Leadership
Ashleigh Doede received her early ballet training at Le Studio Dance, studying with Philip and Charles Fuller, Gilma Bustillo DeQuattro, Roberto Almaguer, Julia Ortega, Roxanne Olesijuk, Charles Maple, and Nancy Evans Doede. She graduated from the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts in 2006, training with KaRon Brown Lehman, Don Martin, Vera Ninkovic, Beth Hirschhaut-Iguchi, Reggie Brown, and Randall Graham. Ashleigh went on to study with Glenn Edgerton and perform with Anaheim Ballet under the direction of Larry and Sarma Rosenberg, dancing a range of soloist roles. From 2007-2009, she performed with Nancy Einhorn Milwaukee Ballet II in choreographic works by Michael Pink, Marius Petipa, and Anthony Tudor.
From 2006-2010, Ashleigh has participated in renowned summer programs including Boston Ballet, San Francisco Conservatory of Dance, Springboard Danse Montréal, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, and Northwest Dance Project. Ashleigh met James Canfield at NWDP and thereafter joined Nevada Ballet Theatre (2010–2011) as a trainee. She choreographed and performed for the student outreach program and contributed choreography to the 4th annual Choreographer’s Showcase, collaborating with Cirque du Soleil dancers at the Aria Hotel and Casino Theatre.
Her professional career also includes performing with Pasadena Dance Theatre (2009–2021), in works choreographed by Laurence Blake, Cynthia Young, Antonio Lopez, among others. Selected roles include the Snow Queen and Sugar Plum Fairy in The Nutcracker, Mustardseed in Laurence Blake’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and soloist roles in contemporary works. Ashleigh joined Pasadena Dance Theatre’s Conservatory Faculty in 2011, became a foundational teacher, and was appointed to Artistic & Conservatory Director at the start of the 2025-2026 season.
Beyond her work with Pasadena Dance Theatre, she continues to expand her artistry as a founding member, choreographer, and Associate Artistic Director of Nancy Evans Dance Theatre, as an aerialist, and as a certified yoga instructor with a 500-hour certification from YogaWorks.
Liza Barskaya began her dance training in Los Angeles and spent summers with American Ballet Theatre, Boston Ballet, and Ballet Austin, where she performed as a Professional Division Trainee. She later danced in New York City with Dances Patrelle and American Swiss Ballet, and worked at Ballet Academy East. Her performance credits include LA Choreographers and Dancers, Benita Bike’s DanceArt Company, Ballet Austin, Martha Graham Dance Company, and The Assembly, along with media projects with John Tesh, Red Hot Organization, and My Big Fat Blonde Musical. As a choreographer and director, Liza has created work for stage, video, and opera. In 2015, she directed and choreographed an adaptation of Khalil Gibran’s The Prophet for Upper Manhattan’s inaugural Higher Ground Festival. Her choreography has been presented by Red Brick Road Theatre Company, Endeavor Theatre Ensemble, and Mesopotamian Opera Company, and she is currently the resident Stage Director for Independent Opera Company.
Faculty
Arletta Anderson is a Los Angeles based dance artist, performance maker, and educator whose practice centers weight sharing, momentum, and grounded movement. She has performed with choreographers and directors including Gerald Casel, Detour Dance, Summation Dance, Aura Fischbeck, DaEun Jung, and Kevin Williamson. She was a collaborator and performer in Catherine Galasso’s Alone Together at ODC Theater in San Francisco, a work nominated for an Isadora Duncan Award for Outstanding Achievement in Performance. She currently performs with DaEun Jung’s touring project NORRI.
Arletta creates original performance work in collaboration with writer and theater artist Adam Smith, with projects commissioned and presented nationally. Her teaching draws from floorwork, somatic practice, and athletic efficiency, supporting dancers in moving with clarity, adaptability, and ease. She has taught at institutions including the University of San Francisco, Bowling Green State University, Scripps College, UCLA, LMU, UC Riverside, the University of Hawaii, and Orange County School of the Arts. She holds a degree in Dance from LMU, is a Teaching Artist with Ground Grooves, and leads yoga and movement classes for dancers and non dancers.
