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.
Catherine Ehret is a Blue Belt level Nia with 17 years experience in the fitness world and wellness world. Originally from the Deep South, Catherine began teaching fitness classes in 1992 in Charleston, SC and discovered the magic of Nia in 1998. Her experience and education is varied from music, art, fitness, wellness, dance and education.
Colette Gilbertson started dancing at age 6 and has now been teaching for more than 25 years. Before coming to Salt Creek Ms. Gilbertson taught at the Downers Grove Park District and was artistic director of her own student company, The Off Main St. Dancers. Many of her former students have pursued professional careers in dance. She has a teaching certificate from The Royal Academy of Dance in levels 1-9, and a diploma in fitness and nutrition. During her career she has choreographed high school musicals and dance teams in the Fox Valley area. She has studied with many well-known teachers including Lou Conte and the late Jimmy Payne. Colette began teaching for the Salt Creek Ballet in 1997.
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.
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.
Julie Sanfilippo holds a BA from Beloit College and attended Columbia College as a community student. There she trained with Anna Paskevska and Jan Erkert who were strong influences. Other teachers who have helped develop her skills include Homer Bryant, Bill Evans, Larry Long, and Molly Shanahan. Since then she has danced with Kanopy Dance Company, Chicago Dance Medium, Perceptual Motion, Tyego Dance Project, Momenta, Paula Frasz and numerous independant choreographers. Her choreography has been presented in The Field, Around the Coyote, Dance Chicago, Vaudeville Underground, and Momenta. She has taught for Homer Bryant, was head of the dance program for Joans Studio for the Performing Arts, and most recently trained competitive figure skaters in dance.
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.