The Directors
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Deanna Cole-Roberts performed as a principal dancer
for over twenty five years in major cities throughout the
Southeast. Deanna was instrumental in the creation of the Virginia
Intermont College Ballet Department, where for seventeen years
she taught Ballet, Pointe, Modern, Jazz and Classical Variations.
She was a principal dancer in the Tennessee State Bicentennial
Ballet Company under the direction of Norbert Vesak, Director
of The Metropolitan Opera Ballet. Inspired by her abilities
as a dancer and especially as a performer, Mr. Vesak created
for her the beautiful pas de dues “Windsong.”. Her
extensive repertoire of performances include roles from Swan
Lake, Les Sylphides, Sleeping Beauty, the Sugar Plum Fairy in
The Nutcracker to her creation of the notoriously uninhibited
Cindy Lou in Mountain Ballad, choreographed by Constance Hardinge.
Deirdre Cole received
her training as a child from Sidney Lowenthal, now teaching at
the Joffrey Ballet Company School in New York City, and Brenda
Stygar, now Director of the Northeast Ohio Dance Ensemble and
former Ballet Mistress of the Ohio Ballet. She was invited as
a scholarship student at the unprecedented age of eleven to study
at the renowned Jacob’s Pillow in Lee Massachusetts and
as a nine year old understudied as the "child" in
the Tennessee State Bicentennial Company production of "Knoxville
1820," and at age 12 was accepted into advanced ballet classes
at Virginia Intermont College Ballet Department. Deirdre
brings to Highlands her expertise as an extraordinary teacher,
a performer and a choreographer.
