Artistic And Production Staff

Bruce Simpson – Artistic Director
Harald Uwe Kern – Senior Ballet Master
Mikelle Bruzina – Ballet Mistress
Elena Filmore-Diehl - Director, Louisville Ballet School
Michael Harris – Director of Operations
Michael T. Ford - Lighting Designer/Production Stage Manager
Dan Fedie - Costume Master
Leslie K. Oberhausen - Stage Manager
Ron Riall - Technical Director
Donna Lawrence-Downs – Shoe Manager/Head Draper
Grace Delahanty – First Hand

Bruce Simpson – Artistic Director

Bruce Simpson joined the Louisville Ballet in 2002, bringing with him over 30 years of experience in the international ballet world. Born in Glasgow, Scotland, Mr. Simpson studied at the Scottish Ballet School, making his professional debut with Scottish Opera. Upon joining the Wuppertal Dance Company, he toured throughout Germany and Belgium. In 1970 he joined South Africa’s State Theatre Ballet (previously known as the Performing Arts Council of the Transvaal), which became his home for the next 30 years.

After his promotion to principal dancer in 1975, he performed an extensive repertory, specializing in the great classical roles, including Swan Lake, Romeo and Juliet, The Sleeping Beauty, Giselle, La Fille Mal Gardée, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Cinderella and La Sylphide. He danced leading roles in The Three Musketeers, Anna Karenina and Soft Blue Shadows by André Prokovsky; The Merry Widow, Rosalinda and Papillon by Ronald Hynd; Don Quixote by Rudolf Nureyev; and The Taming of the Shrew by John Cranko.

Appointed Ballet Master in 1983 and Senior Ballet Master in 1985, Mr. Simpson continued to perform with State Theatre Ballet until his retirement from the stage in 1998. He was also répetiteur, teacher and coach, refining productions of the Company’s repertoire of over 60 ballets. He has worked with some of the greatest dancers of our time, including Natalia Makarova, Sir Anthony Dowell, Dame Margot Fonteyn, Ivan Nagy and Sir Frederick Ashton.

Mr. Simpson has been a guest of the major dance companies and schools throughout the world. In 2000 he was invited to lead the Texas Ballet Theater, where he was commissioned to create new productions of The Nutcracker and Swan Lake. Mr. Simpson was the jury co-chair at the 2006 USA International Ballet Competition in Jackson, Miss.

Harald Uwe Kern – Senior Ballet Master

Born in Vienna, Austria, Mr. Kern studied with the Ballet School of the Vienna State Opera and at the Academie de la Danse de Princess Grace, Monte Carlo.

He has received many awards, including the Rudolf Nureyev Scholarship Award, the Paris International Dance Competition – prix d’interpretation and an Award for Artistic Achievement from the New York International Ballet Competition.

Mr. Kern has performed as a soloist and principal dancer with the Vienna State Opera Ballet, Basel Ballet, the Joffrey Ballet, Ballet Internationale and Charleston Ballet Theater. He has danced leading roles in most of the major classical and romantic ballets and won critical acclaim for his interpretation of roles in ballets by Sir Frederick Ashton, Cranko, Massine, Nureyev, Neumeier, Spörli, Balanchine, Kilian and many more.

Under the guidance of Irina Kolpakova and Vladilen Semyonov, he became a teacher and coach. He has been the Associate Artistic Director of the Channel Islands Ballet (California) and a guest instructor with schools, colleges and companies around the USA, Europe and Japan.

Mikelle Bruzina – Ballet Mistress

Born in Lexington, Mikelle Bruzina is a graduate of The Royal Winnipeg Ballet and joined the Louisville Ballet in 1995 as a member of the corps de ballet. She was promoted to soloist in 1998, first soloist in 2000, and, in 2004, was promoted to principal. This marks her third season as Ballet Mistress following her retirement after 15 years of dancing with the company.

