STAFF
DeeAnne Crookham
Executive Director
DeeAnne Crookham, Executive Director
Roberto Forleo
Artistic Director
Roberto Forleo, Artistic Director
Mr. Forleo is a graduate of the Centre National de la Danse Pantin-Paris (France) as a certified ballet teacher and is also a certified ABT teacher (American Ballet Theatre National Training Curriculum) from Pre-Primary through level 7. He was the director of the CORPS program, the pre-professional program of Portland School of Ballet in Maine. His choreography has been seen in Portland Ballet’s Boy Meets Girl, the Portland Symphony Orchestra’s Peter and the Wolf (Discovery Series), and in 2018 his Alice was presented in collaboration with the Portland Symphony Orchestra and the Maine College of Art. He joined the faculty at Bates College (Lewiston, ME) in 2016 and until recently was the Artistic Director of Bangor Ballet in Maine and a full-time faculty member and principal dancer at Maine State Ballet. Mr. Forleo joined The Florida Ballet in August 2019 as Associate Artistic director and during his first year choreographed Creatures of Prometheus in collaboration with the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra.
Katie Slattery
Conservatory/Outreach Coordinator
Katie Slattery, Company and Conservatory Coordinator
Katie Slattery began her ballet training in Gainesville, Florida. As a young dancer she attended summer programs at the Joffrey Ballet School, The Rock School, American Ballet Theatre and Kaatsbaan International Dance Center. She attended Virginia School of the Arts high school program and then became a trainee with the Joffrey Ballet School and performed with the Joffrey Ballet II Concert Dancers. Katie then danced as a member of Milwaukee Ballet II for two seasons. She returned to Florida to join Orlando Ballet under the direction of Fernando Bujones, where she was a company dancer from 2001-2008. Following that, she joined Sarasota Ballet from 2007-2009.
Ms. Slattery danced in many of the classic ballets including Swan Lake, Giselle, Cinderella, Don Quixote, Spartacus, Coppelia, Raymonda, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Sleeping Beauty, Paquita, La Fille Mal Gardee, and The Nutcracker. She also danced in ballets choreographed by George Balanchine, John Cranko, Kenneth MacMillan, Frederick Ashton, Dame Ninette de Valois, and Fernando Bujones.
Ms. Slattery began teaching at Orlando Ballet School in 2002, and she took a full-time position as Artistic Assistant/Faculty in 2011. Aside from her work in the pre-professional divisions, she was proud to teach and help develop the Come Dance With Us program for children with physical challenges. She has worked as a guest teacher and judge for various organizations, and she enjoys writing articles on ballet for Pointe Magazine. Ms. Slattery is a certified teacher of the American Ballet Theatre National Training Curriculum from Pre-Primary through Level 7, and she has presented students for exams as an affiliate teacher with the ABT NTC. She is excited to be joining the faculty at The Florida Ballet!
Christopher Byrd
Administrative Team
Christopher Byrd, Administrative Team
Christopher has danced with the Florida Ballet II apprentice company in the 1990s and early 2000s and performed for Theater Jacksonville. He has been a teaching assistant and then faculty for the Florida Ballet since 2002. He is an American Ballet Theater Curriculum certified teacher and is currently teaching Florida Ballet’s Outreach program at Pine Forest School of the Arts and Acting for Dancers within The Florida Ballet Conservatory. Christopher has a passion for expression through the performing arts and a love for the legacy of The Florida Ballet.
Heather Olschewske
Administrative Team
Heather Olschewske, Administrative Team
After graduation from Brockport, she taught dance and theater in Jacksonville, FL from 1995-1999. Heather then spent the next 5 years managing the dance program at Berwick Academy in Southern Maine and choreographed for the Portsmouth School of Ballet, Portsmouth, NH. She has continued her studies in dance at Bates Dance Festival, The Florida Dance Festival, The Portsmouth Percussive Dance Festival and The FDEO conference where she has participated in Master Classes with Robert Atwood, Terry Creach, Clyde Evans Jr., Danny Buraczeski, Desmond Richardson and Jon Lehrer, among many others.
Since returning to the Jacksonville area, Heather has taught at various dance schools and programs including Douglas Anderson School of The Arts and St Johns Country Day School. As a faculty member at The Florida Ballet, she has choreographed two works that were performed with the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra. She has been a member of The New Hampshire Dance Alliance and is currently a member of The National Dance Educators Organization, and The Florida Dance Educators Organization. Heather Olschewske is an ABT certified teacher, who has successfully completed the ABT® Teacher Training Intensive in Pre-Primary through level 3 of the ABT® National Training Curriculum. She is currently pursuing her Master’s Degree in Arts Leadership and Cultural Management through Colorado State University.
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