Teachers

Teachers are chosen because they are the most qualified for each level that your child attains.

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Teachers

Teachers

Kathi Ferguson Leigh Alexander Dottie Adams Debbie Braun

Amanda Fair Rebecca Vaeth Lowery Rachel Noonan

Kathi Ferguson, founder, choreographer, and director of The Howard County Ballet, is a native of the D.C. area and received her training at the National Ballet of Washington and Butler University. Having formerly danced with the Baltimore Ballet, Northern Ballet Theater of Virginia, Camile Izard and Dancers, and Classical Ballet Theater of Virginia, she is currently a lecturer in dance at Goucher College. She was the director and owner of Aesthetics for over ten years.

Dottie Adams received her training at the Montgomery Ballet Studio and graduated from the University of Maryland as a Dance Major. She danced for both the Montgomery Ballet Company and the Maryland Dance Theater and has been a respected teacher of dance and aerobics in Maryland for over 20 years.

Leigh Alexander has been dancing since the age of three. Her passion in the field has lead in many directions including modern, tap, jazz, hip hop, country line, ballroom, African and Native American, but her main focus has always been ballet. As a youth, she studied under Towson's Children's Dance Division under Patty Enoch Bond where she was able to gain a strong foundation in R.A.D.. In high school, Leigh was excepted into the dance program at Carver Center for the Arts where she studied under Elizabeth Lowe Ahern, Amanda Thom Woodson, Ken Skrzesz, and Jamie Host. After graduation, Leigh went on to receive her Associates of the Arts degree from CCBC in Dance. During her attendance, Leigh was awarded outstanding dancer of the year for two consecutive years. In addition both years in attendance, she also received the only scholarships offered in the dance department. For several years Leigh went on to teach creative movement, ballet, tap, modern and lyrical to several age ranges. She has recently graduated from Goucher College, where she earned her BA in Dance Therapy.

Debbie Braun began her studies locally at the age of five. She was awarded a scholarship at the Maryland Ballet and also studied Jazz with Wally Saunders, Paula Lynn, and Tim Roberts. She has been teaching for over 25 years. Debbie also co-directs and performs with The Ellicott City Can Can Dancers, and has performed with several local dance companies. Her movie credits include Cecil B. Demented and The Runaway Bride, and she has also done numerous commercials.

Amanda Fair has been both dancing and writing poetry for over 21 years. A graduate of The Baltmore School for the Arts and The University of the Arts in Philadelphia, she holds a BFA in Ballet Performance. She has studied and assisted with teaching at The Dance Theatre of Harlem and has worked with choreographers such as Milton Myers, Andrew Papp, and Ronen Koresh. She has taught Ballet, Pointe, Modern and Jazz in numerous dance programs and schools and is currently adjunct faculty at The Community College of Baltimore County's Essex and Catonsville campuses.
Amanda has performed with Shange Dance Productions and The Washington Reflections Dance Company and is founder and director of Poetic xpressions School for the Creative Arts and Poetic Xpressions Dance Company. Her choreographic work can be seen on Full Circle Dance Company, Shange Dance Productions, Synergy and Poetic Xpressions Dance Company. Ms. Fair is a winner of the 2010 Baker Artist Awards.

Rebecca Vaeth Lowery began her dance training in the R.A.D. method at the Baltimore Ballet School under Wendy Robinson and continued her training at Towson University, Arthur Murray, the Classical Ballet Center, and Aesthetics. She has performed for Arthur Murray and with Dance Arts, the Baltimore Ballet and the Howard County Ballet. She holds a B.S . in psychology and a M.Ed in early childhood education. Rebecca has 18 years of classroom teaching experience and has taught ballet and ballroom dance in both Maryland and North Carolina.

Zaneta McKoon was born in St. Louis, Missouri and grew up in Carroll County, Maryland. She received a Bachelor of Arts in Dance at the University of Maryland Baltimore County. She has performed nationally and internationally and has competed in the Ballet Internacional de Trujillo Competition in Peru. She has danced with the Butler Ballet of Butler University directed by Michelle Jarvis, where she performed in works by Susan McGuire (former member of Paul Taylor Dance Company), Merek Cholewa, Cynthia Pratt and Derek Reid.

Rachel Noonan is a graduate of Goucher College studying dance with concentrations in Arts Administration and Performance. She began her training in her hometown of Houston, Texas where she attended the exemplary High School for the Performing and Visual Arts studying a wide range of styles, including Ballet, Modern, Tap, Jazz, Indian, and Latin Ballroom. She has been teaching and choreographing for the past 8 years and currently performs with Deep Vision Dance Company and Chorégraphie Antique Dance Company.

Maria Royals "hails" from Buffalo, NY where she began dancing at the age of three. She graduated cum laude from Butler University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in dance. She has performed with City Ballet Theater of Milwaukee, Michigan Opera Theater, Harbiner Dance Company, Buffalo Ballet Theater and the Arlington Classical Ballet. She currently teaches ballet at HCB.

Emily Runkle

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