Staff | Oregon Ballet Theatre School

Marion Tonner | School Director

Marion Tonner has joined the dedicated team of dance professionals who comprise faculty and staff of the esteemed Oregon Ballet Theatre School. She came to us from Orlando Ballet School, where she joyfully served as Principal.

Tonner has called the U.S. her home since 1974, and danced professionally with the Maryland Ballet, where she later served as Ballet Master. A dance educator, Ms. Tonner was a senior faculty member of the University of the Arts, Miami City Ballet, and Boston Ballet. Marion also directed her own school for 10 years in Philadelphia, the “Marion Tonner Ballet Center.”

A native of England, Ms. Tonner received her education and dance training in London. She graduated from the Royal Academy of Dance with a Licentiate Diploma and Advanced Teaching Degree. She is also an American Ballet Theatre© Certified Teacher of the ABT National Training Curriculum (P-5). She has extensive knowledge of major dance training systems used worldwide, and enjoys analyzing body mechanics and designing classes, to promote artistry and prevent injury.

Ms. Tonner has been a summer guest teacher for 23 years, for the world-renowned Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet. Other guest teaching includes the American Academy of Ballet in New York, Orlando Ballet, Sarasota Ballet, Pittsburgh Youth Ballet, ISOMATA, and many dance teacher organizations throughout the country. She created and developed a professional dance program for the Lake Wales Charter Schools in Florida, bringing classical ballet to hundreds of underserved K-12 students in Central Florida.

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Administration

Teaching Faculty

Pianists

Irina Golberg
Garnet Hayes
Karen Lam
Ayako Matsuo
Ray McKean
Lee Nolan
Alec Pemberton
Katie Pyne
Tiffany Sanford
David Saffert
Jordan Strang
Western-Li Summerton

Teaching Faculty Biographies

Natasha Bar

Natasha Bar was born in Odessa, Ukraine. She was trained in the classical tradition of Odessa State Choreographic Academy and continued her studies with legendary teachers Julius Placht, Elena Tchernishova, and Marina Shamsheva. Natasha went on to dance professionally with the Odessa Ballet Company for 15 years. During her career she worked with world renowned choreographers Leonid Lavrovsky, Oleg Vinogradov, Igor Tchernishov, and Nina Fedorova. As a soloist with the company she performed leading roles in classical and contemporary ballets and toured internationally.

Since she moved to the U.S., Natasha Bar has established a reputation as a well-known teacher, choreographer and coach in both traditional Vaganova and contemporary American styles. Natasha was on the faculty of the Rock School of the Pennsylvania Ballet in Philadelphia for 15 years, both as a teacher and as the official International Competition Coach. While at the Rock School, Natasha coached the winners of international competitions in Moscow, Jackson, Greece, Paris, and the Youth America GrandPrix in New York City.

In 2008 Natasha was honored with the Outstanding Teacher Award by Youth American Grand Prix. Many of Natasha’s students are professionally employed by major dance companies including New York City Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, Royal Danish Ballet, Joffrey Ballet, and Alvin Ailey. Natasha was featured in the MTV series “Made” and in the feature film NY Export: Opus Jazz, which aired on PBS and stars New York City Ballet dancers. Natasha’s daughter, Ellen Bar, enjoyed a 13 year career as a soloist with New York City Ballet.

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Elise Legere

Elise’s dance training began at one of only two Denishawn studios in the country. One of her first professional performances was at Jacob’s Pillow for Ted Shawn’s anniversary tribute in 1972. After graduating from Walnut Hill School for the Performing Arts in Natick, Massachusetts, Elise studied under scholarship with the School of Hartford Ballet. Elise continued her ballet training with Melissa Hayden and Elizabeth Carroll while attending Skidmore College. She later earned her BS degree from Skidmore College, University Without Walls. Elise moved to New York City in 1978 and studied with David Howard, Lawrence Rhodes and Maggie Black.

Elise’s professional career began with Garden State Ballet in 1978 where she spent three years, dancing several solo roles including the Sugar Plum Fairy in their Nutcracker. During Elise’s career, she performed ballets from notable choreographers such as George Balanchine, Lew Christensen, William Dollar, Peter Anastos, and Peter Martins.

After marrying and moving to Boston, her career continued with Boston Repertory Ballet and New England Ballet, before moving on to Hartford Ballet. Elise and her husband moved to Oregon in 1986 with their infant daughter. She resumed her dancing career with Ballet Oregon under the direction of Dennis Spaight. Elise has been on the faculty of Oregon Ballet Theatre School since 1998.