Quron Clarks, originally from Little Rock, Arkansas, discovered his passion for dance in Los Angeles. He trained at the Lula Washington Dance Theatre School and graduated from the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts in 2014. He went on to earn a BA from the Institute of the Arts Barcelona, performing with five professional companies and taking on commercial work during his studies. After graduating, Quron performed with Royal Caribbean and Norwegian Creative Studios before returning to LA to fulfill a dream of dancing with Lula Washington Dance Theatre, where he concluded his time in 2023 as a Principal Dancer. He continues to perform as a guest artist with Bernard Brown/BB Moves.
Helga de Kansky received her basic training in New York from Mme. Anderson-Ivantzova, former prima ballerina of the Bolshoi Ballet. Throughout her career she studied in Europe with Mmes. Preobrajenska, Nijinska, Volkova, Nora Hightower and John Taras. Helga was engaged by the Colonel de Basil Ballet Russe for seasons in London (Covent Garden) and Paris in 1947. She then joined the Grand Ballet du Marquis de Cuevas, being named soloist after three years and remaining with the company for eight years. She worked with choreographers Massine, Nijinske, Dolin, Lichine, Balanchine, Taras and Dollar. Her roles included Queen of the Willis in Giselle (Perrot/Dolin), Taglioni and Grisi in Pas de Quatre (Perrot), the Prelude in Les Sylphides (Fokine) and prominent roles in Princess Aurora (Petipa), Sebastian (Caton), Petrouchka (Fokine), Jeux (Lichine), Dessins pour les Six (Taras), etc. In 1956 Helga danced for a year with The Netherlands Ballet as a principal ballerina. She began teaching in Paris in 1957 and has been teaching in California since 1960, giving master classes for Dance in Action, Pasadena City College and Pasadena High School, and was an associate professor of dance at Cal State LA (1985/86). She founded Concert Ballet of California in 1981, for which she choreographed Designs (Czerny), Bach Concerto, Five Dances (Chopin), A Tale of Undines (Poulenc), A Celebration (Pachelbel) and Clouds (Halpin).
Noel Dilworth spent 10 years as a competitive rhythmic gymnast before transitioning to dance. She began her ballet training at Contra Costa Ballet in Northern California and continued her studies at Maryland Youth Ballet, Pacific Northwest Ballet School, The Alvin Ailey School at Fordham University, and North Carolina Dance Theatre, where she later joined the second company as a dancer. Noel has performed professionally with North Carolina Dance Theatre II, ARC Dance Seattle, San Diego Opera, Los Angeles Opera, and Pasadena Dance Theatre. She holds a BFA in Dance Performance from UC Irvine and was awarded second prize at the Mary Rich Peery Fife Dance Competition, hosted by the National Society for Arts and Letters in Washington, D.C. Noel also holds a 400-hour Pilates certification from Studio du Corps in Orange County.
Nancy Evans Doede is a Pasadena-based choreographer, director, and educator whose career bridges the worlds of dance and theater. She is the Artistic Director and founder of Nancy Evans Dance Theatre (NEDT), a modern-based company established in 2009 in Pasadena, CA. With NEDT, she has created a platform for original works that highlight storytelling across generations and frequently feature mature artists whose voices are too often underrepresented in the dance field. The company has produced acclaimed projects such as WORKS (2010–2019), Figures of Speech (2018–2021), and Friends/Family/Dance/Festival (2011–2015), and has performed at numerous festivals and venues throughout California and beyond.
Nancy’s artistic journey began in Minneapolis, where she danced with the Nancy Hauser Dance Company. A student of modern dance pioneer Hanya Holm, she developed a deep commitment to blending expressive movement with theatrical narrative. Her passion for theater also shaped her early career as an original member of Chicago’s now world-renowned Steppenwolf Theatre Company, where she performed and directed.
