Maria Barry

Maria has been dancing since the age of four. She danced professionally in Las Vegas, Atlantic City, California, and Aruba. She also preformed professionally in musical theater in Denver and Vail, Colorado. Maria has trained and taught West Coast Swing and Ballroom in the Vail Valley for the past 5 years. She has taught dance and choreographed for musical theater for the last fourteen years. Maria now teaches at the Vail Valley Academy dance and is the assistant resident choreographer for the Vail Performing Arts Academy.

 

Inga Cox

Inga came to United States 17 years ago, to travel the beautiful country side of the United States and today, now calls the Vail Valley her home. Inga works as a hair and make up artist in Eagle serving the many brides that choose Vail as the place to celebrate their marriage. Inga firmly believes that we are all born with an element that keeps us excited and connects us with the divine, it's that special feeling of what fulfills us the most and what we most love. This  special element for Inga is dance. Inga danced for six years with a folk dance group in Slovakia  and traveled most of Europe performing at different festivals. Today, she continues dancing the Argentine Tango, the dance of the heart and she simply loves it!

Scott Hopkins

Scott Hopkins began ballroom dancing in college where he served as Vice President and President of the Ole Miss Ballroom Dance Club.  He moved to the Valley two years ago from Oxford, MS to teach middle school science at the Vail Ski & Snowboard Academy.  Scott began teaching community ballroom dancing lessons on Monday evenings at Battle Mountain High School with hopes of finding and building a local ballroom community.  When he’s not ballroom dancing or teaching science, Scott can be found kayaking in the summer and carving up the slopes in the winter.

Colin Meiring

Artistic Director, Choreographer and Professional Dancer
Colin Meiring started his Performing Arts career at the age of six, competing in Ballroom dancing and won every National title in South Africa. Colin represented his Country in Blackpool and the World Championships for 10 years. He diversified into musical theatre, television & film and performed in National tours of Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, Grease, Camelot, A Chorus Line, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, and Smokey Joes Café. Colin has performed on Broadway and in the national tour of Fosse and choreographed for Walter Painter Productions in LA and was assistant choreographer in the 2002 Grammy awards.

Colin gained International experience performing with Ertha Kit, Ben Vereen, Gloria Estefan, Mary Wilson and Tony Danza while Entertaining for Royal Caribbean and Silversea Cruises. Colin is now the Artistic Director for the Vail Performing Arts Academy, instilling confidence, creativity and co-operation into the local youth of Vail and he also teaches dance at the Vail Valley Academy Dance in Edwards, the Avon Recreation Centre and the Colorado Mountain College. Colin also teaches cotillion and drama at the Eagle County Charter School.

Blaze Olle

Blaize Olle is 16 years old and started his Performing Arts career in 2001 at the age of 7 years, training in Tap. He diversified into Jazz, Ballet, and Hip Hop at the Vail Valley Academy of Dance and musical theatre with Vail Performing Arts Academy where he performed in Willy Wonka, Pirates of Penzance, You Can’t Stop the Beat, West Side Story, Vegas & British Invasion, Flower Power and Flashback.

Blaize performed with his show choir team at Nationals this year where they sang on the Grand 'Ole Oprey Stage and recently qualified for Speech Nationals after placing second in the State of Colorado with his Duet Comedy Partner. They will be competing in Dallas in June . Blaize is a sophomore at BMHS where he is on the football and lacrosse teams and is active in Young Life.

Mark Pennington

Mark Pennington, from northern Illinois, began his dancing career at the tender age of 32. During a time when Mark was looking for a change of pace in his life, he began taking group exercise classes that quickly exposed Mark's full body rhythm and foot speed. From there his dancing career began when he accepted a part time position in a restaurant which required line dancing and singing. After only a few short months of practice and working as a restaurant performer, Mark was hooked. Since then he has taught line dancing and patterned partner dances at a local community center, and has attended nationally sanctioned conventions for learning and competing in a variety of dance genres. Fourteen years later, Mark is still having fun! He uses dancing as an excuse to take weekend trips to any where with a good honky-tonk: Nashville, Atlanta, Dallas, San Antonio, Sarasota, Denver and the list goes on. Mark brings a great attitude, a passion for dance, and an enthusiasm to help children in our community gain a love for dance, as Mark himself has!

This is Mark's third year performing for the Star Dancing Gala.

Meredith Steinke

Meredith Steinke is 17 years old and will be a senior at Battle Mountain High School (BMHS). She has been performing since she was five years old, and currently trains in ballet, tap, jazz, and voice. Meredith has been a member on the Battle Mountain Dance Team, who were regional champions and national qualifiers.  They performed at halftime in the Orange Bowl with the Goo Goo Dolls in 2011. She’s involved in the Speech and Debate Team, Vail Performing Arts Academy (VPAA), and Vail Valley Academy of Dance for numerous years. Meredith is an active member and choreographer of the BMHS Show Choir and performed at Nationals in Nashville, TN her sophomore year. Additionally, she choreographed BMHS’s Spring Musical, Little Shop of Horrors, her junior year. Her passion for the performing arts has been exhibited through the musical productions under the direction of Colin Meiring including Aladdin, High School Musical, Willy Wonka, West Side Story, Thirteen, and many more performances.  Meredith is pleased to serve her second season as an intern for the Vail International Dance Festival under the direction of renowned Artistic Director, Damian Woetzel.  Meredith is a 4.0 student and is eager to learn everyday.  She is a great mentor to many of the Vail Valley children sharing her love of music, theater and the outdoors with them.  This is Meredith's third year performing in the Star dancing Gala.

 

Amy Wentworth

Amy started dance and gymnastics at the age of four. She spent 8 years as a competitive ballroom and latin dancer based out of studios in New York and New Jersey. Amy now enjoys performing for local events in the Vail Valley and dancing for the pure love of it. She has a 16 month old son who now occupies most of her spare time, however she still enjoys the outdoors, reading and spending time with family and friends.