Founder and Director

Adalhi Aranda

Adalhi Aranda, founder, and director of Bluegrass Youth Ballet is originally from Leon, Mexico. She trained under the Royal Academy of Dancing system. She continued in Guadalajara where she became a professional dancer and started teaching. There she was the founder and director of a small ballet school where she started her creative process of choreographing full-length ballets.

Adalhi moved to the US in 1994 and danced at Evansville Dance Theatre, IN where she also served as Ballet Mistress. She continued her career as a dancer and teacher when she moved to Lexington in 1999. She danced for Lexington Ballet, Ballet Theatre of Chicago, and Kentucky Ballet Theatre, where she directed the Academy.

She has attended the Vaganova Syllabus seminar in Connecticut. Adalhi has danced numerous soloist and demi-soloist roles such as Sugar Plum Fairy (The Nutcracker), Swanilda (Coppelia), Paquita, Romeo and Juliet, Dracula, Sleeping Beauty, Giselle and others.

Adalhi created Bluegrass Youth Ballet in 2003 to satisfy the need for high-quality dance education in a healthy, fun, and encouraging environment. Here the students are the priority and are provided with performance opportunities.

She has also created numerous full-length ballets, such as Pied Piper, Arabella’s Journey, Alebrijes – a dream that became art, Tales of tails, and her signature Nutcracker in One Act and Dia de los Muertos – performed for hundreds of people every year. She has also created short pieces such as Huapango, Hechizo de Luna, Banjo Fun, Four Seasons, El Baile, Ara, and many others.

Several of Adalhi’s students have followed professional careers as dancers in companies such as New York City Ballet, Dance Theatre of Tennessee, California Ballet, Anchorage Ballet, Ballet Magnificat!, Atlanta Ballet, Augsburg Ballett, and others. Her students every year are accepted in prestigious ballet summer programs such as Boston Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, School of American Ballet, Joffrey Ballet, Pacific Northwest Ballet, Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre, Ballet Chicago, North Carolina School for the Arts, Cincinnati Ballet, Nutmeg Ballet, and others. Her students also have participated in the Youth America Grand Prix Ballet competition and have placed high in their categories, and have qualified to perform at the finals in NYC.

Adalhi has a daughter, Adalhi Elena who was born in 2003, and a son, Mariano Renato who was born in 2008.

Ballet Master

Chuck Bronson
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Chuck Bronson is a former co-director of the University of Louisville Preparatory Dance Academy and danced with the Louisville Ballet Civic Company. At the Academy, he taught ballet technique, pointe, and men’s technique and choreographed numerous pieces for the University of Louisville Dance Theater.

Chuck has created dance integration workshops for JCPS teachers, has lesson plans published in the KET Dance Toolkit, and has won awards for choreography including the William Habich Scholarship at the Southeastern Regional Ballet Association Festival and the Al Smith Fellowship from the Kentucky Arts Council.

Ballet Mistress

Gretchen Gunther
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Gretchen Gunther began her training on Long Island and continued at the Joffrey School, Melissa Hayden School, and as a scholarship student at Steps in New York City. During her professional career she also studied with Larissa Luvisicuk, Ilya Gaft, and Victoria Lebedeva of the Kirov Ballet. As a professional, she has danced with The Classics Dance Theatre of Connecticut, New Jersey Ballet, Staten Island Ballet, Ilya Gaft Dance Theatre, and North Atlantic ballet. She has worked with many independent choreographers as well. With over 20 years experience teaching all levels of classical ballet, Ms. Gunther teaches both pre-professional and technique classes at The School at Steps. Many of her students have graduated from the school and have gone on to careers in dance. For the past six years she has also taught at Eglevsky Ballet School on Long Island, where she rehearses the upper level students for their performances. Ms Gunther has also taught at the Ailey School, The School of Staten Island Ballet, and others throughout the Tri-State area. In 2013, she was featured in Dance Teacher Magazine in an article on alignment for young dancers. To further advance her teaching, Ms. Gunther continues to take pedagogical courses, including John White’s Vaganova Syllabus Seminar at the Pennsylvania Ballet, and has completed the Bolshoi Teacher Certification program in New York City for Levels one through three in 2018.

