BalletMet inspires and educates Central Ohio youth to excel – in school studies including dance, health and wellness, and in life. Dance-in-Schools programs invite students and teachers to experience dance in meaningful and culturally relevant ways through:
The Wiggle Jig PreK classroom residencies with professional development for teachers
Moving Into Literacy grades 1-5 classroom residencies
Yoga, Meditation and Mindfulness classes for middle and high school students
Together We Dance interactive, in-school lecture performances
Morning at the Ballet theatre performances for K-12 students and teachers
Other Partnership Opportunities – BalletMet will design programming to fit your needs
RECENT PROJECTS: Adapted Wiggle Jig program for Columbus City Schools’ Special Needs Preschool classrooms.…
Alan Bomar Jones
Drama/Theatre, Film/Video/Media
Alan Bomar Jones is a professional international actor, teacher, director, and Artist-in-Residence for Ohio Arts Council-supported programs. He has 30 years combined teaching experience at Dayton Public Schools, Greene County School District, Sinclair Community College, and Wright State University. Alan is also a Resident Artist with the Human Race Theatre Company. He is currently the Producing Artistic Director for Town Hall Theatre in Centerville, Ohio.
As an actor, Alan has appeared in more than 80 professional theatrical productions that have allowed him to work in several cities in the United States and Canada.…
Terry Boyarsky
Music, Dance/Movement
With over 45 years of experience as a teacher of Dalcroze Eurhythmics and a lifelong performer of chamber music, pianist Terry Boyarsky believes that every person is musical. Her thirst for musical collaboration led to chamber music, choral singing, improvisation, folk dance, accompaniment, and creating ceremony. She specializes in integrating music and movement into the curriculum. Her unique, multifaceted approach evokes deep listening and playful experimentation.
A favorite interdisciplinary project was a collaboration with a Taipei puppeteer and Cleveland dancer to create “Young Dreams – Life in 3 Parts,” an intimate work of puppetry, dance, and improvised music, sponsored by Cleveland Foundation Creative Fusion Program.…
Mimi Brodsky Chenfeld
Integrated Arts Experiences
Born and raised in New York City, Mimi Brodsky Chenfeld has been teaching people of all ages and backgrounds for her whole teaching life—through programs such as Headstart and Upward Bound—from early childhood programs to senior communities, from prisons to hospitals, elementary schools, high schools, and higher education institutions. She has presented programs in creative education in 45 states, Puerto Rico, Canada, and Great Britain. She has written numerous poems, stories, articles, and books. Her children’s novel, The House At 12 Rose Street, was adapted for a TV special and nominated for an Emmy.…
Richard Duarte Brown
Visual Arts: Design, & Creative Writing
Richard Duarte Brown, known as Duarte, is a master artist with the TRANSIT ARTS Youth Arts Program and the Ohio Alliance for Arts Education’s Art in the House program. For more than 30 years, Duarte has dedicated his talents to helping young people in Columbus, Ohio, through countless programs including CAPACITY (CAPA’s youth arts program), the Short Stop Youth Center, the King Arts Complex, Ohio Alliance for Arts Education’s (and formerly GCAC’s) Artists-in-Schools program, GCAC’s Children of the Future, Ebony Boys, Art Safe, and VSA Ohio. Duarte has also worked as a high school art instructor at the Arts and College Preparatory Academy in Columbus.…
Risa Cohen
Music & Dance/Movement
Risa Beth Cohen, M.S.Ed. is an educator, singer/songwriter, speaker, and storyteller. She works with people of all ages and abilities, leading music circles and storytelling workshops. As the Founder and Creative Director of Sing into Reading, Risa is passionate about teaching literacy through music and movement. Risa holds a B.F.A. in acting from Tisch School of the Arts at New York University, and an M.S.Ed. in Early Childhood/ Elementary Education from Bank Street College. In 2016, she was the Featured Teller at “Tellebration” in Toledo, Ohio. She is able to craft music and movement classes to align with any topic, ensuring that they are developmentally appropriate and fun.…
Griset Damas-Roche
Dance/Movement, Flamenco
Born in Havana, Griset Damas-Roche studied ballet from a very young age at the Instituto Superior de Arte de Cuba before joining the world-famous National Ballet of Cuba. Then she achieved the Soloist spot in Ballet Espanol de La Habana. In 1998 she moved to Bogotá, Colombia, where she opened the doors to flamenco dance for more than 3,500 students as a teacher and choreographer. For about 17 years she successfully directed her own school and dance company. In 2014, Griset moved to Columbus, Ohio, where she began teaching at the established Flamenco del Corazon studio.…
Sheela Das
Music: Multi-Instrumentalist & Songwriting
Sheela Das is the artistic director and founder of Creative Concepts in Music. With more than a decade of teaching through the arts, she has directed, produced, and delivered compelling workshops and original stage and video productions for students, community members, and professional venues alike.
