Proud Members of the Apex Chamber of Commerce and grateful recipients of funding from United Arts Council of Raleigh and Wake County
Infinity Ballet Conservatory & Theatre
3462 Apex Peakway, Apex, NC 27502
New Guests: 919-457-1987
Existing Patrons: 919-303-1105
Email: infinityballet@bellsouth.net
IBC Faculty
Classical and Contemporary Training
Classical and Contemporary Training
Recreational Division
Guest Artists and Teachers
IBT Resident Choreographer: Caroline Krähe received her teaching degree from the Royal Academy of Dance and also holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts. She is an associate with the Imperial Society of Teachers of Dance, National Character Dance Division. Ms. Krähe trained in the Vaganova, Cechetti, and Royal Academy of Dance methods.
Ms Krahe has trained, taught and danced in Argentina, England, Canada and the U.S. and was the Director of her own ballet school in Canada for 10 years. She served as the Artistic Director of the Nova Scotia Children's Ballet Company, which toured nationally and was featured on national television.
Ms. Krähe's classes lay the foundation for development of the educated student in classical ballet. Ms. Krähe has developed a specialized program for children's creative movement and music. She incorporates the elements ofearly movement and music by using musical instruments, awareness of anatomy, and the child's individual creativity.
Ms Krahe has taught at Infinity Ballet for 9 years and lives in Cary with her husband and two children.Back to top
IBT Artistic Director: Debra Sayles Senchak has worked as a professional performer and dance instructor since 1976. She began her academic studies with Cecchetti training under Margaret Dallman and at the Washington School of Ballet under Mary Day. Her advanced training continued at American Ballet Theater School, David Howard School and New Jersey Ballet School where she joined the faculty and became a Principal Dancer of the New Jersey Ballet Company. Noted for her versatility she has performed extensively throughout the world. She has toured with Edward Villella Dance Ensemble, Stars of American Ballet, and Kozlov and Friends. Ms. Senchak has formal pedagogy training in the Complete Teaching Method of Classical Dance developed by Vera Kostrovitskaya and based on the work of Agrippina Vaganova at the Imperial Ballet in St. Petersburg, Russia, taught by Prof. Peggy Willis-Aarnio. She has developed her leadership as an educator in the use of the Fine Art of Classical Dance Training for developing performers. Ms. Senchak has taught on the faculty of both NCDI and CPAC in NC in addition to Director and Teacher with the Infinity Ballet Conservatory and Theatre. She currently is an active Apex Arts Council member.
IBT Choreographer: A native to North Carolina, Mr. Youngkin holds a BFA in Dance from the North Carolina School of the Arts and has served as ballet master at the Pierrette Sadler Danceurs Studio in Raleigh, North Carolina, for fourteen years. An avid dance teacher, Mr. Youngkin has been instrumental in the dance world in the Raleigh area. He is proud of the many accomplishments of his students including appearances on ABC's After School Specials, So You Think You Can Dance, and Dance Wars. Mr. Youngkin’s students can be seen performing for Cirque de Soleil, Alvin Ailey, Disney, and Jose Limon or studying at Julliard and North Carolina School of the Arts. Infinity Ballet welcomes him on the faculty this year.
Donna Renee Griffith began her training at Aesthetics dance studio in Ellicott City, Maryland where she performed with the resident company, The Howard County Ballet. Donna continued her dance studies at the Ballet Theatre of Maryland School and with the world renowned ballerina Rosella Hightower at the Ecole Supérieure de Danse de Cannes. In 2002 she moved to New York to further her dance training while pursuing a degree in Forensic Psychology, where she studied at Steps On Broadway with former Stuttgart Ballet Soloist, Emilietta Ettlin and was honored to be chosen to teach for Ms. Ettlin for both her Ballet Classes and Ettlin Floor Technique Classes. While in NYC she also studied under internationally recognized ballet teachers, including David Howard, Michael Vernon, and Willie Burmann and received Horton Technique training from Karen Gayle.
Upon graduating from college, Ms. Griffith she relocated to North Carolina and joined the Greensboro Ballet where she performed a number of company dance roles. In addition she made guest artist appearances in roles as the Sugarplum Fairy in The Nutcracker and "Rose" in Walltown Children’s Theatre. In addition to teaching dance Ms. Griffith can be seen performing with the newly developed Winston- Salem Festival Ballet during their 2009 inaugural season.
