Cecily Winslow Bressel

Miss Cecily made her professional debut at age twelve in a lead child role in the Boston Ballet's acclaimed Nutcracker, Arthur Fiedler conducting and ballerina, Maria Tallchief cast as the Sugar Plum Fairy.  Miss Cecily joined the American Guild of Musical Artists two years later and performed as a company member for the next several years with the Boston Ballet Company. She later danced in Europe with the Deutsches-Oper/Berlin, at the invitation of John Taras.

Cecily was privileged to perform with many of the legendary ballet artists of the Twentieth Century, among them, Villella, McBride, Verdy, D'Amboise, Fonteyn, Fracci, Haydee, Cragun, Makarova, Blankshine, Evdokimova, Neary, and Kolpakova.  Having danced in dozens of neo-classical ballets choreographed by Balanchine, Taras, Clifford, and Kurkjian, Cecily also danced a full classical repertoire ranging from Swan Lake to Pas de Quatre to the delightful Graduation Ball.

As a teenager, she was the recipient of a highly competitive Ford Foundation Scholarship to continue her dance education.

She has taught for over twenty-two years, placing students in dance programs in top colleges as well as the School of American Ballet, the Joffrey, Steps and other intensive summer programs. Cecily's first ballet school, Dance Central, located in Lynn, Massachusetts, was featured in the Step Up With Lynn Campaign and appears in the coffee table volume, One Day USA. Cecily holds a bachelors degree in Human Services and a Masters Degree in Counseling Psychology, from Lesley University in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Cecily has lived in Tucson for seven years with her husband of twenty four years, Dr. Charles N. Bressel, and her son, Rafi, who is a senior at the U of A. She founded Arizona Ballet Theatre (formerly Cecily's Dance Tech) in January, 2003

Megan Hurst

Miss Megan was born in Tucson. She began dancing at the age of three at Ilona’s School of Dance Arts. She studied and performed ballet, jazz, and tap with France Academy of Dance and Tucson Metropolitan Dance Company for nine years. She also studied and performed lyrical and liturgical dance with Casas Adobes Sacred Dance for seven years. She now enjoys teaching and performing with Arizona Ballet Theatre. Megan is a graduate of the University of Arizona and holds a B.A.E. in Elementary Education. She is now pursuing a masters in Early Childhood Education and learning disabilities from Northern Arizona University. She is a founding teacher at Arizona Ballet Theatre (formerly Cecily's Dance Tech) and teaches pre-ballet/tap, kinder-ballet, jazz, tap, and pointe.

Victoria MacKenzie

Victoria MacKenzie, a Tucson native, began her dance training at an early age at France Academy of Dance, and performed with Tucson Metropolitan Dance Company for five years. She is an engineering sophomore at the University of Arizona. Tori teaches tap at the studio.

Norman Walker

Norman Walker, a native New Yorker, retired to Tucson in May 2004, and, happily is teaching and choreographing for the most advanced dancers at Arizona Ballet Theatre. For years, Norman Walker was a dancer with the May O'Donnell Dance Company in New York City. It was an enviable position. O'Donnell, a leader in early modern dance, had been a student of the influential Hanya Holm and later danced with Martha Graham and José Limón. In 1949, Holm started her own company, where Walker rose from beginner to principal dancer. It was a glorious period for Modern Dance.

Mister Walker then performed with and choreographed for numerous companies in diverse styles. He devoted a full decade to his own company, Norman Walker and Dancers. This led to the long association with the legendary dance establishment in the Bershires of Massachusetts, Jacob's Pillow. Norman Walker and Dancers performed at Jacobs Pillow through most of the 60s and early 70s along with many of the other ballet and modern dance greats. (Careful search of Jacob's Pillow archives reveals Norman Walker and Dancers performed at Jacob's Pillow during the years 1961, '62,'63, '65, '66, '67, '68, '69 and '71.) From 1975 through 1979, he had a successful term as Director of the Jacob's Pillow Dance Program. Mr. Walker has choreographed over 210 pieces ranging from modern solos to full-length ballets for companies all over the world. While modern dance is his first love, Mr. Walker's interest is in good dance, in any form it may take.

A Renaissance man, Mr. Walker continues to teach, choreograph, perform character parts, and even design his own costumes and sets. He has also directed plays and operas. We are thrilled that he has become a major presence on our staff. His ballet and modern choreography for our performances, such as "Cinderella" in 2006, has been magnificent. Norman Walker's Modern Dance Classes at Arizona Ballet Theatre Studios are always met with great enthusiasm from our dancers. (They can often be seen practicing his choreography before ballet classes.) We look forward to seeing what he does next!

Mr Walker finds time to continue his association with The Central Ballet of China which was on a 10-week tour of the United States. The review in the NY Times describes at some length the premiere of "Before the Wedding Chamber," a duet by "the American choreographer Norman Walker", as well as mentioning "New Year's Sacrifice," a dramatic work on a Chinese theme that the company presented in 1986."

Another name for the The Central Ballet of China is The National Ballet of China Here we see The National Ballet of China performing Norman Walker's work... And, here they are featured in a performance at the University of California at Berkeley.

Rochelle Zide-Booth

Rochelle Zide-Booth has retired to Tucson after a long career in ballet.  She trained in Boston with Harriet Hoctor and E. Virginia Williams and joined the fabled Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, signing her first contract on her 16th birthday and quickly rising to Soloist.  Then came four years as Principal Dancer of The Joffrey Ballet, where she danced ballerina roles in most of the repertoire, and a New York season with Jerome Robbins' Ballets: USA.  Free lance work with a partner and symphony orchestras throughout the United States and as Prima Ballerina of the New York City Opera came to an end when an accident cut short her performing career at age 27.  The next phase of her career began immediately: Ballet Mistress of The Joffrey Ballet, Artistic Director of Netherlands Dance Theatre, Professor of Ballet at Adelphi University, Head of Ballet at The Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival, teaching and staging residencies in Israel and the Philipines, faculty of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Center, a Fulbright to teach in the Czech Republic with the Dance Conservatories and National Ballets of Prague and Brno, Artistic Director of the New Zealand School of Dance and Professor of Ballet and Dance History at Butler University.  Mrs. Zide-Booth's association with Arizona Ballet Theatre actually began when she was Ballet Mistress of the Boston Ballet and one of her young “Special Class” students was a very talented redhead named Cecily Winslow!