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Directors & Faculty

	Richard Cammack Artistic Director Richard Cammack's formal, classical-ballet training began at the Interlochen Arts Academy and Butler University, where he graduated with honors, receiving a Bachelor's Degree in Dance. In 1969, he contracted with the American Ballet Theatre and during his five years with the Company danced an extensive repertoire with many soloist roles such as "Pillar of Fire" (Anthony Tudor), "Pulcinella"(Michael Smuin), and "Les Patineurs" (Fredrick Ashton). In 1973, Mr. Cammack joined Michael Smuin and Lew Christensen, Artistic Directors of the San Francisco Ballet, as Company Regisseur to rehearse, teach and coach the Company dancers. When Harold Christensen retired as School Director in 1975, Mr. Cammack assumed that position which he held until 1986. During his tenure, over 125 students graduated into the ranks of the San Francisco Ballet, New York City Ballet, American Ballet Theatre and other major companies throughout the United States and abroad. Mr. Cammack served for two years as the American representative on the jury of the "Prix de Lausanne," a prestigious international ballet competition, and has lent his services as master teacher and adjudicator for several ballet festivals in the United States.
	Zola Dishong Artistic Director Zola Dishong has enjoyed an extensive career in dance as a performer and educator. At age fourteen, she received one of the first Ford Foundation Scholarships to the San Francisco Ballet School where she studied with Anatole Vilzak and Harold and Lew Christensen. At seventeen, Ms. Dishong became a member of the San Francisco Ballet and toured with Margot Fonteyn and Rudolf Nureyev on his first USA tour. After moving to New York, she joined American Ballet Theatre where she performed soloist roles in most of their classical repertoire and toured throughout Europe, Japan and the U.S. After returning to San Francisco, Ms. Dishong was a principal dancer with Pacific Ballet and began her teaching career as head of the Ballet Department at San Francisco State University. In 1974, she joined the faculty of the San Francisco Ballet School, where she taught all levels for 13 years and helped to train many prominent dancers. Ms. Dishong has been recognized for her coaching skills, has taught a variety of master classes and has been called on to judge ballet competitions around the country. For the last 20 years, Ms. Dishong has devoted herself to teaching and directing in the Contra Costa Ballet Centre, where she has staged and coached Petipa and Balanchine repertoire. She has this past year resigned as Artistic Director of the Contra Costa Ballet Company and has enjoyed the process of mentoring Emily Borthwick into that position. Ms. Dishong now focuses on the directing of the Contra Costa Ballet Centre.
	Charles Anderson Instructor Charles Anderson began his training at the San Francisco Ballet School. He then moved to New York where he received full scholarships at the Joffrey Ballet Center, American Ballet Theater and the School of American Ballet. He then joined the New York City Ballet performing an extensive repertoire of classical and contemporary roles. Upon retirement, Mr. Anderson formed his own company, Ballet, Inc., in New York City, and served as a guest teacher and choreographer for several companies and schools across the country. He now brings his talents to the Contra Costa Ballet Centre and Company, teaches the dancers of Smuin Ballets/SF and at Lines in San Francisco. He is currently Artistic Director of Company C Contemporary Ballet which he founded in 2002.
	Emily Borthwick Instructor Emily Borthwick received her training from The Dance School of Scotland, Scottish Ballet and The Royal Ballet School, London. In addition she has studied at The Vaganova School, St. Petersburg, Russia, and has had the opportunity to study and with many wonderful teachers and choreographers including Dame Alicia Markova, Valerie Adams, Pamela May, Lynn Seymour, Christopher Wheeldon, David Long and William Glassman. Before moving to the US, Emily performed and taught throughout London and Belgium. On arriving here she taught for eight years at The Charlotte School of Ballet, NC and performed many roles with The Charlotte Youth Ballet as a guest artist. She was also a member of Kinetyx Dance Company as well as performing with Columbia City Ballet, Opera Carolina, Central Piedmont Theatre, and many televised performances with Eddie Mabry Dance. Emily has been a guest teacher for the Cecchetti Council of America, and Ballet Theatre Lancaster, PA. She holds her advanced level teaching qualifications from The Royal Academy of Dance (RAD), The Cecchetti Council of America (CCA), The Imperial Society of Teachers of Dance (ISTD) and The Royal Ballet School (Dip RBS, TTC).
