About Community Education

Shannon Barnes

Director of Community Education
PNB Teaching Artist

Shannon Barnes (she/her) has over 20-years of experience in dance education as both an arts administrator and dance teaching artist. Working with Pacific Northwest Ballet’s Community Education Programs since 2002, her work with PNB includes standards-based curriculum design, arts integration, teaching extensively in public schools, program assessment and evaluation, and professional development for classroom teachers and arts educators. Shannon is committed to making dance accessible to a broad range of people. In addition to her work at PNB, Shannon’s experience includes creating inclusive dance opportunities for people with and without disabilities, an internship with Candoco- a London-based inclusive dance company, and working as a dance specialist in primary schools in Bath, England. Shannon is the 2018 Dance Educators Association of Washington Dance Educator of the Year and serves as faculty and curriculum director for the Washington State Teaching Artist Training Lab, adjunct faculty at Cornish College of the Arts, and a guest instructor for Seattle University. Shannon holds a B.A. in Dance and Psychology from the University of Washington and a Post-Graduate Certificate in Dance in Community from Laban, London.

Ann Marie Caldwell

Community Education Programs Manager
TAT Lab Coordinator
PNB Teaching Artist

Ann Marie Caldwell (she/her) is passionate about how dance education can build community and be a powerful tool for self-expression and creativity. A teaching artist since 2004, Ann Marie has had the honor of teaching youth in a variety of subjects, like creative movement, choreography, improv, creative drama, visual art, and arts integration. Ann Marie graduated from the University of Puget Sound with a degree in theatre before completing the Teaching Artist Apprenticeship at Seattle Children’s Theatre. She has taken classes with the Creative Dance Center and graduated from the Washington State Teaching Artist Training Lab (TAT Lab) as part of the 2011-2012 cohort. Ann Marie participated in the National Seminar for Teaching Artists at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in 2013. Ann Marie is delighted to have joined PNB in 2011.

Olivia Evans

Community Education Programs Coordinator
PNB Teaching Artist

Olivia Evans (she/her) is a dancer, choreographer, educator, and administrator. Olivia grew up training primarily in classical ballet, but most recently graduated from the Alonzo King LINES Ballet Training Program in May 2023. Olivia has been creating her own work since 2019. Most recently, she co-choreographed an award-winning dance film, “Intimité Révélée”, in collaboration with Ballet22 and the San Francisco Dance Film Festival. She has presented live works in collaboration with ZK Gallery, Mark Foehringer Dance Project, and the LINES Training Program, and her independent films have been screened in California, Massachusetts, North Carolina, and Australia. Pulling from her background as a trained student and multimedia artist, Olivia has worked on developing a teaching practice that is rooted in unique artistic expression. She believes that everyone is inherently creative, and that every voice is an empowering contributor to the ever-evolving arts community and the world around it. In the past year, Olivia worked as a Teaching Artist with the LINES Community and Teens Programs, led a 6-month residency with SF Arts Education Project, and recently attended the Summer Dance Institute for Teachers at Creative Dance Center. She has worked with hundreds of PreK-12 students in schools and studios across San Francisco, and is thrilled to be moving her educational and artistic practices up to Seattle.

Isadora Kolmorgan

Community Education Engagement Coordinator
PNB Teaching Artist

Isadora (she/her) is an advocate of movement practices as it is where joy has always shined through for her. In her formative years, she danced on company in Denver, CO with studios such as Michelle Latimer Dance Academy, Rocky Mountain Dance Academy, & Millers Dance Studio, often traveling outside of her Oregon Native roots for instruction in the ballet, musical theatre, lyrical, jazz, contemporary and modern, dance genres. After living abroad in the Philippines to study ballet at Silliman University, she later returned to Oregon where she again studied various dance genres, participating in the productions of Ballet Fantastique. It was ballet, however, that continued to steal her heart, and so she returned to Denver, Colorado At the National Ballet Academy of Denver, Isadora trained in the pre-professional program and obtained a certificate of completion- Assisted by scholarships, She then co-founded a dance studio on the Oregon Coast for the community youth in her home state; while performing in works, and productions, by Jessica Jaye Mackinson, founder of Fermata Ballet Collective. She has then taught at Alonzo King Lines Ballet in community programs, and Teens at Lines, Bay Area Conservatory, Miss Tilly’s Ballet. As well as numerous other places in the Bay Area. She has also taught at the Joffrey Ballet in community engagement and at the academy, and guest taught at other studios in IL. She is more than thrilled to be home on the west coast and join PNB. She loves to continue to grow, learn from students and peers. The joy of seeing students light up when dancing is one of the most spectacular things to witness, and that’s why she loves teaching!

Adriana Wright (she/her) was born in Southern California and grew up in Tijuana, Mexico. She graduated Magna Cum Laude from Cornish College of the Arts with a BFA in Dance in 2013 and from the Washington Teaching Artist Training Lab in 2015. She has worked with Iyun Ashani Harrison, Mary Sheldon Scott, Anna Conner, Ktisk Contemporary Dance, Alyza DelPan-Monley, Alicia Mullikin, Noelle Price and other artists in Seattle, San Diego, and México.

