Owner / Ballet, Pilates
Hannah started in gymnastics at the age of four and began taking ballet lessons at age 10 to supplement her dance skills as a competitive gymnast. She soon realized that she preferred dance over tumbling. She studied ballet at Santa Rosa Ballet and then Sebastopol Ballet School for over 15 years. She has performed many roles in their productions, including four years as the Sugar Plum Fairy in The Nutcracker, Odille the Black Swan in Swan Lake, and many classical and contemporary variations. She attended summer dance intensives at Joffery Ballet School (NYC), American Ballet Theater, Ballet Austin (TX), and Mills College (Oakland, CA) and also studied jazz, lyrical, tap and modern at SRJC. Hannah has also attended the Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet Teacher Workshop to hone her teaching skills. Hannah is also a certified Pilates Mat instructor and taught Pilates at Sonoma Academy for several years.
Ballet
Dana Jane began at Sebastopol Ballet at age 9, after five years of dancing in a variety of styles (Irish, ballet, folk, hula). She has danced many roles in Sebastopol Ballet’s annual production of The Nutcracker, including that of Sugar Plum Fairy. To further her dance education, she took ballet classes from the SRJC, competed and placed 3rd in the Helen Cochrane Scholarships senior division, and attended summer intensives at the Gelsey Kirkland Academy of Classical Ballet (Brooklyn, NY) and City Ballet (San Francisco). She completed her studies at the Santa Rosa Junior College, graduating with highest honors and associate degrees in Mathematics, Art, and Natural Sciences. Dana Jane enjoys sharing her love of ballet through teaching and resides in Sonoma County with her family and their dogs.
Ballet, Jazz, Tap
Lily Borgeson grew up dancing at Sebastopol Ballet, The Dance Center and Santa Rosa Junior College. She completed four seasons with Santa Rosa-based Risk Dance Company. In 2014 Lily completed American Ballet Theater’s national Training Curriculum and is ABT certified to teach levels pre-primary through 3. Lily lives in Sebastopol, teaches at Analy High School, and has a dancing daughter, Mesa.
Founder / Ballet
Susan Borgeson first trained with the Santa Rosa Ballet School, and while in high school, danced as a member of the Santa Rosa Ballet Company under the direction of Julien Herrin. During this same time, she danced summer musicals at Oakland’s Woodminster Theater. She studied at both the San Diego and England campuses of the United States International University School of the Performing Arts under the tutelage of John Hart, Elaine Thomas and Betty Cavanaugh. Sue also attended California State University in San Diego. After returning to Sonoma County, Sue became the director of the Santa Rosa Ballet School, and is an original member of the Redwood Empire Ballet. She was associate director and choreographer with Robert Ronan of Santa Rosa’s first full-length productions of The Nutcracker in 1980-1982, sponsored by Ballet Circle of Santa Rosa. In 1987, Sue became director of SRB Production, a non-profit ballet company. Here she produced her original children’s ballet, Once Upon a Butterfly, scored by singer/songwriter Carol Ann Eberly. Later, she would join the Karen Campbell Ballet School in Sebastopol to produce a full-length The Nutcracker. And through the Sebastopol Ballet, The Nutcracker has continued to be an annual holiday tradition for the city of Sebastopol. Sue’s students have received national and international acclaim. They have gathered awards in competitions and received scholarships at some of the world’s most highly visible ballet schools such as The San Francisco Ballet, the School of American Ballet in New York, the Bolshoi Academy in Vail, Colorado and the National Ballet of Canada.
Tap
Mindy Copeland is a veteran dance educator with over 30 years of experience and an accomplished career as a professional tap performer. She toured with the Los Angeles–based company Rhapsody in Taps, performing works by legendary artists including Gregory Hines, and was a featured soloist in Caution: Men At Work Tap!. Mindy has performed and choreographed for stage, film, and international television, and is passionate about sharing the joy, history, and artistry of tap dance—most recently directing and performing in the acclaimed 2023 Jazz Tap Jam! Show for the Lively Arts Foundation.
Hip Hop, Tap
Bio coming soon…
Contemporary
Monika started studying ballet and jazz at age seven and quickly fell in love with expressing herself through movement and choreography in dance classes, recitals, and school talent shows. She was accepted into the renowned BFA Dance program at the University of Arizona and had many amazing dance-related opportunities and experiences while there, including traveling to Italy and performing in the Phoenix Opera rendition of Carmen. After graduating Cum Laude, she moved to Los Angeles and was featured in national commercials for Subaru and Toys R Us, music videos for Ellie Goulding, Natasha Beddingfield, and Julianne Hough, and danced with the L.A. Opera and for Grammy-nominated choreographer, Ryan Heffington. She is delighted to be back in her hometown, reconnecting with her creative roots, teaching contemporary dance classes and private lessons in Sonoma County, and bringing joy through dance during a time when the world truly needs it.
Founder / Retired
Lois Hartman trained at the Royal Academy of Ballet for ten years, studied at United States International University School of Performing Arts in San Diego with highly regarded Nancy Johnson. Mrs. Hartman has more than 20 years of experience in performing, choreography, costume design and execution, and instruction. As a performer, Mrs. Hartman danced with San Francisco Dance Theater (Penelope-Lagios Johnson), Santa Rosa Ballet (Julien Herrin), Redwood Empire Ballet (Jean Hart), and Ballet Circle (Robert Ronan). She taught pointe classes, advanced levels and pas de deux classes and was actively involved in all phases of Sebastopol Ballet School productions. Mrs. Hartman has choreographed several parts of Sebastopol Ballet's The Nutcracker, most notably the Grand Pas de Deux.
Founder / Retired
Paula Martens began studying ballet at the age of seven with Lodena Edgecombe and continued with Shirley Ray of the San Francisco Ballet through her high school years. In 1966, she was a recipient of a Ford Foundation scholarship with the San Francisco Ballet School. Mrs. Martens graduated from UC Berkeley in 1970 and she began teaching for the Sebastopol Union School District in 1972. That same year, she began teaching at the Santa Rosa Ballet School, which was under the direction of Julien Herrin. She is an original member of the Redwood Empire Ballet and became assistant choreographer for Ballet Circle under the co-directorship of Sue Borgeson and Robert Ronan. She has choreographed for Sebastopol's The Nutcracker since 1992.