Gordon Owens,Jazz/Tap/Hip-Hop/Salsa/Acting/Musical Theater

Gordon Owens was born and raised in Washington DC. He attended Children's Theatre courses at both The Arena Stage and Howard University's Children's Theatre programs. Gordon attended college at The North Carolina School of the Arts and studied drama, dance and voice.

After performing in several plays in college, Gordon moved to New York City and received a full scholarship at the Alvin Ailey Dance Theatre. Two months later he auditioned and landed a job performing the role of Richie in the National Touring Company of the Broadway Musical "A Chorus Line". Gordon also performed in principal roles in the National Touring Companies of "Dream girls", and "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat".

After touring the U.S. for almost four years, Gordon spent eight years in New York City performing on Broadway in "Dreamgirls", "A Chorus Line", "Starlight Express", and "Miss Saigon". Gordon also performed in Musical Theatre Tours all over Europe.

After getting his fill of Musical Theatre, Gordon moved to Los Angeles to pursue a career as an actor and voice-over talent in Television and Film. To date, Gordon has been featured in several television commercials and has done voice-over work on radio commercials and television cartoons. He has also guest starred, and performed in supporting roles in several television shows and movies including: "City Guys", "Will & Grace", "Chicago Hope", "General Hospital", "Port Charles", "Sister-Sister", "Diagnosis Murder", "Pacific Blue", "Beyond Belief', "The Weird Al Show", "The Kids From Nowhere", "War Dogs", "Dance with Me", "Turbulence", and the Showtime series, "Linc's" (Starring Pam Grier), as well as the film "Space Cowboys" ( Starring Clint Eastwood and Tommy Lee Jones).

Gordon has been a performing arts instructor, teaching, Theatre Arts, and Dance throughout the U.S. and abroad for over twenty years.

Marlene Saad,Middle Eastern/Creative/Pre-Ballet

Ms Marlene began her Ballet training in Detroit, Michigan at the age of 5. She has studied under the direction of Ms. Emme Hartel, formerly of the Sadler Wells Ballet Company of London, England (now the Royal Ballet Company of London) for over 34 years. Her training in Jazz and Modern Dance includes classes with Directors of the Alvin Ailey Company, while Artist in Residency and through programs offered by Directors of Martha Graham and Lester Horton at Wayne State University over a span of 7 years.

Ms. Marlene's ethnic background brought her into the art of authentic Lebanese­-Egyptian Dance and began her first performance at the age of 6 with an audience of 700 people. She continued her successful career for over 37 years, performing in Miami to New York, and Chicago to Los Angeles. She developed her own style, as well as, studied with specialists from Egypt and Morocco. Her specialty was performing in theaters, at festivals, benefits, and televised educational and talk shows. Her best known achievement is the ability to design a unique program to teach this artistic form of dance to all people.

In Michigan, she was part of the "pilot program" in conjunction with Wayne State University for the integrated arts and dance/movement program in public schools in 1975. Prior to coming to Spartanburg, Ms Marlene was dance director of 400 students for the Chippewa Valley District Fine Arts Program in Mt. Clemens, Michigan for 10 years. She was artistic director for the Junior Olympic Ice Skaters in Fraser, Michigan for 5 years, in which one of her students won the Bronze Medal Award at Lake Placid, NY in 1980.

She has been teaching ballet, jazz and Middle Eastern Dance since 1972 and has just retired from Converse Pre-College, after developing the program of Ballet for Tots and Primary I & II Ballet for the past 25 years.

Ms. Marlene has been with Ballet Spartanburg for two years and enjoys teaching Creative Dance, Pre-Ballet, Ballet A & B, and Middle Eastern Dance for Teens and Adults.

Marian Norman,Ballroom

Marian Norman is a professional dance instructor from Spartanburg, She istrained in major ballroom dances such as Foxtrot, Waltz, Tango, Swing, Cha Cha, Rumba, Samba, Merengue, Mambo, as well as the Shag - SouthCarolina's official State dance.

Marian taught for 14 years at the Spartanburg Ballroom Studio, She represented the Studio in Pro/Am competitions with her husband, Dean, During her career she was also responsible for outreach which involved teaching and presenting programs and performances in schools, colleges, churches, clubs and for charity functions, She recently coached and choreographed two entries in the very successful Spartanburg "Dancing with the Stars" competition.

Audrey Burr, Irish Step

Audrey Burr is a native of Cork City in Ireland. The youngest daughter in a family of eleven, Audrey began taking dance lessons at the age of 3. After completing her degree at the Cork Institute of Technology she emigrated to the United States. She has taught Irish Dancing in the Carolinas for 8 years and is affiliated with the Irish Dance School "Rince na h'Eireann" (Dance of Ireland). Some of her students have reached the highest levels of competition including Regional, National and W odd Championship levels. The school performs at many local and charity events and has also performed with such prestigious artists as "Eileen Ivers and the Immigrant Soul Band", "Cherish the Ladies", Gaelic Storm", "The Spartanburg Philharmonic" and "The Dublin City Ramblers" to name but a few. Her dedication and love for her culture and heritage is very apparent throughout her work.

