2024
Summer
Faculty
Weeks 1 & 2: June 10 - 21
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Summer Showcase - Saturday, June 22
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Weeks 3 & 4: July 22 - August 22
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Community Foundation Performance - Saturday, August 3
Week 1: June 10-14
Deavondre Jones is an accomplished business leader and educator, currently serving as an Adjunct Professor at Michigan State University and Oakland University. He received his Business and Arts Management degree from Columbia College in Chicago and has since gained extensive experience in business development and community leadership. Deavondre is the Creator of DanceSpire 100, a 5-step business development product designed to help service businesses build out tech-enabled models. He has also partnered with Techtown Detroit to pilot Scale Studio, a program aimed at scaling Detroit service businesses for a global and digital-first world. Deavondre is most known for his work as the Founder of DanceSpire, a company with a mission to make Hip Hop dance accessible and affordable to the everyday dancer. In addition to his professional pursuits, Deavondre is an active member of the Michigan Action Plan for Fatherhood Involvement (MAP-FI) state-wide board and volunteers for the West Michigan "Dads Count!" collective. He is a passionate advocate for fatherhood, building businesses, and building community.
Joseph Morrissey is the Director of Dance at Interlochen Center for the Arts in Michigan, U.S. He formerly served as Director of Artistic Planning and Touring for The Hong Kong Ballet. Morrissey has danced with the Bavarian State Ballet in Munich, Germany and Boston Ballet in USA. Performed repertoire includes the late 19th century classical ballets by Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov along with works by choreographers including George Balanchine, John Cranko, Mikhail Fokine, Maina Gielgud, Terrence Kohler, Jiri Kylian, Graeme Murphy, John Neumeier, Martin Schlapfer, and Lila York. Morrissey has twice been invited to choreograph for the Stuttgart Ballet’s Noverre Society, and was later selected to choreograph for the New York Choreographic Institute, an affiliate of The New York City Ballet where he created work for students at the School of American Ballet together with an original score commissioned by students at The Juilliard School. He has also choreographed for the Inside/Out series at The School of Ballet at Jacob’s Pillow, a program of which he is a two-time alumnus, and was invited to choreograph for Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet’s 2017 ChoreoPlan. Morrissey’s work was also shown at the 2015 Beijing International Ballet Competition; Ballet Philippines 50th anniversary gala; and in Italy at the Festival Ballet d’Adriactico and with Roberto Bolle and Stars from American Ballet Theatre. Morrissey was a selected participant in the 2015 Dance/USA Institute for Leadership Training, a platform pairing emerging and notable leaders in the dance field sponsored by the American Express and Andrew W. Mellon Foundations. Holding a Master of Arts in Performing Arts Administration from New York University, Morrissey previously earned his Bachelor of Science in Classical Ballet from The Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University and was a recipient of the Kenneth C. Whitener Award for Ballet Excellence and the Jacobs School of Music Dean’s Award. He is a four-year graduate of The Harid Conservatory in Boca Raton, Florida – where he received distinguished achievement awards in dance, music, and leadership. He further trained at summer programs including The Royal Ballet School in London, England and The Houston Ballet Academy in Houston, Texas. Morrissey completed the Preservation and Development of the Vaganova Methodology training seminar at the Vaganova Ballet Academy in St. Petersburg, Russia and has instructed classical ballet classes at the Warsaw State Ballet School and Wroclaw State Opera Ballet in Poland; American Ballet Theatre Studio Company; Australian Conservatory of Ballet in Melbourne, Australia; and the Senior Men’s class at English National Ballet School in London, England. He is profiled in the January / February 2020 issue of Dance Teacher Magazine and currently serves on the jury for the Youth America Grand Prix nationwide and in Paris, France; the International Baltic Ballet Competition in Riga, Latvia; and the Japan Grand Prix in Tokyo. He has been featured in 2022 on the Apple Podcast 5,6,7 eight subtitled “It’s a Privilege to Lead” along with Shine your Light for Dancers in 2023.
