Teachers & Staff
Select a teacher or staff member to learn more about the passionate team behind SLC Ballet.
Artistic Director
Assistant Director
Office Staff
Teacher
Website Manager
Teacher
Accompanist
Teacher
Teacher
Teacher
Teacher
Teacher
Office Staff
Office Staff
Teruyo S. Davis
Owner/Artistic Director/Teacher
Classes
Teruyo “Terry” S. Davis has been the owner, director, and primary teacher of SLC Ballet since 2012.
Education & Early Career
Born and raised in Japan, Mrs. Davis trained with Yurisu Ballet before moving to the United States. She received a Bachelor of Fine Arts (2009) and Master of Fine Arts (2011) in Ballet Pedagogy from the University of Utah School of Dance.
Mrs. Davis has been teaching ballet, pointe and character dance for 22 years now. Outside of her personal education, she has served as a Guest Teacher at multiple institutions, including the University of Utah, Utah Valley University, Brigham Young University, Utah Metropolitan Ballet, and Clara Ballet School (Japan).
While pursuing her MFA, she served as Assistant Director of the Character Dance Ensemble (CDE), dedicating her time to being a graduate-teaching assistant, teaching character dance classes, as well as organizing international tours and fundraiser performances for the department. She was also able to study in Spain, Japan, Greece, and Costa Rica.
She performed as a Guest Artist in the Vaganova Dance Society’s 20th Anniversary Gala (2008). She also performed in the international gala performance as a dancer and choreographer in Tokyo, Japan (2009), and at the National University of Costa Rica (2010).
During this time, Mrs. Davis had the opportunity to stage excerpts and full length classical ballets for her school performances, including such classics as: Swan Lake, La Bayadere, Le Corsaire, Coppelia, Sleeping Beauty, Midsummer Night’s Dream, Don Quixote, The Nutcracker, and Paquita.
In addition to her post-graduate education, Mrs. Davis has also completed the 2012 Teacher’s Training Course with the Vaganova Dance Society, held in St. Petersburg, Russia and is also Progressing Ballet Technique (PBT) certified.
Most recently, she attended and successfully passed a certified examination under Professor Olga Dozortseva for the Bolshoi Ballet Academy Online Teacher Training Seminar, Method of Teaching Classical Ballet For Intermediate Classes, Vaganova Syllabus, Year 4.
teaching & choreography
Her choreography has been presented in multiple local and international events including ballet showcases and graduate-student concerts at the University of Utah, ACDFA, Utah Ballet, and Utah Regional Ballet. Recently, her choreography has won 1st place at the 2024 Universal Ballet Competition (UBC).
She has coached students to top 12 finishes at Youth America Grand Prix, and to top 3 finishes at UBC. Numerous of her students have been accepted to prestigious programs at Vienna State Opera Ballet School, Bolshoi Ballet Academy, School of American Ballet, Burklyn Ballet Theatre, The HARID Conservatory, San Francisco Ballet School, Ballet West Professional Training Division, as well as the collegiate ballet programs of Brigham Young University, University of Utah, Utah Valley University, and University of Cincinnati.
Katheryn Nattress
Assistant Director/Teacher
Katheryn began her ballet training locally at Ballet Center Utah in Murray where she danced for ten years.
After some time away from dancing to start her family, she found her home at SLC Ballet where she initially became a student in the Adult Program and, 11 years later, has had the opportunity to perform in multiple productions including: The Nutcracker, Giselle, Swan Lake, La Bayadère, and many others.
Katheryn began working at SLC Ballet as a parent volunteer in 2018, and over the years has taken on more responsibilities. She took over managing the office-side of the studio in 2023, and now serves as the Assistant Director. She also teaches at the studio and is Progressing Ballet Technique (PBT) certified.
She is always happy to talk to parents and students, answer their questions, and receive comments and suggestions in pursuit of constantly striving to make SLC Ballet the best it can be!
Katheryn loves connecting and finding creative ways to teach new ballet steps to her students.
darylann ashby
office staff
DarylAnn Ashby began taking ballet, tap, and jazz classes at Gunn School of Dance under Ginger Gunn in the East Millcreek area when she was 9. She continued her training at Hawaii State Ballet under John Landovsky.
She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Ballet from Bringham Young University, and performed with their Theater Ballet group.
After graduating, DarylAnn danced on and off, including with SLCC Dance Company for a semester while raising her family.
In the fall of 2013, she found SLC Ballet just in time to join them for their first Nutcracker. She has danced in a majority of SLC Ballet productions since, including her favorite: Swan Lake, where she got to perform in the Little Swans variation.
In addition to performing with SLC Ballet, she has also done a few performances with Mountain West Ballet.
