Georgia Lyn Bowdre
|
GEORGIA LYN BOWDRE, founder and director of the Metropolitan Academy
of Dance is a certified member of Dance Educators of America. Ballet is
her passion, and she studied the Cecchetti Method of Classical Ballet
extensively with Lalla Bauman (on scholarship), Larry Boyette, and others.
Before founding the academy in 1986, she spent many years as a performer
on television and stage with the Lalla Bauman Dancers. Georgia made several
appearances at the Municipal Opera of St. Louis, the 12,000 seat premier
outdoor theatre of the midwest. Other performance venues include Kiel
Auditorium, Fort Leonard Wood, Boettcher Concert Hall, and the Admiral
entertainment ship. She also performed with stars Dorothy Collins, Margaret
Hamilton, and prima ballerina Patricia Bowman. Georgia has been teaching
Ballet/Pointe, Jazz, and Tap for more than thirty-two years, and she has
choreographed numerous award-winning pieces performed by the Company.
Many of Georgia's students have gone on to pursue dance in college and
to dance professionally. In addition, several students have been accepted
to nationally known summer programs. Georgia is married, and she is the
proud mother of three grown sons. She has three wonderful daughters-in-law,
and she is thrilled to have five grandchildren.
|
Jordan Anderson
|
Jordan has been dancing at the Metropolitan Academy of Dance for seventeen
years, and she has been a member of the Performing Company since the age
of nine. She participated in the Aurora Dance Arts The Nutcracker
for five seasons, and she performed many roles including Spanish, Snow,
and the Rose Queen. In the David Taylor Dance Theatre's The Nutcracker,
Jordan danced the roles of Clara's friend, Mouse, Angel, and Chinese.
She also danced for a short time with the Damsels. Other credits include
performances on cruise ships and in New York City. She has won gold medals
for three of her solos which she choreographed and performed.
|
Jennie
Begley
|
Jennie has studied dance since the age of three at the Metropolitan
Academy of Dance. She is currently a member of Ballet Ariel, a professional
Ballet Company in Denver, and she will perform the role of the Sugar Plum
Fairy in this season's Nutcracker. Jennie was recently invited
by David Taylor to join his newly formed Company, the Zikr Sacred Dance
Ensemble. In the "On Stage America" competition, Jennie was
awarded "Best Student Choreography" for a solo that she performed.
She has performed in the Aurora Dance Arts production of The Nutcracker
as the Sugar Plum Fairy, the Snow Queen, and the Spanish divertissement.
In the David Taylor Dance Theatre's Nutcracker, she danced the
roles of Columbine, Angel, Party Girl, Snowflake, Waltz of the Flowers,
and Chinese. In 2006 Jennie was a scholarship student at the San Francisco
Conservatory of Dance, and she also attended the American Ballet Theatre
Summer Intensive in New York City. She will portray Dorothy in the Dance
Core Company's ballet production of The Wizard of Oz.
|
Kathy Drnec
|
Kathy Drnec has been dancing and performing for over thirty-seven years.
She has danced professionally with the Y108 Team, the Denver Nugget Dance
Team, and the Jazzin' Dance Ensemble located in Utah. Her extensive training
includes master classes with artists such as Kim Lanham, who appeared
in the movie, A Chorus Line, Joe Tremaine, Garth Paey, Gus Giordano,
and Luiji. Attending many Colorado Dance Festivals, Kathy studied with
great tap masters Steve Condos (The Condos Brothers), Charles "Honi"
Coles, and Eddie Brown. She also took intensives from Gregory Hines, Bunny
Briggs, Henry Le Tang, Jason Samuel-smith, and the original Tap Dogs.
In addition to her dance training, she has also trained in voice, theatre,
and modeling.
Kathy has received many dance awards including: Gold Cup Awards for
seven consecutive years from the New Jersey Federation for superior dance
ratings, National Royal Miss America Talent, National Miss North America
Talent, National Entertainer of the Year, Miss Colorado Talent, Royale
Miss Colorado Talent, and Mrs. Colorado Talent and Swimwear State winner.