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Rachel Närhi

Rachel Närhi began her dance training and career in Seattle where she received a BFA in Dance from Cornish College of the Arts (2004). With almost 20 years’ experience teaching ballet, creative dance, arts integration, and dance education to children and adults, she has had the privilege of teaching at Pacific Northwest Ballet School, Western Washington University and many notable institutions throughout the Northwest. She currently manages the West Linn branch of Oregon Ballet Theatre School and is President of the Oregon Dance Education Organization, a forming state affiliate of the National Dance Education Organization (NDEO). Previously, she taught with Dance Fusion NW, Oregon Ballet Theatre’s Education and Outreach program, Young Audiences of SW Washington and Oregon in their acclaimed Arts for Learning program, and Arts IMPACT. She performed with Pacific Dance Company, Cornish Dance Theatre, Spinergy Arts, David Dorfman, and Gerard Theoret, among others. From 2007-2010, Ms. Närhi founded Open Flame Dance Theater, a contemporary dance company that melded ballet, modern dance, and fire performance. Her works have been commissioned by The Seattle Opera, The Burning Man Festival, The Seattle Solstice Fire Festival, and performed throughout Western North America.

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Jessica Post

Jessica Post earned an MFA in Dance from the University of Michigan (2013), where she received a teaching assistantship and the Rackham International Research Award. She also earned a BFA in Dance from Cornish College of the Arts (2006), where she was selected to perform in the restaging of works by Martha Graham and José

Limón. Her professional performing experience includes five seasons with The Dance COLEctive in Chicago, and she was also a founding company member with Esoteric Dance Project. She began teaching dance in 2005, and has taught extensively in studios, workshops and higher education, including the dance programs at Eastern Michigan University and Hillsdale College. Jessica also has an ongoing interest in conditioning methods for dancers. She completed a 600- hour comprehensive Pilates certification in 2008 and has been teaching Pilates in private and group settings ever since. Outside of teaching, her choreography has been presented at the Detroit Dance City Festival (MI), National Flute Association Convention (San Diego), Detroit Institute of Arts (MI), Hillsdale College (MI), Duderstadt Video Studio (MI), Brighton Dance Festival (MI), and Links Hall (Chicago).

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Olivia Pyne

Olivia Pyne began her ballet training at Stites Studio of Dance under the direction of Christine Hamel. She went on to study at Mt. Hood Ballet Academy under the direction of Debbie Pierce. Olivia came to Oregon Ballet Theatre School as a student in 2008 during Damara Bennett’s tenure as School Director, and was soon promoted to the position of teacher’s assistant. In 2009, Olivia joined the OBT School faculty as a lower division and adult instructor. In addition to teaching she has also been a rehearsal assistant for OBT School students for works that include Con Amore, Peter and the Wolf, The Nutcracker, Circus Polka, and Coppelia. Miss Pyne has also appeared in Oregon Ballet Theatre’s productions of Swan Lake, The Sleeping Beauty, and The Nutcracker.

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Alison Roper

Alison Roper was born in Portland, Maine, and began her ballet training at age five with local teachers Jon and Linda Miele. She received her formal dance training from The Portland School of Ballet, Boston Ballet School and Oregon Ballet Theatre School. She joined Oregon Ballet Theatre in 1996 and was promoted into the corps in 1997. She was honored by Dance Magazine in 2002 as one of “25 to Watch,” and in 2007 was promoted to principal dancer. Her repertoire includes principal roles in works by George Balanchine, Christopher Wheeldon, William Forsythe, Jerome Robbins, Sir Frederick Ashton, Helen Pickett, Kent Stowell, Peter Martins, Nacho Duato, Paul Taylor and Bebe Miller. She has originated leading roles in ballets by James Kudelka, Nicolo Fonte, Trey McIntyre, Yuri Possokhov, James Canfield and Christopher Stowell, among others. In 2014, Ms. Roper was honored with a full-evening performance series celebrating her 18 year career.

In addition to her performances with OBT, Ms. Roper spent her summers touring with Trey McIntyre Project from 2005-2008 and has since worked as a repetiteur and ballet master for that company. In 2010-2011 she danced with Morphoses; The Christopher Wheeldon company. Ms. Roper is currently on the Faculty for the School of OBT and works as OBT’s Major Gifts Officer and choreographs for OBT School and OBT2.

