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Artistic Director :: Dance Instructors :: Accompanists :: Student Faculty
Artistic Director
August
Tye
Artistic Director
(For more information, please, see the Artistic Director page)
Dance Instructors
Aimee
Tye
Associate Artistic Director
Ballet
Ms. Aimee Tye began training at the Bullard School of Ballet and the Kalamazoo Ballet Company. She also studied at the Royal Winnipeg Ballet's Professional School for two years. She became a member of the Metropolitan Ballet Theatre of Detroit for the 1993-94 season. Ms. Tye dances with the Joel Hall Dancers and is a principal dancer and Associate Artistic Director of Tyego Dance Project and the Hyde Park School of Dance. Ms. Tye has a degree in massage therapy from the Soma Institute.
Sarah
Ford
Associate Artistic Director
Ballet, Modern, Kundalini Yoga
Ms. Ford is originally from Georgetown, Kentucky. She began her dance training at age 8 at the Lexington Ballet under the direction of Karl Kaufman. She went on to earn her BFA in dance from the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music. While studying at CCM she trained with James Truitte and fell in love with the Horton Technique and modern dance. After relocating to Chicago, Ms. Ford danced as a company member with Deeply Rooted Dance Theater and self-produced several dance concerts as Nucleus Dance Collective. Ms. Ford also teaches dance at Chicago High School for the Arts and the Joffrey Ballet, is a certified Kundalini Yoga Instructor, group fitness instructor and Clinical Exercise Specialist
Allyson
Ratliff
Associate Artistic Director
Ballet
Ms. Ratliff began her dance training at the Lenhoff School of Music and Dance where she discovered her love of movement and her passion for the arts. She went on to train at several of Chicago’s premier dance institutions including the Chicago Multi-Cultural Dance Center (formerly the Bryant Ballet), the School of Ballet Chicago under the watchful eye of Daniel Duell and Patricia Blair, the Joel Hall Dance Center, and with August and Aimee Tye at the Hyde Park School of Ballet. She also studied dance at the University of Arizona in Tucson and the Washington Ballet in Washington DC. Ms. Ratliff has taught at the School of Ballet Chicago where she instructed classes in ballet and creative movement and served as an integral part of Ballet Chicago’s inner city outreach program. She has also served as Ballet Mistress for Expressions Dance Theatre and Rhythm Street in Washington DC. Ms. Ratliff has a Master of Arts Management degree with a focus on performing arts.
Jacquelyn
Sanders
Modern, Ballet
Ms. Sanders began her training at the Kalamazoo Ballet Company, has studied at the Alvin Ailey Dance Center and the Joel Hall Dance Center, and is currently dancing with Deeply Rooted Productions where she is an apprentice ensemble member. Ms. Sander's choreography has been performed at Dance Chicago '98 and '99 and at the Mid States Regional Ballet Festivals. She has been working with August and Aimee Tye for over 12 years and is a principal dancer with the Tyego Dance Project. Ms. Sanders is a freelance costume designer/seamstress working for many dance companies and schools in the Chicago area.
Rochelle Goff
Jazz/Hip Hop
Rochelle Goff, born in Belize, has been a member of the Joel Hall Dancers and has worked for the Chicago White Sox Frank Thomas' record label, UN-D-NYABLE Entertainment, Inc., where she danced for live concerts and music videos. Other works to her credit include; appearances in Seagram's promotions, Dance Chicago, and as a specialty dancer in the Paramount Pictures' film, "Save the Last Dance." She is also on the faculty of the Joel Hall Dance Center where she teaches Jazz and Hip-Hop in both the Adult and Youth Divisions, and has been an instructor in the Alvin Ailey Dance Camp-Chicago.
Aisha B. Humphries
Modern Instructor/HPSD STEPS Outreach Program Ballet
Aisha Humphries began formal dance training at Mayfair Academy on Chicago's South Side, where she studied ballet. She later studied Katherine Dunham technique and African dance and performed with a Dunham-based troupe at ETA Creative Arts Theatre in Chicago, IL. Aisha also studied at Joel Hall Dance Center and trained with Deeply Rooted Dance Theatre of Chicago and is a former member of Deeply Rooted Dance Theatre II.
Tiffany Vann earned a BFA degree from The Juilliard School, where she performed works by such major choreographers as José Limon, Jiri Kylián, Lar Lubovitch, and Paul Taylor. Subsequently she has performed as a member of Luna Negra Dance Theater, Ballet Memphis, Dayton Contemporary II, Hubbard Street 2, and Hubbard Street Dance Chicago and Lyric Opera of Chicago.
Gayle Ratliff received her early training at the Lenhoff School of Music and Dance, Bryant Ballet, and Hyde Park School of Ballet. She continued her studies at the School of Ballet Chicago where she became an original member of the Ballet Chicago Studio Company, performing works by Artistic Director, Daniel Duell and choreographer George Balanchine. In 2002, Suzanne Farrell invited Ms. Ratliff to study with her at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC. Ms. Ratliff trained and toured with Dance Theater of Harlem where she performed works by Robert Garland, Geoffrey Holder and Arthur Mitchell among others. Ms. Ratliff holds degrees from the Physics Department at Florida State University and the Engineering Systems Division at MIT.
Jane Sawyer is a graduate of The Ailey School's Certificate Program, where she has performed works by choreographers including Francesca Harper, Darrell Moultrie, Peter London, Earl Mosley, Tina Bush and Koryn Wicks. She is a member of Deeply Rooted Dance Theater's Emerging Artists Ensemble, with whom she will perform in the 2011/2012 season. Ms. Sawyer has taught for The Joffrey Academy of Chicago as well as the Hyde Park School of Dance. She began dancing at HPSD, where she studied ballet and modern dance and performed with Tyego Dance Project as a company member. Ms. Sawyer received the Ratliff scholarship during her time at HPSD, and she was also awarded a scholarship to the summer intensive of Ballet International of Indianapolis by the panel of the Regional Dance America Festival.
Marissa Jeffrey
Jazz/Hip Hop
Marissa Jeffrey has been a dancer for 25 years and has been teaching for the past 13 years. Ms. Jeffrey has experience in ballet, tap, jazz, modern, hip-hop, musical theatre, and ballroom and has toured around the U.S, Australia, and Sweden. As an instructor, Ms. Jeffrey prefers to create a safe atmosphere in which students can develop not only their dance skills but also their creativity, an individual character, and healthy living habits.
Accompanists
Tatiana Naumova
Accompanist
Tatiana Naumova studied piano in Russia. She has a Master's Degree in Piano Performance and Music Education obtained from the Nizhniy Novgorod Conservatory.
Peter
Rumbold
Anna Rumbold
Accompanists
Mr. Rumbold studied piano in Australia and has a Doctorate in Composition from the University of Illinois. Ms. Rumbold studied piano in Russia. She has a Master's Degree in Musicology from the St. Petersburg Conservatory.
Jonathan Schang
Accompanist
Since graduating from the Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University of 2005, Jonathan Schang has become one of Chicago’s premier dance accompanists, acclaimed for his abilities as a drummer, multi-instrumentalist and composer. Mr. Schang works with many dance companies and studios throughout Chicago, including Thodos Dance Chicago, Lou Conte Dance Studio, Columbia College and the Academy of Movement and Music.
Student Faculty
Nathan Eckstein, Molly Petchenik, Katie Rosengarten
Student faculty are advanced level students who have participated in the School's Teacher Trainee program with Artistic Director August Tye. Teacher Trainees participate in the program for at least four years and are interviewed by the Artistic Director before being invited to become a member of our Student Faculty.