Salt Creek Ballet is pleased to have a talented teaching staff, all of whom are experienced professional teachers with a demonstrated love for teaching.
Christina Salerno, Executive Director
A former company member of Salt Creek Ballet, Ms. Salerno completed her ballet training as a scholarship student at San Francisco Ballet School. She has danced as a soloist with Boston Ballet, Zurich Ballet, Switzerland, and Royal Ballet, London over her 15-year career, performing leading roles in La Bayadere, Les Patineurs, Symphonic Variations, Cinderella, Nutcracker, Apollo, Waterbaby Bagatelles, and The Tales of Beatrix Potter among others. Ms. Salerno completed a Bachelor of Arts degree with a concentration in Nonprofit Administration from Skidmore College in 2006.
Autumn Broviak Autumn’s training began at Gotta Dance Studio in Addison, Illinois and was a member of the Starlite Dance Company for 12 years. Since then she had performed with a Midwest Movement and Xtreme Dance Force through 2009. Autumn's training is in all areas of dance including jazz, tap, contemporary, lyrical, hip hop, ballet and musical theater. Her dance performances can be numbered into the hundreds. She has won top honors for her solo from 1999 through 2009. Through competition she has won numerous titles for her award winning solo performances. These titles include, but not limited to, Miss Showbiz, Miss Starpower, Miss Starquest, Miss Nexstar, Distinguished Peformer, and Dancer of the Year. Her choreography and abilities are cutting edge and have won top honors over the past 10 years for competitivestudents.
Michele Broviak has owned and operated Gotta Dance Studio in Chicago from 1987 - 2003. She has won the national and World Dance Champions choreography award and has also received Entertainment, Choreography and Top Teacher awards with various organizations. Ms. Broviak's intense training has been in ballet, pointe, jazz, lyrical, hip-hop, musical theater and baton with instructors from all over the world. She has had an extensive stage and film career, performing in shows such as Guys and Dolls, Bye Bye Birdie, They're Playin Our Song, and A Chorus Line and participating in Dancefest and Human Rhythm Project. She has worked with stars such as Jessica Lange, Chris O'Donnell, Ann Jillian, Joan Cusack, Robert Conrad and Patrick Swayze.
Valery Dolgallo was trained at the Vaganova Academy of Dance in St. Petersburg, Russia. He danced for 20 years at the Academic Theater of Opera and Ballet in honor of Michalovsky, St. Petersburg. He performed more than 100 solo roles including Prince Sigfried in Swan Lake, Prince Desire in The Sleeping Beauty, Eros in Eros, Paolo in Francesca da Manini, Konrad in Le Corsair, Peer Gynt in Solveig, Graf in Giselle, Wise Man in Rite of Spring, Franz in Blue Danube and others. Mr. Dolgallo performed in major theaters all over Russia including the Bolshoi Ballet. He toured throughout the world in more than 40 countries including Austria, Australia, Denmark, Germany, France, Italy, India, Norway and Sweden. Mr. Dolgallo has staged ballets for various companies and taught and coached in Russia for 11 years and in the U.S. for the past 17 years.
Luke Douglas is a young hip hop dance master who is currently performing with Xtreme Dance Force, an America's Best Dance Crew Finalist. His accomplishments include opening act for Soulja boy 2008, opening act at the Flamongo in Las Vegas 2008, performance at Miss Illinois Pageant 2009, and years of competing regionally and nationally. His awards include over 100 top scoring performances and two time "World National Dance Champion". Luke was selected by master choreographers to tour nationally with "Dance Caravan", training dancers across the United States. Recently he won the title of "Solo Free Style Dance Champion 2009" in Chicago. Luke's background includes strong technical training in hip hop, jazz, ballet and salsa dancing with world renowned instructors as Samuel Renzetti, Blake McGrath, Matt Cady, Jesse Santos, Brian Freidman, Lori Ann Gibson, Tokyo and Man Michaels just to name a few.
