Company
Aimee Bell
Bio Coming Soon!
Emily Bergum
Emily grew up in Clatskanie, Oregon and began her training at age 3 with Evergreen Ballet Center in Longview, Washington where she studied under Kathleen Tucker as a youngster and then Erica DeLap. At the age of 19 she took a 20 year hiatus from dance to pursue a career in the airline industry. Emily spent several years as a flight attendant and then advanced to training as an Inflight Instructor and ultimately Manager of Inflight Training. She met her wonderful husband of 19 years while flying the friendly skies. Emily and her husband moved to Colorado in 2006 and found their forever home and Canyon Concert Ballet. Emily began taking classes again in 2006 and has been performing with CCB since 2011.
She has also enjoyed roles in Canyon Concert Ballet’s Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, 35th Anniversary Gala, Paquita and Peter Pan. This will be Emily’s 10th season with Canyon Concert Ballet. She now has two gorgeous girls, one with whom she shares the stage! Emily would like to thank the teachers for providing such a strong foundation of dance for herself and for her daughter, Charlotte. She is so grateful for the group of dancers and teachers that have become her family. Performing with CCB is truly an honor (and hilarious fun)!
Sophia Brodin
Sophia Brodin is new to the Fort Collins area and is originally from Lansing, Michigan. She graduated from Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music in 2019 with a degree in ballet performance and an outside field in exercise science. At Indiana University Ballet Theater, she had the honor of training under NYCB legend Kyra Nichols, PNB’s Carla Korbes, and Boston Ballet’s Sarah Wroth along with Sasha Janes, Michael Vernon, and the late Violette Verdy. Throughout her 4 years with IUBT she had the pleasure of performing in many works choreographed by Twyla Tharp including Surfer at the River Styx, As Time Goes By, and Deuce Coupe. She has also performed in Jerome Robbins’ Fanfare, NY Export: Opus Jazz, and The Concert. Along with performing as the soloist in George Balanchine’s La Source, Mark Morris’s Sandpaper Ballet, and an original work by Nicole Haskins. Prior to attending Indiana University Sophia trained with the Pittsburgh Ballet Theater full time high school training program and was given the opportunity to perform with the Pittsburgh Ballet Theater company. Sophia is not only a member of the CCB company she is also on faculty where she has loved every second of being able to teach and inspire the next generation of dancers. She looks forward to her first season with the company and being able to dance alongside a wonderful group of artists.
Cara Doyle
Cara began her dance training in the very arts rich “Cowtown” that is Fort Worth, TX with Fernando Schaffenburg. Upon moving to FoCo, Cara joined the Company at CCB and immediately found her tribe.
Over the years she has performed numerous roles, some more memorable than others. Her favorites include Ballerina Doll, Chinese, and Russian in the Nutcracker, Modern Couple in Randy Wray’s Passing Fancies, Peasant Pas in Giselle, and Little Red Riding Hood in Sleeping Beauty. Cara truly shines onstage in character roles where her exuberant personality can shine through. Roles such as the Stepsister in Cinderella, Harlot in Romeo and Juliet, Bar Maid in Don Quixote, Wench in Little Mermaid, and Pirate in Peter Pan have all been truly memorable for both herself and the audience to say the least.
Cara is the official unofficial makeup artist for the Company and has been known to glue eyelashes on just about anyone. She also likes to think of herself as everyone’s “Stage Mom,” not just for her daughters Calla and India, who she also shares the CCB stage with. When she isn’t foam rolling out her muscles, she co-owns and operates Summit Hardscaping with her husband, Dave.
This will be her 29th season with the Company. Heaven help us all.
Quentin Golden
Bio Coming Soon!
Rikke Liska-Goodrich
Bio Coming Soon!
Kristen Hill
Bio Coming Soon!
Sadie Hughes
Sadie became an apprentice with Canyon Concert Ballet in 2017 and joined the company in 2018. She has been training at CCB for 16 years. She has also trained with Colorado Ballet, Kaatsbaan Extreme Ballet, and The Boston Ballet school. She has trained in Ballet, Modern, Contemporary, Jazz, and Musical Theater. Sadie has also been accepted into the University of Alabama and Utah’s dance programs, and summer programs at Houston ballet, Ballet West, and American Ballet Theater. She is very excited to be able to perform on stage again. Some of her favorite roles in CCB’s productions have been The Arabian Princess in The Nutcracker, and the White Rabbit in Alice in Wonderland.
