PERFORMING ARTS FACULTY

Heather Morris

Celtic Dance Program Director (Irish Step/Highland/Cape Breton)

Heather has been dedicated to teaching all aspects of Celtic Dance in Vermont since 2001.  She received her training from Alice McNeish T.M.R.F. & Moira McMahon T.C.R.G. in Irish Step, Anne Donlan in Highland and Kolten MacDonell and Bob McCormick in Cape Breton Step.  For the past 11 years Heather has been developing programs in Celtic dance across the state of Vermont, from Chittenden County to the Northeast Kingdom. She trains her students to participate in local performances, national and international competitions and examinations. Heather is a Certified Member and Fellow of the British Association of Teachers of Dancing (BATD), a Certified Member of the Scottish Dancer Teachers' Alliance (SDTA), and a Member of the American Association of Irish Dance Teachers. 

Scott Weigand

Musical Theatre Program Director and Production Director

Scott is a native of Pittsburgh, who moved to Vermont in 2007. He studied theatre at California University of Pennsylvania. A veteran of children’s theatre, he toured nationally with Story Salad Productions "Amelia Bedelia 4 Mayor". With the Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera, he toured for two years performing all over Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia. He has been seen in or directed over 75 productions, community, college and professional theatre He is a founding member of Tip My Cup Productions, in New York City, a theatre company dedicated to the production of new works. Scott is also the Director for Harwood Unions spring musical, and is the Director of Montpelier High Schools Theatre program.  Favorite roles include: Jesus (Godspell), Tony (West Side Story), Judas (Jesus Christ Superstar), Freddy, the American (Chess), and Jason (Medea). He began Café Noir productions, with the goal of bringing professional theatre together with community members and students to create an educational theatre experience in the Mad River Valley.   For Cafe Noir he has been seen in Miss Saigon in Concert as the Engineer, Judas in "Godspell", Charlie Brown in "You're a Good Man Charlie Brown", and Forbidden Xmas –3 in the role of Hersh. He created and starred in Sentimental Guy, the Songs of Ben Folds, as well as creating "Murder on Mascara Mountain" the murder mystery spectacular. He has had a hand in creating, performing or directing all of Cafe Noir's cabarets, and is an acting coach and Director for their summer program, "Side By Side".

Stefanie Weigand

Musical Theatre/Voice

Stefanie Maas Weigand attended Ithaca College where she received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Musical Theatre. There she appeared in many mainstage performances, such as, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, BatBoy, Parade, SideShow and A Little Night Music. While in Ithaca, she was also the musical director/pianist for The Last 5 Years and The Pirates of Penzance at the Kitchen Theatre. After moving to NYC, Stefanie was cast as Amelia Bedelia in a national children’s theatre tour of Amelia Bedelia 4 Mayor. Seven months on the road led Stefanie back to NYC where she and six friends started their own theatre company called Tip My Cup Productions. The city also led her to the New York Choral Society with whom she sang in various venues: at Lincoln Center with the Met Orchestra and Soloists, at Carnegie Hall, and in Madison Square Garden for Andrea Bocelli’s Concert Tour. Stefanie now resides in Vermont with her husband, daughter and two dogs where she teaches voice and piano lessons. Since moving back to Vermont, Stefanie has directed, musical directed and performed in many shows with Cafe Noir productions, Mad River Chorale and the Green Mountain Opera Festival and she is thrilled to be a part of Green Mountain Performing Arts. 

Ernest "E-Knock" Phillips

Hip Hop Dance Program Director

Ernest "E-Knock" Phillips is a professional dancer and choreographer who has recently relocated from Boston to Vermont.  In 2010, his crew 'Status Quo' battled the Jabowokeez in the finals on MTV's "America's Best Dance Crew." Ernest has danced all over the United States and abroad.  He has appeared as a dancer or choreographer on MTV's "Made" Hip Hop Challenge, NBC's "America's Got Talent," BET's "106 & Park," and Fox 25's "So You Think You Can Dance."  He has also toured internationally with the Connecticut based professional dance company, Pilobolus.  Ernest is also on the summer faculty for ADTC (American Dance Training Camp).  Ernest is very excited to share his love of hip hop dance and culture with our students at GMPA and he is also looking forward to bringing different street and club styles of hip hop dance to our program as well as performance technique and body conditioning.     

Sam Bright
Hip Hop

Sam Bright spent most of her young life in competitive gymnastics in Northern California. When her family moved back to her home state of Vermont, she became interested in hip-hop dancing. Sam has been a member of the Vermont Elements dance company at Urban Dance Complex for two years and starred as the role of "Neil" in their recent production "Grimey Grooves" based off of Dirty Dancing. Sam competed on the MMU Varsity Dance Team for the past four years, winning the state championship in hip-hop for 2011. You can find Sam dancing in the music video of "I Make Records" by The Aztexts. She has taken master classes at Millennium Dance Complex in LA and hopes to pursue a career in dance and choreography.  

