Directors
      Germaine Bledsoe, began her dance training with her mother, Lori Smoak, and had the opportunity to study with American  and European masters at an early age. She continued her training with Tatiana Gsovsky of the Tanz Acadamie of the Berlin Opera, and Gisela Bealkowski, formerly ballerina of the East Berlin Ballet, and at age 16 began her professional career with the Berlin Opera Ballet. She later appeared in the leading roles in ballets such as "Swan Lake", "The Sleeping Beauty", Coppelia", "Les Sylphides", and many original ballets in Europe and the United States. She has been teaching since 1972, and has held the position of ballet mistress/choreographer and currently Artistic Director for the Civic Ballet of Volusia County. Germaine strives to inspire her students to reach new heights in their dance training.  With the introduction of the Professional Track program in 2004, serious dance students and professional aspirants have the opportunity to expand their performing outlets, study with guest teachers in many dance styles and attend out of town workshops to broaden their dance education.

       Lori Smoak began her training at the age of six with the children’s division of the Munich Opera Ballet, and later began her professional career there. She later danced and choreographed for musicals and films in Germany and Italy, before coming to the United States in 1954. Lori co-founded the Fort Worth Ballet Association in Texas and later the Fort Walton Beach Ballet Association of Florida (now the Northwest Florida Ballet).  She opened her first studio in 1964 in Berlin, Germany and after moving back to Florida in 1977, co-founded the European School of Ballet (now the European School of Performing Arts), with her daughter, Germaine. From the school, the Daytona Beach Civic Ballet, and later the Civic Ballet of Volusia County, was formed by Lori and Germaine. Students under her direction have gone on to becoming professional dancers and teachers with companies in Europe and the United States.  Lori brings to the school the rich traditions of the classical ballet and a wealth of experiences that she loves sharing with her students.


Faculty
      Janice Waligroski Logue- Early Training includes the Children’s Ballet of Cape Cod and The Cape Cod Ballet Company with teachers Virginia Zango (Boston Ballet), and Barry Edson (American Ballet Theater/Westchester Ballet), where she took class with the Boston Ballet. Janice was the Vice President of the DBCC Dance Ensemble 1988-1989, and later went on to earn a High Honors Degree in Education with a major in Dance.  Further training  included master classes with modern dance pioneer, Eric Hawkins, Maya Plisetskaya (Bolshoi Ballet), Francesca Corkle (Joffrey Ballet), Yan Chen (American Ballet Theater), and with dancers from the Moscow Ballet.  She has been a faculty member at the European School of Performing Arts since 1987, teaching classes in ballet, pointe, modern, and jazz.  An accomplished choreographer, Janice has been an artistic board member of the CBVC since 1991 as well as dancing lead roles in many ballets including Sleeping Beauty, Gaite Parisienne, Swan Lake, Cinderella, The Firebird, and Sugar Plum Fairy in the Nutcracker. 
    Janice is a caring teacher who enjoys sparking the imagination of her youngest students, and guiding them from their earliest steps onward.


     Kristen Wheat, started dancing, tumbling and competing in ballet, jazz, lyrical, tap and acrobatics at age 8 with the Technical Dance Center of Cincinnati, Ohio. She has won numerous titles and scholarships through Dance Masters of America, West Coast Dance Explosion and many other national and international competitions and conventions. At 11 years old, she was accepted into The School for the Creative and Performing Arts where she trained professionally in Vaganova and Checcheti ballet techniques, Graham, Horton and Taylor modern techniques, as well as partnering, afro-caribbean and musical theatre before graduating with an arts diploma.  She also took classes annually from Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre and from tap sensation, Savion Glover.
    Professionally, she danced in the movie, Milk Money, working with Adam Shankman, Melanie Griffith, Ed Harris and Richard Benjamin. She has taught and danced with the Cincinnati Ballet as well as for the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music preparatory program. Most recently, she has started her sixth season with Surfscape Contemporary Dance Theatre in Daytona Beach.
    Kristen brings excellent training in a variety of dance styles to her students at ESPA to prepare them for a career in the many branches of the performing arts.

    Cari Call Merrell  began dancing at age 5.  Her formal ballet training began a few years later at The European School of Performing Arts (then known as the European School of Ballet). As a young teenager she also studied at the school of Southern Ballet Theatre in Orlando.  During these years Cari was fortunate to study during the summers on full scholarship at some of the major professional ballet companies in North America including the schools of The Cleveland Ballet, The Royal Winnipeg Ballet, The Houston Ballet, and she also was chosen to be a part of the Carlisle Project, a premier choreographic project held annually in Aspen, Colorado. Her training was completed at such premier schools as North Carolina School of the Arts and The Harid Conservatory. Student performed repertoire included Sleeping Beauty Pas de Deux, Bluebird Pas De Deux, Harlequinade Pas de Deux, The Little Mermaid, and Concerto Barocco. Throughout her student years, Cari won numerous competitions and awards including Jr. Miss Dance of Florida and Miss Dance of Florida.
    Cari’s professional career began at Southern Ballet Theatre in Orlando, Florida where she was a principal dancer for five seasons. Her classical repertoire at SBT included the title roles in Giselle, Cinderella, and The Firebird, as well as Clara/Sugar Plum Fairy in The Nutcracker, Odile in Swan Lake, La Sylphide, and Flower Festival pas de deux from the Royal Danish Ballet. Balanchine repertoire included Valse Fantaisie and Allegro Brillante. Modern and contemporary repertoire included Bolero, Carmina Burana, Gym 1939, and Full Circle. In 1996, Cari joined The Joffrey Ballet as a soloist and was a part of their European tour of the world-renowned rock ballet Billboards. For her remaining career with the Joffrey Ballet, Cari danced legendary repertoire of the Joffrey Ballet most notably including Monotones I, La Vivandiere, Viva Vivaldi, Kettentanz, L’apres Midi d’une Faun, Light Rain, Suite Saint-Saens, Creative Force, and Rodeo, as well as numerous roles The Nutcracker. With the Joffrey Ballet, Cari performed all over the world in famous venues such as Royal Festival Hall in London, Ephesus in Izmir, Turkey, and at the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles.  She has been reviewed in Dance Magazine for her performance in La Vivandiere and has been on several magazine covers of dance publications.
     Throughout her career, Cari has taught master classes and as a guest teacher in numerous schools. She is looking forward to bringing her experience and knowledge to the students of ESPA. Cari holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Business and currently resides in Ormond Beach with her husband and four children.

