Littleton Ballet Academy

Talia Boresow, Ballet, Pre-Ballet 

Talia Boresow began her ballet training at the Kansas City Ballet School from the age of 6 to the age of 10. During those years, she also attended the Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet (CPYB) summer program. By 2011 she had convinced her parents to move across the country to continue her training full-time at CPYB under the direction of founder, Marcia Dale Weary. Marcia took her under her wing at the age of 14 and she began assisting the primary division levels. Over the years, she gained immeasurable knowledge and experience and has been teaching and working with levels ranging from primary to pre-professional. Along with countless hours of teaching, she has spent time backstage working with the hair, make-up, and wardrobe team at CPYB. She has also run rehearsals and held rehearsal assistant roles at both CPYB and the past 2 years at School of Ballet Arizona and Arizona School for the Arts public performing art school. In addition to teaching group classes, she is also a private lesson coach, both in person and on zoom. Talia has taught in summer programs at the following schools: School of Ballet Arizona, Alisa’s Dance Academy, Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet, various substitute teaching studios in Arizona, and now Littleton Ballet Academy. Besides her love for teaching, Talia is passionate about animals (dogs and horses especially as she used to train and compete in equestrian events), enjoys country music and dancing, and exploring all things outdoors! In addition, Talia has graduated from Arizona State University with a Bachelor of Science in Psychology and has future career plans as a counselor.

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Michelle Dolighan Rodenbeck, Ballet

Michelle grew up in Aurora, Colorado, and began her distinguished ballet training as a full-scholarship student at the Academy of Colorado Ballet, School of American Ballet, Boston Ballet School, and Pacific Northwest Ballet School. She was a first-place winner of the Denver Ballet Guild Young Dancers Scholarship Competition and received the highly coveted Florence Ruston Award of Excellence.

In 1991, Michelle joined Colorado Ballet, where she rose to the rank of Principal Ballerina. During her career with the company, she danced many of ballet’s most celebrated leading roles, including Clara and the Sugarplum Fairy in The Nutcracker, Odette/Odile in Swan Lake, Princess Aurora in The Sleeping Beauty, Myrtha in Giselle, Titania in Christopher Wheeldon’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Lucy in Michael Pink’s Dracula.

Michelle also performed principal roles in works by some of the world’s most influential choreographers, including George Balanchine’s Serenade, Apollo, Western Symphony, Rubies, Who Cares?, and Stars and Stripes; Frederick Ashton’s Façade; and Alvin Ailey’s The River. She toured extensively throughout the United States and Mexico with An Evening of International Stars.

Following her performing career, Michelle devoted herself to educating and inspiring the next generation of dancers. Her extensive teaching career throughout Colorado eventually brought her back to Colorado Ballet’s Academy. In 2006, she became Director of the school, where she taught students and staged them for Colorado Ballet productions until 2010.

In July 2010, Michelle founded Classic Dance Academy (CDA), creating a special environment where dancers could receive high-quality training within a nurturing and supportive community. CDA quickly became a highly esteemed and much-loved dance home. Under Michelle’s guidance, her students went on to achieve remarkable success, earning YAGP Hope Awards as well as Junior and Senior Grand Prix awards. In 2017, Michelle was honored with YAGP’s Outstanding Teacher Award.

Michelle owned, directed, and inspired students at Classic Dance Academy until 2016, when she made the decision to step away from ownership and dedicate herself fully to what she loves most: teaching, mentoring, and coaching the dancers of the future.

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Francisco Estevez, Ballet

Born in Quito, Ecuador, Francisco moved to the United States at the age of 5 and began dancing in Louisville, KY at the age of 7. Francisco went on to train in New York at 16 and graduated from the School of American Ballet. He has danced with New York City Ballet, Boston Ballet, Barcelona Ballet, and most recently as a Principal Dancer with the Colorado Ballet. He enjoys teaching ballet to students of all ages and has also coached and choreographed for a number of students in preparation for the Youth American Grand Prix,  the Jackson IBC Competition, and ADC/IBC.

