Thank You for an Amazing Academy Showcase 2026

Dear Academy Families,

Thank you for a truly beautiful Academy Showcase Saturday. We were so proud to see our dancers take the stage with such joy, confidence, artistry, and heart. It was a wonderful celebration of the hard work, growth, and dedication that has filled our studios throughout the year.

To our dancers: Thank you for your commitment, perseverance, and love of dance. Ballet is a uniquely special endeavor, one that asks for discipline, resilience, focus, and tremendous dedication. We recognize the countless hours, effort, and passion that each student brings to the studio, and we are so proud of all you have accomplished.

To our parents and families: Thank you for your endless support. From rides to class and rehearsals, to encouraging tired dancers after long days, to cheering from the audience, your support makes all of this possible. We deeply appreciate the trust you place in us and the commitment your families make to this art form.

The Showcase was filled with so many joyful moments, and we loved celebrating each dancer’s progress and accomplishments. One of the greatest gifts of what we do is the time we share together in the studio, and we are incredibly grateful for each and every member of our Academy community.

With gratitude,
Montana Ballet Company

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Tim Edgar

Academy Faculty Social Dance

Professional Ballroom Dance Instructor

Tim is a DVIDA-certified professional ballroom dance instructor who helps dancers of all ages—from the young to the young-at-heart—discover the joy of movement and connect with their inner confidence through dance.

Before finding his passion on the dance floor, Tim was searching for his true calling in life. That all changed the day a friend literally carried him onto a dance floor—and the rest is history! (Be sure to ask him about it; he loves telling the story.)

Tim spent four successful years honing his craft at a prominent franchise studio in Denver before finding a home at Colorado Dancesport. Over the next decade, he helped elevate the studio into one of the top-ranked dance facilities in the nation, teaching students ranging in age from 4 to 84. After 14 incredible years in Colorado, Tim has brought his extensive expertise, passion, and elite training back home to Montana.

When he isn’t in the studio, Tim fully embraces the mountain lifestyle. You can usually find him outdoors downhill skiing, mountain biking, exploring local craft breweries, or sampling new culinary experiences.

Whether you are preparing for a romantic wedding first dance, looking for a fun private group class, or aspiring to hit the competitive dance circuit, Tim is available to help you reach your goals.

Donna Murphrey

Director

After graduating from the University of Memphis, Donna spent her career financing commercial real estate from hotels to office buildings and shopping centers, from Alaska to Arkansas. She retired to Bozeman where she has been vacationing for over 25 years enjoying hiking, skiing and biking. Donna is a landscape and wildlife artist and a musician, traveling all over Europe and Canada with her choir. She is active in the Bozeman Women’s Activity Group (BWAGs) and P.E.O. Her love for ballet began as a child and grew while living in the San Francisco area.

Kalie Lee

Director

Kalie Lee is a seasoned Strategy Manager specializing in product development, data asset management, and advanced analytics. Throughout her career, she has led high-impact initiatives focused on strategic growth, regulatory compliance, and enhancing service delivery and customer experiences.

A lifelong advocate for the arts, Kalie’s connection to the ballet is deeply personal. Raised in Bozeman, Montana, she trained intensively in ballet from a young age, an experience that instilled in her a lifelong foundation of discipline, dedication, and artistry. Kalie joined the Montana Ballet Company Board of Directors in 2026, leveraging her unique blend of strategic expertise and financial oversight on the Finance Committee to support high-quality dance education and sustain a vibrant professional ballet company for the community.