From songwriting workshops, instrumental music, playwriting and puppetry camps to classroom residencies, Sheela brings her multi-instrumental talent to the joy of hundreds of audiences each year. She has composed more than 350 original, interactive songs and 49 Youtube videos to teach the curriculum in grades K-12 in subjects ranging from social emotional learning to language arts and science.…
Tom Evert
Dance/Movement
Tom Evert has been a creative force in creating and performing original choreographic works with a company of dancers, working intensively in arts-education programming and creating festival-like community events in Ohio for 38 years.
Tom currently serves as artistic director of DANCE EVERT, which he founded in 1986. He holds BFAs in both painting and dance from Ohio University and has enjoyed a world-class touring career with the Paul Taylor Dance Company in New York City. He has created a major body of work for which he has received eight Individual Excellence Awards in choreography.…
Jennifer Hambrick
Poetry
A poet hailed for her “brilliant” imagery, “masterful” craftsmanship, and “uniquely musical voice,” Jennifer Hambrick is the six-time Pushcart Prize- and Best of the Net-nominated author of the free verse poetry collection In the High Weeds, winner of the Stevens Manuscript Award of the National Federation of State Poetry Societies; the haibun collection Joyride (Red Moon Press), winner of the Marianne Bluger Book Award from Haiku Canada; the collection of avant-garde haiku and short prose poems, a silence or two (Red Moon Press), acclaimed as “a stunning collection … destined to become a haiku classic;” and the free verse poetry collection Unscathed (NightBallet Press).…
Ann Heckler
Dance/Movement, Ballet, Yoga & Meditation, & Adaptive Dance
Ann earned her degree in both Education and Dance in west Michigan, where she began her teaching career in 1985. She joined the faculty of The Toledo Ballet in 2007, then shortly after created the first adaptive dance program in the Toledo Area. She is grateful for the training the Boston Ballet Adaptive Dance directors offered her through the years, allowing her to grow the Toledo Ballet Adaptive Dance program to the level it is today. Ann enjoys collaborating with local art organizations, such as Unruly Arts at the Toledo Botanical Gardens as well as The Toledo City Parks, to further the opportunities for the dancers she serves.…
Kimberly Jarvis
Dance/Movement
Kimberly Crislip Jarvis is an educator, choreographer, and administrator, known for her exceptional contributions to the creative arts. With an impressive educational background, Kimberly holds degrees and certifications from respected institutions such as the Scandinavian Institute for Physical Culture in Denmark, the American College of Sports Medicine, Malone University, and the University of Akron.
Throughout her career, Kimberly has collaborated with Kent State University, Ballet Magnificat! in Jackson, Mississippi, and Jacob’s Pillow in Massachusetts, where she had the privilege of working alongside esteemed dancers such as Merce Cunningham, Meredeth Monk, Craig Patterson, Patricia Lent, Susanna Chaffey, Jennifer Way, Milton Myers, and Dianne McIntyre.…
