Pamela Bjerknes (Co-Founder, President & Artistic Director) has been teaching dance to children for over 30 years. Born in Wilmington, Delaware, she began her studies at age 10 with former Ballet Russe ballerina Helena Antonova and James Jameison. At the age of 12, she received a Ford Foundation Scholarship to study at the School of American Ballet, school of the New York City Ballet.

She began her professional career with the American Ballet Theater's apprentice company. After her apprenticeship at ABT, she met future husband Michael Bjerknes while dancing with Chicago Ballet. Ms. Bjerknes later joined Houston Ballet under the direction of Ben Stevenson, where she danced soloist and principal roles in classic and contemporary ballets. Ms. Bjerknes was invited to join ABT under the direction of Mikhail Baryshnikov where she danced all the classics, from Swan Lake to La Bayadere. Ballets by Anthony Tudor, Agnes DeMille, Geroge Balanchine and Jerome Robbins were in her repertoire.

She has taught for Maryland Youth Ballet and Washington Ballet, among other local schools. Robert Joffrey requested that she train the children for the Joffrey Ballet's first performances of "The Nutcracker" at the Kennedy Center. She continued her work with Joffrey Ballet as a faculty member for their Summer Intensive Workshops. After returning to the United States from a three year stint as Ballet Mistress for the Universal Ballet Company in Seoul, Korea, she found Ballet Ecole, a program for young children. Pamela and Michael Bjerknes founded the American Dance Institute in September 2000.

Vladimir Djouloukhadze (Ballet), former principal of the Tbilisi Ballet Theatre, USSR, performed all over the world with 'Stars of the Soviet Ballet' that showcased the artistry of such great ballet masters as Maya Plisetskaya, Marius Liepa, Marina Kondratieva, etc. He toured the world as a principal dancer, a guest soloist and a coach with various companies, including the Bolshoi Ballet, Moscow Ballet, Tbilisi Ballet, Kiev ballet, etc. from 1970 to 1990. His partners were the prima ballerians of the Russian ballet - Nadezhda Pavlova, Ludmila Semenjaka, Nina Ananiashvili, Alla Khaniashvili.For his dancing career Mr.Djouloukhadze was awarded the highest honor of the Soviet era - People 's artist. Mr. Djouloukhadze served as Ballet master and Artistic Director for Ballet Mississippi from August 1991 until 1993. Vladimir Djouloukhadze was on the Kirov Ballet Academy faculty from 1993 to 2008. Mr. Djouloukhadze , himself a student of the legendary Vakhtang Chabukiani, has been developing his students into the winners of all major international ballet competitions, including the competitions in Varna , Jackson , Helsinki , Paris ,etc. His students are the principals, soloists and members of the world leading ballet companies, including the Kirov ballet company, ABT, Boston Ballet, Royal Ballet, San-Francisco Ballet, etc. To name a few, Michelle Wiles, Irma Nioradze, Rasta Thomas, Daniel Tidwell,Matthew Golding, Melissa Hough. Mr.Djouloukhadze holds Master's Degree in Dance Teaching and Choreography from the Moscow University of Theatrical Arts.

Runqiao Du (Ballet) received his academic and ballet training at Shanghai Dance Academy where he graduated with honors and received a bronze medal in the China National Ballet Competition. In his professional career he has preformed with American Ballet Theater, Chautauqua Dance Company, Cincinnati Ballet, and Ballet Theatre of Lima (Peru).

With the Washington Ballet from 1989-2008, he had an 18 year career as a principal dancer, performing lead roles in Romeo and Juliet, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Cinderella, Giselle, and The Nutcracker. Mr. Du joined the Suzanne Farrell Ballet performing lead roles in George Balanchine's Apollo, Scotch Symphony, Monumentum, Movements for Piano and Orchestra, Tzigane, Who Cares?, Divertimento No. 15, Serenade, Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux, Meditation, Duo Concertante, La Source, La Valse, Chaconne, Ballade, Don Quixote, Afternoon of a Faun, and Bejart's Romeo and Juliet. He has participated in the Washington Ballet's "Ballets From Within", a choreographic workshop for the members of the company. Most recently, he created a solo that was performed at the Millennium Stage at the John F. Kennedy Center. Mr. Du also holds a faculty position at Towson University with the Dance Department.

