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| Faculty Barbara Cedergren, Director of Dance Barbara Cedergren has danced since age three at studios in the Green Bay area and throughout Wisconsin and the Chicago area. For the past 24 years, she has owned and operated Barb's Centre for Dance. Under her guidance, and with the help of her talented and dedicated staff, Barb's Centre for Dance has grown to become one of the largest and most respected dance studios in the State of Wisconsin. Ms. Cedergren's goal has always been to provide all of Northeast Wisconsin with the best dance education possible. Many thousands of dance students have experienced not only the professional instruction, but also the sincere praise and encouragement it takes to foster young student's character and self-esteem. Ms. Cedergren takes much pride and joy in her relatively new seasonal production, "Spirit of The Holidays, A Celebration of Dance". Now in its 12th year, the show is designed to feature our young dancer's talents, choreographed to a wide variety of favorite holiday music. Most importantly, all profits are donated to local charitable organizations. This past year's benefactor was The Freedom House of Green Bay. A donation of over $17,600 was presented to The Freedom House as a result of the wonderful weekend's events. To date, over $68,500 has been donated to local charitable organizations. In addition, Ms. Cedergren has judged at dance competitions, she has been involved with the Miss Green Bay Area pageant for over ten years, and her dancers have performed at Green Bay Packer halftime shows. Laura Kowaleski, Assistant Director of Dance Ms. Kowaleski began taking dance lessons at the age of three through high school participating in annual recitals and many competitions. She also attended numerous dance workshops and conventions. During high school she was selected as a member of the American All Star Dance Team and performed during halftime of Super Bowl XXX and at Euro Disney in Paris, France. Ms Kowaleski continued her dance education at the University of Wisconsin - Stevens Point. She choreographed and performed in the University's "AfterImages" program each year from 1996-2000. She also performed in "Danstage" during 1999 and 2000. Ms Kowaleski graduated from UW-Stevens Point in May 2000 with a double major in Dance and Business. She has also trained at "Broadway Dance Center" and "Steps" in New York City. Ms Kowaleski has worked for Barb's Centre for Dance sine 1994. Her first six years were part-time, as school permitted. Since graduation from college, she has worked full-time as our Assistant to the Director of Dance. We are very proud to have her as a key member of the Barb's Centre for Dance faculty. Michelle Alberts Ms. Alberts, after dancing her entire life, graduated from the University of Wisconsin - Stevens Point in May 1999 with a B.A. in Dance and a minor in Nutrition. While at school, she choreographed and performed in "AfterImages", a student based choreography show. She also performed in "Danstage", a professor choreographed show. Ms. Albert was also a featured choreographer and performer in Jazz Works, a Madison, WI area performance company. She interned at Danbee Summer Camp in Hinsdale, MA and also instructed and choreographed for the Danbee Dance Festival. After graduating from UW-Stevens Point, Ms. Alberts was an instructor at West Side Performing Arts in Madison, WI for two years. She then moved to South Florida and worked as an instructor at That's Dancing in Lake Worth, FL and Creative Dance Center in Boca Raton, FL. Since 2002, Ms. Alberts has been a full-time instructor at Barb's Centre for Dance. Michelle was awarded Teacher of the Year 2008 at Kids Artistic Revue Nationals in Panama City, FL. We are very pleased and thankful to have her as a key member of our faculty. Cynthia Hanrahan Originally from Las Vegas, Ms. Hanrahan received extensive training in Ballet, Tap, Jazz and Lyrical dance at Las Vegas Ballet Arts. She attended workshops at Pepperdine University, Malibu, CA during her high school years and continued her dance education while attending the University of Dallas (TX). The start of her career in dance education began when Ms. Hanrahan was chosen to assist choreography for youth dance camps sponsored by Southern Methodist University in Dallas. She has taught professionally at Foote-Work Dance & Exercise Studio, Wauwautosa, WI, Salto Gymnastics and Dance Studio, Brookfield and Waukesha, WI and Alverno College, Milwaukee. Since moving to Green Bay, Ms. Hanrahan performed in the Green Bay Packers Women's Association Talent and Fashion Event, was awarded a choreographer award at Starpower National Talent Competition and along with her co-worker, Michelle Alberts, has been the exclusive choreographer for the Miss Green Bay Area Pageant since 2001. Ms. Hanrahan worked in the bilingual department at Fort Howard Elementary - Green Bay Public Schools prior to becoming the Assistant Administrative Director for the studio and Dancewear Now in 2004. We are blessed to have her as a member of the faculty and administration. Marissa Vopat Ms. Vopat began dancing at age three and spent her youth studying dance at studios in eastern Wisconsin. She studied extensively at Virginia School of the Arts in Lynchburg, VA, and spent summers studying in the Chicago area at Giordano and with CNADM. Ms. Vopat has performed in numerous "Nutcracker" productions. In 2007 she received her degree from University of Wisconsin-Green Bay in Business, while also training in the dance program. We feel very fortunate to have her as part of our faculty. Leslie Skorzewski Ms. Leslie, after graduating from the University of Wisconsin- Stevens Point, dedicated herself to the study of Classical Dance as used in Russian Ballet schools. She is highly trained in the Vaganova Method of teaching and is certified with the Pennsylvania Academy of Ballet Society. Recently, Ms. Leslie directed her own classical ballet program in central Wisconsin. She joins Barb's Centre for Dance as our Director of Ballet and plans to help incorporate principles of classical Russian training into our current ballet program. She will also help establish our Classical Ballet Intensive Program. We are very excited to have her as part of our faculty. Michelle Oren-Halbmaier Michelle is a graduate of Millikin University in Decatur , IL , where she received a Bachelors Degree in Fine Arts in Musical Theater with an emphasis in dance, acting and singing. Michelle's passion is working with children. Michelle's accomplishments include teaching Kindermusik, piano, voice and acting, gymnastics and dance in the greater Chicago-land area. Also, included in her accomplishments was a career as a children programmer, drama writer, curriculum writer and director for early and late childhood ages. Since moving to the Green Bay area, Michelle has continued her career as a gymnastic and dance instructor at the recreational and competitive level. She also continues writing curriculum for churches, day-cares, park districts, gymnastics and dance schools in the Green Bay area. We are excited to have Michelle join our staff! Cara Klover Cara started dancing at Barb's Centre for Dance at age 3 and started competitive dancing at age 8. One of her greatest accomplishments is her 6th place top soloist award in the 13 year old category at Showstopper Nationals competition in Myrtle Beach . Cara has attended many dance conventions with recognized choreographers such as Brian Friedman. Other accomplishments include teaching for Ashwaubenon Park and Recreation, assistant teaching at Barb's Centre for Dance and choreography for the Ashwaubenon Dance Team. We are thrilled to have Cara join our staff! Brooke Boettcher Brooke started dancing at age 3 and danced at Barb's Centre for Dance for 14 years. In high school, Brooke was selected as a member of the American All Star Dance Team where she performed in Austria , France , and England , and during the pre-game show of Super Bowls XXXI and XXXII. Brooke also completed intense training in Ocean City , MD , and went on to perform with MC Hammer as part of Starpower's Power Pack. Brooke was a member of Notre Dame Academy 's dance team as well as UW-Milwaukee's Pantherette Dance Team. During college, Brooke acted as a long-term substitute dance instructor in Cedarburg , WI . More recently, Brooke has been a kindergarten teacher in Milwaukee and Green Bay . She is excited to be putting her two biggest passions together - teaching and dancing! We are thrilled to welcome Brooke back to our studio as an instructor! |
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