Sherry Barker,Creative/Pre-Ballet/Adult & Advanced Tap

“Miss Sherry” has over 40 years teaching experience in ballet, jazz, and tap with children and adults ages 3 to 73. She has been the owner and operator of Dawn at Pleasantburg Academy of Dance in Greenville (4 years), and has taught at Rehearsal Hall at Presbyterian College in Clinton (12 years), Converse College Pre-College Dance Department (11 years), and Ballet Spartanburg (29 years). Miss Sherry was also Ballet Spartanburg’s Dance Center Administrative Director from 1979 to 1996. She was the founder and Director of the Sherry Jones Dancers, a jazz dance troupe that performed from 1980 to 1996, and the Tap Dames which was formed in 2000. She has choreographed and performed in over 20 musicals and operas in her 41 year career at Spartanburg Little Theater, Greenville Little Theater, Spartanburg Repertory Company, Spartanburg High School Drama Department, Broome High School Chorus, USC Upstate, and she was the official choreographer for the Miss Spartanburg Pageant for five years. Miss Sherry currently teaches Creative Dance, Pre-Ballet, and Adult Tap. She continues to perform with her Tap Dames in South and North Carolina, and Georgia throughout the year. Does she love to dance? “You bet cha!!”

Elizabeth Connell,Ballet II/Pre-Professional Division

Liz Connell trained at the North Carolina School for the Arts. She danced professionally with Oregon Ballet Theatre, The Cleveland Ballet, and Connecticut Ballet Theatre. She is an accomplished ballet teacher having taught at the Boston Ballet School in Boston, Massachusetts and St. Paul’s School in Concord, New Hampshire. She also teaches Limon Modern Technique and Yoga.
The late Benjamin Harkarvy, the Artistic Director of The Julliard School, has commented, “But best of all I have seen beautifully trained students who testify to her capacities as a teacher. It becomes clear she has a great deal to give the profession.”

Sandra Neels, Associate Professor of Dance, Winthrop University Modern

Since leaving her ten-year performance career with the Merce Cunningham Dance Company, Ms. Neels has choreographed over 200 works in a variety of settings. She maintained her own studio and company in New York City; choreographed for the Utah Repertory Dance Theatre, various musicals around the country, and fashion shows in New York and Los Angeles; and produced and performed many works for universities and colleges where she was an artist-in-residence. In Canada, she choreographed for The Royal Winnipeg Ballet, Le Groupe de la Place Royale, Winnipeg’s Contemporary Dancers, the Canadian Cancer Society, the Manitoba Opera Association, the Plug-In and Mirvish Galleries, The Young People’s Theatre, The Bathurst Street Theatre, Brian Glow the Magician, the Winnipeg Figure Skating Club, and the Manitoba Rhythmic Gymnastic Association. She has taught at the University of South Florida in Tampa, York University in Toronto, the Harvard Summer Session in Cambridge, Hampshire College in Amherst, the Connecticut College Summer Session in New London, The California Institute of the Arts (where she received the Faculty of the Year Award in 1983), The Royal Winnipeg Ballet’s Company and Professional Program, the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Winthrop University (where she is an Associate Professor of Dance), the South Carolina Governor’s School for the Arts and Humanities, and Ballet Hawaii in Honolulu. She has been an adjudicator for the Canada Council, the Ontario and Manitoba Arts Councils, the Association of Canadian Dance Festivals, Rising Star Productions, the North Carolina Arts Council, and the South Carolina Arts Commission. She has been an artistic coach and national level judge for the Canadian Rhythmic Gymnastics Association, and a site evaluator for the National Endowment for the Arts. She regularly adjudicates choreographers for the Charlotte Dance Festival in North Carolina. She has been an Assistant to the Chair of the Summer Dance program at The South Carolina Governor’s School for the Arts and Humanities for five of the sixteen years she has been teaching there, and recently reunited with the Merce Cunningham Dance Company in New York by teaching company classes and coaching the dancers for their 2004 Lincoln Center performances. Since then, she has also reconstructed 4 of Cunningham’s works for the company as well as studio workshops in New York. For the last six years, she has choreographed contemporary solos for dancers in the Youth America Grand Prix International Ballet Competition. Most recently, she was the choreographer for the 2006 and 2007 Brevard Music Festival in North Carolina.

Susan Woodham,Outreach Coord/Pre-Ballet/Ballet I,II/Choreography/Ballet Exercise

Ms. Susan Woodham is Outreach Coordinator and Instructor for Ballet Spartanburg and Dance Specialist for Pine Street Elementary School. She earned her BA in psychology and her MEd in Elementary Education from Converse College, with certification in elementary education and in dance. She has served as facilitator for Curriculum Leadership Institute in the Arts for 8 years, Arts Education Leadership Institute, and on the team to rewrite the SC Curriculum Standards for the Visual and Performing Arts. She is currently serving as a member of the SC Arts Assessment Writing Team and served as president on the Board for the SC Dance Association. Ms. Woodham is currently on the advisory council for the SC Dance Education Organization. She is the developer and coordinator of Ballet Spartanburg’s Art in Motion, a summer dance, music, and visual art program for inner city students, which just completed its 15 th year. She recently was able to assist in reinstating the dance program in Spartanburg School District 7. She was named SC Dance Association’s Dance Educator of the Year for 2000-2001 and has recently honored with a Career Achievement award from Converse College. She is a member of SC Dance Association, Ballet Spartanburg, SC Arts Alliance, SC Alliance for Arts Educators, SC Dance Education Organization, and the National Dance Education Organization. Ms. Woodham has a 20-year-old daughter, Harrison, who is a senior at College of Charleston. In addition to dance, Ms. Woodham enjoys reading, being an advocate for arts education, and contra dancing.