Her many credits on radio and television include commercials and talk
show appearances. She was interviewed on "Owning a Dance Studio"
and "Competition for Children" on Mile High Cable Vision's special
The Competitive Edge. For over fourteen years, Kathy has been involved
in instructing and choreographing for after-school programs with the Creative
Expressions Organization.
While owning her own studio for nineteen years, Kathy had the privilege
of training hundreds of dancers. Many of these students have taken state
and national honors and scholarships including Critics Choice Awards.
Some of her former students are now dancing professionally with the Miami
City Ballet, Carnival Cruise Lines, Dragontales Live, and The Rockettes.
|
Julie
Elliott
|
Julie has been dancing for twenty-three years and teaching dance for
the past eleven. She received her training at the Metropolitan Academy
of Dance where she traveled and performed with the Company. Julie continued
to pursue her dance training at the University of Colorado where she was
captain of the CU Express Dance Team. She also was a member of the Dancewest
Divas Performing Company in Boulder, Colorado. Julie has performed many
parts in The Nutcracker including the Sugar Plum Fairy, and she
has also performed at the 1996 Olympics, the 1996 Orange Bowl, the Fiesta
Bowl, Disney World, and the Universal Dance Association College Dance
Team Nationals. She has choreographed dances for numerous musicals and
high school pom pon competitions in the Denver area, and she also won
a scholarship to the Edge School of Performing Arts in Los Angeles.
|
Kris Hayes
|
Kris started dancing at age seven in Canton, Michigan at Masters of
Dance Arts with Mary Helen Stewart. She competed both locally and nationally
with Dance Educators of America and Dance Masters. Kris lived and trained
in New York at the Phil Black dance studio and has taken master classes
with Gus Giordano and Joe Tremaine among others. She was a cheerleader
with the USFL Michigan Panthers and Denver Gold. Kris traveled extensively
with the Auto Show as a dancer for Chevrolet. After attending Eastern
Michigan University, Kris became a flight attendant for American Airlines
and has been flying for over twenty years. She is also a Jazzercise instructor.
Kris is thrilled to be back in the dance world as a teacher and a parent
of a daughter who shares her passion for dance.
|
Jenny Karlan
|
Jenny Karlan started dancing at age two at the Dance Factory in Topeka,
Kansas. She was trained in tap, ballet, and jazz, and she was a member
of the competition team for six years. Jenny competed in many locations,
including Orlando, Chicago, Tulsa, and Kansas City. While in Kansas, she
also trained at the Topeka Ballet. In high school she was a member of
the Dancing Blues, where she was captain her senior year. After graduation,
she went to Kansas State University where she minored in dance and performed
in the Dance Department productions. She was also a member of the KSU
Tap Dance Ensemble where she performed all over the state of Kansas. She
is excited to be teaching at the Metropolitan Academy of Dance.
|
Susan Knaak
|
Susan studied dance at the Northern Ballet School in Manchester, England
where she was a full-time scholarship student. Upon graduation she received
an Advanced Diploma from the Royal Academy of Dance and the Imperial Society
of Teachers of Dancing. Sue has performed in Cinderella, The
Nutcracker, Swan Lake, Coppelia, Giselle, and
Sylvia. In 2005 she taught ballet for Paul Taylor's Summer
Intensive Program in New York City, and at La Guardia High School of Performing
Arts. She has been teaching at the Metropolitan Academy of Dance
for the past eighteen years. Susan is the Assistant Director of the Performing
Company, and she continues to bring in guest teachers when they are available.
