Staff and Guest Instructors
Jessica Pohorilla Cherubini began her intensive training of dance with Houston Ballet Academy, the official school of the Houston Ballet, at the age of ten as a full scholarship recipient. In 1997, she was invited to join the company where she danced under the direction of Ben Stevenson OBE and Stanton Welch for more than 8 seasons. She performed in the Houston Ballet’s extensive repertoire of classical and contemporary works, world premieres and international tours.
Following her exit from the stage, she committed to rigorous teacher training program in the Authentic Method of Pilates with Romana Kryzanowska and Dorothea Van DeWalle in Seattle, WA. With her teaching passion ignited, she returned home and opened Elite Pilates LLC. Her quest for furthering her knowledge and commitment to her students is continuous. She expanded her range into Yoga through The Yoga Institute in 2016. She has contracted and coached dancers throughout the Houston area for 13 years.
Jessica Pohorilla Cherubini
Kelsey Rohde
Kelsey Rohde is currently a senior at the University of Houston preparing to graduate with a Bachelor of Science in Teaching and Learning and specializing in General Education for Early Childhood – 6th grade. She will be graduating with this degree in May of 2020. With this degree, Kelsey plans to become an elementary school teacher as well as using the knowledge from her education to better her skills in teaching and working with children in dance. She has been involved in dance through a number of styles since August of 2000, studying under former Houston Ballet Company members and dancers certified with the Royal Academy of Dance. Kelsey's training has been predominantly under the Royal Academy of Dance syllabus. Along with training, Kelsey competed in various competitions around Texas for 11 years and has won such awards as Starbound Talent Competition's Junior Petite Soloist, Miss Star Systems Soloist Runner Up 2014, and several other top ten score awards. Along with competing, Kelsey has also choreographed several award winning competition pieces.
Dorena Battaglino studied Broadway-style tap, jazz, and ballet for thirteen years at the Shirley Wolfe Dance Studio in Plano, Texas, beginning at age four. While earning a Chemical Engineering degree, she choreographed annual musicals: Damn Yankees, Oklahoma!, Sugar, and the Faculty Follies. In the San Francisco Bay Area, she was active as an actor, improv artist, dancer, and choreographer in the local community theatre scene. Choreographing tap-rich 42nd Street was a personal favorite. She was also the inaugural Resident Staff Choreographer of the Oakland Lyric Opera where she staged Amahl and the Night Visitors with guest artists from San Francisco Opera.
Dorena discovered the world of rhythm tap while studying with Karen Callaway Williams in NJ. Since then, she continues her professional development by taking class regularly with masters at tap festivals.
While living in Scotland for three years, she studied Scottish step dancing. Among her performances, she was invited to dance at Natalie MacMaster’s Aberdeen concert.
Dorena returned to Texas in 2015, and shares her passion for tap dance with youth and adults in the greater Houston area by teaching rudiments, choreography, improvisation techniques, music theory, and history.
Dorena Battaglino
Theresa Schmitz began her training in multiple disciplines of art at a young age. Being reared in the Chicago suburbs provided ample opportunities for training and performance in music, theatre, and dance. Theresa studied ballet technique, pointe, modern, and tap at Ballet 5:8 School of the Arts in Frankfort, IL, under the direction of Juliana Rubio-Slager. Additionally, Theresa spent her summers at Milwaukee Ballet, Ruth Page Center for the Arts Chicago, and Hubbard Street Dance Chicago (Lou Conte Dance Studio). She has had the privilege to learn and grow under directors and teachers such as Michael Pink, Birute Barodicaite, and Lauren Ader-Cumpston. Theresa put the finishing touches on her performance skills and technique while touring and training with Ballet 5:8 as a trainee for two years. Teaching dance is a joy and a blessing, and Theresa is very excited to be part of the team at Fulshear Ballet and Pilates!
Theresa Schmitz
Vincent Calleros was born and raised in Arizona and started his professional dance training at Scottsdale Community College, under the direction of Angela Rosenkrans. While in Arizona, he was recognized at Young Artist of Promise as a 1st place soloist, performed with EPIK Dance Company and with The Be Kind People Project, a non-profit focused on youth character development. Growing an interest in Countertechnique (CT) Vincent has been studying the system for the past 4 years. His most recent training was One Body Once Career in Montreal, as well as FACT/SF 2015 and American Dance Festival 2017 (ADF). He was awarded The Harkness Foundation ADF Tuition Scholarship and was honored to work with Lucinda Childs, performing in her work “Kilar”. Being a recent graduate from Sam Houston State University, Vincent was given a special opportunity to perform in works such as Robert Battle’s “Battlefield”, set by Jennifer Mabus and Dido & Aeneas Opera in Nishinomiya, Japan, choreographed by Dana Nicolay. Being extremely grateful, he is blessed to have spent a season with METdance and now with Elijah Alhadji Gibson as a member of Social Movement Contemporary Dance. Vincent is eager to pursue his career as a performer and educator.
