Perimeter Ballet | Johns Creek, GA - Faculty & Instructors

Faculty

Becky Brown - Director/Artistic Director

Becky received her training with the Atlanta Ballet and Robert Barnett. She holds a BA in Ballet from Brenau University and performed professionally with the Atlanta, Boston and Savannah Ballets. Becky has over 30 years teaching experience, including the development of ballet programs in Savannah and Newnan. She directed the LaGrange Ballet for 6 years.

Becky has always had a passion for the ballet classics. Her favorite roles that she has danced include Sugar Plum Fairy in The Nutcracker and Aurora in Sleeping Beauty. She has also performed various roles in Cinderella, Coppelia, Swan Lake, Giselle, and Four Seasons among others. Becky feels extremely blessed to have the opportunity to combine her passion for teaching ballet with her passion for serving the Lord and mentoring young dancers. Becky and her husband Roger have two grown children, Roger and Victoria.

Administrative Staff

Ballet Office Manager:
Amy Swarr holds a degree in Accounting from Penn State University and is often the first face and voice you'll hear when you contact the ballet office. Amy is the thread that knits us and holds us all together and brings to our school a wealth of experience, wisdom, compassion and administrative skills. She and her husband, Dave, are members of Perimeter Church and have three daughters, two of whom danced with Perimeter Ballet.

Company Administrator:
Robin Myers received her degree in English with a minor in writing from Oglethorpe University in Atlanta. She has always had a passion for the performing arts. After working behind the scenes in theatre productions for over a decade, she is excited to be a part of the Perimeter Ballet staff as the company administrator. She was a Perimeter Ballet parent for 12 years. She and her husband, Mark, have four daughters.

Administrative Assistant:
Gina Darnell was a homeschooling mom for 17 years. She and her husband Andy have two adult daughters, the younger of whom danced with Perimeter Ballet for 12 years. Gina has volunteered in various ways as a ballet mom over the years, and her excellent organizational skills make her a great fit for our administrative team. Her mindset is, "My job is to help make your job easier," and she is happy to be a part of our team!

Instructors

Jenée Blanco began her early dance training at the age of 7 in West Lafayette, Indiana. At 14, Jenée began studying at Lafayette Ballet School and was a member of Lafayette Ballet Company. Additionally, she studied ballet at Jordan Academy of Dance in Indianapolis and modern dance at Purdue University. At age 18, Jenée moved to New York City to study at the Joffrey Ballet School. She apprenticed with the Joffrey II Dancers and danced professionally with Ballet Omaha and International Ballet Rotaru. She was a company dancer with Ballet Magnificat as well as a costume mistress and licensed tour bus driver! Jenée choreographed and taught ballet and Pilates while residing in Philadelphia and San Antonio. She performed as a freelance artist with Alamo Arts Ballet Theatre and Veselka Ukrainian Dance Ensemble. She is an ABT® Certified Teacher in Pre-Primary through Level 3 of the ABT® National Training Curriculum. Jenée teaches ballet at Perimeter Ballet in Johns Creek and performs with Bluebird Uncaged in Atlanta. She lives in Canton, GA and enjoys family time with her husband and 5 children and loves the fact that they keep her on her toes more than ballet!

Susanna Carey grew up training with Perimeter Academy of the Arts for twelve years where she has danced in worship outreach events, choreographed, and participated in a dance worship mission's trip to India and London. While dancing with Perimeter's Academy of the Arts Ballet Company, Susanna performed roles from Coppelia, Cinderella, Nutcracker, and Swan Lake. She started her college training at Brenau University, performing with Gainesville Ballet Company and the Brenau Dance Ensemble. Susanna completed her degree in Dance Education at Kennesaw State University. She loves teaching and choreography and sharing her passion for dance and worship. Susanna is also our Recital Administrator. She is married to Brandon.

As the founder and director of Bluebird Uncaged, Rebekah Diaddigo’s passion is to bring hope and dignity through dance. With 10+ years of teaching and performance experience, her goal is to encourage others in their walk with Jesus through mentoring young dancers, performing, and producing original works. Rebekah loves using dance to foster community. She has led teams internationally to serve, perform, and conduct workshops in both Europe and Central America. Locally, in 2018, she curated the Uncaged Community Dance Festival where some of Atlanta’s leading dance companies converged for a week of collaboration. She’s an alum of the Arts Leaders of Metro Atlanta program, has a BA in communications from Thomas Edison State University, and is working on an M.Div through Southern Seminary. Some of her favorite roles on stage include: Swanhilda in Coppelia with Ballet Southeast, La Traviata with the Atlanta Opera, and guesting as the Sugarplum fairy. Choreographically, Rebekah has worked on a variety of projects including the opener for Passion 2014, music videos for Victoria Canal and Amy Ray, a short film: White Umbrella, as well as Sterling’s Path, a multimedia fairytale of hope performed annually. If she’s not in the studio or spending time with friends, you’ll probably find Rebekah working on a handicraft project, in the sunshine, or with her nose in a book. More at rebekahdiaddigo.com and bluebirduncaged.com.