As a dancer, Ms. Bruzina was recognized for her diversity in classical ballet as well as modern and contemporary ballets. Her full-length repertoire includes all the classics as well as Magic Flute, Anna Karenina, Three Musketeers, The Great Gatsby and Beauty and the Beast. Other featured roles include ballets by George Balanchine, Choo-San Goh, Paul Taylor and Anthony Tudor. She has had the privilege of working with choreographers such as Val Caniparoli, Mark Godden, Adam Hougland, David Parsons, Helen Pickett, Andre Prokovsky, Domy Reiter-Soffer and Ben Stevenson.

As a choreographer, her works for the Louisville Ballet include Gloria, Harmony of Contrasts, Life Rhythms, continuum and Sansei, which was presented as part of the 60^th Anniversary Celebration with original score by Ben Sollee. She has also created ballets for Memphis Ballet, Boca Ballet Theatre and Ballet Under the Stars inLexington.

Ms. Bruzina began teaching inJapanin 1991 under the guidance of Emi Okajima, and has extensive experience teaching ballet and pointe technique as well as rehearsing and coaching young dancers. She joined the staff of theLouisvilleBalletSchoolin 2008, teaching intermediate and advanced levels.

Elena Filmore-Diehl – Director, Louisville Ballet School

Elena Fillmore-Diehl, a native of Fallon, Nevada, began her dance training with a neighborhood dance studio at the age of 13 in Aurora, CO. While in high school, Ms. Diehl studied as an apprentice with the Colorado Ballet under the direction of Martin Fredmann. As a full scholarship student attending the University of Arizona, she had the privilege of studying with such distinguished instructors as George Zorich, Melissa Lowe, Jory Hancock, Michael Williams, Amy Ernst, Susan Quinn and Sam Watson. She also enjoyed the opportunity to perform internationally with Quinn-Williams Jazz at the Jazz Dance World Congress in Chicago, IL (1994), Washington DC (1995), Nagoya Japan (1996) and Phoenix, AZ (1998) and also with the University of Arizona Dance Ensemble at the International Theatre School Festival in Amsterdam, Holland (1997) and the American College Dance Festival in Laramie, WY (1998). As a graduate student at the University of Arizona, Ms. Diehl received the 2000-2001 Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award.  Ms. Diehl graduated with honors from the University of Arizona, receiving both her B.F.A. in Dance and M.F.A. in Theatre Arts. She has danced professionally with the Louisville Ballet, BalletMet (Columbus, Ohio), Colorado Ballet and, most recently, as a member of Moving Collective in Louisville, KY. Ms. Diehl has also performed with La JAZDANZ in Shreveport, LA and the musical theatre production Space Dream (Berlin, Germany).  She has been a guest faculty member with the Kentucky’s Governor’s School of the Arts, Boca Ballet Theatre, and Shreveport Metropolitan Ballet.  Named Director of the Louisville Ballet School in 2009, Ms. Diehl is thrilled to share her love of dance with children and their parents, and to students young and young at heart.

Michael Harris – Director of Operations

Michael Harris, a native of Tennessee, is in his 24^th season as Director of Operations. As such, he directs and manages all aspects of the production departments. He is also responsible for theatrical scheduling, music and repertory licenses, guest artist contracts, production rentals, and production and operations budget control. In addition, he serves as facilities manager for the Company and school locations and oversees the management of the scene shop and warehouse facilities.

Prior to his current position, Mr. Harris was Production Manager for nine seasons. Before employment with the Louisville Ballet, he served as production manager for several independent feature films, stage manager for Iroquois Amphitheater, and chief electrician at the Amphitheater and Stage One. He is a graduate of Western Kentucky University with degrees in English and journalism.

