Vonder Haar Center for the Performing Arts

		FACULTY
		Tracy Vonder Haar Artistic Director Tracy Vonder Haar, a former member of the world-renowned Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, brings 44 years of teaching experience to Vonder Haar Center for the Performing Arts. Before moving to California, Tracy lived in Chicago where she taught at The Ruth Page Foundation School of Dance, Lou Conte Dance Studio (home of Hubbard Street), directed Chicago Studio for Dance and Musical Theatre, was Artistic Director of Dance and Company, was dance coordinator for the Musical Theatre Department at Columbia College, and was the director of the children’s choir (in several cities) for the Canadian/National tour of JOSEPH AND THE AMAZING TECHNICOLOR DREAMCOAT starring Donny Osmond. She has choreographed and/or directed commercials, industrials, television shows, and scores of revues and musicals, including PETER PAN, CAROUSEL, and YOU’RE A GOOD MAN, CHARLIE BROWN, just to name a few. She was also a resident choreographer for eight years for Yip’s Children’s Choir in both Los Angeles and Hong Kong where her choreography has been seen in over two dozen countries. Other teaching credits include Webster University (St. Louis), Los Angeles Trade Technical College, and over a decade at Pasadena Civic Ballet. She is currently on the faculty at Los Angeles Valley College in addition to her classes at VHC. Tracy has worked in almost all aspects of the theatre for most all her life — as an actress, dancer, member of the stage crew, stage manager, box office attendant, house manager, director, choreographer, and producer. This background and love of the theatre has “set the stage” for Vonder Haar Center for the Performing Arts.
		Logan Hutt Associate Director Logan Hutt is an Associate Director of the Vonder Haar Center for the Performing Arts, with her mother and former Hubbard Street Dancer, Tracy Vonder Haar, and brother, performer and musician, Grady Hutt. She also currently teaches ballet at The Dance Co-Lab in Burbank. An experienced teacher, Logan did her student teaching with master teacher, Patricia Klekovic, at the Ruth Page Foundation and several teaching workshops with the renowned David Howard. She then went on to teach at The Pilates Place, Pasadena Civic Ballet Center, Ovation Performing Arts, and Motions Dance Center in Palm Desert. Logan studied dance primarily at the highly acclaimed Ruth Page Foundation School of Dance in Chicago, acting with Andrea Stark and Tracy Kaplan in Chicago and Kevin McDermott at Center Stage L.A., and dance and musical theatre at Chicago Studio for Dance and Musical Theatre under the tutelage of Tracy Vonder Haar. A member of the Screen Actors Guild for 23 years, she has done film, television, voiceover, and stage work. She had a starring role in OVEREXPOSED, produced by Oprah Winfrey. On stage, she has appeared in THE KING AND I; as Patty in YOU’RE A GOOD MAN, CHARLIE BROWN; for four years in Chicago’s Ruth Page THE NUTCRACKER BALLET; with the NATIONAL BALLET OF SPAIN at the Hollywood Bowl and the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion; as Potiphar’s Wife in JOSEPH AND THE AMAZING TECHNICOLOR DREAMCOAT; a Phantom (and the dance captain) in ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW; and for six years as a performer in various parades and special events at Disneyland, including three seasons in SNOW WHITE - AN ENCHANTING MUSICAL, to name a few. Logan is also a certified Pilates instructor, having studied with Rael Isacowitz, founder of Body Arts and Science International (BASI), as well as a AFAA certified personal trainer.
		Grady Hutt Associate Director Grady Hutt, a native Chicagoan, moved out to Los Angeles in 1996. He's been seen and heard in over 100 commercials on both TV and radio. Over his 20+ year career, he's worked alongside some of the greatest actors in television, film, and theatre. He stage manages, composes, and works as a sound designer for theatres throughout Southern California. He also performs as a musician and actor in France and around the U.S. Grady also performs on stage at the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, CA, and was recently on the opening team for Playhouse Disney Live on Stage! at the Disneyland Resort Paris.
