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Kodee Lind Van Nort
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| Kodee holds a Bachelor of Theatre & Dance from the University of Wyoming and a Master of Fine Arts with an emphasis in Dance Performance and Choreography from Sam Houston State University. She has extensive background in Ballet and Modern, but has also studied Jazz and Tap throughout her career. She has been a member of the Wyoming Touring Company, Austin Dance Company, Spectrum Dance Company, and Cindy Carpenter Dance Company as well as the Ad Hoc improvisational company in Manchester, England. Kodee has enjoyed sharing her pedagogy knowledge of dance by serving on faculty with the University of Wyoming, Sam Houston State University, Western Nebraska Community College, and Western Oregon University. Locally, Kodee teaches young adults at Academy of Dance Arts, Middletown, Anneliese Von Oettingen School of Ballet in Cheviot, Cincinnati Ballet, and Contemporary Dance Theater. She is also The Ohio Dance Board and an Administrative Volunteer for the Contemporary Dance Theater. Kodee also stays busy keeping up with husband and children ages 9 and 7. |
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Sarah Hairston
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| Ms. Hairston, a Senior Soloist with Cincinnati Ballet, trained with Ann Brodie at the Calvert Brodie School of Dance. Ms. Hairston continued her training with the North Carolina School of the Arts under Melissa Hayden and Warren Conover and the Boston Ballet School under Tatiana Legat and Devon Carney. During the summer of 1998, Ms. Hairston was selected to study with the Hungarian National Ballet in Budapest, Hungary. Before joining the Cincinnati Ballet, Ms. Hairston danced with the Boston Ballet. Some of Ms. Hairston’s favorite roles include Titania in A Midsummer Nights Dream, Marie in Val Caniparoli’s Nutcracker, the principal role in Val Caniparoli’s Lambarena, Carabosse and Lilac Fairy in The Sleeping Beauty, Coquette in Balanchine’s La Sonnambula, Myrtha in Giselle, the Emeralds principal in Balanchine’s Jewels, Mina Murray in Dracula,and Tiger Lily in Peter Pan. During the summer of 2007, Ms. Hairston was invited to dance the Temple solo in Cincinnati Opera’s production of Aida and has been performing with Cincinnati Opera for the past 4 summers. Ms. Hairston was also invited by Victoria Morgan to dance Winter Fairy from Cinderella with Ballet Hawaii. Most recently, Ms. Hairston was chosen by Suzanne Farrell to dance with her company at the Kennedy Center. Ms. Hairston is a faculty member at the Otto M. Budig Academy of Cincinnati Ballet. Ms. Hairston credits her family and teacher Ann Brodie for being an inspiration in her life. Photo courtesy of Peter Mueller. |
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Steve Beirens
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| Steve Beirens started his studies at The National Ballet School of Antwerp, Belgium, under the direction of Jos Brabants. There he was taught by Annie Vancauwenbergh, Tom Vancauwenbergh, Pavel Vokum, Stephan Schuller and Alexander Prokofiev. Selected to participate in The Rencontres Internationales de Baule in France, he received the award for “Best Classical Dancer”. Mr. Beirens has danced with Le Juene Ballet de France, The Zuricher Ballet, Wiesbaden Ballet, The Royal Ballet of Flanders, and joined The Joffrey Ballet of Chicago, under the direction of Gerald Arpino, as a principal dancer in October 1995. From January 2001 trough December 2005, Mr. Beirens has worked as a Guest Dancer and Coach in numerous companies across the United States, including Tulsa Ballet, The Civic Ballet of Chicago, Maddison Ballet, Ballet Arkansas, Dance Galaxy, Westside Ballet, LA Dance Theater, LA Chamber Ballet and New Mexico Ballet. Since 2003 he has been invited to teach and coach in Ballet Schools across the United States, including New Mexico Ballet, New Mexico University, Reif Art Center Minnesota, Dance Arts Tennessee, Idyllwild Arts School, Los Angeles School of the Arts, and currently at Ballet Tech Ohio, Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, and AvO Ballet. Beginning April 2007, he served for one season as Artistic Director of Ballet Quad Cities, choreographing ballets including The Nutcracker, Sentimenti, and Coppelia. |
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Kelly Yankle
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| Born in Canton, Ohio Ms. Yankle began studying ballet at the School of Canton Ballet at the age of ten. Ms. Yankle has received scholarships to Pacific Northwest Ballet, Chautauqua Institution, where she spent three summers, and two at the School of American Ballet and Central Pennsylavania Youth Ballet. Ms. Yankle also participated in a professional workshop with Alonzo King in the summer of 2006. Recently she won first place at the Regional Society of Arts and Letters competition and fifth place at the National Competition in Jacksonville, Florida. She was chosen by Jiang Qi to be the featured American performer in the Hopestar performance tour in Beijing, China in 2004. Ms. Yankle graduated on full scholarship with a major in ballet and a minor in spanish from the College-Conservatory Music at the University of Cincinnati in 2008. Ms. Yankle is happy to be in her fifth season with The Cincinnati Ballet and sharing her love for dance through teaching as well. |
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