Toledo Ballet Company

About the Company

Toledo Ballet company members are selected each year through an audition process. All company members are at least 13 years old and en pointe. There are three levels of company members: apprentices, corps, and principals. The company is devoted to providing dancers with the exposure, training, and performance opportunities including participation in our numerous outreach activities. Contact Lisa Mayer, School Director, for more information.

Principal Company Members

Frances Shuk Kwan Fu began dancing at the age of three with the Christina Liao School of Ballet in Hong Kong, winning a scholarship at the age of eleven. She completed the Royal Academy of Dance (RAD) advanced level and at sixteen was accepted under the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts under the direction of Graeme Collins, former principal of the English National Ballet. She has also trained with instructors from The Royal Ballet, New York City Ballet, Paris Opera Ballet, and China National Ballet. She was the soloist in Christina Liao's Cinderella and has dances the roles of little swan, big swan, and princess in Swan Lake, blue bird in Sleeping Beauty, and fairy in Don Quixote. Currently a pharmacy major at University of Toledo, this is Ms. Fu's fourth year on the Toledo Ballet faculty and as a Principal Company Member.

Steven J. Brown began his ballet studies at The Toledo Ballet School with Marie Vogt and Velta Cernonok. Steven went on to study on scholarship at many highly regarded schools including Houston Ballet Academy, the former School of Cleveland Ballet, The School of American Ballet, Andre Eglevsky State Ballet of New York, and Steps Studio NYC with Wilhelm Burmann.
In addition, Mr. Brown has also danced with the CCM Ballet Ensemble at the University of Cincinnati, Wisconsin Ballet Theatre and Montana Ballet. Mr. Brown completed degree requirements and received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Ballet from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and also has a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Communication from the University of Toledo. Mr. Brown has been on faculty at the University of Toledo, Owens College and has also taught at Toledo School for the Arts and Cincinnati School for Creative and Performing Arts. Mr. Brown was a faculty member at University of Findlay and choreographed their annual musical productions. He has appeared in Industrial videos for Proctor & Gamble and Bell South and has also used his voiceover talent in commercials for the Cincinnati Chamber of Commerce. Steven is the owner of Cityboyzfashions.com. Today, Steven continues to teach, choreograph and dance in Toledo Ballet productions.

Caitlin Hudson began training at the age of seven in Phoenix, Az. At the age of twelve she was invited to apprentice for Center Dance Ensemble, a modern company under the direction of Frances Cohen, and was the youngest dancer ever to receive the honor in the history of the company. She began attending New School for the Arts in 1998, where she trained daily in ballet, modern, jazz, flamenco, tap, choreography, pedagogy and other techniques, as well as theater. For the next four years, she had the opportunity to travel throughout the country with her dance department, training and performing at various festivals and conventions, and was cast in an multi-award winning piece, "Hanging the Warsh", which was nationally televised in 2002. Through her attendance of the arts school, she was exposed to many master classes from nationally and internationally acclaimed teachers and choreographers, including Mia Michaels, Leslie Brown, Joe Tremaine, Malaya, Finis Jhung, and many others. In 2004 she moved to Ann Arbor, Michigan and attended Eastern Michigan University under Sherry Jerome. In 2005, she was cast as Puck in Midsummer Nights' Dream, in 2006 she won third place in the National Society of Arts and Letters Regional Competition, and was chosen to perform Grusin Suite by Frank Chaves of River North Jazz Company in Chicago. She moved to Toledo later that year, and joined the faculty of Toledo Ballet in 2007. She has performed in Outside the Lines, Reverence, and The Nutcracker, as well as other small performances around the community. This is her second year as Ballet Mistress. She is married with two girls and a son.

Meredith Garrison has danced for nine years, performing numerous roles including Clara in Toledo Ballet's 2005 Nutcracker, Indian in Toledo Ballet's Peter Pan, and most recently numerous rolls in Museum of Dreams. Other prior roles include Unlock the Magic at The Rock School for Dance Education, the second act of Nutcracker for International Ballet Classique's "Evening in St. Petersburg," Neumann College, and Nutcracker and Don Quixote for First State Ballet in Wilmington, DE. Her ballet training includes The Rock School and the Academy of International Ballet as well as numerous summer intensives. In 2008, she competed in the Youth American Grand Prix in NY where she made it to the finals.

Elizabeth Ramsey began her ballet training at the age of four and by ten she began to branch out and study lyrical, jazz and modern dance. In addition to her multiple roles in Nutcracker, she has danced in Toledo Ballet's productions of Peter Pan, Ballet Tapestries, Outside the Lines, Reverence, Press One for More Options and most recently Museum of Dreams as a soloist. She was a featured dancer in the Ohio Dance Festival where she danced to Michael Lang's Stairway to Heaven. She danced at Joffery Ballet Chicago this past summer for their Summer Intensive program and will dance at Complexions Contemporary Ballet’s Winter Intensive in New York City after Nutcracker. She is currently a senior at Toledo School of the Arts where she majors in dance and won first place in the school’s adjudicated Choreographers’ Showcase in 2010 and 2011.Upon her graduation Elizabeth plans to continue to dance either professionally or in college.

Hannah Warrick is a Senior at Start High School and has studied ballet at Toledo Ballet for ten years. During her tenure at Toledo Ballet, Hannah has danced numerous roles in Nutcracker, including Party Girl, Soldier, Mouse, Columbine, Chinese, Snow, Flower, Chocolate and Flute; Page and Horse in Cinderella; Page and Little Red Riding Hood in Sleeping Beauty; Lost Boy in Peter Pan; "Piano Concerto in D" in Ballet Tapestry of American Music; and "Disillusioned" and "Divertimento" in Outside the Lines. She danced multiple roles in Toledo Ballet's 70th anniversary gala production, Révérence and Press One for More Options. Most recently Hannah danced leading roles in Museum of Dreams. This is Hannah's fifth year in the Company.