Elizabeth Gumz is originally from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She trained at Milwaukee Ballet, Houston Ballet, San Francisco Ballet, Pennsylvania Ballet, Princeton Ballet and the School of American Ballet, all on scholarship. Ms Gumz was a participant in the Priz de Lausanne international ballet competition in Lausanne, Switzerland, the U.S. International Ballet Competition in Jackson, Mississippi and was a semi-finalist in the Second Japan International Ballet and Modern Dance Compatition in Nagoya, Japan. She is also a NAtional Fooundation for the Advancement of the Arts awardee. Ms. Gumz has danced with Milwaukee Ballet, Amewrican Repertory Ballet, Dance As Ever in New York, Eglevsky Ballet, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Chicago Festival Ballet, Alma Dance, Schaumburg Dance Ensemble, Ballet Legere and Ballet Magique. Ms. Gumz has taught students of all ages for Joffrey Ballet's outreach program, the School of Chicago Festival Ballet, Chicago Multicultural Dance Center, Ballet Legere Dance Centre, Whitney Young High School and for various CHicago Public Schools. Ms. Gumz currently dances with Elements Contemporary Ballet and is also pursuing her Master's in Teaching at National-Louis University.
Nell Heflin received a BA in Dance Performance and a BA in Business Administration at Birmingham-Southern College in 2009. She began her dance training in 1993 with Nashville Dance Ensemble and the Green Hills School of Dance. From 2005 through 2010, she trained at Birmingham-Southern College and Atlanta Festival Ballet. She also studied in New York with David Howard, Wilhelm Burman, Susie Taylor, Jack Hertzog, Risa Steinberg, Paul Taylor Dance Company, Joffrey Ballet School and many others. Ms. Heflin performed professionally with the Atlanta Festival Ballet Company. Her repertoire includes excerpts from Paquita, Cupid variation from Don Quixote, Diamond Fairy variation from Sleeping Beauty, excerpts from Carmen, No Other Man, Doll Parts, Pell Mell, The Nutcracker,Jungle Book and Kalipay. She has received numerous adwards such as Peer Advisor, Student Director/Producer, Faculty Award for Artistic Achievement in Dance, and Fine Arts Society for Artistic Merit in Dance.
Angie S. Keneipp is a native of Los Angeles who moved to Chicago fifteen years ago. While in L.A. she was senior member, soloist and choreographer for Jazz Dancers Inc., L.A.’S premiere concert jazz dance company. Angie has also appeared as a featured dancer in several films such as “Staying Alive”, “One From the Heart”, and “I’ll Do Anything”. She has worked and collaborated with the creative talents of Twyla Tharp, Sylvester Stallone, James L. Brooks, Ben Vereen and John Travolta, just to name a few. Her teaching and choreographic talents have taken her all over the globe. She has taught at Paramount Film Studios, Dupree Dance Academy and tours with conventions annually. Angie has performed with Chicago Dance Medium, a prominent Modern Company on the Chicago dance scene and is choreographing for several projects in Los Angeles and Chicago. Angie was honored to choreograph for Dance Chicago's showcase, one of Chicago's largest dance festivals. Her unique style is appreciated by all.
Jenny Mastin trained in Florida under the direction of Haydee Gutierrez. She was a scholarship student with the School of American Ballet and Joffrey Ballet Summer Programs and finished her training as a scholarship student at the North Carolina School of the Arts where she worked with Ducan Noble and Melissa Hayden. Ms. Mastin performed corps de ballet roles as well as Clara with Cincinnati Ballet. For eight years, Ms. Mastin was Director of the Classical Ballet Center in Tampa, FL. Ms. Mastin has an extensive teaching background, teaching three year olds through advanced students.
