Professional Staff of YPBT

Last updated Wednesday, February 13, 2008

YPBT DIRECTORS

DENISE PAAVOLA - Artistic Director

Denise Paavola, a native of Flint, Michigan, is founder and artistic director of theYoung People’s Ballet Theatre. Besides extensive early training here in Flint with Lena Pelio, Denise studied dance at Point Park College in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and has performed with the Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre. Teachers who influenced her future dance career while in Pittsburgh were: Edward Caton, Frano Jellencic, Nicolas Petrov and Ismet Mouhedin. Upon her return to Flint, she performed as principal dancer with the Flint Ballet Theater and performed ballets such as Swan Lake, Coppelia, Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, and Giselle.

Ms. Paavola holds an AB in Elementary Education and Deaf Education from the University of Michigan-Flint and a Masters degree in Learning Disabilities from Eastern Michigan University. After teaching in the public schools for six years, Denise was accepted as a dancer with the professional company, Ballet Michigan, based here in Flint. She enjoyed performing and touring with the company under the direction of Gayla Zukevich.  In addition to performing, Denise now enjoys teaching students at her own Paavola School of Dance.

Denise developed Young People’s Ballet Theatre on the premise that all inspired dancers in Flint and surrounding areas should have a chance to study with professional choreographers and perform the Children’s Classics.

SARAH PASCHKET CHEESEMAN - Assistant Director Sarah grew up in the Flushing area where she began her early dance training with Linda Friis. She started dancing with the Paavola School of Dance and Young People’s Ballet Theatre at age ten. After performing for eight years with YPBT, she began coaching our junior group of dancers in Aladdin, The Anklet, Coppelia, The Sleeping Beauty, The Little Match Girl, Bottom of the Ninth, The Little Princess, Little Orphan Annie, Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp, and The Tale of the Little Mermaid. She most recently restaged our Frosty the Snowman for our annual Breakfast (and Dinner) With Santa. After high school, Sarah received a scholarship to the Theater/Dance Department of the U of M-Flint. She graduated from Eastern Michigan University with a degree in Occupational Therapy. She now keeps up her skills at the Paavola School of Dance, teaches our Creative Dance for the three and four year old class, and works in Lansing as an Occupational Therapist.

OUR CHOREOGRAPHER AND GUEST ARTIST

DALE BRANNON

Dale Brannon was born in Indianapolis, Indiana, where he began his training at Jordan College of Music under Avril Johns and Jack Copeland.  Later, he continued his studies at the Stuttgart Ballet School in West Germany under the direction of Anne Wooliams. Graduating into the Stuttgart Corps de Ballet, he toured extensively throughout the world dancing many solo roles.  Mr. Brannon has worked with some of the most notable choreographers of our time including John Cranko, Glenn Tetley, Kenneth Mac Millan, John Neumeier, Jiri Kylian, William Forsythe and Erik Bruhn.

In 1981, Mr. Brannon returned to America to join the Louisville Ballet as a principal dancer.  There he created numerous works for the company including Carmina Burana, Journeys… To Babylon, The Seasons, and Alice In Wonderland.  In addition to his works in Louisville, Brannon choreographed two ballets for Dennis Wayne’s dancers in New York, which included his critically acclaimed Standing On the Wind. Following his initial work in Louisville, Brannon danced with Ballet Met in Columbus and choreographed The Pied Piper on their student division.

Throughout his career, Dale has found great fulfillment in teaching and coaching young artists and students, many of whom now dance professionally in Europe and the U.S.  He has expanded the scope of his choreography to full narrative story ballets, created for students together with professional soloists, thus providing schools and academies healthy and professionally enriching performance vehicles for their students.  In fact, many of his story ballets have been originally set on Young People’s Ballet, including: Snow White, Hans Brinker and the Silver Skates, Aladdin and Tales from the Arabian Nights, The Secret Garden, The Little Match Girl, Bottom of the Ninth, The Little Princess, Little Orphan Annie, Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp (a revision), and, in 2007, The Tale of the Little Mermaid.