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Bobbie Jaramillo, Co-Director

Bobbie began her training in Louisville, Kentucky where she joined the Louisville Civic Ballet at the age of nine and worked her way from corps de ballet to prima ballerina, appearing in such ballets as Giselle, Les Sylphides, Pas de Quatre, Carmina Burana, and The Nutcracker. She has danced and worked with such legends as Mia Slavenska, Andre Eglevsky, Lupe Serrano, Royes Fernandez, Toni Lander, and Fernand Nault and has been mentioned in the book "Who's Who in the Ballet World". Bobbie began teaching dance at the age of fifteen and at age eighteen operated her own dance school. She also studied voice and piano at the prestigious Gardencourt at the University of Louisville. Bobbie's versatility allowed her to work in the theater where she appeared as Anita in West Side Story, Philia in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Rashomon (with Actors Theatre of Louisville), and A Most Happy Fella, many to rave reviews as well as appearing in several summer productions. Bobbie moved to New York City and within ten days landed a job in the National tour of Hello, Dolly! with Betty Grable in which she performed as a dancer and was also given the understudy to the role of Ermengarde which she performed twenty-eight times. When this tour had ended, she joined another, this one starring Ginger Rogers and Dorothy Lamour. This time Bobbie was given understudy to the major role of Irene Molloy. During an appearance in this role, the world renowned pianist Van Cliburn was so taken by her performance that he asked to meet her. Bobbie went to work for a well-known children's theatre company owned by CBS performing many ingenue roles. She also appeared as Polly in The Boyfriend and Lady Larkin in Once Upon a Mattress. In the New York area she worked in Gypsy with Margaret Whiting and Promises, Promises with Orson Bean. She was also cast in a starring role in an off-Broadway production. Bobbie was called upon once again to do Hello, Dolly!, this time on Broadway with Ethel Merman. After the show succeeded in becoming the longest running show on Broadway, she and her husband David decided to start a family. After having three children (one single birth and twins) in twenty-one months, they moved back to David's hometown of Denver. Bobbie went back to teaching. She also began to ice skate and since 1976 she has been a ballet coach for figure skaters both on and off the ice. She was the assistant choreographer for the closing ceremonies for Skate America in Reading, PA. in 2003. In addition to beginning the children's program, teaching and choreographing for the David Taylor Dance Theatre Academy of Ballet for eighteen years, Bobbie has choreographed musicals at Heritage High School over the last ten years, taught tap in Heritage High Schools now defunct Theatre Topics dance class, and has taught at Front Range Community College. She and her daughter Alison opened LBA in the fall of 2003. Bobbie currently has students dancing all over the country. Many are on scholarship at prestigious dance programs in universities, another studied on full scholarship at the School of American Ballet in NYC, one is currently enjoying great success in Hollywood, and still others have also gone on to dance professionally, both in ballet and musical theatre. She also has wonderful former students who have decided not to pursue careers in dance now enjoying other options. She treasures all of her students, former and present and celebrates all of their many successes. 

