Open Classes

Teacher Bios

Native to St. Paul, Minnesota, Berit Ahlgren gained her foundational dance training from Minnesota Dance Theater and received a BFA in Dance from St. Olaf College, where she also studied biomedical studies. Ahlgren was a founding member of TU Dance under the artistic directorship of Toni Pierce-Sands and Uri Sands, and performed with the company between 2006—2016. Having received Metropolitan Regional Arts Council’s highly competitive Next Step Grant in 2011, Ahlgren had the opportunity to study the Gaga Movement Language in Tel Aviv, and moved to Israel to pursue teacher certification between 2011— 2012. Ahlgren earned her MFA in Dance from NYU/Tisch School of the Arts in 2016, and has since been on faculty at the University of Minnesota and Winona State University, performing with independent choreographers between Minneapolis and New York, and choreographing her own body of work for both stage and camera under her fledgling dance organization, HoneyWorks (2019). Ahlgren has had the great pleasure to work with Crystal Pite, Ohad Naharin, Netta Yerushalmy, Dimitri Chamblas, Gregory Dolbashian, Dwight Rhodan, Ashwini Ramaswamy, and Helen Hatch, among others. In addition to her work as dancer-choreographer, Berit teaches weekly Gaga/people classes throughout the Twin Cities.

Leah Gallas has been a performer and teaching artist for over two decades. Her dance experience includes being a member of Colorado Ballet, Dayton Ballet, Virginia Ballet Theatre, Minnesota Ballet, Tulsa Ballet and James Sewell Ballet. Leah has performed many roles in various classical and contemporary ballets including Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, Stanton Welch’s Bruiser, Balanchine’s Serenade, Ben Stevenson’s Dracula and Paul Taylor’s Black Tuesday, among others. Leah received the majority of her training at Ballet Arts Minnesota studying primarily under Bonnie Mathis and Lirena Branitski while also spending summers training at the San Francisco Ballet School and the Boston Ballet School on full scholarships. Leah’s teaching experience includes TU Dance Center, Ballet Royale Minnesota, Saint Paul Conservatory for Performing Artists, James Sewell Ballet and Ballet Co. Laboratory. She also teaches private lessons throughout the Twin Cities.

Deirdre grew up in Los Angeles, CA where she studied ballet from her mother, Eva Ralf and Tania (Riabouchinska) Lichine. After high school, she moved to Minnesota to dance at Minnesota Dance Theater where she was a member of MDT company II. After moving back to Los Angeles for a couple of years to study Jazz and teach at Dupree Dance Academy, she moved back to Minneapolis and became a founding member of Zenon Dance Comapany where she danced for six years. She then joined Myron Johnson's Ballet of the Dolls where she danced for six more years and married her husband, Michael Murnane. Deirdre has also danced with Minnesota Opera, Sons of Winter Theater, Shawn Mcconneloug and her Orchestra, Children’s Theater Company, and Macy’s Glamorama. Deirdre has taught dance in the Twin Cities since 1984 and yoga since 2009. She has a 500-hour yoga teacher certification from Yoga Center Minneapolis, and is certified in Simonson Jazz Dance Technique. Deirdre was most recently the Dance Director for Reif Dance at The Reif Arts Center in Grand Rapids MN from July 2017 through December 2021 where she had the opportunity to direct and choreograph for several original full length productions including A Tale of Two Heroes - Orpheus and Hercules, Enchanted Forest, Cinderella, 4 Reif Dance Company shows and an annual Nutcracker. Deirdre is currently teaching at Hopkins Dance Company and Minnesota Dance Theatre and is Administrative assistant at James Sewell Ballet.

Born and raised in St Paul, MN Kerry has been a company member of Pacific Northwest Ballet, Vienna State Opera Ballet, and Ballet of the Dolls. Kerry spent her early years studying with Jo Savino, Janet Smith, Frank Bourman, Bonnie Mathis, Lirena Branitski, Sylvia Bolton, David Voss, and Loyce Houlton. She also spent time studying at Milwaukee Ballet School, School of American Ballet, and Pacific Northwest Ballet School. Kerry brings nearly twenty years of teaching experience, and an extensive knowledge of ballet, to students of all ages. She also teaches the Gyrotonic® Expansion System and Gyrokinesis® in The Chapel at Center for Performing Arts.

Eve is a dance performer and instructor based in Minneapolis, MN. She grew up training in ballet and modern at Minnesota Dance Theatre, and transitioned to company member in 2007. In 2009, she joined James Sewell Ballet. She also frequently collaborates with Live Action Set, most recently co-directing Unset, a project that invited untrained audience participants on stage to co-create an improvised, movement-based piece with an ensemble of trained dancers. Some of her more memorable performances include roles in Glenn Tetley’s Mythical Hunters; Loyce Houlton’s Sacre du Printemps and Carmina Burana; Leralee Whittle’s Displacement Activity; and Sharon Eyal & Gai Behar’s Killer Pig. In the summertime, she teaches at Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp (MI), and has twice served as co-director for their International Ballet Ensemble, which had her teaching and showing work with American dance students in France, Germany, and Denmark. She has been teaching various forms of dance for over a decade and often leads workshops and master classes as part of JSB's residency activities. Her choreographic feat, Any Offered None (premiered in JSB's Ballet Works Project 2016), was nominated for a MN Sage Award for Outstanding Performance. Eve also holds a B.A. in English from the University of Minnesota, and leads the advanced level Ballet course in the UMN Dance department.

A Minneapolis native, Mr. Sewell moved to New York and studied at the School of American Ballet with David Howard, and began performing with ABT II. He was a lead dancer with Feld Ballets/NY for six years and has performed as a guest artist with the New York City Ballet, Zvi Gottheiner and Dancers, and Denishawn. He has choreographed more than 70 ballets for companies in the United States and around the world. Projects include the New York City Ballet’s Choreographic Institute, the New York State Council on the Arts grant to create “Independence In Dependence” for Feld Ballets/NY; “Aida” (1998) for the Minnesota Opera and 11 other opera companies; James Sewell Ballet’s “Amahl and the Night Visitors” (1995); “Musical Toys” (1996) and “Nutcracker: The Untold Story” (1997) for the Minnesota Orchestra; and “She Loves Me” (2005) and “1776” (2007) for the Guthrie Theater.

He also received commissions, including “Schoenberg Serenade” (2006) and “Passions” (1998), a work with composer Augusta Read Thomas, for the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra; “Metamorphosis” (2004) for the Twin Cities Gay Men’s Chorus; “Awedville” (2004) for the Wharton Center for Performing Arts and “Turf” (2006) for the Minnesota Orchestra.

Mr. Sewell received a Bush Foundation Artist Fellowship (2002), a Choo-San Goh Award for Choreography from the Choo-San Goh & H. Robert Magee Foundation (2006), and a McKnight Artist Fellowship for Choreography (2007). He is a past trustee of Dance/USA and a past director of the American Composer’s Forum.

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