Anna-Noel Imbriaco
Bio Coming Soon!
Liz Jackson
LIZ STORY JACKSON, Baltimore, MD, has been dancing for over 30 years. She began her initial training at age three at Damascus Dance Centre in Maryland. After college and a hiatus from ballet, Liz moved to Fort Collins for graduate school (M.A. Rhetoric and Composition, Colorado State University, 2002) and was fortunate to be able to resume the study of ballet at CSU and Canyon Concert Ballet. Liz is very grateful to be part of CCB, and thanks her teachers for providing a strong foundation and the continued opportunity to pursue the love and hard work of dance, as well as the chance to perform with her daughter, Quinn. Being part of CCB also has extended the love of dance and the arts to the rest of her family, and Liz thanks her spouse, A.J., and her son, Mac, for all their understanding, good humor, and support surrounding class and rehearsal schedules (and endless watching of ballet videos and dance movies). Life is better when we dance.
Molly Ledbetter
Bio Coming Soon!
Abbey Mann
Abbey Mann grew up in Longview, WA. She moved to Fort Collins, CO in 2018 to attend Colorado State University, where she is working to obtain a BFA in Dance. Abbey began dancing 13 years ago in her hometown when her aunt opened a dance studio, Higher Ground Dance Studio. She quickly fell in love with dance and has trained in ballet, jazz, tap, contemporary, modern, improvisation, choreography, acrobatics, musical theatre, hip-hop, character dance, and flamenco. Additionally, she was a performing company member with Higher Ground Dance Studio. Abbey has performed with Eugene Ballet Theatre, BodyVox Dance Company, Colorado Ballet, and Disneyland’s Dance the Magic. She teaches at Lighthouse Dance Studio in the styles of ballet, tap, jazz, and musical theatre.
Erin Ornelas
Elise grew up in South Pasadena, California and kicked off her life-long love of dance when she started her ballet training at the Collenette School of Dancing. Throughout high school, she pursued summer courses with Pasadena Dance Theatre and the Los Angeles Ballet. In 2011, she moved up the coast to Cal Poly San Luis Obispo to study Animal Science and found a second home in Cal Poly’s Dance Program and Orchesis, the student dance company. In her senior year, she was recruited to perform with Ballet Theatre San Luis Obispo company in several productions, including AIDA with Opera San Luis Obispo. After graduating, Elise took a break from dance to figure out what was next and to recover from a foot injury, ultimately choosing to attend a professional graduate program in Zoo, Aquarium, and Animal Shelter Management at Colorado State University in 2016. She returned to dance and to the stage in 2019, balancing life at the studio with life as a lepidopterist (butterfly/moth scientist), the director of the Colorado Butterfly Monitoring Network, and as a dog mom to her beloved pup, Freya. This is Elise’s first season with the company and she is so excited and incredibly grateful for the opportunity to join both the company and community at Canyon Concert Ballet!
Jenna Smith
Jenna Smith received her BA in dance from Colorado State University. She was chosen to perform with many guest artists including Viktor Kabaniaev, Katie Elliot, Gabe Masson, and Tommy Parlon, as well as multiple original works by faculty member Chung-Fu Chang. Upon graduation, Jenna worked with Cleo Parker Robinson’s 2nd company before joining IMPACT Dance Company in the fall of 2012. She has since danced with Fall Aerial Ballet Company, Industrial Dance Alliance, New Dialect, as well as the role of “The Little Mermaid” as a guest with Canyon Concert Ballet. She is currently serving as both Assistant Director and company member with IMPACT Dance Company. Her choreographic work has been featured in IMPACT Dance Company’s show, “Words, (Wo)men and Song,” The 2018 Fringe Festival show, “Women Working” which received the Salt Magazine “Movers and Shakers” award, as well as Canyon Concert Ballet’s ” The Little Mermaid.” In 2019, she choreographed for and co-produced the show: “5×5” which received the “Best of Fringe”, “Artist Choice” and “Audience Choice” awards.
Alta Thuesen
Bio Coming Soon!