Darylann has been a member of our office team since 2023. She loves being at the studio with her ballet family and hopes to continue dancing for many more years
Seth Bertagnole
Teacher
Classes
Seth Bertagnole graduated with his Bachelor’s of Fine Arts in Dance Science from the University of Wyoming in 2021. He trained in ballet, pas de deux, vertical dance, and several styles of modern dance (including the Jose Limon, Laban/Bartenieff, and Paul Taylor techniques). During this time, Seth also had the opportunity to work with professional dancers from The Limon Dance Company, The Paul Taylor Company, Dance Theater of Harlem, as well as The Boston Ballet.
Continuing and expanding on his studies of movement, Seth graduated from the University of Michigan with his Doctorate of Physical Therapy Degree in 2024. He continued his ballet training at the Flint Institute of Performing Arts where he worked with professionals from Collage Dance Collective and Complexions Contemporary Ballet.
Seth has had the opportunity to be in several productions including The Nutcracker, La Bayadere, Peter and the Wolf, Alice and Wonder Land, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
Jenaha Hochhalter
Teacher
Classes
Jenaha Hochhalter is a versatile performing and teaching artist with a BFA in Musical Theatre from Syracuse University. She began her training in ballet at the age of four, establishing a classical foundation that has continued to shape her career across stage and screen.
Jenaha brings a collaborative and student-centered approach to her teaching which she attributes as rooted in her early ballet discipline, and enriched by over a decade of professional experience.
Jenaha has portrayed leading roles such as “Marian” in The Music Man, “Maria” in The Sound of Music, and “Beth” in Little Women. Her work spans regional theatre (Syracuse Stage, Rubicon Theatre Company, Lewis Family Playhouse), North American and national tours (Peppa Pig’s Surprise, Octonauts Live), film, and television.
Whether on stage or in the studio, Jenaha blends technical precision with expressive depth to inspire both audiences and young artists alike.
Irena Kapriyelova
Accompanist
Irena Kapriyelova was born in the former Soviet Union to an oil engineer and a music professor.
At the age of 7, she was accepted to the School of Gifted Children to continue to learn music with emphasis in piano performance.
After graduation she was accepted to a State Music Academy piano faculty.
At the Academy she met her spouse, who is also a musician, and both graduated with MFA’s.
She has since been working as a piano teacher and a ballet piano accompanist.
In 1991 Irena, her spouse, and their two sons, moved to the U.S. as refugees, where she has been a piano accompanist for ballet ever since.
cora lazalde
teacher
Classes
Cora Lazalde is a certified Classical Chinese Dance teacher who received her dance diploma from Beijing Dance Academy, where she was also able to train in Han Tang Chinese Classical Dance.
She started her dance training at age 3, studying ballet, Chinese dance, and modern dance with Yang Su Zhen Dance Conservatory under Su Zhen Yang and Yu Ling Du, distinguished members of the National Taiwan University of Arts Dance Department.
At 17, Cora started teaching Chinese Dance, with her debut choreography winning first place in the Chinese Dance category at the 1997 High School Dance Competition in Taipei, Taiwan. This achievement also gained recognition on national television.
Since moving to the United States, Cora has also continued to expand on her ballet training with world-renowned instructors such as Carolyn Anderson Barnett, Alexi Zubiria, Regina Zarhina and Mikhail Tchoupakov. She is also Progressing Ballet Technique (PBT) certified.
Cora also co-founded the Utah Chinese Dance Association in 2012.
Brimley olliff
teacher
Classes
Brimley Olliff started dancing at the age of 5 with Genuine Dance in Eager, Arizona. She continued her studies of ballet, jazz, musical theatre and modern dance with Juneau Dance Theatre in Juneau, Alaska where she had the opportunity to dance in various roles such as “Clara,” “Dew Drop Fairy,” and “Sugar Plum Fairy” in The Nutcracker, “Odette” in Swan Lake, and “Myrtha” in Giselle. She also began to explore choreography, frequently performing solo pieces choreographed herself.
In 2018, Brimley joined SLC Ballet as a student. During her time as a student, she got to reprise the roles of “Dew Drop Fairy,” and “Sugar Plum Fairy” in The Nutcracker, as well as performed “Finger Fairy,” and “Lilac Fairy,” in Sleeping Beauty.
She went on to compete at Youth America Grand Prix (2019) under the direction of Terry Davis, just before beginning her professional career with U.S. International Ballet in Wilmington, North Carolina.
Walden Smith
Teacher
Walden Smith is currently a Contemporary Dance major at the University of Utah and is also a member of their Character Dance Ensemble.
She first began dancing with Tanner Dance Program at the University of Utah when she was 4 years old. Two years later, she transferred to SLC Ballet where she progressed through the Elementary and Academy programs until graduating from high school in 2026.