Emily Moser began her studies with Irina Vassileni-Uralsky at the School of Ballet Iowa and also with Susan Snider at Vine Street Ballet. She went on to earn a BFA in Dance Performance from Northern Illinois University where she trained under Randall Newsom, Judith Chitwood and Paula Frasz. While attending NIU, Emily performed many principle and soloist roles in ballets such as Paquita, Les Sylphides, Giselle, Coppelia and The Nutcracker. Emily has performed with many Chicagoland dance companies such as Chicago Ballet, Momenta, the Schaumburg Dance Ensemble and Tyego Dance Project. She also has danced on the east coast with Connecticut Ballet and Ballet Long Island.
Kate Rowan began her training at Salt Creek Ballet under the direction of Patricia Sigurdson (American Ballet Theatre) where she performed major roles as a full company member. At Salt Creek she was privileged to train and perform with many of the great artists of our time, including Angel Corella, Julie Kent, and Ethan Stiefel from American Ballet Theatre. Ms. Kent and Mr. Stiefel are well known from their roles in the film Center Stage. Other instructors came from prestigious companies such as The Kirov Ballet, The Royal Ballet of London, Martha Graham, Hubbard Street Dance, The Joffrey Ballet, and River North Dance. Ms. Rowan has since gone on to study with Homer Bryant Ballet, Ruth Page Dance Foundation, and Lou Conte Dance Studio. Along side this great training, she also studied in London at the Pineapple Dance Studio with artists from The Royal Ballet of London. In May of 2007 Kate was honored to perform as a dancer with the internationally acclaimed pop star, September, known for her single “Cry for You” which was no. 1 on the Billboard Charts for 3 weeks. Kate’s repertory includes Kitri from Don Quixote, The Forceful Fairy & The Lilac Fairy from The Sleeping Beauty, Swan Lake, Graduation Ball, Coppelia, Veils of Anger, Just Desserts, Air, Lyric Suite, as well as performing The Sugar Plum Fairy, Lead Marzipan, and Lead Flower as Guest Lead Artist with Ballet Legere’s The Nutcracker. Kate is also an avid and well-received choreographer. This Is A Lie and Prelude are just two of her works in which she performed at a Dance For Life Benefit. Most recently Kate was chosen to choreograph for Dance Chance under the direction of Julie Nakagawa Bottcher, DanceWorks Chicago. Kate has been instructing dance for 10 years, with many of her privately trained students having gone on to dance in The Joffrey Ballet’s The Nutcracker. Kate is currently teaching for The Salt Creek Ballet, Dance Gallery, as well as The Joffrey Ballet. While dancing professionally full time, instructing, and choreographing, she has also obtained a B.A. in Psychology from the University of Illinois at Chicago.
Emily Stephenitch holds a BS in Dance Arts from Butler University. She began her dance training at Alexandra School of Ballet in Missouri. She has trained with Alexandra Zaharias, Jeanie Engels, Amy Scheers, Marek Cholewa, Rosanna Ruffo, Goping Wang and many others. She also has studied at the Rimsky Korsakov Conservatory in St. Petersburg Russia, the North Carolina School of the Arts and the Webster University Dance Institute. Ms. Stephenitch has performed professionally with Alexandra Ballet, Butler Ballet, Nashville Ballet and Alabama Ballet. Her repertoire includes solo and principal roles in Cinderella, Swan Lake, Giselle, The Nutcracker, La Fille Mal Gardee, Romeo & Juliet, Coppelia and many other ballets. She has taught at Alabama Ballet and is currently on the faculty at Joffrey Ballet and Salt Creek ballet.
Susanne Carroll Wren originally from New York, trained with many prominent teachers including four years at the High School of the Performing Arts in New York City. She performed in a variety of Broadway shows, national companies and TV shows, working for renowned choreographers such as Bob Fosse, in Sweet Charity, Ron Field in Cabaret, and Michael Bennett in Promises Promises. She has appeared locally at the Shubert and Goodman Theatres. Ms Wren has been on the faculty since 1978 and was Assistant Artistic Director of the Salt Creek Ballet from 1986-1998.