Faculty

Billie Jean Kandravi

Billie Jean Kandravi grew up in Houston, Texas where she received her early dance from American Academy of Dance. She then pursued her love of dance at The University of Oklahoma where she graduated with her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Ballet Pedagogy in 2013. While there she performed many roles and toured to Austria with the Oklahoma Festival Ballet. After graduating she danced professionally with the Rochester City Ballet where she performed many roles from classical to contemporary and began to teach classes for Draper Center For Dance Education, which is the training school for the ballet company. While there she taught many levels in the children, student, and adult division. After many years dancing Billie Jean transitioned to teaching full time and wanted to bring the joy of dance to as many students as possible. In addition to teaching for the Draper Center, she became a children’s rehearsal assistant for the Rochester City Ballet where she staged and rehearsed many roles for the Nutcracker for five seasons. Billie Jean also became one of Rochester City Ballets outreach teachers for local schools and taught dance to children of all ages including a program for children with special needs and limited mobility. Her love for teaching didn’t stop there as she also taught for a local homeschooling community called the Grace Collaborative, where she helped launch the dance program a little over three years ago.

Billie Jean has 10 years of teaching experience and loves working with students of all ages and sharing her passion of dance with them in a positive and engaging environment!

Part-Time Faculty

Nancy Dominguez
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Nancy Dominguez is from Albany, NY. She began her formal training under  Michael Steele and Tomislav Vukovich, in Saratoga Springs, N.Y.  She was awarded a full scholarship to train for the summer and year-round with the Chicago City Ballet, under the direction of Maria Tallchief, and also had the privilege to train with Homer Bryant and Marjorie Tallchief Skibine. Nancy attended and was awarded scholarships at Pennsylvania Ballet, Pittsburgh Ballet, and the New York State Summer School of the Arts.  

Nancy danced professionally with the Kansas City Ballet, Atlanta Ballet, Ballet  New England, and The Dance Theatre of Harlem under Arthur Mitchell. While dancing with Dance Theatre of Harlem she was honored to work with some of the most influential names in the dance world and to dance in some of the most prominent theatres in the world. Her favorite memory of dancing was having the opportunity to dance at the Acropolis of Athens, Greece. Her favorite ballet is  George Balanchine’s Serenade.

Part-Time Faculty

Elvira Dale
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Elvira Dale studied at the Perm Ballet Academy in Russia where she obtained her diploma of professional ballet. She specializes in the Vaganova method of ballet technique, which is the main method in the world of classical ballet. She was subsequently employed by the Donetsk Theater of Opera and ballet in Ukraine. For ten years, Elvira was a soloist dancer and has danced parts in “Swan Lake”, “Nutcracker”, “Sleeping Beauty”, “Giselle”, “Don Quixote”, and many more. She has toured all over the former USSR including such major cities as Moscow, Kiev, and Saint Petersburg, as well as New York City, Washington D.C., Philadelphia, Baltimore, Boston, and Richmond, VA. Elvira was one of Lexington Ballet’s principle dancers in Lexington, KY, where she was also a choreographer for the Ballet Under the Stars Pre-Show.  Elvira has given Master’s Classes in Ohio, Tennessee, Kentucky, and Idaho.  She is presently teaching at several dance studios in Pocatello and Idaho Falls.

Part-Time Faculty

Jeana Klevene

Jeana Klevene grew up in Central Wisconsin and furthered her dance training at the Joffrey Midwest Workshop and spent 3 summers training with the American Ballet Theatre, studying under such teachers as John Magnus, Cynthia Harvey, Charles Maple, Leslie Browne, Mia Mia Michaels, and Rebecca Wright. Jeana danced professionally with the Lexington Ballet Company for the 2001-2002 season and later returned to join their faculty from 2007-2012. In 2013 Jeana created and founded Allegro Dance Project, a non-profit contemporary dance company that specializes in and provides Inclusive Dance Outreach and Adaptive Dance classes for hundreds of children with special needs each season.