Her choreographic work has been presented through On the Boards NorthWest New Works, Velocity Dance Center’s Bridge Project, Cornish College of the Arts, Southwestern Community College where she also received the Outstanding Dancer/Choreographer Scholarship, as well as around Seattle, San Diego, and México. Adriana works as a Teaching Artist in the greater Seattle area where she teaches creative movement, choreography, creative drama, musical theater, and wellness workshops in public schools. Adriana is also the Education Partnership Manager for Seattle Theater Group’s Education and Community Engagement Department. She served on the board of Dance Educators Association of Washington as the Director of Advocacy and is now serving on the board of Inspire Washington. adrianamovementartist.com (headshot photo credit: Devin Muñoz)

Elsa Ayumi Matsuda (she/her) is a ballet instructor working at the Pacific Northwest Ballet School. She teaches in their Open Adult program, DISCOVER DANCE Program, and assists at Dancing for PD. She is a graduate of Canada’s National Ballet School Teacher Training Program, a three-year intensive program dedicated to shape professional dance teachers. She graduated with Associates in Cecchetti and National Dance. Afterwards, she also completed her Associate in Classical Ballet with the Imperial Society of Teachers of Dance. Her dance training began in Mexico City at a young age. She completed her Advance Professional exams in ISTD at Academia de Ballet San Angel Inn before applying for Canada’s NBS. Above all, Ayumi loves teaching and helping dancers of all backgrounds, body types, ages and levels to achieve their goals in dance. She acknowledges that everyone arrives to the dance class with different objectives and in different stages in life. Knowing that, she always teaches with the intention of giving the students a place where they can feel comfortable to learn and enjoy dance.

Ciara McCormack Greenwalt (she/her) grew up dancing in Burlington, Vermont and small-town Nebraska. She studied ballet intensively for many years before expanding into other genres, and in 2011 graduated Summa Cum Laude from Stephens College with a BFA in Dance. Since then, Ciara has worked with students of all ages in dance studios, theaters, and schools in the US and Chile. Her continuing education includes the Summer Dance Institute for Teachers at the Creative Dance Center, the annual Creative Advantage Institute, and the 2015 Washington State Teaching Artist Training Lab. Along with teaching for PNB’s Community Education program, she directs Moving Minds Dance and performs with Intrepidus Dance and Lucia Neare’s Theatrical Wonders. She also serves on the board of the Dance Educators Association of Washington as Immediate Past President and Secretary. Ciara’s passion as an educator is to support student’s growth, encourage their sense of joy and wonder, and facilitate their understanding of their world through creative explorations for mind and body.

Ikolo Griffin (he/him) was introduced to ballet in 1983 through San Francisco Ballet School’s Dance in Schools Program, and after ten years of training was the first outreach student to join the San Francisco Ballet company. Ikolo won the Princess Grace Award for Dance in 1993, and went on to dance professionally for over twenty years with San Francisco Ballet, Dance Theatre of Harlem, Joffrey Ballet and Smuin Ballet. Ikolo has also worked in partnership with the Humboldt County School System on a California County Superintendents Educational Services Association Arts Initiative through funding from the California Arts Council. In 1995, Ikolo was asked to speak to a group of outreach students and that day he realized that he could give back to children the very gift that was given him and shaped his life. Since then, Ikolo has been teaching outreach workshops nationally and internationally. He now brings his passion, classical training and world class experience to Community Education Programs in a fun and energetic way.

Marika Lang (she/her) is a dance educator of over a decade with a deep passion for using movement, music, and inclusive practices to provide young children with the social-emotional tools critical to their brain development. Marika holds a B.A. in Dance and Business from the University of Oregon and a certification in Ann Green-Gilbert’s nationally renowned Brain-Compatible Dance Teaching Method – all of which inform her work as a community educator. She has taught dance in studio settings, after school programs, and temporary housing shelters, focusing her primary instruction in Seattle Public pre-k classrooms and as an outreach educator at Creative Dance Center. In addition to this work, she is currently teaching her own classes through Seattle Parks and Recreation community centers across the Greater Seattle Area and is proud to have recently joined Pacific Northwest Ballet’s Community Education Department as a Teaching Artist.

Miranda Chantelois (she/her) received the bulk of her dance training at Cornish College of the Arts where she performed in works by local and nationally-renowned artists including Kyle Abraham, Sidra Bell, Amy O’Neal, Jason Ohlberg, and Deborah Wolf. She has since pursued a versatile professional career in arts education, performance (including Marlo Martin’s company, badmarmarDANCE), dance criticism, arts administration, and child advocacy, specializing in dance education for preschool-aged children and dancers of all ages with varying support needs. Over the course of her ten year career, Miranda has certified in Autism Movement Therapy®, Pilates Mat, Progressing Ballet Technique®, Youth Mental Health First Aid, and Youth Protection Advocates in Dance®, receiving additional training in physically adaptive dance, Dance for PD®, and Brain-Compatible Dance Education from programs around the country. Miranda holds a Master’s degree in early childhood education and will pursue a second graduate degree teaching K-8 teaching in 2024. A firm believer that dance is for everybody, Miranda is committed to uplifting the voices of disabled adults and to empowering neurodiverse children to embrace their authentic, lived identities in the dance classroom and beyond.

