Staff

Sondra Blanchard
Kathe Carande
Laura Beth Collier-Fogdall
Teri Davis-Padilla
Brad E. Ferree
Suzanne & Carl Gerleit
Jennifer Herling
Lori Jones
Marci Kalish
Kelly Lane
Kate Ross
Nicole B. Trofino
Dana Vachharajani
Crystal Verdon
Min Tze Wu

Sondra Blanchard

A professional actor, teaching artist, director, and clown, Sondra has been creating and performing original works both nationally and internationally for the last twenty years. Until recently, she was based in Philadelphia, where she performed with regional companies, worked with Big Apple Circus Clown Care, and founded two theatre companies, Theatre V and Belligerent Muse. Sondra holds an MFA from Naropa University and is a graduate of the Dell’Arte International School of Physical Theatre. Back to top.

Kathe Carande

Kathe Carande has been dancing since she could walk. Her professional training includes scholarships with the Cleveland Ballet and the New York School of Ballet, as well as many top jazz choreographers in New York, Los Angeles and Hollywood. She has performed with dance companies on both coasts and in her native Cleveland. While performing in the L.A. area, Kathe discovered her special talents for teaching young dancers. She began her business as an instructor and taught dance for 13 years in the L.A. area before moving to Colorado. Her approach to teaching is enthusiastic and energetic. In this area, she has been a dance instructor for the City of Boulder, the Arvada Center, and Reverence Academy of Dance. She has also worked closely with numerous pre-school teachers and has developed creative dance programs at First Presbyterian Pre-school and Kiddie-Kopia, among others.

In addition to her B.A. in Psychology, Kathe studied acting and voice in college and performed in numerous musical productions. Recently, she has enjoyed choreographing for Monarch High School (A Chorus Line, My Fair Lady, and Evita), as well as for Center Stage Theater Company (Oklahoma, A Chorus Line, and Anne of Green Gables). She also lends choreographic help to the Golden Oldies Choir at Coal Creek Elementary, and to competitive figure skaters.

Kathe lives in the area with her husband, Richard, and her 3 talented children, which keep her very busy. She is thrilled to join the staff at the Art Underground and share her love of dance with even more young dancers. Back to top.

Laura Beth Collier-Fogdall

Beth has spent the last 14 years inside the classroom of public high schools teaching a wide range of art classes. She has taught all levels of Drawing, Painting, Ceramics, Photo and Jewelry. She received her degree in Painting and Printmaking from Colorado State University. Beth had the unique opportunity to begin her teaching career out in the community working with teens, adults and senior adults. She quickly realized she wanted to pursue teaching art and returned to school. She earned a second bachelor’s degree from Saint Cloud State University in Art Education.

Though Beth is a Colorado native she and her family have just recently moved back to Colorado and taken up residency in Louisville. When she is not chasing a two year old or caravanning an 11 year old, she can be found in her studio frantically carving wood. She has a new found passion for color reduction wood block prints. She finds her inspiration in the landscapes all around her. Her work was most recently on display in the American Printmakers show at the Foothills Art Center in Golden. Back to top.

Teri Davis Padilla

Teri Davis-Padilla studied art at Appalachian State University in NC. After relocating to Colorado, she studied painting with Denver Artist/Activist Elver Barker. After painting murals on her own for ten years, she studied with local Chicano muralist/activist, Leo Tanguma. She received her BA in Contemplative Psychology and Healing Arts at Naropa University. Locally, she has coordinated mural projects with Denver At-Risk Teens, Boulder Subsidized Housing and Centaurus High School Diversity students. In Summer 2006, Teri coordinated the Nueva Esperanza Mural Project in Jalapa, Nicaragua. She spends her free time with her son, River. Back to top.

