught and continues to teach for Dance Olympus/Dance America, Florida Dance Masters, Florida Dance Association, Chicago National Association of Dance Masters, as well as the Walt Disney World Arts Program, Rollins College, Valencia Community College (where she began the dance department), Douglas Anderson School of the Arts, Virginia School of the Arts and other private studios and colleges in America. Ellie is a member of Actor's Equity Association and a member of the executive board of the Florida Dance Association. Recently she was selected for inclusion into the Florida Artists' Residency Directory by the Division of Cultural Affairs in Tallahassee, in addition to being selected by her students for the Who's Who Among Teachers Publication for 2002. She currently teaches Modern, Theatrical Dance, Jazz and Choreography at Douglas Anderson School of the Arts in Jacksonville and she is on the dance faculty of The School of Performing Arts in Orlando and at The Dance Company in St. Augustine.
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JEAN COURTER, Middle Eastern Dance Instructor has been studying the dances of the Near and Middle East since 1972. She has traveled throughout North America as well as to the countries of Morocco and Egypt to study with master instructors of the dance, primarily Cassandra Shore of Minneapolis and including the late Ibrahim Farrah and Carolina Varga Dinicu 'Morocco' of New York, Roman 'Bert' Balladine, Jamilla and Suhaila Salimpour of California. She has also studied with Egyptian dancers Raqia Hassani and Nadia Hamdi. In 1985 she co-founded the Oasis Dance Camps, dance retreats for the study of Middle Eastern Dance. Attended by over 200 students yearly the camps provide the opportunity for dancers to come together and study with master dance instructors beginning with Cassandra and including Algerian born Amel Tafsout of London, England, Egyptian born Denise Enan of Toronto, Canada, Helene Erikson of Düsseldorf, Germany, Habiba of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Zahra Zuhair and Angelika Neimith of Los Angeles, California. The historic and cultural aspects of the dance as well as the importance of music as the source of the dance are emphasized at Oasis. Dance and music historian and oudist Kay Hardy Campbell and Arabic percussionist and ethnomusicologist Nicole LeCorgne are frequent instructors and accompanists at the camp. Since 2004 Oasis has become a truly international event with the addition of camps in New Zealand and Morocco.
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KATHRYN ESPOSITO, Director and ballet instructor, received her extensive training from The Eglevsky School of Ballet, The Joffrey Ballet School, The Harkness Ballet School, The American Ballet Theater School, Ballet Arts Studio (Carnegie Hall), The Nubert Ballet, The Hartford Ballet and The Orlalndo Ballet. The passion she has for the art of dance has led her to teach, choreograph, lecture, teach at the college level, guest teach for summer workshops and judge dance competitions. Kathryn has dance with such companies as The Eglevsky Ballet, The Hartford Ballet, The Dance Repertory Company, The Orlando Ballet (N.Y.) and Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival. Kathryn has owned and directed her own school as well as acted as the Artistic Director of The Central Ohio Dance Academy. Kathryn was invited to be guest teacher and choreographer with The Eglevsky Ballet Summer Intensive and recently staged and choreographed The Columbus Youth Ballet's annual Nutcracker Ballet. Students trained by Kathryn have gone on to dance professinally as well as have been accepted into many prestigious ballet schools around the country, including The Kirov Academy, Julliard, The Joffrey Ballet and Jilliana.
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CAROLE DICKENS, Tap and Jazz Instructor, began dancing when she was eight years old, in Ft. Lauderdale, FL under the instruction of two members of the original June Taylor Dancers. Her training continued through high school at New Orleans Center of Creative Arts and as a dance major at Florida School of the Arts. From 1979 through 1983 she was a regular cast member on "Hey It's For You," Channel 26, New Orleans, Louisiana, a television program promoting arts and entertainment. Carole owned and operated Anastasia Dance Theatre in St. Augustine, Florida, from 1988-1993. She was Director of Children's Dance for the City of Pompano Beach Civic Center and the City of Fort Lauderdale's Children's Programs in 1993. She was also on staff of the Boca Dance Studio, Boca Raton. Carole has created choreography for nightclub openings and pageants throughout Florida. Carole served as Artistic Director of The Dance Company from 1994 through 2001. She was the Festival Director and Stage Manager for the Annual St. Augustine Winter Dance Festival.
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MONIKA MACBETH earned a degree in dance from Hochschule fur Musik und Theater, Hannover, Germany. She further studied with Vera Volkova, Alexandra Danilova, and Erik Bruhn. In Cannes, France, she studied with Rosella Hightower, and in London, Great Britain, with Kathleen Crofton. She was a member of the Royal Academy of Dancing. After dancing professionally in companies throughout Europe, she continued her education in dance pedagogics at Hochschule fur Musik und Theater, Hannover, where she studied with Alan Howard, New York City. Monika taught ballet in her own studios in Hanover, Germany for thirteen years before coming to the United States. In 1990 she met Carole Dickens and joined her as Ballet Mistress, first with Fancy Feet and then at Anastasia Dance Theatre. She has been Ballet Mistress for The Dance Company since its inception. Monika was rehearsal director for the First Coast Nutcracker in Jacksonville, Florida in 1995, and has been a frequent guest instructor/choreographer at the LaPierre School of Dance, Boston. She has been on staff at Douglas Anderson School of the Arts in Jacksonville since 1994.
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