Marie Chong

Director, Educator, and Choreographer

Marie Chong is an accomplished dancer, director, teacher, and choreographer who has worked in Europe, Asia, Canada, and the US. After her career as a professional dancer in both classical ballet and contemporary dance with companies such as Pacific Northwest Ballet, Eugene Ballet, Atlanta Ballet, and Spectrum Dance Theater, Chong founded ARC Dance Productions in Seattle in 1999 and opened the associated School in 2004. She was the Artistic Assistant of Cirque du Soleil’s big top touring show KOOZA in Japan and the US and has integrated new artists into additional Cirque du Soleil’s shows at its headquarters in Montreal. She has also been a teaching artist for Walt Disney Theatricals.

Chong is an active choreographer, teacher, mentor, and movement coach. Her choreography has been critically acclaimed, and she remains  active within the concert dance and entertainment industry. From 2019 – 2022, Chong worked on both the west and east coasts: in Seattle as Artistic Director of ARC, and in New York as Rehearsal Director for Dance Theatre of Harlem under the Artistic Direction of Virginia Johnson.

Dance Educator:

In Seattle she has served on the faculty of the University of Washington, Cornish College of the Arts, Pacific Northwest Ballet School, Eugene Ballet School, Seattle Theater Group (STG) DANCE This, Spectrum Dance Theater, and many other schools in the area. She is a sought after Dance Educator and Coach, teaching and coaching for professional companies, schools, competitions (YAGP), and dancers of all ages around the world.

She holds certification in Pilates, Gyrotonic®, Gyrokinesis®, and is safety certified through USA Gymnastics and US Figure Skating. She is a Teacher with American Ballet Theater® , who has successfully completed the ABT® Teacher Training in Primary through Level 5 of the American Ballet Theater® National Training Curriculum. And was a Teaching Artist for Disney Theatrical Group.

She is a member of Stage Directors and Choreographers Society, National Dance Education Organization, Dance Educators Association of Washington, Professional Skaters Association (PSA), US Figure Skating and USA Gymnastics.

Cynthia Jordan

Ballet and Pilates

Cynthia Jordan began her journey as a ballet dancer performing in Spokane and Seattle. With a BA in Dance from Mount Holyoke College and an MFA in Dance from the University of Washington, Jordan has been dancing and teaching professionally for decades. Jacob’s Pillow summer dance program, Spokane Ballet, and the UW Chamber Dance Company include just some of her notable career highlights as a professional dancer.

Jordan has taught for both adult and children’s dance classes at the Pacific Northwest Ballet School and was at ARC Ballet School from 2006 – 2007. She is certified in Functional Range Conditioning (FRC)® mobility, Injuries & Special Populations (ISP), and STOTT PILATES® instruction for Elementary, Intermediate, and Advanced repertoire on all equipment. She is the owner of a boutique pilates studio in West Seattle – Brace Point Pilates. We welcome her back to ARC this fall 2023.

Courtney Larano

Ballet and Alternative Techniques – Tap & Jazz

Courtney Laraňo was born and raised in Seattle, WA. She began dancing at Kathy’s Studio of Dance training in various forms of dance including ballet, tap, jazz, theater, modern, contemporary, and ballroom. She continued her formal training at Arc School of Ballet and after graduation she pursued her higher education in New York at NYU where she continued to dance and compete with the NYU Ballroom Dance team throughout the East Coast. She continues to pursue her Masters in Kinesiology and Exercise Physiology from San Jose State University California and has worked in public health and grant administration, helping to bring evidence based fall prevention programs to the older adult community. She joined the school faculty in 2021.

Daniela Malta Sabbath

Ballet

Daniela Malta Sabbath is from Recife, Brazil. She has taught for Albany Berkshire Ballet, Joffrey Ballet, Boston Ballet, and Rochester Ballet. She holds a Masters in dance education from NYU and is certified in the ABT National training curriculum. She joined the school faculty in 2023.

Emma Ruhl

Jazz and Alternative Techniques – Musical Theater & Tap

Emma Ruhl is a local Actor, Dancer, and Choreographer, who loves to perform and teach, taking every opportunity to share her love of dance and theatre with others.  She started dancing at 3 years old and has studied a wide range of dance styles including Ballet, Modern, Jazz, Tap, Contemporary, Lyrical, Swing, and Hip Hop.  By the age of 8 she had been introduced to the world of Musical Theater where she had the opportunity to embrace her love of dance, theater and singing in one art form. She is a graduate of the University of Washington’s Dance Program. She joined the ARC faculty in 2014.

Cati Thelen

Ballet

Cati Thelen trained on scholarship at Pacific Northwest Ballet School, Oregon Ballet Theatre, San Francisco Conservatory of Dance, Nashville Ballet, and ARC Dance. She has performed with Pacific Northwest Ballet and ARC Dance Company. In June 2011 she graduated from the School’s pre-professional Mentor/Apprentice program. She has been teaching in the School since 2011 and was a member of ARC Dance Company in 2014. She graduated with her BFA from Cornish College of the Arts in 2015. We welcome her back to the faculty for the 2024/25 school year.

GÉRARD THÉORÊT

Ballet and Choreography

Following a successful career as a Soloist with the Royal Winnipeg Ballet in Canada, Mr. Théorêt transitioned to acting. He is a graduate of The Drama Studio in London and has performed extensively as an actor, singer and dancer for film and stage, including the Stratford Festival, Canada. Mr. Théorêt was resident Artistic Director for Livent’s production of Phantom of the Opera for seven years and in 1996 accepted a position as an Assistant professor of Drama at the University of Alberta. There he directed modern and classical plays and was the movement coach for all mainstage productions. He was a Full Professor at Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle, WA prior to accepting the Artistic Director position of Cirque du Soleil’s show Corteo in 2008. In 2010 he transitioned to being an Artist in Cirque du Soleil’s show Saltimbanco. He joined the faculty in 2013.

