FACULTY

Allyson Deane
DIRECTOR, DEANE DANCE CENTER
Ballet, Pointe, Partnering, Character

Allyson Deane studied with her parents, Deane and Barbara Crockett, from the age of five until she joined the San Francisco Ballet company at the age of 17. Studying at the Crockett Dance Studio and performing with the Sacramento Civic Ballet Company gave her all she needed for a successful career. She began in the corps de ballet and worked her way to soloist and then on to become a principal dancer with SFB. 

Ms. Deane became one of SFB Director Michael Smuin's favorite "Juliets" in his world-renowned "Romeo and Juliet" and was honored to perform this role at the Edinburgh Festival in Scotland as well as in her father, Dean Crockett's, hometown of Ogden, Utah and at the San Francisco Opera House, which she called home for many years. She competed in "Dance a Paris" in Paris in Tomm Ruud's "Mobile" and was asked to make the movie "Balances," which was shown in theaters throughout the United States. She was pleased to perform the Balcony Pas de Deux from Smuin's "Romeo and Juliet" at the gala performance of the re-opening of the Sacramento Capitol rotunda and enjoyed many years of guesting as the Sugar Plum Fairy, Snow Pas de Deux, and the Rose in Sacramento Ballet's "Nutcracker," directed by Barbara Crockett. 

After marrying Don Schwennesen, another successful San Francisco Ballet dancer, she moved to Seattle where she became a teacher at Pacific Northwest Ballet School. Coming back to California to join Oakland Ballet Company, she performed in Kurt Joos' "Green Table," as Mother/Sweetheart in Eugene Loring's "Billy the Kid," premiered Tomm Ruud's beautiful pas de deux "Bela di Notte," and performed the lead role in Nijinska's "Scheherazade." 

Allyson Deane became Oakland Ballet Executive Directors' assistant and toured for two years as Oakland Ballet's head of wardrobe. After years of guest dancing and teaching workshops around the country, Ms. Deane and her husband opened the Deane Dance Center with Barbara Crockett and David Boyet. The school has had great success, becoming the Youth America Grand Prix "Best School 2000" as Chloe Felesina took the Junior Grand Prix, and has trained many successful professional dancers. 

Crockett-Deane Ballet (now Sac Civic Ballet), under the direction of Don Schwennesen, has become a well-respected training ground for young dancers and is a Regional Dance America/Pacific Honor Company.

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Don Schwennesen
DIRECTOR, SAC CIVIC BALLET
Kinderballet, Ballet, Choreographer

Director and choreographer Don Schwennesen received his training with Antony Tudor and Eugene Loring at University of California Irvine before joining the San Francisco Ballet Company and enjoying a successful career as one of its soloists. He also spent two years as a member of Pacific Northwest Ballet and eight years with the Oakland Ballet Company. Mr. Schwennesen has had two of his ballets shown at Regional Dance America/Pacific festivals. 

"The Story of Noah's Ark" is an original ballet created and choreographed by Don Schwennesen. The Crockett-Deane Ballet company has performed this ballet during the spring in alternating years. Danced by professional dancers to our youngest students, this ballet is a charming classic about the trials and tribulation of Noah and his ark. 

In 2017, Mr. Schwennesen choreographed a new ballet to be included in Sac Civic Ballet's repertoire. "The Magic Flute," the classical opera, was performed with music by Mozart.

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Jorge Esquivel
GUEST MASTER TEACHER
Ballet, Pointe 

Jorge Esquivel is an international superstar. He's a cavalier, a disciplined stylist and the most self-effacing, most considerate, most reliable partner a ballerina could dream of.  Mr. Esquivel trained at La Escuela de Ballet Provincial and La Escuela National de Arte in Havana, Cuba. 

Known as the Prince of Ballet, he joined the National Ballet of Cuba in 1968 and was promoted to principal dancer in 1972. In 1986, Mr. Esquivel left the National Ballet of Cuba, continuing his career as a guest artist. For more than 14 years, Mr. Esquivel partnered legendary Cuban ballerina Alicia Alonso, and has also partnered other acclaimed ballerinas worldwide. 

In 1993, Mr. Esquivel joined the faculty of the prestigious San Francisco Ballet School, where he also served as a principal character dancer.

Photo credit: Portland Ballet

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Richard Shi
GUEST MASTER TEACHER,
Ballet, Pointe 

Mr. Shi received his early training with the Shanghai Dancing School and danced for 10 years as a principal dancer with the Shanghai Ballet.

He was a Silver medalist in the second round of the Chinese Ballet Competition and a Gold medalist for a Pas De Deux in the Seventh International Classical Ballet Competition in France. 

Mr. Shi has been a guest artist all over the world, including in Vancouver, Canada, Cuba, Russia, Bulgaria, Singapore and Hong Kong, and he has also guested in the United States with the Ruth Page Foundation in Chicago, Minnesota Ballet, Washington Ballet Company and International Star Performance in Texas. 

