Judy
Bejarano, Instructor (B.F.A.)
Judy Bejarano is CCDC’s advanced modern dance instructor and a guest choreographer for Canyon Concert Ballet. She is well known for her innovative evening length productions as
the Artistic Director of IMPACT DANCE Company.
Ms. Bejarano received her Master of Fine Arts from C.U. Boulder in dance with an emphasis in choreography. Throughout her career she has been the recipient of many awards including most recently the 2008 Colorado Dance Alliance "Cutting Edge" award.
She has taught and set choreography throughout the region including Colorado State University, Fairbanks Summer Arts Festival, the University of Northern Colorado, the Colorado Dance Festival and Desperate Figures Dance Theatre in Wiesbaden, Germany.
Teal Bosworth, Instructor
Teal grew up in Jackson Hole Wyoming. She began dancing at the age of six at The DancersWorkshop, she began with modern but then began to open up to Ballet and Jazz. While training at Dancers Workshop she participated in the Nutcracker and The Art’s on the Hill Festival.
She moved with her family to Fort Collins Colorado in 2000 and continued her training at Canyon Concert Ballet and Dance Center. She took part in many of CCBDC’s performances including: 'The Nutcracker", "Cinderella", "Wizard of Oz", and numerous other colorful performances. By far her favorite performance to partake in was "Across the Tracks"; it was like no other performance she had participated in before.
Teal began assistant teaching and also was an administrative assistant in 2005. She is proud to say she is now the Co- program leader of the preschool program, Queen of the Fairy Princess Kingdom, Office manager at Canyon Concert Ballet and Dance Center. She is thrilled to be working side by side with those who mentored and pushed her to become the person she is today.
Theresa Cordova, Instructor
Theresa Cordova is a Ft. Collins native who grew up dancing at CCB. She graduated from Gustavus Adolphus College in Minnesota with a double BA in modern dance and French. Her dance experience encompasses many disciplines including ballet, modern, jazz, African, folk dancing, liturgical, and musical theater.
Throughout her career Ms. Cordova has performed in the Nutcracker, Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, Swan Lake, The Fire Bird, Candide, Brigadoon, A Walk with Gershwin, and more. She has been a guest dancer with Dance Express, Opera Fort Collins, Fort Collins Children's Theater, Front Range Musical Theater, and Dance Theater of Loveland. Along with teaching and performing, Ms. Cordova is an active choreographer and director. Her work has been accepted into the New Visions Dance Festival and she set original works at the Rialto Theater in Loveland. She has performed and choreographed for the Loveland Museum in correlation with exhibits and has directed Dance Theater of Loveland's Nutcracker.
Melissa
Corr, Ballet Mistress, Instructor
Melissa Corr, a native New Yorker, has been a leading figure in the
training of classical dancers in our region for over 20 years. Her rigorous
Russian based training system provides her students with the discipline,
technique and motivation to pursue professional careers in dance.
Ms. Corr is currently the advanced and company teacher at Canyon Concert Ballet and the advanced level instructor at Colorado State University, where she has staged several classic works.
Nicole Darnell, Instructor
Nicole began her ballet training at the age of four here at CCB and has not stopped since. Through out the years she moved her way up through the levels of ballet; participating in the aspirant program and ending up with the company. Nicole also participated in numerous productions at CCB. At the age of nine she widened her range of dance by training in modern, hip-hop, and jazz. Nicole haschoreographed three musicals at Windsor High School: "Cinderella", "The Wizard of Oz", and "Little Shop of Honors". She also choreographed a ballet piece for a University of Northern Colorado dance production.
Nicole received her minor in Dance at the University of Northern Colorado, and is going on her fourth year teaching dance. She plans to continue teaching and participating in ballet for the rest of her life.
Teri English, School Director, Instructor
Teri English has her degree in dance from Colorado State University. Currently, she teaches at and is the School Director for Canyon Concert Ballet and Dance Center as well as Performing and choreographing for High Performance Dance Theatre of Fort Collins, Co. She is a style coach for competitive figure skaters, director of the dance for skaters conditioning program at Edora Pool and Ice Center and Artistic Director for Ice Theatre of Fort Collins (the Artistic National Showcase 2009 Production Ensemble Champions).
