Cem Catbas, Artistic Director

Cem Catbas is the Artistic Director of Baltimore Ballet School and co-founder and Director of Baltimore Ballet Company.  He danced principal roles with Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre, the Istanbul State Opera and Ballet, the Istanbul Contemporary Ballet, and the Koblenz Ballet in Germany in addition to Baltimore Ballet. Roles he danced include the title role of Dracula in Ben Stevenson's (Houston Ballet Production) Dracula, the title role of Romeo in Romeo and Juliette with the Istanbul State Opera and Ballet, The Monk in Carmina Burana (Kent Stowell's production from Pacific Northwest  Ballet), the title role of Peer Gynt with the Koblenz Ballet, and numerous other principal roles.

Awards he has won include the 2006 and 2002 Individual Artist Award for excellence in solo dance performance from the Maryland State Arts Council, 1st prize in the 1st International Seleznyov Ballet Competition in 1991, and the Most Promising Dancer Award from the city of Istanbul.

He has a B.F.A. with honors from the Istanbul University State Conservatory where he studied with Ramazan Bapov, Nikolai Morozov, and Ludmilla Morkovina. He has worked with Ben Stevenson (Houston Ballet), Patricia Wilde (NYC Ballet)Marianna Tcherkassky and Terrence Orr (ABT), Richard Glasstone (Istanbul Ballet), and Kent Stowell (Pacific Northwest Ballet), among others.

He has choreographed The Nutcracker, Pictures at an Exhibition, A Gershwin Rhapsody, Carnival of the Animals, excerpts from Petrouschka, and danced in and staged Scheherazade, Les Sylphides, the 2nd act of Giselle, Swan Lake and La Bayadere for Baltimore Ballet. The esteemed dance critic George Jackson praised his "passionately stretched line, bouyant leaps and plush landings."

He has been a judge for several competitions including the Frederick Arts Council. His students have gone on to dance professionally, have won numerous awards including 1st Prize at the regional Youth America Grand Prix Competition, and have been accepted into the most prestigious summer programs with full scholarships (including NYC Ballet's School of American Ballet). He has been interviewed on WMAR-TV, WJZ-TV, WBAL-TV and Comcast Local Edition. He has given Master Classes in the US, Canada, and Europe.  He also has two articles on dance which were published at www.bourgeononline.com

Elysabeth Catbas, Managing Director

Elysabeth Catbas oversees the administration of the school and is producer of Baltimore Ballet's performances. She is the co-founder of Baltimore Ballet Company which is supported in part by the Baltimore Office of Promotion and the Arts, The Maryland State Arts Council, Baltimore County Commission on Arts and Sciences, and Comcast. She has been interviewed on CNN Headline News/Comcast Newsmakers, WJZ-TV, WMAR-TV, and on WBJC Radio.

She is also a soprano who sang leading roles with the Zurich Opera, Prague State Opera, Vienna Kammeroper, Koblenz Opera, L'Opera Francais, Mannes Camerata, and appeared as soloist with the Sudwestdeutsche Symphonie, the Neue Musik Orchester Basel, the Rheinische Philharmonie, and the Northshore Symphony Orchestra. She has won an Individual Artist Award in Solo Voice from the MD State Arts Council in 2006 and 2002 as well as awards in numerous international competitions.

She is adjunct Voice Faculty of Peabody Conservatory, Chair of the Voice Department at the Peabody Preparatory, and  President of the National Association of Teachers of Singing MD/DC Chapter. She has a B.S. in Psychology from Tulane University and a Master of Music in Voice from the Mannes College of Music. She has also taught at Towson University Music Preparatory Division, Bryn Mawr School, Point Park College and the Civic Light Opera Academy in Pittsburgh. Her students have been accepted into the top music schools including Juilliard, Manhattan School of Music, Peabody Conservatory, New England Conservatory of Music, Oberlin Conservatory, Mannes College of Music, and have won numerous voice scholarships and vocal competitions including the MD Distinguished Scholar Award and first place at the Regional NATS Competition spanning 6 states in the mid-atlantic region.  She has been a judge at many vocal competitions including the Baltimore County Music Festival, NOVA Idol, and State and Regional NATS (National Association of Teachers of Singing.)  To see Ms. Catbas singing on Youtube visit:   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MlHDABK09u8  and http://www.youtube.com/watchv=Cuqs3gjyxGQ&feature=channel

More Detailed Biography with Audio Clips  

Evgenia Singur, Ballet, Variations and Character

Evgenia Singur was a principal dancer for the Russian State Ballet in Moscow, where she performed principal roles in The Nutcracker, Giselle, Coppelia, Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty, Spartacus, and Don Quixote. She toured with the company internationally to Austria, England, Germany, Japan, Switzerland, Ireland, Italy, China, Indonesia, Mexico, North & South Korea, United Arab Emirates (Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Oman), and Spain. Ms. Singur began training as a rhythmic gymnast, then a figure skater, and finally as a ballet dancer from 1993-2001 at the Bolshoi Ballet Academy and Moscow State Institute of Choreography before joining the Russian State Ballet. She won the 2004 International Dance Festival in Korea, and the Silver Award in the 2002 Dance Europe Magazine Competition.  Ms. Singur recently appeared in the lead female role in Baltimore Ballet's productions of Scheherazade at Kraushaar Auditorium and Les Sylphides at the BMA, as well as a lead dancer at Artscape at the Lyric Opera House in July 2009.