	Anna Carnes Instructor Anna Carnes received her training from the Santa Clarita Ballet Academy under Corinne Glover and Carol Guidry. While at SCBA, she became an associate of the Royal Academy of Dance and was the recipient of the RAD Solo Seal Award in 2003. Anna also studied with Meredith Baylis, Stanley Holden, and Stefan Wenta and attended summer intensives at Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre, American Ballet Theatre, and Aspen Ballet. In 2007, she earned a BFA from UC Irvine in Dance Performance as well as a minor in Educational Studies. During her time at UCI, she was a member of Donald McKayle's Etude Ensemble, and featured in works by Douglas Becker, Carlos Jones, and Molly Lynch. Anna is currently a principal dancer with Peninsula Ballet Theatre under the direction of Bruce Steivel. She has danced with Oakland Ballet Company, Wenta Ballet, Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, and appeared as a guest artist for Santa Clarita Ballet Company. In addition, she has won national solo titles in contemporary jazz and appeared in several national commercials. Her teaching experience began in 2003 at SCBA, in correlation with the RAD syllabus, preparing students for formal examinations. At UCI, she was presented with the Claire Trevor School of the Arts Honors Award for bringing dance into the classrooms of local elementary schools through the ArtsBridge program. Anna loves to share her passion for dance with her students and is very excited to be joining the Contra Costa Ballet faculty.
	Alison Christie Instructor Alison Christie received her ballet training at the Contra Costa Ballet Centre and performed with the Contra Costa Ballet Company for several years. In 1999, she joined the CCBC faculty, teaching Pre-Ballet through Level 1. Ms. Christie went on to dedicate herself to a career as an academic educator and has, since 2005, been teaching elementary education, as well as drama, dance and English at the middle school and high school levels. She was recently awarded a Master of Arts degree in Elementary Education. Ms. Christie is a skilled educator who genuinely enjoys working with young children and passing on her love of ballet to students at an early age. She is very excited to be rejoining the Contra Costa Ballet Centre faculty.
	Robert Dekkers Instructor Robert Dekkers began his training with the Atlanta Ballet and Gwinnett Ballet Theater and began dancing professionally with Ballet Arizona, where he performed in works by George Balanchine, Twyla Tharp, Paul Taylor and Marius Petipa, among others. He was a faculty member at the School of Ballet Arizona and also performed with Phoenix’s professional hip-hop company, Nebellen. Mr. Dekkers moved to San Francisco to dance with ODC/Dance, and is currently dancing with Company C Contemporary Ballet, performing works by choreographers including Lar Lubovich, Charles Moulton, Amy Seiwart and Charles Anderson. In 2009, he founded San Francisco based dance company Post:Ballet and currently serves as its Artisitic Director. In addition to his work as a choreographer and dancer, Dekkers also has a degree in business from Rio Salado College in Phoenix, Arizona.
	Ashley Ivory Instructor Ashley Ivory received her training from the Ballet and Theater Arts of Danville, the Contra Costa Ballet Centre and the San Francisco Ballet School. At sixteen, Ms. Ivory was invited to tour with the San Francisco Ballet to England and Spain and was then asked to join the company as an Apprentice. She stayed with the San Francicso Ballet as a corps de ballet member until July of 2003. Ms. Ivory recently graduated from Brigham Young University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Dance. While in Utah, she taught dance to children of all ages. In 2007, she returned to California and joined Company C Contemporary Ballet. She is excited to join the faculty at the Contra Costa Ballet Centre.
	Hiroko Shibuya Instructor Hiroko Shibuya received her Vaganova school training from Ritsuko Kamo in Tokyo, Japan. While in Japan, she assisted Ms. Kamo in teaching and coaching students of all ages and levels. She received additional training from notable teachers including Sulamith Messerer and Laura Alonso in Tokyo. After relocating to the U.S. with her family in 1990, Ms. Shibuya has been associated with Contra Costa Ballet Centre as a parent, student, substitute teacher, cast member in Contra Costa Ballet productions and a board member of the Contra Costa Ballet Foundation. She is excited to join the Contra Costa Ballet Centre faculty to help beginning students explore and find their own joy in the art of ballet.
	Nikki Eaton School Administrator Nikki Eaton joined the Contra Costa Ballet Centre as its School Administrator in 2008, bringing to the school 10 years of administrative experience. An honors graduate in music production, she feels privileged to be able to support performing-arts education through her position at the Contra Costa Ballet Centre. Ms. Eaton truly enjoys getting to know each parent and student at CCBC and working closely with the directors and faculty. She currently attends ballet classes in CCBC's Open Division, attesting that the study of ballet may be began and enjoyed at any stage in life.

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