Southland Ballet Academy Staff

	Salwa Rizkalla’s artistic vision and community involvement led to the creation of Festival Ballet Theatre (FBT) and Southland Ballet Academy (SBA). Her credentials as a classical ballet dancer include an impressive list of leading roles in well-known classical ballets, as well as appearances in original contemporary pieces. During her distinguished career as a professional dancer, Rizkalla had the privilege of working under the direction of world-renowned choreographers Leonid Lavrovsky and Serge Lifar. Trained in the Russian Vaganova method and having studied with ballet masters of the Bolshoi and the Kirov, Rizkalla holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Ballet Pedagogy. In addition to her responsibilities as the artistic director of FBT and her busy teaching schedule at the Academy, Rizkalla is devoted to the private coaching of SBA’s most promising students. Many of these dancers have won top honors and grand prizes in prominent local, national and international ballet competitions; and received scholarships to elite training programs from American Ballet Theatre, Royal Ballet School, San Francisco Ballet Trainee Program, and numerous others. Dancers trained at SBA have gone on to professional careers with companies around the world, including Ballet Austin, San Francisco Ballet, Scottish Ballet and Washington Ballet, to name a few. A fully credentialed California teacher, she has been a dedicated educator, a tireless promoter of the arts, and an active participant in the cultural life of her community for more than 25 years. Her contributions have been recognized by The Orange County Music and Arts Administrators and Orange County Performing Arts Center with an Orange County Arts Educator of the Year Award for Secondary Dance (2003). Youth America Grand Prix has awarded Rizkalla Outstanding Teacher accolades several years running, including current year 2009.
	Lana Brooks was awarded “Dancer of the Year” for California Ballet’s 2002-2003 season and was a semi-finalist for the Spotlight Awards in 1996, 1997 and 1998. Ms. Brooks was also featured in a PBS documentary that showcased talented artists in Southern California. She became a member of Festival Ballet Theatre in 1996 and has appeared in leading roles in The Nutcracker, Sleeping Beauty, Coppelia and Swan Lake. In 1999, Ms. Brooks joined Colorado Ballet, performing with the company. In 2000, she joined California Ballet, where her repertoire included leading roles in A Midsummer’s Night Dream, Dracula, Paquita, Les Sylphides and Alice in Wonderland. She returned to Festival Ballet Theatre in 2003 and currently teaches ballet at Southland Ballet Academy. Ms. Brooks received her ballet training at Southland Ballet Academy.
	Elizabeth Chasteler attended the University of California, Irvine, where she received her Bachelor of Arts in Dance and a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics in 2007. Ms. Chasteler received the Disney Creative Arts Scholarship and the Amanda Borad Dance Scholarship in 2001, as well as a full dance scholarship funded by Mr. William Gillespie. She has danced at the Irvine Barclay Theatre for the National Choreographic Initiative and was semi-finalist for the Los Angeles Music Center Spotlight Awards in 2000 and 2001. Ms. Chasteler began her dance training in 1989 with Salwa Rizkalla at Southland Ballet Academy and has been a member of Festival Ballet Theatre for eight years.
	Marci Goedl received her Bachelor of Arts in Dance from the University of California, Irvine. Representing UCI in the spring of 2006, she danced in Paris, France where she performed a piece choreographed by Douglas Becker. Ms. Goedl was a semi-finalist in the Los Angeles Music Center Spotlight Awards in 2001 and 2002 and was also a recipient of both the Disney Creative Arts Scholarship and the Amanda Borad Dance Scholarship in 2002. She has been studying under Salwa Rizkalla for 18 years at Southland Ballet Academy and has been a member of Festival Ballet Theatre for eight years.
	Tiffany Husdon co-founded the hip hop group Kuumba Beatz, (featured on ABC Morning News) and worked as its president and choreographer. She discovered her love for hip-hop and at the age of 17 she was asked to perform as a guest artist for Pulse 2001. Ms. Hudson became the youngest member of the hip-hop company, Tribal Soul, and performed with them throughout Southern California. She is also a judge for the Dancin Dayz Competitions in Palm Springs and Laughlin. Ms. Hudson received her BA in Communication Studies and Dance Performance at Loyola Marymount University. Ms. Hudson choreographs for a wide array of events in every form of dance, including lyrical, tap, hip-hop, and jazz. Ms. Hudson attended Academy of Performing Arts High School where she studied modern, jazz, tap and choreography. She trained in Cecchetti style ballet, jazz, and tap with Marnell Himes. Ms. Hudson began dancing at the age of three.
