Brass City Ballet

Brass City Directors

Elizabeth F. BarisserArtistic Director

Elizabeth Fisk Barisser, founder and Artistic Director of Brass City Ballet, studied at the Rambert School of Ballet in London, England, the School of the Hartford Ballet, Connecticut, and with Melissa Hayden and Wilhelm Burmann (formerly with the New York City Ballet) in New York City. She has danced professionally with the Hartford Ballet in Connecticut, Syracuse Ballet Theatre, the Saeko Ichinohe Dance Company in NYC, and has made guest appearances in Europe and the US. She pursued her studies in modern dance under the tutelage of Ms. Ernestine Stodelle, the world-renowned authority on modern dance pioneer, Doris Humphrey.

Her professional teaching career includes Syracuse Ballet Theatre and the Istanbul State Conservatory in Istanbul, Turkey. In 1985, she founded the Waterbury School of Ballet in Waterbury, CT, which became a non-profit organization in 1989, now known as Brass City Ballet.

She has choreographed several original, full-length ballets such as The Night of the Magic Ornaments, The Party and the Fantastic Toyshop, as well as modern dance works for Brass City Ballet. Her work with St. Mary’s Children’s Theatre in Waterbury has included such works as Grease, Fiddler on the Roof, and Peter Pan. In 1993, she received the Arts Recognition Award from the City of Waterbury. She has served on Waterbury’s Community Visions Task Force and the School and Community Fine Arts Committee of Waterbury. In 1993, her work was selected for the New Dance, New Haven Choreography Competition. In 1999, she conceived and co-founded the first Connecticut Choreographer’s Forum and co-directed the subsequent three Forums. Ms. Barisser serves on the Advisory Board of the CT Dance Alliance. In 2006, she became a founding member of the Arts and Culture Collaborative of the Waterbury Region and has served on its Governing Council since then.

Ms. Barisser taught at The Taft School as Director of Dance from 2001-2008.

Christine HarrisAssociate Artistic Director

Christine Harris is from Bay Shore, New York. She began her training with Leda and Marina Eglevsky at the Eglevsky Ballet School and also studied at the School of the Joffrey Ballet, S.U.N.Y Purchase and with Svetlana Caton-Noble.

Ms. Harris has danced professionally on both the East and West Coasts with the New York Dance Theatre, the Lumiere Ballet and the Noveau Chamber Ballet in California. She has performed soloist roles in several ballets, including The Nutcracker, Kismet, The Snow Maiden, Giselle, Serenade, Hansel and Gretel, La Bayadere, and The Trials of Tamara (nationally televised). Favorite roles include Sugarplum Fairy, Snow Queen and Marie Taglioni in Pas de Quatre.

Ms. Harris also holds a Bachelors Degree in Psychology. She spent a year studying dancer’s body image and completed a thesis entitled “The Relationship between Body Image, Self Esteem and Self Consciousness in Dancers and Non-Dancers.” She is a member of the KIVA Dance Collective, a Waterbury based modern dance company. She has attended teaching seminars with David Howard, the Richmond Ballet, Marcia Dale Weary of the Pennsylvania Youth Ballet and Nutmeg Ballet.

Choreographic credits include Beauty and the Beast, the Fantastic Toy Shop, Snow White and the Seven Dwarves and Alice in Wonderland. Ms. Harris has taught for the Inland Pacific Ballet, Alvin Ailey, Long Island Academy of Dance, the Conservatory of Dance and at “Kids on Campus” at Naugatuck Valley Community College and as an Adjunct Faculty Member at Westover School. She has served as Brass City Ballet’s Associate Director for eleven years.

Brass City Faculty

Eleanor BarisserBallet and Modern

Eleanor Barisser began her training with her mother, Elizabeth Barisser, at Brass City Ballet. In addition to graduating from Brass City Ballet School and being a member of the Brass City Ballet Company, she has attended summer programs at New Haven Ballet, Nutmeg Conservatory for the Arts, Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet, and the Bolshoi Ballet Academy. She has participated in community service-based performances, including shows sponsored by the International Festival of Arts and Ideas.

