AvO Guest Artists

The School of Ballet is pleased to offer students a unique opportunity to study the Art of Ballet under the guidance of highly talented artists. We welcome opportunity to collaborate with these area guest artists.

	Thomas Bell
	John Thomas Bell was born in Baltimore, Maryland where he became an All American springboard diver. After graduating with honors from East Carolina University, Mr. Bell worked with the Washington Ballet. He has been a company artist and performed principal roles with the Maryland Ballet, The Eugene Ballet of Oregon, and the Sacramento Ballet. Mr. Bell has directed, choreographed, and performed in musicals as well as operas. He has appeared in Dance Magazine, and is currently an adjudicator with the dance division of the Maryland higher education scholarship program.
	Steve Beirens
	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.
	Jay Goodlett
	Born at Dayton’s Wright Patterson Air Force Base, Jay Goodlett attended the School for Creative and Performing Arts in Cincinnati for nine years. Mr. Goodlett majored in dance, drama, and musical theatre before training at the School of American Ballet from 1991-1993. By the age of 18, Mr. Goodlett joined the Cincinnati Ballet and rose quickly thru the ranks to Senior Soloist by 2002. Mr. Goodlett has performed in numerous full-length productions such as Romeo and Juliet, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Beauty and the Beast-(choreographer David Nixon), Agon, The Four Temperaments, and Who Cares, working with many ground breaking contemporary choreographers. He has also choreographed for Cincinnati Ballet and St. Louis Opera. His Graceland in 2002 was ground breaking in that it was choreographed for Cincinnati Ballet while Mr. Goodlett was himself a member. Mr. Goodlett remained a member of Cincinnati Ballet Company nearly 17 years, a real hometown treasure. Mr. Goodlett has had the opportunity to dance in countries all over the world such as Portugal, Belgium, Russia, Amsterdam, France, and Germany. In June of 2009 Jay became the Associate Artistic Director of Childrens Theatre of Cincinnati.
	Sarah Hairston
	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
	Tricia Sundbeck
	Born and raised in Stockton, California, Tricia Sundbeck apprenticed with the Sacramento Ballet through high school and danced as a principal dancer for eight years with the company. Her training has included summer workshops at San Francisco Ballet, and a scholarship to Boston Ballet School. Ms. Sundbeck was promoted to soloist in 2004 at Cincinnati Ballet. Her favorite roles include Juliet in Romeo and Juliet, Marie in The Nutcracker, Aurora in Sleeping Beauty, Swanilda in Coppelia, and the title roles in Giselle and Cinderella. Along with Ms. Sundbeck’s extensive Balanchine repertory, she has been coached by notable stars, as Frederic Franklin of The Ballet Russe, and Allegra Kent of New York City Ballet. As a professional dancer she has worked with the following contemporary choreographers; Adam Houghland, Donald McKayle, Val Caniparoli, Darrell Moultrie, Sarah Slipper, Trey McIntyre, and Amy Seiwert. Tricia has had the pleasure of performing in Canada, Portugal, Amsterdam, and Germany. Ms. Sundbeck was invited to perform at the Bolshoi Theatre in the Benois De La Danse Competition where she received audience and critical acclaim. She is currently teaching throughout the United States.
	Kodee Lind Van Nort
	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.