Bat Udval, Ballet

Bat Udval Erdene is a former principal dancer with the Russian Ballet Theater and was inducted into the Hall of Fame as one of the world’s greatest male dancers.  A more detailed bio is coming soon.

Nella Romanik Woodrum, Ballet

Nella Romanik Woodrum, originally from the Ukraine, received her dance degree from the Kiev Ballet Conservatory. She then danced solo roles with both the Donetsk Ballet and the Lvov Ballet Companies in Swan Lake, The Nutcracker, Giselle, Paquita, Esmeralda, etc., before joining the faculty.

Paula Le Vere, Ballet and Pointe

Paula Le Vere, a native of Baltimore, attended Baltimore School for the Arts where she graduated as a dance major, and has a B.A. in Dance from Point Park College. She danced with Ballet Theater of Harlem and the National Ballet of Cuba. She taught in NY at the Grace Theater Workshop, Union City Youth Ensemble and TJE Dance Force. She is also on the dance faculty at the Baltimore School for the Arts, and is a Certified Dance Director in the Anne Arundel County public school system.

Sarah Gelband, Ballet and Pointe

Sarah Gelband trained with Long Beach Ballet Arts Center and Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre. She was a member of the Tucson Regional Ballet Co, performing across the Pacific region with Regional Dance America. Sarah graduated from Goucher College in May '07, with a BA in performance and choreography. She was a member of A.H. Dance Company in NYC for the 2007-08 season, and is now a member of Baltimore Ballet Company, where she has danced the Arabian pas de deux in Baltimore Ballet’s 2008 Nutcracker, roles in Les Sylphides and Salome's Daughters (choreographed by Nejla Yatkin) at the Baltimore Museum of Art, Scheherazade at Kraushaar Auditorium, and A Gershwin Rhapsody at the Lyric Opera House as part of Artscape 2009.

Jenn Reed, Ballet

Jenn has studied dance for over 20 years and been a choreographer and instructor for the past 4 years. She was a scholarship student of the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, PA. Jenn has performed by invitation for audiences in the Republics of Czech and Slovakia, Hungary and Austria as well as throughout the People's Republic of China.  She also performed at The World Stamp Expo, Disney World's Galaxy Palace Theatre, The Amphitheatre, The Festival of Lights in Washington, D.C., Frank Hatchett's "Showcase", Epcot's American Festival Theatre and Eichelberger Performing Arts Center, as well as in TV Productions to benefit Johns Hopkins Children's Hospital. As a competitor, Jenn won several Regional and National Dance titles, as well as numerous Regional and National Awards.

Kelly Weckesser, Ballet

Kelly Weckesser studied at State of the Arts, the American Dance Institute, Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet, the Paul Taylor Dance School in New York City, and is currently pursuing her B.A. in Dance at Towson University.  Originally from Westminster MD, she performed lead roles in classics such as The Nutcracker, Carmina Burana, and The Sorcerer's Apprentice with The Westminster Ballet Theater, and subsequently danced professionally with the Eclectic Dance Company, the Atlanta Dance Project and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. Kelly has been creating and directing summer programs since 2004 and loves to share the excitement of performance with all her students. She has taught Sleeping Beauty Camp for the past 3 years at Baltimore Ballet, as well as jazz, modern, lyrical, and hip hop in Baltimore Ballet's Summer Intensive camps.

Emily Norris, Ballet, Pointe, Jazz, Tap

Emily began her dance training at the Peabody Preparatory under full scholarship to the Arts for Talented Youth program where she studied ballet, modern, flamenco and jazz under the direction of Sylvia Druker and Roudolf Kharatian. She attended summer intensive programs at Burklyn Ballet, Virginia School of the Arts, American Ballet Theatre, and The Joffrey Ballet where she was a trainee with the company studying under Luis Fuente, John Magnus and Winthrop Corey. Emily graduated from Carver Center a performing arts high school, with a major in dance and went on to study Massage Therapy and Physical Therapy. Emily also studied at Baltimore Ballet, and later perfomed solo roles in The Nutcracker, Giselle, and Pictures at an Exhibition with Baltimore Ballet Company.  Emily hopes to bring her science and arts background to her classroom to develop technically sound dancers.

Olivia Sabee, Pre Ballet

Olivia received her high school diploma from the North Carolina School for the Arts.  She studied at many summer intensives including American Ballet Theater, Pacific Northwest Ballet School, North Carolina School of the Arts, Burklyn Ballet Theater and others. She has danced professionally with Ballet Pacifica, the Civic Ballet of Chicago, and ARC Dance Productions.   She has taught dance at the Joffrey Ballet, University Ballet at the University of Chicago, and the ARC Dance School.  Ms. Sabee has her A.B. degree in French Language and Literature from the University of Chicago, and is currently pursuing her Doctorate specializing in early 20th Century French Dance at Johns Hopkins University.