DDC/Sac Civic - Alumni

ALUMNI

Elise Elliott (Judson)

Elise just recently retired from the Houston Ballet, where she has danced since her graduation from Crockett-Deane Ballet in 2007. Elise has lived out her dreams of being a professional dancer. She has toured with Houston Ballet to China, Spain, New York City, Chicago, New Orleans and Canada. Since being with the company, Elise has performed such roles as The Sugar Plum Fairy in "The Nutcracker," one of the Angels in Christopher Bruce's "Intimate Pages," the Neapolitan Princess in Stanton Welch's "Swan Lake," one of three girls in William Forsythe's "Vertiginous Thrill of Exactitude," one of four women in Mark Morris' "Pacific," one of the women in Jiri Kylian's "Falling Angels," one of the "Bomb Squad" girls in Twyla Tharp's "In the Upper Room," the first pas de deux in Anthony Tudor's "Leaves are Fading," and the fourth solo in George Balanchine's "Ballo de la Regina," to name a few. Elise is also lucky to have met her husband, Rhodes Elliott, while dancing with the Houston Ballet. She is currently the Ballet Director at Texas Academy of Dance Arts.

Ashley Kim (Hartigan)

Ashley trained at Deane Dance Center from age 8 to age 16, when she was accepted into the Professional Division at Pacific Northwest Ballet. After graduating from that program, she was offered a corps de ballet contract with Ballet Idaho, where she spent the remainder of her dance career. Ashley says her time at PNB and BI was full of amazing opportunities and rewarding experiences; she feels blessed to have been able to live her dream. Ashley would like to thank her family and the wonderful teachers at Deane Dance Center for making this possible. She was extremely blessed to have people who believed in her, supported her, pushed her to achieve more than she thought she was capable of, fostered her love for ballet, and cared for both her body and spirit. From taking her first class at Deane Dance Center as a timid 8-year-old to performing with professional companies on magnificent stages, Ashley is thankful to God for all the life changing experiences, and for being able to achieve her childhood dream.

Chloe Perkes (Felesina)

Chloe Perkes (Felesina) received her primary training from Deane Dance Center and the San Francisco Conservatory of Dance. While at SFCD, she performed works by William Forsythe, Jiri Kylian and many San Francisco Bay Area choreographers. Chloe spent three years dancing for the San Francisco-based company The Foundry, directed by Alex Ketley. Their work was filled with improvisation and inventive collaborations.

Chloe then joined the Sacramento Ballet for three seasons. While there she performed in various solo and principal roles. Her favorites include “Juliet” in Ron Cunningham’s "Romeo and Juliet" and “Russian Girl” in "Serenade" by George Balanchine. In 2014, she co-founded Duende, an experimental dance and music company, in collaboration with Alyssa Weinburg and cellist Gabriel Cabezas. In 2014, Pointe magazine named her “Best of the Best” for her performance in Matthew Neenan’s "Sunset, o639 Hours." She began guesting with BalletX in 2010 and joined full time in 2012.

Debbie Williamson and Kendall Reinitz

Crockett-Deane Ballet has had two alumni working in Entertainment at the Disneyland Resort. Debbie hired into "A Christmas Fantasy" parade at Disneyland in 2011 after five years of training at Deane Dance Center and a year in the Crockett-Deane Ballet. She was proud to have performed in many shows at both Disneyland and California Adventure such as "Mickey's Soundsational Parade," "Pixar Play Parade," "Fantasmic!," "Phineas and Ferb's Rockin' Rollin' Dance Party," and "Dancin' with Disney," as well as working as a character performer and a Faire Maiden at the Royal Theatre. Kendall started her journey at the Disneyland Resort after 11 years at Deane Dance Center and five years in the Crockett-Deane Ballet. She started in "A Christmas Fantasy" parade in 2013 and is already performing in "Mickey's Soundsational Parade" and "Fantasmic!" while attending school at University of California, Irvine.

Jennifer Tierney-Brown

Jennifer has danced with Oakland Ballet, Sacramento Ballet and Madison Ballet Company.
She currently runs American Youth Ballet with her husband. She is a model and owns J.Tierney designs.