Tally Frieder (Ballet) is a former member of the San Francisco Ballet under the direction of Helgi Tomasson. Her performing experience includes ballets by Balanchine, Robbins, Tudor, and Ashton. Ms. Frieder also danced with Oakland Ballet. Her early training includes the National Academy of the Arts in Illinois, Joffrey Ballet School, and the Chautauqua Institute. Ms. Frieder holds a BA in Creative Arts Therapy from George Washington University.

Elizabeth Gaither (Ballet), of Miami, Florida, is in her seventh season with The Washington Ballet after dancing with American Ballet Theatre for seven seasons. She began her ballet studies with her mother, Gloria Gaither, and received three years of high honors in the Royal Academy of Dance examinations. She continued her training at the Houston Ballet Academy, joining Houston Ballet at age 15, before moving on to Memphis Ballet. Ms. Gaither was a finalist at the 1990 Jackson International Ballet Competition and won the Amilita Hoffman Award. Ms. Gaither has performed numerous roles during her career including Zulma in Giselle, the pas de deux in Fancy Free; Blue Bird in Puss in Boots, Silver Fairy in The Sleeping Beauty; Clara, Snow Queen and Sugar Plum Fairy in The Nutcracker, and cygnets in Swan Lake. She has also performed in George Balanchine’s Theme and Variations, Symphony in C and Symphonie Concertant. Ms. Gaither has worked with renowned choreographers such as Mark Morris, Paul Taylor, Lar Lubovitch, Christopher Bruce, and Twyla Tharp. Her roles with The Washington Ballet have included Titania and Lover in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Swanilda in Coppélia, Giselle in Giselle, Juliet in Romeo and Juliet, Dark Angel in Serenade, and the Sylph in La Sylphide. While at TWB, she has also performed In In the Middle Somewhat Elevated, Jerome Robbins’ In the Night, Nacho Duato’s Na Floresta, Christopher Wheeldon’s Morphoses and There Where She Loved, Septime Webre’s Oui/Non and Juanita & Alicia, and Edwaard Liang’s Wunderland. Her second passion is yoga, and she is now a certified teacher in vinyasa yoga. This year, Ms. Gaither became the proud wife of the love of her life, Theo Kossenas.

Kimberly Gerson (Ballet) holds a B.A. in Psychology from Boston University and a Masters degree in Dance Education from New York University's Steinhardt School. Kimberly is an ABT ® Certified Teacher, who has successfully completed the ABT ® Teacher training Intensive in Primary through Level 7 of the ABT ® National Training Curriculum. Receiving her early training at the North Carolina School of the Arts and Walnut Hill School, she danced professionally with Chicago Ballet and New York Dance Theater. In addition to her work at ADI, Kim is a faculty member of American Ballet Theatre's Young Dancer's Summer Workshop in NYC.

Joy DiLillo Harrington (Ballet, Jazz, Modern, Special Events Assistant to the Artistic Director) graduated from George Mason University with a BFA in Dance where she received the award for Outstanding Achievement in the Field of Dance. Joy has studied and performed at the American College Dance Festivals at Ohio State University, George Mason University, Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet, Bates Summer Dance Festival and Chautauqua Dance Festival. Her performing experience also includes Mayzsoul Dance Company, Next Reflex Dance Collective, DC Improv Festival, Jane Franklin Dance Sampler, and the Goose Route Festival. Her choreographic works have been presented at George Mason University, Vienna Theatre and Herndon High School. Joy also enjoys musical theatre and working with the Vienna Youth Players having choreographed “Joseph and His Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat”, “The Me Nobody Knows”, “Godspell”, “Oliver”, “Runaways”, and “Into the Woods”. In addition to her teaching schedule Joy is currently working on a program of music and dance with Dr. Guessford, music professor at George Mason University and is the festival coordinator for ADI’s High School Dance Festival 2010.

Lisae Jordan (Stretch) received her early dance training in upstate New York and at the School of the Hartford Ballet. She was a principal dancer with several regional companies, including Ballet North, Schenectady Civic Ballet Company, Womenwerks, and the Hartford Ballet's student group. Including performing, teaching, and taking class, Lisae recently celebrated 30 years of dancing. She brings an interest in anatomy and somatic studies to the Institute, having participated in workshops in Feldenkrais, Anatomy for Dancers, and the American Dance Festival seminar for dance educators.