Mr. Pleasant (he/him) was born and raised in Jackson, Mississippi. Through time, Pleasant has been privileged to teach and choreograph dance all throughout the city of Jackson, Mississippi. In 2001, Pleasant moved to Tacoma, WA and instantly began to teach and dance for Metropolitan Ballet of Tacoma for 10 years, under the direction of Damaris Caughlan. There he participated in performances such as “Celebrate his Birth”, “Those Who Trespass”, “Dance Me to the End of Love”, and many more. In 2008, he was given the opportunity to teach Hip Hop at Surrender School of the Arts and is currently still there. Pleasant is now the Executive Director of his very own Dance Company called PleasantMovement. Pleasant has also served as a mentor with Arts Impact since 2015. “I am excited to give a little bit of myself to our future here in Washington State & afar!”

Robbi A. Moore (they/them), from Hamden, CT, began dancing at New England Ballet and continued at Dee Dee’s Dance Center and New Haven Ballet. Robbi is an alumnus of Earl Mosley’s Institute of the Arts, the Ailey Summer Intensive, Cunningham Trust Workshop, Jacob’s Pillow’s Commercial Dance Program, and the Complexions Intensive. They graduated magna cum laude from the Ailey/Fordham BFA Program and danced with Amanda Selwyn Dance Theatre, The Steps Repertory Ensemble, AATMA Performing Arts, Whidbey Island Dance Theatre, Tacoma Urban Performing Arts Center, Karin Stevens Dance, the Guild Dance Company, Kinesis Project Dance Theatre, The Gray, PRICEarts, Coriolis Dance, Khambatta Dance Company, and Spectrum Dance Theater. Robbi was a teaching artist apprentice with DISCOVER DANCE in 2019 at Highland Park and Broadview Thomson Elementary Schools and a co-teacher at Eastgate Elementary in 2022. Robbi has also taught for Pacific Northwest Ballet and Spectrum Dance Theater’s REACH program, as well as volunteering for DanceChance. Photo by Michelle Smith-Lewis.

Suzanne Singla (she/her) trained with Columbia Dance Ensemble in Vancouver, Oregon Ballet Theatre School and Alvin Ailey American Dance Center, where she received a Certificate of Dance. She performed with dance ensembles in Oregon, New York and South Africa. Her teaching credits include faculty positions at Connecticut Dance Theatre, School at Steps, and Ballet Hispanico. Suzanne joined the Community Education and PNBS faculty in 2004 and served as Children’s Division Coordinator from 2005–2009. She is also a certified STOTT Pilates instructor.

Evan Captain (he/him) grew up attending PNB performances, inspired at an early age to play music for dancers. Largely self-taught as a pianist and drummer, he independently studied with perennial mentorship from Paul Tillotson, honoring the jazz legacy of Gene Harris. Today, Evan’s piano trio holds monthly residencies at Hotel Sorrento, and The Pink Door. His B.A. in Cultural Anthropology from Quest University Canada focused on using musical collaboration as a vehicle to foster community. He quickly returned to Seattle to reconnect with his hometown, supporting many rising folk and rock artists as a session and gigging musician. He was featured as a support pianist in the Emmy Award-winning series Sessions In Place during the pandemic lockdowns of 2020. Since graduating, Evan has honed his skills as an accompanist for dancers at Evergreen City Ballet, Spectrum Dance, and the PNB School and PNB Community Education programs. As a piano teacher, his curriculum focuses on keeping music fun and playful. He loves the passion and creativity of young artists, and strives to garner each new idea to fruition through rhythmic and nuanced interpretation.

Joe Eck (he/him) has been an active member of Seattle’s vibrant music scene since relocating from Minneapolis in 2010.  He is frequently performing locally, touring, and recording with a wide range of genres and artists including Witch Ripper, GoodCo, Bootleg Sunshine, Evan Captain Trio, Julian Priester, Jim Knapp, A Cedar Suede, Geoff Ott, Matt Bayles, Seattle Children’s Theater, as well as contributing to many other recording projects and performances.

Nick Helgeson (he/him) Working in the Seattle music scene has afforded me many opportunities to learn, support my community through the Arts, and grow as a musician and as a person. But few of these opportunities have been as rewarding as my work with DISCOVER DANCE. Some days kids will ask me questions like: “You mean you get paid to sit there and hit the drum?” And I’ll say: “Yes! And you can too!” Exposure to the Arts can make all the difference in life. Having the opportunity to show kids that the Arts are not only fun, but also are for everyone, and can even be a living if you choose, is priceless. I am grateful to be a part of the DISCOVER DANCE program with PNB, and look forward to working with them in the seasons to come.