The Ballet School of Vermont Faculty

Maryellen Vickery is the artistic director of BSVT. She received her early training from her mother, Ruth Vickery. As a child, she auditioned and was chosen to perform with The New York City Ballet at Saratoga Performing Arts Center. In high school, she studied at Walnut Hill School for the Performing Arts, Hartford Ballet Company, and North Carolina School for the Performing Arts, all under scholarship and in the advance placement level.

Maryellen also has had extensive training from master teachers such as: Cherie Noble. Arthur Leeth, Peter Anastous, and Nolan Dingman. For the last twelve years, she has taught and choreographed classical and contemporary ballet for dancers of all levels. She opened The Ballet School in 2001.

Maryellen has staged several ballets for her school: The Ugly Duckling, Petrushka, Hansel & Gretel, Snow White, Peter and the Wolf, Pinocchio, Cinderella, Coppelia and Sleeping Beauty.

Maryellen is an ABT® Certified Teacher, who has successfully completed the ABT® Teacher Training Intensive in Primary through Level 7 & Partnering of the ABT® National Training Curriculum. She lives in St. Albans with her husband and three children.

Chatch Pregger of Fair Haven, Vermont, has been a member of many ballet companies around the United States including Houston Ballet, Washington Ballet, the Boston Ballet and Boston Ballet II. He has also danced with the Arizona Ballet, Hartford Ballet, and Texas Ballet Theatre.

He was a participant in the 2000 New York International Ballet Competition and has performed works by Mark Morris, Ben Stevenson, Nacho Duato, Trey McIntyre, and George Balanchine, as well as many ballets from the classical repertoire including Giselle and Don Quixote.

A graduate of the Nutmeg Conservatory for the Arts, he received his early ballet training at the Adams School in Rutland, Vermont and attended summer programs at the Pittsburgh Ballet, Joffrey Ballet and Hartford Ballet. Mr. Pregger moved back home to Vermont and currently lives with his family in Winooski. Chatch has been teaching year-round at BSVT for several years.

Erika Kline received her training at The Ballet School of Vermont assuming multiple roles as student, Northern Vermont Ballet Company Founding Member, teacher's assitant and instructor. Her love of dance and children are brought to every class she teaches.

Erika is an ABT® Certified Teacher, who has successfully completed the ABT® Teacher Training Intensive in Primary through Level 3 of the ABT® National Training Curriculum.

She is a Dietetics Nutrition and Food Science Major at University of Vermont while continuing to teach at The Ballet School and perform with Northern Vermont Ballet Company.

Ruth Vickery has been teaching ballet for over thirty years. Her students have received scholarships and recognition for their excellence. They have been accepted into pre-professional schools and ballet companies including: School of American Ballet, official school of New York City Ballet, Joffrey Ballet Company, Harkness House Ballet, Pennsylvania Ballet, Les Grandes Ballet, Pittsburgh Ballet, Hartford Ballet, Garden State Ballet, James Sewell Dance Company, Boston Conservatory, Shanadoah Conservatory, Saint Paul School, and Walnut Hill. Ruth is BSVT's seamstress and she helps with set designs for BSVT's spring shows. She lives with her husband in Waterbury Center.

Shannon Lynn Bessette Freelance Dancer

Shannon has returned home to Vermont to teach summer intensives at The Ballet School for the past five years. She began her intense dance training at the age of 16 after many years of training as a jazz dancer.

Upon deciding to be a ballet dancer she had the pleasure of training on scholarship at the Joffrey Ballet in NYC. Shannon then decided to return to Texas Christian University, where she was awarded the prestigious Nordan Fine Arts Scholarship, as well as graduating with a BFA in ballet. While at TCU she trained under many great instructors and choreographers such as: Fernando Bujones (American Ballet Theatre), Li Chou Cheng (Beijing Ballet), Ann Etgen (Metropolitan Opera Ballet), Bill Atkinson (Royal Winnipeg Ballet), and Stephanie Woods Rand (Cincinnati Ballet). While under the direction of Bujones, Shannon has performed many principle and soloist roles. Her favorites include the title roles in Raymonda, soloist in La Bayadere and Napoli and In The Rhythms of Jazz, an original work by Bujones.

Shannon has danced with several companies as a guest artist, including Fort Worth Dallas Ballet and Dallas Metropolitan Ballet. Most recently she was chosen to perform at an exhibition performance at the International Ballet Competition in Jackson, MS 2002.

Sarah Tallman, Ballet Nouveau Colorado

Sarah has been coming to teach workshops in BSVT's summer program for the past four years. She is dedicated to her students at The Ballet School of Vermont, and committed to their ongoing training.

Sarah is a native of Colorado. She began her early training as both dancer and gymnast. Sarah attended the University of Northern Colorado where she was the two time recipient of the esteemed honor of Dancer of the Year. Under the direction of Dr. Karen Genoff Campbell, Sandra Minton, and Jeffrey Rockland she received her B.A in Dance Performance and Choreography, graduating with honors.

Sarah has received critical acclaim from audiences in Italy, Norway, Scotland, and the States. Companies Sarah has danced with are Lynn Barr and Dancers, Baardar Entertainment, Colorado Dance Theater, Kim Robards Dance, David Taylor Dance Theater, and Burklyn Ballet Theater.

June Buechner Carney is originally from Syracuse, NY where she began her dance training, studying at the Center of Ballet and Dance Arts with a focus in ballet.  She continued her training, switching to modern dance, at the Martha Graham School of Contemporary Dance in NYC and received a BFA Degree in Dance Performance at SUNY Purchase in both ballet and modern. 

She also attended the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre and Steps on Broadway in NYC, both on full scholarship and has since performed and taught ballet and modern dance in NYC for over 12 years, as well as being an independent Certified Personal Trainer and Fitness Instructor. June been teaching dance and choreographing all over northern VT for the last 4 years.  Most recently she has opened Lines for the Body, a dance and fitness retail store in Williston, VT.