2011-2012 Dayton Ballet Company

Case Bodamer

CASE BODAMER was born and raised on the south shore of Long Island where he began his ballet training with Kathleen Kuirns-Scholz. He spent his summers training at New York State School of the Arts, The Julliard School and Ballet Austin. Case spent his freshman year of college at The Ailey/Fordham Bachelor of Fine Arts program before accepting a traineeship with Ballet Austin. Most recently, he spent his summer dancing with Ballet Montana. Case joined Dayton Ballet in 2008 where some of his favorite roles have been “R.M. Renfield” in Stuart Sebastian’s Dracula, “Uncle Ernie” in Christopher Fleming’s The Who’s Tommy along with dancing in Septime Webre’s D-Construction. Case is thrilled to return to Dayton Ballet for his third year and would like to thank his family for their endless support.

Marco Clemente

MARCO CLEMENTE, born in Chicago, started attending the Ruth Page School of Dance in 1996 under the expert direction of Larry Long, Dolores Lipinski, and Birute Barodicaite. In 2006, Marco became a member of the Civic Ballet of Chicago. In addition to many performances with the Civic, he also performed with the Lyric Opera. This is Marco's first year with the Dayton Ballet, and he could not be more delighted to participate.

Erika Cole

 ERIKA COLE is originally from Michigan and began her training at the Geiger Classic Ballet Academy, under the direction of Mary Geiger. In 2000, she joined the Houston Ballet Academy on full scholarship. In 2002, she began her professional career at Oregon Ballet Theatre, where she resided for two years. At Dayton Ballet, Erika has enjoyed dancing the roles of “Sugar Plum Fairy” in Dayton Ballet’s The Nutcracker, “Elizabeth Jones” in Dermot Burke and Stephen Mills’ There Was a Time, “Juliet” in Septime Webre’s Romeo and Juliet and “Odette” in Webre’s Swan Lake. Other favorite roles are “Katrina” in Alan Hineline’s The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” Lady of the Light” in the world premiere of Christopher Fleming’s The Who’s Tommy and “Lucy” in Stuart Sebastian’s Dracula. Erika is very excited to return to Dayton Ballet for her seventh season.

Grant Dettling 

Dance Captain

GRANT DETTLING grew up in Spokane, Washington.  At age thirteen Grant began ballet training with Barbara Suzanne and Lynne Williams.  He received professional instruction at the Pacific Northwest Ballet School in Seattle and the prestigious School of American Ballet in New York City; and, was awarded full scholarships to both institutions.  Since then, Grant has worked with many great ballet icons and has had the unique experience of dancing with several nationally-recognized ballet companies including: ABT Studio Company, Washington Ballet, Kansas City Ballet, Texas Ballet Theater and Ohio Ballet.  Among the many roles that he has performed, his favorites include “Tybalt” from Alun Jones' Romeo and Juliet, Jeffrey Graham Hughes' Pygmalion & Galatea, “Quint” from Domy Reiter-Soffer’s A Turn of the Screw, “Dracula” from Stuart Sebastian's Dracula,  “Captain Hook” in Septime Webre's Peter Pan, and Balanchine’s Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux and Rubies. Grant and his beautiful wife Katie are glad to be returning to Dayton Ballet for their fifth season!

Will Hoppe

WILL HOPPE began his training at age 13 at Miami City Ballet under the guidance of Kimmary Williams.  At 15 he accepted a scholarship to Virginia School for the Arts.  He then returned home to Florida to continue his training at The Harid Conservatory where he graduated in 1999.  In 2000 Will was hired by Ohio Ballet and danced six years with the company. After leaving Ohio Ballet he decided to freelance. In January 2009 he joined Ballet Gamone and was fortunate to be a part of O Dance in their inaugural performance in February 2010. Will has performed many roles throughout his career. Some of his most memorable performances include: Diana and Acteon, Spring Waters, Le Sacre Du Printemps, Dracula, “Von Rothbart “ in Swan Lake, “Tybalt” in Romeo and Juliet, and “Halarion” in Giselle.  Will has also been a guest artist with several ballet companies including: Richmond Ballet, Boca Ballet Theatre, Northern California Ballet and Ballet Tucson. 

Katie Keith

Dance Captain

KATIE KEITH returns for her fifth season with Dayton Ballet.  She began her training with the Cuyahoga Valley Youth Ballet, under the direction of Nan Klinger, in her home town of Akron, Ohio. Katie trained as a scholarship student at the Washington School of Ballet and began her professional career as an apprentice with the affiliated Washington Ballet.  She went on to dance with Texas Ballet Theater and Ohio Ballet.  Katie has also made many guest appearances, dancing with Ballet Concerto, Fort Worth’s Casa Mañana Musical Theatre Company, Charleston Ballet and Ballet Romand in Switzerland.  Katie has especially enjoyed performing works by:  George Balanchine, Josè Limón, Jeffrey Graham Hughes, Bruce Marks and Karen Russo Burke. She has also been honored to perform in the musical West Side Story, Raymonda Pas de Deux, as “Myrtha” in Giselle, “Mina” in Stuart Sebastian’s Dracula, “Mrs. Walker” in The Who’s Tommy and “Dew Drop Fairy” in Dayton Ballet’s The Nutcracker. Katie is thrilled to be sharing her Dayton Ballet experience with her husband of six years, Grant Dettling.