Teri has recently been seen in The King and I at Union Colony Dinner Theatre, for 1883 Entertainment in Denver, Co. as a dancer/singer in Leadville or BUST!, Swing! at the Candlelight Dinner Playhouse as well as CATS and The Producers at Carousel Dinner Theatre. She has performed with many companies including Louder than Words Dancetheatre, 8th Street Contemporary Dance Company, Monte Black Dances, Openstage Theatre & Company, Opera Fort Collins, Honolulu Dance Theatre, the Vau de vire society, Impact dance, Fort Collins Children’s Theatre and Glenwood Springs Danceworks. She recently choreographed Annie and the Jungle Book. Her choreography has also been selected for New Visions dance festivals, CSU faculty concerts, Colorado Dance Theatre showcases, and First Night. She has received several first place solo dance division awards for her choreography at the Hollywood Vibe dance convention and competition and in the Creative and Performing Arts Symposium.
Jessica Freestone, Artistic Director, Instructor
Jessica Freestone received her early dance training from several schools in Northern Colorado, primarily at Canyon Concert Ballet. She attended summer programs with The Boston Ballet, Aspen/Snowmass and the American Dance Festival. Ms. Freestone has studied the artistry and leadership of many mentors: Bruce and Denise Freestone, Judy Bejarano, Sharon Randolph, Carol Roderick and Randy Wray.
An avid performing artist for most of her life, she has danced and acted with IMPACT Dance, OpenStage Theatre and Canyon Concert Ballet, where she was a soloist for many years. While on the west coast, Ms. Freestone appeared as a guest performer with Benicia Ballet, Peninsula Ballet and Oslund & Co. Ms. Freestone has been teaching ballet and other dance styles for over 20 years. As a Certified Massage Therapist, she applies her knowledge of anatomy and physical health to the study of Russian-based ballet technique.
Ms. Freestone is an accomplished producer, choreographer and director for several local arts groups. She has worked on the original collaboration with The Atoll, Turtle Island and served as Producing Artistic Director for openstage etc from 2002-2007.
Since accepting the position of Artistic Director for Canyon Concert Ballet in 2007, Ms. Freestone has directed the company’s annual holiday classic, The Nutcracker. In the spring of 2008, the company premiered her original choreography Heartland Suite: Pieces of the Patchwork and in 2009 Across the Tracks became Ms. Freestone’s first full-length story ballet created uniquely for the dancers at Canyon Concert Ballet.
Susie Garifi, Instructor, (M.A.)
Susie Garifi holds a MA in Dance Education from New York University and received her BA with a major in Dance from CSU. She studied professionally at Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre and danced with Deborah Damast Dancers and Momento Dance Company in New York. As a dancer, Ms. Garifi has traveled nationally and internationally. Presently she is a member of High Performance Dance Theatre, a guest performer with Impact Dance Company and an instructor at Mountain Kids in Fort Collins, CO where she has also created a dance outreach program. Susie continues to share her knowledge and love of dance with the community through education.
Jillian Grenrood, Instructor
Jillian Grenrood has studied dance at CSU, Colorado Mountain College, and The Mountain Dance Center, and has continued her education by frequently traveling to various dance conventions. In 2001, she received her certificate to teach yoga at the Yoga Institute of Texas.
Ms. Grenrood has taught at The Vail Valley Academy Of Dance, Colorado Mountain College, Mountain Dance and has coached the FCHS Tower Dancers. At CCDC, her teaching focuses on core strength, yoga and jazz technique.
