Our Staff & Instructors
School Administration
Karen Russo Burke
Artistic Director, Dayton Ballet. Karen danced leading roles by world famous choreographers Gerald Arpino, Antony Tudor, José Limón and Paul Taylor in her 11-year career as a principal dancer for American Repertory Ballet. Karen has taught at DBS as well as Stivers School for the Arts, Wright State University, University of Dayton, and CCM at University of Cincinnati. She has choreographed extensively for Dayton Ballet.
Anne Davis
Dayton Ballet School Administrator, grew up in the Dayton Ballet School dancing under Josephine Schwarz. She was a member of DBII for six years. She has over 14 years of experience teaching ballet, jazz and modern at DBS and Everybody Dance in Northern Virginia.
Dayton Ballet II Directors
Megan Forney
Co-Director, DBII Junior/Senior/Outreach programs. Megan graduated from Wright State University with a BFA in dance. Megan has danced with Dayton Ballet II Senior. She has been the recipient of the Miss Josephine and Hermene Schwarz Award, Dancer Peer Award and the Walter J. McCaslin Memorial Award. Megan had the featured role in Bushido at WSU. You have seen her dance in The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, The Nutcracker, There Was a Time, and The Three Musketeers with Dayton Ballet. She is also children’s coordinator for The Nutcracker.
Gabrielle Sharp
Co Director, DBII Junior/Senior. Gabrielle danced with Dayton Ballet. You saw her perform in Dracula, The Nutcracker, Tales from the Shadow, There Was a Time and America’s Robin Hood and just recently as the fairy godmother in Cinderella and the Nurse in Romeo and Juliet. While a member of DBII Sr. she received the Dancer Peer Award, Walter J. McCaslin Memorial Award and the Josephine and Hermene Schwarz awards. Gabrielle was the previous director of the SSK Dance Ensemble.
Dance Instructors
Kendra Beaverson
Kendra Beaverson graduated from Toledo School for the Arts as a dance major working underneath Alison Reny and Laura Blaufuss. She trained at Toledo Ballet for ten years, Company C Dance Club for four years, and spent a year dancing in DBII Senior. She has trained in classical ballet, pointe, jazz, tap, hip hop and contemporary. Kendra started teaching when she was 15 years old at Toledo Ballet. She continues to teach and choreograph for Epic Dance Academy. She has also been a guest instructor at West Chester Academy. She aspires to continue her journey as a performer and expand her knowledge as a dance teacher.
Olivia Bruno
Olivia Bruno began dancing at the age of two. Recognizing that she had a passion for dance, she trained with a focus in classical ballet with Dayton Ballet and Pontecorvo Ballet Studios. She went on to become a trainee with Nashville Ballet and BalletMet. Performing roles in The Nutcracker, Cinderella, and Serenade. While At Pontecorvo and BalletMet she helped to teach Dancing Unlimited and Wiggle Jig programs for disabled children. Now attending Wright State University as a dance major she also dances with Dayton Ballet’s second and main company and has performed professional roles in The Nutcracker and Cinderella.
Received her training at Dance in the Rockies in Durango and worked closely with esteemed teacher/Artistic Director Valerie Madonia. Katy spent several summers training at The Jillana School, Ballet West, The Joffrey Ballet in New York, and Colorado Ballet on full scholarship. She spent the 2011–2012 season with Colorado Ballet’s Studio Company. She performed in Swan Lake, Michael Pink’s Peter Pan and community outreach programs. Her favorite roles include Swan Corps in Swan Lake, Gerald Arpino’s Reflections, and Amy Seiwart’s Chasing Ghosts. She is honored to be returning for her eighth year with Dayton Ballet.
Paul Gilliam
Paul Gilliam started his ballet training in Ardmore, Oklahoma and finished in 2002 at the Houston Ballet Academy. He is happy to be in his fourteenth season with Dayton Ballet in the last seventeen years; while away he performed many leading roles, including Franz in Coppelia; Diana and Acteon; Basilio in Don Quixote; Esmeralda pas de deux; and roles in many contemporary works. During his years with the Dayton Ballet he has performed as Escamillo in Carmen, Renfield in Dracula, Peter in Peter Pan, D’Artagnan in The Three Musketeers, and an Ugly Stepsister in Cinderella.
Ashley Griffin grew up in Florence, South Carolina, where she joined South Carolina Dance Theatre under the direction of Susan Rowe and had the opportunity to perform in many leading roles. She was accepted into Boston Ballet School’s Pre-Professional Program on full scholarship. In 2018, Ashley joined the Orlando Ballet School as a trainee and was promoted to Orlando Ballet II after one season. During her time with Orlando Ballet II, Ashley completed a Bachelor’s Degree in Health Science from Northeastern University with Summa Cum Laude honors. She has also completed Boston Ballet’s Adaptive Dance Teacher Certification. Ashley is very excited to join Dayton Ballet as a company member and a teacher in the Dayton Ballet School.
