Faculty

Garance Nienhuis, Studio Owner and Director

Garance is passionate about teaching dance & life skills to all her students and makes it a priority to develop a connection with every student. In December 2014, she received the Champion for Youth Award which celebrates and recognizes extraordinary commitment and dedication demonstrated on behalf of youth in the community. She was presented by the Coalition for the Advancement of Student Activities’ Student Leadership Training Program.

Garance began her training at age 8 at the Royal Academy of Dance in The Netherlands before immigrating to the United States in 1980. Garance trained with Gretel van Bruggen, Herci Marsden, Patrick Notaro, and Donald Acevedo.  She danced with the State Ballet of Rhode Island from 1985-1996 where she became soloist in 1992 and and principal dancer in 1994.

In 1996 Garance ventured into the realm of modern dance while working for choreographer Sally Mayo with Sally Mayo & Company Dancers in Disport.  In 1997 she performed as Heloise’s dancing double in the world premier of the musical Rage of the Heart. From 1996-1999 she was a frequent guest artist with Spindle City Ballet.

Garance was a board member of The Bristol Theater Company from 1997-2005 and choreographed their productions of Evita and West Side Story.

Garance started teaching in private studios throughout  New England in 1989 and in 1992-93 she was the Regional Director for Creative Dance for Children, bringing creative movement to children in daycare centers throughout Rhode Island and Massachusetts.  In September of 1997, she opened her own studio in Bristol, Rhode Island. Garance has also been a substitute ballet teacher for the ballet classes Roger Williams University dance program.

Garance resides in Warren with Jesse and her two daughters, Anneke and Amelie.

Anneke St. Angelo, Assistant Director & Instructor

Anneke is The Ballet Center’s Assistant Director and our main Tap, Jazz & Hip Hop Instructor. She started dancing at The Ballet Center at age 2.5 & has studied Ballet, Pointe, Jazz, Contemporary, Tap and Hip Hop. Anneke has been an assistant to our Tiny Toes, Fancy Feet and Young Children’s Hip Hop classes for years. In 2018/19 she started working as a Junior Instructor for several Young Division classes. Anneke has been teaching as a Senior Instructor since 2020. 

Anneke’s classes are high energy, detail oriented and positive, bringing all her students on a fantastic dancing journey!

She continues to take class whenever she can and has recently become certified to teach AcroDance through Acrobatic Arts! Anneke teaches Tap, Jazz and Hip Hop classes as well as AcroDance. 

Anneke teaches at several studios throughout Southern New England. She is super excited to get started with her new groups for another year!

Shane Farrell, Instructor

Shane is a Rhode Island native who studied at the Brae Crest School of Ballet and has performed in most major full-length ballets. His television and film credits include MTV’s MADE, FOX’s So You Think You Can Dance, and the 2010 film Hachi. Shane performed for ten seasons with Island Moving Company including several national and international tours. In 2016 and 2017 he toured Kazakhstan performing at the World Expo in Astana and choreographing a flash mob in metro stations throughout Almaty in a collaboration with IMC, Samruk Dance, and the U.S. Consulate.

His choreography for IMC includes five world premieres: Pheromone, Luminous, Queens Are Made of Distance and Greasepaint, Pavo Cristatus, and Black Moon Lilith, as well as Jack and Jill from Mother Goose. Other choreography includes America’s Junior Miss Pageant, Providence College, Wheaton College and Salve Regina University. Shane teaches our Advanced Ballet and the Intermediate & Advanced Contemporary classes!

Lisa Bibeau, Instructor

Ms. Bibeau is from Westport, MA and is a graduate of the Hartford Ballet’s Teacher Training Program, one of the most highly respected pedagogical programs in the United States to train and certify teachers in the Vaganova syllabus.

Over her performing career she trained with master teachers from the Royal Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, Riga Ballet, Mariinsky Ballet and New York City Ballet, Boston Ballet and Boston Ballet Theatre. In addition, she has extensively studied modern techniques in Graham, Cunningham and Limon and with respected jazz legends, Jeanette Neil, Frank Hatchett, Gus Giordano and Luigi.

Ms. Bibeau has danced with professional ballet companies including; Hyannis Ballet, Island Moving Company (now Newport Contemporary Ballet), and Cape Ballet, performing a wide variety of roles from classical to contemporary. Favorite principal roles include the title role in Cinderella and the Sugar Plum Fairy in The Nutcracker.

In the fall of 1987 she established The Dance Academy. Students from it’s pre-professional program have danced with respected major companies. In 1995 Ms. Bibeau was the founder and Artistic Director of Spindle City Ballet, the South Coast’s only non-profit professional ballet company offering professional ballet performances.

As a choreographer she has received critical acclaim for her original short and full length works. These include, A Meadow Fantasy, an original full length ballet based on the children’s book of tales, Mother West Wind written by Thornton Burgess, Alice in Wonderland, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Cinderella, Hansel and Gretel, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and the Princess and the Pea, in addition she has restaged several classic ballets including Coppelia, Giselle and Sleeping Beauty.

