Maryellen Vickery

Artistic Director / ABT® Certified Instructor

Maryellen Vickery is the artistic director of The Ballet School of Vermont. She opened BSVT in 2002. Maryellen is an American Ballet Theatre National Training Curriculum® Certified Teacher, who has successfully completed the ABT® Teacher Training Intensive in Primary through Level 7 & Partnering of the ABT® National Training Curriculum. 

Maryellen has staged several full-length ballet theater productions: The Ugly Duckling, Petrushka, Hansel & Gretel, Snow White, Peter and the Wolf, Pinocchio, Cinderella, Coppelia, Alice in Wonderland, and Sleeping Beauty.

Maryellen’s student’s have auditioned and have been accepted to prestigious year round programs of American Ballet Theatre’s Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School and Boston Ballet School, and summer intensive programs at American Ballet Theatre, Boston Ballet, Bolshoi Ballet, Kaatsban Ballet Intensive, and School of American Ballet, with one of her students receiving a full scholarship to the latter.

Maryellen and her husband Troy Pudvah just completed a large renovation of an old mill building revitalizing Stebbins street in downtown St. Albans, VT. This building is now home to BSVT. They live in St. Albans with their three children.

Joey-Lynn Mann

ABT Certified Curriculum Instructor / Professional Dancer / Master Teacher

Ms. Mann is a long time dance educator with a distinguished career in the arts expanding over 25 years. The former Orlando Ballet leading dancer, Assistant to the Artistic Director, Ballet Master and Master Teacher whose career reflects both artistic excellence and a deep dedication to preserving the art form. Born in Prince George, British Columbia, Canada, Ms. Mann, began her professional ballet training at Canada’s National Ballet School, continuing her studies at Pacific Northwest Ballet School, where she is a graduate of the Professional Division under the leadership of School and Artistic Director, Francia Russell.

Ms. Mann attended Boise State University, where she studied Early Childhood Education and Dance. Thereafter, dancing with Ballet Idaho, Idaho Dance Theatre and Nevada Ballet Theatre before joining Orlando Ballet (then Southern Ballet Theatre), under the direction of founding director, Barbara Riggins, following, the directorship of Fernando Bujones, and finally, Bruce Marks. Ms Mann’s tenure with the Orlando Ballet was over 23 years. Over the course of her performing career, she danced leading roles in classical and contemporary works, including “Carmen” in Carmen,“Swanhilda” in Coppelia, “Nikiya” in La Bayadere, “Lise” in La Fille Malle Gardee, “The Sugar Plum Fairy” in The Nutcracker, “Princess Aurora” in The Sleeping Beauty, “Kitri” in Don Quixote, “Bransale Gay” in Balanchine’s Agon, “First Violin” in his Concerto Barocco, and “Russian Girl” and “Dark Angel” in Serenade, among many other repertoire.

Ms. Mann is an, ABT Certified Curriculum teacher. She served on the faculty of Orlando Ballet School, was Children’s Cast Director of “The Nutcracker”, and Leader of Educational Outreach in conjunction with Orange County Public Schools. Ms. Mann held the position of the Shoe Coordinator for the Orlando Ballet, managing all shoes for the professional company dancers, and opened the first Boutique at Orlando Ballet, furnishing all uniforms for the Orlando Ballet School.

Upon her retirement from full-time performing as a principal dancer with Orlando Ballet, Ms. Mann continued to grace the stage as a character artist, and held the title of Ballet Master under the direction of Artistic Director, Bruce Marks, and served as Assistant to the Artistic Director, to Robert Hill for over a decade, working closely with him. During this time Ms. Mann collaborated with world renowned artists, managing, running rehearsals, scheduling, mounting works, acting as repetiteur to many classic and contemporary productions, and collaborations on full length evenings such as, “Coppelia”, “Romeo and Juliet”, “The Firebird”, “Swan Lake”, “Giselle”, and many original works.

Ms. Mann is Ballet Program Director for Esprit Performing Arts in Orlando, Florida, and works as a freelance Ballet Master Teacher, Coach, Mentor and Consultant, throughout North America and Europe, continuing to share her knowledge, passion and experience with dancers and arts organizations. Most recently, Ms. Mann lead Lexington Ballet Company, curating and directing a celebrated performance in France, showcasing a blend of classical and contemporary works, collaborations, and her own original choreography. Ms. Mann is embarking on her favorite role yet, “Hockey Mom” to her son, Jack, who is 17 years old, in grade 11, attending Stanstead College in Quebec, Canada, making honors, while also playing on their U17 Prep Ice Hockey team.

