Competitors and Judges 2023

Imagine Ballet Theatre (IBT) is pleased to announce Annual Rocky Mountain Choreography Festival to take place in Ogden, Utah at the Peery’s Egyptian Theater. The Festival is open to both amateur and professional choreographers. Application deadlines are in October. The winning choreographer’s grand prize will include theater rental and crew for a performance night in the following October.

The first performance will be February 7th, where the Judges will vote for 1st, 2nd and 3rd place. Also this night the audience has the opportunity to vote for their 1st, 2nd and 3rd place for People’s Choice awards.

The second performance, February 8th, is just for fun. The dancers have the chance to perform a second time, pressure free. Immediately following the second performance is the awards ceremony, where choreographers stand with their dancers in costume to represent the piece they entered.

This year our festival will include the following choreographers and 12 pieces.

Shawna Chadburn

Jessica Gabler

Miriam Panek

Lucas Castro

Alexandria Sorenson

Kyrin Grey

Randee Hunter

Elijah Hatch

Christina Stockdale

Shanie Robison

Sayoko Knodes

Christine Baltes & Nicole Baltes

Janell Burgess & Christine Baltes

Our Judges this year!

Sharee Lane was a soloist dancer with Ballet West from 1970-1979 under Artistic Directors Willam F. Christiansen and Bruce Marks, and was a member of the Ballet West Artistic Staff and Assistant Director of the Ballet West Conservatory under Artistic Directors, John Hart and Jonas Kage from 1989-1999. As an Associate Professor with the School of Dance (Modern Dance and Ballet Programs), Lane taught Upper and Lower Division Ballet Technique and Pointe, Freshman Seminar, Advanced Principles of Teaching, and Directed, as well as Choreographed for the Modern Dance Program’s Performing Dance Company and the Ballet Program’s Utah Ballet. Her works have been performed internationally at the Staatliche Ballettschule Berlin (Berlin, Germany), and at the Vaganova Dance Society’s 20th Anniversary Gala in Edmonton, Canada, and nationally for the Snowy Range Summer Dance Festival at the University of Wyoming, and the University of Cincinnati’s College Conservatory of Music. In July 2017, Lane retired after 28 years of teaching for the School of Dance, for both the Modern Dance and Ballet Programs, and was granted the prestigious honor of Professor Emerita from the University of Utah’s School of Dance.
Maricar Drilon was born in the Philippines and received her early training from her mother, Mercedes L. Drilon. She continued her training with Ballet Philippines (formerly CCP Dance Company), under the direction of Alice Reyes. She joined the company in 1979 and was promoted to Principal Dancer at the age 18, performing principal roles such as Juliet in Alice Reyes’ choreography of “Romeo and Juliet,” Margo Sappington’s “Rodin Mis En Vie,” Sugar Plum Fairy and Snow Queen in “The Nutcracker,” “Cinderella,” “Raymonda,” “Swan Lake,” “The Voyages of Odysseus,” “Don Quixote,” among others. She performed internationally with Ballet Philippines in Russia, Greece, Germany, France, Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan and Hong Kong as well as Ballet Philippines’ National Tour.

She attended University of the Philippines majoring in Theater Arts while pursuing her dance career with Ballet Philippines.

In 1984, she joined Ballet West under the direction of Bruce Marks ,where she performed soloist roles in Mr. Christensen’s “The Nutcracker,” Andre Prokovsky”s “ Vespri,” “Sleeping Beauty” to mention a few.

She moved to Oregon in 1987 and joined Eugene Ballet , as a principal dancer, under the direction of Toni Pimble. She danced principal roles in “The Nutcracker,” “Giselle,” “Romeo and Juliet,” “Cinderella,” “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” “Bolero,” “Silent Movie,” “Children of the Raven,” and “Petrushka” 

She then moved to Long Beach, California and joined L A Classical Ballet as a soloist, under the direction of David Wilcox, and performed soloist roles in “The Nutcracker,” “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” “Coppelia,” “Harlequinade,” “Aymara,” and “Ravelesque.”

Moving to Las Vegas, Nevada, she joined Nevada Ballet Theatre (formerly Nevada Dance Theater), as a principal dancer, under the direction of Vasili Sulich.

She returned to the Pacific Northwest in 1993 and joined Oregon Ballet Theatre, under the direction of James Canfield and performed the principal role of Clara in the world premiere of Mr. Canfield’s “The Nutcracker,” Bebe Miller’s “A Certain Depth of Heart…Also Love,” Karole Armitage’s “Poised At the Edge of Chaos.” She stayed with Oregon Ballet Theatre till the birth of her son, Derek.

Noted choreographers that she has worked with include,
Alice Reyes, Vakhtang Chabukiani, Norman Walker, Sir Kenneth Gillespie , Mr. William Christensen, Mikhail Kukharev, Luminita Dumitrescu, Bebe Miller, Karole Armitage, Lynn Taylor-Corbett, James Canfield, Bruce Marks, Andre Prokovsky, Toni Pimble, Dennis Spaight, Robert Sund and Mark Morris among others.

She became the Founding Artistic Director of Northwest Classical Ballet (formerly Washington State Ballet), in 2000, where she choreographed and set numerous full length ballets including “The Nutcracker,” “Giselle,” “Sleeping Beauty,” “Don Quixote,” “Cinderella,” “Swan Lake,” “Paquita,” “The Twelve Dancing Princesses,” to name a few

In 2014, she took a group of dancers to perform in Ballet Philippines’ 45th Anniversary Gala. In the Summer of 2015, she returned to the Philippines with another group of dancers as featured artists in the first international C-Map Festival.

In June of 2018, she relocated back to Utah after accepting the position of Academy Principal  for the Barbara Barrington Jones Family Foundation Ballet West Academy at Thanksgiving Point. 

Currently, she is the Founding Artistic Director of Utah Festival Ballet, where she teaches all levels of dancers in Classical Ballet Technique. `

Maricar is also a certified instructor in Pilates, Gyrotonic® and Progressing Ballet Technique.

Sean Guymon

Sean Guymon is an independent dance educator, performer, and technology consultant. He is the Past President of the Utah Dance Education Organization, the state affiliate of the National Dance Education Organization, and currently works as the Executive Assistant and Webmaster for the organization. He earned a BFA in Modern Dance from the University of Utah and was a founding member of Movement Forum, a dance improvisation performance group. Sean has performed and taught throughout the US and Great Britain. He competed nationally in Ballroom dance, directed the Ballroom dance team at Jordan High School, and his training also includes clogging, folk, and musical theatre. Sean is a self-taught technology enthusiast and is the webmaster and management/technology consultant for local and national dance organizations, companies and dancers.

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