Elise Willcox
Elise grew up in South Pasadena, California and kicked off her life-long love of dance when she started her ballet training at the Collenette School of Dancing. Throughout highschool, she pursued summer courses with Pasadena Dance Theatre and the Los Angeles Ballet. In 2011, she moved up the coast to Cal Poly San Luis Obispo to study Animal Science and found a second home in Cal Poly’s Dance Program and Orchesis, the student dance company. In her senior year, she was recruited to perform with Ballet Theatre San Luis Obispo company in several productions, including AIDA with Opera San Luis Obispo. After graduating, Elise took a break from dance to figure out what was next and to recover from a foot injury, ultimately choosing to attend a professional graduate program in Zoo, Aquarium, and Animal Shelter Management at Colorado State University in 2016. She returned to dance and to the stage in 2019, balancing life at the studio with life as a lepidopterist (butterfly/moth scientist), the director of the Colorado Butterfly Monitoring Network, and as a dog mom to her beloved pup, Freya. This is Elise’s first season with the company and she is so excited and incredibly grateful for the opportunity to join both the company and community at Canyon Concert Ballet!
CCB2
Ashley Cazier
Ashley Cazier has grown up in Fort Collins CO and has been training with Canyon Concert Ballet for 14 years. She has attended summer intensives at Colorado Ballet and Colorado State University Dance Lab. She has trained in ballet, jazz, modern, and contemporary and was a part of Canyon Concert Ballet’s Youth Ensemble for 8 years She has been a part of The Nutcracker with Canyon Concert Ballet for 12 years and has also participated in productions of Peter Pan, The Little Mermaid, and Alice In Wonderland. She is currently a senior at Fossil Ridge High School and is planning on attending college for dance next year. She is looking forward to her first season in CCB2 and is excited to spend her senior year with an amazing group of dancers.
Blaise Houchin
Merrick Blaise Houchin started ballet at the age of 7 and hated it. After taking break of a year when he was 11, he reluctantly returned to training after his older brother, Rune, showe
Tori Wilson
Tori Wilson started dancing at Canyon Concert Ballet when she was 8 years old, this will be her 10th year performing with Canyon Concert Ballet . She is going into her senior year of high school at Poudre High School. She had trained in ballet, contemporary, modern and jazz. Tori was a part of the youth ensemble at Canyon Concert Ballet for 4 years. She has also performed with Canyon Concert Ballet in productions such as The Nutcracker, Peter Pan, The Little Mermaid, Alice in Wonderland, and Etudes. Tori has attended summer intensives at Colorado Ballet and Denver Ballet Theater. She is very excited to be a part of CCB2, and be able to work and train with beautiful dancers in the environment canyon concert ballet offers.
Principal Character Artists
James Hancock
Bio Coming Soon!
Isaac Howe
After hesitantly joining his first theater group back in 2009, Isaac would never have estimated he would be where he is currently. Since then he has found a plethora of enjoyment in theater performance and recently found the greatest amount in dance. He is grateful to have been part of past CCB productions and hopes to be around for future ones.
Adam Mundy
Adam’s involvement with CCB began in 2015, when he was invited to play the role of Godfather Drosselmeyer in The Nutcracker. A native of Nashville, Tennessee, Adam is a veteran musician, both singing and playing guitar in touring and recording bands there and in his current home of Colorado. His stage acting career began at the age of 9, and has included the roles of Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet, Dr. Edward Armstrong in And then there Were None, and Jacob Marley in A Christmas Carol. Today, Adam works as a microbiologist and plays guitar and sings in his band, Oak, Ash & Thorn. In addition to his roles as Drosselmeyer in 2015, 2016, and 2017, Adam worked with CCB in 2016’s Peter Pan, where he played Captain Hook and Mr. Darling, and in 2017’s Alice in Wonderland, where he played the Mad Hatter and the King of Hearts. After taking several years off from working with CCB to focus on other commitments, Adam is delighted to be back with the company for 2020’s The Nutcracker, where he’ll be playing the role of Dr. Silberhaus and performing as a Russian dancer.
Joseph Powell
Bio Coming Soon!
Brenda Van Fossen
Bio Coming Soon!
Connor Wilkinson
Connor began in the world of technical theatre assisting with lighting design and set construction and only recently made the jump to participating in shows as a dancer. His favorite role has been performing as Mother Ginger in The Nutcracker. He is proud to be a Character Artist at Canyon Concert Ballet and is very excited to continue performing with them in future productions. He would like to thank his instructors for their support and guiding him to where he is today.