		Mark Knowles Mark Knowles has directed and/or choreographed over 300 productions nationally and internationally ranging from the South American premiere of La Cage Aux Folles in Buenos Aires, Argentina, to Disney’s Hercules Electrical Parade in New York City. He created the dances for the world premiere of Big Bang! in Singapore, and in New York, he choreographed the Off-Broadway hit, Hysterical Blindness, staged the Rockettes at Radio City Music Hall, and most recently, choreographed the Bluegrass Musical That Other Woman’s Child for the New York Musical Theatre Festival. His many productions in the Los Angeles area include Nite Club Confidential, starring Barbara Eden, and the West Coast premiere of The Good-bye Girl, starring Gary Sandy and Debbie Shapiro-Gravitte. His work has also been seen on film and television in such shows as The Ice Pirates, at MGM, Small Wonder, at Fox, Boone, at CBS, and, a promo for Married With Children, and Columbia Bandstand for Columbia Pictures Television. For four years, he served as senior director at Stiletto Entertainment, directing and developing production shows for five ships on the Holland America Line. Mr. Knowles is the author of three books, The Tap Dance Dictionary, Tap Roots: The Early History of Tap Dancing, which won the American Library Association’s 2004 Choice Award for Outstanding Academic Text, and The Wicked Waltz and Other Scandalous Dances, released June 2010. Mr. Knowles has been on the faculty of the American Academy of Dramatic Arts / Hollywood for sixteen years, and part of the Dance Department at La Salle High School for fourteen, as well as teaching as an adjunct instructor at Occidental since 2004.
		Lynne Campion Lynne Stenseth Campion: BFA in Ballet, University of Utah. Owner/Operator Dancentre LTD, Sioux Falls, SD. Member South Dakota Dance Theatre. Teacher/Choreographer South Dakota School of Dance. Founder/Dancer/Choreographer “Leap of Faith”, Los Angeles, CA. Guest Choreographer/Instructor “Ballet Sioux”. Teacher/Choreographer for over 25 years. Training in Ballet (RAD, Cecchetti, Rusian, NYC Ballet & various), Jazz (various), Modern, Hip Hop, Tap, Character Dance.
		Janice Clark Janice Clark graduated from Occidental College with a degree in music, with an emphasis on composition. She has studied acting, singing, voiceover, dance and oral interpretation, has done community theatre, and was a member of the Whimsey Works Children’s Theater Company in North Hollywood. She has written a number of musicals for children and young adults, teaches Music and Performance and Musical Theatre at the elementary school level, and directs the Youth Choir at the Church of the Good Shepherd in Arcadia. Janice is currently the accompanist for the voice classes at Vonder Haar Center for the Performing Arts, and is the musical director for the Musical Theatre Ensemble.
		Paul A. Brown Paul has been performing for over 35 years, starring in Amahl & the Night Visitors at age eleven. He has danced all across the United States as well as Canada, Austria, Germany, Switzerland, France, Italy, Brazil, and Japan! After attending Western Kentucky University, he toured internationally with Gus Giordano's Jazz Dance Chicago for 6 years while living in the "Chicagoland" area. He became Assistant Associate Director of the company, as well as Rehearsal Director and Master Teacher, before moving to New York City to pursue a career in musical theatre. Some theatrical credits include: Cats (B'Way, Nat'l & Int'l Tours),Disney's Beauty and the Beast (Nat'l Tour), Promises, Promises (Goodspeed), Anyone Can Whistle (Off-B'way), The Importance of Being Earnest (Whitmore-Lindley, NoHo), South Pacific starring Reba McIntyre (Hollywood Bowl), Evita (FCLO), just to name a few. Some TV/film credits include: She's Having a Baby (dancing alongside Tracy Vonder Haar!), Star Search, recurring characters on Late Night with Conan O'Brien, a disco dancer in Swingtown, an unrecognizable alien in Star Trek (2009), Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland (2010), and most recently, a sketch on Tim & Eric, Awesome Show: Great Job! He currently also teaches classic jazz and classical ballet at Dance Co Lab in Burbank (www.dancecolab.com). Since the recent passing of his friend and mentor, Gus Giordano (1923-2008), Paul felt a calling to follow in his footstes, return to his dance "roots" and help to develop and preserve the American art form of jazz dance as a true artistic expression of American life.
