Teachers

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BALLET

Charles was born in Mesa, Arizona. He began his ballet training under Judy Churma and Florence Davich. Charles received full scholarships to San Francisco Ballet School, Cleveland Ballet School,
Royal Danish Ballet School Workshops, School of American Ballet, Arizona State University, and has earned his Bachelor’s Degree and Master’s Degree from St. Mary’s College. His wide range as a performing artist encompasses the contemporary
works of Balanchine and other 20th century choreographers as well as the full-length classics.

Charles currently is a guest artist, teacher, and ballet master in demand throughout the country. Since 1998, Charles has been a principal guest artist with several Bay Area companies; Peninsula Ballet
Theatre, Diablo Ballet, and with Company C under Charles Anderson. He has danced or created principal roles for Smuin Ballets/S. F. for internationally renowned choreographer and director Michael Smuin. These include “Cyrano”, “Q. a. V.”, “Carmina Burana”, “Starshadows”, “Bouquet Pas de Deux”, “Christmas Ballet” and the memorable “Pierrot” in “Hearts”. In
December of 1996 Smuin Ballets/S.F. performed at Carnegie Hall for Ira Gershwin at 100-A Celebration at Carnegie Hall; broadcast on PBS National Television. In addition to his work with Smuin Ballets/S.F. he danced as a principal with Ballet West Arizona, Ballet Austin, The Carlisle Project, Chautauqua Ballet under the direction of Jean-Pierre Bonnefoux, and with the Sacramento Ballet (as Principal Dancer and Ballet Master). He also is a frequent guest artist with several companies in the Los Angeles and bay area.

ACTING/VOCAL TECHNIQUE/VOICE COACH

Chris Vettel - A performer and teacher for over thirty-five years, Chris grew up in the shadow of New York City, on the north shore of Long Island, in the small village of Oyster Bay. Receiving his master’s degree from Manhattan School of Music in Vocal Performance, he sang for four seasons with the Opera Company of Boston, its touring branch, Opera New England, and with the Boston Symphony Orchestra (in the final concert conducted by Leonard Bernstein). His musical theater performing credits include National Broadway Tours (Annie, Sunset Boulevard), the Radio City Christmas Spectacular (Santa), Off-Broadway (Cactus Flower, Wanda’s World), at many regional theatres across the U.S. (Papermill Playhouse, Goodspeed Musicals, Stages St. Louis, etc.) and in the Bay Area (TheatreWorks, San Jose Rep, Berkeley Rep, San Jose Stage, etc.) As a teacher, he has been a private voice instructor for forty years, was on the faculty of the State University of New York, taught musical theatre workshop for ACT’s ‘Young Conservatory’ and has, for the past eight years, taught in the music department at Diablo Valley College in Pleasant Hill.

MODERN

Jordan holds a BA in Dance Performance & Choreography from Hope College in Holland, MI, where she studied across dance styles with department founder Maxine Debruyn (1927-2020), Matthew Farmer, Dr. Linda Graham, Steven Iannacone, Anne-René Petrarca, Julie Powell, Sharon Wong, and others. She began teaching early on in her dance career, while performing with the Ballet 5:8 School of the Arts Company in Chicago, IL. She taught, choreographed, performed and directed during her time at Hope College, with an emphasis in ballet and modern techniques. Jordan has lived in the Bay Area for the past decade, where she has taught at Dance Connections Palo Alto, performed and taught with LiV Dance Collective in San Jose, and created dance programming for a local nonprofit’s summer camps. Jordan imbues her teaching with a deep joy, and a belief in the power of dance to heal, connect, and ground us.