Eleanor is a graduate of Barnard College in New York City, where earned her Bachelor of Arts in Dance and French. At Barnard, she studied with teachers including Cynthia Anderson, Allegra Kent, Robert La Fosse, and Ashley Tuttle. Her academic pursuits also allowed her to take courses from Mindy Aloff and Lynn Garafola. She has performed in The Barnard Project at New York Live Arts and Barnard Dances at Miller, which gave her the opportunity to work with choreographers Ori Flomin, Kyle Abraham, Sidra Bell, David Parker, Karla Wolfangle, and Emery LeCrone. Eleanor has danced with the Columbia Ballet Collaborative, where she performed works by choreographers Laura Ward and Kimi Nikaidoh. Eleanor’s choreographic experience includes a solo, Midnight Oil (choreographed as a Senior Creative Thesis for the Dance major at Barnard) and a piece for BCB students. She has taught ballet technique, variations, and modern at BCB.

Todd HallBallet and Partnering

Todd Hall began dancing in Rhode Island, at the age of ten, with the Festival Ballet. One of his earliest roles was that of young Fritz, Clara’s brother, in The Nutcracker. Todd trained at the School of American Ballet in New York City, as well as at the Joffrey Ballet School, and the School of the Boston Ballet. He has performed with the Boston Ballet and the Washington Ballet, among others, and has been a guest artist with a number of ballet companies in the United States, dancing such roles as Albrecht in Giselle, the Prince in Swan Lake, the Cavalier in The Nutcracker, and Franz in Coppelia. Todd currently teaches and choreographs extensively throughout the Northeast and overseas.

Joan KunschBallet

Award-winning choreographer and poet Joan Kunsch is in her 24th year on the classical ballet faculty of Connecticut’s Nutmeg Conservatory for the Arts, where she is also Associate Director. Besides further projects in London (The Royal Ballet School, White Lodge and the R.A.D.), Stockholm (The Swedish Ballet School), Reykjavik (Iceland’s National Ballet School), Oslo (Den NorskeBalletthoyskole & Kirkenaer Balletskolen), The Hague, Canadian cities, D.C. and 32 of the United States, she served as Ballet Mistress to MOMIX and Ballet Mississippi. She has given teacher training, master classes and courses in university dance departments (Butler, SMU, Univ. of Utah, SUNY-Binghamton). Students she has trained or co-trained have joined over sixty professional dance companies. Her choreography includes works for concert stage, sacred space, television and outdoor sites. She has written for Pointe Magazine, and her poetry book “Playing With Gravity,” published by Antrim House in 2007, has been followed by a poetry CD in 2011. With her sister Kathi Byam, she performs in the duo “Flute Meets Poem.”

Currently Joan is Artistic Adviser to the Quinte Ballet School (Canada) and Vail Valley Academy of Dance (Colorado) as well as a regular guest artist with Connecticut’s Brass City Ballet, Connecticut Dance Theatre and Woodbury Ballet. She is a member of the Board of Directors of the Connecticut Dance Alliance.

Carin LopezBallet, Modern, Dance Discovery

A native of Connecticut, Carin began her dance training at the New Haven Ballet and A Dancer’s Workshop. She later studied ballet at the Academy of the Arts with Joan Kunsch of Nutmeg Ballet and with Barry Hughson. Carin continued her dance education at Purchase College Conservatory of Dance, where she received her B.F.A. in dance and performance. While a member of the Purchase Dance Corps, she performed Serenade, A Choreographic Offering, and several roles in The Nutcracker. Carin attended the Joffrey Ballet Summer Program, the David Howard School, and the Jose Limon Institute. Carin has worked with Gail Gilbert of David Parson’s Dance and Pamala Jones of the Jose Limon Dance Co., as well as performed for the Linda Diamond Dance Co and Dance Theatre in Westchester. In 2005, Carin began teaching ballet and modern dance at various schools in Miami, FL. She continued to share her love of dance by most recently teaching at A Dance Class in Cheshire, CT. In addition to instructing both ballet and modern dance classes there, Carin had the opportunity to choreograph several original works including Empty Shadows (2010) and Dare to Dream (2011) which premiered at the Kennedy Center and Lincoln Center through the American Alliance for the Performing Arts Educators.