Francesca Dellasala grew up training at Perimeter Ballet where she was taught by many of the current instructors here today! She also trained at Atlanta Ballet and North Atlanta Dance Academy. She graduated from the University of Georgia in Athens and holds a B.S. in Plant Biology with a minor in Dance. Francesca is thankful to get to return to her childhood studio and teach alongside her teachers and fellow Perimeter alumni.

Jamie Lanier started dancing at the age of three and began teaching ballet when she was 18. She received training in many Atlanta area studios and enjoyed all aspects of classes, performances, and workshops. Ballet class was her favorite part of the week as a small child. Jamie dreamed of being a mother and a ballet teacher when she grew up, and God made her dreams come true. She performed, taught, and choreographed for Praise In Motion and En Pointe School of Dance for 11 years and then began teaching at Perimeter Ballet in 2006. Jamie's ballet classes are energized by her purpose to nurture her students in their love for dance and guide them into an expression that is both technically excellent and spiritually authentic. Jamie is a member of Perimeter Church and has two incredible grown sons Luke & Micah.

Avery Scott Lee began her dance training at Perimeter Ballet and Ballet by Day. She then went on to receive a BA in English and a BA in Dance from the University of Georgia. Through the university, she worked with Amelia Reiser of Staibdance, Jillian Mitchell of Kit Modus, Seyong Kim of Baltimore Ballet, and most notably, the Martha Graham Dance Company on their 100-year anniversary tour. Additionally, Avery conducted dance research and produced her own choreographic work that was nominated to be adjudicated at a national dance conference. Since graduation, Avery has worked with the professional companies Kit Modus and Atlanta Contemporary Dance Company, been awarded 2nd place in classical dance at the New Prague Dance Festival, and she now teaches many genres of dance throughout Metro Atlanta while continuing to train in aerial dance.

Peng Yu Lo is a native of Taiwan. Peng began her training in Chinese folk dance, ballet and modern. By the age of 10, she had won two national championships in Chinese folk dance. She holds a B.F.A. from SUNY Purchase and received both the Chancellor’s Award for Student Excellence as well as the President’s Award for Achievement. She has danced with the Metropolitan Opera Ballet and American Repertory Ballet where she also taught at Princeton Ballet school. Named as one of Dance Magazine’s “25 to Watch” in 2007, Peng moved to Atlanta where she was offered a position at the Atlanta Ballet. For over 10 years, she has performed in several principal roles as well as taught at Atlanta Ballet’s summer program. She has been featured in works by choreographers George Balanchine, JiÅ™í Kylián, Liam Scarlett, Lauri Stallings, Christopher Hampson, James Kudelka, Ohad Naharin, Gina Patterson, Mark Godden, Helen Pickett, Tywla Tharp, John McFall, Jordan Morris, Val Caniparoli, Jorma Elo, Alexander Ekman, Christopher Wheeldon, and Yuri Possokhov. Peng won an award in UBC as the best choreographer in 2020.

Elizabeth Magee trained in several different ballet studios from Roswell, GA, to Wallingford, CT, to Mission Viejo, CA, and eventually spent her high school years training under Pavel Rotaru in Atlanta and performing with the Rotaru International Children's Ballet. Her favorite ballets to perform in were Don Quixote, Four Seasons and many, many different versions and roles in The Nutcracker! Attending the Governors Honors Program in 1997 for dance ignited a love for exploring more dance styles that continues today. Initially believing her dancing days were behind her, she attended Presyterian College in SC majoring in Special Education. While earning her degree she fell in love with Jesus, joined the church and began her faith journey with joy and gratitude. She found herself with an opportunity to teach ballet to young children in a home and school for children for two years of college and then towards the end of college first explored dancing to Christian music as a form of worship and it blew her away. Upon graduating and beginning her 10 years of teaching in Fulton County Schools in Special Needs Preschool, then Kindergarten and 1st grade, she also started teaching one ballet class at Perimeter Ballet in 2004 and dancing in worship whenever possible. This ignited a passion and purpose that Elizabeth remains deeply grateful to the Lord for giving her all those years ago and has brought the most wonderful people into her life. She has taught and choreographed for Perimeter Ballet for 21 years and cherishes the chance to walk alongside students and watch them grow. Her aim is to create a safe space of exploration for all students, a place where they feel seen and loved for who they are as a child of God rather than for what they can do; while pursuing excellence in dance training from a place of love rather than for love, she hopes that they learn about the creative God who loves them and how they are called to join His mission with their unique gifts, and that dance training provides them with many helpful lessons for life like it did for her whether they dance forever or just a season. Elizabeth loves all dance styles and music and in her down time her favorite things to do are to take any dance or fitness class, spend time at the lake, listen to podcasts and audiobooks, chat with a friend or cheer on her incredible children Darcy (14) and Walker (10) in their endeavors.