About The Faculty
Nancy Baldwin Andrews,
Director /Choreographer
 Nancy
Andrews, Director of the School, teaches all levels of Classical Ballet
and Pointe from PreBallet through Ballet 7. As Artistic Director, she
choreographs the majority of the ballet presentations for The Nutcracker and
Spring Productions.
Ms. Andrews holds a B.A. in
Dance from Bennington College and an M.A. in Developmental Psychology from
Columbia University where her graduate thesis explored the use of dance and
arts for special needs children and adults.
Growing up in Norwalk, CT,
Ms. Andrews studied ballet from the age of 4 with Claire Deerfield and
Russell Fratto and spent summers from ages 12 to 18 on Scholarship studying
in the professional class at The Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo School in NYC.
Her teachers included Maria
Swoboda, Leon Danielion, Anatole Vilzak and Casimir Kokitch.
Instead of pursuing a
performance career opportunity with a ballet company in Sweden, she
chose to attend Bennington College, where she focused on Modern Dance
Performance and Composition. The College awarded her scholarships to
study at The Martha Graham School in NYC and The American Dance
Festival, where she performed with the Doris Humphrey Repertory Group.
 At
Bennington, Ms. Andrews studied and performed with many pioneer modern
dancers, including Bill Bales, Donald McKayle, Ruth Currier, Jose Limon,
Lucas Hoving and Merce Cunningham. She then performed in NYC with the modern
companies of Jack Moore, Jeff Duncan, Valerie Bettis and Anna Sokolow.
Her performing career was
followed by a career in college teaching; including Director of the Dance
Programs at Skidmore College, Montclair State University, Keuka Collge,
Wells College, and Eastern Connecticut State University where she served as
Assistant Professor on their faculties. As Director of the Skidmore College
Dance Program, Ms. Andrews was instrumental in forging a connection between
the College and the NYC Ballet, newly in residence at the Saratoga
Performing Arts Center (SPAC).
 While
teaching during the school year, she performed in many summer stock
companies including the Spa Summer Theatre in Saratoga Springs.
Whileraising a family in
Lebanon, CT (near Storrs) she began her own School of Dance which she
directed for over 15 years. She moved to Ridgefield in 1995 and opened The
Ridgefield School of Dance in 1997.
In the Ridgefield community,
Nancy has contributed her skills to choreographing productions for The
Ridgefield Theatre Barn and teaching classes for Special Needs Children. She
has served for ten years as Chairman of The Ridgefield Arts Council.
Statewide, she is a member of the Advisory Board of The Connecticut Dance
Alliance.
Larissa Akinicheva teaches upper level
Ballet, Pointe and Company classes.
Ms. Akinicheva was a soloist in the
Tchaikovsky Ballet Company, one of Russia’s most distinguished artistic
companies. A native of Russia, Ms. Akinicheva studied at the Perm Academic
State School of Choreography and graduated from the State Academic Theater
of Russian Opera and Ballet in Ekaterinaburg, Russia. She also was a soloist
with the State Academic Theater of Russian
 Opera
and Ballet Company in Perm. Ms. Akinicheva toured extensively throughout
Europe with The Tchaikovsky Ballet Company and in the Far East with The
Ballet of Russia Theatre. As a soloist, she performed in Swan Lake, Giselle,
Bayadere, Sleeping Beauty, Don Quixote Paquita, Les Sylphides, Romeo &
Juliet, Cinderella among others .
Ms. Akinicheva has taught ballet both in the
United States and in her native Russia where she was a teacher at the Young
People’s School of the Performing Arts. She taught ballet for Patricia
Shuster in Ridgefield for eight years. In addition to teaching at The
Ridgefield School of Dance, Ms. Akinicheva teaches ballet at the BBT/School
of Russian Ballet, the Connecticut Ballet Center in Stamford and The Milford
Performing Arts Center.
 Jessica Boelts joins The Ridgefield
School of Dance from Ballet Austin, Austin,
Texas where she both taught at the Academy and performed with the
Company.
Under the direction of Ballet Austin Master Teacher Truman Finney,
Jessica was a principal in Balanchine’s Valse Fantasy and has also performed
in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Giselle, Peter Pan, Who Cares?, Romeo and
Juliet and The Nutcracker. Jessica has also danced with the Pennsylvania
Ballet and the Massachusetts Youth Ballet.
This year Jessica is
teaching Ballet to all age groups as well as Pointe II and Pointe III classes.
 Peter Nevin teaches
Partnering technique to the advanced ballet dancers.
Peter was originally
trained by Jean & Beth Fritz Logrea of the Westchester Ballet Company.
