Artistic Staff
Instructors: Access Remote Time Clock HERE.
Eryn Michlitsch – Artistic Director
Children’s Division Ballet, Youth Division Ballet, Pre-Professional Division Ballet and Pointe
Eryn began her 38 years of dance experience with Kay Englert, at Washington Contemporary Ballet in Tacoma, WA. She has been accepted to many professional summer programs: Pacific Northwest Ballet, San Francisco Ballet, Kirov Ballet Academy, North Carolina School of the Arts, Houston Ballet Academy, Oregon Ballet Theatre, and Pennsylvania Rock School of Ballet. Eryn attended PNB, SFB and NCSA and was asked to stay on at PNB and NCSA. She has had the opportunity to study under prestigious names like: Melissa Hayden, Flemming Halby, Patricia Barker, Frank Bays, Dale Merrill and Sara de Luis. Academically, Eryn received a Bachelor’s Degree in Business/Marketing from Bethany Lutheran College. Her instruction places a large emphasis on the history, terminology, and structure of classical ballet.
Kelsey Chester – Assistant Director
Children’s Division, Youth Division, and Pre-Professional Tap and Jazz
Kelsey has been dancing since she was three-years-old. Her training started with Dance Conservatory of Southern Minnesota, in Mankato. Kelsey has eleven years of teaching experience beginning with the Dance Conservatory of Southern Minnesota, and currently the Mankato Ballet Company. Her 25 years of dance experience has given her a strong background in Ballet, Jazz, Tap and Modern. Kelsey attended Minnesota State University, Mankato where she graduated with her Bachelor’s degree in Mass Communications with an emphasis in Public Relations and a Minor in Dance. While there she participated in MSU Theater and Dance’s 2009 Spring Collection and the 2009 Fall Collection Dancing Communities. She also staged the production of Little Shop of Horrors for Merely Players. Kelsey is extremely excited to share her love of dance with Mankato Ballet Company.
Wendy Betters – Brand Manager
Children and Youth Division Ballet
Wendy’s dance experience began when she was 3 years old at Larkin Dance Studio learning tap, jazz and ballet. Her love for ballet grew and at the age of 13 she moved on to continue her training with Classical Ballet Academy (CBA), under the direction of Andrew and Cheryl Rist. She danced their repertoire including The Classic Nutcracker with roles in Snow, Flowers, Russian and Party Scene, Giselle, and At The Museum. After graduating in 1997 Wendy went on to study Art at the University of Minnesota, Duluth and was a dance minor under Doris Ressl. In the spring of 1999, her first choreographic work debut called Welcome to Heaven, in the Collaborative Spirits in Motion, Duluth, MN. Academically, Wendy has received a Bachelor’s Degree in Fine Art from the College of Visual Arts, St. Paul, MN.
Lori Holmes – Outreach Coordinator
Children and Youth Division Ballet
Originally from California, Lori started her dance training at a young age with Bobbie’s School of Performing Arts. She became a member of the company and had the opportunity to perform all over California and Nevada. While in Los Angeles, Lori taught private ballet lessons to many of the stars’ children and ran the children’s ballet division at the studio. With 25 years of dance experience in ballet, tap, jazz and lyrical she has choreographed many musical theatre shows including Westside Story and Grease. She moved to Mankato, MN with her husband and three children in 2015 and her love for ballet brought her to Mankato Ballet Company.
Benjamin Johnson
Pre-Professional Division Ballet
Rolando Pacheco
Pre-Professional Division Ballet
Rolano Pacheco founded McAllen Ballet Company and produced professional productions for the last 14 years for the city of McAllen, TX. His training includes Ballet Español de Cuba over the past twenty years, the Spanish Ballet of Cuba were he has won the privilege of being recognized as the ultimate expression of the genre in the country, for its respect for the purity of the broad horizon of its artistic work. He was also a principal dancers and director of ECOS Flamenco Company and performed around the world.
