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Joanna Jarvis, A.R.A.D. is the director of Ballet by the Sea in Malibu, California. She founded the school along with the Malibu Civic Ballet in 1978. She holds both an Advanced Dancing Certificate as well as an Advanced Teaching Certificate from the Royal Academy of Dance. She trained at both the Royal Ballet School of London and the National Ballet School of Canada. Her performing experience includes the Atlanta Ballet and Radio City Music Hall Corps de Ballet. She is a superb advanced level coach, and we are very fortunate to have her on the faculty this summer.

Tawny Gentry, has been residing in Kansas City for the past two years and is a member of Storling Dance Theater as well as Maxxas Dance Theater. She has recently performed lead roles in several productions including "Butterfly," "Suspended Grace," "The Prodigal Daughter," and "3 Days." Previously, she lived in Houston for three years and was a member of Ad Deum Dance Company and had the opportunity to tour to several places including Los Angeles, Florida, NewYork, Singapore, and Malaysia. In addition to performing, she loves teaching ballet, pointe, modern, jazz, as well as choreographing. She is on faculty at The Culture House and also teaches for their pre-professional training program and their at-risk youth program. Originally, a product of Santa Clarita Ballet, where she danced with the company, completed all the Major R.A.D exams, and taught in the school, she is thrilled to once again to be teaching at our Summer Dance Intensive!

Antonio Lopez, began studying ballet in his native Alburquerque, New Mexico, as an adjunct to competitive sports. Two years later he accepted a scholarship to attend San Francisco Ballet School, where he studied with the pre-imminent teacher, Anatole Vilzak. Four years later he joined the San Francisco Ballet as a full member. As a member of the San Francisco Ballet, Antonio Lopez has trained under some of the great ballet masters of our time including, Erik Bruhn, Brian Shaw and the late Terry Westmoreland. He has danced the lead roles in most of the Christensen repertoire, including NUTCRACKER, BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, CINDERELLA, AIRS DE BALLET, and DONA JUAN.We are honored to have Mr. Lopez as a guest teacher this summer.

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Carol Guidry is the Artistic Director of the Santa Clarita Ballet Company.  She received her R.A.D. training and Advanced 2 Certificate at the Audrey Share School. She was a soloist with the Minnesota Dance Theatre appearing in works by George Balanchine, Sir Frederick Ashton, Glen Tetly, Eugene Loring, and José Limon. She lived in Germany for 8 years where she danced in several companies and also had the opportunity to teach company classes and choreograph a number of pieces. She has also appeared with the Los Angeles Chamber Ballet and has choreographed productions for The Mark Taper Forum, John Anson Ford and Odyssey Theaters.

Danica Primo brings to our school an extensive dance background.  She trained at the Boston Ballet School, Marin Ballet and the West Coast Conservatory of Ballet. She performed with the Portland Ballet Company, Marin Ballet in San Rafael, California, and Ballet Unlimited in Orange, California. She has been teaching with our academy since September, 1998. Danica is a member and registered teacher of the Royal Academy of Dance.

Jerry Kokich came to dance relatively late in life, taking his first ballet class the week he graduated from high school. Born into a theatrical family in New York (both parents were Broadway perfromers) Jerry studied with Tina Youskevitch, Gabriela Darvash, Stanley Williams and Andrei Kramerevsky before joing the Joffrey II Dancers. After 1 1/2 years, he was promoted to the main company where he remained for 8 years, touring internationally and dancing in such ballets as Rodeo, The Green Table, Round of Angels (Original Cast), Suite St Saens, and the rock ballet Billboards among others far too numerous to list. Jerry's athletic background includes long distance running, cycling and swimming (yes, while he was dancing) martial arts, weight training and stage combat. He has choreographed for the Joffrey Ballet School Summer workshop and is looking forward to working with the wonderful dancers at Santa Clarita Ballet.

Pamela Sosa began her ballet training with Heather Benes at Mojave Movement Arts Center in 1992.  In 1995, she moved to Bakersfield where she studied RAD with Patty Ashby for 8 years at Ashby Acedemy of Dance.  Pamela passed her Advanced 2 exam with Distinction in 2003 and is a registered teacher with the Royal Academy of Dance. 

Denise Plummer (Jazz), was trained at the Westside School of Ballet in Los Angeles for eight years and at the Milwaukee Ballet School before changing her focus to musical theater. Credits include the national tour of “Showboat”, regional tours of Mame, The Will Rogers Follies , regional shows including Evita, She Loves Me, Paint Your Wagon and Sugar Babies. She has also appeared as a dancer in film and television as well as many industrial shows. 

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Past Instructors

Tom Vannucci has directed, written created, cast and choreographed shows and special events for Paramount, Fox Broadcasting, The Walt Disney Company, Warner Bros., Twentieth Century Fox, Universal Studios, MGM, Comedy Central, Buena Vista HOme Video, The Dollywood Co., Knott's Berry Farma dn Princess Crruise Lines. Tom's performing career afforded him the honor of training with and dancing fo rsuch noted choreographers as Nolan T'Sani of NYBT and artistic director of Capitol City Ballet; the late Gregory Hines and Pam "Thompson in the feature film "Tap"; Laverne Krei, Charles (Chuck) Kelley and Melissa Hayden. Tom's ballet technique is strongly rooted in the Russian style. He was a memeber of Capitol City Ballet and Sacramento Ballet Theatre. His mentor at the University level was Jack Tygett protégé to Jack Cole and Hermes Pans. Tom uses his 25 years of experience and knowledge to expose students to varied period and technical styles of dance and performance.

Holly Johnston (Modern), is a Los Angeles based dance artist and educator. She graduated in 1996 with a BA in Dance from Loyola Marymount University, under the direction of Judy Scalin. In 1997, she was invited to become a founding member of TONGUE, whose Artistic Director is Stephanie Gilliland. Since then Ms. Johnston has worked extensively with Gilliland who has been instrumental in her training and development as an artist, educator and choreographer. Holly brings to her work a developed understanding of the movement arts and sciences, including biomechanics of contemporary and classical dance techniques. Her choreographic work has been regularly commissioned by Loyola Marymount University and her work Door One, Left was selected for the Southwest Regional Gala Concert at the American College Dance Festival 2004.

Angela Watkin (A.R.A.D.), is a veteran teacher of thirty five years. She trained in ballet from the age of six. She graduated from the University of Capetown in South Africa with a degree in Dance, and went on to dance professionally for three years, before opening her own ballet school. She became a Royal Academy of Dance Childrens examiner in 1992. She moved to the U.S.A four years ago, and we are delighted to have her as a guest teacher this summer.

Patricia C. Shillaci is a certified teacher of the Royal Academy of Dancing in London. She is also a graduate of Loyola Marymount University and is a certified teacher of the Pilates based dance conditioning and rehabilitation methods at Long Beach Dance Conditioning Studio. With over ten years of teaching experience in the Los Angeles area, Patricia is now the founder and director of the Los Angeles Children’s Ballet Academy for which she has produced full length original ballets and choreography. She also performs regularly in the Southern California area with the modern dance company, Light of the Moon Dance Project.

Clark Roberts (Tap), a native of Oklahoma, has been on stage since the age of four. He studied Musical Theatre at the University of Central Oklahoma and his recent credits include: Dr. Frank-n-furter in the Rocky Horror Picture Show, Snoopy in You're a Good Man Charlie Brown, Sister Mary in Leo in Nunsence Again! and Kenickie inGrease. He started teaching tap in high school, continued through college and is very excited to be at the S.C.B.A. Thank you Mrs. Corinne for giving me the chance to teach the best students in town!

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