Faculty

Teresa Lubarsky, the Artistic Director, has been teaching dance to children and professionals on the West Coast for over 40 years. She trained under Lew and Harold Christensen of San Francisco Ballet where she was a scholarship student. Her further studies include Richard Gibson of the Peninsula Ballet, Carlos Carvahal, and Antonio Veleszock. In her training she received the best of Chettchetti, Russian, Royal and Bornniville.  Ms. Teresa had a very fulfilling career as a soloist with Ballet Folk Moscow, San Antonio Ballet Texas, Redwood Empire Ballet, San Francisco Dance Theater, West Coast Jazz, Alameda Dance Theater and Ballet California.

     She was the Ballet Mistress for “Robert Kirkpatrick’s School Of Dance” in San Mateo, San Francisco Dance Theater, Alameda Dance Theater, and later owned and directed Children’s’ Dance Theater in Redwood City.  Upon relocating to Sonoma Co. in 1986 she was the director for the late Anita Kane, the original founder of Healdsburg Ballet, at which time Ms. Teresa directed and staged a full length Nutcracker Ballet in the years 1986 and 1987.  Ms. Teresa opened Healdsburg Ballet in 1994 and has choreographed several Ballets for the community including “The Night before Christmas”, “La Boutique Fantastique”, “The Magic Garden”, “Mother Goose Village”,  “Dorothy in the Land of Oz”, “Dances through Time”, “Alice’s Adventure’s in Wonderland”, and "Peter Pan".

 Larissa Saschin received her dance training from Teresa Lubarsky and has been dancing since the age of two. She has performed several principal roles in Healdsburg Ballet’s performances including the Sugar Plum Fairy, the Spanish Doll, Dorothy, Tinkerbell and Snow Queen. In 2011 Larissa attended the American Ballet Theater’s summer collegiate program in New York City. Larissa graduated from UC Davis and was the president of the Davis Ballet Company.  

Tess Kielhamer began her training with her mother, Ms. Lubarsky, and then  continued her studies for 7 years with Keith Martin and 3 years private coaching with Marie Vegh, giving her the opportunity to be a guest artist for local ballet companies. 

     She received first place in the Sonoma Counties Ballet Competition, Freshman and Senior Divisions. Tess has had summer studies with Joffrey Ballet, Contra Costa, Canada Royal Winnipeg Ballet. She was accepted into Canada’s Royal Winnipeg Ballet Professional Division, where she studied full time and created two choreograph works for the school.

   Tess continued with CRWB as an Aspirant and was able to travel and perform with the company such ballets as “Nutcracker”, “Les Syphides”, “Giselle”, and “Concerto Boroco” as well as perform in the Opera “Aida”. She was a teacher with Northbay Performing Arts and Airport Health Club as well as finding time to choreograph for us at Healdsburg Ballet and teach. Tess is now pursuing a career in acting and modeling, but will visit us often to produce choreograph works for Healdsburg Ballet. 
 

 Newly teaching at Healdsburg ballet, Mia Palmieri has been dancing for 13 years and still trains with Teresa Lubarsky. danced in Santa Barbara for 5 years before moving to Healdsburg and continuously danced for the past 8 years, totaling her number of performances to 26. Mia has enjoyed every minute in dance class and on the stage, and is overjoyed to share her knowledge with the Beginning and Intermediate jazz classes after receiving a year of teacher training. As a Junior at Healdsburg High School, Mia is taking many advanced classes and takes part in her school’s Interact Club to help with the community. She plans on going to a 4-year college and dancing as much as possible.  

 Cole Vernon, who graduated from the University of Arizona with a degree in Dance, has performed around the globe from China to countries in Europe. When he visits, he loves to teach and choreograph for Teresa Lubarsky's Healdsburg Ballet where he received almost all of his training. Mr. Vernon has studied with San Francisco Ballet, the Rock School of Dance in Pennsylvania, and most recently the River North Dance Chicago company. He hopes to tour the world with a dance company but will always have a soft spot for the young dancers at Healdsburg Ballet!