	Marina Kalinin is the Founder of the Kalinin Dance Academy in Huntington Beach. While a student of the Bolshoi Academy, she danced as a soloist in over 60 countries with the most prestigious ballet and character dance companies, including the Moiseyev and Berioska. In recognition of her outstanding performance, she received the Award of the Honored Artist of the Russian Federation. She graduated from the prestigious Moscow Bolshoi Ballet Academy and was taught by Elizabeth Gerdt, the famous teacher of Plesetskaya and Maximova. Mrs. Kalinin immigrated to the United States in 1981, and has performed on stages in New York, Las Vegas, Reno, Australia and throughout Southern California as a member of the Kalinin Dance Company, formed by her husband. Ms. Kalinin comes from a well known Russian family of artists. She has taught dance for over 20 years in the US as well as abroad.
	Hanna Karacic was born in Poland where she start to take ballet classes at an early age and later entered The Polish State Professional Ballet School in Bytom ( Silesia) for nine years. After graduating Ballet School she received Polish scholarship to study in Russia at the Sankts Petersburg Conservatory, where she was taught by more prominent ballet dancers, ballet teachers and choreographers in Russia (P.Gusev, N. Boyartchikoff, N. Dolgushin, O.Berg....). In 1991 she received M.D. as a ballet master and returned to Poland where she started to work at the Ballet school in Bytom and later she was invited to work at the one of the biggest Opera-Ballet Theater in Poland. At The Wroclaw Opera-Ballet Theater , except dancing, she taught company classes ( male and females), rehearsed Corps de Ballet, soloist and ballet sequences in operas, she helped restage traditional classical choreography and made own choreography works for the company. Beside The Wroclaw Opera-Ballet Theater, she made choreography for Polish Television and Theater and Bytom Ballet School. In 1999 she moved with her husband to U.S.A. (California) where she soon started to work at Southland Ballet Academy.
	Askar Kettebekov received his dance training from the National Ballet School of Kazakhstan and graduated from the National University of Kazakhstan with a degree in ballet pedagogy and choreography. After graduation, he was asked to join the National Ballet Theatre of Kazakhstan and performed with the company for eight years as a soloist, after which he joined Moscow Festival Ballet. Upon coming to the United States, Kettebekov served as a principal guest dancer with the Ballet Theatre of Boston and the Tulsa Ballet. For three years, he was a principal dancer with the San Diego Ballet before accepting a position as artistic director with the Media Dance Center in Los Angeles. Kettebekov has been teaching with Southland Ballet Academy for a year and a half. As a dancer he has toured through Asia, Europe and North America, including China, Japan, Germany, France, England and Italy. His professional repertoire includes The Nutcracker, Le Corsaire, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Fountain of Bakhchisaray, Legends of Love, Giselle, Don Quixote and the role of Rothbart in Swan Lake.
	Marilyn McFaul shares her passion for dance by running a dance program at a local preschool and at recreation parks. In 1986 she began teaching dance and continues to do so today. She has also choreographed for dance competitions and beauty pageants. And in the mid-70s, Ms. McFaul further broadened her talents by teaching gymnastics. She honed her performing skills in various college musicals and dance concerts throughout the late 70s and early 80s. Ms. McFaul has been dancing since the age of three.
	Rebecca Thompson, a California native, trained with Salwa Rizkalla, Alla Artyushkin and Julia Ellis. In 1992 she achieved finalist standing in the Dorothy Chandler Spotlight Awards. At fourteen Rebecca joined David Wilcox’s L.A. Classical Ballet, where she also performed excerpts from The Nutcracker for the Jay Leno Tonight Show. Later, she spent two years performing with Kirk Peterson’s Hartford Ballet where she won numerous soloist roles. Before uniting with Jean Ann Ryan Productions, Rebecca danced with State Street Ballet. There, choreographer Robert Sund chose Rebecca to feature in many of his famous and new ballets. Rebecca is a highly sought after teacher, ballet mistress, and guest performer. By special guest invitation, she has danced for the R.A.D., Guam’s Sand Castle Theatre, Golden State Ballet, and Festival Ballet. Rebecca has also taught in Long Beach Ballet Arts Center’s star studded summer program and served as a ballet mistress for their award winning junior company. In 2003 and 2004 Rebecca helped teach and set La Bayadere and Cinderella for China’s Guangzhou Ballet. She has also performed as a principal dancer with American National Ballet. Rebecca is continuing to shape her choreographic career as a teacher in Southern California.