Memphis, TN
901-921-0388
info@balletchildren.com
Mary Van Dyke, Artistic Director
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Mary Van Dyke trained in classical ballet for 10 years with Pat German, Memphis Ballet under Michael and Judy Tevlin, and at the Alabama School of Fine Arts under Nureyev’s former dancer partner Dame Sonia Arova. Ms Arova was one of Ms Van Dyke’s biggest inspirations for Children’s Ballet Theater’s teaching style based in the French and Russian ballet schools. Ms Van Dyke hand selects teachers carefully based on their knowledge of these styles.  Furthermore, it is imperative that all instructors must be kind and uplifting to children and teens as they teach the discipline of classical ballet.
Erin Walter is an instructor and choreographer of ballet and modern for Children’s Ballet Theater. She is Artistic Director of Tennessee Ballet Theater, CBT’s own contemporary and classical performance troupe. Mrs Walter’s Memphis themed These Walls: Tales from a Juke Joint at Ernastine and Hazel’s downtown received high acclaim and strong local “buzz”.
Anna Palazola was born in the Ukraine. She has been teaching for Children’s Ballet Theater for since 2007. Mrs Palazola began studying ballet and character dance at the age of three years old at Yatran, a professional character dance and ballet school, in Kirovograd. She traveled throughout the USSR performing with the ensemble-performing group of her school. After graduation, she studied acting and musical theater at the Tuz Theater. Ms. Palazola received her B.A. in Nursing from the Kursk State University of Education. At this time she also worked as a teacher at the Theater and studied modern dance.
Ms Van Dyke danced professionally with Memphis Concert Ballet (now titled Ballet Memphis) under direction of Dorothy Gunther Pugh, the Tennessee Ballet Company, and the Appalachian Ballet. Her principal roles have included Tatiana in Midsummer's Nights Dream, the Dew Drop Fairy, Snow Queen, Dew Drop and Sugar Plum Fairy in The Nutcracker, Swan Queen Odette in Swan Lake and Lady Tybalt in Romeo and Juliette.
Alyssa Abbas Lucero is an instructor for Children’s Ballet Theater and Associate Director of CBT’s Tennessee Ballet Theater. Ms Abbas is Director and Concept Director for fall and spring productions of Memphis Youth Musical Theater and one of the choreographers for MYMT’s annual summer show, “ANNIE in a Week." Ms. Abbas began her training at Classical Ballet School in Memphis. In addition to her 10 years of classical ballet background, she studied lyrical, jazz, broadway musical theater, and tap.
Nora Curran is Ballet Mistress for Tennessee Ballet Theater, and an instructor in the upper levels for Children’s Ballet Theater. Mrs Curran received her early classical training from her mother, Vera Sohr, formerly of the Oslo Ballet, Norway.  She has trained with renowned teachers from around the world, including Helena Kerolinska (Kirov Ballet, Russia), Roberta Chesnul, Christine DuBoulay and Richard Ellis (Royal Ballet, England), Vivi Flindt (Royal Danish Ballet), Patricia Sigurdsen (American Ballet Theater, New York), Alexandria Zaharius, (Missouri Concert Ballet), Jurgen Schneider (Stuttgart Ballet, Germany).  She also received jazz training while performing musical theater in New York from Bob Fosse, Robert Durkin, and Suzanne Carol.
Curran directed her own school in Dallas, Texas, was Artistic Director of the Salt Creek Ballet western locale in Chicago, founder and Co-Artistic Director of The American School of Russian Ballet in Memphis, founder and Artistic Director of the Oakland Youth Ballet, Fayette County. Ms Curran’s students have gone on to professional careers with the San Francisco Ballet, Houston Ballet, Pacific Northwest Ballet, Joffrey Ballet, Missouri Concert Ballet, Zurich Ballet (Switzerland), Ballet Met, Duluth Ballet, Alabama Ballet, Denver Ballet, Harkness Ballet, Joel Hall, Gus Giordono, Hubbard Street, Cirque du Soleil, and many other classical ballet, Broadway and television productions.
