Catherine Fair, Director 

SUEANN TOWNSEND: (Upper School Ballet Senior Instructor) began ballet class as a child with instructor Dale Black and later with Toni Introvia.  She graduated from the Interlochen Center for the Arts as a dance scholarship student receiving the Fine Arts Award in Dance upon graduation. 

Continuing her training at New York Conservatory of Dance, she studied with such prominent instructors as Vladimir Davidov, Hector Zaraspe, Sallie Wilson, Nicholas Orloff, Igor Youskevitch, Ramzi El-Edlibi and Ramon Ramos.  

She has danced with Ballet Theatre Internationale, Ft. Worth Ballet, Connecticut Ballet, Dance Theatre of Long Island, Ramzi El-Edlibi Dance Company, and Louisville Ballet.  She has been featured as a guest artist with Nevada Ballet Theatre, Sayville Ballet, Albano Ballet, National Grand Opera Company, Kentucky Opera, Thoughtforms Dance Company and the American Music Festival.  She has appeared at the Deutschen Oper Berlin, Staatsoper Leipzig, and Staatsoper Wien.  

Her modern dance experience with Afterimages Dance Company included principal company dancer, Director of the company’s school, and Co-Director/Chorographer for ADC II.  She has participated in modern dance residencies with Twyla Tharp, Bella Lewitzki, Daniel Nagrin, Laura Dean, and Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company.

She spent one season as the featured ballerina in the Dino Kartsonakis Show in Branson, MO, under the direction of R. L. Peterson.

As a serious committed dancer, it is only natural that her astute study of the history, costumes and music of dance ranks equal to physical training.  Her study and knowledge in these areas are deep and comprehensive.

Since retiring from the stage, Sueann has devoted herself to teaching ballet technique with a special emphasis on the Classical Repertory.

ARIEL GONZALEZ COHEN, (Modern Dance 2 and 3, and Upper School Dance
Conditioning/Pilates), MFA Dance, Smith College, 2007 and BA English, UMass Amherst, 2000, is currently adjunct faculty at Amherst College and Keene State College teaching modern dance, composition, repertory, ballet and experiential anatomy. She has served as adjunct faculty for Smith College (2005-2008) and Mount Holyoke College (Spring 2008).  In addition to higher education, Ariel has taught locally for Amherst Ballet (2007-present), East Street Ballet (2007-2008), Pioneer Valley Ballet (2004-2006), Stonleigh Burnham Summer Dance Camp (1998-2007).  She worked teaching creative movement to mainstream and special education students (focusing on autism) at Starr King Elementary School and Nueva (San Francisco 2002-2004).  She has taught musical theatre and dance for the American Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco (2003-2004). She has a PMA certification in Pilates mat and equipment through the Ellie Herman Pilates Studio in San Francisco (2003), and has completed a 180 hour rehabilitation and postural analysis intensive with Lizz Roman in San Francisco (2003) and a 160 hour massage intensive through the Amherst School of Massage Therapy (2005).  She has taught Pilates for Ellie Herman Pilates Studio (San Francisco 2003-2004), and locally for Momentum the Pilates Center (2004-2005), John Dewey Academy (2004),  Northampton Community Chiropractic and Wellness (2005-2007), Movement Resource (2007-2008) and now freelances, traveling to clients' homes.

Ariel currently dances in her own works, in the dances she makes with her slipperyfish dance co-director Kellie Ann Lynch, as a freelancer locally, nationally and internationally and as a company member of Wire Monkey Dance.  From 2000-2004 she lived in San Francisco, performing with over 20 modern dance companies and independent choreographers including Company Chaddick, Huckaby Mcallister Dance and as a soloist with Dance Repertory and Peck Peck Dance Ensemble.  Dancing as a soloist in her own choreography her work has been shown locally, in San Francisco, Boston, and at the Kennedy Center through invitation from the ACDFA where she was a nominee for the Dance Magazine Choreography Award (2006).  She has traveled to San Francisco where she was a month long guest artist and soloist with Peck Peck Dance Ensemble (2005), to Houston as a soloist in the Vision series for the director of the festival (2005), and to Scotland to perform in the work of Tara Madsen at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival (2006).  Locally she has performed in the works of Cathy Nicoli, Kellie Ann Lynch, Therese Freeman and as a soloist for Rodger Blum, Robin Prichard and Jim Coleman.  Through her work with her 2 woman company, slipperyfish dance, she and her partner are the 2008 recipients of the Massachusetts Cultural Council Choreography Fellowship and a 2008 project grant from the Northampton Arts Council.  slipperyfish dance, since 2007, has produced 3 full evening concerts locally (their 4th is scheduled for September 13 and 14 at the Northampton Center for the Arts) and shown at various festivals in Lewiston, MN, Providence, RI, and will be showing work in February, 2009 in NY, NY.

SHANNON GAUTHIER, received her BFA in dance performance from Butler University in 1999. She also received a Master in Arts Degree in Dance/Movement therapy from Antioch New England Graduate School in 2006. Shannon is a registered dance therapist and a member of the American Dance Therapy Association. She has studied ballet, tap, Simonson, Limon, Graham, Horton, and Dunham techniques. She received her training at Boston Ballet, Alvin Ailey American School of Dance, The Limon Institute, Butler University and Dance New Amsterdam (formally DanceSpace Center). She has been dancing in the Boston area since 1999 with various choreographers including Heather Bryce, Kelly Donovan and Judy Wombwell. Shannon is thrilled to be a part of Amherst Ballet.

SHERYL HOLMES, (Lower School Ballet & Creative Movement) home educating mother of nine, returns to the dance world.  She attended the Walnut Hill School of Performing Arts during her high school years. Sheryl studied & performed with the Northampton School of Ballet & Pioneer Valley Ballet as a dancer, teacher, rehearsal mistress and assistant stage manager for PVB’s Nutcracker.  Sheryl majored in Dance & received the Chancellor’s Talent Award Scholarship at the University of Massachusetts, earning a BFA in Dance.  She holds a Master’s Degree in Dance Movement Therapy from Antioch University.  Holmes is excited to get back into teaching children the love of movement & dance as a ballet and creative movement teacher at Amherst Ballet.

KAREN MICHAELS, (Lower School Ballet, Modern Dance guest teacher) earned her BFA from the Boston Conservatory of Music in Dance. She began her training in Modern Dance at the age of 7, and ballet at 13. Also trained as a musician, Ms. Michaels has worked with many dance companies, including Tslila Goldstein & Dancers, Choreo, and Lightning Dance. She has studied ballet with Marcus Shulkind, Margo Parsons, Roseanne Ridings and Kenneth Lipitz, among others.

BETH LIEBOWITZ, (Jazz 1 and 2)
Beth Liebowitz is currently earning her BFA in dance at the University of Massachusetts Amherst where she holds the honor of being a Chancellor’s Talent Award student. She has studied at Broadway Dance Center, Peridance Center, the Alvin Ailey School, NYU Tisch, Studio B Dance Center in Westchester, New York, and has worked with world-renowned companies such as Ronald K. Brown’s Evidence Dance Company. Ms. Liebowitz attended LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts in New York City, the “Fame” school, where she was a Music Major and had the amazing opportunity to perform as a dancer and singer at major private and public venues such as Lincoln Center and Symphony Space.
            Beth has been teaching dance to children for the past five years and feels incredibly lucky and excited to continue to share her passion and enthusiasm at Amherst Ballet.