Dancers from the Lake Charles Civic Ballet and Lady Leah Lafargue School of the Dance are taking part in a six-week session in preparation for LCCB’s new season.

Visiting instructors are Chloe Brevelle, Shannon Bramham, Jessica Daley, Amanda Edge, Nancy Sensat Higginbothoam, Megan Richard, Ginger Gondron, William Ward, Golden Wright and Kisler Hathaway Whitworth.

Brevelle, of Austin, Texas, performs with groups such as The Spirit of Flamenco, Flamenco 909, La Compania de Pilar Andujar, and Flamencura.

Bramham and Daley are members of the Koresh Dancers. Daley, a Philadelphia native, trained at Philadelphia’s Jason Douglas Dance Academy, The Rock School of the Pennsylvania Ballet and The Ailey School. Bramham, graduated with her BFA in Dance Performance from East Carolina University.

Edge, who performs in the cast of “Phantom of the Opera,” has studied at the North Carolina School of the Arts and as a company member of the New York City ballet.

Higginbothoam was accepted to ballet training programs at Maryland School for the Performing Arts, North Carolina High School for Performing Arts and the National Academy of the Arts in Champaign, Ill.

Richard, a former LCCB principal, received her bachelor’s from McNeese State University in 2008. She taught at Ballet Pensacola’s ballet school and spent a season performing as a soloist with the company.

Gondron has performed with the Houston Grande Opera, Delia Stewarts Jazz Dance Company, City Ballet of Houston and others.

Ward, who was born in Lake Charles and began his dance training here, was a solo dancer with the New York City Opera, and he serves on the Board of Governors of the American Guild of Musical Artists and is a member of the Screen Actors’ Guild.

Wright, a native Texan, received his master’s in dance and his bachelor’s in dance from Sam Houston State University. He has trained in New York and at the Joffrey Workshop in San Antonio.

Whitworth was a performing member of LCCB for many years. She studied dance with Madame Natalie Krassovska and with companies such as the Dallas Metropolitan Ballet and City Ballet of Houston. She was associate director of LCCB under Lafargue from 1987 to 1992.

Lake Charles Civic Ballet dancers pose at the Lake Charles lakefront. (Special to the American Press)