Since 2000, Molly has taught both youth and adults at schools including: José Mateo Ballet Theatre, The Dance Complex, The Dance Inn, Boston Dance Company, The Boston Conservatory, Springstep Center for the Arts, LaPierre School of Dance, Harvard Dance Department, Jeannette Neill Dance Studio and Lines Vermont. Molly was lead faculty and rehearsal teacher for YouthWorks, the pre-professional performance group at José Mateo Ballet Theatre, for 2 years and served as the Nutcracker Cast Coordinator there for 5 years. In over 20 years of teaching ballet to all ages and levels, Molly has brought together her mentorship under José Mateo and her own study of ballet as both an athletic pursuit and an art form to provide ballet training that is inviting and encouraging as well as comprehensible and enjoyable.

Molly Wheat

Instructor / Professional Dancer / Choreographer

Molly has been a professional ballet dancer, teacher and choreographer for over 25 years, enjoying a professional performance career, teaching at renowned dance schools/programs in Massachusetts.

Her early training in ballet was with Carol Jordan, Jill Silverman, Christiane Clark and José Mateo. In 1992, she joined José Mateo Ballet Theatre in Cambridge, Massachusetts and danced in the company for 14 years, performing featured roles in original, neo-classical ballets as well as the full-length ballets Cinderella, Alice in Wonderland, The Sleeping Beauty and The Nutcracker. Molly founded Ballet with Molly in 2011 ~ dance programming including adult performance workshops, youth dance camps, open adult ballet classes, private coaching, specialized series such as Intro to Ballet and Pointe Class for teens and adults, and a lecture/demo entitled, “Ballet Boiled Down”. In performances produced by Ballet with Molly, she choreographs and performs original works, with a multi-generational, amateur group, the Molly Wheat Dance Ensemble.

In 2016, 2017 and 2018, Molly collaborated with Czech composer, Lukáš Olejník, to compose, choreograph and perform original pieces. Rehearsing and performing in Prague, Czech Republic, Molly and Mr. Olejník’s projects have been a wonderful opportunity to perform to live, original compositions in duets between dancer and musician.

Since 2000, Molly has taught both youth and adults at schools including: José Mateo Ballet Theatre, The Dance Complex, The Dance Inn, Boston Dance Company, The Boston Conservatory, Springstep Center for the Arts, LaPierre School of Dance, Harvard Dance Department, Jeannette Neill Dance Studio and Lines Vermont. Molly was lead faculty and rehearsal teacher for YouthWorks, the pre-professional performance group at José Mateo Ballet Theatre, for 2 years and served as the Nutcracker Cast Coordinator there for 5 years. In over 20 years of teaching ballet to all ages and levels, Molly has brought together her mentorship under José Mateo and her own study of ballet as both an athletic pursuit and an art form to provide ballet training that is inviting and encouraging as well as comprehensible and enjoyable.

Sarah Tallman

Guest Teacher / Professional Dancer / Choreographer

Currently Sarah is entering her tenth season as a company artist with Wonderbound. Off-season, Sarah has been a Principal Artist with Central City Opera performing in Carmen, Anna II in Seven Deadly Sins and Dream Laurey in Oklahoma!. Since joining Wonderbound, Sarah has danced leading roles in Garrett Ammon’s Smile, When the Power Goes Out, and tomorrow came, Intersection and An Occasional Dream. Sarah has also performed in original works by Alex Ketley, Amy Seiwert, Ma Cong, Jennifer Hart and Lauri Stallings.

An accomplished choreographer, Sarah has created several works for Wonderbound. Her works with Wonderbound have given her the opportunity to collaborate with visual artists Virginia Folkestad, and Laura Merage, as well as the musicians of the Baroque Chamber Orchestra. Sarah is currently collaborating with Dancer’s Confluence String Quartet for the 2013-14 season. Additionally Sarah has created original works for Colorado Conservatory of Dance, and Burklyn Ballet Theatre.

