.....pic1....Atlanta Festival Ballet.....

Co-Artistic Directors Gregory Aaron and Nicolas Pacaña welcome you to our 19th season!
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Atlanta Festival Ballet School

School


Faculty

Jocelyn Buchanan
Associate Artistic Director
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Ms. Buchanan received her training from Pamela Meadows in Arizona and Marie Vegh of Marin Ballet. She Jheadshotholds 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 Gheadshotintensive 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 Margaret 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

 

Danielle Hardman
 
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 JheadshotDanielle Hardman has trained with Atlanta Festival Ballet School since the age of five. As a child she received scholarships to many prestigious ballet schools. She has danced in numerous ballets with Atlanta Festival Ballet, as a corps de ballet, soloist and principal dancer. Highlights include: Little Mermaid, Paquita, Swan Lake, Beauty and The Beast, Tinkerbell in Peter Pan, the White Rabbit in Alice in Wonderland, Dew Drop and Sugar Plum Fairy in The Nutcracker.

 

 

 

 


Chelsea Hodges  Jheadshot

Chelsea Hodges began her training at age 3 in her mother, Leslie Hodges, South Georgia studio. In addition to her mother, she grew up studying under Joe Saponaro (former Principle with The Princeton Ballet), Jane Wood (former Principle with Ballet West), and Charles Hagan (former Principle with The Pittsburgh Ballet). While in school, she attended many prestigious summer intensives including Ballet Magnificat! The American Ballet Theatre and The International Ballet Competition. In the year 2000, Chelsea was selected, in a nation-wide search, to model for Curtain Call Costume catalog. She continued to model through 2004, and during this time she was featured in ads in several national dance publications.Chelsea began her professional career in 2003 as a company member with Atlanta Festival Ballet, where she performed such roles as Arabian, Spanish, Mirliton, and Snow Princess in The Nutcracker, as well as soloist roles in Nicolas Pacana and Gregory Aaron Beauty and the Beast, The Little Mermaid, and Carmina Burana, among many others. In 2006, Chelsea was hired as an Artist-in-Residence and Assistant to the Director for the University of Georgia Ballet Ensemble. In addition to performing, Chelsea has a passion for working with children. She has been a valued faculty member at Atlanta Festival Ballet for the past three years.


Jennifer Hurley
 
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 JheadshotJennifer Hurley began her training with Warwick Ballet Theatre of Warwick, New York. She has studied with The Eglevsky Ballet, New Jersey Ballet, Kirvo Academy of Ballet, and The American Academy of Ballet. Jennifer recently graduated from The University of the Arts in Philadelphia, PA  with a Bachelors of Fine Arts in Dance Performance and Dance Education.  Atlanta Festival Ballet is happy to have Miss Hurley on our teaching staff.

 

 

 

 

JheadshotHayley Stone

. Hayley hails from California where she began her ballet training at the age of 2.  She is a graduate of North Carolina School of the Arts in Winston Salem.   After graduating from NCSA, Hayley continued her training at Nutmeg Conservatory of the Arts in Torrington, Connecticut, where she taught classes and served as rehearsal assistant.  Hayley has an extensive and varied ballet background and has received training in Balanchine, Legat, and Vaganova techniques.  She has attended such well-known summer intensives as Nutmeg Conservatory, Rock School of Pennsylvania Ballet, San Francisco Ballet School, and Russian Ballet Society in Edinburgh, Scotland.  Hayle comes to Atlanta from Orlando, Florida, where she has most recently been a character performer at Walt Disney World.

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The spirit of the dancer dwells within each of us.  Through proper training, each student has the opportunity to develop this spirit, regardless of its magnitude.
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Atlanta Festival Ballet School
416 Eagles Landing Parkway
Stockbridge, GA 30281
School (770) 507-2775