Littleton Ballet Academy
Guest Faculty and Artists in Residence
Melinda Howe
Melinda has served on the faculty of Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet for 40 years; it’s also where she began her ballet training under the direction of Marcia Dale Weary. She received her BFA from the North Carolina School of the Arts and then returned to Carlisle to work with Ms. Weary.
With Marcia’s encouragement, Melinda taught all levels of students and began to guest teach and to choreograph. Her ballet, Andante, won the prestigious RDA Monticello Award for Choreography, and A Breath of Hayden was danced by Project Ballet at the National RDA festival in Montreal.
As a current teacher and faculty member at CPYB, Melinda creates ballets for Founder’s Series and assists with the 5-Week Summer Ballet Program and Teacher’s Workshop.
Peter Davison
Peter is originally from Santa Monica, California, began his career when he learned to juggle at age 12. Peter performed around Los
Angeles as a busker, and at the age of 18 he was cast as a juggler in the movie “Xanadu” with Gene Kelly. In 1980, Peter moved to Boulder,
Colorado where he began his formal dance training and became a founder of the trio Airjazz, which toured a unique mix of juggling, dance, and theater and appeared on “The Tonight Show” with Johnny Carson. Since the 1990's, Peter has toured solo shows and appeared on the CBS, BBC, and Fox TV networks. He has performed as a dancer with several Colorado-based companies, and from 2004 to 2015, he was Co-Artistic Director of Boulder Ballet. His choreography has been performed by Boulder Ballet, Ballet Nouveau Colorado, David Taylor Dance Theater, Saint Paul Ballet, and the Colorado Shakespeare Festival, among others. Peter received the 2009 Ballet Builders award from New Choreographers on Point, which led to performances in New York City and excellent reviews from Dance Europe Magazine and NY Theater Scene.
Ashley Paige Romines
Ashley Paige Romines began her dance training at age ten in Sevierville, Tennessee, and at age sixteen continued on to pre-professional ballet training at Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet. She then studied on scholarship at the University of Oklahoma and graduated summa cum laude with a BFA in ballet pedagogy. Ashley Paige performed professionally for three seasons with Northern Ballet Theatre in New Hampshire and taught at several ballet schools throughout the northeast. During her training and professional career, Ashley Paige had the honor to learn from such inspiring teachers as Marcia Dale Weary, Darla Hoover, Mary Margaret Holt, Donn Edwards, Dennis Marshall, Melinda Howe, Leslie Hench, Laurie Jones, Denise Vale, Jeremy Lindberg, Karyn Edison, and many others. Additionally, Ashley Paige received her Pilates mat certification through Power Pilates.
After her performance career, Ashley Paige focused on her teaching, choreography and ballet administration career. In 2007, Ashley Paige joined Springfield Ballet in Springfield, Missouri, as the Artistic & School Director, where she spent twelve years. While there, she choreographed and staged an annual production of The Nutcracker as well as several original full-length and one-act classical and contemporary ballets. Additionally, she attended Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet’s Teacher’s Workshop several times, which was instrumental in her approach and philosophy for training dancers from tots to pre-professionals.
Ashley Paige recently relocated to Denver with her husband. She is delighted to join Littleton Ballet Academy and have the opportunity to share her passion for ballet.
