Newtown Centre of Classical Ballet

“I hope that through my joint background in music and dance I can bring a fresh and innovative perspective to this school's role in Newtown at a time when our community so desperately needs the beauty and healing power, which can only be found in the arts.” ~ Tory Gozzi

Tory Gozzi holds a Master of Music in Voice Pedagogy and Performance from Westminster Choir College and a Bachelor of Arts in Music from Belhaven University. She has sixteen years of dance training and has studied classically with Marsha Ismailoff Mark, Jennifer Johnston, Shamil Yagudin, Laura Morton, Betsy McMillan, Krista Bower, Erin Rockwell, Belhaven University, Ballet Magnificat!, the American Academy of Ballet, and the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre. In her last five years with Newtown Centre of Classical Ballet, she performed as a principal dancer with both NCCB and the Danbury Music Centre; roles include Cinderella, Sugar Plum Fairy, Dew Drop Fairy, Snow Queen, Arabian Queen, Clara, and Ribbon Candy. She has also taught ballet, pointe, partnering, and repertoire as an adjunct for the last three years at Christian Academy of Dance in Killingworth, The Bridge Christian Creative Arts Center in Danbury, and NCCB. She is currently working towards her full teaching certification through the American Ballet Theatre.

Tory has also done professional vocal work in the Connecticut and New York region for over nine years and works as a cantor in the Roman Catholic parishes of St. Marguerite and St. Joseph in Brookfield, Connecticut. She is also the Director of Contemporary Music Worship at St. Joseph Church for their youth mass. She has taught private voice lessons for five years now after studying under Dr. Christopher Shelt for three of those years and Dr. Christopher Arneson for the past two. She has taken private voice lessons for nine years and currently studies under Carolann Page. Previous instructors include Dr. Christopher Shelt and Pamela Hoffman with secondary instruction by Anne Gray, Gena Everitt, Aaron Odom, and Elizabeth Richardson. She has studied vocal and choral pedagogy, music theory, composition, European diction, International Phonetic Alphabet, and musicianship and has a broad repertoire in both classical and Broadway styles as well as in various church music.

Through Belhaven she was privileged to take part in a partnership arts program that took international music/dance ministry trips to various cultures around the world; through this partnership, she worked in the African countries of Zambia and Uganda and in the South American country of Peru. While at Westminster, she was privileged to participate in the Symphonic Choir with whom she sang Brahms' Requiem at Verizon Hall in Philadelphia and The Messiah at Lincoln Center and The Resurrection Symphony at Carnegie Hall in New York. She has performed in Tosca with New Jersey Opera, Alcina with Westminster Opera, and The Old Maid and the Thief and The Gondoliers with Belhaven Opera. She was the soloist for the CD Way of the Cross and is featured on the CD Connecticut Voices for Heroes with “Heart of One” as a tribute to the Sandy Hook School Shooting victims.

is the former artistic director of NCCB. She studied under Marsha Ismailoff Mark, Ballet Master George Volodine, Mrs. Mark's mentor, and Shamil Yagudin, Master Teacher of the Bolshoi Ballet. At sixteen, she became Mrs. Mark's assistant and performed as a principal dancer and lecturer with the Malenkee Ballet Repertoire Company. She obtained her Vaganova Certification under Cunova and Kolpakova at the Philadelphia School of the Performing Arts and attended Montana University for The New York Ballet Connection where she obtained certification through A Very Special Arts for teaching children with special needs. In 1996 she was awarded a full scholarship to Alvin Ailey American Dance Center in New York, and in 2008 she received a certificate of merit from the Finis Jhung Teachers Workshop at Ailey. She has performed as a principal dancer in numerous productions of Ballet Miniature and in actress Susan St. James' narrative of Peter and the Wolf as well as in Ballet Stars of Moscow, Nutmeg Opera Company, and Danbury Music Center's Nutcracker as Sugar Plum Fairy. In 2005 she became an Associate Choreographer and, in 2009, Assistant Production Manager under Artistic Director Arthur Frederic for Danbury Music Centre's Nutcracker. A life-long resident of Newtown she is also involved in community activities that promote the arts. In 2002 she wrote Proposal for the Arts and presented it to the Ad Hoc Fairfield Hills Master Plan Committee. In 2004 she served as Chairperson of the Ad Hoc Cultural Arts Study Committee who presented its proposal to the Selectmen and Legislative Council who adopted Newtown's Cultural Arts Commission of which she currently serves as chairperson. She currently runs the HealingArts Center in Newtown following the Sandy Hook School Shooting.