Mrs. Nancy Miller is very happy to be joining our staff as Musical Director. Mrs. Miller grew up in community theatre in her hometown of Crossville, Tennessee.  She and her entire family were singing and dancing in the musicals at the Cumberland County Playhouse.  Her favorite role was playing Julie Jordan in Rogers and Hammerstein's Carousel. Mrs. Miller received her BS in Music Education from Tennessee Tech University.  She received her Master of Music from the University of Memphis.  She was an Orff Music Specialist in Memphis City Schools where she received the Rotary Award for Teacher Excellence.  She then became the "Beloved Music  Teacher" at St. Mary's School.  She was known for leading the SMS Christmas Pageant and other outstanding musical programs. She is the soloist and Choir Director at Wesleyan Hills United Methodist Church. Her first production with Memphis Youth Musical Theater was Annie, (ANNIE in a Week!) this past July.
Cami Curran is an instructor for Children’s Ballet Theater. Camilla Curran is a Vaganova trained ballet dancer and teacher. She studied with her mother, Nora Curran, beginning at age 7 and continued through her graduation from the Allegro Youth Ballet at age 18. She has attended numerous intensives and received private coaching from Russian’s famed ballet dancers Vadim Pijikov and Philip Velanov. Her performing repertoire includes Snow Queen and Sugar Plum Fairy in the Nutcracker, the White Swan Odette in Swan Lake, soloist roles in Don Quixote, Coppelia, and Swan Lake, and Nora Curran’s original choreography as well as her own.
Our Instructors
Mary Van Dyke, Artistic Director
Erin Kenny Walter
Anna Palazola
Alyssa Abbas Lucero
Nora Curran
Nancy Miller
Camilla Curran
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Miss Curran currently enjoys dancing with contemporary company Performance Art Network as well as the Tennessee Ballet Theater. She served for several years as the Director of Dance for House of Talent. Miss Curran is also a model for AMAX and a fashion stylist and enjoys working in all areas of the arts.
She graduated from Briarcrest High School and earned a B.A. in English from the University of Notre Dame in 1993. Her roles include Arabian, lead Mirleton and the Dew Drop Fairy in The Nutcracker, and solos in Les Sylphides, Raymonda and The Colors of Mozart. She has taught for Children's Ballet Theater since 2004. Mrs Walter is on faculty for ballet for the 1st-3rd grades at St. Mary's School.
Jade Primicias
Ms Van Dyke had extensive summer training during high school and college in ballet, jazz and modern including four summers at the Boston Ballet School, at Joffery in NYC, Stanley Holden in LA, and in Russian Vaganova training in Belgium with famed ballerina Irina Kolpakova.
Ms Van Dyke had a passion for musical theater so while studying Communications at the University of Tennessee she also studied theater classes and musical theater style jazz. She worked as a model for the Colors Modeling Agency in Memphis in runway, print and music videos. Ms Van Dyke added the Memphis Youth Musical Theater program several years ago to bring the joy of the classics to young performers.  Students taught by Ms Van Dyke and Ms Alyssa in the MYMT program have received corps and lead roles in local theater companies and school musicals
Ms Van Dyke was cofounder and instructor of a school for Russian classical ballet for six years in downtown Chicago. During that time, DePaul University invited the school to open a satellite at their on-campus Fitness & Recreation Center. Ms Van Dyke designed, co-directed and produced the USA National Youth Ballet Competition presented by Russian Pointe as well as the Ballet Intensive from Moscow Summer Program and Russian Teacher Seminar at Northern Illinois University and Michigan State University. She returned to Memphis to be help with her parents and they also enjoyed every minute of grand-parenting! Ms Van Dyke started Children’s Ballet Theater 12 years ago in Memphis and each year the children in her Children’s Ballet Theater Nutcracker and recital still bring tears to her eyes!
Ms Walter began her ballet training with Judy and Michael Tevlin at Memphis Ballet. Mrs Walter performed with Youth Concert Ballet and Tennessee Ballet Company. Mrs Walter attended intensive summer sessions at Ft. Wayne Ballet, Burklyn Ballet Theater in Vermont and at the San Francisco Ballet School.