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Kembe Adam

Kembe is a native Oregonian who was privileged to study both music and dance throughout her childhood. She eventually turned her attention full time to ballet and then, in 1990, began teaching at Oregon Ballet Theatre School. She is valued for her work with our young students, teaching them classroom deportment while instilling a love of dance.

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Lisa Sundstrom

Lisa Sundstrom received her early training in her hometown of Astoria, Oregon and at The Marin Ballet in San Rafael, California. At fifteen, she gained the attention of international star and American Ballet Theatre Director, Mikhail Baryshnikov, when she won a full scholarship and stipend to ABT School in New York City. After completing the school program, Ms. Sundstrom toured the US with ABT II. There, she made her New York debut at the Joyce Theater performing Lucille Grahn— famous 19th Century Danish ballerina, coached by Robert Joffrey for his revival of the ballet Pas de Déesses. After seeing her performance, Mr. Baryshnikov invited her to join ABT, where she gained knowledge of the great classical and romantic ballets as well as modern and contemporary styles. Ms. Sundstrom joined Pennsylvania Ballet as a soloist and was quickly promoted to principal dancer, dancing many of George Balanchine’s acclaimed ballets. After eight seasons, she rejoined American Ballet Theatre and toured worldwide performing featured roles.

Ms. Sundstrom has danced the leading roles in: Swan Lake, Romeo and Juliet, Don Quixote, Sleeping Beauty, Giselle, Cinderella, Lilac Garden, The Nutcracker, Prodigal Son, La Sonnabula, Agon, Concerto Borocco and Allegro Brilliante in addition to numerous other ballets. She has worked with choreographers Sir Kenneth MacMillan, Sir Anthony Tudor, Merce Cunningham, Twyla Tharp, Lynne Taylor-Corbett, James Kudelka and Peter Martins and been coached by ballerinas Gelsey Kirkland, Suzanne Farrell, Natalia Makarova and Irina Kolpakova. As a guest artist, Ms. Sundstrom has performed with various companies including Oregon Ballet Theatre, Diablo Ballet and Lines Contemporary Ballet. She has been interviewed for radio, been featured in Dance Magazine and appeared on PBS “Dance in America” in Les Sylphides, Paquita and Twyla Tharp’s Push Comes to Shove with American Ballet Theatre and in the role of Effie in Peter Martins’ La Sylphide with Pennsylvania Ballet.

After retiring from the stage, Ms. Sundstrom taught full time at The Rock School of the Pennsylvania Ballet and as an adjunct professor at University of the Arts in Philadelphia. She then moved to her home state of Oregon, where she directed Portland Festival Ballet, restaging The Nutcracker and presenting her ballet, La Bella Luna, at Regional Dance America. She has been a guest teacher for Ballet Academy East in New York City, Pennsylvania Youth Ballet in Carlisle, PA, Nutmeg Ballet in Torrington, CT, Berkeley Ballet Theatre in Berkeley, CA, Marin Ballet in San Rafael, CA and many other schools around the country. She has also taught abroad at Ballettakademien in Stockholm, Sweden and Studio Architanz in Tokyo, Japan. Passionate about sharing her knowledge, Ms. Sundstrom is committed to helping dancers of all levels reach their highest potential.

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Katarina Svetlova

Originally from Germany, she received her classical ballet training primarily from Haydee Gutierrez in Florida and continued with Haydee at Oregon Ballet Theatre School. She also studied at the John Cranko School in Germany and The Princess Grace Academy in Monte-Carlo. Katarina started her professional career at the age of 15 at Oregon Ballet Theatre, under the direction of James Canfield. During her 7 years at OBT she danced in many works by James Canfield, Balanchine, Peter Martins, Trey McIntyre, Josie Mosley and others. In 2002 she accepted a principal contract in one of Germany’s leading ballet companies, Deutsche Oper Am Rhein in Dusseldorf, Germany. There she enjoyed dancing the principal roles in many classical ballets such as Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty, Coppelia, Giselle, Romeo and Juliet and others. She was privileged to work closely with international contemporary choreographers including John Neuemeier (Sylvia), Mats Ek, Hans Von Manen, Youri Vamos, and many others. Katarina’s teaching career began early alongside her professional career with Oregon Ballet Theater in 1996 and she has been teaching children of all ages and adults for 20+ years now. She enjoys teaching all around the Portland Community, OBT school and OBT outreach. It is her mission to teach ballet and creative movement in a supportive, positive and encouraging manner to dancers of all levels, without losing the integrity of the classical technique.

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