Staff of Harford Ballet Company
The Harford Ballet Company is fortunate to have a great administrative and artistic team led by Founder and Executive Director, Pamela Villeneuve. HBC strives to provide dancers with a professional training and performing experience that is unparalleled in the region. In addition to an experienced core staff, the company also attracts guest professionals to choreograph new works and teach master classes and workshops in dance. This gives HBC dancers a chance to work with accomplished professionals and offers dancers a wider view of the profession. Below is a listing of the current staff and previous guest artists who have worked with the company.
Pamela Villeneuve - Founder and Executive Director
Pamela Villeneuve is the founder and Executive Director of the Harford Ballet Company and the Dance Conservatory of Maryland. Ms. Villeneuve established the Harford Ballet Company in the spring of 1997 and has seen the organization grow from a core group of dedicated students to a professional company with over 20 dancers. Ms. Villeneuve has extensive training and coaching in classical ballet from professionals such as New York City ballerina Suzanne Farrell, Camille Izard of the American Ballet Theatre, and Murial Stewart of Anna Pavlova’s Company. In addition to receiving scholarships from the Boston Ballet, Atlanta Ballet, Towson State University and others, she holds a BFA degree in dance performance and choreography from TSU. Her 24-year teaching experience has encompassed many dance forms-from all levels of ballet to jazz, tap and modern dance-bringing versatility and breadth to her teaching style. As the former director of the Harford Dance Center at B.A.A.C. from its inception to 1994, she was able to bring successful full-length classical and contemporary performances to Harford County in addition to establishing a full-scale dance program. Ms. Villeneuve has taught at schools throughout Maryland such as Ballet Academy of Baltimore, Caryl Maxwell Classical Ballet, School of the Long Beach Village Center, and Dancemoves.
Barclay Pease - Artistic Director
Barclay Pease has come to the Harford Ballet Company from the dance department at the Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins. Barclay received her early dance training at the Peabody Preparatory, Towson University, the Baltimore School for the Arts, and the Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet. She performed professionally with Ballet British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada and with Charleston Ballet Theater in South Carolina. Barclay has performed in works by leading choreographers such as George Balanchine and Paul Taylor and has danced in the Nutcracker with the Moscow Ballet. Barclay is an associate of the Royal Academy of Dance having completed her Advanced Ballet and Solo Seal RAD examinations. After attending Towson University as a dance major, Barclay has taught and choreographed ballet and modern dance at schools throughout the area including the Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet, Towson University’s Children’s Dance Division, Baltimore Ballet, and the Peabody Preparatory. Barclay joined HBC in 2008 and is the current Artistic Director of the Dance Conservatory of Maryland and the Harford Ballet Company.
Kathryn Henschen - Company Manager
Ashley Kathryn Henschen began her dance training at Towson University’s Children’s Dance Division where she was chosen to perform with the Moscow Ballet, at Walt Disney World in Florida and various other venues in Maryland, Virginia and Pennsylvania. After high school graduation, she attended the Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet summer program. She went on to earn her BFA in Dance Performance from Towson University, graduating Cum Laude. While a scholarship student at Towson, she performed every year with the Dance Company and was able to understudy and perform lead and soloist roles in The Nutcracker and Raymonda as well as several other classical and contemporary works. After graduation she received professional positions with the Baltimore Ballet, Howard County Ballet, and the Harford Ballet Company where she has danced soloist roles in The Nutcracker, Les Sylphides and Beauty and the Beast. Kathryn was a semi- finalist as a 2002 Maryland Distinguished Scholar of the Arts. She has been accepted into programs for Ballet Austin, Richmond Ballet and Nashville Ballet.
Shana O'Brien - Resident Choreographer
Shana O’Brien has been a faculty member at DCM since 2002, teaching ballet, jazz, tap and modern dance. A graduate of Goucher College with a degree in dance performance and choreography, Shana has performed in works set by dance professionals such as Steven Mills of Ballet Austin, Rachel Berman, formerly of Paul Taylor Dance Company, and Jean-Pierre Bonnefoux and Christopher d’Amboise, both former principals with New York City Ballet. She has presented choreography in many diverse venues including the American College Dance Festival, the Maryland Council for Dance Choreographer’s Showcase, and the Youth America Grand Prix ballet competition. In addition to her training at DCM, Shana has studied under Marilyn Gaston at the Ballet Academy of Baltimore, Laura Dolid of the Sudbrook Arts Center, and at the Rock School of the Pennsylvania Ballet. She has experience performing in such varied settings as the Nutcracker at the Lyric Opera House, musicals in regional dinner theater, and competitions held by Dance Masters of America.