Ms. Bibeau is a well-known master teacher and coach, working with students and professionals nationally and internationally. She is well known for her holistic approach, broad knowledge of technique/theory, ballet history and conditioning techniques.

In 2020, due to Covid and family health issues, and after much soul searching, she made the difficult decision to close the her school and company. As they say, when a door closes, a window opens.

Lisa is excited to be on faculty at The Ballet Center and looks forward to sharing her passion for dance with her students.

Jennifer Cotoia, Instructor & STEPs Coordinator

Jen grew up in Bristol, RI where she started ballet at the age of 7 with Garance. She continued dancing and teaching for Danceworks School of Dance for 20 years. She has a BA from Rhode Island College in Elementary Education with a concentration in Special Education.

Jen currently teaches grade 4 in Bristol where she has also been the coordinator for the Chance to Dance Program. Jen also is a graduate of the Dance Teachers Training of Boston Certification Program.

She has competed many of her dance groups and soloists in dance competitions earning high scores and special judges awards. She has been a substitute teacher at The Ballet Center in the past and is so excited to start her Contemporary & Jazz classes for her third season with us! Jen also teaches in our Adult Division with our Modern Dance Class and Ballet. Her daughter, age 6, will enter her second year of Fancy Feet this Fall.

Florian Rouiller, Instructor

We are pleased to announce that Florian Rouiller will be joining our faculty for season 2024/2025! FLORIAN ROUILLER is a dance teacher, choreographer, and performer who has worked extensively across three continents. Mr. Rouiller has an MFA in Dance from the University of Maryland, where he choreographed and performed original productions while continuing extensive performance with local dance companies outside the university. Mr. Rouiller began his dance career with training at the prestigious John Cranko School in Stuttgart with a BFA, and performed with the Stuttgart Ballet in productions such as Sleeping Beauty and Giselle. Upon immigrating to the United States, he danced with Merce Cunningham Dance Company as an apprentice, Ohio Ballet, Joffrey Ballet of Chicago, Milwaukee Ballet, Ballet Chicago, Ballet International Eldar Aliev, Ballet Metropolitano de Caracas and Ballet Contemporanea de Caracas in Venezuela, as well as Goteborg Ballet in Sweden performing principal and soloist roles. He has won choreographic prizes at YAGP and Korean National Competition. He is featured in Lois Greenfield’s book “Moving Still” NY. He was a guest teacher at the Kirov Academy in DC for there Summer Programs in 2005, 2008 and 2015 and also taught at the Washington Ballet School. Mr. Rouiller is currently teaching and choreographing in the New England area and we are so happy to welcome him to our studio!

Hannah Wood, Instructor

Hannah Wood was born and raised in Eldersburg Maryland. She begun her training with Carroll County Dance Center then continued it as a trainee with BalletMet. At BalletMet she had the opportunity to perform roles in Serenade, Who Cares, Walpurgisnacht, Etudes as well as soloist roles in Don Quixote and Giselle. Currently she dances with BalletRI in Providence Rhode Island under director Kathleen Breen Combes. Since Starting her professional career with BalletRI Hannah’s performed many great works by Yury Yanowsky, Ken Osola, George Balanchine and many others. Her favorite roles she’s performed include “Step Mother” from Cinderella, “The Maiden” from Death and the Maiden, Concerto Barroco, and Ode. Hannah is currently in her fourth season with BalletRI. We are thrilled to have Hannah join our faculty as she teaches in our Adult Division!

Ellie Pinheiro, Junior Instructor, Social Media Manager & Front Desk

bio coming soon

Rachael Souza, Junior Instructor

bio coming soon

Diane Campagna, Permanent Guest Instructor

Growing up in Colorado, Diane studied tap, ballet, and jazz at Miller’s Dance Studio. She attended Brigham Young University and the University of Colorado at Boulder where she continued her dance training.

She started teaching in 1999 at Steppin’ Out Studio in Portsmouth, Rhode Island and has been a member of Dance Masters of America since 2001. Diane has choreographed and directed numerous productions for the Bristol Theater Company where she serves on the Board of Directors. Diane teaches Jazz, Tap and Ballet at The Ballet Center since 2007. Even though Diane has moved to Atlanta she remains a vital part of The Ballet Center!

Todd Hall, Permanent Guest Instructor

Todd has trained at the School of American Ballet in New York City, Joffrey Ballet School, and the School of the Boston Ballet.  He has performed with Boston Ballet and Washington Ballet and as a guest artist with a numerous American ballet companies. He has danced such roles as Albrecht in Giselle, the Prince in Swan Lake, the Cavalier in The Nutcracker, and Franz in Coppelia. Todd currently teaches and choreographs throughout the Northeast and overseas. Todd has been a guest instructor at The Ballet Center since 1997 working mostly with the advanced levels.