Artistic And Production Staff

Bruce Simpson – Artistic Director
Harald Uwe Kern – Senior Ballet Master
Mikelle Bruzina – Ballet Mistress
Elena 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, Kentucky, Mikelle Bruzina is a graduate of The Royal Winnipeg Ballet. She joined the Louisville Ballet in 1995 as a member of the corps de ballet under the direction of Alun Jones and Helen Starr. Ms. Bruzina was promoted to soloist in 1998, first soloist in 2000 and in 2004 was promoted to principal following the arrival of Artistic Director, Bruce Simpson.

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 the great classics along with 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, Ms. Bruzina has created various works for the Louisville Ballet; Gloria (1999), Harmony of Contrasts (2000), Life Rhythms (2003), continuum (2008) and, most recently, Sansei (2009). She has also created and staged ballets for Memphis Ballet, Boca Ballet Theatre, and Ballet Under the Stars in Lexington.

Ms. Bruzina began teaching in Japan in 1991 under the guidance of Emi Okajima, and has extensive experience teaching ballet and pointe technique as well as rehearsing and coaching young dancers throughout the United States. During the off-season Ms. Bruzina instructs and coaches dance in various summer programs. Ms. Bruzina has been on the staff of the Louisville Ballet School since 2008, teaching the intermediate and pre-professional levels. This marks her second season as Ballet Mistress for the Louisville Ballet following retiring from 15 years of dancing with the company.

Elena M. Diehl – Director, Louisville Ballet School

Elena M. Diehl, a native of Fallon, Nevada, began her dance training at the age of 13. She studied with such distinguished instructors as George Zorich, Melissa Lowe, Jory Hancock, Michael Williams, Amy Ernst, Susan Quinn and Sam Watson. Ms. Diehl graduated with honors from the University of Arizona, receiving both her B.F.A. and M.F.A. in dance. She has danced professionally with the Louisville Ballet, BalletMet (Columbus, Ohio), Colorado Ballet and, most recently, as a member of Moving Collective. Ms. Diehl has also danced internationally with Quinn-Williams Jazz, with La JAZDANZ and with the musical theatre production Space Dream (Berlin, Germany).

As a graduate student at the University of Arizona, Ms. Diehl received the 2000-2001 Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award. She has taught at dance schools across the country as a guest instructor and at Kentucky’s Governor’s School for the Arts.

Ms. Diehl was named Interim Director of the Louisville Ballet School in 2008.

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 is a native of Louisville and an alumnus of Bellarmine College. He has worked with the Louisville Ballet since 1974 and has been Resident Lighting Designer and Stage Manager since 1978. Michael has served as Technical Director and/or Lighting Designer for Iroquois Amphitheater, Metroversity Dance Series, Miss Kentucky Pageant, Sphere One Dance Company, Stage One, Metroversity Summer Theater and Corning Summer Theater in Corning, New York. He has been Guest Designer for the North Carolina Dance Theatre and the American Ballet Theatre at the Met. Mr. Ford has designed dance productions for such well-known choreographers as Erik Bruhn, Choo-San Goh, Bruce Marks, Lynn Taylor-Corbett, Robert Gladstein, Ron Cunningham, Jean-Pierre Bonnefoux, Adam Hougland and André Prokovsky. He has also designed lighting for and toured with Mikhail Baryshnikov.

Dan Fedie – Costume Master

A native of Wisconsin, Dan Fedie celebrates his 23^rd 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 2011-12 season marks Leslie’s sixth 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	Delilah Smyth – Director of Education
Alyson Tudor - Group Sales Manager	Melanie Horn – Patron Services Manager
Aaron Davidson – Executive Assistant	Lora Limeberry – Director of Finance
Cara Hicks – Director of Marketing	Sara Wheeldon – Patron Services Assistant
Nicole Sikora – School Administrator	Emily Van Bogaert – School Coordinator