INSTRUCTORS

Tracey Katona

Former professional dancer Tracey Katona is enjoying her third season teaching here at Oregon Ballet Theatre. Born in New Jersey, she began her training at the School of Washington Ballet, Princeton Ballet School and on scholarship at Steps on Broadway in NYC. She also trained intensively for many years with Elisabeth Carroll and Julie Caprio.

Miss Katona has danced professionally with the American Repertory Ballet under the direction of Septime Webre and Graham Lustig, Albany Berkshire Ballet, Charleston Ballet Theatre, Trinette Singleton's Bravo! Dance Company and the Opera Festival of New Jersey for four seasons. While With American Repertory Ballet she served as ballet mistress for ARB II and on the faculty of the Princeton Ballet. She has guest taught at Ballet Hispanico in NYC, NJ Arts Festival and Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University. Her choreography credits include ballets for Princeton Ballet, OBT School, Rutgers University, Terpsichore SAND and many musical theatre companies.

Gavin Larsen

Gavin was born and raised in New York City and received her training from Dick Andros, Francis Patrelle, the Pacific Northwest Ballet School and the School of American Ballet. Prior to joining OBT, she danced as a member of Pacific Northwest Ballet and Alberta Ballet and performed as a soloist with the Suzanne Farrell Ballet. Gavin has danced leading roles at OBT in works by George Balanchine, Jerome Robbins, Kent Stowell, Christopher Stowell and Christopher Wheeldon, among others. In addition to performing, Gavin teaches for the School of OBT.

Elise Legere

Elise's dance training began at one of only two Denishawn studios in the country. One of her first professional performances was at Jacob's Pillow for Ted Shawn's anniversary tribute in 1972. After graduating from Walnut Hill School for the Performing Arts in Natick, Massachusetts, Elise studied under scholarship with the School of Hartford Ballet. She went on to receive her BS in dance at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, New York, studying with Melissa Hayden and Elizabeth Carroll. Elise moved to New York City in 1978 and studied with David Howard, Lawrence Rhodes, and Maggie Black.

Elise’s professional career began with Garden State Ballet in 1978 where she spent three years, dancing several solo roles including the Sugar Plum Fairy in their Nutcracker. After marrying and moving to Boston, her career continued with Boston Repertory Ballet and New England Ballet, before moving on to Hartford Ballet. Elise moved with her family to Portland in 1986 where she danced with Ballet Oregon under the direction of Dennis Spaight.

During Elise’s career, she performed ballets from notable choreographers such as George Balanchine, Lew Christensen, William Dollar, Peter Anastos, and Peter Martins. Elise has been in the faculty of Oregon Ballet Theatre since 1998.

Valerie Limbrunner

A native of Newport, Oregon, Valerie studied at Newport School of Dance, the HARID Conservatory and also attended summer programs at OBT, Eugene Ballet, Pacific Northwest Ballet and Hartford Ballet. Valerie was a company member at OBT from 2001 - 2007. Prior to joining OBT, she performed with the Fort Worth/Dallas Ballet and Hartford Ballet, where she was a recipient of the Directors Award. She has danced as a guest artist with the National Opera Ballet de Bordeaux in France and teaches ballet, flamenco and choreography at summer programs in Newport and McMinnville, Oregon and Sitka, Alaska.

Josie Moseley

Josie Moseley was fortunate to study with renowned dance artists Jean Cebron, the foremost exponent of the Jooss-Leader technique, Betty Jones, Lucas Holving, and Sarah Stackhouse, former Limon dancers. She additionally studied composition with Phyllis Lamhut, a principal dancer with Alwin Nikolais and Murray Lewis. In New York, Ms. Moseley worked with choreographer Anna Sokolow.

Upon moving to the Northwest, Ms. Moseley studied with Mark Morris in Seattle, and in Portland joined the collective Dancer’s Workshop, teaching and producing her own work. Additionally, she taught dance at Reed College and the University of Portland. Ms. Moseley is a recipient of 6 Metropolitan Arts Commission grants as well as several Regional Arts Commission awards, and was recognized by Willamette Week in 1986 as “Outstanding Emerging Artist.”

While in the San Francisco Bay Area, Ms. Moseley taught at University of California at Berkeley, Mills College, Shawl-Anderson Dance Studio, and performed the works of Isadora Duncan with Lori Belilove. Ms. Moseley additionally worked with Frank Shawl, collaborated with Remy Charlip, and was nominated for San Francisco’s Isadora Duncan Dance Award in both choreography and performance.

Ms. Moseley’s With premiered in Oregon Ballet Theatre’s 1995 American Choreographers Showcase, receiving an encore presentation on the following year’s program. This work was selected for inclusion in OBT’s New York season at the Joyce Theater in 1999, and also performed for the Dalai Lama’s Portland visit in May 2001. In 1998 she choreographed Quiet Stories for Oregon Ballet Theatre’s Moving Signatures program. She is currently an independent choreographer and teaches modern dance for Oregon Ballet Theatre.

Anne Mueller

Anne received her training from the Washington School of Ballet and from Dame Sonia Arova at the Alabama School of Fine Arts. She received additional training with Houston Ballet Academy, the Joffrey Workshop and at the School of American Ballet. Anne joined OBT in 1996 after three seasons with the Alabama Ballet. During her time with the company, she has danced featured roles in works by Julia Adam, George Balanchine, Peter Martins, Trey McIntyre, Bebe Miller, Lar Lubovitch and Christopher Stowell, among others. Since 2005, Anne has spent summers performing with the Trey McIntyre Project, serving as the ensemble’s Managing Director from 2004 - 2006.

In 2008, Anne choreographed Dr. DaVinci's Undersea Adventure for the School of OBT's Annual Performance.

Kembe Staley

Kembe was born and raised in Portland and received her first serious ballet education from Mary Cain, and then Jacqueline Schumacher of the Portland Ballet School. During her years of training in Portland, she was privileged to study with many well known master teachers: Fleming Halby, Melissa Hayden, Charles Bennett, and John Marshall, to name a few. Performance opportunities in classical dance, in Portland, were limited in the 70's and early 80's, so Kembe turned her attention to musical theatre where she either danced, or played trumpet in the orchestra.

Her background includes eight years of piano studies and ten years of instrumental study and performance. Kembe is married and has three children, a grown son, and two teenage daughters. She has taught for Oregon Ballet Theatre since 1990.