Faculty Biographies

Marisa Roth, owner and director of the Northwest Ballet School & Company, began her training with the founder, Carol Jakes, at the Northwest Ballet School in Kalispell at age three. She graduated from Mercyhurst College in Erie, Pennsylvania with a BA in dance with a teaching/choreography concentration. Marisa danced with the Lake Erie Ballet Company for three years, performing lead roles in ballets such as Nutcracker, Coppelia, Giselle and Serenade before returning to the Flathead to teach. She took over the Northwest Ballet in January 2007, continuing to grow the program to offer all the following dance disciplines: Ballet, Pointe, Tap, Jazz, Modern, Hip-Hop and Breakdancing. Her Company performs two shows a year with their annual Nutcracker and spring Mother's Day performances. Additionally, both the Kalispell and Whitefish branches of the Northwest Ballet School perform annual end-of-year Student Showcase Recitals. Marisa is currently on the board for a second term of the Montana Dance Arts Association (MDAA), and has taught dance in over six different cities throughout the state. She continues to perform as a six-year member of AzureVision Dance Collective, a modern company in the Flathead Valley. Marisa and her husband Michael live in Creston.

Cecilee Day began dancing at a young age with her mother Kathleen Barton. At age 8 her family moved to Kalispell where she began training under Carol Jakes at the Northwest Ballet School. In 1994 she became a member of the Northwest Ballet Company and remained until she graduated from Flathead High School in 1999. She attended Weber State University in Ogden, Utah on a Track and Field Scholarship. She obtained a BS in Psychology and a BS in Child and Family Studies. She has a passion for dance and enjoys sharing her passions and talents with others. She lives in Kalispell with her husband Jeff and daughters Lexie, Jorden, Kamree, and new baby Sierra. This is Cecilee's second year on staff at the Northwest Ballet School.

Amber Blodgett started dancing at age 8. When she was 12 she was part of a Jazz company that went to several competitions where they received high awards. For her junior and senior years of high school she danced with the Northwest Ballet Company. She graduated in 2008 from Flathead High School. She has had the opportunity to audition for So You Think You Can Dance and Cornish College of the Arts. Currently she lives in Kalispell and is attending Flathead Valley Community College. Amber will graduate this year with her AA Degree. This is her second year on staff at the Northwest Ballet School.

Andie Schnee, a new staff member, is excited to be teaching at the Northwest Ballet School this year! Andie has been dancing for eight years. She is a member of Feat x Feet, Montana's only Tap Performing Company (one of twelve youth tap ensembles in the United States), and is currently serving as the Company's Secretary. Along with tap dancing, she enjoys playing the cello and piano. Andie is a seventeen-year-old sophomore at Flathead Valley Community College.

Stacy Jacobsen-Burgard is the Founder and Co-Director of AzureVision Dance Collective. She received her BFA in Contemporary Dance and Composition in 2001 from The North Carolina School of the Arts, from which she also received her high school diploma. While training at NCSA, Stacy was under the tutelage of Trish Casey, Brenda Daniels, Diane Markham, Warren Conover, Melinda Lawrence, Susan McCullough and the late Melissa Hayden. Stacy studied with Rosemary Butcher and Valerie Preston-Dunlap at the Laban Center in London as a recipient of the Seman's Art Fund. She also studied at the American Dance Festival, and the University of Montana. She studied Hip Hop and Breaking in New York City. Her greatest Hip Hop teaching influence comes from the Spanish Harlem-born, pioneering female break dancer, Ana "Rokafella" Garcia. Some of the notable dancers Stacy has trained and worked with include: Karla Wolfangle from the Paul Taylor Dance Company, John Dayger from Lar Lubovitch, Mark Haim, Sarah Hook, Shapiro and Smith, Maxine Sherman from the Martha Graham Dance Company, Ton Simons from the Rotterdam Dance Company, Sean Sullivan from the José Limón Company, and Andre Tyson from Alvin Ailey. She works seasonally for Glacier National Park as the Field Botanist, in charge of seed collection for restoration, through the Native Plant Nursery. Stacy has been on staff at the Northwest Ballet School for seven years. She resides in Columbia Falls with her husband, Mitchell Burgard.