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.