Michael T. Ford – Lighting Designer/Production Stage Manager

Michael Ford began his interest in the performing arts at age 15, under the tutelage of Dale Edward Fern in Baltimore, MD. Mr. Fern’s experience on Broadway and in the New York dance world as a performer and designer opened a new door of possibilities. In 1970, Michael returned to Louisville and graduated fromBellarmineUniversity. He began working with the Louisville Ballet in 1974, and became lighting designer and production stage manager in 1978. In addition to his work with Louisville Ballet, Michael was production manager of Iroquois Amphitheatre, and lighting designer/production manager for Sphere One Dance Company, Stage One, Miss Kentucky Pageant, and Metroversity Summer Theatre. Michael was resident designer for the Corning Glass Center in Corning, NY for several seasons, where he received an IATSE union card. He has been guest designer for North Carolina Dance Theatre, as well as American Ballet Theatre at the Met. Most recently, he was guest designer for the Cincinnati and Tulsa Ballet companies. His design for Adam Hougland’s “Cold Virtues” is currently being toured by the Smuin Ballet throughout California. Michael has designed for such notable choreographers as Erik Bruhn, Choo-San Goh, Bruce Marks, Lynn Taylor Corbett, Robert Gladstein, Ron Cunnigham, Jean-Pierre Bonnefoux, Alun Jones, Adam Hougland, Val Caniparoli and Andre Prokovsky. He has been fortunate to have worked with dancers such as Margot Fonteyn, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Galena Samsova, Wendy Whelan and Maria Scherer. Michael has designed for several KET productions, including the Emmy-award winning Lucy. In the corporate world, he has designed for Intel, KFC, the state governments of Kentucky andKansas, 21C museum, Churchill Downs and Louisville Slugger museum. Michael would like to thank Janet and Warwick Musson for their continued support of his work.

Dan Fedie – Costume Master

A native of Wisconsin, Dan Fedie celebrates his 24th year as Costume Master. He earned his B.S. in speech and theatre from the University of Wisconsin – La Crosse and an M.F.A. in costume design from the University of Illinois Champaign/Urbana. Design credits include A Time To Remember; Gloria; If ya ain’t right, git right!; upon your held-out hand; and CONTINUUM for the Louisville Ballet. Mr. Fedie has also designed for Stage One, Kentucky Shakespeare Festival and 1900 productions in Chicago.

Leslie K. Oberhausen – Stage Manager

The 2012-13 season marks Leslie’s seventh with the Louisville Ballet. She began her career over 25 years ago as a stage management intern at Actors Theatre of Louisville and has been working professionally in the Louisville area ever since. For 13 years she was the Production Stage Manager for Stage One: Louisville’s Family Theatre, touring regionally as well as to New York City and Off-Broadway. Other local credits include the Kentucky Shakespeare Festival, Derby Dinner Playhouse, Music Theatre Louisville, Actors Theatre of Louisville and the Kentucky Center. Leslie also teaches stage management classes at the University of Louisville.

Ron Riall – Technical Director

Ron Riall grew up in Southern Indiana where he pursued his interest in the arts and theatre. He went on to earn his bachelor’s degree in technical theatre from Indiana State University. After college, Mr. Riall joined the facility and taught theatre classes at St. Mary-of-the-Woods College (Ind.). In 1987 he accepted a position as prop master/designer with Actors Theatre of Louisville where he spent the next eleven years. His work covered more than 150 shows, including A Trip to Bountiful, Peter Pan and The Seagull. For over ten years, Mr. Riall worked commercially, designing events for groups including the International Bluegrass Music Association Awards, Brown-Forman Corporation, Dismas Charities and Churchill Downs. Mr. Riall joined the Louisville Ballet in 2008 as Technical Director supervising scenic elements for all productions and creating new sets/props for The Brown-Forman Nutcracker and Rite of Spring.

Administrative Staff

Nancy Tafel - Director of Development	Lora Limeberry – Director of Finance
Cara Hicks – Director of Marketing	Melanie Horn – Patron Services Manager
Alyson Tudor - Group Sales Manager	Sara Wheeldon – Marketing and Development Assistant
Nicole Sikora – School Administrator	Emily Van Bogaert – School Coordinator
Cindy Baker – Assistant to the Directors