Brad E. Ferree

Brad Ferree is a masters student at the University of Colorado in Boulder where he studies viola with Erica Eckert and Geraldine Walther. He received his Bachelor of Music degree in viola performance from Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge in May 2005, where he studied viola with Dr. Jerzy Kosmala, and Dr. Borislava Iltcheva. Brad has performed in viola master classes with Roland Vamos, Donald McInnes, and James Dunham, the Iltcheva String Quartet and the Heber Springs Chamber Music Festival. He has performed with the Mississippi Symphony Orchestra, Rapides Symphony Orchestra, the Acadiana Symphony Orchestra and various orchestras and ensembles at Louisiana State University and the University of Colorado In high school, he attended Interlochen Music Camp in Traverse City, Michigan for two summers where he played in the World Youth Orchestra. He was a Grand Prize winner in the junior division of the Anderson Concerto Competition in piano in 1996. Brad made his solo debut in 2007 with the McPherson Chamber Orchestra performing the Stamitz Viola Concerto. Brad has given private violin instruction for 8 years, as well as viola instruction for 4 years and piano instruction for 2 years, most recently at the Laberge Music and Parlando in Boulder, CO. Back to top.

Suzanne & Carl Gerleit

Suzanne and Carl are the owners of Casablanca Dance Studio in Louisville. Suzanne moved to the area from Connecticut where she attended The Silvermine School of Fine Arts. She began teaching at the Fred Astaire Dance Studio in Boulder where she met her husband, Carl. Carl moved here from New Jersey where he graduated from William Patterson University attaining a B.A. degree in Communication. The couple has taught at numerous venues throughout Boulder County including CU Boulder, CU Continuing Ed, Longmont Free University, The City of Boulder, Rally Sport, Life-Long Learning, and also The Dance Doctor Studio in Santa Monica, CA. Currently living in Louisville they continue to bring joy to so many people through their love of dance. Suzanne & Carl have continued their own education in dance by participating in workshops throughout the country. Back to top.

Jennifer Herling

Jennifer has a B.A in Modern dance from the University Of Maryland, Baltimore County, and graduated from Baltimore School for the Art with a ballet emphasis. She is a professionally trained dancer with extensive experience in teaching, performing, and choreographing original works. She is an effective instructor with a balanced teaching style combining technical and expressive concerns. Her classes emphasize a learning environment based on mutual respect and student confidence. She has danced professionally in Maryland, Washington DC., and Texas. Her teaching experience ranges from Modern, Ballet, Jazz, Point, Tap, Hip-Hop, Creative Movement, Improvisation and Partnering. Back to top.

Lori Jones, Executive Director

Lori has a Bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education and a Master’s Degree in Social Science: Clinical Sociology with an emphasis on non-profit administration. She has taught in both Illinois and New Jersey schools and directed a federally funded pre-school program for at-risk-4 and 5 year olds, which included work with public school and government officials to maintain grant funding for the program. She has been an active volunteer for 10 years in Boulder County schools, developing a wide variety of office management skills. Lori has interned with the Volunteer Connection, given the responsibility of organizing the Volunteer Connection’s 2004 Workshop Series, which is their primary annual fundraising effort. Additionally, Lori worked with others in establishing start-up processes for a new nonprofit as a board member of the Louisville-based, youth theatre group CenterStage Theatre Company.

Lori is thrilled to be able to join her life long love of the arts with her love of community service and interest in business management. She looks forward to being a part of a vibrant community of talented artists and arts participants. Back to top.

Marci Kalish

Marci graduated with honors from the University of Colorado School of Music in Boulder with a Bachelor of Arts in Vocal Performance. In Los Angeles she studied voice with acclaimed Lee and Sally Sweetland. She has also studied musical composition, piano, harp and violin, and the Meisner method of acting with Maria Gobetti in Burbank, CA. In 1990 she traveled with the international group, Up With People. Marci has performed in a variety of capacities including jazz bands, country bands and musical and children's theater. She is delighted to be teaching Music Together in her community where she can share her love of music with children and their families. Back to top.

Kelly Lane

Kelly began her dance training at the age of three, but didn’t discover her love of tap until she was seven. Ever since then she has been a passionate tapper, participating in the Chicago Human Rhythm Project and the St. Louis Tap Festival. Trained in St. Louis, MO, she currently dances and studies with tap master Gene GeBauer in Boulder, CO and began teaching tap, ballet, and jazz when she was in high school. Kelly has studied with tap legends Robert Reed, Jason Samuels Smith, Bril Barrett, Dianne Walker, Derick Grant, Arthur Duncan and Sam Weber, and hopes to ignite in her students the same love of tap that her teachers have passed down to her. She also teaches students from the beginning to the advanced levels at Core Movement in Boulder and at the Longmont Dance Theatre. Kelly enjoys all forms of dance immensely, but must admit that tap, as an original American art form, is her true love. Back to top.

