Ballet Virginia’s faculty bring professional experience, proven training techniques, and a love of dance to the classroom.
Suzanne Lownsbury
Ms. Lownsbury began her training with the Toledo Ballet and Charlotte Regional Ballet, continuing her studies in Tidewater Ballet Association’s residency program under the direction of Gene Hammett. Suzanne embarked on her professional dance career with Cleveland Ballet as a trainee, progressing to soloist and principal roles within a year. For the next 11 years, she danced professionally for the Cleveland/San Jose Ballet. Her many featured roles included Juliet in Romeo and Juliet, Helena in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Maria and Tzarina in Dennis Nahat’s renowned Nutcracker, Swanilda in Coppelia, the title role in Giselle and many neo-classical roles.
Suzanne joined Virginia Ballet Theatre in 1994, dancing such roles as the Greedy One in Three Virgins and a Devil, as well as Lucy in the world premiere of Dracula. She also joined the VBT Academy faculty, becoming Assistant Director in 2000. Her teaching credits include School of Cleveland Ballet, Cleveland City Dance, Evelyn Ott School of Dance, and Virginia Governor’s School for the Arts.
In the spring of 2008, Suzanne set out on a journey with Janina Michalski to create Ballet Virginia with the support of many devoted and dedicated parents. She is proud to be the Co-Artistic Director of Ballet Virginia along with Janina, and is looking forward to many successful years with the Academy and Company seasons. Suzanne is also extremely proud of her daughter, Jacquelyn Long, who is an alum of Ballet Virginia and is a member of Houston Ballet Company.
Janina Michalski
Originally from Southern California, Ms. Janina began her early training in the Los Angeles area. She trained with Joffrey Ballet under the instruction of Meredith Bayliss, Dorothy Lister, Cho-San Goh, Basil Thompson and Glenn White on scholarship. At 16 years, Ms. Bove apprenticed with Los Angeles Ballet under the direction of John Clifford, where she studied extensively with Irena Kosmovska. As a member of the Pacific Association for Regional Ballet, Ms. Bove was awarded scholarships to the Craft of Choreography Conferences sponsored Regional Dance America.
Ms. Bove danced professionally with Atlantic City Ballet, Colorado Ballet and the Cleveland Ballet, where she performed as Soloist and Principal dancer. During her professional career, Janina traveled the country as a guest dance and teacher. Following her move back to California in 1985, Ms. Bove was Co-Director of her own company and academy where she was choreographer-in-residence for six years. Upon an offer from Glenn White, Ms. Bove moved to Hampton Roads where she served as Academy Director and rehearsal assistant for VBT’s professional company for 17 years. During this time, she was a faculty member of the Virginia Governor’s School for the Arts for 13 years.
In recognition of her talents, Ms. Bove was awarded a Presidential Citation from the Governor’s School for Visual and Performing Arts at the University of Richmond. In the Spring of 2008, Janina set out on a journey with Suzanne Lownsbury Long to create Ballet Virginia International with the support of many dedicated and talented community leaders. Janina is now Co Director of Ballet Virginia where she continues to train dancers, choreograph classical and neo-classical works, coach dancers for the Youth American Grand Prix and has co-choreographed Alice in Wonderland, The Nutcracker, Twelve Dancing Princesses, Peter and the Wolf and Sleeping Beauty.
Lisa McCarty
Ms. Lisa started her dance training at a local dance school and quickly fell in love with ballet and jazz. At age twelve, she began serious training at the Washington School of Ballet. Summer intensives at Richmond Ballet, Pennsylvania Ballet, Jacob’s Pillow and Joffrey Ballet rounded out her training.
After high school, Ms. McCarty attended Point Park College as a dance major. She then went on to dance with Richmond Ballet and Nevada Dance Theatre. Ms. McCarty danced in classics such as Giselle, Swan Lake, Les Sylphides and The Nutcracker as well as many contemporary works. After several years of professional ballet work, she began working in commercial dance.
For over ten years she performed in various Las Vegas casino shows including The Aladdin and Flamingo Hilton as well as tours to Italy, Japan, Mexico and Korea. Dancing also allowed her to travel around the world while performing on Royal Viking and Cunard Line cruise ships. While performing in Las Vegas shows, Ms. Lisa also attended the University of Nevada, Las Vegas graduating magna cum laude with a Bachelor’s of Science in Business Administration.
Throughout her professional dance career, Ms. Lisa found time to share her love of dance with the next generation through teaching. She has taught in Richmond, Las Vegas, Northern Virginia and many studios in Hampton Roads. Ms. Lisa moved back to Virginia in 1998. She taught jazz and ballet at Virginia Ballet Theatre among other local studios before coming to Ballet Virginia.
In 2008, she became Ballet Virginia’s Children’s Program Director and Marketing Director. Ms. Lisa also serves on the adjunct faculty of Old Dominion University where she teaches various levels of ballet. In 2018, she travelled to Boston to earn a certification in Adaptive Dance and started a small dance program for children with special needs at Ballet Virginia.
She lives in the Riverview area of Norfolk with her husband, two boys and a naughty cat. She continues to teach ballet, pointe, conditioning and jazz to the newest generation of dancers while also overseeing the Children’s Program as well as the marketing and public relations efforts of Ballet Virginia.
Kaitlyn McMillion
Kaitlyn McMillion started her dance training at the age of three in a small town in the Shenandoah Valley where she trained in classical ballet, tap, and jazz. She completed all twelve years of American Academy of Ballet’s ‘Performance Awards’ and performed in many full-length ballets. She also attended Shenandoah Valley Governor’s School for theater for two years. Her love for teaching started at an early age with assisting in younger classes and started her professional teaching career at eighteen. Kaitlyn also danced with the Charlottesville Ballet where she performed in their ‘Nutcracker Suite’ and ‘The Firebird.’ Soon after, she moved to Richmond, Virginia where she was a ballet instructor with Village Dance Studios for five years. There she choreographed many original pieces, including a yearly performance of The Nutcracker.
Jennie Teller
Jennifer Teller was born in Manila, Philippines and later moved to Colorado where she began her ballet training at the age of two at Metropolitan Academy of Dance and then later at the International Ballet School. When she was 16 she received her first professional roles in David Taylor Dance Theatre’s Nutcracker where she danced eight different roles. Jennie was a featured dancer on the hit television show So You Think You Can Danceand then made her move to New York City when she received a contract with the world-renowned Complexions Contemporary Ballet. She danced on some of the most popular stages around the world including Russia, Latvia, and Israel and many more. With the company, she was part of music videos including Niall Rodgers and Jill Scott. During her second season with Complexions, she was asked to go to South Africa to be the guest artist at the Artscape Opera House in Cape Town and was also invited to teach and coach students all over South Africa. She lived there for half a year then returned to New York to dance with Complexions. She currently lives in Hampton Roads.
Additional Teaching Staff
Abbie Siebert
Amy Brown
Amy Haley
Alex Martin
Ashley Whitlinger
Beth Harr
Brante Goimarac
Celeste Ristow
Erin Myfanwy
Gianna Coco
Helen Gault
Helen Hope
Janelle Jones
Leah Upchurch
Sophia Perrotti
James Sudbury, accompanist
Wardrobe:
Judith Fortier