Tom Brereton

Director

After a distinguished forty-four-year career in independent education, Tom fully retired in 2019 and relocated to Bozeman with his wife, Amy, to be closer to their four adult children and growing family. Over twenty-nine years as a Head of School, Tom led three highly successful independent institutions—The Miami Valley School, The Galloway School, and Episcopal Day School—where he championed academic excellence, strategic planning, and comprehensive arts education. Passionate about dance and fine arts, Tom built a new visual arts studio at MVS, established the first ballet and modern dance program at Galloway, and even studied ballet and modern dance firsthand alongside students at the Dayton Ballet Company studio. A seasoned leader in nonprofit governance, he has extensive board experience, having served as Trustee and President of the Ohio Association of Independent Schools, and as a Trustee for the Dayton Ballet Company and the Rosenthal Fund for the Performing Arts, among numerous other education and community organizations. Now firmly rooted in Montana, Tom enjoys volunteering, exploring the region’s outdoor and winter sports, swimming with the Bozeman Masters Swim Team, and immersing himself in Bozeman’s vibrant college-town culture. He is incredibly excited to join the Montana Ballet Company Board of Directors and looks forward to utilizing his deep strategic, financial, and artistic background to help realize the Company’s future goals and aspirations.

Lucy E. Bettis

Director

Lucy E. Bettis has lived and worked in many parts of the country. Born in California, she grew up in the Washington DC area, attended the Cornell Law School, and moved west for her working career. Lucy was a partner in a small litigation firm in San Francisco, representing Fortune 100 companies in science, technology, and medicine-related matters. After relocating to Santa Fe, NM, Lucy’s ‘second act’ professionally involve public finance and utility regulation. She was Senior Corporate Counsel for PNM, the state’s largest electric provider. She also served on the Board of Directors of the Santa Fe Community College. As a lifelong lover of all things winter, Lucy had often visited Bozeman during her career and elected to move to Bozeman in 2023.

Lori K. Pilon

Secretary

Lori is a lifelong dancer and bunhead. She grew up in Overland Park, KS, dancing under the tutelage of Kathy and Dennis Landsman, Paula Weber, and Courtney Kierl-Bourman. She spent her summers at the Joffrey Ballet, briefly considered a professional ballet career, and quickly realized she loved academia in addition to the art of dance. She attended Wake Forest University on dance and academic scholarships, majoring in History with a double minor in Spanish and Dance. During her time there, she enjoyed teaching all ages in the WFU Community Dance Program, choreographing, and spending as much time as possible in the studio.

Lori is the Private Wealth Advisor for U.S. Bank in Bozeman, serving high-net-worth individuals and families in western Montana. She considers herself to be an accidental financial professional but has thoroughly enjoyed her decade-plus in the industry. Outside of work and ballet, Lori enjoys all the outdoor activities with her Bozeman-native husband/tour guide. She and her young daughter have a newfound love of downhill skiing, so you can find her whole family on the ski hill in the wintertime.

Elizabeth Bentler

Treasurer

Elizabeth moved to Bozeman in July of 2023 from Washington, DC, and currently works in fundraising at Bozeman-based Highwood Capital and Bannack Group. Prior to moving to Montana, Elizabeth lived in DC for several years, fundraising for a variety of political organizations.

In her free time, Elizabeth enjoys learning to dance at MBC, practicing Pilates, and exploring all that Montana has to offer. In addition to her role on the MBC Board of Directors, she also serves as the recruitment advisor to the MSU chapter of Alpha Omicron Pi and on the Advisory Committee for a youth non-profit scholarship organization in her home state of California. Elizabeth is a graduate of Cal Poly San Luis Obispo with a degree in Political Science.

David Steinmuller

Vice President

David Steinmuller is a former biomedical scientist whose research concerned the immune responses to tissue and organ transplants. He grew up in New Haven, Connecticut. He received his B.A. in biology from Swarthmore College in 1956 and his Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania at Philadelphia in 1961. Over the years, he was a faculty member at the Universities of Washington, Utah, Michigan, and then Iowa before moving to Montana with his wife, Patti in 1992, where he was a part-time professor at Montana State University before retiring in 2004. He has loved art, music, and dance, especially classical ballet for as long as he can remember and has a special interest in the history of ballet.

