Dance Theater West

Susan Silverman received her Bachelor's degree in liberal arts and completed a graduate program in dance and literature at the University of Arizona. Her early training and performing experience was in NYC and her collaboration with Frances Cohen began when Silverman danced in the Kadimah Dance Company. She is currently the director of DTW Classical Ballet Program and is the artistic director of Story Book Ballet Theater which collaborates in performance with Free Arts of AZ, Detour Company and Scottsdale Center for the Arts. She is the Dance Chair for the Greater Arizona Chapter of National Society of Arts and Letters and is a board member of Center Dance Ensemble. 

Katie Hughes discovered dance at the early age of 5 and was fortunate enough to find Dance Theater West when she was 7 years old. There, she trained in ballet under the direction of her beloved friend and mentor, Susan Silverman. During her ten years with the studio and her six years with Storybook Ballet Theater, she performed lead roles in several ballets including "Coppelia," "Cinderella," "Sleeping Beauty" and Odette in "Swan Lake." After graduating from Arcadia High School in 2007, Katie has been attending Arizona State University working toward her degrees in both English Literature and in Film and Media Studies. Katie has been dancing with Center Dance Ensemble since 2009. 

LaTonya Pentzer  began dancing at the age of two. She attended Oklahoma City University where she majored in Dance Performance and was a member of the prestigious American Spirit Dance Company. LaTonya continued her education at the University of Central Oklahoma for Dance Education and is classically trained in the Cecchetti Method of ballet. As an educator, she holds grade one through five teacher’s certificates with eighteen years teaching and choreography experience in all dance styles. She continues to work with dance studios, elementary schools, pageants and high school dance teams throughout the Midwest. As a performer, LaTonya has danced with Ballet of Oklahoma, Radio City Rockettes and Silvertree Productions. She has performed with CDE since 2014, where she also serves as Outreach Program Director and as Dancers’ Representative on the CDE Board of Directors. She is excited to continue to bring the lecture/demonstration Poetry in Motion, The ABC’s of Dance along with the newest show From Ballet to Beyoncé to children in schools throughout the Valley. To LaTonya, dance is the language of the soul. She believes it moves us to feel and experience something greater than ourselves and is blessed to share her love for dance to touch, motivate and inspire dancers and audiences alike.

     Lisa Gray Young  grew up studying various genres of dance, as well as acting, voice, piano, and flute. After graduating from South Mountain Center for the Arts High School, Young went on to Arizona State University, graduating with honors and receiving a BFA in Choreography/Performance. She has performed, taught and choreographed for a myriad of dance companies, theaters, schools, studios, and churches around the Valley, including Center Dance Ensemble (dancing the principle role of “Gerda” in “The Snow Queen,” ’98-’00), The Movement Source, Inc., Dance Arizona Repertory Theater, Stageworks, MesaYoutheatre, East Valley Children’s Theatre, Greasepaint Youtheatre, The Mesa Arts Center (co-founded/co-directed Step to This Dance Company), Grand Canyon University, Mesa Community College, Phoenix College, and Paradise Valley Community College. She has received numerous ariZoni Theater Awards of Excellence nominations for her choreography in the theater community and has won twice for her work in “The Orphan Train” and “The Jungal Book,” both with MesaYoutheatre.