Kate Ross

Kate Ross is a wife to one and a mom to five. She, her husband and all the kids dance, with the five kids all dancing at championship level having competed nationally and internationally. She has taught with two dance schools in the Denver area, the most recent being the Martin Percival School of Irish Dance. She has orchestrated performances in schools, for private parties and corporate functions. She has taught several Artist in Residence programs for area elementary schools. She loves working with children and adults alike to help them achieve the goals they’ve set for themselves, believing dance should not only include discipline and hard work, but also be fun and character-building. Back to top.

Nicole B. Trofino

Nicole has taught art and music to young children for 15 years. Her most recent art teaching experience has been at the popular Clementine Studio in Boulder, CO. Her ideas and enthusiasm for the creative arts come from daily life explorations into her own art and life itself. She is so excited to be at The Art Underground Studio with children and their families...inspiring and being inspired. Nicole lives in Louisville with her husband Ed and her two children Tyson and Owen. Back to top.

Dana Vachharajani

Dana, a soprano, holds degrees from Carnegie Mellon University (BFA) and The Juilliard School (MM). She had the honor of performing as a soloist in venues such as Carnegie Hall, and Alice Tully Hall and with prestigious orchestras like The Aspen Music Festival Orchestra, The New Jersey Symphony, The Orchestra of St. Luke’s, and the Boulder Philharmonic. She commands a large opera, oratorio and musical theatre repertoire and has made concert and recital debuts around the world. Dana applies her experiences to her first love, teaching. Dana has taught in the Pittsburgh Public School, Mount Vernon Schools (NY), Naropa University and Boulder Country Day School. In Mt. Vernon, she taught music to over 720 inner-city students per week. Her classroom and principal, George C. Albano, were featured on the Jim Lehrer News Hour's Merrow Report in the piece entitled "The Achievement Gap." She has conducted numerous youth choirs, some with as many as 150 children as well as taught courses on the collegiate level. Her philosophy is to make learning music a memorable, positive, and fun experience. Back to top.

Crystal Verdon

Recently transplanted from San Diego, Crystal has taught drama and specialty theatre classes such as Shakespeare, Stage Combat, Movement for Actors, and Storydrama for ten years. In San Diego, she taught extensively with San Diego Junior Theatre (the oldest continuing children's theatre program in the country), in addition to working with theatres including The Old Globe, North Coast Repertory Theatre, La Jolla Playhouse, Lamb's Players Theatre and 6th @ Penn Theatre. While in Colorado Springs, she was a public school drama director, and the Theatre Education Coordinator for the C.S. Fine Arts Center. In this role, she expanded their educational offerings and wrote museum theatre curriculum. She is teaching courses this summer at the Arvada Center, the Denver Center for Performing Arts, and the Mizel Arts and Culture Center in Denver. She has also worked extensively as a performer in San Diego. Back to top

Min Tze Wu

Min Tze is a native of Tainan, Taiwan. Her musical life began with piano lessons at the age of three and continued on the violin at the age of nine. While still a teenager, Min Tze packed her bags and moved to the United States to enter the Juillard pre-college program as a student of Dorothy Delay. Her musical education continued at the Cleveland Institute of Music where she studied with William Preucil and Donald Weilerstein, and later the University of Colorado at Boulder, working with the Takacs Quartet. Since 2003, she has been a member of the Azmari String Quartet (interrupted with a brief hiatus which she spent living down under and playing with the Australian Chamber Orchestra) and has recently served on the faculty of the University of North Kentucky.

In March of 2002 Min Tze found her other voice as a traditional fiddler, and has been heard wowing the crowds in pubs from Colorado to Newfoundland. She is a proud alumna of the Kneisel Hall Chamber Music Festival and is currently sharing the duties as co-director of Gros Morne Summer Music in Newfoundland, Canada. Min Tze has taught private fiddle lessons for five years and has given group lessons at Riley School of Music in Cincinnati, as well as workshops at Jubilee of Acoustic Music in Kansas City. She looks forward to bringing a Celtic sound to The Art Underground. Back to top

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