Dance Instruction
Ayako Hasebe
Ayako Hasebe is originally from Saitama, Japan. She began her training at Van Metre School of Dance in Tennessee and continued at Koshizuka Natsuko Ballet School in Japan. She graduated with honors from Butler University in Indianapolis in 2009 where she attained her Bachelors of Fine Arts in Dance Performance. Ayako had an opportunity to attend the Vaganova Seminar in St. Petersburg, Russia at the Kantilena School. She has also trained with Orlando Ballet School and Parsons Dance Company in New York in their summer programs.
Ayako joined the Lexington Ballet Company in 2009 and has performed in all productions. Her recent repertoires include Mazurka variation from Les Sylphides (Chopiniana), Cinderella Pas de deux, Prayer in Coppélia, a stepsister in Cinderella, Spanish soloist, Chinese soloist, and Marzipan from The Nutcracker and various roles in full length productions choreographed by Luis Dominguez such as Snow White, Rite of Spring, Red, White, and Blue, The Hard Rock Ballet, Vivaldi Concerto, Rhapsody in Blue, Firebird, Ion Dance, The Haunted, Nonsense, and Bach Cello Suites. Ayako also performed along with the company in the opening ceremony of the World Equestrian Games held in 2010. She has also been teaching at the Lexington Ballet School and for MAD camp since 2010 and enjoys every moment of passing on her passion for dance to the next generation. Ayako believes the dance art form is an important part of the education for any child and she values teaching movement classes at schools in the community as part of the Lexington Ballet's outreach program.
Dance Instruction
Megan Stuart
Megan began her training in Michigan with Patti and Leif Lorenz. She continued her training in the summer programs of The David Howard Summer Intensive, Bolshoi At Vail, Joffrey Midwest, Ballet Met and 7 summers with American Ballet Theatre. Ms. Stuart later trained with Samantha Shelton and continued her training on a dance scholarship at Eastern Michigan University. Megan has attended master classes with Joffrey Ballet, Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre, Royal Winnapeg Ballet, and Broadway Dance Center. She has been on faculty for Peter Sparling Dance, Dance Grosse Ile, Toledo Ballet, and Ballet Theatre of Ohio.
Ms. Stuart has been a guest instructor for ballet classes at the University of Michigan in the musical theater department. Her television credits include a live performance except of The Wizard of Oz on Good Morning Cleveland, Nutcracker promos and a PBS documentary on the History of The Toledo Ballet, which is aired nationally each year. She has danced in productions of National City Stars of Ballet and Broadway, choreographed by well known choreographer Ron De Jesus and with American Ballet Theatre in Le Corsair at the Detroit Opera House. Megan has work with choreographers Samantha Shelton, Michael Anderson, Melissa Allen, Bill T. Jones, Keith Clifton, Gen Horiuchi, Ducan Cooper, Mel Tomlinson, Richard Early, Cornelius Carter, and Michael Lang.