He was a principal dancer with the New Jersey Ballet Company and Ballet Oklahoma, assistant professor at the University of Oklahoma and advisor member of the Oklahoma Arts Institute. Crockett-Deane Ballet has been honored to have Mr. Shi perform pas de deux with various Sacramento Ballet principal dancers as well as dance the role of Noah in Don Schwennesen's "The Story of Noah's Ark."

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Kermit Allen 
Boys Class, Ballet and Partnering

Mr. Allen danced with Ballet Austin and has performed for the last few years with the Sacramento Ballet. He has a very strong background in ballet technique. He is integral to Deane Dance Center's Adult Department and plays an important role in
developing the boys' classes.

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Joy Almendariz
Beginning, Intermediate and Advanced Tap 

Coming soon

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Chelsea Blake
Ballet and Pointe

Chelsea Blake, an alumna of Deane Dance Center and Crockett-Deane Ballet, started dancing at the age of 3 in Northern California, where she studied voice, theater and various forms of dance. Her love of dance and musical theater led her to begin performing, teaching and choreographing professionally and to further her education at the University of California, Irvine. After graduation, Chelsea continued working and teaching throughout Southern California. She served as the Director of the Ballet Program at several studios and became the Assistant Director of a mobile-based dance company, dance competition team and studio, where she taught and choreographed for ballet, lyrical, jazz, tap and musical theater styles. Additionally, Chelsea earned a master’s degree in Psychology from Chapman University and worked extensively with children, teens and young adults in the field of education prior to joining the team at McDonald Selznick Associates, the global industry-leading talent agency representing dancers, choreographers and more. Positivity, passion and a commitment to excellence have driven Chelsea throughout her career. She believes in establishing long-lasting relationships with students and in their continued development beyond the classroom and throughout their journeys. Chelsea's former students have not only gone on to pursue successful careers in the dance and entertainment world, but have attended prestigious programs at Juilliard, Tisch School of the Arts at NYU and USC's Glorya Kaufman School of Dance, as well as ivy league institutions, medical, law and business schools, etc. She takes immense pride in the well-rounded, extraordinary young people she has had the opportunity to work with so far and is always excited for the next generation! ​

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Allie Braithwaite
Kinderballet and Ballet

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Abelardo Cisneros
Ballet and Pilates

Abelardo is a native of Puebla, Mexico. He began dancing Folklorico in elementary school, where he formed a passion for dance, which inspired him to continue his studies in classical ballet at the Taller de Danza Clasica UAP in Mexico. At the age of 18, Abelardo continued his classical ballet studies as a scholarship student at the Stanley Holden Dance Center in Los Angeles and The David Hoard Dance Center in NYC among other places. His professional career includes modern, contemporary, and ballet with such companies as Saint Louis Ballet, Lula Washington Dance Theatre in Los Angeles, FMDT in Los Angeles, and Sacramento Ballet, where he was a resident artist until 2004, and other places. He is also trained as a Pilates instructor with experience teaching Mat and Reformer.

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Irina Karoulina
Ballet and Character

"Miss Irina" is a ballerina from Russia who is well versed in character work. After her dancing career, she became a teacher and, here in America, gives students at Deane Dance Center an unusually authentic training in character work and ballet.

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Pamela Lourentzos
Stretch and Conditioning, Musical Theater, Teen Ballet

Pam has trained in Sacramento, New York and Los Angeles and has danced with California Musical Theatre, Sacramento Opera and in many concert and musical theater productions.  She has choreographed and directed many musicals throughout Northern California, including "West Side Story," "A Chorus Line," "Carousel," "Godspell," "Guys and Dolls," "Kiss Me Kate," "My Fair Lady," "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers," "Fiddler on the Roof," "Western Star" and "Ain't Misbehavin'."  Pam has won four Elly Awards for choreography and direction, and one Arty (Solano County) for choreography. ​

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Sarah Russell
Adult division

Coming soon!

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Linda Yun
Ballet, Pointe, Contemporary, YAGP, Assistant Director

Linda is a product of Barbara Crockett and Deane Dance Center. She was a full scholarship recipient to the National Choreography Conference, has had the honor of dancing in the Rhode Island World Scholar-Athlete Games representing California, was a recipient of various arts scholarships and has performed with the Sacramento Ballet. 
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​After graduating from CSU Long Beach, she joined the Deane Dance Center staff and has become a very important element to the running of the school. Linda is also a certified Zumba instructor and was one of a hundred finalists in SYTYCD season 8. 

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Ginny Rattan
 Kinderballet Teaching Assistant

Ginny Rattan has been a student of Deane Dance Center since the age of 3.5 and has been a member of Sac Civic Ballet for three years. She is currently a junior in high school and has attended the Houston Ballet and Boston Ballet summer intensives.

​She will be a teaching assistant in the Kinderballet division, helping Mr. Don.

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