PBT Master Class Series
Beginning September 10, PBT Master Classes will be offered to the greater Pittsburgh community. For the first time, the Master Class Series will be taught by popular PBT artists and artistic staff, including Adam W. McKinney, PBT’s artistic director. The PBT Master Class Series provides a unique opportunity for students to learn from esteemed company artists and leading professionals of PBT.
This Master Class Series is intended for dancers 14 years of age and older who have intermediate/advanced level dance experience. The classes are held at PBT’s studios on each of the selected dates at 6:00 p.m.
Classes are $35 each. Observers can view classes for $10 each. Due to space limitations, registrations will be on a first-come, first-serve basis.
Tuesday, October 8, 6:00-7:30 PM
Corey Bourbonniere, PBT Soloist Artist
Corey has performed with PBT for 12 years and was promoted to soloist in 2019. The same year, Pointe Magazine awarded Corey a “Standout Performance” award for their role as “Bernardo” in PBT’s West Side Story Suite. Corey also performed in Donald Byrd’s From Other Suns as part of The Kennedy Center’s Reframing the Narrative, for which they also received a Pointe Magazine “Standout Performance” award in 2022. Corey will teach a ballet class for the PBT Master Class series. Read their bio here.
Tuesday, November 12, 6:00-7:30 PM
Adam W. McKinney, PBT Artistic Director
Adam joined PBT as Artistic Director in 2023. He has a diverse and accomplished background in arts leadership, having served as an arts organization director, tenured professor, choreographer, dancer and educator. McKinney was previously an Associate Professor of Dance in Ballet at Texas Christian University. Adam has danced with some of the world’s most prominent dance companies, including Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Alonzo King LINES Ballet, Béjart Ballet Lausanne, Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet and Milwaukee Ballet Company. Adam will teach a ballet class for the PBT Master Class series. Read his bio here.
Tuesday, December 10, 6:00-7:30 PM
Tommie Lin Kesten, PBT Principal Artist
Tommie Lin grew up in Pittsburgh and is a Principal Artist in the PBT Company. She was chosen for Pointe Magazine‘s top 10 “Stars of the Corps” in 2019, as well as Dance Magazine’s “25 Dancers to Watch” in 2020. Tommie Lin has performed with PBT for six years and was promoted to Principal Artist in 2023. She will teach a ballet class for the PBT Master Class series. Read her bio here.
Tuesday, January 14, 6:00-7:30 PM
Noelani Pantastico, Stager of PBT’s upcoming Romeo and Juliet
Noelani is a freelance teacher, coach and stager for Jean-Christopher Maillot’s works. In 2022, she retired from Pacific Northwest Ballet after a 25-year dance career. While there, she was promoted three times until she became a principal in 2004. In 2008, she joined Jean-Christophe Maillot’s Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo in Monaco as a soloist. She returned to PNB again as a principal dancer in 2015. During her career, she danced a diverse repertory, including works by George Balanchine, Jean-Christophe Maillot, Jiri Kylian, William Forsythe, Jerome Robbins, Susan Stroman, Crystal Pite, Alejandro Cerrudo, Penny Saunders, Robyn Mineko Williams and many more. Noelani will teach a ballet class for the PBT Master Class series. Read her bio here.
Tuesday, February 4, 6:00-7:30 PM
April Berry, Director of Education and Community Engagement at PBT
April Berry is a dance director, master teacher, dance educator and former internationally acclaimed principal dancer with Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in New York City, dancing formerly under the direction of Founding Artistic Director Alvin Ailey and Artistic Emerita Judith Jamison. Ms. Berry joined PBT as the Director of Education and Community Engagement in July 2024. Berry has taught on the dance faculty at Kansas City Ballet School, Charlotte Ballet Academy and at BalletMet Dance Academy, and has served as adjunct faculty in the Department of Dance at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. She studied ballet at the National Academy of Ballet and Theatre Arts and at Dance Theatre of Harlem, modern dance techniques and jazz dance at Alvin Ailey American Dance Center (now the Ailey School), and traveled to Cuba to study Caribbean folkloric and popular dance forms at the Escuela Nacional des Arts. She will teach a dance class in Dunham Technique for the PBT Master Class series. Read her bio here.
Tuesday, March 11, 6:00-7:30 PM
Hannah Carter, PBT Principal Artist
Hannah, originally from Orsett, Essex, UK, joined PBT in 2013 after dancing as a corps de ballet member with Estonian National Ballet. She graduated from the Royal Ballet School with honors and has been a principal artist with PBT since 2016. She will teach a ballet class for the PBT Master Class series. Read her bio here.
Tuesday, April 1, 6:00-7:30 PM
Kurtis Sprowls, PBT Corps de Ballet Artist
Kurtis, originally from Ohio, trained for three years in the PBT School Graduate program before joining the company in 2015. He has taken summer Intensives with Jacob’s Pillow, Nederlands Dans Teatr, Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet and Orsolina 28 Nunes. Kurtis has also been an instructor at Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre School and Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre Summer Intensive. He has choreographed numerous works for PBT and PBT School, including A Midsummer Night’s Dream at Hartwood Acres, Strange Dreamz and Ethereal. He will teach a ballet class for the PBT Master Class series. Read his bio here.
Tuesday, May 13, 6:00-7:30 PM
Barbara Bears, PBT Rehearsal Director
Barbara joined Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre as a rehearsal director in 2023. Prior to that, she was a dancer with the Houston Ballet for more than 20 years, including as a principal dancer for 15 of those years. Barbara created roles in over 30 different ballets. After her retirement, she served as a teacher and coach for Houston Ballet, Houston Ballet 2 and the Ben Stevenson Academy before joining the professional company’s artistic staff as a ballet master in 2016. As Ballet Master, Bears staged works by Ben Stevenson, Stanton Welch and many other notable choreographers. She will teach a ballet class for the PBT Master Class series. Read her bio here.
Instructors are subject to change.