Master Class Series
Robin Sherertz Morgan
Executive director of the San Diego Ballet
A native of San Diego, Ms. Morgan began her dancing career with the original San Diego Ballet under the guidance of Richard Carter and Nancy Johnson and later Jillana & Sonia Arova. In 1971, having been awarded a full Ford Foundation Scholarship to the School of American Ballet, she trained under such notables as Alexandra Danilova, Felia Doubrovska, Muriel Stuart, Antonina Tumkovsky and Stanley Williams. Later she danced with New York City Ballet under the direction of George Balanchine, toured with Suki Schorer’s New York City Ballet Lecture Ensemble, and performed in the Virgin Islands with Helgi Tomasson and Kay Mazzo NYCB Troupe.
Returning to San Diego, Ms. Morgan developed her reputation first as a notable dancer and later as a teacher in many local studios. She served on the faculty of the School for the Creative and Performing Arts (SCPA) in Chula Vista, as an officer for the San Diego Dance Alliance, and Rehearsal Assistant for San Francisco Ballet’s San Diego productions of Nutcracker, Swan Lake and Sleeping Beauty. Ms. Morgan has choreographed dances for various theatre groups as well as network television including the NBC-TV movie “Jonathan, the Boy Nobody Wanted.” She gives masterclasses at studios, summer programs, universities, and was honored by the San Diego Area Dance Alliance for her leadership in the dance community.In 1989, she founded the San Diego School of Ballet developing talented dancers and presenting successful student performances.
San Diego Ballet was established in 1991 to provide graduating students the opportunity to remain in San Diego and work alongside other professional dancers who would prefer to reside in this beautiful city than be forced to look elsewhere to find jobs. Ms. Morgan teamed up with Javier Velasco as Co-Directors and the new San Diego Ballet is now known for its innovative and creative style.
Victoria Vittum
Co-Founder Houston Repertoire Ballet
Nationally acclaimed teacher and choreographer, Victoria Vittum brings vision, passion, expertise and dedication to Ballet Center of Houston (BCH), which she founded in 1994. The following year, she co-founded Houston Repertoire Ballet with Gilbert Rome to extend training for talented BCH students beyond the studio, and to give them opportunities to perform onstage in pre-professional productions, often alongside professional guest dancers. Today, Ms. Vittum directs and teaches at both institutions, making it her mission to offer the best dance training in the Houston area and to perpetuate interest in the art of ballet.
Trained by Julio de Bittencourt, Ms. Vittum graduated from Lamar University with a BA in Dance Education. Since then she has been recognized with two Monticello Choreography Awards, Illinois State University’s Choreography Competition Award and nominations for General Electric’s American Choreographer Award. Ms. Vittum’s dance pieces have also been placed in the National Choreography Plans and presented at the Edinburgh Festival in Scotland. In 1998, she was honored by the Cultural Arts Council of Houston and the Texas Commission for her contribution to the city with a choreography fellowship.
For over a decade, Ms. Vittum served on the faculty of Margo Marshall School of Ballet and as resident choreographer and associate artistic director of the City Ballet of Houston. She was a faculty member of the Houston Ballet Academy and the Houston Ballet Company under the direction of Ben Stevenson. She was also resident choreographer at Gwinnett Ballet Theater in Atlanta, GA where she staged new productions of The Nutcracker, Swan Lake and Cinderella and choreographed original works that were presented at the Southeast festivals.
In addition to teaching at HRB, Ballet Center of Houston and Hope Stone, Ms. Vittum has been a guest teacher at Ballet Prejocaj of France, The Washington Ballet, and the Southeast and Southwest Regional Ballet Festivals, known today as Regional Dance America. In August of 2011, at the request of Stanton Welch, Ms. Vittum was invited back to Houston Ballet to teach company classes.
Since then she continues as a guest teacher for Houston Ballet, Houston Ballet II and is in her third summer as a full time faculty member for their summer intensive program.
Menghan Lou
Professional dancer for the Nederlands Dans Theater
Creator and Founder of Lou Motion
Master Class for Berrend Level 6, PP1 & 2 dancers on September 5 from 4:00 p.m. - 5:30 p.m.Menghan Lou was born in Chongqing (China). He studied at the Guangzhou Art School of China (1995 – 2000), the Shanghai Drama College (2000 – 2002) and the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst in Frankfurt (2005-2006). Menghan Lou gathered his first experiences in a company with the Guangdong Modern Dance Company in China. Afterwards he danced in NDT 2 (Junior Company of Nederlands Dans Theater) from 2007 until his promotion to NDT 1 in 2009. Over the years, he had the privilege of working alongside choreographers like Jirí Kylián, Paul Lightfoot & Sol Léon, William Forsythe, Ohad Naharin, Hans van Manen or Aszure Barton.
The companies Menghan Lou already created choreographies with include, amongst other, the Nederlands Dans Theater, the theater Korzo in The Hague, the Shanghai Dance Theater and the Los Angeles Ballet. Currently he is an independent artist and has also started his own project company called Lou Motion that has, in just a few short years, already staged productions in Europe, Asia and North America.