Teachers
Attracting and retaining the finest professionals in the art of dance instruction are some of our top priorities. All of our teachers have earned a BA degree in dance or have completed collegiate level dance courses, in addition to having years of experience both as dancers and in teaching young children.
All our teachers undergo extensive, hands-on training at Adagio Ballet, including a minimum of 100 hours of formal training and a continued apprenticeship prior to having classes on their own. Adagio devotes a lot of attention to enhancing teaching skills and appraising teaching performance on an on-going basis. Our teachers are involved and committed to the upbringing of our students as the future artists of the world.
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Mrs. Svetlana Marintcheva is a Founder and Program Director of the Adagio Ballet. She graduated in 1999 from the Southwestern University in Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria with a degree in Choreographic Pedagogy. Svetlana studied Classical Ballet following the Vaganova method. Over the years she developed her own concept of teaching ballet to young children and designed the unique Adagio Ballet curriculum.
Before university, Svetlana danced with the Varna Opera House Junior Company in Bulgaria, and taught several performing children companies there.
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Ms. Katherine Horrigan is originally from Ashtabula, Ohio. She graduated with her BFA in Dance from the Alvin Ailey School/Fordham University in New York City.
She has danced professionally with companies in the United States, Mexico, and Canada including, Tania Perez-Salas Compania de Danza, Ailey II, Elisa Monte Dance, Nathan Trice/Rituals, The Francesca Harper Project, and seasons with Les Grands Ballets Canadiens de Montreal. |
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Laura Rae Doughty is a graduate of The Juilliard School in NYC. She started dancing at age 3. Her professional career begun at age 15 with the Philadelphia Civic Ballet and Ballet South of NJ. Laura is proficient in Classical Ballet, Jazz, Tap, Latin and Mexican folklore dance forms.
Ms Laura has performed, taught and choreographed in various parts of the USA, Mexico, Greece and Japan. She has performed alongside artists from the National Ballets of Cuba and Mexico, Les Grands Ballets Canadiens and La Scala of Italy and the 1998 Winter Olympics Opening in Nagano, Japan . |
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Caitlin Granville is originally from Lawrenceville, Georgia where she began her dance training at the age of five at the Susan Chambers School of Theater Dance, studying ballet, tap, jazz, pointe, modern, and musical theater. While in high school she was one of 16 in the state selected for the Georgia Governor’s Honors Program for dance in 2003.
She continued her education at Shenandoah University where she was awarded the highest talent scholarship while achieving her BFA in Dance in 2008. |
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Alina Dolgolenko began her early training in Charlottesville, VA under former Stuttgart Ballet pupil and company member, Nicole Mcgurn (formerly Busse). After completing her early classical ballet training under the Vaganova and Royal Ballet methods, Alina moved back to her hometown of Moscow, Russia, where she continued taking classes at the Moscow Choreographic Institute (formerly known as the Bolshoi Ballet Academy).
After intensive training under Nadezhda Alekseyevna Vihreva, Alina returned to the United States where she studied year-round at The Kirov Academy of Ballet in Washington D.C. and The Harid Conservatory in Boca Raton, FL. |
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Ms. Amelia Nickles holds an M.F.A. in acting from the American Repertory Theatre/Moscow Art Theatre School at Harvard University, and a B.A. in Performance from Fordham University, Lincoln Center. She received her high school diploma from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts in Winston-Salem, NC where she majored in ballet. |
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Mrs. Andrea Berthe has a solid dance background of thirteen years. She trained for Classical Ballet, Repetiore, Pas de Deux, Pointe Work, Character, Jazz and Contemporary dance at The International School of Ballet, Royal Winnipeg Ballet School of Canada and Joffery Ballet School. |
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Mr. Arturo Garcia, a native of Monterrey, Mexico, has been a dancer and choreographer of contemporary dance for fifteen years. He studied on scholarship at the Central School of Ballet in London where he also performed and toured with the resident company. He has participated in national and international festivals, as well as tours to The United States, England, France, Italy, Venezuela, Egypt, Ireland and Israel. As a member of the company, Tania Perez-Salas Compania de Danza, for 6 years, Arturo performed in festivals such as, Fall For Dance at City Center in NY, Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, the Galway Arts Festival in Ireland, Oriente Occidente festival in Italy and the Biennale of Art in France. |
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Ms. Erin Good is originally from Ellicott City, Maryland, where she began her ballet career at the age of 3, jazz and modern at the age of 7 and tap at the age of 10. She studied classical ballet at the prestigious Ballet Royale Institute of Maryland for 8 years under the instruction of Vyacheslav Mesropov, former principal dancer of Moscow Ballet and Olga Tozyiakova, former principal dancer of Bolshoi Ballet. |
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Ms. Joanna Kuskey began her ballet training at the age of five with Julia Cziller Redick at The Conservatory Ballet in Reston Virginia. She continued her classical training with Melissa Hayden, Nina Danilova, and Frank Smith at North Carolina School of the Arts. She has attended Summer Intensive programs at The Joffrey Ballet, The Rock School of Pennsylvania Ballet, and The Kennedy Center’s Exploring Ballet with Suzanne Farrell. |
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Ms. Sofia Tsanova was born in Sofia, Bulgaria to a family of principal dancers. Sofia grew up in the ballet studio of National Ballet and Opera Theatre of Sofia, watching classes and rehearsals. At the age of five she attended the private ballet studio of Maria Ilieva, who was also a principal dancer at the National Ballet of Sofia. |
Former teachers at the School are dear to our hearts. We prize the work they have done at Adagio and we value our relationships with them throught the years.
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