Photo by Steve Clarke
IBT Guest Artist: Melody Staples’ fifteen year career as a professional ballet dancer has spanned four ballet companies including Milwaukee Ballet Company and as a principal dancer with the Charleston Ballet Theatre. She completed her training on scholarship and as the recipient of the Van Lewis Award from the Virginia School of the Arts. She has performed lead roles in most classical ballets including Swanhilda in Coppelia, Juliet in Romeo and Juliet, Melisandre in Pelleas and Melisandre, Sugar Plum Fairy in The Nutcracker, Thumbelina in Thumbelina, Cinderella in Cinderella, Wendy in Peter Pan, Carmen in Carmen, Myrtle in The Great Gatsby, Aurora in The Sleeping Beauty, and Odette in Swan Lake. Every choreographer who set a ballet for a company for which she was dancing chose her to be in his or her piece including George Balanchine’s Waltz Girl in Serenade, a Principal in Who Cares?, the Soloist in Rubies, Twyla Tharpe’s Baker’s Dozen, Sir Anthony Tudor’s Gala Performance and pieces by Charles Moulton, Dominic Walsh, Simone Ferro, Jeffrey Bullock, Kennett Oberly, and Daniel Pelzig among others. Miss Staples has been teaching ballet and pointe to children and adults for most of her performing career and she enjoys sharing the love of ballet with students of all ages.
IBT Contemporary Choreographer: Cari-Lenn Orr is a native North Carolinian. She began her dance training right here in Raleigh, North Carolina at Washington Elementary School at age ten, and continued training throughout her pre-college years. She went on to attend The University of North Carolina School of the Arts in Contemporary Studies, and later moved to New York City, New York to study at The Ailey School. In 2001, Ms. Orr graduated from Ailey’s Certificate Program and furthered her affiliation with the institution by assisting the former Director, the late Denise Jefferson. During her career in New York, Ms. Orr had the opportunity to work with notable artists and choreographers such as Matthew Rushing, Earl Mosley, Hope Boykin, Fredrick Moore, LaTrisa Harper and other well-known artists in the dance world. She also performed with a variety of dance and theater companies throughout the New York/New Jersey and D.C. area. Ms. Orr was a guest artist with the Broadway cast of The Lion King for an annual fund-raising performance and held an apprenticeship with Urban Bush Women. Her passion for dance extended from the stage to the studio where she served on faculty for different outreach programs and art conservatories teaching dance to children and adults of all ages. Having returned back to Raleigh, Ms. Orr considers it a privilege to serve such a talented group of individuals in her first season teaching at Infinity Ballet.
Recreational Division
IBT Rehearsal Master: Le Russell started dancing at the age of 3, and has not stopped. She began her formal training at the age of 12 with Gay Porter-Speer at the Charlotte School of Ballet. During her time in Charlotte, she appeared in numerous productions with the Charlotte Youth Ballet, including an original production of The Wizard of Oz. Following high school, Le attended Appalachian State University. There she earned a minor in dance. She performed with the Appalachian Dance Ensemble each year, and was a featured dancer in the university’s production of “Man of La Mancha” Ms. Russell began her association with Infinity Ballet in 2002 while extending her dance education and joined the IBC faculty with the children’s dance program in 2007. In the summer of 2008, she participated in the 11th Annual Teacher’s Congress for Classical Dance, hosted at Infinity Ballet and taught by Professor Margaret Willis-Aarnio. She welcomes the opportunity to expand her knowledge of ballet, and share her love of movement and dance with all ages! Le lives in Cary with her husband and son.
Elisabeth Johnson is originally from Chicago where she studied dance from the premier ballet school, the Ruth Page Center for the Arts. Her advanced professional ballet classes were under the guidance of Rodney Irwin and Dolores Lipinski. Ms. Johnson toured with the Elgin Dance Theater Company and performed in more than fifteen major performances in the Illinois area. She also trained at Joel Hall Dance Center where she received her experience in Jazz and Modern. While she and her husband were in a three-year stay in Taiwan she received traditional Chinese dance training and continued studies with the Capital City Ballet. Ms. Johnson has taught all ages during her past ten years of teaching and directing in ballet schools. Her passion for dance includes a favorite joy of choreographing in a style that is influenced from her most recent experiences in the China.