His past credits include principle soloist with the Westchester Ballet
Company, Sono Dance, Witchita Falls Ballet Dance Theatre and
Ridgefield Conservatory of Dance. He has had numerous lead
roles in such ballets as: Nutcracker, Swan Lake, Giselle, Blue Bird
pas-de-deux and various Grimm's Fairy Tales. Ron Cunningham of
the Sacramento Ballet Company created roles specifically for Peter in
teh ballets Harem Scarem, Hi-Tek Aztek, and Tapestry. Peter now
enjoys dancing as a guest throughout the Connecticut and New York
areas and returns annually to perform as a guest artist with the
Wichita Falls Ballet Theatre. He also holds a black belt in the
martial art of Tae Kwon Do.
 Sarah Roberts teaches lower school
Children's Ballet classes and Modern
Dance
Sarah
began dancing with Nancy Baldwin at the Lebanon School of Dance with 1990.
In 2002, Sarah followed Ms. Baldwin to her Ridgefield School and continued
her training and dancing as a member of the Ridgefield Dance Company. Ms.
Roberts participated in dance workshops at the Jacobs Pillow Dance Festival
and with the HARTT School of Dance throughout high school. In 2005, she
choreographed Opera Dido and Aeneas for The University of Connecticut Opera
Theatre.
Sarah graduated from Central
Connecticut State University in May, 2008. Dancentral, the performance company at Central,
has provided
many chances for her to work with nationally known choreographers and
artists such as Hubbard Street, Jamaican Dance Troupe, Paul Dennis of the
Limon Company, and the dancers from Broadway's The Lion King.
Ms. Roberts graduated from
CCSU as a Physical Education and Human Performance Major and dance minor with an
emphasis on the new Dance Teacher Certification. She is also the president
of Dancentral and a member of the Connecticut Dance Alliance.
 Angela Harriell
teaches all levels of Jazz and Hip Hop including the Jr. Jazz Company
and Jazz Company.
In addition to
teaching Contemporary Jazz, she will be teaching Ballet for
Intermediate Jazz Dancers and Hip Hop technique.
Angela currently teaches
contemporary jazz at the prestigious Peridance Center in Manhattan
in addition to teaching ballet for both Brooklyn Ballet and Brooklyn
Dance Center. Her choreography has been called witty, moving,
unique and theatrical. A graduate of Fredonia University, where she
received The Graduate Scholarship
for ballet, she has worked with Elisa Monte and David Brown dance,
Randy James Danceworks, and taught ballet at Binghamton University.
She has set original works for Jerboa Dance of Seattle as well as
Key West Contemporary Dance in Key West, Florida. Cointreau and
Vogue magazine have commissioned pieces from her, and she has
created and directed two off off Broadway productions. Her work has
twice been selected to be presented at special galas at the National
Arts Club, where Angela has performed along with such luminaries as
Elaine Stritch, Tammy Grimes, Charles Busch and Julie Halston. In
addition to teaching, Angela performs with Brooklyn Ballet, Brooklyn
Repertory Opera and Opéra Français de New York. She has appeared in
several television and music video spots, including an ABC
Primetime documentary on connections in the dance world.
 Myla
Mercer - Adult classes Bellydancing
Myla Mercer teaches Bellydancing on
Friday mornings. Myla, who is both a performer and teacher, graduated
from University of Connecticut. Bellydancing is especially good for
women as it can reduce the risk of osteoporosis, increases flexibility and
strengthens core muscle important to good posture.
Irene Zimmerman - Adult
Ballet and Nia
Irene will be teaching
adult ballet on Mondays and Wednesdays. Irene has taught ballet and
jazz from coast to coast. She has taught at the Neubert Ballet
Institute, The International Dance School at Carnegie Hall and the
Westport Dance Center. She has developed and taught after school
dance programs throughout the New York City area. Irene has also
danced with several companies including the New York City Lyric
Opera Ballet. 
Alison Brown
Business Manager
 Alison Brown has always enjoyed the business side of entertainment working
with the creative team and clients to ensure smooth operations.
One
of the founders of Blue Sky Studios (Ice Age, Robots), Ms. Brown served as
head of commercial production and vice president of sales and marketing.
During her tenure at Blue Sky she helped to build a world-class character
animation and effects team, producing over 150 commercials for advertising
agencies. Many of these projects were ground breaking in the field of CG
character animation and received top honors at international awards
festivals. At Blue Sky, Brown also served as executive producer for the
computer animation portion of the first feature film with CG bugs "Joe’s
Apartment." With a cast of singing and dancing cockroaches, "Joe’s
Apartment" swept international animation competitions, receiving top honors
at the World Animation Celebration, Imagina, Art Futura (Madrid), Images du
Futur (Montreal) and the Ottawa International Animation Festival.
Ms. Brown also served as executive producer for the New York division of
Kleiser-Walczak, an animation and visual effects studio located in the
Berkshires and Los Angeles.
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