Arline Heaton, Instructor
Arline began formal dance classes in ballet and tap at the age of eight. She has a B.A. Degree in Elementary Education and Music, M.Ed. in Dance and M.Ed. in Counseling and Career Development with a License in K-12 counseling. She has studied with Nico Charisse, San Francisco Ballet, Ballet West, Colorado Ballet, the National Ballet of Canada and the National Tap Dance Company in Toronto. She has recently specialized in creative movement as it relates to general education and healing, and has just completed a three year position with Larimer County Department of Human Services working with traumatized/neglected children. She has also presented professional training workshops for public school teachers seeking graduate credit, also workshops for pre-school teachers and at the National Convention for AHPERD, National Dance Association. She has also published in “Dance Teacher Now.”
Arline owned a dance studio for ten years, and was artistic director for Gallery Dancers. She has taught, choreographed and performed for two major Universities and several dance companies, including the role of the Queen, in Sleeping Beauty with and under the direction of Randy Wray at CCB. A sampling of favorite pieces which she has choreographed include: A Young Persons Guide to the Orchestra, Peter and the Wolf, Prokofiev’s Classical Symphony, Les Patineurs, and West Side Story.
Currently, Arline is director of the “Just Do it Dancers,” a tap dance performance group. When called upon, she is a sacred dance performer for various occasions.
Conner Horak, Instructor
Conner Horak was born and raised in Fort Collins, CO. He is 16 and a junior at Fossil Ridge High School. He was first introduced to the stage at the age of 6 in a small local musical theatre/ dance company. While in elementary school, he performed in several local musicals including Tom Sawyer, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, Bye Bye Birdie, and High School Musical.
By the age of 12, Conner also earned his black belt at Karate West A couple years ago, he realized that he wanted to focus on a more professional outlook on dance and Canyon Concert Ballet/ Dance Center was the obvious choice. In his short time at Canyon Concert, he has had the privilege of performing such roles as the Nutcracker Prince and one of a lead gang members in Jessica Freestone's Across the Tracks. He's been fortunate to study under Melissa Corr, David Taylor, and Jessica Freestone (and, of course, the Yee's at Karate West). His favorite dance styles are ballet and jazz but he is always open to anything new. He is very excited to begin his teaching career at CCB and CCDC.
Kim Lang, Executive Director, Instructor, (B.A. in Dance)
Kim Lang is the Executive Director and an instructor for Canyon Concert Ballet and Dance Center. She graduated from CSU with her degree is dance. Kim has taught, choreographed and performed in Colorado since 1993. She started dancing at age 8, and continues to study ballet, modern, hip-hop, cultural dance and jazz. While attending Colorado State University, she received several Creative Performing Arts Scholarship Awards.
After graduating from CSU with honors in December of 1993 with a Performance Art degree, Ms. Lang began working with the Canyon Concert Ballet as a teacher, company stage manager, administrative associate and choreographer. In February of 1996, she started her own company, High Performance Dance Theatre, a non-profit educational organization. She is the Artistic Director of High Performance Dance Theatre. Currently Ms. Lang teaches jazz, modern and hip-hop, as well as setting choreography for competition and performing groups in Northern Colorado.
Meghan Larson, Instructor
Meghan Larson discovered her love of dance in her home state of Minnesota at the age of 14. After relocating to South Texas she was trained by such distinguished teachers as Randall Newsom-Northern Illinois University, Lazaro Carreno-Houston Ballet, Richard d’Alton-Orlando Ballet and Anthony Noa-Berlin Ballet. Ms. Larson has had the pleasure performing such roles as Princess Florine, Satanella and the Snow Queen.
She competed in the Youth American Grand Prix New York City finals and was accepted to Charleston Ballet Theatre’s summer intensive on scholarship where she stayed on as a company trainee.
Meghan has experience teaching all levels of ballet and jazz. This past year
she taught at Dancentre of Edinburg for their creative movement and open
ballet classes. She is thrilled to be starting her first year at Canyon
Concert Ballet/Canyon Concert Dance Center.
Rachel Marlan, Instructor
A native of Fort Collins, Colorado, Rachel Marlan is a former student of Canyon Concert Ballet. She studied with teachers from the Bolshoi Ballet and Paris Opera Ballet, at the Vail
International Summer Dance Festival. She also studied at the University of South Carolina Summer Conservatory, Snowy Range Dance Festival, and was an R.A. for the Kansas City Ballet Summer School.
