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 Evelyn Ireton,
owns and
directs both Houston Academy of Dance and West University Dance Centre. Dancing since the age of 6 years old, Ms. Ireton combined her passion for
dance with her love of teaching, graduating Magna cum Laude from the
University of Houston with a
Bachelors of Science in Education. The focus of Ms. Ireton’s career has
been to train dancers. From her extensive training and successful
performing career, she brings her students a wealth of knowledge and
experience. Believing in a strong classical ballet background as the
foundation of all other styles, Ms. Ireton has also concentrated in the
study of the purely American dance style of jazz. She trained with the
pioneering legends of jazz including Matt Mattox, Gus Giordano, and
Camille Long Hill as well as many others in order to stay current with the
ever changing trends in jazz dance.
Both Houston Academy of Dance and West University Dance Centre are well
respected by the dance community and referred by
Houston Ballet. In
addition to directing the schools, Ms. Ireton has been a member of the
dance faculty of Episcopal High School, Houston, since 1991. Her
choreography has been presented at the Houston Ballet Summer Workshop,
National Convention for High School Dance,
Tanzsommer Festival,
Austria,
Choreographers X 6 and Dance Month at the Jewish Community Center,
Houston.
 Naomi
Glass
grew up in Seattle, Washington. She
received her training at Cornish College of the Arts, spending summers at
Houston Ballet Academy, San Francisco Ballet School, and the Prix de
Lausanne seminar in Japan. In 1994, Ms. Glass joined
Houston Ballet, and
in 1997 was nominated by Ben Stevenson, OBE, for the Princess Grace Award.
Ms. Glass performed featured classical and contemporary roles in ballets
by Stanton Welch, Ben Stevenson, Trey McIntyre, Nacho Duato, Jiri Kylian,
William Forsythe, George Balanchine, Lila York and others. Following a
ten-year career, Ms. Glass retired from her soloist position with Houston
Ballet. She is enjoying teaching and finishing her business degree. Ms.
Glass is married to former Houston Ballet dancer Damian Schwiethale and they
are the proud parents of a little boy, Colin.
 Letitica
Hernandez began her
dance training in Corpus Christi, with Ballet Academy. She went on to
receive her BA in Dance & Theatre from the University of Houston-Clear
Lake. Leti has performed with The National Ballet Company of Mexico City,
Exclamation Dance Company, and various dance groups in Houston . Her
musical background includes performances in The King & I, West Side Story,
Phantom of the Opera, South Pacific, and Camelot, to name a few. Leti has
taught for HCC, HSPVA, Texas Tap, HAD, and Studio O3. Currently, she is
Director of Performing Arts at St. Mark's Episcopal where she has taught
music and dance for the past 8 years.
José Herrera
was born in Cali, Colombia,
and began his dance training at Incolballet under the direction of Gloria
Castro. He also had the opportunity to live and study in Havana, Cuba,
for two years at the invitation of Alicia Alonso to study at the famed
National Ballet School of Cuba. In 1986, he left Cuba to join the Fundacion Ballet de Cali as a soloist. He was featured in many leading
roles until he left his homeland to join the
Houston Ballet in 1991 and
shortly thereafter he was promoted to soloist. José has had the pleasure
of dancing the lead role in great classics such as the Nutcracker, Swan
Lake, Don Quixote, the Merry Widow, Coppelia, Cinderella, Giselle, and
Romeo and Juliet. He also danced in many other ballets including Ben
Stevenson’s Three Preludes, Diana and Actaeon, and Leda and the Swan, and
Sir Kenneth MacMillan’s Manon, Gloria, and Elite Syncopations. His
contemporary works include Jiri Kylian’s Symphony in D and Sinfonietta,
Christopher Bruce’s Cruel Garden and Land, Lilac York’s Rapture and Rules
of the Game, Helgi Tomasson’s “Haffner” Synphony, and Dominic Walsh’s
Flames of Eros. José retired from classical ballet in 2003 and now enjoys
teaching and coaching young dancers.
 Melanie
Kendall
is from Allen, Texas and has been dancing since she was three and recently
graduated from Sam Houston State University with a Bachelor of Fine Arts
in Dance and a minor in accounting. Melanie has participated in national
dance conventions such as Tremaine, L.A. Dance Magic, and Company Dance
and was a member of the Kista Tucker Dance Company. She was a SHSU dance
scholarship recipient from 2004 thru 2008 and spent the summer of 2006 in
Chicago dancing on scholarship at
Giordano Jazz Company. She was a member
of the SHSU Dance Company since 2004 and has performed in pieces
choreographed by Melissa Wynn, Dana Nicolay, Jennifer Pontius, Kista
Tucker, Jonathan Charles and guest artists Elijah Gibson, Renny Harris,
and Joy Kellman. This year Melanie moved to Houston and will be an intern
for the Houston Met.
