Louisville Academy of Dance

KRISTEN WENRICK: Director

    Kristen Wenrick received her training from the Boston Ballet School, the Chautauqua Dance Festival Company, the Milwaukee Ballet School, and North Carolina School of the Arts.  She performed with Eglevsky Ballet in New York City, the Milwaukee Ballet and as Principal Dancer with the Louisville Ballet.  Enticed by the world class repertoire of the Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre and its Artistic Director, Patricia Wilde, Kristen took a position with PBT in 1993.  Ms. Wenrick danced with the company for nine years, rising to the rank of Principal Dancer.       Throughout her career, she has performed lead roles in the works of world renowned choreographers such as George Balanchine, Glen Tetley, Jiri Kylian, Hans van Manen, Paul Taylor, Marius Petipa, Ben Stevenson, Choo-San Goh, Lynn Taylor-Corbett, Kevin O’Day, and Dwight Rhoden.  She has also had the opportunity to train with some of the world’s most influential teachers.                                                                                   Upon retiring from the stage in 2002, she turned whole-heartedly to the art of teaching.  Sought after as a teacher, coach, and choreographer by many ballet schools in Pennsylvania and Kentucky, she has been a full-time faculty member at Point Park University and is currently a Summer Intensive Faculty member at the nationally recognized Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet.  Kristen’s most recent tenure was as the full-time Faculty member of the Louisville Ballet School.  While enjoying her time at LBS, she continually felt the urge to establish the training and performing experience she benefited from as a student at the Cuyahoga Valley Youth Ballet in Northern Ohio.

ALEXIS ANTOLIC: Ballet 

   Alexis, originally from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, began her training at the Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre School under well- respected director David Holladay.  She continued her training through the Schenley and Graduate Programs performing many ballets with the company including Coppelia, La Sylphide, and Dracula.  Following high school, Alexis toured with PBT for corps de ballet roles in Swan Lake and the Nutcracker.   After leaving Pittsburgh, she performed with the Louisville Ballet for two seasons doing such ballets as Beauty and the Beast and Cinderella.  Alexis is excited to be a member of the faculty and share her love and passion for the arts with a new generation of dancers.

FABIANA FADLALA-POULIS: Ballet

Born in Paraguay and raised in Argentina, Fabiana received her training at Estudio Coreografico Bonnin, Teatro Colon and received her Master in Ballet Pedagogy from the school of the National Ballet of Cuba. She studied under Olga Ferri, Miguel Bonnin, Ileana Balmori and Raul Candal.   Fabiana danced professionally with the Teatro Municipal de Asuncion, Teatro General San Martin, Teatro Colon, Ballet Arlington and Ballet Concerto.  In the Dallas-Fort Worth area,  Fabiana taught for 8 years at prestigious schools such as Margo Dean School of Ballet and Ballet Conservatory in Lewisville, TX. and served as assistant director of Lake Cities Ballet Theatre II. In Arizona, she was the Outreach Coordinator for the Desert Youth Ballet Foundation and taught for Arizona School of Classical Ballet and Tempe Dance Academy. Her choreography for YAGP, “It’s a Good Day”, placed 2^nd in the regional’s and performed in the finals in New York. 

THERESA BAUTISTA: Jazz and Tap 

    Theresa Bautista trained in both dance and musical theatre in Southern Indiana and Louisville, and earned her B.S. in Biology from Indiana University in Bloomington. She was a company member of the Kentucky Youth Dance Ensemble, Anna Sapoznikov’s MOYAMO DANCE, Gordon Dance Projects, jan street dance theatre and a soloist with Art! Art! Barking Dog Dance Company. Theresa created and continues to co-produce MOVING COLLECTIVE, an organization which presents the works of independent choreographers to bring greater awareness of contemporary dance to the Louisville Region. Her choreography for dance companies, studios, theatre troupes and dance teams have both won national awards and been presented at regional festivals. Theresa was the Associate Director of Courtney Weber School of Dance for six years and continues to teach at several dance studios and arts programs in the Southern Indiana and Louisville area, including the Kentucky Governor’s School For the Arts.

DONNA RICHARDS: Jazz and Tap

   Donna Richards is a graduate of the Los Angeles School of Performing Arts at UCLA with a BFA in dance performance. While living in New York she performed and traveled with various Broadway shows such as “Chicago,” “Cabaret,” “Sweet Charity,” “West Side Story,” “A Chorus Line,” and  many others.  Donna also taught for various dance studios in NYC, including the David Howard Studio, Steps, and the Broadway Dance Theater.  Donna currently teaches throughout Kentucky as well as guest teaches for various summer dance intensives throughout the United States. She is a member of the faculty at the Governor’s School for the Arts.  In addition Donna is a freelance choreographer and has worked with Music Theatre  Louisville, Ursuline School for the Performing Arts, and various Kentucky high school productions.   She has also designed a KERA based dance program, “The Artist, The Athlete” which she uses in her artist in residence program. 

ALEX KRUSE: Tap

Alex began dancing at a young age and joined the competitive dance scene through her local studio Tiffany & Company Studio of Dance in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Competing throughout the country, she furthered her dance education by attending professional conventions and was recognized with the Future Star Award by Dance Spirit Magazine in 2006. Alex has studied tap, jazz, lyrical, contemporary, ballet and hip hop and has trained at the Edge Performing Arts Center in Los Angeles and Broadway Dance Center in New York City where she was a counselor for their summer intensive program. While earning her Bachelor of Arts in Telecommunications at Indiana University Bloomington, Alex was co-director of InMotion Dance Company and did freelance choreography for Indiana-based programs.



CHRISTEPHOR GILBERT: Modern

Christephor Gilbert is a graduate of the University of Hawaii with a Master of Fine Arts in Choreography.  As a dance educator, he has served as a lecturer in modern and ballet at the University of Hawaii, a modern instructor in the Louisville area, and he has served as a guest artist for the Governor’s School for the Arts.  He was a soloist with Hawaii Ballet Theatre from 1994-1996 and company member and guest choreographer with Louisville’s Art!  Art!  Barking Dog Dance Company from 1997-1999.  Christephor has choreographed well over 60 modern dance works, and has performed in as many at the university and professional level.  His choreography has been seen at Kentucky Opera, Stage One, Music Theater of Louisville, Pandora Productions and with Moving Collective.  Christephor is the Artistic Director of his own dance theatre company, Jan Street Dance Theatre.