Cristen MortensonMusical Theater and Voice

Cristen has enjoyed a successful career in the world of theatre, TV, and commercials. A native of Southern California, Ms. Mortenson started her career in many community theatre productions while studying voice with Dr. Darlene Romano, and studying dance 6 days a week. While attending the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts she was the first recipient of the prestigious Winterfest Spotlight Awards, held at the Music Center of Los Angeles. She then went on to graduate from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, and was fortunate to stay in the Bay Area where she performed the role of Christine in THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA for over 3 years. Ms. Mortenson then took a detour to New York where she made her Broadway debut in BY JEEVES, (original B’way cast member) by Lloyd Webber. Performing all over the country, some of her regional favorites include: Miss Dorothy in THOROUGHLY MODERN MILLIE, Hope Harcourt in ANYTHING GOES, Maria in THE SOUND OF MUSIC, Martha Jefferson in 1776, Cinderella in INTO THE WOODS, and Laurey in OKLAHOMA (opposite Rue McClanahan), to name a few. TV roles include BOSTON LEGAL, THE BOLD AND THE BEAUTIFUL, ALL MY CHILDREN, PASSIONS, The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, and many commercials including Simmons Beauty Rest Mattresses for whom she is the National & International Spokeswoman. Though semi-retired from musical theatre, Ms. Mortenson recently returned to the Bay Area last summer to perform the role of Maria in THE SOUND OF MUSIC, (her fourth production of this role), at the Sacramento Music Theatre. Her main passion now is teaching Voice to children and adults and has a successful voice studio in Los Angeles and Thousand Oaks. Cristin is a proud member of Actors Equity Association, and the Screen Actors Guild.

Susan Nappi, MPHJazz Kids

Susan Nappi has been dancing since the age of 5. Since that time, she has been influenced by jazz, African and modern technique (Humphrey, Ailey) and has studied dance at SUNY Purchase in Purchase, NY. More recently, Susan has studied modern dance as a member of the Kiva Dance Collective (2002 to present). She has danced in original works by the Collective, performed in the 2002 Choreographer’s Forum (Pajama Pageant by Judith Ehrman-Shapiro), Brass City Ballet’s 2010 Gala (Mother’s Pearls by Mary Barnett). Recent performances include Salix Productions Dancing in Pink (2010, 2011), which benefits breast cancer awareness. Susan has also choreographed two pieces for the Collective, Crowded Solo and How the Light Gets In. She has also studied African with New Haven-based Aly Tatchol Camara.

When she is not dancing, Susan works as a Research Associate at Yale University’s School of Public Health where she received her Master’s in Public Health. She resides in Middlebury with her husband, Brandon and their two budding dancers, Sophia and Ellie.

Karin TerebessyYoga

Karin Terebessy is a Yoga Alliance certified Yoga instructor who has been leading yoga classes throughout Connecticut for years. From prenatal and baby and toddler classes, through intermediate and senior classes, Karin believes there is a yoga practice for everyone, during every and any phase of life. Karin takes a student centered approach to teaching, leading classes based on special requests of participants. Offering a variety of modifications, participants are encouraged to challenge themselves or nurture themselves based on their needs on any particular day. Yoga is not about progress, but about presence. With a deep focus on breath and alignment, students are encouraged to take traditional yoga asanas to the next level of awareness.

Karin also holds a Masters Degree in Literature and Creative Writing and has been a college professor, social service worker, and is currently the proud mother of two beautiful daughters. She likes to think about philosophy, mathematics and physics. Laughing and smiling are big with Karin.