Megan Marcy-Strelow
Youth and Advanced Division Modern
Megan, native of Anoka, MN started dancing at Stage Door for Performing arts in Coon Rapids, MN. Megan also attended Saint Paul Conservatory for Performing Artist focusing in Modern dance and Musical Theatre. At SPCPA she had the opportunity to work with many working artist in both theatre and dance. In 2012 she move to Mankato, MN to peruse her undergraduate degree in k-12 Dance and Secondary Social Studies Education. During that time, she has traveled all over the Midwest attending the American College Dance Association conference every year, taking workshops from dancers and choreographers from across the country. She has worked with Zenon Dance Company, Stewart Pimsler Dance Theatre, Shapiro and Smith Dance Company. Megan looks forward to working with all of the amazing and talented student at Mankato Ballet .
Kristyn Johnson
Children’s and Youth Division Jazz
Kristyn has been dancing for 19 years. She has trained in many styles including, ballet, pointe, tap, jazz, lyrical, contemporary, modern, hip-hop, tumbling, pom, clogging, musical theatre, and irish. Kristyn is passionate about continuing to dance throughout college and the rest of her life! Kristyn attended the University of Northern Iowa where she auditioned and became a Provisional Plus member of Orchesis Pre-Professional dance company. During her time in the company she continually trained in modern, ballet, and jazz, along with performing other styles in various showcases. Kristyn was chosen to dance at ACDA where she performed four dances and took masterclasses in various styles. In her second semester Kristyn received the title of a full company member. she also received “Rookie of the year” at the end of the semester. Kristyn’s sophomore year she auditioned and was selected to be a member of UNI’s Dance Team which traveled to state and UDA nationals competing in jazz, pom, hip-hop/game day. Kristyn recently had her first professional hiring where she danced a solo in a Christmas musical by the professional theatre company “Lights Up Productions” out of Sioux Falls SD. Kristyn now attends Minnesota State University (Mankato) where she auditioned and is pursuing her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Dance. Her main topics of study for the up coming school year are contemporary, tap, jazz, and ballet, along with being chosen for ballet repertoire.
Anastasia Johnston
Children’s and Youth Division Jazz
Anastasia has been dancing from a young age studying ballet, tap, jazz, contemporary, and lyrical. She has taken classes from The Dance Lab, Rochester Dance Company, Conservatoire Jean-Philllipe Rameau, and Ballet Blake, as well as classes through multiple intensives. She is currently a student at Minnesota State University Mankato pursuing a major in both exercise science (Pre-PT) and dance, where she has performed in multiple dance concerts and shows. She has won awards through multiple dance competitions and performed on television for The Eagles Cancer Telethon since 2015. Anastasia is excited to get to work with the students at Mankato Ballet Company.
Rebekah Selvey – Rehearsal Assistant
Children’s, Youth and Advanced Division Ballet
Rebekah received most of her 13 years of ballet training at Mankato Ballet Company, where she graduated in 2019. During her time training at MBC she was accepted into summer programs with the Milwaukee Ballet, Ballet Arizona, San Francisco Ballet, Pacific Northwest Ballet, and Ballet Austin. Rebekah enjoyed dancing in many performances at MBC during the years of 2011-2019. Some of her favorite roles are The Nutcracker’s Dewdrop and Sugar Plum Fairy, as well as Sleeping Beauty’s Lilac Fairy. This is her first year teaching ballet, and she’s very excited to share her passion for expression and movement with young dancers.
Cadence Brown
Children’s Division Ballet
Cadence was born and raised in Casper, WY. She has been dancing for 18 years where she has studied ballet, pointe, contemporary, jazz, tap, hip-hop, modern, musical theatre, and acro. She has been teaching dance for 5 years, and has been choreographing performance pieces for 6 years. Cadence made the Wyoming All-State dance team all 4 years of high school, and choreographed pieces competed at the State Spirit Competition for her high school. She is currently a BFA dance major at Minnesota State University, Mankato. She has been accepted into intensives at Oklahoma City Ballet, Milwaukee Ballet, and University of North Carolina School of the Arts. Cadence recently attended ACDA north central conference where she performed with her fellow classmates and took class. Cadence’s favorite roles she has performed include Ocean Pearl from The Little Humpback Horse, Towns Person from Missa Brevis (a Límon company production), Kathi from La Vivandière, and The Sugar Plum Fairy from The Nutcracker.