Christine Villeneuve-Jones - Artistic Advisor and Guest Choreographer
Christine Villeneuve-Jones is an artistic advisor and guest choreographer to the Harford Ballet Company and frequents the Dance Conservatory of Maryland as a master class teacher. Miss Villeneuve has danced professionally with the Pennsylvania Ballet and the Milwaukee Ballet under the direction of Richard Weiss and Richard Tanner. Her primary training was with the Rock School of the Pennsylvania Ballet and Ballet Academy of Baltimore. Miss Villeneuve was awarded the Princess Grace Scholarship during her apprenticeship with the Pennsylvania Ballet for her commitment to the art form, as well as her accomplished technique and artistry. Currently she is on the faculty of the Pennsylvania Performing Arts Academy teaching all levels of ballet. She is also a teacher and ballet mistress for the Dance Theatre of Pennsylvania directed by Marilyn Budzynski. As a certified Physical Therapist, Miss Villeneuve brings a wealth of additional knowledge to her teaching. Miss Villeneuve currently performs as a free-lance artist in Pennsylvania and Maryland.
Linda O'Brien - Rehearsal Mistress
Linda O’Brien has over 45 years of dance experience and has been teaching in the Maryland area since 1987. An instructor and choreographer at DCM for the past 11 years, Linda has also acted as Assistant Director, Artistic Advisor, and Rehearsal Mistress for the Harford Ballet Company. A member of Dance Masters of America, she received her teaching certification in Ballet, Pointe, Jazz and Tap in 1996, and continues to further her education through DMA’s Graduate program. She is currently acting as co-chairperson for Miss Dance and Miss Teen Dance of America. Linda is a faculty member at the Community Colleges of Baltimore County, where in addition to teaching ballet and dance appreciation, she also acts as Assistant Director of the resident company. A lifelong student, Linda has studied extensively in Maryland and New York under many renowned teachers including Tom Ralabate, Bob Rizzo, and jazz legend, Frank Hatchett. Many of her older students have been awarded dance scholarships and are currently performing throughout the United States in stage and theater productions.
Jason Hartley - Guest Choreographer
Jason Hartley of Des Moines, Iowa, was in his sixth season with The Washington Ballet when he worked as a guest choreographer with HBC. He has also danced with American Repertory Ballet, Ballet Austin, BalletMet Columbus, and the Trey McIntyre Project. Mr. Hartley trained at North Carolina School of the Arts, where he won the Level I Award from the National Foundation for the Advancement of the Arts in 1995. He received the Princess Grace Award for Dance in 1997. In July 2002, The Washington Ballet premiered Mr. Hartley's choreography Crosswalks and Train Stations in Telluride and Aspen, Colorado. In 2003, his works Sanctified Shells and Nocturne Monologue premiered at The Kennedy Center's Millennium Stage as part of the Prelude Festival. For The Washington Ballet's production 7x7, Mr. Hartley created Underneath.
Meredith Rainey - Guest Choreographer
Mr. Rainey is a former soloist with the Pennsylvania Ballet and began dancing at the age of 15 in his hometown of Fort Lauderdale. In 1985 he joined the Milwaukee Ballet and in 1987 he was asked to join the newly formed Pennsylvania-Milwaukee Ballet. He remained with the Pennsylvania Ballet when this collaboration ended, and he also danced as a demi-soloist with the Dance Theatre of Harlem. His repertoire includes many principal and soloist roles in the works of George Balanchine, Alvin Ailey, Paul Taylor, Lar Lubovitch, John Butler, John Cranko, and William Forsythe. He is the recipient of the 1995 and 2002 PA Council on the Arts Fellowship Grant for Choreography, the 2001 Mid-Atlantic Foundation Artist as Catalyst Grant, the 2002 Independence Foundation Fellowship in the Arts, and a 2003 Pew Fellowship in the Arts Finalist. Meredith has been commissioned to create works for the Pennsylvania Ballet, Delaware Ballet, Hubbard Street 2, Phrenic New Ballet, Ballet X, Philadanco, and has had his choreography performed at festivals throughout North and South America.
Barbara Sandonato - Guest Master Teacher
Barbara Sandonato, the celebrated leading dancer now nationally esteemed master teacher, performed with extraordinary verve and dramatic flair, and her roles ranged from the traditional bravura showpieces to the Romantic realm, and from the exquisite but often relentless demands of a Balanchine ballet to the works of modernists like Limon and Butler. Ms. Sandonato was the first dancer to join Barbara Weisberger at the Pennsylvania Ballet as it formed in 1962. She remained a Principal Dancer with that company until 1977, except for a one-year stint with the National Ballet of Canada where, as a principal, she performed with Rudolf Nureyev. Most recently, in great demand as a teacher, Ms. Sandonato served as Artist-in-Residence and adjunct professor of Ballet at Barnard College of Columbia University in New York City. She has taught at other reputable schools including Ballet Academy East in New York City and the Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet. Ms. Sandonato now runs her own school, the Barbara Sandonato School of Ballet in Philadelphia, PA