Ms. Marlan continued her training with a dance scholarship at the University of Northern Colorado where she earned a B.A. in Dance with an emphasis in dance science and dance education. While she was there, she was awarded Departmental Scholar for three years and made the National Dean’s List.
Upon graduation she accepted a position with the Manassas Ballet Theatre, where she performed professionally for three years. While there she focused on the Vaganova syllabus under Russian ballet masters/mistresses. Ms. Marlan also taught at various studios in the D.C. area.
Amber Mazurana, Ensemble Director, Instructor
Amber Mazurana is a graduate of both the North Carolina School of the Arts and Butler University where she received a B.A. in dance pedagogy. She danced as a soloist with Peter Sparling Dance Company (Michigan) was a member of the Hannah Kahn Dance Company from 2001-2004. She has been dancing with IMPACT Dance Co. since 2006.
Ms. Mazurana has studied under the direction of renowned dancers Bill Evans and Melissa Hayden, as well as with Ballet Internationale, Dance Kaleidoscope, Boston Ballet, and the Pennsylvania Ballet. She studied African drumming and dance at the University of Ghana, West Africa.
Erica Mugoye, Instructor
Erica Mugoye has danced at CCB for 18 years, and has performed in more than 30 CCB productions. She is in her nineth year of teaching at CCDC. Ms. Mugoye trained under well known dance instructors Gabriella Komleva, of the Kirov Ballet in St. Petersburg, Russia, and Galina Yordanova, resident guest teacher and choreographer for the Royal Winnipeg Ballet, Canada.
In addition to ballet, Ms. Mugoye has studied many forms of dance including Jazz, Modern, Contact Improvisation, Spanish, Swing, Salsa, Character, Tap, and Hip-Hop.
Mickenzie Nash, Instructor
Mikenzie Nash started dancing at the age of six with Westin Arts Academy. At 13, she commuted to Denver up to five times a week, to advance her training Starstruck Dance
Academy and then moved to Michelle Latimer Dance Academy.
Ms. Nash danced competitively for seven years and has been involved in many different performances including; a lead roll in the Carousel Dinner Theatre’s production of Sound of Music, musical theater productions within her schools, Mrs. Colorado Pageant, Children’s Hospital Benefit and the Nutcracker. She was a dancer in a Cabby Tree , a television pilot show for toddlers and was a background dancer in Disney’s, High School Musical II.
Ms. Nash has worked with and taken advanced workshops from many choreographers including Jason Parsons, Brian Friedman, Dee Caspary, Marty Kudelka, Travis Wall, Malaya, Mandy Moore and Ray Leeper. At CCDC she is working with the new performing ensemble and teaching jazz, hip-hop, and lyrical.
Alli Oswandel, Instructor
Alli Oswandel began dancing at the age of 4 in her home state of New York. Throughout the years, she has received training from a variety of instructors including Betty Ryer, Kim Robards and Cleo Parker Robinson. She danced at Colorado State University and began teaching at CCDC in the fall of 2004.
Now a mother of 4 and an elementary school teacher, Alli still enjoys dancing and sharing her love of dance with others.
Beth Pargas, Instructor
Beth Pargas began dancing at age three and has not stopped. While growing up, Beth trained at a variety of studios in northern Colorado including The Greeley Recreation Center, The Greeley Conservatory of Dance, The University of Northern Colorado, Studio M, Canyon Concert Ballet, and Cleo Parker Robinson Dance.
Beth moved to Prescott, Arizona and was hired as the Artistic Director of the Academy of Performing Arts in 2002 and was the Executive Vice President of the Academy of Performing Arts non-profit board of directors. While there she taught various levels and ages in jazz, hip hop, tap, contemporary, and lyrical. In Arizona, Beth taught and choreographed for many local organizations such as high school and college cheer and pom teams, liturgical dance ensembles, the local YMCA, after school dance programs, charter schools, and a variety musical casts.