Erin Mahoney-Du (Ballet) has performed roles in Balanchine’s Divertimento No. 15, La Source, La Valse, Don Quixote, and Clarinade. She began her professional career with American Repertory Ballet Company in Princeton. Ms Du later joined The Washington Ballet becoming a principal dancer performing roles in Giselle, Nutcracker as well as ballets by Paul Taylor, Jerome Robbins, William Forsythe, Nacho Duato, Twyla Tharp, Christopher Wheeldon, Lila York, Trey McIntyre, and Septime Webre. In 2005, while maintaining her position with The Washington Ballet, Ms. Du joined the Suzanne Farrell Ballet, a creation of The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts

Since age nineteen, she has served as a repetiteur, setting Septime Webre and Trey McIntyre’s ballets for Miami City Ballet, Pennsylvania Ballet, Milwaukee Ballet, Atlanta Ballet, Ballet Memphis, Louisville Ballet, Les Ballet Jazz de Montreal, Ballet de San Juan, Cincinnati Ballet, Colorado Ballet, and The Washington Ballet. She has taught for Princeton Ballet School, The Washington School of Ballet and other local schools. She is married to her long-time colleague Runqiao Du.

Anna Menendez (Flamenco) is a flamenco dancer, teacher and choreographer. She has performed as a soloist dancing her own choreographies with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Haddonfield Symphony, Ocean City Pops Orchestra, Pan American Symphony Orchestra and the Detroit Symphony. Anna is also a dancer for the Washington Opera. She dances regularly with other local flamenco artists in area venues and works frequently with "Arte Flamenco." Since moving to the DC area in 1997, Anna has taught master classes and workshops in flamenco at area schools and universities.

Jen Michaels (Ballet) is a Chicago native who holds a B.F.A. in dance performance from Northern Illinois University. She studied on full scholarship at the Ruth Page School of Dance under the tutelage of Larry Long, as well as with Anna Paskevska at the Chicago Academy for the Arts. Ms. Michaels danced with the Chattanooga Ballet as a principal dancer for 5 years, and held the position of resident choreographer at the Center for Creative Arts in TN, a performing arts magnet school. Her performing experience includes classical ballet, modern, opera, and musical theatre.

Amy Neal (Ballet) is originally from Pennsylvania, where she began her dance training at the Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet and continued at the Harrisburg Dance Conservatory. She has performed with the Harrisburg Dance Ensemble, the Harrisburg Ballet, and Upstate NY Ballet as well as for several DC area choreographers. Amy earned her BS degree from Syracuse University and her MS from the University of Maryland. She has been teaching ballet to students of all ages for the past ten years.

Nancy Newell (Tap) has been teaching dance for more than 40 years and has a background in theater from Northwestern University. She has taught internationally as well as throughout the United States. During her career, she has choreographed more than 30 musicals. In 1998 Ms. Newell was curator of the Smithsonian series, The Women of Tap with special guest Ann Miller. In 1999 she coordinated the Smithsonian series, The Legends of Tap with Rusty Frank, Fred Kelly, and special guest Baakari Wilder. She co-sponsored the 1999 DC MetroTap Festival and has sponsored the Washington, D.C.-area TAP FEST program for the past nine years. In 2002 Ms. Newell performed and taught Master Classes in the Czech Republic where she represented DC in the The Prague, DC, Philadelphia Tap Festival. In 2003 she returned to Prague to help celebrate National Tap Dance Day with tap dancers from around the world. In 2004 Ms. Newell traveled to Bergerac, France to teach workshops at Ecole de Danse Desha/Simone Moulin and then to Kyiv, Ukraine to teach master classes at Volodomyr Shpudeiko’s Jazz Tap Dance Studio. Ms. Newell is a driving force in the D.C. metropolitan dance community. She recently spearheaded the Metro-DC Tribute to Gregory Hines. In June of 1999, she opened DC Dance Collective as a center for creativity and collaboration.

Cecilia Beatriz Terrasa (Flamenco) originates from Galicia and Mallorca, Spain. She was a founding member of Micaela Mar's "Danzamarina" and has performed in such venues as The National Theater and The Filene Center at Wolf Trap for the International Children's Festival in 2003 and 2004. Ms. Terrasa began her studies with Micaela Mar and Ulrika Frank, currently studies with Anna Menendez, Edwin Aparicio and Genevieve Guinn, and has taken workshops with Manuel Linan, La Chiqui, Carmela Greco, Nelida Tirado and La Truco. Ms. Terrasa has performed at many local universities, festivals and tablaos. She is currently a member of Anna Menendez's flamenco group Pastora," having participated in "Pastora: Peña Flamenca I & II." She had the honor of performing with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra in a group number on the opening night with Maestra Marin Aslop in 2007. She is currently also a member of Edwin Aparicio's dance company having performed in several venues in Washington, DC and Maryland. Ms. Terrasa resides in Maryland with her husband and two children.

