Tara, a native of Columbus, Ohio, began her training at the age of three. She studied ballet, tap, and jazz throughout her childhood. Her decisions to audition into a college dance program lead her to begin classes in modern with Susan Van Pelt. She also began assistant teaching in the children’s division classes. In 1994 Tara was accepted into the top ranked dance department at the Ohio State University. While obtaining her Bachelors in Arts she trained under Melanie Bales, Susan Hadley, Karen Eliot, Victoria Uris, and Bebe Miller. In 1995 she attended the Paul Taylor Summer Intensive in New York City. Following her love of teaching she began her teaching career with the Columbus Youth Ballet. She served as the children’s division ballet teacher as well as the modern teacher and choreographer for four years under the direction of Shir Lee Wu. While a part of the faculty she also became a rehearsal director for the Nutcracker as well as set several modern pieces on the pre professional company. She graduated with a Bachelor in Arts with honors in 1997 from the Ohio State University. That summer Tara attended the Chautauqua Ballet’s teacher intensive under the direction of Jean Pierre Bonnefoux, former principal dancer with the New York City Ballet and Patricia McBride, former prima ballerina with the New York City Ballet. It was upon completing that intensive that her decision to focus on teaching and not performing was made and she set out to create her own children’s ballet syllabus that would be implemented into several ballet schools across the city.

In 1999, Tara, along with co-founder Alisa Bernard, opened the New Albany Ballet Company. Her dream of creating the “ideal dance school” was well received in the New Albany community. The school has grown to include over 650 students ranging in age from toddlers to adult students. In 2002 Tara became sole owner of the school. In the coming years the school has established itself as one of the premier ballet programs in the city. Her commitment to hire a professional faculty has allowed the school to provide the best ballet, tap, jazz, and modern training. The New Albany Ballet Company provides each student the best dance training, most professional performance experience, and opportunity to train in one of the finest dance facility in the State.

In 2003 Tara founded the New Albany Children’s Ballet Theatre, a not for profit 501c3 youth company. Her goal was to create a youth performing company that would stage professional repertoire and ballet performances while keeping the burden of the cost off of its dancers. The Theatre has had successful donation campaigns. The Theatre hosts its own Father Daughter Ball which has been a sold out success each year. NACBT has received generous donations from the Wexner Family, the Hinson Family Trust, Lexus, Schottenstein Homes, and various other community organizations.

Tara, along with her husband Darren and two children Madeline and Isabella, reside in New Albany.

Amy Tremante received her professional ballet training at the Dallas Ballet Academy and the Arts Magnet High School in in Dallas, Texas. In the summers, she studied at the Royal Danish Ballet, the Boston Ballet and the Dance Theater of Harlem. In high school, Amy danced as a student CORPS de Ballet member of the Dallas Ballet and was a finalist in the Presidential Scholars for the Arts Competition in ballet and jazz.

As a professional dancer, Amy was a member of the North Carolina Dance Theatre and the Tulsa Ballet Theater, where she was a soloist. Amy was also a member of the premiere cast of Flemming Flindt’s ballet, “Lucifer’s Daughter,” which was created for the Queen of Denmark’s 25th wedding anniversary. Some of Amy’s favorite roles include the Spring Fairy in “Cinderella,” Princess Florine in “Sleeping Beauty,” the Snow Queen in “The Nutcracker,” Cupid in “Don Quixote,” Prayer in “Coppelia,” Helena in “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” Mazurka in “Les Sylphides,” the Lead Cancan in “Gaite Parisienne,” Betsy in “The Mighty Casey,” Captain of the Amazons in “Con Amore,” Balloon Girl in “Clowns and Others,” Bolero in “Footage,” a soloist in “Napoli,” as well as being in “La Sylphide” and “Romeo and Juliet.”

