HEATHER LIPSON-BELL
- Associate Director of Dance BETHUNE II, Instructor

Heather Lipson-Bell has worked with the Los Angeles, Dallas, and Palm Beach Operas; New York and Los Angeles Philharmonics; Hollywood Bowl, Pasadena Symphony, Cabrillo Music Theater, South Bay CLO, Musical Theater Guild, City Ballet of Los Angeles, Helios Dance Theater, Wenta Ballet of LA, La Danserie, and Bethune Theatredanse. Film Credits Include: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008 Academy Award Nominee), and West Bank Story (2006 Academy Award Winner), Alex in Wonder, Hollywood Dancers (Co-Producer), 2081 (2009), and numerous fitness videos and commercials. Her choreography has been presented nationally on stage & screen. She is a certified flexibility technician, a movement specialist for the mentally and physically challenged, and holds a B.F.A. in Dance from the Boston Conservatory. As an Educator, she currently is Associate Artistic Director of Bethune II, Artist-in-Residence with the Pasadena Symphony/Pops and CYP Dance Coordinator at Oakwood School.

JEFF BELL 
- Associate Director of Drama Bethune II, Instructor

Jeff grew up in Philly and earned a BFA for acting from Syracuse University. After moving to NYC, Jeff toured the US performing as Demetrius in A Midsummer Night’s Dream and as Cleante in The Imaginary Invalid. Upon returning to New York, Jeff joined a group of fellow SU grads to develop aTheaterCo, a non-profit production theater production company. After a couple of wonderfully creative years, aTheaterCo disbanded and Jeff took the opportunity to make a move to Los Angeles. Working with Bethune Theatredanse has been an unexpected joy to Jeff and he feels very fortunate to have the chance to share his passion with all the performers he’s met there.

TEAL SHERER
- Instructor

Teal Sherer is one of the founders of Blue Zone Productions, a theatre company dedicated to producing professional, quality theatre that nurtures and promotes artists with disabilities. She recently produced and starred in their production of Edward Albee's classic Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" In 2007, Teal was cast as a series regular in the NBC _ hour pilot I'm With Stupid—which was produced by Ben Silverman and directed by Linwood Boomer (creator of Malcolm in the Middle). Last year, Teal was seen in a national "election" commercial for Liberty Mutual. She was also directed by Dustin Hoffman in The Broad Stage's inaugural show American Voices: Spirit of Revolution. She starred alongside Annette Bening, James Cromwell, Rosario Dawson, Richard Schiff and Dustin Hoffman. Teal can be seen in the Emmy Award winning HBO film Warm Springs, where she also worked as an advisor to Kenneth Branagh. Teal was a professional dancer with Full Radius Dance Company in Atlanta, GA for over 5 years before moving to Los Angeles. In addition to performing and teaching, Teal is also a writer and is an activist for performers with disabilities. Teal serves as a committee member on the Screen Actors' Guild Performers with Disabilities Committee.

WENDY YOUNG
- Instructor

Wendy’s professional career began at age nine as a ballerina with The Bolshoi Ballet. Scholarships from Ballet Russe, San Francisco Ballet and Pennsylvania Ballet followed but Wendy’s path took her to partner with Richard Morse Mime Company then on to several musicals including Broadway, London’s Westend and cabaret as an actress, singer and choreographer with television and film appearances. She has directed and choreographed numerous venues and as a producer she won a Best Achievement Award from the No Ho Arts Center. She is an associate casting director with Ruth Conforte. Since the mid-1990’s she’s been an instructor of performing arts for Bethune Theatredanse with special needs children and adults.

ROBIN OLIVE
- Instructor

Robin Olive has been a trained dancer since the tender age of 3 years old. She has trained in a variety of dance forms ballet, tap, jazz, hip hop, African, Hawaiian, ballroom, and clogging. As a dance instructor for over a decade, Robin has studied with many decorated dance instructors from across the United States and Internationally. In 2003 she was hired to teach at the Sho Kosugi Institute in Nagoya, Japan for 6 months. Since her travels to Japan, she has been very intrigued by movements shared by martial arts and dance. She now trains with Terry Tenaie in many forms of martial arts and is hired regularly for stunts in film. In 2004 she taught dance classes at the famous Millennium Dance Complex. In addition, Robin was a featured dancer on the 2008 hit movie "I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry".

JOHNNY HAWKINS
- Instructor

As a professional singer and actor, native New Yorker Johnny Hawkins is a member of both the Screen Actor’s Guild and Actor’s Equity Association. Johnny has performed both nationally and abroad in numerous theatrical and concert credits including Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Really Useful,” national Broadway tour of “Jesus Christ Superstar,” Bernstein’s “Mass” at the Hollywood Bowl here in LA and A Tribute to Carl Anderson at New York’s Ford Center. He recently earned a Masters of Science in Counseling from Cal State Northridge and is working toward licensure as a Marriage and Family Therapist. Johnny also holds a BA in Communications from Albany State University and a Certificate in Film Production from NYU. As a teaching artist, Johnny has enjoyed working with many different populations and age groups of students, ranging from kindergarten classes in New York’s East Village to college theater majors. He has directed numerous productions and collaborated with students and faculty on various other theatrical activities. Thanks to a generous grant from the Dana Foundation, Johnny was chosen among numerous candidates to be one of the few artists to receive the Arts in Education Training Certification given by the Actors Fund of America.