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Elise Mosbacher has danced professionally with Mareck Center for Dance (Formerly known as Missouri Contemporary Ballet) since 2010. While dancing with Mareck Center for Dance, she has worked with many well-known choreographers from all over the nation, including Kristopher Estes-Brown, Joshua Blake Carter, Autumn Eckman, Kameron Saunders, Penny Saunders, Bryn Cohn, John Mark Owen, Christian Denice, Tiger Martina, Lindsey Matheis, Helen Hatch, Colby Damon, and Thang Dao. She has performed many lead roles in new works and featured roles in the Mareck Center for Dance repertoire, including her re-occurring role as Queen of Hearts in Alice in Wonderland and Wicked Stepmother in Cinderella. She has toured nationally and internationally with the company to New York City, Newport, RI, Oklahoma, Kentucky, and South Korea while participating and performing in many national dance festivals, including Spring to Dance, Dance St. Louis, and Island Moving Company’s Summer Dance Festival. Elise has performed as a guest artist with Dance Grosse Ile, Springfield Ballet, and The Schaumburg Ballet in Chicago. Elise has taught pre-professional dance classes for upper levels and coaching for YAGP since 2010. Elise is also a certified Pilates instructor who teaches mat and reformer Pilates classes around the central Missouri area.
Week 2: June 17 - 21
Hannah Welch is a dancer, teacher and creator passionate about the artistry and power of movement. She received her classical ballet training as a high school student from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts under thedirection of Ethan Stiefel. She holds a BFA in contemporary dance from UNCSA under Brenda Daniels and was awarded the Sarah Graham Kenan Scholarship for Excellence. Hannah has studied with American Ballet Theatre, Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre, Charlotte Ballet, Complexions, Alonzo King’s LINES Ballet, and Keigwin + CO. She has had the privilege to perform classical repertoire by Marius Petipa, Jerome Robbins, Agnes DeMille, Jose Limon, and Twyla Tharp as well as premier original roles by Susan McCullough, Mariangela Lopez, Helen Simoneau, Dusan Tynek, and Ted Thomas. As a professional artist in New York City, performance highlights included dancing at Lincoln Center, Bryant Park and NY Fashion Week. She co-founded Awakening Movement serving as Artistic Director teaching, choreographing, and producing new works in NYC and touring nationally. She enjoys connecting with students across the United States teaching ballet and contemporary and is eager to share her love of movement and craftsmanship to the next generation of artists.
Brandon Welch Brandon Welch is a dancer, teaching artist and creator with a passion for utilizing movement as a catalyst for social change. He holds a BFA from SUNY Purchase Conservatory of Dance with a semester on exchange at the Western Australian Academy of the Performing Arts. His performance career includes being a company member of Momix Dance Illusionists, Doug Varone and Dancers, Hannah Kahn Dance Company, Helanius J. Wilkins/SALT and Gibney Dance Company. During his time with Doug Varone, Brandon participated in Dance Motion USA’s cultural diplomacy program to South America and performed in Les Troyens at the Metropolitan Opera. Brandon has additionally performed works by Twyla Tharp, Zvi Gotheiner, Stephen Petronio, Hilary Easton, Reggie Wilson, Joanna Kotze and Ohad Naharin. Brandon currently resides in Boulder, Colorado and is a dancer, co-conspirator and community engagement coordinator for The Conversation Series: Stitching the GeoPolitical Quilt to Re-Body Belonging with Helanius J. Wilkins, department chair at Colorado University at Boulder. In 2023, Brandon formed BW Creative for people to experience movement bringing joy through education, creation and activism. He continues to teach contemporary dance forms and acrobatics across the globe as a guest artist including DOCH University (Stockholm), Mimar Sinan University (Istanbul), HIGHFest Masterclass (Yerevan), MuDa Africa (Dar Es Salaam) and Dance Ensemble Singapore. Recent creative commissions include the Lamont Opera Theatre, Ucross Artist Residency, Mariposa Collective and Where Substance Meets Air to premiere at the Whitney Center for the Arts.
