Our Faculty
Blacksburg Dance Theater is dedicated to high quality instruction and adheres to best practices in dance education. We strive to follow the National Dance Education Organization’s Core Arts Standards in Dance, and we integrate creative exploration into our classes for movers of all ages and stages. Each of our faculty leads posesses a wealth of knowledge and a genuine passion for dance education and artistry. Our junior instructors (currently in college) must attend regular staff trainings, and work one-on-one with a faculty mentor in order to hone their teaching skills and provide the best experience for our students.
Senior Faculty
Rachel Rugh, Director
Courses taught: Modern Dance, Jazz, Creative Ballet, Improvisation/Composition
Rachel is a dancer, teacher, mover and shaker currently based in Blacksburg, VA. As a performer, she has collaborated with the DC-based Dance Exchange, as well as Seattle choreographers Pat Graney, Amy O’Neil, and Jurg Koch. Her choreographic work has been featured at the Seattle International Dance Festival, Movement Research (NYC), and the Washington, D.C. Capital Fringe Festival. In 2016, her graduate choreography was chosen to represent the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in the gala performance of the American College Dance Association's North-Central Conference. Rachel is also a founding member of Mountain Empire Performance Collective, a long-distance dance collective dedicated to alternative processes of making work while separated by both time and space: http://www.mountainempiredance.com
A joyful and enthusiastic movement educator for all ages, Rachel has extensively studied Ann Green Gilbert’s framework for Brain Compatible Dance Education. She has presented at the National Dance Education Organization's 2015 conference, and was on teaching faculty at the American College Dance Association 2016 conference. Currently she is the director of the dance program at the Virginia Governor's School for Humanities and Visual and Performing Arts. Rachel teaches at Radford University and Virginia Tech, where she is also a faculty fellow at the VT Center for Communicating Science. She holds a BA in dance from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, and an MFA in Dance from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
Allison Wilson
Contemporary/Modern, Lyrical, Jazz, Pop Styles
Allison started dancing at two years old, with a majority of her training taking place in Blacksburg, Virginia. She studied at The Center of Dance with Carol Crawford Smith from the Dance Theatre of Harlem, and more recently with Rachel Rugh of Blacksburg Dance Theater and Francisco Martinez, associated with the Martha Graham Dance Company. Over the years, she has trained in various styles including ballet, pointe, jazz, contemporary, lyrical, modern, hip hop, gymnastics, and more. She kept dancing in college and was on her school’s dance team for all five years, assuming the roles of Pom Choreographer and Officer. She also became the President of her college's largest dance program (over 20% of the student body was involved). In this capacity, she choreographed diverse pieces and spearheaded the coordination of their annual productions, drawing in thousands of audience members. A pivotal moment in her career was becoming a backup dancer at the Super Bowl LVI Halftime Show in 2022 alongside Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Mary J. Blige, Kendrick Lamar, 50 Cent, and Anderson .Paak. Allison is also passionate about spreading body positivity within dance spaces, and is proud to have earned Distinction on her undergraduate senior comprehension project with an autobiographical documentary regarding her experiences with dance and body image issues. After graduating from Occidental College in Los Angeles this past May, she has returned home to Blacksburg, where she is teaching a wide-range of classes at Blacksburg Dance Theater and actively contributing to our studio’s mission of promoting inclusivity and body acceptance. She is excited to continue dancing, develop younger dancers, and connect with the local dance community!
Lisa Pélanne, Ballet Faculty Lead
Courses taught: All ages and levels of ballet curriculum
Lisa is an experienced dance and yoga teacher offering movement practices that facilitate an authentic connection to body, mind, and spirit by incorporating acceptance, compassion, gratitude, and joy while honoring artistic traditions and lineages.
She began her dance journey in 1977 at the Marion Mease School of Dance in Richmond, Virginia where she studied ballet, jazz, and tap, and later explored musical theatre, performing and dancing in several productions. She is a trained facilitator of Kunga Rhythmic Dance and grateful to create and hold safe spaces for movement exploration. She is grateful to her many teachers for fostering the love of dance, especially Ms. Mease, Renée O’Neal (Tallahassee Ballet), Carol Crawford Smith (Dance Theatre of Harlem, The Center of Dance), Caitlin Smith (Roanoke Ballet Theatre), and Rachel Rugh (New River Moving Arts).
Lisa believes dance and movement is for every body and infuses the elements of strength, balance, flexibility, breath, humor, love, and a vast knowledge of human anatomy and physiology into all of her classes. She is grateful to share the movement arts with all populations and passionate about offering these tools to beginners and those with therapeutic needs.
Cari Koepplin, Senior Ballet Faculty
Courses taught: All ages and levels of ballet curriculum
Carolin Koepplin is a native of Idaho Falls, Idaho. She fell in love with ballet at the Idaho Falls School of Ballet under the tutelage of Deborah Bean. Carolin then earned a B.F.A. in Ballet cum laude from the University of Utah with an emphasis in both performance and teaching. In Utah, she performed with the Ballet Department’s companies, Utah Ballet (Directed by Regina Zarhina, Jay Kim) and the Character Dance Ensemble. She was featured during C.D.E.’s international tour in San Jose, Costa Rica.
Ms. Koepplin’s professional career has provided opportunities to dance with many wonderful artists and organizations. In California, she was a Soloist with Central West Ballet (a favorite role was Moyne in Giselle). In Oregon, she was a Principal dancer with Ballet Fantastique originating many roles for premieres such as The Raven in Nevermore: Tales of Edgar Allan Poe, Mary Quite Contrary in Babes in Toyland, and Maid Marion in Robin Hood and Maid Marion and many others. Now in Virginia, Carolin joins Roanoke Ballet Theatre. Ms. Koepplin is also an accomplished Ballet and Character Dance instructor and holds a graduate certificate from the University of Oregon in Nonprofit Management.
Katy Hall, Children’s Curriculum Lead
Courses taught: Preschool Rhythm & Tap, Creative Ballet, All levels of Modern/Contemporary
Katy was born and raised in south Mississippi and is passionate about movement in all forms. Dancing is literally in her blood - her mother is also a dance teacher! Katy received her BFA in Dance Performance and Choreography from the University of Southern Mississippi. In addition to teaching children’s dance classes with BDT, Katy is a Pilates instructor and offers group fitness classes and private Pilates instruction at Open Space Studios. She recently completed the Summer Dance Institute for Teachers through the Creative Dance Center in Seattle, Washington, and is excited to share her knowledge of Brain Compatible Dance Education with the local dancing community.
Junior Faculty
Ariel Bowman
Creative Ballet 1/2
MORE INFO COMING SOON!
Meridythe Witt
Creative Ballet 1/2, Adult Tap
MORE INFO COMING SOON!
Workshop Faculty
Dr. Julia Basso, Improvisation
Since childhood, dance has been an integral part of Julia’s life. She received her B.A. from Middlebury College in Dance in 2005 and was a part of the Dance Company of Middlebury from 2002 to 2005. As a choreographer, she is interested in utilizing scientific frameworks to create movement. For her senior thesis work, entitled Transient Networks, she created a series of pieces based on aspects of neuroscience ranging from apoptosis to addiction. As a dancer, she has performed in Cuba, New York, New Jersey, Vermont, Maine, and at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. She is deeply interested in improvisational forms of dance including Compositional Improvisation and Contact Improvisation, and is happy to be a part of a very beloved group that gathers every summer for the Movement Intensive in Compositional Improvisation (http://www.architectsdance.org/). In addition to her background in dance, Julia has practiced yoga for over 10 years and in 2012 received her 200-hour yoga teacher certification.