Margie Teman

Musician – Live Piano

Margie Teman grew up in a house filled with music in Spokane, WA. She followed in her mother’s footsteps as a church pianist and played for her first ballet class while studying piano performance at Cottey College. After moving to the Seattle area, she worked at SAFECO Life as a senior programmer analyst for 25 years while continuing to play for classes in studios throughout the area. This included Highland Dance Academy, where Margie’s two daughters danced for many years, as well as ARC Dance and Arc School of Ballet, Spectrum Dance, Evergreen City Ballet, The Children’s Dance Conservatory, Issaquah Dance Theater, Ballet Bellevue, and Cornish College of the Arts. She is a ARC Angel instrumental in maintaining ARC’s continued importance in the community since 2002.

GUEST & VISITING FACULTY

Bobby M. Briscoe

Ballet and Choreography

Bobby M. Briscoe is currently the Assistant Director for Stadttheater Ballet Bremerhaven in Germany. He has been working as a professional ballet dancer since he was 19 years old. In his career spanning over 20 years, he has worked worldwide, including engagements in Japan, Canada, Thailand, Germany, China, Hungary and the USA. As a teacher, he has worked for the School of Sacramento Ballet, Luna Negra Dance Theater in the USA, the Ocean School of Ballet in Japan and Theater Hagen in Germany. In 2021 and 2022, he received artist grants from both the state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the Lüneburg Regional Association to create two new dance projects.

Marika Brussel

Ballet and Choreography

Marika Brussel is a contemporary choreographer working in the ballet genre. Informed by her background as a fiction writer, she utilizes storytelling in her dance-making. Her work strives to show our inter-connectedness and equity as humans, from country to country, class by class, and generation to generation, while pushing the boundaries of Classical Ballet. She has been teaching and choreographing for over 20 years and currently is living overseas in London, England. She joined the faculty in summer 2018.

Alice Cao

Ballet

Alice Cao is a Seattle native and trained on scholarship at the Pacific Northwest Ballet School, after being selected for their DanceChance outreach program. She has performed professionally with American Repertory Ballet, Singapore Dance Theatre, Oakland Ballet, Company C Contemporary Ballet, San Francisco Opera, Seattle Opera, House of Verlaine, and ARC Dance Company. She has a BS in Computing and Software Systems from the University of Washington. She joined the School Faculty in 2019.

Carla Korbes

Ballet

Carla Körbes was born in Porto Alegre, Brazil, and began her ballet training at age five with local teacher. At age eleven, she began studying at Ballet Vera Bublitz. In 1996, Peter Boal danced with her as a guest artist of the school and encouraged her to come to New York to study at School of American Ballet. In 1999 she was made an apprentice with New York City Ballet and joined the company as a member of the corps de ballet in 2000. She was promoted to soloist in 2005 and later that year joined Pacific Northwest Ballet as a soloist. She was promoted to principal dancer in 2006. She is currently on faculty of the ABT Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School in New York City.

Aaron Loux

Alternative techniques – Modern and Choreography

Aaron Loux grew up in Seattle, Washington and began dancing at the Creative Dance Center as a member of Kaleidoscope, a youth modern dance company. He began his classical training at the Cornish College Preparatory Dance Program with Marie Chong and received his B.F.A. from The Juilliard School in 2009. He danced at the Metropolitan Opera and with ARC Dance Company before joining Mark Morris Dance Group in 2010. Loux retired from the Mark Morris Dance Group in 2022 and is currently attending Columbia University in New York.

Jonathan Mendez

Ballet

Jonathan Mendez began dancing in Cali,Colombia at the Colombian Institute for Classical Ballet. He continued his training on full scholarship at the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School at the American Ballet Theatre. He has performed with Incolballet — Colombia’s Premier Dance Company, Avi Scher and Dancers, Alberta Ballet, and ARC Dance. He also performs with Les Ballets Grandiva and Les Ballets Eloelle, two companies that specialize in all male comedic ballets. He is an American Ballet Theatre certified teacher and is also featured in the Dance Documentary: “First Position”. He joined the guest faculty in 2018.

Melissa Meng

Ballet

Melissa Meng is from Vestal, NY.  She began her dance training with Rafael Grigorian at the Rafael Grigorian School of Classical Ballet. She has performed professionally with Colorado Ballet, Avant Chamber Ballet, and ARC Dance. She has a BS in Ballet from Indiana University and joined the School faculty in 2021.

Erricka Turner

Ballet and Alternative Techniques – Jazz, Modern, and Musical Theater

Erricka Turner performed professionally with Spectrum Dance Theater, The 5^th Ave Theatre, Oakland Ballet, The Intiman, The Moore Theater, Village Theater, Sankofa Theater, and the Seattle Opera. She received her BFA in Ballet Education with Honors from University of The Arts, Philadelphia, PA, and her MFA in Dance from University of Washington. She has choreographed, taught, and lectured at Broadway Performing Arts Center, Harlequin Theatre, Spectrum Dance Theater, Ballet Bellevue, Evergreen State College, Northwest Dance Intensive, UW Dance Series, ARC Dance, Rainier Dance Center, Northwest Tap Connection, and other companies throughout the Pacific Northwest. She joined the faculty of ARC in 2013.