	TORY GOZZI, ARTISTIC DIRECTOR
		“I hope that through my joint background in music and dance I can bring a fresh and innovative perspective to this school's role in Newtown at a time when our community so desperately needs the beauty and healing power, which can only be found in the arts.” ~ Tory Gozzi Tory Gozzi holds a Master of Music in Voice Pedagogy and Performance from Westminster Choir College and a Bachelor of Arts in Music from Belhaven University. She has sixteen years of dance training and has studied classically with Marsha Ismailoff Mark, Jennifer Johnston, Shamil Yagudin, Laura Morton, Betsy McMillan, Krista Bower, Erin Rockwell, Belhaven University, Ballet Magnificat!, the American Academy of Ballet, and the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre. In her last five years with Newtown Centre of Classical Ballet, she performed as a principal dancer with both NCCB and the Danbury Music Centre; roles include Cinderella, Sugar Plum Fairy, Dew Drop Fairy, Snow Queen, Arabian Queen, Clara, and Ribbon Candy. She has also taught ballet, pointe, partnering, and repertoire as an adjunct for the last three years at Christian Academy of Dance in Killingworth, The Bridge Christian Creative Arts Center in Danbury, and NCCB. She is currently working towards her full teaching certification through the American Ballet Theatre.
	Tory has also done professional vocal work in the Connecticut and New York region for over nine years and works as a cantor in the Roman Catholic parishes of St. Marguerite and St. Joseph in Brookfield, Connecticut. She is also the Director of Contemporary Music Worship at St. Joseph Church for their youth mass. She has taught private voice lessons for five years now after studying under Dr. Christopher Shelt for three of those years and Dr. Christopher Arneson for the past two. She has taken private voice lessons for nine years and currently studies under Carolann Page. Previous instructors include Dr. Christopher Shelt and Pamela Hoffman with secondary instruction by Anne Gray, Gena Everitt, Aaron Odom, and Elizabeth Richardson. She has studied vocal and choral pedagogy, music theory, composition, European diction, International Phonetic Alphabet, and musicianship and has a broad repertoire in both classical and Broadway styles as well as in various church music. Through Belhaven she was privileged to take part in a partnership arts program that took international music/dance ministry trips to various cultures around the world; through this partnership, she worked in the African countries of Zambia and Uganda and in the South American country of Peru. While at Westminster, she was privileged to participate in the Symphonic Choir with whom she sang Brahms' Requiem at Verizon Hall in Philadelphia and The Messiah at Lincoln Center and The Resurrection Symphony at Carnegie Hall in New York. She has performed in Tosca with New Jersey Opera, Alcina with Westminster Opera, and The Old Maid and the Thief and The Gondoliers with Belhaven Opera. She was the soloist for the CD Way of the Cross and is featured on the CD Connecticut Voices for Heroes with “Heart of One” as a tribute to the Sandy Hook School Shooting victims.


	JENNIFER JOHNSTON, ADJUNCT FACULTY

		is the former artistic director of NCCB. She studied under Marsha Ismailoff Mark, Ballet Master George Volodine, Mrs. Mark's mentor, and Shamil Yagudin, Master Teacher of the Bolshoi Ballet. At sixteen, she became Mrs. Mark's assistant and performed as a principal dancer and lecturer with the Malenkee Ballet Repertoire Company. She obtained her Vaganova Certification under Cunova and Kolpakova at the Philadelphia School of the Performing Arts and attended Montana University for The New York Ballet Connection where she obtained certification through A Very Special Arts for teaching children with special needs. In 1996 she was awarded a full scholarship to Alvin Ailey American Dance Center in New York, and in 2008 she received a certificate of merit from the Finis Jhung Teachers Workshop at Ailey. She has performed as a principal dancer in numerous productions of Ballet Miniature and in actress Susan St. James' narrative of Peter and the Wolf as well as in Ballet Stars of Moscow, Nutmeg Opera Company, and Danbury Music Center's Nutcracker as Sugar Plum Fairy. In 2005 she became an Associate Choreographer and, in 2009, Assistant Production Manager under Artistic Director Arthur Frederic for Danbury Music Centre's Nutcracker. A life-long resident of Newtown she is also involved in community activities that promote the arts. In 2002 she wrote Proposal for the Arts and presented it to the Ad Hoc Fairfield Hills Master Plan Committee. In 2004 she served as Chairperson of the Ad Hoc Cultural Arts Study Committee who presented its proposal to the Selectmen and Legislative Council who adopted Newtown's Cultural Arts Commission of which she currently serves as chairperson. She currently runs the HealingArts Center in Newtown following the Sandy Hook School Shooting.


	MARSHA ISMAILOFF MARK, HONORARY GUEST TEACHER
		was Artistic Director of the Marsha Ismailoff Mark School of Ballet, the Committee for Ballet Miniatures, and the Malenkee Ballet Repertoire Company for over 30 years until she retired in 2001, passing on her legacy to Ms. Johnston. She produced numerous ballet productions, among them memorable full-length productions of the Nutcracker and Coppelia which included renowned principal dancers to mentor her students. Mrs. Mark studied with Russian Ballet Masters George Volodine and George Balanchine and her biography is included in the 1995-96 edition of Who's Who in American Women, Who's Who in the World, and Who's Who in Russia. In 2001, Ms. Johnston, the Committee for Ballet Miniature, the Malenkee Ballet Repertoire Company, and the students, presented her with a Degas statue placed in the Cyrenius H. Booth Library rose garden for her dedication to the community. “Mrs. Mark has touched many children's lives throughout her career, and her creativity was an inspiration to all who attended her school. My desire to become a teacher was greatly influenced by the deep sense of heritage that she instilled in me through her teaching and mentoring. The opportunities and experiences she provided shaped me as an individual, a dancer, and a teacher. I am privileged and honored to be carrying on this tradition.” ~ Jennifer Johnston


	SHAMIL YAGUDIN DEDICATION
		"Shamil taught at the Bolshoi School in Moscow and was Principal Coach and Ballet Master holding advanced degrees from the Institute of Theatrical Arts in Moscow and the Moscow Choreographic Institute. He held the prestigious title of People's Artist of the Russian Federation. His life's work was the international development and preservation of classical ballet; he was a master in the studio, and coaching was what he loved most. He respected every dancer he taught and was dedicated to perfecting their art to the best of their aspirations. He touched thousands in the classical ballet world, and I was blessed to have him as a mentor and a friend. Shamil has passed on in spirit, but his love of ballet, his teachings, his knowledge, and the friendships he made in his journey of life will remain as a testament to his life's passions through the legacy he passed on through others." ~ Jennifer Johnston "I will never forget the many classes I took with Shamil. He always expected the best from every one of his students, and though he was strict, I always knew he pushed me to perfection out of love of the art and respect for my ability to contribute to its future. I hope to always infuse my teaching with both the passion and push for artistic perfection with which he inspired so many of his dancers." ~ Tory Gozzi

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