Sarah Milligan

President

Sarah Milligan is a life-long ballet fan from Pensacola, Florida. Sarah received training from Dorothy Lister and Kaleidoscope/Ballet Pensacola and Ballet Arts Minnesota before attending the dance program at Indiana University, Bloomington. Upon graduation, Sarah worked on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, for several members of the US House of Representatives. She is currently the Political Director for the American Dental Association and a certified Barre3 instructor.

Kaitlin Bowman

Operations Assistant

Kaitlin grew up around ballet and has always admired the hard work and dedication of dancers. A ballet dancer until the age of 14, they couldn’t stay away from it even after quitting.

Coming on board with MBC in late 2022, Kaitlin has been delighted to spend every day around dance. Outside of MBC, they are an illustrator and game artist. Kaitlin lives in Manhattan with their family, three cats, and two dogs.

Rebecca Berke

Ballet & Character Mistress

Rebecca Berke majored in ballet education at the University of Utah, where she danced with Ballet Ensemble and the Utah Light Opera Company. She began teaching in California in 1975 and later opened and directed Ballet and Theatre Arts in Danville, CA, in 1983 until 2006. She also founded and directed the Danville Ballet Company for pre-professional dancers. She then went on to direct the Professional Ballet Training Program for Community Arts in Walnut Creek, CA. Most recently, she was the Associate Director of the Diablo Ballet School. Rebecca teaches master classes in Mindfulness for Dancers, Aspects of Technique & Artistry, Character Dance, Dance History–The New Chapter, and Sanctuary Self (breathe, move, ground).

She is committed to training dancers in the art of dance as well as provide them with an understanding of their bodies and how it can be used with respect, dignity and for expressing their strength and beauty in their art form.

Rebecca is also a Board-Certified Hypnotherapist, and Mindfulness teacher and coach.

Rebecca is married with four grown children, one stepson, and ten lively grandchildren.

Leigh Ripley

Marketing & Operations Director

Leigh believes that the talent and work required to combine athleticism and artistry into visual poetry is to be watched with awe and respect. She is truly honored to be a member of the Montana Ballet Company.

Leigh brings to MBC an extensive background in Business Operations and Event and Sports Marketing. She has held positions with the National Football League, International Sports Broadcasting/XIX Winter Olympic Games, and the Valley Ice Garden/Bozeman Ice Dogs.

In addition to her position with Montana Ballet Company, Leigh is co-owner of Montana Parent; the avidly read parenting magazine for families living in southwest Montana.

Leigh spent her youth and college years as a competitive figure skater, developing an admiration for classical ballet in her training. She is a graduate of The Ohio State University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Public Relations from the school of Journalism, specializing in Sports Marketing.

She lives in Bozeman with her three daughters: two competitive cheerleaders and one barrel racer.

Karen Smith

Outreach & Artistic Operations Director

Karen Smith is the Programs Coordinator and an Instructor with Montana Ballet Company. She began with MBC upon its inception under Ann Bates in 1983 and has been back with the Company since 2012. She has studied on scholarship around the country, including with the Pacific Northwest Ballet School, The Joffrey Ballet, and the Milwaukee Ballet School, and with teachers including Joy and Conrad Ludlow, Georges Golovine, and Lynda Yourth among others. Karen has a special history with MBC, having grown up with our organization and performing in MBC’s very first Nutcracker production. During that time, she managed the Montana Ballet School, danced with the Company, and served as assistant choreographer and rehearsal assistant for the Company’s productions. Karen has experience teaching students of all ages and abilities, including with MBC, the Ballet Academy of Texas in Coppell, TX, and as a Dancing Classrooms Teaching Artist in Residence in Dallas/Fort Worth Elementary Schools. She was formally trained in Adaptive Dance at the Boston Ballet and is head instructor for MBC’s Adaptive Dance Program. Karen is a licensed Progressing Ballet Technique teacher with a B.A. in English from Montana State University. After exploring, living, working, and dancing around the world, Karen is happily back in Bozeman with her husband of 29 years, two kids, two cats, a hedgehog, and a pug named Percy.

