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.

KATHY SAWYER: Ballet 

    Kathy Sawyer received her training from North Carolina School of the Arts, the School of American Ballet, and the Joffrey Ballet School.  She began her professional performing career with the Joffrey Concert Group.  From there she went on to dance with the San Antonio Ballet and then the Louisville Ballet.
    During her sixteen-year career with the Louisville Ballet, under the direction of Alun Jones and Helen Starr, she was fortunate to work with such renowned dancers and choreographers as Frederick Franklin, Victoria Simon, Ruthanna Boris, Domy Reiter-Soffer, Choo San Goh, and Sallie Wilson.  She has danced title roles in most of the major classical ballets, including Giselle, Romeo and Juliet, The Nutcracker, Sleeping Beauty, and Swan Lake.                                                                                         Since retiring in 2001, Kathy has focused on teaching and coaching young dancers of all ages, both locally and nationally.  Some of the schools include Charlotte Youth Ballet, Northwest Florida Ballet, Corpus Christi Ballet, and Virginia Ballet Theatre.

AMANDA KYLE LAHTI: Ballet

Amanda Kyle Lahti’s early dance studies were with Oklahoma Indian Ballerina Moscelyne Larkin.  She earned her BFA in Ballet Performance from The University of Oklahoma, appearing with Oklahoma Festival Ballet (Valse Fantasie, Swan Lake, Carmina Burana, The Nutcracker), Modern Repertory Dance Theatre (Openings) and the Musical Theatre Department (A Chorus Line).  Ms. Lahti has danced professionally with The Louisville Ballet and Broadway @ Iroquois/Music Theatre Louisville (Cats, West Side Story, Beauty & The Beast).  She also has the pleasure of performing with JCC Center Stage (Children of Eden, A Chorus Line, La Cage aux Folles, Grease, Guys & Dolls, Chicago).  Her other credits include: Discoveryland! outdoor theatre (Oklahoma), Tulsa Ballet (Rhythmetron, Nutcracker) and Tulsa Opera (Aida, The Merry Widow).  Amanda has taught and choreographed for Dancers’ Pointe, Dancers’ Studio, Michael Thomas Dance Center and JoAnn Fryrear School of Dance. 

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. Theresa was a company member with the Kentucky Youth Dance Ensemble, Anna Sapoznikov's MOYAMO DANCE, Gordon Dance Projects, and Art! Art! Barking Dog Dance Company. Currently, she is dancing with Jan Street Dance Theatre and is the creator and co-producer of MOVING COLLECTIVE, an organization that promotes the works of independent choreographers and brings greater awareness of contemporary dance in to the Louisville Region. Theresa's choreography for dance companies, studios, theatre groups, and dance teams have both won national awards and been presented in regional festivals. She 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: Tap and Jazz 

Donna Richards is a graduate of the Los Angles 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 quest teaches for various summer dance intensives throughout the United States. She is a member of the teaching staff for the Governor’s School for the Arts.  In addition Donna is a freelance choreographer and has worked with Music Theatre of 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. 

 
TRINA JACKSON: Tap and Jazz 

Trina Jackson began her training in Tampa, Florida in acrobatics and tumbling.  She then moved on to Tap, Jazz and Ballet, spending summers studying in New York with  Melissa Hayden, David Howard, Charles Kelly and Luigi.  Following graduation, she moved to NYC to study dance and landed her first job in a Dinner Theater production of “Pippin”.  She also began to choreograph, creating dances for a children’s production of “You’re A Good Man Charlie Brown” and a high school production of “Guys and Dolls”.  Trina continued to perform, teach, and choreograph until the birth of her first child when she gave up performing full-time.  In 2008 she returned to the stage in “Anything Goe”s,”42nd Street” and “Brigadoon”, all with Music Theatre Louisville.  Trina has performed in “Grease”, “Applause”, and “My One And Only”, (to name a few),.  Currently she enjoys choreographing for Louisville Youth Theatre, teaching workshops and guest teaching in many locations.

ALAN LOMMASSON: Modern

Alan Lommasson has been teaching, choreographing, and performing since 1980 and was one of the founding directors of Art! Art! Barking Dog Dance Company. The recipient of numerous choreographic awards and commissions, including a 1997 AL Smith Fellowship in Choreography, his work has been presented in fifteen states nationwide. Alan recently received a 2007 Professional Assistance Award from the Kentucky Commerce Cabinet Kentucky Arts Council. He holds a BFA in Dance from the University of Illinois and an MFA in Choreography and Performance from the University of Michigan, as well as being a Certified Movement Analyst from the Laban/Bartenieff Institute of Movement Studies in New York City. Alan has served on the faculties of Colorado College, Wayne State University, the University of Michigan, and Interlochen's National Music Camp.  Alan's biggest inspiration and support has always come from his wife, dance partner, and creative muse of 27 years, Lynn Slaughter, who curr ently serves as Executive Director of the Ursuline School for the Performing Arts.