		Jerry Kokich Jerry was born in New York into a theatre family. His father, Kazimir Kokich, was a soloist with the Ballets Russes de Monte Carlo before going on Broadway. Jerry’s mother, Iva Withers, was in the original casts of “Oklahoma” and “Carousel” as well as “South Pacific”, Guys and Dolls” and numerous other Broadway shows. Despite that heritage, it wasn’t until the week he graduated from high school that Jerry took his first serious ballet class. Studying with some of New York’s finest teachers, including Robert Joffrey, Stanley Williams, Tina Youskevitch and Gabriella Darvash, Jerry spent 1 ½ years with the Joffrey II Dancers before joining the Joffrey Ballet, where he remained for 8 years, performing such ballets as “Rodeo”, “The Green Table”, “Round of Angels” (original cast), “Parade” (sets and costumes by Picasso… yes, that Picasso), Jiri Kylian’s “Dream Dances”, and John Cranko’s “Romeo and Juliet”. Jerry has taught at the Vonder Haar Center for five years; he also teaches at the Santa Clarita Ballet Academy, Extensions Performing Arts in Lancaster and has taught at The Joffrey School in New York. He has choreographed a number of ballets for the Vonder Haar Center including portions of “Cinderella”, “Nutcracker”, “Pinocchio”, “Red Riding Hood”, and the infamous “Shoot The Bunny”.
		Thais Leavitt Thais C. Leavitt is a native Californian who studied ballet in Los Angeles and at the Royal Ballet School in London, England. While abroad, Thais studied the Italian (Cecchetti), Russian (Vaganova) and Danish (Bournonville) methods of training. She was principal dancer with the Dusseldorf Ballet in Germany and toured internationally. Thais enjoys teaching all aspects of classical/contemporary ballet and the art of Classical Spanish dance.
		Scott Jones Scott Jones was born and raised in Snellville, GA. He studied acting at Florida State University with their B.A program as well as their exchange program in London. After graduating in 2001, he moved to Los Angeles to persue acting, taking classes at The Groundlings Theater and Two Light Studio. In 2005 Scott started performing at Disneyland as Dopey in the Fantasyland Theatre’s Snow White: An Enchanting Musical. He has studied improv at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater and is currently working on a webisode series. Scott has made appearances on The Ellen Show and the WB’s Maybe Its Me.
		Chelsea Michener Chelsea started dancing at the age of 3 in Colorado. By the time she was 17 she was accepted to the Edge Performing Arts Center Scholarship Program. She is well versed in tap, jazz, ballet, hip hop, lyrical, theatre, and contemporary. She has been seen on stage many times working for choreographers such as Paolo Alcedo, Jon Stotlar, Mike Williams, Tessandra Chavez, Lindsey McLevis, Malaya, Danielle Towne, Joelle Martinec, Johnny Goodson, and Cricket Keller to name a few. She tours frequently as an assistant with LA Dance Force and is a member of Unity Dance Ensemble. She's most recently completed an episode of "Cold Case", "Thriller" for Odyssey Dance Theatre in Salt Lake City, Utah, a commercial for "Dance Plug", and music videos for O'Spada, Alex Kogan, and Heartour.
		Jenn Aedo Jenn discovered her passion for dance at the age of 4 when she watched Michael Jackson's Moonwalker. It was all over from there! She started training professionally in college focusing on jazz and hip hop styles like popping and locking and was a company member of MaDonna Grimes' Dance and Fitness Company and LA's Culture Shock. She has danced for many upcoming artists and alongside Pink, Paulina Rubio, and American Idols most famous reject, William Hung, as well as danced for Nike, Ballys Total Fitness, AMPM, and had the privilege choreographing a web commercial for MSN.com. Jenn's hip hop class is work and pure fun. For beginners or advanced dancers, her class offers the opportunity to work on musicality and rhythm. From old skool popping to pop inspired hip hop steps, everyone will enjoy this high impact class!