Edna Mae Berkey

General Manager

Edna Mae is a graduate of The Ohio State University with a degree in Theatre, specializing in Arts Administration and Stage Management. In 2003, Edna Mae embarked on her dance journey by joining Ballet Memphis as Company Stage Manager. In 2005, she had the privilege to accompany the inaugural Trey McIntyre Project as stage manager, where she oversaw performances at the renowned Jacob’s Pillow Dance.

Later in 2005, Edna Mae became the Company Stage Manager for North Carolina Dance Theatre (now Charlotte Ballet). She devoted the next 10 seasons to the Charlotte Ballet. Significant moments during this period include moving the company into its first new building, performing at the Kennedy Center for Dance Across America, and engaging with works by both esteemed and emerging choreographers such as George Balanchine, Nacho Duato, Twyla Tharp, Jiri Kylian, Mark Godden, Dwight Rhoden, Septime Webre, Jean-Pierre Bonnefoux, and Sasha Janes. She was promoted to Director of Artistic Operations in 2012. While with Charlotte Ballet, Edna Mae had the privilege of spending summers working at the prestigious Chautauqua Institution as Production Manager. During that time she also graduated from the Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle, recently earning the Guild of the Seven Seals.

In 2014, Edna Mae returned to Ohio to be closer to her family and worked in commercial and residential construction until April 2019, when she was honored to be appointed as the Executive Director of Short North Stage. In 2020 the world changed and Edna Mae, believing in our ability to adapt, focused on becoming a glass artist, founding PB & Jammy Glass, which focuses on blown glass, fused glass, and stained glass. Her work has been exhibited in galleries and featured at festivals throughout the Midwest.

Edna Mae is so excited about her next adventure with MBC and looks forward to experiencing the beauty of the American West with her two cats, Max and Boo.

Melissa Bowman

Artistic Director

Melissa Allen Bowman began her classical ballet training at age six with Lois Ellyn, formerly of New York City Ballet, and at age eleven began training with Stanley Holden and Margaret Graham Hills, both from The Royal Ballet in London.

At age fifteen, she joined the corps de ballet of American Ballet Theatre, where she danced for the next seven years. During that time, Bowman began her own ballet company, the Emerson Dance Theatre, which featured up-and-coming ABT dancers. From 1981 to 1988, Bowman also appeared in several of ABT’s Great Performances in America.

In 1988, she moved to Europe to join the Bern Ballet in Switzerland and then the Zurich Ballet with Uwe Scholz. In 1990, she followed Scholz to Leipzig, Germany, where she was a Soloist and became his Associate Director.

Over the span of her career, she has danced Soloist and Principal roles in Sleeping Beauty, Romeo and Juliet, Swan Lake, and La Bayadere.

Bowman returned to the United States in 1999 to join the staff of the Pittsburgh Youth Ballet, where in 2000, she became resident choreographer and Associate Director. In 2004, she established, with her husband Richard, Danse Conservatory and California Danse Theatre Youth Ballet and served as the Artistic Director for five years.

Bowman taught at the ABT Summer Intensive in Detroit starting in 2003 and, after five years, became the Artistic Director of the ABT Summer Intensives.

In 2007 she became an advisor to ABT’s National Training Curriculum. Ms. Bowman was previously the Assistant Principal of the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School at ABT and the Director of the Children’s Division.

She joined Houston Ballet in 2016 and served as both the Academy Director and the Director of Curriculum for the Houston Ballet Academy.

She moved to Bozeman this year with her husband, Richard Bowman, and their two children. She is thrilled to be a part of the MBC family.

Melissa Allen Bowman is an ABT® Certified Teacher, who has successfully completed the ABT® Teacher Training Intensive in Pre-Primary through Level 7 of the ABT® National Training Curriculum.