Karyn Schanz Ruddy – began ballet lessons at the age of seven, studying with Tom Adair (American Ballet Theatre soloist) and Mme. Seda Sorvillo (student of Mikhail Mordkin who partnered famed ballerina Anna Pavlova.) As a  graduate of Professional Children’s School in New York, NY, Karyn was offered a scholarship at Harkness House but upon acceptance to the School of American Ballet, chose to  go to SAB instead.   She also attended David Howard’s School of Dance in New York City  and took classes at the American Ballet Theatre School and with Finis Jhung, among others. Two summers were spent studying at the New York State Summer School of the Arts in Saratoga, NY. In addition to ballet, she has training in jazz, modern, character and tap. Professionally, she danced with Poughkeepsie Ballet Theatre and Ballet Binghamton under the direction of Gilbert Reed. She also danced with The New Buffalo Dance Festival, Empire State Ballet, The Humphrey Dance Ensemble, U.S.A. Ballet in Chicago and was part of the T.O.S. Dance Project in Orlando. She has had the pleasure of performing at The Metropolitan Opera House and The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. She has performed in many original works and danced in traditional ballets like The Sleeping Beauty, Gaite Parisienne, Coppelia and The Nutcracker where she’s enjoyed dancing many roles including the Sugarplum Fairy. She has danced in the musicals My Fair Lady, Sweet Charity and Carousel and performed in many Operas including Tannhäuser, Merry Widow, La Traviata, and Carmen and danced in the world premiere opera, Chinchilla and the operetta Die Fledermaus.   Karyn has taught all levels of ballet in several schools across New York State and in Florida including Poughkeepsie Ballet Theatre School, Ballet Binghamton’s School ,State University of New York at Binghamton ,Festival School of Dance, Debonaire Dance Studio  Niagara Falls Dance Academy  and Raskin Dance Studio.
    Karyn brings her love of dance to ESPA. She’s excited to pass on her knowledge and help students achieve their greatest potential.  

Philip Ancheta is a recent graduate from Florida State University, having received a bachelor of fine arts degree in Dance.  While at Florida State, Philip participated in several performances including Days of Dance, Evening of Dance, various Masters of Fine Arts thesis concerts, as well as principal roles in Peter Pan, The Nutcracker, A Christmas Carol, A Midsummer Night's Dream, We Will Rock You:a rock ballet to the music of Queen and a re-staged presentation of There is a Time;originally choreographed by Jose Limon in 1952.  Philip is a former principal of World Ballet Inc. under the instruction of founder and artistic director, Henry Hernandez.  He has had the pleasure of working with noted choreographers, Joey Dowling, Rhonda Miller, Keith Clifton, Kathy Dunn Hamrick, Clay Taliaferro, Darshan Buellar, Benoit Swan Pouffer, Geri Houlihan, Dan Wagoner, Jawole Willa Jo Zollar, Anthony Morgan, Dionne Noble and Suzanne Farrell, among others. In 2010, he made his New York debut, performing "At the Round", an original choreographic work by Shelly Bourgeois during the DanSpace Project series at St. Marx Church.  Philip will be joining Surfscape Contemporary Dance Theatre for their 2011/2012 season.  Philip's  enthusiasm and energetic teaching style invites his students to challenge themselves physically and creatively.    

Melissa June, an alumni of ESPA, received her Bachelors of Fine Arts/Dance at FSU in 2002.  She had the privilege of training with such prestigious teachers as Suzanne Farrell (NYC Ballet), Sheila Humphreys (Royal Ballet Company),Richard Sias (National Ballet of Canada),  Anjali Austin (Dance Theatre of Harlem), and Anthony Morgan (Martha Graham Company), to name a few.  After performing and teaching in the Tallahassee area, Melissa moved to South Carolina and continued her training at the University of South Carolina and Colombia City Ballet.  She also taught at several dance studios, and holds as one of her proudest accomplishments, her work with underprivileged public school students. Since returning to this area, Melissa has been very active with both ESPA as well as the Civic Ballet of Volusia County.
    Melissa uses her skill, enthusiasm  and dance experience to motivate and educate her students to learn and appreciate the history and discipline of dance, as well as the artistry and passion