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Alison Jaramillo, Co-Director 
Alison was raised in Colorado and first received her training with her mother Bobbie, and then with teachers Lynelle Mossholder, Michelle O'Bryan, James Clouser, and Debbie Mercer, and later on scholarship at the Pennsylvania Ballet School, well as summers at the Boston Ballet School on scholarship, Joffrey Ballet School, Pacific Northwest Ballet School, and the Houston Ballet Academy. In 1988, Alison won the 1st place Florence Ruston Award and a $1,200 scholarship at the Denver Ballet Guild Scholarship Competition. She first joined the David Taylor Dance Theatre professional company at the age of sixteen and returned in the fall of 1998 where she was featured as Clara in The Nutcracker, and performed principal roles in many works over five years, including her favorite, James Wallace's The Storm. Previously, Alison danced with the Dayton Ballet for six years performing in over sixty ballets, including works by such legendary choreographers Gerald Arpino, George Balanchine, Robbert Joffrey, and Antony Tudor, and then joined Oregon Ballet Theatre in Portland, Oregon, and was most recently a principal with Boulder Ballet. Career highlights include being personally chosen to perform Balanchine's Tarantella by former NYCB ballerina Patricia McBride, as well as performing principal roles in works by Washington Ballet's artistic director Septime Webre, and former Joffrey Ballet dancer Christian Holder. She also performed a principal role at the 2003 Skate America closing ceremonies. She has taught dance for over  twenty-five years including serving as the interim director of the Dayton Ballet School Ensemble and co-directing Movin' On, a dance group for mentally challenged teens and adults. In 2003, she won Best Choreography for her work at the Dance Educators of America conference. She has been a regular guest teacher at Denver School of the Arts, taught ballet for Heritage High School's Theatre Topics class and up until recently taught at Centennial Academy for Fine Arts Education in Littleton.  She has coached dancers to 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place finishes at ADC/IBC, UBC, YAGP, and the Denver Ballet Guild and her contemporary choreography has placed at YAGP, ADC/IBC, UBC,  and StarQuest. 

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Tracy Jones, Ballet

Born in Cork, Ireland, Tracy started dancing at the age of 5 with Ballet Theatre Ireland. At the age of 11, she moved to London to train at The Royal Ballet School where she graduated from with a Trinity Diploma in 2007. After 13 years and a fulfilling career dancing with the Royal Ballet, English National Ballet, Barcelona Ballet and most recently as a Soloist with Colorado Ballet, Tracy retired from the stage in March 2020. Tracy continues to be a part of the ballet community by teaching and coaching the next generation of dancers and sharing her love of this beautiful art form while continuing to advocate for Artists around the country.

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Debra Mercer, Pre-Professional Ballet 

Debra has been teaching and performing in Colorado for over thirty years. She has a B.A. with honors in Dance from York University in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. She has been a principal dancer with the Jackson Ballet, Colorado Ballet, David Taylor Dance Theatre, and other local companies around the state. She is currently teaching ballet at Colorado College and is a member and Ballet Mistress of the Ormao Contemporary Dance Company, both in Colorado Springs. She has also taught for the Boulder Ballet, Boulder Ballet School, and taught at Miller's Dance Studio for fifteen years. She is fortunate enough to have studied with some of the best ballet teachers in the world, including Antony Tudor, Enrique Martinez, Milenko Banovic, James Clouser, Marjorie Tallchief, and George Skibine to name a few. She has studied from master teachers in the Bournonville, Vaganova, Cecchetti, and Royal Academy of Dance syllabi and travels to Taos, New Mexico every summer to study the Balanchine repertory with Jillana, a former principal dancer with the New York City Ballet. Debbie teaches Ballet 5-8 and Adult students at LBA.

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Lorita Travaglia, Pre-Professional Ballet 

Lorita is originally from New Zealand. She was trained in both the Royal Academy of Dancing syllabus and the Russian Vaganova system. In her 20-year professional stage career, she danced with the Berlin Ballet, Boston Ballet, Atlanta Ballet and International Ballet Rotaru and has been a guest dancer with many companies. She has danced principal roles in a wide repertoire ranging from classical to contemporary. Lorita has been teaching since 1986. She established a pre-professional, full-time training program in New Zealand and directed Canyon Concert Ballet in Fort Collins for three years. In September 1999, she joined Colorado Ballet as repetiteur and director of the Apprentice Program; in 2006 she was promoted to Ballet Mistress under the direction of Artistic Director Gil Boggs. Her choreography includes the Angel of Buenos Aires, Equanimity, Aspects, Pictures at an Exhibition and Piazzolla for Colorado Ballet and a full-length The Nutcracker for Canyon Concert Ballet. Lorita graduated from the Colorado School of Traditional Chinese Medicine in 2000 and has a private practice in Denver. She is an avid tango dancer and is the Creative Director of Parasol Arts. Lorita has a beautiful young daughter named Lili. She teaches in the Pre-Professional Division at LBA. 

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