Eliana Tolentino

Company Dancer

ELIANA TOLENTINO is originally from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She has spent the last four seasons dancing with Ballet Spartanburg performing principal and soloist roles including, The Winter Fairy in Cinderella, Myrtle in The Great Gatsby, Sugar Plum Fairy, Arabian, and Tarantella in The Nutcracker, Aurora in Sleeping Beauty, Black Swan Pas de Deux from Swan Lake, Betsy in The Mighty Casey, and Myrtha from Giselle as well as numerous contemporary works. She began her training at Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre’s School culminating at the highest level of the PBTS Graduate Program. Some of her repertoire there includes: Principal roles in Graduation Ball, excerpts from Paquita, Grand Pas De Deux from Terrence Orr’s The Nutcracker, and Waltz Girl from George Balanchine’s Serenade set by Jerri Kumery. She also danced roles with the Company in performances of The Nutcracker, Giselle, and Beauty and The Beast. Eliana has attended summer programs at Saratoga Ballet, Miami City Ballet, Tulsa Ballet, Kaatsbaan Ballet, Cincinnati Ballet, Point Park University and Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre. Eliana is excited to continue her professional career with Montana Ballet Company.

Gates Northrup

Company Dancer

Gates Northrup is from Minneapolis, Minnesota, with a strong foundation in both classical and contemporary repertory. She trained at Minnesota Dance Theatre from 2010–2012 before continuing her studies at Nevada Ballet Theatre from 2012–2014. She returned to Minnesota Dance Theatre from 2014–2022, joining the company as an apprentice in 2019 and later performing as a company dancer.Gates earned her Bachelor of Science in Ballet from Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music, with a minor in Psychology, graduating in three years. She has performed works by Loyce and Lise Houlton, George Balanchine, Sir Frederick Ashton, Dwight Rhoden, Twyla Tharp, Jean-Pierre Bonnefoux, Sasha Janes, and Michael Vernon. Since 2020, she has taught ballet at both Minnesota Dance Theatre and Indiana University’s Pre-College Program. Gates is excited for her first season with Montana Ballet Company!

Cassidy McAndrew

Company Dancer

Cassidy McAndrew began her ballet training at age five in Stamford, CT. At eleven, she continued her training at Ballet Academy East (BAE) under the direction of Darla Hoover. Upon graduating from BAE in 2015, Cassidy joined Charlotte Ballet as an apprentice for the 2015–2016 season, where she was mentored by the legendary Patricia McBride.She subsequently danced with Philadelphia Ballet for four seasons, performing corps de ballet and soloist roles in a wide-ranging repertoire by Angel Corella, Jerome Robbins, George Balanchine, Ben Stevenson, Sir Kenneth MacMillan, Alexander Ekman, Matthew Neenan, and Helen Pickett.In 2021, Cassidy joined Los Angeles Ballet for the 2021–2022 season. From 2022–2025, she freelanced throughout the greater Los Angeles area, performing principal roles with companies including Inland Pacific Ballet, Ballet Project OC, and The Realm Company.Cassidy began teaching in 2020 and has taught at notable institutions such as Ballet Academy East, Los Angeles Ballet School, Westside School of Ballet, and Inland Pacific Ballet. Now based in Bozeman, she is thrilled to join MBC as a member of the Company and a faculty member, sharing her artistry, experience, and love of ballet with the greater Bozeman community.

Madelyn Kleven

Company Dancer

Madelyn Kleven is from Seattle, WA, where she spent ten years training with the Pacific Northwest Ballet School (PNBS). Upon graduating from PNBS, Madelyn moved to Pittsburgh, PA, and spent a season dancing in Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre’s Graduate Program. In 2022, she joined Oregon Ballet Theatre’s second company. During her three seasons with Oregon Ballet Theatre, Madelyn performed works by George Balanchine, Trey McIntyre, Dani Rowe, Ben Stevenson, Christopher Stowell, and Dominic Walsh. She is excited to join MBC.