Margaret has had a distinguished career teaching ballet in Fresno and Clovis for 37 years and has been teaching at California Arts Academy for 13 years.
Margaret trained at the Severance School of Dance, and went on to study at UC Irvine, the School of San Francisco Ballet and the School of Joffrey Ballet in New York.
She served as Ballet Mistress for the Fresno Ballet from 1984 to 1996. Margaret teaches all levels of ballet including beginning, advanced, pointe and repertoire. Margaret is an American Ballet Theatre (ABT) Certified Teacher. She has successfully completed the ABT Teacher Training Intensive in Pre-Primary through Level V of the ABT National Training Curriculum.
Many of her former students have been accepted into professional training programs such as School of American Ballet New York, San Francisco Ballet, Boston Ballet, and Pacific Northwest Ballet in Seattle. She has also had students accepted and graduate from prestigious collegiate programs; Cornish College of the Arts Seattle, UC Irvine & Cal State University, San Jose Ca. and Princeton University Ma.
She has had former students dancing in professional companies such as the American Ballet New York and the Boston Ballet. She currently has a former student dancing with the English National Ballet London.
Margaret is the former director, choreographer and performer for Artistic Presence, a liturgical performing arts group in the Episcopal Church.
Margaret Hord
Jasmin Kloos
Jasmin always knew her life would center around dance. After spending part of her childhood in Ethiopia, she returned to Fresno to study at Severance Fresno Ballet School.
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She began teaching ballet immediately after graduating from college and has been teaching for 14 years. She loves teaching and dedicating time to her students, especially the ones who have been dancing with her for many years.
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Jasmin teaches at the pre-primary level up to the Conservatory level V and believes that studying classical ballet should be a wonderful and positive experience for children and hopes to instill a love of dance in her students as her teachers did for her.
Carla Stallings Lippert (Artistic Coordinator) trained with Marquerite Phares in Sacramento, CA, New York’s School of American Ballet, and the American Ballet Theatre School. She subsequently joined ABT II, and from there joined the corps of ABT. After winning the Bronze Medal in the Senior Division at the International Ballet Competition Lippert was promoted to the rank of soloist at ABT by Mikhail Baryshnikov. After 11 years with ABT Ms. Lippert joined Boston Ballet as a principal dancer, where she performed for nine years. She has danced as a guest artist with Baryshnikov and Company, Nureyev and Friends, the Pacific Northwest Ballet, and the Royal Danish Ballet. She has guest taught for the Boston Ballet company and school, the Harvard Summer Dance program, Capital Ballet of Sacramento, the Sacramento Area Dance Alliance, and Fort Worth City Ballet. Carla is certified in the ABT Curriculum and has taught for the ABT Summer Intensives in New York and Orange County, is Coordinator for the ABT Summer Intensive in Alabama, and is on the faculty of the ABT Gillespie School in Orange County, CA. She currently teaches at the California Arts Academy in Fresno, CA. Her teaching specialties include classical ballet technique, pointe, and variations; staging the major works of the classical ballet repertoire; and hair and make-up for the stage.
Carla Stallings-Lippert
Samantha Harikian
Samantha received her training in Fresno at Severance Ballet Conservatory/ California Arts Academy. Upon graduating, she moved to Jackson, MS to become a trainee at Ballet Magnificat before joining Paradosi Ballet Company in Tacoma, WA in 2012. During her time there, she was eventually promoted to Artistic Director and had the opportunity to set multiple original works on the company as well as continue to dance, tour and perform.
Samantha has been teaching for 10 years, including giving master classes and workshops throughout the United States. She is now back in Fresno teaching at California Arts Academy and at SonDance Ministries in Manteca. She considers it an honor to pass on the skill and passion of an art form that has been, and still is, such a love of hers.