Paige Delly
Children and Youth Division Tap and JAzz
Paige started dancing at age 3 in Ohio and traveled across the country performing in regional and national competitions. Growing up she enjoyed orchestra as it honed her musicality and knowledge of music for dance. She studied tap, jazz, lyrical and modern and studied under a New York City Rockette. Eventually she came to Indiana where she joined a professional dance group and focused more on teaching. Paige enjoys teaching tap and jazz most and has taken a break from teaching for the last several years. She is excited to be joining the MBC teaching staff and has reignited her passion for dance and looks forward to sharing all her experience with her new MBC students.
Liz Albenesius
Children’s Division Jazz
Liz has been training in ballet for 19 years, tap for 17 years, and jazz for 15 years. She began her training in Sioux City, Iowa, with Shirley Dill and Tracy Bennett. She now trains with and is mentored by Lizz Picini and Eureka Nakano Grimes of Broadway Dance Center in New York City. Liz has completed training programs at Broadway Dance Center and The Open Jar Institute in New York City. Along with training, she has been teaching and choreographing for 7 years. She is currently pursuing a BFA in Musical Theatre and minor in Business Administration at Minnesota State University. Liz has a passion for helping students grow as dancers, storytellers, and individuals.
Student Teacher Staff
Calista Asker
Children’s Division Ballet
Calista is a junior at Mankato East High School and has been dancing since she was 7 years old. Calista has been dancing with MBC for the last 5 years. She loves to dance with the performing company as well as taking ballet, tap, and jazz. She is so excited to be teaching Creative Movement this year!
Caleb Hartwig
Boys Ballet
Caleb Hartwig is a Junior at Minnesota Valley Lutheran High School. He has been dancing for over 10 years and is currently a soloist in the Performing Company. He has studied many years of ballet, tap and jazz and recently attended Kansas City Ballet’s Summer Intensive program on scholarship. He is excited to teach Boys Ballet at Mankato Ballet Company.
Linnea Hendley
Children’s Division Ballet
Linnea is a junior at Mankato East High School and has been dancing at Mankato Ballet since she was 3 years old. She is part of the Mankato Ballet Performing Company, and takes ballet, jazz, and modern classes. She is so excited to be part of the student teaching staff this year!
Kaitlyn Landgraff
Children’s Division Ballet
Quinn Rassbach
Youth Division Ballet
Quinn is a Soloist in the Mankato Ballet Performing Company. She has been training at the Mankato Ballet Company since she was 3 years old, and has also trained at the Ballet West and Boston Ballet summer programs. Quinn is a Junior at St. Peter High school. She trains in ballet, jazz, and tap year round, but has explored many other styles of dance at summer programs. Quinn has been a teacher’s assistant for 5 years. She has performed the roles of Clara and Marzipan lead in the Nutcracker, as well as the Butterfly Fairy in A Midsummer’s Eve. Quinn is very excited to be a student teacher where she can help train young dancers!
Kadence Nicholle
Children’s Division Ballet and Tap
Ella Barker
Children’s Division Ballet
Izabelle High
Youth Division Tap
Izabelle has been with the Mankato Ballet Company since she was 5 years old. She is a Senior at Mankato West High School and will be continuing to taking PSEO classes at South Central College – Mankato this fall. She has trained in both ballet and tap, but focuses more on tap now. She has been a Teacher’s Assistant since she was 13 and is looking forward to teaching more tap classes of her own this year!
Support Staff
Hannah Sawyer
Office Coordinator
Hannah is a student at Mankato State University with a dance background. She is excited to be part of the MBC administrative staff and looks forward to greeting our MBC families in the office.
Lauren Shoemaker
Costume Mistress
Lauren has been involved in costume making for many years and was one of our volunteer seamstresses when her daughter dancers with MBC. Lauren is a music instructor for Saint Peter Schools and is now hired officially as the MBC Costume Mistress.