Week 3: July 24 - 28
Academy Director, Erica Fischbach, enjoyed a 20-year professional ballet career with American Ballet Theatre and Pacific Northwest Ballet before embarking on her current teaching career. Ms. Fischbach came to the Colorado Ballet after nine years as the Artistic Director of Southold Dance Theater in South Bend, IN. Ms. Fischbach is certified in the American Ballet Theatre Curriculum and the Gyrotonic Method. She has been on the faculty of the country's leading professional summer intensives including American Ballet Theatre and the Colorado Ballet, and is a current guest faculty at Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music, University of North Carolina School of the Arts, and the Cecchetti Council of America. Ms. Fischbach began her training in Ballet and Highland Dance with Theresa Bullard’s Kalamazoo Ballet Company at the age of seven. When she was 12, her family moved to Milwaukee, where she studied on scholarship at the Milwaukee Ballet under the direction of Ted Kivett and Basil Thompson, and trained privately with former Israeli Ballet principal Mariana Sachs Laufer. At 15, Ms. Fischbach was awarded a scholarship to attend the North Carolina School of the Arts for three years where she studied primarily with Balanchine’s muse Melissa Hayden, American Ballet Theatre’s Fanchon Cordell, and Ballet Russe’s Duncan Noble. During her first months as a professional dancer, Ms. Fischbach had the privilege of dancing Balanchine ballets as a principal under the direction of Edward Villella before accepting a position with Pacific Northwest Ballet, where she danced principal and soloist roles in numerous Balanchine ballets. After nine years with PNB, Ms. Fischbach took two years away from company life and freelanced as a guest artist and guest teacher of ballet, Pilates, and Gyrotonic® based classes. In 1996 Ms. Fischbach was invited to join American Ballet Theatre under the direction of Kevin McKenzie, where she danced until 2005. Ms. Fischbach had roles created for her in world premier ballets by Lar Lubovitch, Mark Morris, Twyla Tharp, Paul Taylor, and Kevin McKenzie and danced principal roles in ballets by Anthony Tudor, Twyla Tharp, Jiri Kylian, and Agnes DeMille. She also enjoyed featured roles in the company’s full-length classical repertoire. On September 8, 2001, Ms. Fischbach was featured as a principal guest artist for Twyla Tharp performing Tharp’s “Sinatra Suite” at the World Trade Center in New York City. Ms. Fischbach has appeared in several Dance in America films, the PNB Nutcracker, and Center Stage. Ms. Fischbach transitioned to her teaching career in 2005 and in 2008 created a Youth America Grand Prix (YAGP) program in which her students quickly gained a prominent presence by winning top placements and passing onto the NYC International Finals each year. In 2013 and 2015, YAGP honored Ms. Fischbach with the “Outstanding Teacher” award. Her program was introduced with great success at Colorado Ballet Academy in 2016, and in 2019, CBA was awarded the prestigious “Outstanding School” award. CBA placed 1st in 2017, 2018, and 2nd in 2019 in the ensemble category as well as several top three placements in solo and pas de deux categories which have competed each year in the NYC International Finals. Ms. Fischbach has been praised for her choreography and adaptations of the famous classic ballets to incorporate dancers of all ages. She has choreographed full-length versions of Coppelia and Swan Lake for Colorado Ballet Academy at the Ellie Caulkins Opera House as well as The Nutcracker, Giselle, Sleeping Beauty, Don Quixote, Les Patineurs, and numerous original concert pieces for YAGP and community performances. Ms. Fischbach’s graduating students have been accepted into professional companies including Colorado Ballet and top ranked collegiate dance programs all over the country. Many of her current students have been awarded scholarships to prestigious summer intensives and year round programs including American Ballet Theatre, School of American Ballet, Royal Ballet, San Francisco Ballet, Houston Ballet, Boston Ballet, Pacific Northwest Ballet, and Miami City Ballet. Erica Fischbach is thrilled to lead Colorado Ballet Academy’s team of dedicated, world-class professionals.
Week 4: July 29 - August 2
Nehemiah began his dance training in Michigan before moving to
Toronto to study ballet at Canada’s National Ballet School. After
graduation, he joined the National Ballet of Canada, where he quickly
rose through the ranks to become a Principal Dancer. Later, he joined the
Royal Danish Ballet in Copenhagen, Denmark, and finally, The Royal
Ballet in London, England. Throughout his career, Nehemiah performed
as an international guest artist with the Suzanne Farrell Ballet, The
Bavarian State Ballet, The Hamburg Ballet, and The Stuttgart Ballet. He
also featured in notable performances such as Carlos Acosta: A
Classical Selection, The Royal Variety Performance, and the closing
ceremony of the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.
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In 2019, Nehemiah retired from the Royal Ballet and decided to pursue a
master’s degree in arts administration and cultural policy from
Goldsmith’s, University of London. He has since produced and directed
international dance events, including Becoming a Dancer at the Detroit
Institute of Arts, Nureyev: Legend and Legacy, in association with The
Rudolf Nureyev Foundation at London’s historic Theatre Royal Drury
Lane, and Royal Stars Gala in Japan.
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In addition, Nehemiah regularly teaches and stages classical ballet. He
recently taught on the ballet faculty of Laine Theatre Arts and has taught
as a guest at the English National Ballet School and The Royal Ballet
School.
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In 2023, Nehemiah became an Ambassador of The Rudolf Nureyev
Foundation.