Part-Time Faculty

Brianna Mullins
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Brianna was born and raised in Lexington and obtained a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance with an Entrepreneurial Studies Minor from Northern Kentucky University (NKU) in May 2021. She has been dancing for over 21 years and teaching for 10 years. She has trained, taught, and choreographed a variety of dance styles: ballet, jazz (NGCP- Basic level, Fosse, and classical), tap, lyrical/contemporary, modern (Gaga, Horton, Lehman), musical theatre, acrobatics, African, and hip hop (Jazz-Funk). She is a nationally certified Group Exercise instructor (NETA) since 2017 with specialty certifications: Barre Fitness, Zumba, TRX, etc, as well as the creator of Jazz Funk Fitness. She is currently dancing and choreographing professionally with Allegro Dance Project and is a group exercise instructor with the YMCA. She is thrilled to be a part of a new dance family and looks forward to bringing her love for fitness and dance to BYB this season.

Part-Time Faculty

Elizabeth Stubbs
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Elizabeth’s passion for dance began as a young child.  She started taking dance classes at the age of 3. She has studied, performed, and taught many different types of dance throughout the years. Elizabeth danced through college at Winona State University and the Minnesota Conservatory for the Arts. She danced with the Ormao Modern Dance Company in Colorado Springs, CO in the mid-2000s. Elizabeth has choreographed musicals for high schools in Colorado and consulted for numerous high school dance teams in Colorado and Minnesota. She has also created pieces for Children’s Dance Theater in Rochester, MN.
Her most recent teaching position was at Allegro School of Dance and Music in Rochester, MN, which is a Leap N’ Learn Certified Studio. At Allegro Elizabeth taught multiple genres including ballet, tap, jazz, hip-hop, and modern. She was also Director of the studio’s performance and competition teams in addition to having annual contributions to holiday shows and spring recitals.
Elizabeth uses safe teaching practices to help build strong techniques in the youngest of students. Although technique is important, she also wants her students to feel the joy that can be found in ballet.  She loves giving students the opportunity to express themselves creatively and hopes to instill a lifetime appreciation for the art form in each of them.

Elizabeth relocated to Kentucky with her husband and children in 2019. Her son is a dancer at BYB and she began helping out on a substitute basis in 2022. She is looking forward to the upcoming season!

Part-Time Faculty

Claire Rose
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Claire Rose began her ballet training at Kentucky Ballet Theater under the instruction of Adalhi Aranda, which immediately sparked her love for dance and physical expression. Claire is an alumna of Bluegrass Youth Ballet, where she trained and performed for 12 years in ballet. After graduating in 2015, Claire participated in two immersive theatre productions with Afterculture Theatre and began performing with Blackbird Dance Theatre under the direction of Jenny Fitzpatrick.

 

Since 2020, Claire has been choreographing and teaching students in multiple styles, including ballet, contemporary, and jazz. In her time there, she has also performed and collaborated in several dance theatre productions with the adult company at Blackbird Dance Theatre, including Luz del Abismo in July of 2024. Claire has returned to Bluegrass Youth Ballet to share what she has learned and to continue to learn through teaching the next generation of dancers.

