Summer Intensive

LISA SLAGLE began her professional dancing career at the age of 11 when she appeared as a solo dancer in
the Elvis Presley movie, “Clambake”. She has performed as a soloist with Joffrey Ballet in New York and Ballet
du Grande Theatre de Geneve in Switzerland and as a Principal Dancer with Tulsa Ballet Theatre.

She brings to her students a wide range of training styles, having studied with world-renowned teachers in the Russian,
Cecchetti, and Bournonville techniques. She is the director of the Ballet Academy of Texas School Dallas, Texas
which has received the “Outstanding School” award from the Youth America Grand Prix’s Semi-Final in the
Southwest in 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2010, as well as the “Outstanding Teacher” award in 2006. She is also the
director of the pre-professional company, Ballet Ensemble of Texas.

Ms. Slagle has been a Master Teacher in the summers for Burklyn Ballet Theatre, Joffrey Texas Workshop, American Dance Institute in Washington, D.C. and the Orlando Ballet School in Florida. In 2007 she was asked to be on the advisory board for American
Ballet Theatre’s National Training Curriculum, she is now the Official ABT Curriculum Examiner. She was a Master Teacher for ABT’s Young Dancer Workshops in Los Angeles and New York in 2007 and 2008. She returns in 2011 for her 3rd year as a Master Teacher/Choreographer for American Ballet Theatre’s Summer Intensive program in Alabama.

Ms. Bena is the Artistic Director of Sierra Nevada Ballet, the professional ballet company for northern Nevada. She is a former ballerina with the Stuttgart Ballet, the Washington Ballet, the former director of the internationally acclaimed Peninsula Ballet Theater School, the Director of the Ballet Program at In Motion
Studio of Dance in Reno, and Western Nevada Performing Arts Center in Carson City.

Certified in ABT National Teaching Curriculum, Ms. Bena teaches for the ABT Summer Intensives. She is an International Master Teacher and teaches workshops throughout the USA.