		Shaun Curtin Shaun Curtin began his training at The LaPierre School of Dance in Reading, MA. He went on to study with The Boston Ballet and The Joffrey Ballet and received a B.F.A. in Dance (cum laude) from The University of Massachusetts in Amherst. He danced professionally with The Richmond Ballet, Granite State Ballet and Jose Mateo's Ballet Theatre of Boston. Shaun performed a couple of seasons with the "Radio City's Christmas Spectacular". He appeared in several episodes of "Mad TV" and danced back up for Deborah Gibson. Ironically, he danced alongside Logan and Grady Hutt at Disney's "Snow White: An Enchanting Musical". He was also seen in "Sail Away" at Tokyo Disney Sea.
		Rowena Lopez-Dominguez Rowena was born in England and began dancing at the age of four. She performed in numerous musicals as a child as well as appearing in several films. She received her teacher training from the Urdang Academy of Arts in London, England. After graduating, she taught in London for a year, followed by 4 years in Tokyo, Japan. In 1994, she moved to Los Angeles and taught at Ballet Petit for over 10 years and also at the Santa Clarita Ballet Academy. From April 1996 to March 1998, she was co-director of the Imperial Ballet Company of Huntington Park. She is a member of the Imperial Society of Dance. Thom Fountain Thom has played the cello for over 30 years and was a student of Martha Bishop and Bonita potts of Atlanta, GA, and Greg Gottlieb of Los Angeles. He studied many years with composer/organist, Paul Sifler, and has performed in many area churches accompanied by Mr. Sifler. Additional studies include: the University of Georgia, the Dekalb Symphony, the Golden Hills String Ensemble of San Diego, and apprenticeship with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Robert Shaw. Bill Bartlett Bill Bartlett started dancing at Paul Armstrong Studios in Salem, Oregon at age 12 where he studied tap with Carole Lang, Gene GeBauer, and Paul Armstrong. He also studied tap with Emery Clay at Clay Brothers' Studio in Portland, Oregon, ballet with Robert Erwin, ballroom dancing at Don Allen Studios and with Dale Rittermeyer at Arthur Murray Studios. He started teaching after completing his training at Arthur Murray, and received high school credit in his senior year for it. Winning first place for his tap dancing in Carl Hawley's Mr. Talent statewide competition, he was awarded a one week expense paid trip to Hollywood. Within a year he moved to Southern California, studying tap with Eddie Gay (noted teacher of film star Vera Ellen) and jazz with Eddie Roberts. Bill has worked as a performer and choreographer on stage, television and film. His career has afforded him the opportunity to work with a long list of legends including Sophie Tucker, Martha Raye, Gene Nelson, the Mills Brothers, Kay Starr, Felicity Huffman, Peter Gennaro and his wife, Deborah. He was on the Gene Kelly Special for NBC with Gene Kelly, Donald O'Connor and Carol Lawrence. He continues to be in demand as a teacher, coach, and choreographer. Jessi Rohr Jessi started dancing at age 5. Deborah Messinger School of Dance in Portland, Oregon became her home for 19 years. She trained in ballet, pointe, tap, jazz, comtemporary and hip-hop, with a smattering of other styled in between. At 17 she joined a local company, Pure Dance, which allowed her the opportunity to perform and make the stage her home, as well as present her own choreography. She danced and choreographed for the company for 4 years, and taught and choreographed at various local studiosfor several years before moving to L.A. where she was chosen as a '08-'09 EDGE Scholarship dancer. Jessi has performed for audiences in the U.S., South Korea, and Scotland, and is a working dancer with Bloc Talent Agency. In addition to performing, Jessi's love is passing on her passion for and knowledge of dance. "Nothing could be more gratifying than watching students grow and discover the art that you share a love for." Chester McCurry Chester is originally from Calhoun, Louisiana where he grew up with country music artist Tim McGraw. In his professional career he has performed at various theme parks across the nation including Opryland USA, Dollywood, Universal Studios Hollywood, Disney’s California Adventure and Six Flags Over Texas. He was also the emcee and lead vocalist for The Alabama Theater in Myrtle Beach, SC and Country Tonight Theater, Memories Theater and Hoot N. Holler Theater all located in Pigeon Forge, TN. He has also been the opening act for Dolly Parton, Wynona Judd and Clint Black and was in the premiere casts of The Lion King and The Life on Broadway. He was the host of Style Network’s “Off The Hanger” and will be appearing on this season of CMT’s “Your Chance To Dance.”