Joey Maldonado

Hip Hop

Joey is from Holyoke, MA and he started dancing at age 4 with his mother's Latin dance group. They performed for several years in festivals and competitions across Western Massuchesetts. Joey began to perform in musicals during his freshman year of high school.  During this time, he was trained in tap by Lori Todd, which eventually got him a lead in the musical, 42nd Street.  After high school, he attended Johnson State College as a musical theatre major, where he became captain of the dance ensemble advised by Maris Wolffe.   He has had the opportunity to take class with Nick Demoura (Justin Bieber), Devin Jamieson (MJ's This Is It tour), David Moore (Kidz Bop Tour Choreographer) and Marty Kudelka (Justin Timberlake's choreographer).  Joey currently teaches his groovy style of hip hop in various studios in Vermont and plans to pursue a career in dance.

Calvin Walker

Breakin'

Calvin first became interested in dance at age 13, when a couple of friends invited him to perform as a breakdancer in a school talent show. He continued his dance education in high school, enrolling in classes taught by Cheri Skurdall. In 2005 Calvin and several other Vermont breakdancers based out of Newport and Lyndonville formally established the Rhythm Riderz Crew. In 2007, the Rhythm Riderz Crew became a sponsored street performing act on the Church Street Market Place. Calvin continues to pursue his dance education and teach classes at studios across Vermont.

Paula Higa

Ballet/Modern/Creative Dance

Paula Higa is a freelance performer, teacher and choreographer originally from Brazil. Trained in the Royal Academy of Dance methodology, she has taught and prepared students for R.A.D. exams. Professionally, she performed as a modern dancer with “Theatrum Cia de Dança” in São Paulo, Brazil under direction of Roberto Peres. She also performed with Tiffany Rhynard and the Big Action Performance Ensemble in Vermont and Diverse Space Dance Theater under direction of Toni Bravo in Austin, Texas. Paula holds a degree in chemical engineering; however the chemistry that she likes the most happens on stage!

Martina Price

Ballet

Martina taught ballet at the Vermont Conservatory of Ballet in Essex for 7 years. She enjoys sharing her love of dance with children, teenagers, and adults alike. Trained in the Vaganova technique, Martina adds her love of life and joyous nature to her classes. She resides in Jericho where she home schools her four daughters. In her spare time she gets involved with as many theatrical, musical, or dance performances as time permits!

Sidra Hoffman

Ballet

Sidra began her ballet training at the age of five at the Adams School of Dance in Rutland Vermont. At the age of twelve she began as an apprentice with the Vermont Chamber Ballet.  After attending the 2001 Summer Program at the Jose Mateo Ballet Theatre in Cambridge Massachusetts, she was promoted to the rank of principal dancer with the Vermont Chamber Ballet at the age of fourteen. She performed featured roles in Tchaikovsky’s the Nutcracker and originated feature roles in multiple other ballets. In 2004 Sidra competed in a regional Dance Educator’s of America (DEA) competition and after winning a gold medal and an award for an exceptional performance, she advanced on to the National competition in New York City where she was awarded gold medals for both solo and group performances. During the years of 2002 and 2005, she spent her summers training under Marcia Dale Weary of the Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet. Sidra attended the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, and continued to perform with the Mountain West Ballet. She graduated in May of 2009 with a Bachelors of Science and is currently pursuing a graduate degree in Pathology at the University of Vermont.  In addition to teaching ballet, Sidra also headed up the dance program for U-Fit, a Utah based adaptive dance program. 

Taryn Noelle

Jazz/Ballroom/Theatre/Vocals

Originally from Toronto, Canada, Taryn studied dance and gymnastics from an early age. After relocating to Vermont for high school, she included theater, theater dance and music to her repertoire. Taryn spent two years studying in New York City at the Circle in Square Theatre School, furthering her studies in dance, acting, music and movement. Taryn returned to Vermont in 2005 and since then she has been performing  and choreographing for musicals, teaching Latin and Ballroom dance, and teaching modern and lyrical dance. Taryn also teaches private Jazz/Pop/Broadway style vocal lessons in the area. 

Bob Brookens

Music Instructor

Bob is a performer, music educator and music therapist.  He attended West Chester University in PA where he studied music education and then performance, earning a BA in music performance.  Bob also attended Temple University in Philadelphia, PA studying music therapy.  He earned a second Bachelor’s degree and a Master’s in music therapy at Temple.  Bob has been teaching privately for 20 years on an assortment of instruments including guitar, cello, bass, percussion, piano, saxophone, flute, clarinet, mandolin and voice.  He has been practicing music therapy for 9 years and is currently starting a private practice in Vermont.  Bob has performed and recorded with many local bands in the Pennsylvania region and has toured nationally and internationally with Cubby Checker.  Bob and his wife, Colleen, created "Kids Creating Music" over 8 years ago and have brought music to young people all over PA and now to VT for the past year.  Bob also created and has been facilitating "Music Explore" for several years, which is a more hands on approach to exploring musical instruments for older children. 

GMPA is always looking for inspiring teachers to join our team. If you are interested in teaching, please contact us.