 Lynzy
Lab is a native Houstonian, and received the bulk of her training at
the The Houston Metropolitan Dance Center. With 8 years of training
already under her belt, she began dancing for their youth company "Met
Too" at the age of 12 and was eventually inducted into the professional
company at 17. Lynzy has taught and choreographed for several studios in
the Greater Houston Area including The Houston Met. She received the
Gregory Heinz Scholarship Award from
Broadway Theatre Project, which she
has attended for the past 3 years. She has performed in Texas Contemporary
Weekend, Pink! The musical, Choreographers x 6, and many festivals in the
Dallas/Fort Worth area. She also danced in the Intercoiffure Hair Show at
the Waldorf Astoria in New York City, where she lived for a short time
this past fall. She is glad to be home in Houston and is excited to start
teaching for WUDC and HAD!!
 Lauren
Perrone, a native Houstonian, began her dance training with Paula
Sloan and performed with The Texas Tap Ensemble. She graduated from the
High School for the Performing and Visual Arts and went on receive her BFA
in Modern Dance Pedagogy under the direction of Mary Margaret Holt of the
Houston Ballet, Denise Vale of the Martha Graham Company, and Austin
Hartel of both Pilobolus Dance Company and the Jose Limon Dance Company.
In New York City, she studied with Mark Morris, the Limon Dance Company,
Nicole Wolcott, and Julian Barnett, among many others. Professional
credits include: Houston Grand Opera’s Aida; Galveston Island Musicals’
My Fair Lady, America the Beautiful, and Hello Dolly. She has toured
nationally as the dance captain of Mame and internationally to France and
Paraguay with the Modern Repertory Dance Theater. Her New York City
credits include the Jeff Rebudal Dance Company, Murray Hill Productions,
and Lance Cruze Performance Group. Currently, Ms. Perrone is teaching at
the High School for the Performing and Visual Arts and performing with the
Sandra Organ Dance Company.
 Loni
Peterson
began dancing at the age of three and grew up under the direction
of owner, Evelyn Ireton at Houston Academy of Dance. As a junior in High
School she performed the role of Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz at Houston
Academy of Dance. This will be Loni's fourth year teaching at West
University Dance Center and third year as Executive Director of the
competition dance company Sole Discretion. She will be graduating within
the next year from the University of Houston with a degree in Art History
with a minor in Studio Arts. She is currently working for a non-profit
art gallery and hopes to continue working with the Exhibition Programming
there after graduation. Dancing has always been a part of her life and she
is thankful for every minute of it. "Dance
first. Think later."-unknown
 Jessica
Prachyl
grew up in the small town of Ennis, TX, where she taught various
combination dance classes for four years. She went on to receive her
Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance from Sam Houston State University from 2005
to 2008, where she received scholarships for dance performance as well as
academics. She was a member of the SHSU Dance Company starting in 2006,
performing in choreographed works by Dana Nicolay, Jennifer Pontius, and
guest artists Joy Kellman, Hilary Bryan, and Jean Denny-Grotewhol. Jessica
also participated in Danscape 2007, under the choreography of Jonathan
Charles. She recently moved to Sugar Land and will be training with Ad
Deum Dance Company for the 2008 –‘09 season. Jessica is excited to return
to teaching and looks forward to this year at WUDC.
 Sally Rojas
was born in Caracas, Venezuela and moved to Miami, Florida when she was
ten. She then began her training with Thomas Annour, Robert Pike, and
Judith Reese Newman at the Miami Conservatory. She went on to study at the School
of American Ballet and American Ballet Theatre. At the age of sixteen she
became a member of American Ballet Theatre II where she remained and
toured extensively for two years. Sally then joined the
Houston Ballet
where she enjoyed dancing in most of the company's repertoire. As a
soloist, Sally danced the lead role in many ballets including Swan
Lake, Cleopatra, Snow Maiden, The Merry Widow, Manon, Dracula, Nutcracker
and Peer Gynt. She has performed the works of many famous choreographers
including George Balanchine, William Forsythe, Ben
Stevenson, Sir
Kenneth MacMillan, Stanton Welch, Christopher Bruce, Jiri Kylian, Paul Taylor,
and Glen Tetley. Sally also is currently on staff with Houston Ballet.
ADDITIONAL FACULTY
Steven Miller
Tapley Seaford Whaley |
