Kate Downes Walker, Sussex Dance Academy Director, has over 35 years of dance experience and has taught dance for 22 years. A native to Sussex County, she began her dance training at the Marion Tracy Dance Studio in Dover and later became a member of the Delaware Regional Ballet Company under the direction of Tatiana Akinfieva-Smith. She also studied at many studios in Delaware and Philadelphia. She danced with the Rainbow Dance Theatre, California, and is a former member of the Salisbury University Dance Company where she had the opportunity to study with nationally-recognized guest artists. She has choreographed three works for the Company and has taught Master classes. Her choreography was presented at the inauguration of former Delaware Governor Ruth Ann Minner. Walker studied theatre throughout her school career and with local community theater groups including Possum Point Players, and at the Palm Desert College in California. In addition, she has taught summer dance camps for Delaware Technical & Community College. Walker was instrumental in starting the grade 1-8 Dance Program during the inauguration of the Southern Delaware School of the Arts where she continued to teach dance for eight years. Walker has studied with Raymond Lukens, of Boston Ballet, Nan Giordano of Giordano Jazz Dance Chicago, David Howard, Al Gilbert, Charles Kelley, Frank Hatchett, Kat Wildish, Tony Parnell, and Flossie Vogel, among others. She regularly attends classes at the Broadway Dance Center and Steps on Broadway in New York City to stay current in her field. Walker has studied the Vaganova and Cecchetti methods of classical ballet. She has completed dance teacher training workshops with Dance Teacher Web Conference Las Vegas, Dance Makers, Tremaine, Music Works, and New York City Dance Alliance. She is a member and graduate of Dance Educators of America in New York where she also completed her certification in Dance. Walker holds a B.S. in Nursing from Wilmington University and works per diem as a registered nurse. Since the inception of Sussex Dance Academy, Walker’s students have earned many accomplishments including: acceptances and scholarships to some of the top ballet schools in the nation and abroad including: The American Ballet Theatre, The Joffrey Ballet School, The Bolshoi Ballet Academy (Russia), The School of the Pennsylvania Ballet, The Rock School for Dance Education, The Kirov Academy, American Academy of Ballet, Orlando Ballet School, Richmond Ballet, Bossov Ballet, Ballet Palm Beach, Next Generation Ballet, Pacific Northwest Ballet, and Ballet Austin. Her students have won numerous platinum and gold medals as well as choreography awards at regional dance competitions including Tremaine, NYCDA and Dance Makers where they have continuously qualified for Nationals. Sussex Dance Academy graduates have been awarded dance scholarships to the University of the Arts, Shenandoah University, Towson University, Drexel University, among others. Many of its graduates have gone on to dance professionally at Alabama Ballet, the Ballet Theatre of Maryland, Tampa Bay Ballet Theatre, Oklahoma City Ballet, Ballet Austin, and Pacific Northwest Ballet, as well as on Carnival Cruise Lines and as dancers on the main stage at Walt Disney World. Regardless of future ambitions, Walker is determined to provide the best dance instruction and education for all who enter her studio. Walker recently returned from Las Vegas for a Dance Teacher conference and from Los Angeles, CA at Dance Excellence. While at Dance Excellence with dancers and teachers from over 30 countries, her dancers took the stage at Disneyland performing multiple dances. ...........................................................................................................................................................................................
Mr. Goncharov travels from Wilmington to Sussex Dance Academy weekly to teach the advanced ballet classes - Vaganova method. Val Goncharov is a graduate from Kiev Ballet Academy in 1982. Was offered soloist and later principal dancer position with the Donetsk Opera and Ballet Theater, where he worked from 1982 to 1992. In 1987, he received a Bronze medal at the Republican Ballet Competition (Donetsk, Ukraine).He danced professionally in Ukraine, Russia and in the United States. In 1991, he danced at the Nervi International Bt Festival in Genoa, Italy. In 1992 he moved to the United States. From 1992 to 1999, he became a principal dancer with the Ballet Theater of Pennsylvania and later with the Russian Ballet Theater of Delaware. Val performed principal roles in many classical ballets: Bahchisarai Fountain, Swan Lake, Giselle, Francesca da Rimini, Nutcracker, Romeo and Juliet, Chopiniana (Les Sylphide), The Firebird, Cinderella and many others. ...........................................................................................................................................................................................
Kelci Atkins
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Jennifer Lee
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Kole Loftin
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Claudia Walker ................................................................................................................................................................................. Tanya Doporcyk
Kelci Atkins
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