Erica Lehman-Downey

ERICA LEHMAN-DOWNEY is a native of Fort Wayne, Indiana and began her training at the Academy of Fort Wayne Ballet under the directorship of Michael Tevlin. She attended summer dance programs at American Ballet Theater in New York and the Joffrey Midwest & New York workshops. Upon graduation from Butler University in 2005, Erica joined Dayton Ballet where she enjoyed dancing “Lady Capulet” in Septime Webre’s Romeo & Juliet.  Erica has also had the privilege to dance with Madison Ballet in Wisconsin, Cape Town City Ballet in South Africa and perform a world premiere ballet of Ron DeJesus', which later became a PBS documentary.  Returning to Dayton Ballet in 2009, Erica is glad to be back for her third season and is grateful to her husband for his unending support.

Halliet Slack

HALLIET SLACK is originally from Louisiana and is in her seventh season with Dayton Ballet.  She has trained at the North Carolina School of the Arts as well as Boston Ballet, Houston Ballet Academy and the Royal Winnipeg Ballet. Before joining Dayton Ballet, Ms. Slack danced with Richmond Ballet where she performed well-known works of George Balanchine, such as Concerto Barocco and Serenade as well as John Butler’s Carmina Burana.  Some of her favorite Dayton Ballet roles include “Blanche” in Karen Russo Burke’s A Streetcar Named Desire, Septime Webre’s Carmen and Christopher Fleming’s The Who’s Tommy.  She especially enjoyed being featured as the “Dew Drop Fairy” and “Snow Queen” in Dermot Burke and Karen Russo Burke’s The Nutcracker and “Mina” in Stuart Sebastian’s Dracula.

Lauren Stenroos

LAUREN STENROOS joins Dayton Ballet for her first season.  A native of Akron, Ohio, she began her training at the Cuyahoga Valley Youth Ballet under the direction of Nan Klinger.  She attended summer programs at Chautauqua, CPYB, Richmond Ballet, Cleveland San Jose Ballet, Nashville Ballet, and also danced at the International Youth Festival in Vevey, Switzerland.  She was honored to perform George Balanchine’s Serenade with the North Carolina Dance Theater at Chautauqua.  Ms.Stenroos attended Mercyhurst College, studying dance and music composition.  As a culmination of both her dance and music studies, she organized a recital of her music compositions.  Most notably, she choreographed and danced to the final movement of her Duet for Two Pianos while it was played live.   She also danced with the Lake Erie Ballet under the direction of Lesley Bories-Scalise.  Upon graduation in 2009, she joined Nashville Ballet 2, performing with the company  in Giselle, Swan Lake, George Balanchine’s Who Cares?, and Paul Vasterling’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Nutcracker, and Carmina Burana.  Lauren is thrilled to begin a new artistic endeavor with Dayton Ballet and thanks her family and friends for their continuous love and support. 

Annalise Woller

ANNALISE WOLLER is originally from Boulder, Colorado, and began dancing when she was six years old. While training at Boulder Ballet, Ms. Woller particularly enjoyed dancing the roles of Josephina in Josephina's Story, and Alice in Alice in Wonderland. She later attended the Boston Ballet Summer Dance Program and the Juilliard Summer Dance Intensive among others. Annalise went on to study dance at Goucher College where she was granted the prestigious Fine and Performing Arts Scholarship for dance, and the Global Citizen Scholarship for academic endeavors. After only three years, Ms. Woller graduated from Goucher College with Honors in Dance Performance and a minor in mathematics. In 2009, Annalise returned to Boulder to dance with Boulder Ballet where she was promoted to principal and featured as Aurora in Sleeping Beauty. Ms. Woller also greatly enjoyed being a part of Delusions of Grandeur Productions and The Dayton Arts Project, both of which work to incorporate several art forms within their productions. Annalise is very excited to be returning to Dayton Ballet for her second season, and thanks her family for their continual love and support.

Marcia Hetrick

MARCIA HETRICK is from Carmel, Indiana and began dancing at age 13, training with the Central Indiana Dance Ensemble under the direction of Suzann DeLay. Upon graduation from high school, Marcia chose to attend University of Cincinnati's College-Conservatory of Music, pursuing a double major in piano performance and ballet. Her love of ballet led her to focus solely on ballet at UC where she gained professional experience as a guest performer with ballet companies including: Dayton Ballet, Kentucky Ballet Theatre and Ballet Theatre Midwest. While on summer breaks from UC, Ms. Hetrick studied with Joffrey Midwest and Milwaukee Ballet as a scholarship student and was awarded an apprenticeship with North Carolina Dance Theatre for the 2009-2010 season.  Marcia is thrilled to have the opportunity to complete her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Ballet from UC while participating in her second season as a Trainee with Dayton Ballet.

Abby Phillips

ABBY PHILLIPS is from Taylor, Michigan and started her ballet training with Ballet Americana. She studied under the direction of Leif and Patricia Lorenz where she had the opportunity to dance lead roles in various ballets.  Her training also includes tap and jazz from Joy Squire and Julie Phillips with the Taylor Dance Program. She has been the recipient of several scholarships throughout her dance career including the Merit Award and Scholarship from Regional Dance America for three years in a a row.  Abby has attended multiple summer programs including BalletMet, Salt Creek Ballet, The Joffrey Midwest and the School of American Ballet.  Abby is very excited to join Dayton Ballet for second season as a Trainee.