Throughout her career, Nancy has cultivated an approach that emphasizes collaboration, empowering dancers to serve as co-creators in the artistic process. Her work has been presented at regional and national festivals, and through NEDT she continues to mentor emerging choreographers. Drawing on her dual background in dance and theater, Nancy’s voice as an artist merges traditional and experimental forms, celebrates human experience, and fosters lasting connections between performers and audiences.
Elise Holmes began her training at Pasadena Dance Theatre under Cynthia Young and Laurence Blake. In 2015, she was the recipient of the Pasadena Arts Council Young Artist Award for dance. Holmes then went on to the University of California, Irvine, where she received her B.F.A in Dance Performance with a minor in Biological Sciences. She was the recipient of the William J. Gillespie Scholarship and had the opportunity to perform at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts for Chinese New Year, the American Chinese Spring Festival Gala, as well as internationally in Shanghai, China.
In 2020, Elise became a trainee with San Jose Dance Theatre before being promoted to the company in 2021. There she performed various leading roles such as, Mina in Dracula, as well as roles in original works by distinguished choreographers such as Michael Pappalardo and Mark Foehringer. She has danced professionally with various companies including Opera San Jose, in their productions of Dido and Aeneas and West Side Story, where she was the Dance Captain, Mark Foehringer's Nutcracker Sweets, and Pasadena Dance Theatre. She most recently made her debut in SoCal Ballet Scene’s Festival featured as a soloist in their excerpt of Le Corsaire.
Holmes began teaching community youth classes during college and later taught at West Valley Dance Company and San Jose Dance Theatre. At San Jose, she led the advanced pre-professional ballet and jazz program, as well as staging the student performances. At West Valley, she curated the ballet curriculum for their competitive team and taught a wide range of dance styles.
Francisco Martinez is a choreographer and dance educator whose training spans ballet, modern, improvisation, and choreography. He received early formal training at Inner City Cultural Center in Los Angeles with Donald McKayle and Janet Collins, and continued his studies at the University of Arizona and Texas Christian University. After moving to New York City, he trained with artists including Alwin Nikolais, Murray Louis, Yuriko Kumura, and David Howard, with additional study through the Limón Dance Company.
Francisco has taught at CSULA, CSULB, LACHSA, Dance Conservatory of Pasadena, and Pasadena Dance Theatre, and developed the ballet program at Plaza de la Raza, where he taught for fifteen years. He joined the faculty at Occidental College in 2001 and founded Francisco Martinez Dancetheatre in 1981. His concert dance works have received multiple Lester Horton Dance Awards for Outstanding Achievement in Choreography and Set Design. He also spent twenty five years teaching improvisation and choreography through the Music Center of Los Angeles Education Division, reaching elementary students across Southern California through curriculum integrated instruction and in school performances.
Jean-Marie Martz holds a ballet master diploma from the Association Française des Maîtres de Danse Classique in Paris. During his 30-year career as a ballet instructor, he has taught at the Centre International de la Danse in Paris, Colorado Ballet in Denver, Idyllwild Arts Academy in California, University of California, Riverside, among others. After studying ballet in France at the Fédération Française de Danse Classique and in England at the Legat School of Russian Ballet, he performed in Germany with the Stuttgart Ballet and the Munich Ballet. He subsequently pursued his interest in modern dance in New York at the Martha Graham School of Contemporary Dance and the Merce Cunningham Studio, and studied dance kinesiology with Dorothy Vislocky. His studies in somatic movement modalities have included the Body-Mind Centering® certification program and the Feldenkrais® Method. Presently based in LA, Jean-Marie has conducted anatomy-based ballet pedagogy workshops internationally for organizations such as the Theatre School in Amsterdam, the Chichester Institute of Higher Education in England, the Royal Academy of Dance in Mexico City, the Laban/Bartenieff Institute of Movement Studies in New York, and the European League of Institutes of the Arts. He has been a member of Pasadena Dance Theatre’s faculty since 2008.