Studied with Jock Soto at the School of American Ballet. Performed Cortège Hongrois and Le Tombeau de Couperin in SAB’s annual Workshop Performance. Jonathan spent a year each as a trainee with the Washington Ballet and then a second company member with BalletMet in Columbus, Ohio. He joined the Sacramento Ballet in 2015 and danced there for the next 4 years. Jonathan has enjoyed a diverse performance career including Sugar Plum Cavalier in Ron Cunningham’s The Nutcracker, George Balanchine’s Tarantella and Donizetti Variations.
Studied under the direction of Cyndi Buczek and Sergey Rayevskiy. He has danced as a trainee with Sarasota Ballet and as a company dancer with Eugene Ballet Company. He has danced as a guest artist for Gregory Hancock Dance Theatre, Northern California Ballet, Ballet East, Detroit Dance City Festival, and Brighton Dance Festival. He has danced featured roles in works by Jiří Kylián, Gerald Arpino, Toni Pimble, Septime Webre, Mariana Oliveira, Amy Seiwert, Suzanne Haag, Ilya Kozadayev, David Justin, Stephanie Martinez, and Karen Russo Burke. This is Isaac’s third season with Dayton Ballet.
Kathryn McCarty
Trained and performed with companies such as Boston Ballet, Pennsylvania Ballet, The Russian Ballet Theatre of Delaware and Ballet West. Some of Kathryn’s professional credits include Tokyo Disneyland, Disney Cruise Lines, as well as numerous theater productions across the country. Kathryn was the Founder & Artistic Director of Central Nebraska Youth Ballet, as well as having directed & taught in the studio setting for over a decade. She loves to share her passion of dance with this generation’s young artists!
Graduated from the University of Cincinnati with a BFA in ballet. There she had the opportunity to dance in China with the Beijing Dance Academy and performed roles in Serenade, Giselle, and other contemporary works. In 2007, she danced with Gem City Ballet and performed in ballets such as Raymonda, Who Cares, and Sleeping Beauty. Since joining Dayton Ballet, she has enjoyed performing Jiří Kylián’s Sechs Tänze, Ron Cunningham’s The Great Gatsby, and Stephen Mills’ Quartet from Five Flights Up. Claire would like to thank her family and fiancé for their love and support.
Polly Sutton
At the University of Utah she was a member of Utah Ballet and Character Dance Ensemble, and performed with many companies including Ballet West, Alonzo King’s Lines, Aspen Santa Fe Ballet and Ballet Folklorico. Polly received her ABT teacher certification and joined the staff of the Butler University Dance Department where she teaches ballet technique and pointe and variations.
Mara Sturm
Mara Sturm, BA in Dance is from Lapeer, MI. She trained in Ballet, Modern & Jazz at the Flint School of Performing Arts for 13 years. As a member of the Flint Youth Ballet, Mara traveled with Young Tanzsommer for a 12 day dance tour through cities in Austria! After graduating from Grand Valley State University in 2008 with her Bachelor of Arts in Dance, Mara was accepted into the Dayton Contemporary Dance 2nd Company. After two years with DCDC2 she joined Mam-Luft & Co. Dance for one season in Cincinnati, Oh.
Marie Tender began dancing at the age of five, training with Champaign Ballet Academy and at the world-renowned Harid Conservatory in Boca Raton Florida. Marie joined the Colorado Ballet’s studio company, where she performed numerous roles in the company's productions amd went on to become a company member with the American Repertory Ballet. Marie began teaching for the associated Princeton Ballet School, working with students of all ages. Marie has spent several years guiding pre-professional students through their development in classical technique, and pointe work, as well as staging choreography for school productions. Marie is passionate about her students' artistic growth, as well as their gains in confidence, focus, and professionalism.
Distinguished Alumni!
Danced with Ballet Repertory, NYC. She owned and operated a dance school for 10 years and was a faculty member and examiner for Dance Masters of Ohio. Carol Jean taught ballet and musical theatre at the Living Arts Center and has been on the DBS faculty since 1987. She has also choreographed extensively in the Dayton area. Carol Jean was school administrator for the last 20 years.
Distinguished Alumni!
Danced professionally with American Ballet Theatre. She holds an MFA in Dance from NYU. For five years, she was the producing artistic director for Art from Every Angle, benefiting the Josephine Schwarz Dayton Dancer Fund. She is an ABT® Certified Teacher in Pre-Primary through Level 7 and Partnering. She currently directs the Oakwood Ballet.
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