As a student at SLC Ballet, she had the opportunity to choreograph solo and ensemble pieces, as well as compete at Youth America Grand Prix (YAGP) and Universal Ballet Competition (UBC). Most notably, she placed 10th in the Solo Contemporary category at UBC Salt Lake City with her own original choreography.
She has performed in eleven SLC Ballet’s Nutcrackers with roles ranging from “Toy Soldier” to “Sugar Plum Fairy” and in all of the Spring Shows – her favorite role was dancing as the “Lilac Fairy” in Sleeping Beauty.
She has participated in Summer Intensives with Joffrey Ballet School JoffreyRED, the University of Utah, Butler University, and Ballet Hispanico.
Walden considers SLC Ballet like a second home, and she is excited to be able to teach here while she pursues her BFA.
Sophie Starks
Teacher
Classes
Sophie Starks is an alum of SLC Ballet. During her time as a student she began working with former faculty member Maureen Laird–who also served as the Associate Professor at the University of Utah Ballet Department for over 30 years–and credits her teaching as being significantly impactful to her training.
Sophie has consistently placed in competitions including being a 2x Finalist at Youth America Grand Prix, 3rd place at Bari Ballet Competition and Top 12 at World Ballet Competition.
At 16, she was invited to live and study at San Francisco Ballet School. During her lifetime of dance, she participated in summer intensives with Southland Ballet Academy, Dmitri Kulev Classical Ballet Academy, Ellison Ballet Academy, Bolshoi Ballet Academy and many others.
Sophie has had the honor of training privately with other technically renowned artists such as Misha Tchoupakov, Dmitri and Jennifer Kulev, Larissa and Gennadi Saveliev, Patrick Armand, Christopher Powney, Pietro Ferlito, Claudio Muñoz, Joy Womack and Nadia Kahn.
Courtney whelan
office staff
Courtney Whelan has a Master’s Degree in History and a Post-Bachelor’s degree in Secondary Education from Utah Valley University.
Her first introduction to SLC Ballet was when her three daughters each began participating in a different program, giving Courtney exposure to the Pre-Ballet, Elementary 2, and Academy 2 programs simultaneously.
While she grew up doing ballet and tap, she took a long hiatus from dancing. In 2023, she began working on the administrative side of SLC Ballet, and also began taking our adult foundations classes. She–like many of our adult students–is a delightful reminder to all that it is never too late to return to ballet.
Courtney’s favorite part of working for SLC Ballet is all of the kids that she gets to know and spend time with.
Kyohei Yoshida
Teacher/Guest artist
Classes
Kyohei is a former international professional ballet dancer who started his training in Tokyo, Japan. He began attending the Elmhurst School in the UK on full scholarship where he got to perform with the Birmingham Royal Ballet. While attending the school, he received medals from major competitions in Japan and China.
He also trained at prestigious schools such as the Rock School of Dance in Philadelphia, San Francisco Ballet School, and The Washington Ballet in Washington D.C.
He went on to compete at the USA International Ballet Competition, one of the largest and most renowned ballet competitions in the world. He performed six different ballet pieces and was awarded the bronze medal in 2010.
He has performed and danced professionally in Slovakia, Japan, Michigan, Miami, and California. We are fortunate to have had him guest in a number of our productions.
Some of his most notable professional roles include “Melancholic” in Balanchine’s The Four Temperaments, “Basil” in Don Quixote, “Ali” in Le Corsaire, “Bronze Idol” in La Bayadere, “Iago” in Jose Limon’s The Moor’s Pavane, “Prince Desire” in Sleeping Beauty, and “Prince Siegfried” in Kent Stowell’s Swan Lake.
katie wise
office staff/Teacher
Katie Wise began dancing in Southern Maryland at the age of 2 and continued to dance through high school at Ballet Caliente Classical School of Dance under Sheryl-Marie Dunaway.
She attended Ballet West’s Summer Intensive program two years in a row after performing in their 2018 performances of The Nutcracker at the John F. Kennedy Center in Washington D.C.
Katie has had the honor of studying under two notable Ballet Mistresses in the D.C. area through Ballet Caliente’s summer programs: Kristen Gallagher of The Susanne Farrell Ballet and Sona Kharatian of The Washington Ballet.
During her training, Katie has had the joy of dancing the part of “Alice” in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, “Wendy” in Peter Pan, as well as almost every role in The Nutcracker.
Katie began assistant teaching in 2018 and, by 2021, transitioned into leading classes of her own.
After graduating high school in 2023, she took a short break from ballet to attend The University of Utah, where she is currently pursuing her degree Biomedical Engineering.
She came across SLC Ballet’s adult program at the end of her sophomore year, and is now the Pre-Ballet instructor as well as a valued member of the office team.
Katie enjoys using the intersection of her previous dance studies and current biomechanics studies to teach the art of movement to young dancers. Her favorite part of teaching is seeing the moment when a dance step starts to click in a young dancer’s mind!