VLADELIN SEMENOV, is regarded as one of the best teachers in the world today and comes to The Academy directly from the Kirov in St. Petersburg where he had been on the faculty of the prestigious Vaganova School since 1964. He earned international fame as the Kirov Ballet's Principal Teacher for many years and has won numerous awards including People's Artist of the Soviet Union. During his 20-year career as Premier Danseur of the Kirov Ballet, Mr. Semonov has partnered such outstanding ballerinas as Irina Kolpakova, Alicia Alonso, Natalia Makarova, and Alla Osipenko.

VERONICA YEAGER started dancing at the age of five and has loved every moment since. She has trained in every style of dance including: ballet, jazz, tap, hip hop, ballroom, and Irish step dancing. When she was fifteen she became the United States Junior Ballroom Champion and represented the United States in Kiev, Ukraine. She was also pronounced the Starlight National Teen Champion. At sixteen she turned professional and joined Utah's hottest new company, Odyssey Dance Theatre, where she has remained since. In January 2001, she toured Europe with Mia Michaels R.A.W. and in the fall spent four months performing in the National Tour of the Broadway Musical Footloose. She was also a member of the Coca Cola Celebration Team for the 2002 Winter Olympics. She hopes one day to become a choreographer and follow in her father's footsteps.

DERRYL YEAGER As a professional dancer for over two decades, Derryl Yeager has had experience in every style and medium. He received his BFA and MFA degrees at the University of Utah while becoming a principal dancer with Ballet West. He then went on to perform in the Broadway Shows A Chorus Line, Dreamgirls, and Cats and has appeared in numerous TV and Film projects that include Staying Alive, She's Having a Baby, Girls Just Wanna Have Fun, A More Perfect Union, Moonlighting, The Tracy Ullman Show, The Young and the Restless, and General Hospital.

As a Choreographer and Director he has worked professionally from Ballet to Broadway, Film, Music Videos, and numerous Television Shows. He has taught at two major universities and was Artistic Director for the BYU Theatre Ballet for 2 years. He has choreographed numerous successful ballets with several professional companies and has been the production choreographer for the Utah Shakespeare Festival - winner of the Tony Award for best regional theatre in the year 2000.

Having been Associate Director and Choreographer of the outdoor musical Utah! for the first three years, he Directed and Choreographed the smash hit Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat in 1999 and 2001 and the critically acclaimed Oklahoma at the Tuacahn Amphitheater in St. George. He also choreographed Annie Get Your Gun and this fall season's return of Utah! for Tuacahn as well as choreographing Pirates of Penzance, Joseph, and Damn Yankees for the Tony Award Winning Shakespearian Festival.

He just recently choreographed an episode of Touched by An Angel and directed the celebration teams for Coca-Cola's 2002 Olympic Pavilion. As Co-Director of Center Stage Performing Arts Studios in Orem he has helped develop it into one of the finest dance and performing arts studios in the state of Utah.

As Founder and Artistic Director of Odyssey Dance Theatre, Derryl promises to bring all of his talents and experience to bear to create an exciting, innovative, and entertaining company that will produce works that range from the timely to the timeless.

Staff Bios

WALTRAUD KARKAR - Artistic Director, is the founder of CWSB & Wausau Dance Theatre. Trained in Europe and the United States, Madame Karkar completed the grades in the Vaganova Method by Madame Vilu Vecsey, Prima Ballerina, Budapest, Hungary. During her career as a teacher, she has studied with and has been coached by Joan Lawson, author, teacher and former coach of the Royal Ballet; Stone-Camryn, Chicago, and the Joffrey Ballet, New York City.

She is also the recipient of the first honorary degree from the Isadora Duncan International Institute to teach Isadora Duncan for children, and writes a monthly column for the Wausau Daily Herald on Dance. In the September 1998 issue of DANCE MAGAZINE, Madame Karkar was featured in the "Great Start Series" as one of the Great American Teachers.

Among her distinguished former pupils are Jeanene Russell formerly of the Bolshoi, and currently with North Carolina Dance Theatre, Karissa Stitch, Melissa Anderson and Patrik Kasper of Milwaukee Ballet & Amy Miller of Ballet Wisconsin.

PATRIK KASPER Artistic Director, Wausau Dance Theatre, began his training at the Central Wisconsin School of Ballet and was also a scholarship student with Robert Joffrey in New York City. He has performed many of the major roles in the classics and Balanchine Ballets. He has performed with the Milwaukee Ballet, San Diego Ballet and Festival Ballet.

In 1992, Mr. Kasper and Valerie Robin competed in the Varna International Ballet Competition, becoming the first American couple in ten years to make the final round. He is a certified Pilates Instructor and has worked with and trained many professional athletes, including Olympic figure skaters and gymnasts.

Mr. Kasper is the founder of Sneaker Jazz, an outreach program geared for elementary and middle school students and the Halloween success THRILLER.

124 N 3rd. Ave
Wausau, WI 54401
tel: 715-842-4447 • fax: 715-842-0005
info@cwschoolofballet.com