After completing her professional dance career, Amy went on to complete a BA from The Ohio State University, where she graduated Summa Cum Laude with Distinction in English. Amy has been on the faculty of the New Albany Ballet Company since its inception in 1999. She has taught ballet at every level of the school and is deeply honored to have been instrumental in its growth and development through the years. She has also choreographed many ballets for the school, including “Symphony Fantastique,” “Elements,” “Magnets,” “Widmung,” “Sundance,” and “Brandenburg.”

Amy’s favorite part of teaching is watching students grow up through in the school and seeing them develop their technique, artistry and confidence by expressing their love of dance. Amy enjoys her time away from dancing with her husband, Vince, and her three beautiful sons.

Jimmy Orrante began his dance training at the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts under Don Hewitt; studying later at the North Carolina School of the Arts. After 22 years as a professional dancer, the Los Angeles native ultimately retired from BalletMet. During his tenure there, he choreographed more than 15 premieres for the company, including his highly successful full-length ballet, “The Great Gatsby,” which was recently reprised in BalletMet’s 2014-2015 season.

In 2005, Jimmy received the 2005 inaugural Princess Grace Choreographic Fellowship. In spring 2011, he was honored with the National Choreographic Recognition Award for Regional Dance America and was selected in the fall of that year as Choreographer In Residence at Denison University. He received the Special Project Grant from the Princess Grace Foundation, as well as a grant from the National Endowment of the Arts to collaborate with the Ohio State University’s Center for Computer Art and Design and multimedia composer, Sean Beeson. The grant’s collaboration resulted in the “Illuminated Tapestry,” which premiered in April 2012 and utilized the Xbox Kinect’s motion-capture technology.

In March 2014, Jimmy created “Ya Me Fue” as one of three finalists in Ballet Austin’s New American Talent Choreographic Competition and later created “Balanced” on Motion Dance Theatre in Ashville, North Carolina.

Recently, Jimmy was awarded his third grant from the Princess Grace Foundation, the Choreography Mentorship Co-Commission (CMCC) award, as well as choreographing “Threads of Color” as part of Ballet Austin’s 2015 Director’s Choice Program.

Kelli Mitchell- Graban is a native of Lancaster, Ohio, where she grew dancing at the Baker School under the direction of Barbara Baker. Along with Barbara, she took classes and trained under Melanie Baker and Melinda Baker; dancing with the Lancaster Ballet Company under the direction of Melinda Baker. During her time at the school, she taught beginning through advanced classes in ballet and tap, where she choreographed award-winning tap competition pieces, along with teaching little children’s classes. She also taught company classes and choreographed for the Lancaster Ballet.

Kelli trained with BalletMet in their summer intensives under the direction of Wayne Soulan and John McFall, performing several years in their performances of “The Nutcracker,” including performing as the role of Fritz. She spent summers as a scholarship student at the Boston Ballet and Joffrey Ballet in New York.

During high school, Kelli got her first professional job as a dancer with the Garden State Ballet, where she was tutored through part of her high school education. After completing high school, she went on to dance professionally with the Lexington Ballet Company under the direction of Karl Kaufman and Kurt Hathaway. While in Lexington, she also performed with the Lexington Musical Theater in the musical “The Chorus Line,” as Kristine. Kelli went on to train in Chicago under Larry Long at the Ruth Page School. She performed professionally in the Ruth Page’s “Nutcracker” for several years.

Kelli has performed as a guest artist with several companies, including the Columbus Dance Theater under Tim Veach, Lancaster Ballet, while also performing many times with Lancaster Festival. Kelli has had the special opportunity to perform in the “Nutcracker” with her father as Herr Drosselmeier. She has had the pleasure of performing in many soloist and principle roles in ballets throughout her career.

Since retiring, Kelli has been teaching ballet and tap classes of all ages. She has also obtained her certification as an ABT Certified Teacher. Kelli dedicates her teaching to Barbara Baker, her mentor and dear friend throughout her career. Currently, she is teaching with the New Albany Ballet Company in their children’s and progressive divisions. She enjoys spending time with her two wonderful children and her husband Mark.