Helanius J. Wilkins (Modern), a native of Lafayette, LA, is an award winning choreographer, performance artist, and instructor, based in Washington, DC. He is the founder & artistic director of EDGEWORKS Dance Theater, DC's first-ever all male contemporary dance company of predominantly African-American men. He is a much sought-after instructor who teaches professional and pre-professional dancers, as well as students of various ages and levels of skill. He is also a 2006 Recipient of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Local Dance Commissioning Project. Wilkins served as an adjudicator and master teacher at American College Dance Festivals in 2004 and 2005. He is a former Associate Artistic Director of the Dance Institute of Washington and is currently on faculty at Joy of Motion Dance Center and Dance Place. He will be a Guest Artist in Residence at the University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC) in Fall 2006.

Accompanists

Nicholas Carey, (Pianist) a native of Maryland, received his performance degree at Arizona State University studying with Professor Robert Hamilton. He was awarded a full scholarship for graduate studies at the University of Indiana under Alexander Toradze. He later studied in London with Maria Curcio. In 1997 he was awarded a two-year appointment as artist-in-residence at the Scottsdale Symphony Orchestra, with whom he has performed on numerous occasions. Mr. Carey has been a pianist for the American Dance Institute since spring of 2008.

Behzad Habibzai (Flamenco Guitarist) was born in Hamburg, Germany, of Afghan descent. He has been a classical percussionist for ten years and a flamenco guitarist for six. He has taught private and group classes since he was thirteen. He currently is taking time off from school to deeply study, teach, and perform flamenco. Behzad has also been spending this time extensively studying the solo marimba, and its often difficult repertoire.

Linda Kipps (Pianist) has played classes for Ben Stevenson, Kevin McKenzie and Mark Goldweber. Her music has inspired several generations of dancers. She formerly accompanied classes for Eric Hampton and other schools in the DC area.

Glenn Sales (Musical Director) Praised as "a first rate musician..." (John Rockwell, The New York Times), and an artist "...with impressive clarity and passion..." (Jennifer Dunning, The New York Times), pianist Glenn Sales has been well-known to Washington, D.C., audiences since his debut with the National Symphony Orchestra at age 14. He received his training at the Juilliard School of Music under the guidance of legendary pianist Earl Wild. He also studied at the University of Maryland with Dr. Nelita True and the Guarneri String Quartet. His ballet activity has included performances of concertos by Tchaikovsky, Prokofiev, Martinu, Bloch, Poulenc and works of Mendelssohn, Dvorak, Liszt, Donizetti, Debussy and Ginastera. Mr. Sales has been an annual guest pianist for the American Ballet Theatre and premiered Kevin McKenzie's Liszt Transcendental Etudes at Jacob's Pillow. He has collaborated with Suzanne Farrell since 1995 performing Stravinsky's Movements for Piano and Orchestra, Duo Concertante, Gershwin's Who Cares?, Glinka's Divertimento Brillante and most recently Faure's Ballade for Piano and Orchestra. He has been a guest pianist for Dance Theatre of Harlem, Miami City Ballet and the Royal Ballet.

Natalia Sutherland (Pianist) was qualified as teacher and concertmaster at the Ural State University in Russia where she was trained to play classical piano music by the Russian masters (Tchaikovsy, Rachmaninov, Prokofiev, et.al.). Natalia has played as accompanist at area ballet schools in Washington DC, Virginia and Maryland in the last eleven years.

Yelena Yusinovich (Pianist) received a musical education in Nizhny Novgorod (Gorky) and in Taganrog. She was the head accompanist of the ballet company of the Gorky State Academic Opera and Ballet Theater. In 1991, Yelena immigrated with her family in the United States. She started as an accompanist at the Maryland Youth Ballet in Bethesda, Maryland, The Washington School of Ballet, Kirov Academy and various other ballet schools in the DC area. Throughout her time in the U.S., Yelena has played for numerous master classes, rehearsals, and auditions for the majority of ballet companies that performed at the Kennedy Center. She also accompanied the Exploring Ballet with Suzanne Farrell program since 1993.