Part-Time Faculty

Keturah Cook

Keturah Cook spent her early years in Seattle, WA where she began her ballet training at the Evergreen City Ballet under the artistic direction of Wade Walthall. She then completed her last eight years of training at the Kentucky Ballet Theatre Academy, in Lexington, KY, under the direction of Rafaela Risco, where she enjoyed performing numerous children and corps de ballet roles with the Professional Company. During her training she attended multiple prestigious summer programs including, but not limited to Pacific Northwest Ballet, Evergreen City Ballet, Next Generation Ballet at Patel Conservatory, and Kentucky Ballet Theatre. Keturah is also a graduate of the Kentucky Governor’s School of the Arts. Upon graduating early in 2016, she joined Kentucky Ballet Theatre’s professional Company, under the direction of Norbe Risco. During her time at Kentucky Ballet Theatre she enjoyed dancing corps de ballet, demi-soloist & soloist roles in many classical & original ballets including The Nutcracker, Carmen, Dracula, La Esmeralda, La Bayadere, Peter Pan, The Night Before Christmas, Carnival of Venice, Wizard of Oz, Le Corsaire and Giselle, just to name a few, along with being hand selected for many neoclassical and contemporary works with prestigious guest choreographers. In 2022, Keturah continued her dance career in Chicago, IL with Ardent Dance Company under the direction of Justine Kelly. Upon the completion of her first season she was promoted to principal dancer. She has enjoyed performing a variety of ensemble, soloist and principal roles in Pandora’s Box, Les Miserables & POE: A Contemporary Ballet based on Edger Allen Poe’s Life and Works. Keturah is trained in the Cuban Ballet Method and has had the honor to train under world renowned Cuban Jewel, Aurora Bosch. Keturah has choreographed for many years now and has prepared several students for the Youth America Grand Prix, Dance Open America, as well as several regional competitions, where her choreography has received awards. In 2020 she was chosen to choreograph on the Kentucky Ballet Theatre’s professional company, and in 2021 Keturah choreographed a brand new full length production of the Nutcracker for Konquer Dance Company, where she was the Ballet Mistress. Currently, while performing with Ardent Dance Company, Keturah is excited to be pursuing a degree at Asbury University and once again work with the next generation of dancers in Central Kentucky.

Director of Development and Marketing

Megan Adams
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Megan holds a Bachelor’s of Business Administration from Loyola University New Orleans and a Minor in ballet. She is a business professional with nearly 15 years of experience in sales, fund development, and administration. Cheerfully coined the “Chief Encouragement Officer of Y-O-U”, Megan is passionate about championing a culture of excellence while sprinkling joy around those she encounters. She is no stranger to the dance community as she began her dance education at Sheri’s Dance Arts & Gymnastics Centre in Maysville, KY, at the age of 2, with continuation at the Otto M. Budig Academy of Cincinnati Ballet, Ballet Theatre Midwest, and Milwaukee Ballet. Megan danced as a soloist and principal dancer with the Loyola University New Orleans Repertoire Ballet, appeared as a guest artist with New Orleans Opera, participated in Komenka Dance Assemble performances, was a member of New Orleans Junior Philharmonic Society for Dance, and trained at American Ballet Theatre’s Collegiate Summer Intensive and Sydney Dance Company in Sydney, Australia. Megan later taught at the Louisiana Academy of Performing Arts and holds an RYT-200 yoga certification with Yoga Alliance and the PBT training certification from Progressing Ballet Technique. Outside of her career, Megan is a doting dog mom, a Junior League of Lexington member, an adventurous scuba diver, and a yoga & wellness enthusiast.

Administrative Director

Kelly VanHoose
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Kelly is a graduate of the University of Kentucky, where she earned her B.S. in Business Administration and a degree in Marketing from the Gatton College of Business and Economics. In addition to her role at BYB, Kelly is the Chief Operating Officer and co-owner of KC WELLNESS, INC, a regional provider of on-site and remote worksite wellness programs and occupational health services since 1995. She lives in Lexington with her husband of 20 years and two children. In her free time, she enjoys volunteering at her children’s school, fishing, gardening, reading and cooking.

Enrollment Director

Julie Stone
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Julie Stone has a BS in Elementary Education with a minor in Music from Asbury University in Wilmore, Kentucky.  After teaching in the Fayette County School System for five and a half years, she became a full-time stay-at-home mom.  During her time at home, she was the President of LexKAGE, a local chapter of the Kentucky Association for Gifted Education, and she successfully managed their bi-annual Super Saturday events here in Lexington.  She attended Western Kentucky University to study Gifted Education and Talent Development and she obtained her endorsement to teach gifted and talented students in the classroom. In November of 2021, she happily began working at Bluegrass Youth Ballet as their enrollment director.  She is married to Joe and they have two children, Will and Lauren.  Will is a junior at Cedarville University and Lauren is a High School senior and a student at Bluegrass Youth Ballet.