Kristin Frank received her primary dance training in Poway, California, and went on to study at Palomar and Mesa Community Colleges in addition to receiving training with Hoctor Dance Caravans and Al Gilbert Dance. A strong tap dancer, Kristin also holds a bachelor’s degree in Liberal Studies and has received her master’s degree in Elementary Education. Kristin loves to work with children and especially enjoys passing on her love of dance to all her students, no matter what age. She lives with her husband and daughter in Cary.
Kate Oliver joined the faculty at Infinity Ballet in August of 2009. She grew up in Cary, NC, where she started her dance training at the age of 12 years old. She went on to earn a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance Education from East Carolina University. While attending ECU, she was the Tap and Jazz Director at Tarboro Academy of Dance Arts and interned under Susan Hunnicutt at W.A. Pattillo A+ Elementary School in Tarboro, NC. She is currently the Director of the Dance Program at Millbrook High School and also teaches at North Carolina Dance Institute in Raleigh, NC.
Guest Artists and Teachers
Hong Yang is originally from Beijing, China where she studied dance at the school of the Beijing Dance Academy as a child and then graduated from the Beijing Dance Academy in 1995. She immediately joined the National Ballet of China and was a principal dancer there before going to Toronto, Canada where she danced with Ballet Jörgen Canada. A beautifully accomplished dancer, Ms. Hong, has most recently been seen performing as a first soloist company member with the Carolina Ballet where she has danced in many featured roles. Infinity Ballet has been honored to have Ms. Hong as a guest since 2007 and as part of the classical ballet teachers at the Conservatory.
Margaret Severin-Hansen is a founding member of Carolina Ballet. She grew up in Huntington, Long Island where she studied dance at the Huntington School of Ballet until she went to the School of American Ballet when she was 13. She also studied for six weeks with the Royal Danish Ballet. She joined Carolina Ballet in 1998 as a member of the corps de ballet and quickly rose through the ranks to principal dancer.
Laura Stauderman Earnhardt's professional experience began in NY as a member of the Mid-Hudson Ballet Company. She earned a BFA in dance education from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia and a Master of Arts in dance education from Teachers College, Columbia University, NY. While there she taught the modern dance course and produced the annual student choreography concerts. Throughout her education, Laura has trained with many top choreographers and teachers including Milton Myers, Ronen Koresh, Pat Thomas, Val Suarez, Donald Byrd, Dwight Rhoden, and Desmond Richardson. She danced Doris Humphrey's "Life of the Bee" for the Humphrey-Weidman 100th year celebration at the Danny Kaye Playhouse in NY. In 1998 she performed at Lincoln Center with the Marcy Simon Dance Company with guest choreographer Janis Brenner.
After leaving NY, she spent four years teaching and directing a performing arts high school in Tampa, FL. Her students have since graduated and attend leading national dance programs including NYU Tisch School, New World School of the Arts, North Carolina School of the Arts, and the University of the Arts. She also choreographed works for the dance program at St. Petersburg College, Florida and The Tampa Visitor's Bureau. Laura relocated to North Carolina in 2003 and became the director of East Millbrook Dance Program. In August of 2006 she will begin her position as director of the dance department at Holly Springs High School and join the faculty at Infinity Ballet Conservatory.
Guest of Honor and Teacher's Workshop Educator
7th, 8th, and 9th Annual Teacher's Congress, hosted by Infinity Ballet
Please see Willis Ballet for more information.
Kim "Bela" Watson has been teaching all disciplines of dance for over 10 years. She grew up dancing in Florida and continued her training at Florida State University where she obtained her BFA degree in Dance. After a couple of years of teaching and choreographing around the country, she returned home to Florida and founded the Soul Play Modern Dance Company. Now cured from a 13 year battle with a rare cancer, Bela continues to teach and perform all disciplines of dance and yoga with a renewed gratitude for living and the ability of movement. Ms. Watson is fondly known as “Bela” amongst IBC students. She joined IBC faculty in 2008 and currently teaches workshop classes.
