Jocelyn Buchanan.
Associate Artistic Director

Ms. Buchanan received her training from Pamela Meadows in Arizona and Marie Vegh of Marin Ballet. She holds a Bachelors of Fine Arts in Dance from Arizona State University. She has performed with The Martha Graham Company and with The Murray Louis Company. She has performed and been on the faculty of dancing in Nicolas Pacaña's Summers Eve. Audiences will remember her from her interpretations of Atlanta Festival Ballet's "Arabian" in The Nutcracker and the Lilac Fairy in The Sleeping Beauty. As a faculty member she has been very instrumental in building the confidence and dance appreciation of the students in the open school program. In her position as Associate Artistic Director; she works with the Artistic Directors in planning, scheduling, casting and rehearsing the ballet productions and bringing them to the stage; as well as guiding, reviewing and overseeing the placement and development of students in the ballet program.

Giselle DiBlasi
Director of Operations

Ms. DiBlasi is originally from West Columbia, Texas.  She studied with Margo and Dennis Marshall in Houston, and was a member of City Ballet of Houston, a Regional Honor Company for five years.  She attended several intensive summer workshops with the Boston Ballet, Houston Ballet, and The Joffrey Ballet in New York and in San Antonio.  Ms. DiBlasi received her Bachelor’s of Fine Arts in Ballet Performance from the University of Oklahoma.  There she studied with Mary Margret Holt, Dennis Marshall, Allan Kinzie, and Donn Edwards.  She was chosen as a member of the Oklahoma Festival Ballet, and had the opportunity to perform such ballets as Napoli, Balanchine’s Serenade, Sleeping Beauty Act III, Excerpts from Paquita, The Nutcracker, Le Spectre de la Rose, and Carmina Burana.  In addition, she was selected to tour with the company to Nice, France in 2000 and Cancun, Mexico in 2002.  Audiences will remember her for her portrayal of Clara in Artistic Director Gregory Aaron’s holiday classic The Nutcracker as well dancing the Pas de Deux as Princess of the Sea in the US premier of Nicolas Pacana and Gregory Aaron’s The Little Mermaid.  In 2004 she danced the charmingly delightful Beauty in Beauty & the Beast..
In 2004 Ms. DiBlasi was promoted to Director of Operations.  Her responsibilities include handling student accounts as well as the day to day operations of the school and company.  Articulate and sure of her technique, as a faculty member with Atlanta Festival Ballet School, she promotes a healthy, joyful learning environment.

Tiffany Wright
Director of Jazz Ensemble
Email: TiffanyWright@festivalballetatlanta.com

Ms. Wright is a graduate of the Alabama School of Fine Arts, where she studied under Dame Sonia Arova and Thor Sutowski. She was also a student of the School of American Ballet as well as The Alvin Ailey American Dance Center. She attended the University of Alabama under a full dance scholarship and studied at the Harvard Summer Dance Program. Ms. Wright has performed in productions of The Nutcracker and Oklahoma, as well as with the Southeast Alabama Dance Company's performances of The Nutcracker and Nicolas Pacaña's Beauty and The Beast.
Atlanta Festival Ballet roles have included the Dew Drop in The Nutcracker, Lilac Fairy in The Sleeping Beauty, Principal roles in Gregory Aaron's  An Artist's Life and Nicolas Pacana's Symphony in C.
In her position as Director of Atlanta Festival Ballet Jazz Ensemble she promotes and choreographs for competitions held throughout the United States.

Sheena Gowan

2004 sees Ms. Gowan dancing with Atlanta Festival Ballet for the second season. Audiences will remember her from dancing principal roles in Gregory Aaron’s holiday classic The Nutcracker, where she performed the roles of the Dew Drop Fairy, and Winter Fairy; and in the season finale performance of Nicolas Pacana’s Symphony in C.
Ms. Gowan is a native of Cape Cod Massachusetts. Her training has included serious study in the vaganova method of classical ballet. Additional study has included intensive work in modern and jazz. Her teachers include Irene Merrill, Jose Mateo, Virginia Zango, Joan Simone, Katrina Killian, Melissa Hayden, Fanchon Cordell, and Frank Smith.
She has received many awards for dance competitions held through out New England, and scholarships to nationally recognized summer programs such as The Milwaukee Ballet and Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet. Ms. Gowan is a graduate of the prestigious North Carolina School of the Arts.