Curran has performed and choreographed for the Chicago Youth Ballet, Illinois Ballet, Chicago Dance, Hinsdale Opera Ballet (Chicago), Fox Valley Theater (Chicago), Gateway Theater (New York),  Salt Creek Ballet (Chicago), Principia College (St. Louis), North Central College (Chicago), Vanderbilt University. She has performed leading roles in Swan Lake, Nutcracker, and Don Quixote.  Curran has been a guest teacher at North Central College  (Chicago), College of DuPage, (Chicago), the Salt Creek Ballet, (Chicago),  Vanderbilt University, University of Memphis, Steiger Studios (Minneapolis, St. Pau).
She has performed with Ballet Memphis, Theater Memphis, Ballet on Wheels and dances and competes professionally in ballroom dance. She recently performed a lead in Oklahoma at the Harrell Performing Art Center. Ms. Abbas is a performing member and choreographer of Tennessee Ballet Theater and has performed the Doll, Snow Queen, Dew Drop Fairy, and Bo Peep in the annual Children’s Ballet Theater Nutcracker.
While receiving her M.S. degree in education, she received 5 years of practicum teaching experience. Ms. Palazola is a classical pianist and is pursuing her degree in music from the University of Memphis. Ms. Palazola has lived in Memphis for seven years and she and her husband have two children.
Jade Primicias is excited to return home to Children’s Ballet Theater for visits as a guest teacher! Currently a professional dancer with MOMIX and a guest artist with Pilobolus, two internationally renowned contemporary dance companies, Jade has enjoyed sharing her passion for movement and creativity with students for more than ten years. Jade joined MOMIX in the creation of their new show Alice in 2018, in which she originated the title role and toured across Italy for two seasons. As former Associate Creative Director and company dancer with Tennessee Ballet Theater, Jade is thankful to have had the opportunity to contribute to the Memphis dance community through both classical ballet and site specific contemporary dance.
After graduating summa cum laude from the Mahurin Honors College at Western Kentucky University with a dual degree in Dance and English in 2015, she went on to study with Pilobolus and the Limón Dance Company, exploring new ways of moving, partnering, and dance-making. Jade enjoys teaching both technique and improvisation, as she sees dance to be an important combination of the two.
Steven Prince Tate’s jazz classes are super fun and build a strong technical base for dance. His contemporary choreography for Children’s Ballet Theater and Tennessee Ballet Theater productions is innovative and expressive. Steven is a Memphis, TN native and began his dance training attending Middle Tennessee State University. Steven received further training with scholarships from the American Dance Festival, apprenticed for Shelter Dance Repertory and Company Stefanie Batten Bland, and attended the Alvin Ailey school. Steven holds a degree in Theater and Dance with a minor in Gender Studies and is a member of Alpha Psi Omega Theater Honor Society.  Since 2010, Steven's many titles have included: company member for New Ballet Ensemble;
Steven Prince Tate
He developed his own Master Class Workshops and classes including "The Move'' , “Vib-ology“, and Nu-Flo & S.T.R.U.T.  Steven’s work was featured on Essence Magazine.com, Yahoo!Life.com and MSN.com. He has choreographed for Grammy Nominated artist Southern Avenue, NBA Memphis Grizzlies’ Grizz Girls, Grandmas & Grandpas, Hot Foot Honeys, The Buckman Conservatory, MBAA (Black Broadway Cabaret), Playhouse on the Square (Ain’t Misbehavin’), Desoto Family Theatre (High School Musical Jr.), Company d, and Opera Memphis.
Associate Director and choreographer for Bridging Souls Productions; and as an instructor for Ohio University, University of Memphis, Crosstown Arts and High School, Project Motion, Young Actors Guild, Kipp Collegiate Elementary and Middle School, DanzHouse, STAX Music Academy, Memphis Black Arts Alliance, Company d, Dazzle Marion Visual & Performing Arts Center, and many other Memphis studios.