Ms. Margaret Rowland trained extensively with Mr. Pavel Rotaru, Principal Danseur with the Bucharest Opera Ballet, in Romania. She performed leading roles with Ballet Rotaru during her three year tenure with the company before being accepted into the Boston Ballet. Ms. Rowland could be seen in Soloist and Character roles for major ballets in addition to being a staple of the Corps de Ballet. She became an established guest speaker for the company for social seminars as she was often chosen to help bring Awareness of the Arts into the community. In 1996 she performed with the Santa Fe Opera as a Principal Dancer before relocating to Raleigh, North Carolina. During her performing career Ms. Rowland toured to several European Countries. Since 2001 Ms. Rowland has continued her passion for dance with formal training in The Teaching Method of Classical Dance. She has served on the dance faculty at Elon University, a staff ballet instructor with the Durham Arts Council and Ballet Mistress with Broadway Dance Project. Since 2002 Ms. Rowland has continued to help bring Awareness of the Arts into the NC community with her participation in Infinity Ballet Performances and by joining Infinity Ballet Conservatory Faculty as a Classical Ballet Instructor. Since 2007 Margaret Rowland Kinlaw has resided in Raleigh with her husband and works extensively with special needs students. While she pursues full credentials as a certified Pilates trainer, Infinity Ballet is pleased to have Ms. Rowland continue at the Conservatory and Theatre as a workshop and guest teacher.
Ms. Alaine Haubert is a former principal dancer with the Joffrey Ballet and American Ballet Theatre and Ballet Mistress for American Ballet Theatre.
She has been a University of Hawaii faculty member for nine years, and is frequent Guest Instructor for Ballet Hawaii and West Hawaii Dance Theatre Summer and Winter Workshops. Ms. Haubert most recent years have been as a Professor of Dance at California State University at Long Beach. She currently is active as an International Guest teacher throughout the country and is Director of the ABT summer intensive program in Detroit, Michigan.
Elie Lazar is currently the Montgomery Ballet Artistic Director. Before moving to Montgomery to direct The Montgomery Ballet, Mr. Lazar founded and directed the Joffrey Ensemble Dancers; the performance group associated with the Joffrey Ballet School in New York City and founded LazarBalletNYC. Born in Israel, Mr. Lazar began his ballet training at age 17, with the Israel National Ballet Company. This led to appearances with the Israel National opera, the Haifa Ballet and the Inbar Dance Company. Dance fans are familiar with Mr. Lazar’s work as a principal dancer with the New Jersey Ballet where, beginning in 1986, he was known for athletic roles in ballets such as Balanchine’s Tarantella and Stars and Stripes, both coached by Edward Villella. He also danced the role of "Mercutio" in Romeo and Juliet and the principal role in Le Corsaire. In addition to his acclaim as a dancer, Mr. Lazar is building a reputation as a versatile and inventive choreographer. He received commissions to create ballets for the New Jersey Ballet Company, the Ruth Mitchell Dance Theatre, Atlanta’s Georgia Youth Ballet, and Japan’s Kumamoto Ballet. He was awarded a grant from the New York State Council on the Arts to create a new work for the Berkshire Albany Ballet. Mr. Lazar organized and trained students from the Joffrey Ballet School to form his first company. Since its inception in 2000, he has expanded the company’s repertoire and commitments. Performances include works that Mr. Lazar choreographed specifically for the ensemble. Among them are "Surrender @ Love", "A Night in the Tropics", "Concerto for Dancers and String Orchestra" (known as "Ripples"), "Come In", "Dance with Me to the End of Love" and "Masa". Also to his credit, Mr. Lazar designed a program of lecture demonstrations to educate school children about dance and the commitment required to pursue the art as a career. He teaches master classes and develops intensive dance programs that are presented as summer workshops or as part of week-long residency seminars that include public performances, lecture demonstrations, master classes and pas de deux classes, as well as general instruction. His teaching commitments include classes at the Joffrey Ballet School, Broadway Dance Center, Peridance NY, New Jersey Ballet, East Carolina University, University of Kansas City, Tokyo Ballet, Kumamoto Ballet, and SERBA. Mr. Lazar directs and supervises the Summer Intensive he founded. He strives to dispel the idea held by viewers that their individual preferences for one genre of ballet or another cannot be challenged. He contends that those who love traditional story ballets can enjoy modern “abstract” ballets (and visa versa) and endeavors to expand viewer’s horizons to enjoy all types of dance.
Margot K. Martin began training at the age of 8 with Tanju and Patricia Tuzer in Dallas, Texas. Later, she trained with Lisa Owen at the Conservatory of Classical Ballet and in 1997; she trained at Pacific Northwest Ballet on full scholarship. Ms. Martin is a founding member of Carolina Ballet and has danced the complete repertoire of the company during the past four seasons, including performances in Tarantella and "Trio" in Great Galloping Gottschalk.