Throughout Beth's dancing career, she has consistently sought out training of her own through workshops, master classes, and conventions in many cities including Phoenix, Denver, Los Angeles, New York City, Chicago, and Las Vegas. She has worked with some of the industry's most highly reputable choreographers like Tabitha and Napoleon D'umo, Mia Michaels, Theresa Espinoza, Dave Scott, Rhapsody, Chio, and Keith Clifton.
Beth is currently teaching dance and zumba at The Dance Factory in Greeley as well as choreographing for The Colorado Dance Collective. She is also teaching dance at Canyon Concert Dance Center and High Country Conservatory of Dance in Fort Collins as well as yoga at Sacred Space Yoga in Greeley.
Beth is looking forward to being back near the Rocky Mountains, continuing her own training, and working with such wonderfully talented dancers, but mostly enjoys sharing her passion and love for dance and movement with others.
Chelsea Rafter, Instructor
Chelsea Rafter started her dance career in Castle Rock at age 4. After studying a variety of disciplines, she discovered her passion was with hip-hop. In addition to CCDC, she has taught in studios in Denver and Castle Rock for five years.
In high school, Ms. Rafter participated in the International Baccalaureate dance program, choreographing and dancing in student run productions. She completed her senior year testing, earning the highest marks. The summer before entering CSU as a Biology major, CMs. Rafter danced in Scotland’s Fringe Festival, which hosts dancers and thespians from all over the world.
Claire Snyder, Instructor
(Durango, Colorado) Claire hails from Durango, Colorado where she began her training under the instruction of Shannon Mitchell-Hyatt, and Lisa Bodwalk. While there, she worked with renowned choreographers Nancy Cranborn, Brian Fisher and Robert Moses. She spent summers training at Ballet West Summer Academy, Atlanta Ballet, and Ballet Austin. After graduating a year early, she went on to train year-round at Ballet West Academy in Salt Lake City. Prior to joining CCB, Claire danced as an apprentice with St. Louis Ballet in various roles in “The Nutcracker”, “Serenade”, “Giselle”, “Sleeping Beauty”,and Gen Horiuchi's “More Morra”, along with other original works.
David Taylor, Instructor
has been professionally involved in the Denver dance community for the past thirty-nine years. During the course of a twelve-year dance career, he began choreographing in 1976, and since then has created over 100 original works. In 1979, he founded the David Taylor Dance Theatre, which is now proudly celebrating its 30th Anniversary as one of the Rocky Mountain region’s most acclaimed, well recognized, and respected dance organizations.
Mr. Taylor received three National Endowment for the Arts grant awards along with the City and County of Denver’s first Individual Artist Fellowship award for dance, and in March of 1997, he and his company were proud recipients of the State of Colorado’s Governor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts. He has been commissioned to create ballets for Opera Colorado, the Colorado Symphony, the Denver Chamber Orchestra, the Up Close and Musical Ensemble, the National Repertory Orchestra, the Colorado Wind Ensemble, and for the Dayton Ballet in Ohio, and has set his acclaimed “A Children’s Rainforest Odyssey” on the Aspen/Santa Fe Ballet Company and the Lone Star Ballet of Amarillo, Texas. His original and innovative productions of “The Nutcracker” and “Rainforest” have garnered national critical recognition and continue to be booked extensively across the United States.
Mr. Taylor has served as a Board member for the Mayor’s Commission on Cultural Affairs, as the Vice President for the Colorado Dance Alliance, as a peer panel member for the Colorado Council on the Arts,. In 2008, he received the Carson-Brierly Dance Library’s prestigious “Living Legends of Dance” Award.
Currently, Mr. Taylor serves as the Artistic Director Emeritus of the David Taylor Dance Theatre, an adjunct faculty member of the Dance Department at Colorado State University and a master class teacher in ballet technique, pas de deux and dance history for dance organizations throughout the state. His extensive background also includes a longtime involvement with metaphysical studies, sacred dance and ritual. In addition to conducting sacred dance lectures and workshops, Mr. Taylor founded the state’s first professional sacred dance group, the Zikr Sacred Dance Ensemble.