Vincent CALLEROS
Lisa Kaczmarek Petrozzi
Lisa trained at Butler University’s, Jordan College Academy of Dance with Mimi Priest. Throughout her training, she received full scholarships to Boston Ballet, School of American Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, and Houston Ballet summer programs. She began her 13 year long professional ballet career in 1997 when she joined Washington Ballet, dancing featured roles in Choo-San Goh's Momentum and Fives, as well as a world premiere by choreographer Nils Christe. In 1999, she joined Houston Ballet and a year later, was chosen to dance a featured role in Nacho Duato's Without Words. In December 2003, Ms. Kaczmarek made here debut as The Sugar Plum Fairy in Ben Stevenson's The Nutcracker and in 2006 was invited by Ballet Municipal de Perú to perform the role of Sugar Plum in The Nutcracker production in Lima. Throughout her eight seasons with Houston Ballet, she danced featured classical roles in Mr. Stevenson's Don Quixote, The Sleeping Beauty, Dracula, and Swan Lake as well as in Harold Lander’s Etudes. In 2007, Lisa joined Texas Ballet Theater, where she once again had the opportunity to be coached by director, Ben Stevenson in his world renown ballets, dancing principal roles including Odette/Odile in Swan Lake, Juliet in Romeo and Juliet, Princess Aurora, Lilac Fairy and Carabosse in The Sleeping Beauty, as well as Calpurnia in Mr. Stevenson’s, Cleopatra.
In 2007 after experiencing first hand the amazing benefits of GYROTONIC® Exercise while recovering from an dance injury, Lisa began her certification process in the GYROTONIC METHOD® and has since enjoyed working with dozens of professional and pre-professional dancers. She has a certification in the Dancer Application, as well as the Psoas Principles and is currently working on her GYROKINESIS® certification. In 2017 she received her Holistic Health Coaching certification from Institution of Integrative Nutrition and has been able to use her unique experiences as both a former ballet dancer and holistic health coach to challenge her GYROTONIC® clients to new levels of body awareness and confidence as their movement takes on new levels of quality and strength.
Fara Sciulli Bowen began her intensive ballet training under the direction of renowned master teacher, Roberto Munoz, in the Conservatory at Point Park University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. At the age of fifteen Ms. Sciulli Bowen was invited by legendary ballet coach, Ms. Laura Alonso, to perform with Ms. Alonso’s youth company, Pro-Danza, in Argentina, Brazil and Cuba. After dancing in Cuba, Ms. Sciulli Bowen joined Lexington Ballet, in Lexington, Kentucky for two seasons and was then invited to dance for Ben Stevenson with Houston Ballet for the next six seasons. In the many ballets she danced, her favorites were: Ben Stevenson’s Peer Gynt, Swan Lake, Dracula, Cleopatra, Snow Maiden, Romeo and Juliet, Nutcracker, Ronald Hynd’s The Merry Widow, George Balanchine’s Four Temperaments and Serenade, Sir Kenneth MacMillan’s Gloria, Harold Lander’s Etudes, and her most favorite and rewarding role was in William Forsythe’s In the Middle, Somewhat Elevated.
Ms. Sciulli Bowen was an adjunct ballet professor at Point Park University for eight years before moving back to Houston. She has taught for Houston Ballet Academy, Houston Met, The High School for the Performing and Visual Arts in Houston (HSPVA), Payne Academy of Ballet, and is currently on faculty at Vitacca Vocational School for Dance. She is delighted to be teaching at Fulshear Ballet and Pilates this summer!
Fara Sciulli Bowen
Elena Giannuzzi
Elena Giannuzzi is an Austin, Texas native. Dancing since the age of two, she was instructed in several forms of dance such as Ballet, Jazz, Tap, Modern, and Contemporary. Her passion to study dance took her to Sam Houston State University, where she graduated with a B.F.A. in Dance and with an emphasis in Pilates. She had the opportunity to work closely with artists such as Manuel Vigonoulle, Bliss Kohlmyer, and Joshua L. Peugh. Since training at SHSU, Elena was connected to study abroad with The Dance Italia Program out of Lucca, Italy. There, Elena took daily classes in Counter Technique with Elita Cannata and Gaga classes and Repertory with Chisato Ohno (Batsheva Dance Company). Additionally, Elena has worked under Elijah Alhaji Gibson who is a long-standing company member with The Gus Giordano Company, where Elena had the opportunity to train as a scholarship student with their College Program in Chicago, IL. Most recently she has performed in The Dance Gallery Festival in NYC, The Barnstorm Dance Fest in Houston, TX, and Austin Dance Fest in Austin, TX. In 2018 Elena joined The Axis Connect, (Barton Movement) Program out of Los Angeles, where she studied under the guidance of many artists as she traveled from Los Angeles to New York City. Currently, Elena is dancing for The Social Movement Contemporary Dance, under the instruction of Elijah Alhaji Gibson out of Houston TX.
Along with her dedication for performing, Elena is also a passionate teacher. Recently, her choreography has been featured in the Annual Dance to Breath Benefit Concert, raising money for Cystic Fibrosis in Austin, TX. Elena’s focus + interest lies in the dance community and how to cultivate a place to come together and grow as artists.
Brit Wallis-McGrath, a native Texan, trained at Shelly Power's Academy of Dance and the Houston Ballet Academy under the direction of Ben Stevenson. She was a company member for 5 seasons with METdance formerly known as the Houston Metropolitan Dance Company. She then spent a season in Chicago touring with Luna Negra Dance Theater under the direction of Gustavo Sansano Ramirez, and a summer in New York City performing with Molly Rabinowitz/Liquid Grip. Over the past 12 years Brit has remained actively involved in the Houston dance community consistently working with Jane Weiner & Hope Stone Dance, NobleMotion Dance, Frame Dance Productions, Vault, 6 Degrees, Recked Productions, Michele Brangwen Dance Ensemble and Chapman Dance. Brit most recently toured with contemporary ballet company iMEE (infinite movement ever evolving) to Rhode Island, Florida, Bulgaria, and Mexico City.