Staff

Instructors:

Sherry Horton
Sherry Horton has taught young dancers in ballet, modern and jazz since 1992.  She received her ballet training from Robert Ivey, Michael Lland and William Starrett of the Columbia City Ballet where she performed as a member of the Corps de Ballet and soloist for ten years.  In 1992 Miss Sherry was promoted to Ballet Mistress for the Columbia City Ballet.  While the Columbia City Ballet was her primary teaching position, she continued to choreograph and guest teach for many other companies throughout the East Coast and the South.  In 1999, Miss Sherry founded her own Company, Dance Theatre of Sumter.  In 2002 we were very fortunate to have Miss Sherry join the SVBS as Instructor and Artistic Director of our productions and to share her vast experience and talents in teaching and choreography.

Cindy Forgeon
Cindy Forgeon hails from San Diego California where she studied ballet from a young age.  After graduation Miss Cindy trained with North County Ballet Company in San Diego under the direction of Victor Moreno (formerly of Ballet Russe and California Ballet) for 10 years.  She also studied with Lila Zali of Ballet Pacifica in Laguna Beach, California and Jazz with Judi Misset. At North County Ballet Company Miss Cindy went on to dance in the corp as well as soloist.  Miss Cindy joined The Sun Valley Ballet School staff in 2004 teaching our Creative Movement and Ballet Beginnings classes.  Miss Cindy brings to her 3 and 4 years olds her love and passion for ballet.  It’s a love for many of these young dancers that they will never loose.  Miss Cindy begins the process and from there we are proud to say, many young dancers go on to wonderful things in dance.

Keri York
Keri York grew up dancing in a local Wood River Valley dance school. Since graduating high school, Keri has been a part of several small modern dance companies and currently dances Argentine tango. She pursued a career in biology and conservation, and has taught environmental education to children. Dance and music have always been a part of Keri’s life, and she is excited to be engaged in the local dance community once again.

Shannon Engkraf
Shannon Engkraf was born and raised in the Wood River Valley, graduating from Wood River High School in 2003.  Shannon began her dance career at The Sun Valley Ballet School taking HipHop classes from Mary Kennedy.  From there Shannon pursued free style HipHop on her own.  Shannon loves singing, dancing and being outdoors.  She is a true Wood River Valley native and brings all that energy to the SVBS HipHop program.

 

School Directors:

Jill Brennan
Jill has been involved as a volunteer, with The Sun Valley Ballet School since 1997.  Since 2000 Jill has served on the Board of Directors of The Sun Valley Ballet Foundation.  In 2000, Jill’s casual association with the SVBS morphed into a School Directorship along with her partner Nadja. As well as being School Director, Jill also manages the school as School Administrator and Executive Producer of the productions.  After graduating from the University of California at Santa Barbara with a major in Physical Education, Jill moved to the Wood River Valley in 1976.  Jill subsidized her passion for skiing by waitressing at the Pioneer Saloon and picking up many bookkeeping jobs around town.  Getting a bit more serious but still maintaining her passion for skiing, Jill did a stint at real estate, managed a local athletic club and then for several years, owned and operated a bookkeeping service. Jill’s commitment and passion for The Sun Valley Ballet School moves into it’s second decade and Jill admits that she loves what she does and can’t image a better job, paid or not paid.

Nadja Hirner
Nadja has served on The Board of Directors of the The Sun Valley Ballet Foundation as President and Vice-President. Before her official tenure working for the Foundation, Nadja was actively involved as a “Mom” volunteer since 1990.  In 2000, along with her partner Jill, Nadja officially took over as School Director.  In 1982 Nadja moved to Sun Valley as a nanny without even a word of English in her vocabulary.  With a degree and vast background in tailoring and costume design, Nadja soon learned English and created a niche for herself by tailoring and altering clothing.  She has, for the past 2 decades volunteered her time to design and make most of the costumes used in the School’s many productions.  Nadja’s costumes have received immense praise from important people in the ballet world.  Her costumes have been compared to those of the major ballet companies.  As Costume Coordinator for all The Sun Valley Ballet School productions, Nadja is able to fulfill her passion for costume design.

Special Featured Volunteer:
Shirley Horton
Shirley Horton lives in Columbia, South Carolina and is the mother of our very own Miss Sherry.  Every performance that the SVBS has done since 2002, Miss Shirley and her husband Bo, fly out to the Wood River Valley where they are the remarkable, hardworking volunteers that represent the backbone of our program.  Miss Shirley or “Mom” as all the dancers call her, is our back stage dresser for the senior company and makes all of the wonderful headpieces worn in all our performances.  Miss Shirley and Bo are essential in the set up of every show.  Both Shirley and Bo epitomize the volunteer spirit that has kept the SVBS going for so many years.

Special Featured Back Stage:
Chip Booth
No show would ever hit the stage without the multi talents of Chip Booth.  Chip and Miss Sherry work together prior to every show manipulating the vision each have of the final product.  Chip is our light and sound wonder man.  Chip makes the stage come to life with his amazing light show in which the dancers dance.  All the sound mixing is thanks to his musical talents and his experience over the years helps in bringing to life the sets that Miss Sherry envisions.

The Sun Valley Ballet Foundation, Inc -  Board of Directors

President:	Annie Bloomfield
Vice President:	Dydra Cleven
Secretary:	Mandie Wilson
Treasurer:	Heidi Pietsch
Directors:	Kristin Morton Laura Camaniti Nadina Keller
School Director:	Jill Brennan
School Director:	Nadja Hirner