Biographies for the Teachers of the Dance Education Training Program
Lynlee Towne
Lynlee began her training with Mendocino Ballet under the guidance of Mary Knight. She danced with Sacramento Ballet for seven seasons, where she performed some of her favorite roles, including Fortuna in Carmina Burana and Lady Capulet in Romeo & Juliet. Lynlee also danced with her mentor Robert Kelley at Fort Wayne Ballet, in addition to performing at BalletMet, Ballet Austin, Oakland Ballet, Liss Fain Dance Company, and Mark Foehringer Dance Project. For fellow Sacramento Ballet alumna Amy Seiwert’s company im’ij-re with whom she collaborated for 10 years, she created roles in “lessness” and “Passive Aggression.” Lynlee also acted as an instructor for Marin Ballet, San Francisco School of the Arts, San Francisco Dance Center, and Mendocino College.
Melanie Haller
Melanie began her training at Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet under the world reowned direction of Marcia Dale Weary. Her performance experiences included dancing at the International Ballet Competition in Jackson, Mississippi in both 1994 and 1998 as well as having the opportunity to partner with artists such as Albert Evans and Marcelo Gomes in George Balanchines, The Nutcracker. Melanie joined The Sacramento Ballet as an apprentice in 2000 and immediately got offered principal and soloist roles, Blue Bird Pas de Deux in Sleeping Beauty and the Sugar Plum Fairy in The Nutcracker. As a company member the following year, other principal roles included The Four Tempermants, Concerto Barocco, Tschaikovsky Pas de Deux, Tarantella, Agon, Serenade, Stars and Stripes, Allegro Brillante, A Midsummer Nights Dream, as well as Ron Cunninghams Carmina Burana. After six seasons with the company, Melanie began teaching for various ballet schools within the region and enrolled with Sacramento City College. Not only has Melanie been affiliated with The Sacramento Ballet, she has also performed with Music Circus in their 2006 production of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum as Tintinabula and choreographed two productions for The Sacramento Opera. Melanie is thrilled to be on the faculty of The Sacramento Ballet Dance Education Training Program.
Vanessa Bautista
Vanessa Bautista was born and raised in Seattle, Washington where she Studied Ballet on scholarship at Pacific Northwest Ballet for 10 years. She continued her ballet studies on full scholarship at the Rock School of the Pennsylvania Ballet, and Ballet Academy East, and later in Sacramento at CSUS and the Sacramento Ballet Summer Intensive. After High School Vanessa moved to Sacramento to attend UC Davis where she studied Chicano Art, she met her husband and they had three wonderful children. Vanessa has volunteered teaching dance in her community of downtown Sacramento to 3-5 age students and at her local elementary school. In 2009 she realized a dream of founding the local modern/ballet company Ballet Underground, premiering her choreography at the Washington Neighborhood Center’s Cesar Chavez Art and Music Festival. Her choreography has also been shown at CSUS. In addition to teaching and interning at the Sacramento Ballet, Vanessa attends CSUS completing her B.A. in Dance, she teaches for the Ballet Club CSUS, and volunteers as a dance/yoga instructor at her daughter’s elementary school.
Joanna Summerhays
Joanna Summerhays began lessons with Marguerite Phares at age five, and in these early years discovered her love for dance. At age ten she joined Phares Theatre Ballet and danced with this company for the next several years. In 1985, Joanna also joined Laverne Krei’s tap company, and was awarded scholarship and first place in local and national competitions. For the past 18 years Joanna has worked for several dance studios as teacher and choreographer for ballet, tap, musical theatre, and lyrical dance. Among the hundreds of students Joanna has taught, many have received scholarships and have become professional dancers and teachers. Joanna is a caring and devoted teacher, guided by her love for the arts and a desire to inspire in her students ~ the joy of dance.
Christina Schreivogel
Christina Schreivogel completed the graduate year at the London Studio Centre in the UK and she also is a graduate of Virginia School of the Arts. Her training has taken her to Milan, Italy with Teatro Carcano and to New York City at Steps on Broadway. Her performing experience includes works by Val Caniparoli, Alan Hineline, Agnes de Mille, Glen Tetley, Lotte Goslar, Nolan T’Sani, Ron Cunningham, Thor Sutkowski, Amy Seiwert, Adam Cooper, and Balanchine among others. She became a Sacramento Ballet Apprentice in 2000 and a Company member in 2001, performing Solost roles before retiring in 2005 to have her first born daughter, Ada. She has also been a guest dancer with the Omaha Theater Co. Ballet and Greenville Ballet. Christina was an outreach leader for Dance Power and a Ballet teacher for the Sacramento S.T.A.R.T. program grades 1-6. She has also toured England and Wales performing with the London based Ballet Company “Images of Dance.” In 2009, Christina had the pleasure of Directing the Young Dancers Summer Workshop and looks forward to Directing the YDSW 2010 this next summer. Her greatest joy and accomplishment to date are her two children, Ada Christine and Wayne Benjamin.
Elaine Hunter
Elaine Hunter began her dance training at the age of four. She studied ballet under Marguerite Phares, Stuart Carrol, and Sharon Newton and danced with both the Theater Ballet Company and Capitol Ballet Company. Elaine has studied several other dance styles including tap with Joanna Summerhays and Krei Mathews, hip hop, lyrical, and jazz. Elaine has competed at the national level with her high school dance team; and has taught several dance clinics and tap classes. Elaine is a supportive and devoted teacher whose love of dance is shared with all of her students.
