Adult Ballet Program Faculty

Brittany received her early training with Monika Alch at the Chautauqua Regional Youth Ballet in Jamestown, NY, and attended summer programs at the New York State Summer School of the Arts, BalletMet, Boston Ballet, and Jose Mateo Ballet Theatre. She went on to continue her dance training at the SUNY Purchase Conservatory of Dance, graduating with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in dance. While at Purchase, she danced in George Balanchine's Serenade, Jessica Lang's Prayers, The Nutcracker, and an original solo work, Adrift, choreographed by Emery LeCrone. Brittany has previously taught young dancers at Chautauqua Regional Youth Ballet.

Sarah Giarrusso is a life-long dancer with experience in ballet, jazz, and contemporary. She most recently taught ballet at Mile Square Theatre Dance Academy in Hoboken, NJ and studied ballet with Kat Wildish, a former dancer with New York City Ballet and American Ballet Theatre. Sarah has been a faculty member at Central Pennsylvania Dance Workshop. She studied dance composition with Pat Heigel-Tanner at The Pennsylvania State University where she produced, choreographed and performed in numerous Choreographers’ Showcase productions for Orchesis Dance Company. Sarah is an American Ballet Theatre® Certified Teacher who has successfully completed the ABT® Teacher Training Intensive in Pre-Primary through Level 3 of the ABT® National Training Curriculum.

Betsy Boxberger trained under the direction of Victoria Lyras at the Indianapolis School of Ballet. She earned a double Bachelor of Arts in Dance and Environmental Science and Policy from Duke University, where she was instructed by Tyler Walters and Julie Janus Walters. She performed featured roles with the Duke Dance Program, including the lead soloist in Gerald Arpino’s Reflections. While in college, Betsy taught ballet at Walltown Children’s Theatre. After graduation Betsy performed prominent roles in both classical and contemporary ballets as a company member with Ballet Quad Cities. Betsy also taught ballet at the Ballet Quad Cities School of Dance and was selected to give a master class as part of the Wheaton College Artist Series. Betsy was on faculty at the Indianapolis School of Ballet, instructing both young children and adults. As a guest artist with ISB, Betsy performed roles such as the Second Violin in Concerto Barocco, the lead girl in Valse Fantaisie, Raymonda in Raymonda, and Dew Drop, Snow Queen and George Balanchine’s Sugar Plum in The Nutcracker.

Haruka Tamura was born in Tokyo, Japan, and started training at the age of 5. She received a BFA in Dance Performance from The Hartt School, University of Hartford under direction of Stephen Pier in 2014. There she performed Martha Graham’s “Dark Meadow Suite: They Who Dance Together” at The Joyce Soho in New York as an original cast member of Peggy Lyman-Hayes’ 2011 revision and as the lead dancer “Eliza” in “The King and I” at The Muny, St. Louis, in 2012. Some of her most memorable roles include the lead in “Paquita”, Balanchine’s “Who Cares”, “Four Temperaments”, and numerous contemporary works by choreographers such as Helen Pickett, Emory Lecrone, Viktor Plotnikov, and Charlotte Griffin. She is a Dizzy Feet Foundation Scholarship Recipient (2011-2012).

Skye’s ballet and body conditioning work spans over four decades, incorporating time-honored principles of classical ballet technique to create beautifully toned, lithe, graceful, intelligently strong, muscular bodies. She has studied ballet from childhood, both in Boston and her hometown, New York. She is well acquainted with both cecchetti and vaganova syllabi and her teaching is a classic American mixture of both. She performed in companies in Boston and NYC, but ended that part of her professional life after the birth of her children. She says “One of my major ‘eureka!’ moments was the discovery that tip-top fitness can be achieved simply by doing housework on the demi-pointe.” She has taught ballet and floor barre conditioning to all ages, from pre-school to pre-professional. She additionally holds a graduate degree in special education with a specialty in dance therapy, which she practiced for four years in Massachusetts public schools.