 

Chelsea Hodges

Chelsea Hodges, began her training in her mother/grandmother's studio in the small South Georgia town of Pelham. In addition, she has studied and performed with three civic ballet companies: Albany Ballet Theater, South Georgia Ballet and her mother's company, Dance Theatre South. She has performed numerous lead roles including The Nutcracker: Sugar Plum, Dew Drop, Arabian, Spanish, Marzipan and Clara.  Cinderella: Cinderella.  Coppelia: Swanhilde.  Peter Pan: Tinkerbelle.  Most recently she appeared as the rival in Rodeo. Her repertory includes extensive work in modern, theater dance, lyrical and classical style and she is proficient in Jazz & Tap. Chelsea has partnering skills and has worked with partner Joe Saponaro (formerly of Princeton Ballet, NJ) in various contemporary and classical pas de deux.
Her summer intensive studies include Ballet Magnificat!, American Ballet Theatre and the International Ballet Competition student workshop. Chelsea models for Curtain Call Costumes and is featured in the 2003 catalog (ballet and lyrical section). She was the recipient of the 2003 Arts Scholarship from the Flint River Arts Council.
The 2004-2005 Season marks Miss Hodges 2^nd Season with Atlanta Festival Ballet. Her repertoire includes Spanish, Mirliton, Snow and Waltz of the Flowers, in Gregory Aaron’s Holiday Classic The Nutcracker, Beauty and the Beast, Symphony in C and a Principal Pas de Deux in Back to the 50’s.

 

Tiffany McGinley was born in Pottstown, Pennsylvania and began her ballet training at the age of eight at the Pottstown Dance Theater. She later joined the Schulykill Valley Regional Dance Company under the direction of Ms. Phyllis Dersh Rudzitis. While at SVRDC she performed leading roles including Lise in La Fille Mal Gardee, Alice in Alice in Wonderland, Clara and the Dew Drop Fairy, in The Nutcracker and performed with the Company in 2000 Feet: an International Dance Celebration in Philadelphia, PA.
 Ms. McGinley furthered her ballet training at the Nutmeg Conservatory of the Arts in Torrington, Connecticut under the artistic direction of Ms. Sharon Dante. Ms. McGinley's repertoire with the Nutmeg Ballet Company included featured roles in Paquita, Don Quixote, La Bayadere, Viva Bach, and Clara in The Nutcracker.
The 2004-2005 Season is Ms. McGinley’s 2^nd Season as a member of the Atlanta Festival Ballet.  She has performed principal roles with the company including the pas de deux from Spartacus partnered by Mr. Nicolas Pacana, the company's Co-Artistic Director, and most recently as Clara in the company's performance of The Nutcracker.

Kathryne Van Assche

 

Kathryne Van Assche comes to us from Orlando, Florida. She has trained with such well-known schools as The Edith Royal Ballet School and Southern Ballet Theater (currently the Orlando Ballet). Kathryne graduated from Florida State University in Tallahassee with a Masters Degree. While at Florida State, she trained in the Department of Dance with such teachers as Suzanne Farrell, Alonzo King, Jane Wood-Smith, Sheila Humphreys, Richard Sias and Anjalie Houston. She also performed with The Tallahasse Ballet.  While at Florida State, Kathryne had the opportunity to dance George Balanchine’s Valse Fantasy, which was staged by Suzanne Farrell. Kathryne has also danced Snow Queen in The Nutcracker, Rose in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Violante (Finger Fairy) in The Sleeping Beauty, and Swanhilda’s sister and Dawn in Coppelia. The 2004-2005 Season is Ms. Van Assche’s debut season with Atlanta Festival Ballet.