Sarah has been a faculty member of the Colorado Conservatory of Dance, Rocky Mountain School of Dance, and Burklyn Ballet Theatre’s Intermediate Program. Sarah serves as the Ballet Mistress for The Silhouettes.

Sarah lives in Denver with her loving husband. Her interests include yoga, the mountains, snowboarding, twinkling lights, and the color orange.

Callye Robinson

Guest Teacher / Professional Dancer

Callye Andra Robinson retired from the stage in 2012 as a First Soloist with Les Grands Ballets Canadiens de Montreal. While with the company, she danced lead roles in such productions as Romeo and Juliet by Jean Christophe Maillot, Sleeping Beauty by Mats Ek, The Nutcracker by Fernand Nault, Cinderella by Stijn Celis, and the Beast and the Beauty by Kader Belarbi. Her repertoire also includes lead roles in ballets by Jiri Kylian, Ohad Naharin, Nacho Duato, and Helgi Thomasson.

Ms. Robinson was a Soloist with Miami City Ballet under Edward Villella and danced lead roles in George Balanchine’s Concerto Barocco, Stars and Stripes, Tarantella, and Glinka Pas de Trois among others. While with the company she was nominated by Mr. Villella for the Princess Grace Awards. She was a founding member of American Ballet Theater Studio Company under Jeremy Blanton and Kevin McKenzie and was a trainee at Ballet Arizona.

Ms. Robinson started ballet at the age of 3 in Yuma, Arizona with Kathleen Sinclair and Jon Cristofori, directors of Ballet Yuma, a RDA honor company. She also studied with Kee Juan Han at the School of Ballet Arizona. As a student, she attended the Joffery Summer program in San Antonio, Texas and the Bolshoi Ballet Academy in Vail, Colorado, where she was invited to attend the Bolshoi Ballet Academy in Moscow, Russia.

Ms. Robinson is currently pursuing a degree in Business Management. She lives in Essex Junction, VT, has two daughters, and is married to former Les Grands Ballet Canadiens de Montreal Soloist, John Hall.

Sally Rousse

Guest Teacher / Professional Dancer / Choreographer

Sally Rousse, a native of Vermont, is a dance artist who performs, teaches, choreographs, curates, writes, and advocates. Branded “Renegade Ballerina” Sally has received two McKnight Fellowships for Dancers (2001/14), a Sage Award for Outstanding Performer (2013) and was named Artist of the Year by CityPages (2010). She co-founded James Sewell Ballet (JSB) in New York City in 1990, serving as its managing director and artistic associate throughout its move to Minneapolis in 1993.

Since leaving JSB in 2014, Rousse’s site-specific works have taken dance off the tradition stage, into venues such as the Kwon Tung Pier in Hong Kong and up in the tree of a vacant lot. Her works feature artists who identify as LGBTTQ+, mature/aged, Disabled+, female, and BIPOC. Recently, as the Cowles Center’s first Artist in Residence, she engaged the local community through free workshops, art installations, tours, discussions, and the acclaimed promenade performance ICON SAM: Temple Dances (“Best Performance of 2018,” CityPages). Her choreography has been seen in both theatrical and commercial venues such as the Guthrie, Southern, and State Theaters; the Walker Art Center, MASS MoCA, the Cartoon Channel, and Harvard’s American Repertory Theatre. Rousse performed as a leading dancer with the Royal Ballet of Flanders and Ballet Chicago, dancing works by Maurice Béjart, Jiri Kylian, and over 75 new works created on her by contemporary and post-modern choreographers.

Sally is certified in Floor-Barre©, Reiki, and Brain Gym® and currently contributes labor to two national organizations, Creating New Futures and BreakBank, which are focused, respectively, on ethics and equity in dance and performance, and promoting balanced screen usage while de-centering whiteness.

Alexis Taft

Guest Teacher / Ranking Hip Hop Dancer

Alexis is an animation hip hop (and ballet) dancer. Her movement is inspired by Lil’ Buck, The Jabbawockeez, Joey Arias, and many more. Alexis has attended many dance battles and World of Dance events in New York and Boston, ranking in the top 25 contestants. Her goal for each student is that they embrace their confidence and individuality and that each student enjoy the positive energy that her classes will bring.