Julia Ortega received her training at the School of Arts in Holguín, Cuba, and at the prestigious School of the Ballet Nacional de Cuba. She went on to dance with Ballet de Camagüey and later with the Ballet Nacional de Cuba, where she rose to the rank of soloist under the legendary Alicia Alonso. In 1989, she was awarded the Gold Medal at the International Ballet Competition in Peru, further establishing her as a rising artist of note.
In 1992, Julia joined Cleveland Ballet as a principal dancer, performing an extensive repertoire of Dennis Nahat’s works, including originating roles in the premiere of Blue Suede Shoes. Throughout her career, she has performed leading roles in both classical and contemporary ballets, with highlights including Giselle, Swan Lake, Don Quixote, Le Corsaire, Paquita, Sleeping Beauty, Romeo and Juliet, Serenade, Who Cares?, Allegro Brillante, Tarantella, and Pasadena Dance Theatre’s annual production of The Nutcracker. Julia has been a part of Pasadena Dance Theatre’s faculty since 1999.
Jacqueline Pierce is a dancer and choreographer originally from Orange County, California. She began her early training with Charles Maple at the Maple Conservatory of Dance and later studied in the Professional Division at The Ailey School in New York. She holds a degree from UCLA’s Department of World Arts and Cultures/Dance, where she performed, choreographed, and co-produced original work through programs such as WACsmash and Dance Senior Projects. Her choreography was also featured at the inaugural Ballet Alliance Festival in Spokane, Washington.
Jacqueline has expanded her technical and artistic range through training with Cincinnati Ballet, the National Choreography Intensive, and Regional Dance America. She currently performs with Nancy Evans Dance Theatre while continuing to pursue her ballet training and choreographic development.
Jacob Schmieder-Hacker began his dance journey with Pasadena Dance Theatre at age eight in The Nutcracker and soon after joined the Conservatory year-round. By ten, he was selected to perform in Swan Lake with the Australian Ballet at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. His training also includes Marat Daukayev School of Ballet, Amirian Ballet Academy, Alonzo King LINES Ballet, International Ballet Academy, BalletRED, and Complexions.
Jacob values movement in many forms, holding a black belt in taekwondo alongside extensive training in Pilates, Yoga, and Gyrotonics. He has performed a diverse repertoire of classical and contemporary roles and choreographed original works presented in PDT’s Développé Project. Jacob teaches PDT’s Boys Elementary class, performs annually in The Nutcracker, as well as with Nancy Evans Dance Theatre.
Ezra Shipin is a dancer, choreographer, and educator from Los Angeles, CA. Though versatile across many styles, her career has been rooted in ballet and contemporary dance. She trained at the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts under Fiona Lummis, Wendy Lawson, Edouard Kouzmitch, Don Martin, and Julie Friedrich, and furthered her studies through intensives with the Bolshoi Ballet and Ballet Chicago. During this time, Ezra performed soloist roles in Napoli, Coppélia, Sleeping Beauty, La Bayadère, Jewels, and Symphony of Psalms. She also danced and captained the WNBA’s SparKids team under Liezel Marie and Adam Parson.
Ezra earned her BFA in Dance from CalArts, where she performed original works by faculty and restaged repertory from Ballet Hispánico and Alvin Ailey. Her performance career has spanned concert dance and commercial work, including music videos for Phoebe Bridgers, Ava Max, Vincint, and MILK, as well as performing with MashUp Contemporary Dance Company, Alice Farley Dance Company, XY Dance Project, and MeMovement. As an educator, Ezra has taught and choreographed widely, serving as a mentor with AllwayzOnStage, a nonprofit supporting young adults with disabilities in musical theatre. She has also assisted choreographers at Broadway Dance Center, Ballet Arts, and Steps, and has set work on dancers of Dallas Black Dance Theatre and D1 Asociación Cultural in Peru with Nijawwon Matthews.
Accompanists
Mark Litver & Nonna Ter-Avanesova