CPYB Faculty

CPYB’s exceptional faculty is chaired by Marcia Dale Weary, Artistic Director. CPYB’s year-round faculty, who have trained more than 100 students who have gone on to dance professionally, are augmented by outstanding teaching professionals from the larger dance world. CPYB’s average teacher to student ratio is 1:20 during the academic year.

Laszlo Berdo, was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where he began dancing at the age of five. Mr. Berdo later intensified his studies at the National Academy of Arts in Champaign, Illinois. Upon graduation he joined Ballet Austin and then the Louisville Ballet under Alun Jones and Helen Starr. He was later hired by Ivan Nagy first as a guest artist then later to be a soloist with the Cincinnati Ballet. Mr. Berdo then joined the Boston Ballet in 1990 as a corps de ballet member under Bruce Marks. He was then promoted to soloist in 1993 and to principal in 1995. He has danced numerous principal roles in ballets by Cranko, McMillan, Balanchine, Bournonville, Hynd and Stevenson. Mr. Berdo also excelled in contemporary works by Tharp, Taylor, Feld, Butler and York. Mr. Berdo is honored to be the first to perform the lead role in Cranko’s Eugene Onegin in the United States. He began choreographing in 1993, creating the pas de deux Eternal Being which later was performed for a Boston Ballet gala. In 1997, Mr. Berdo was commissioned to create a new work for Boston Ballet. Four Hands premiered in March of 1998 and was performed in many venues such as the International Ballet Competition in Jackson, Mississippi and at a summer festival in Biarritz, France. In 1999, Berdo created Below Down Under which premiered at the Schubert Theatre in February 1999. In March of 2001, he created Sanctuary for the Norwegian National Ballet in Oslo. He choreographed Bass Elements for The Boston Conservatory and participated in Choreoplan 2001 in which he created Concertante for the Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet. Most recently, Mr. Berdo staged Four Hands for the Finnish National Ballet in Helsinki which premiered in October of 2002 and Snow White for CPYB, which premiered in 2008. Mr. Berdo teaches in the United States and Europe for ballet companies, summer intensives and colleges. From 2000 to 2003 Mr. Berdo was a faculty member for The Boston Conservatory and Harvard University.  Mr. Berdo has been with CPYB since 2000.

Sara Eppley, originally from Buffalo, New York, is an alumna of the Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet. She first studied the Cecchetti Method of Ballet, and is I.S.T.D. certified for levels 1 through 4 and Elementary work. She has performed with the Buffalo Ballet Theater, the 1000 Islands Festival Ballet Company and the Lake Erie Ballet. She has also participated as a dancer in the Carlisle Project Choreography Workshops. She is certified by New York City Ballet to teach the New York City Ballet Workout. In addition to teaching for CPYB, Ms. Eppley was formerly on the faculty of the Cincinnati Ballet and Tanze Performing Arts Center while living in Ohio.

Leslie Hench began her training under Marcia Dale Weary. She continued to dance with the Harlequin Ballet in London until returning more than 20 years ago to the Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet to teach for Ms. Weary as a CPYB faculty member.

Melinda Howe has served on the faculty of the Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet for more than 30 years, where she began her own training under the direction of Marcia Dale Weary. She received her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from The North Carolina School of the Arts and then returned to Carlisle to work with Ms. Weary. Her growth as a teacher has led her to teach and choreograph with other regional companies such as Cumberland Dance and Allegheny Ballet Companies. Ms. Howe received the Northeast Regional Dance America (RDA) 2000 Monticello Award for Choreography, for her work Andante, danced by Lake Erie Ballet under the direction of Sharon Filone. Her ballets, Vivaldi and Les Coeurs des Amis, were performed at the RDA Festival in 1999 and 2007, respectively. Dancers from The Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet performed Esprit at the Gala RDA Performance in 2005.

Re Rabassi-Davis has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Ballet Education, trained as an apprentice teacher with the Royal Winnipeg Ballet and completed the teacher’s training course with Jacques d’Amboise’s National Dance Institute. Formerly the founder and director of the Gettysburg School of Ballet, she also served on the faculty of Mt. St. Mary’s College and the Harrisburg Arts Magnet School. During this time, she created and implemented the Creative Movement and Pre-Ballet curriculum used at CPYB from 1985 to 1995 and developed the foundation for the current CPYB Arts in Education and Outreach programs. She also created the dance curriculum for the Capital Area School of the Arts and the Milton Hershey School. Additionally, Ms. Rabassi-Davis holds a M.Ed. from Shippensburg University in Counseling and an M.S. in Business Ethics and Leadership from Duquesne University. She currently teaches Drama and Dance at Milton Hershey School while serving as permanent faculty for both the academic and summer programs at CPYB since 1984. Ms. Rabassi-Davis is also the artistic coordinator for CPYB’s DiscoverDance program.

Bruce Thornton received his dance training in his native Seattle, WA at the Cornish Institute and then with Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet. He was most recently a soloist with the Miami City Ballet and danced a range of roles with the company; including: the “Blue” gentleman from Jerome Robbins’ Dances at a Gathering, the principal “walking” pas de deux from Emeralds, the Elegie principal from Serenade, the principal male in Concerto Barrocco and Elegie, the role of Death in La Valse as well as the “turning” principal in La Valse, the Baron in La Sonnambula, the second Pas de Trois from Agon, the first and third themes from The Four Temperaments, all by Balanchine. He has a wide variety of experience with other choreographers, such as: Paul Taylor, Lynn Taylor Corbett, Richard Tanner, Margo Sappington, Sir Frederick Ashton, August Bournonville, Richard Weiss and Edward Villella. He has performed as a guest artist for the Carolina Ballet in their televised performances of Romeo and Juliet, and Lynn Taylor Corbett’s Cabaret at Café Marcovici. He performed for the former President of the United States, William Jefferson Clinton, in a televised performance of The Kennedy Center Honors; in honor of the award to Edward Villella. Mr. Thornton brings his expertise in the Balanchine repertoire through his work with the great Edward Villella, as well as his 15 years of professional work to the Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet as a member of the faculty.