|
Amy Mackall
|
Amy has been dancing since the age of four and continues to share her
love of dance by teaching for the past six years. Amy received most of
her dance training at the Metropolitan Academy Of Dance and has been involved
with Performing Companies for eight years, six of which have been with
MAD. Amy has performed several parts in The Nutcracker including
the Snow Queen, Party Guest, and in Waltz of the Flowers. She has traveled
around the country performing at the Atlanta Olympics, the Orange Bowl
Halftime Show, Disney World, and on the Carnival Cruise Ship. She won
a scholarship to be a Caravan Kid Dancer and also a partial scholarship
with New York City Dance Alliance. Amy considers teaching our children
at MAD her greatest accomplishment in dance.
|
Amy Schmahl
|
Amy is pleased to be returning to her third season as an
instructor of our youngest students at MAD. Amy grew up studying ballet,
tap and jazz for fifteen years under Rusty La Vonne in Indiana. At a young
age, Amy was asked to teach and choreograph all of the pre-school and
young elementary classes at her studio. She headed up the youth classes
at her studio for several years. Amy took a long hiatus to start a family,
and she is now thrilled to be teaching her own daughters at MAD. Amy believes
that it is important to not only instill the love of dance in her students,
but to also carefully teach the true fundamentals of ballet, tap, and
jazz. She loves introducing young children to the world of dance, and
she believes that all children posses the ability to learn to dance.
|
David Taylor
|
David Taylor has been professionally involved in the Denver dance community
for the past forty years. He began choreographing in 1976 during the course
of a twelve-year dance career, and since then has created over one hundred
original works. In 1979, he founded the David Taylor Dance Theatre, one
of the Rocky Mountain region's most acclaimed, well-recognized, and respected
dance organizations. As one of Colorado's premiere professional contemporary
ballet companies, the DTDT developed a reputation of presenting outstanding
original and innovative works. As the principal choreographer for 27 years,
Mr. Taylor's unique creative focal point became a fascination with ancient
cultures, metaphysical concepts, and multi-media collaborations which
have served to provide his company with a stunning and thought-provoking
identity within the world of professional dance. He received the city
and county of Denver's first Individual Artist Fellowship Award for Dance
for his critically acclaimed collaborative work, Anasazi Dream
in 1987, the Governor's Award for Excellence in the Arts in 1997, and
The Carson-Brierly Dance Library's "Living Legends of Dance"
award in 2006. His critically acclaimed productions of The Nutcracker
and Rainforest have been presented throughout the country, and
he has been commissioned to stage ballets for the Dayton Ballet in Ohio,
the Lone Star Ballet in Amarillo, Texas and for the Aspen/Santa Fe Ballet.
Mr. Taylor currently serves as an adjunct faculty member, teaching dance
history, at Colorado State University in Fort Collins and as a guest faculty
member teaching intermediate and advanced ballet technique, pointe, pas
de deux and variations for numerous ballet schools and companies along
the front range. Besides still serving as the Artistic Director Emeritus
for the David Taylor Dance Theatre, Mr. Taylor recently founded a new
company, the Zikr Sacred Dance Ensemble in the summer of 2009.
|
Steven Vogel
|
Steven has trained at the Metropolitan Academy of Dance for the past
fifteen years. He has performed in many locales including the 2001 Orange
Bowl Half Time Show, on two Royal Caribbean Cruise Ships, and in New York
City. Steven has had many roles in The Nutcracker, including
Fritz, the Nutcracker Prince, and the Sugar Plum Fairy's Cavalier. He
has received multiple scholarships at the New York City Dance Alliance
conventions for "Most Potential," and in 2002 also won the "Most
Potential" award at the Footloose Dance Competition. In 2005 Steven
won the "Best Choreography" award at the On Stage America dance
competition for the dance he co-choreographed. Also in 2005, he was accepted
through audition and he attended the American Ballet Theatre's Summer
Intensive Program in Orange County, California. From 2005-2007, Steven
performed with the David Taylor Dance Theatre. Last season Steven performed
the roles of Harlequin and the Chinese divertissement in David Taylor
Dance Theatre's The Nutcracker.
|