Guest Instructors

Kaylee Skelton

Alexa Glomp

Tara Lorenzen

Jessica Schmitt

Kaylee Skelton is from Littleton, Colorado, where she started her serious ballet training at Belliston Academy of Ballet, under the direction of Jeannine Belliston. Ms. Skelton attended summer courses at Pacific Northwest Ballet, School of American Ballet, and Boston Ballet. She then continued her training on scholarship in the Professional Division with Pacific Northwest Ballet, where she had the opportunity to perform in ballets with the company, such as Kent Stowell’s "The Nutcracker," "Swan Lake," and "Cinderella," as well as world premiere pieces set by PNB’s company members. She also danced as a company member with Nevada Ballet Theatre in Las Vegas, collaborating with Cirque du Soleil and performing roles such as “Big Swans” and “Spring Fairy” in James Canfield’s "Swan Lake" and "The Nutcracker." Kaylee then joined City Ballet of San Diego, where she danced in the company for 3 years. There she had the opportunity to dance many roles, including ballets by George Balanchine, such as “Tall Girl” in Rubies, “Choleric” in The Four Temperaments, and “Solo Girl” in La Source. Before joining Avant Chamber Ballet, she spent a year as a Principal Dancer with Reformation Dance Company under the direction of Kathleen Vreeland. This is her fifth season with Avant Chamber Ballet. Ms. Skelton has had the pleasure of teaching at many places, including Belliston Ballet where she grew up, and assistant teaching at Pacific Northwest Ballet. She mainly teaches ballet and pointe, but has also taught jazz, leaps and turns, and more.

Alexa Glomp joined VNB in 2022. Alexa has performed many solo roles with VNB including Clara, Spanish, and Girl Doll in The Nutcracker, and solo roles in Aladdin, in the world premiere of Rafik Hegab’s “The Four Seasons”, Spring Fairy in “Cinderella”, and also solo roles in Led Zeppelin, Bolero, Pictures at an Exhibition, Bohemian Rhapsody, and Tango Nights. She is a 2022 graduate of the University of Missouri Kansas City, with a BFA in performance and choreography. While attending university, she received several scholarships each year including two donor awards. In Kansas City, Alexa performed in the annual Crescendo fundraising concert to raise scholarship money for the students in the UMKC Conservatory. She has performed in astonishing works such as “8 Items or Less” by Tom Gold, “Between Sky and Water” by Jae Man Joo, and “Parallel Lives” by Gary Abbott, as well as Queen Titania in David Justin’s “Midsummer Night’s Dream”. Alexa has had the opportunity to work with other incredible choreographers including Sean McLeod, Karen Brown, DeeAnna Hiett, Ronald Tice, Steve Norman, Greg Begley, Judith Svalander, and more. She has received additional training at the Kansas City Ballet, Joffrey Chicago, and A&A Ballet summer intensives. She has been faculty at VNB since 2022 and is excited to be teaching Musical Theatre, Ballet, Contemporary and Jazz in 2026-27!

Tara Lorenzen is currently the Dance Program Director of Bard College. is originally from the hills of West Virginia, a Vostrikov’s Academy of Ballet alumna. Upon graduation from SUNY Purchase Conservatory of Dance, she became a member of the Repertory Understudy Group under Merce Cunningham where she created an original role in “EyeSpace” as well as reconstructing earlier works such as “Rune” and “Summerspace". She went on to work with Stephen Petronio Dance Company from 2008-2011. She has worked with Kimberly Bartosik, Christine Elmo, Shen Wei Dance Arts, Ashleigh Leite, Todd Williams, Christopher Williams, Rene Archibald, Anna Sperber, Beth Gill (“Electric Midwife” Bessie award for Outstanding Production 2011), Maria Hassabi (“Plastic” Bessie award for Outstanding Production 2016), and Jodi Melnick. Since 2011, Tara has performed and taught master classes for the Trisha Brown Dance Company all over the world. She has recently assisted in the reconstruction of Trisha’s “O zlozony/O composite” (originally created for the Paris Opera Ballet), on the Pennsylvania Ballet and taught a "Set and Reset/Reset" workshop at the Centre National de la Danse in Pantin, France. Tara is a certified Cunningham Technique teacher and continues to work closely with both the Cunningham Trust and John Cage Trust. At Bard since 2016.

Jessica Schmitt, originally from Wisconsin, joined VNB in 2022 and was promoted to Rehearsal Assistant  in 2024-25.  She is thrilled to be dancing her 4th  season with VNB in 202526!  Jessica has performed many solo roles with VNB including Emeralds Soloist in Aladdin, Flowers Soloist in The Nutcracker, and many other roles in The Nutcracker, Cinderella, Aladdin,  “The Four Seasons”, Led Zeppelin, Bolero, Pictures at an Exhibition, Moonlight, Bohemian Rhapsody, and Tango Nights.  She has performed with VNB at the Hylton Performing Arts Center, Capital One Hall, and the Ailey Citigroup Theater in NYC.  Jessica spent her youth training at Monona Academy of Dance/Dance Wisconsin, Studio M Dance Academy, and Central Midwest Ballet Academy. In 2019 she joined BalletMet’s Trainee Program. While there, she performed in the program’s productions of Giselle and The Sleeping Beauty. She also performed alongside the professional company in BalletMet’s The Nutcracker. In 2021, she joined United Ballet Theatre as a Trainee, where she had the honor of performing alongside the company in corps roles in Paquita, The Nutcracker, and La Bayadere. She has spent summers training at BalletMet and Oklahoma City Ballet. Throughout her training, she has enjoyed performing numerous corps and soloist roles, including Marie, Pirouette Doll, Spanish, Flower, Demi-Soloist Snowflake and Arabian Attendant in The Nutcracker; a Willi in Giselle; and the Wheat Flower Fairy and a jewel in The Sleeping Beauty;. She has performed original ballets and new works by choreographers such as Marguerite Luksik, Miye Bishop, Chelsey Bradley, Ashley Christensen, and Danielle Furhman. She also performed at Regional Dance America Nationals in Phoenix, Arizona as a member of Dance Wisconsin.