SCHOOL FACULTY
Thyrsa Da Rosa Hartel
Ballet & Modern Dance Instructor
Thyrsa Da Rosa Hartel is a native of Asuncion, Paraguay. She graduated from the National Institute of Fine Arts of Paraguay with a degree in Classical Ballet Pedagogy, and then studied modern dance at the University of Oklahoma, with extensive focus in Graham and Limón techniques. She has performed with the National Ballet of Paraguay, and was a member of Momentum Dance Company of Guatemala City, touring Guatemala and Mexico. As a founding member and Executive Director of the OKC-based Hartel Dance Group, she has performed in Oklahoma City and Tulsa, Sioux Falls, SD; Fort Myers and Orlando, FL; Austin, TX; New York City; Spain and Asuncion, Paraguay.
Thyrsa has been a member of the jury of the Seminario Internacional de Danca de Brasilia since 2014, teaching classes, coaching, and judging one of the oldest dance competitions in Brazil. Since 2016 she has traveled to teach and coach dancers at the Centre de la Dansa de Catalunya in Barcelona, Spain during the summers. She has taught ballet and modern dance at Oklahoma City Ballet Conservatory, Inner City Dance OKC, and the Oklahoma City Ballet Yvonne Chouteau School, among others.
Thyrsa is a certified Pilates instructor, Progressing Ballet Technique and also an American Ballet Theatre® National Training Curriculum Fellowship Teacher, who has completed certification in Pre-Primary through Level 5 of the American Ballet Theatre® National Training Curriculum. She is currently Communications Director for the Oklahoma International Dance Festival.
Thyrsa has been a member of the jury of the Seminario Internacional de Danca de Brasilia since 2014, teaching classes, coaching, and judging one of the oldest dance competitions in Brazil. Since 2016 she has traveled to teach and coach dancers at the Centre de la Dansa de Catalunya in Barcelona, Spain during the summers. She has taught ballet and modern dance at Oklahoma City Ballet Conservatory, Inner City Dance OKC, and the Oklahoma City Ballet Yvonne Chouteau School, among others.
Thyrsa is a certified Pilates instructor, Progressing Ballet Technique and also an American Ballet Theatre® National Training Curriculum Fellowship Teacher, who has completed certification in Pre-Primary through Level 5 of the American Ballet Theatre® National Training Curriculum. She is currently Communications Director for the Oklahoma International Dance Festival.
Charles Martin
Ballet Instructor
Charles Martin received his primary training from Penny Askew at the Western Oklahoma Ballet Academy in Clinton, Oklahoma. He also studied on scholarship at the American Ballet Theatre and Joffrey Ballet School’s Summer Intensives in New York. He joined Kansas City Ballet in the fall of 2007 and danced with the company for 11 seasons, performing leading roles in works by Twyla Tharp, Jessica Lang, José Limón, Val Caniparoli, and George Balanchine, among others. He has also danced with Robert Dekkers’ Post:Ballet in San Francisco, Owen/Cox Dance Group in Kansas City, Remix touring Austria, and as a character artist with Oklahoma City Ballet.
Charles’s choreography has been performed by Kansas City Ballet, Kansas City Ballet II, and Kansas City Youth Ballet; Quixotic Performance Fusion; Remix; Oklahoma City Ballet’s Studio Company, Trainees, and Youth Ballet; and several Regional Dance America companies. He is also a répétiteur, staging works for professional companies, including Val Caniparoli’s The Lottery for Nashville Ballet and Penny Saunders’ Ghost Light for Dayton Ballet, to name a few. He also makes tutus and other ballet costumes.
Charles has taught at the Regional Dance America/Northeast Festival, The Glenda Brown Choreography Project, the Lorraine Cranford Summer Dance Workshop, and at Kansas City Ballet’s and Oklahoma City Ballet’s Summer Intensives, in addition to guest teaching for many schools and pre-professional companies. He has also taught ballet and contemporary at the Oklahoma City Ballet Yvonne Chouteau School. Charles is currently on staff for Stars of Tomorrow International, which coordinates performances and classes across Austria. Charles is an ABT® National Training Curriculum Certified Teacher in Pre-Primary through Level 5.