Administrative Director, Helene Nilsen has been active in the dance community for thirty years, from modern dance classes in Denver, Colorado to classes with the Wolcott Ballet in its beginning in 1977. She was active on the board of the Wolcott Ballet and was instrumental in its transition to an integrative arts program called On the Rise. For the last ten years, Helene has taught creative movement to 4-7 year old children integrating dance with children’s creations of their own fairy tales set to classical music and accompanied with narration.
Helene believes that the arts are critical for the development of each child’s sense of his/her creative self. The arts afford children a grounding in self discipline and focus. She believes that dance as the artistic modality and the teacher-student relationship are the key elements for the developmental benefits to occur.
Helene is a psychotherapist with a Psy. D. in clinical psychology. She integrates the arts and the creative process in her practice, working with children, adolescents, and adults. She also works part time as an adjunct professor in the graduate clinical psychology program at St. Michael’s College. She has the firm commitment and belief that the instrument to enriching people’s development is in the relationships created between each other.
She is committed to the Ballet Wolcott mission of creativity and dance through the community connection.
Artistic Director, Brandy Ofciarcik-Perez has been teaching dance for over 20 years. She received her Bachelor of Arts in dance from Point Park College in Pittsburgh, PA. Before that, she studied with the esteemed faculty of the Pittsburgh High School for Creative and Performing Arts and with the Chartiers Valley Arts Council Dance Company (later, The Carnegie Performing Arts Center) where she became well known for her performance as the Sugar Plum Fairy. Her dance education has focused on ballet, but also includes jazz, tap, modern, folk, and historical dance.
Brandy's experiences took her to Frontiertown Western Theme Park in Maryland where she taught, created dances, and performed. Since moving to Vermont, she has been a member of the Vermont Dance Collective, taught at Johnson State College, and has collaborated with many local choreographers, teachers, and dance studios. As a member of the Vermont Dance Collective, she performed in schools and theaters all over Vermont as well as around the country. Since the beginning of Ballet Wolcott in 2007, Brandy has created original choreography for performances and community events as well as ballets: The Secret Garden (2012), The Little Humpbacked Horse (2013), Peter Pan (2014), Alice in Wonderland (2015), Cinderella (2016) and Excerpts from the Nutcracker (2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016). Brandy currently directs the Ballet Wolcott Youth Company, a group of passionate young dancers who perform throughout the community. At Ballet Wolcott, Brandy feels blessed to be able to share dance with an encouraging and supportive community and to watch the students grow and blossom within it.
Avi Waring began dancing at the Wolcott Children’s Ballet at age 8 where she learned a love of movement and performing from June Gorton. She studied ballet and modern dance with the Vermont Junior Ballet Company and with the National Youth Ballet at Walnut Hill School in Natick, MA. She danced with the Newcomb Dance Company at Tulane University in New Orleans, and went on to study the wild and endless art of improvisation with Fawn and Arol Wulf and the Heretica Dance Company at Zendik Arts in West Virginia. She has performed with the Vermont Dance Collective, Moving Light Dance Company, the Montpelier Movement Collective and is a member of the newly relocated Double Vision Dance Company. Avi is excited to bring her love of dancing back to where it began for her.
Analou Hathaway began pursuing her life of movement taking gymnastics, in Titusville, PA at age 4. She was actively involved into her teenage years. She then found her roots in music and theater, which opened her pathway to the performing arts. This outlet led to experiences in acting, dancing, singing, choreographing, stage managing, as well as much backstage and behind the scenes work. By the time Analou was 15, she began to study Cecchetti as a ballet technique. Alongside ballet, she studied modern, jazz, lyrical and pointe under the direction of Alethea Bodine. She was soon teaching the youngest ballet classes at Bodine’s Dance Conservatory. At this point, she already had deep ties in working with children. Analou went on to attend Clarion University where she was involved in their dance and theater programs. When she moved to Vermont, she began clogging with Linda Wickenden of Hyde Park. She was soon teaching creative movement classes with Wickenden’s Rim Rock Dancers. In 2008 she met Ballet Wolcott and has enjoyed such classes as, West African Dance, Middle Eastern Belly Dance, and Ballet. She has assisted Ballet Wolcott, by helping in classes and in the theater. As of 2016 Analou was teaching creative movement classes alongside Helene Nilsen of Ballet Wolcott. She also worked with Becca Johnson, teaching gymnastics in Johnson. Analou’s life has embraced the arts and children, mostly through music, dance and theater. She finds great joy in the many connections made through art!
Jennifer Wiley began her early training with Lorraine Peltonen and Flint Ballet Theater. She graduated from Western Michigan University and was a member of University Ballet Theater, performing soloist and principal roles. Jennifer was on the faculty at Young People’s Ballet in Flint for 15 years, teaching ballet and jazz, and creating original works for their spring concerts and other performances. She directed the Dancscape youth dance program, served as Nutcracker rehearsal coach, and choreographed musicals at the Midland Center for the Arts. She has coached students for dance competitions and was the ballet teacher for the Swartz Creek dance teams for several years. Jennifer has studied with many wonderful teachers including Jacob Lascu, Margaret Marsh, and Jurgen Schneider. As a member of the Cecchetti Council of America she is certified to teach the Cecchetti Method of ballet, traveling to Vermont every summer to coach teachers preparing for CCA certification. Jennifer is currently on the faculty of Creative Expressions Dance Studio in Flint and Bohatys School of Dance in Saginaw.
Robert Royce began his ballet training at Greensboro Ballet in Greensboro, NC at the age of ten. He continued on to study at the North Carolina School of the Arts under numerous teachers including Gyula Pandi, Mellissa Hayden and Duncan Noble. During the summers away from NCSA, Mr. Royce attended summer intensives at Pacific Northwest Ballet, Hungarian National Ballet and School of American Ballet. At the age of sixteen Robert moved to New York to study under Richard Rapp and Stanley Williams at School of American Ballet.