Victoria Silva - School Director

Victoria Silva received her training at the Cumberland Dance Company (now Pennsylvania Regional Ballet) Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet, Boston Ballet, Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre School, and as a scholarship student at the Alvin Ailey American Dance Center. She has performed professionally as a freelance artist in the New York area and with the Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre. Victoria has been part of the faculty for the Astoria Dance Center, Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet Summer Course, Greater York Youth Ballet, Harrisburg Dance Conservatory, Steps on Broadway, and is currently School Director and rehearsal coach at Pennsylvania Regional Ballet. Her choreographic credits include Peter & the Wolf for the Harrisburg Symphony’s Crayon Concert Series, several ballets that have been performed at the RDA/Northeast Festival including her work, imprint, which was shown as the final piece of the RDA/NE Festival 2009 and her ballet, Finding Harmony, performed at the National Festival in Montreal in 2012. Ms. Silva was awarded the Monticello Award for her work Linear Momentum in 2005 and scholarships to attend the RDA National Choreography Intensive 2004, 2005, and 2011. Her ballet, Fragmented Memories, was chosen to represent RDA/NE at the International Ballet Competition in June 2014. Her work has been shown in both the US and abroad.

Laszlo Berdo – Ballet Faculty

Laszlo Berdo was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where he began dancing at the age of five. At age 11, his mother gave him a pair of tights and threw him into an audition for a local Nutcracker production. Initial resistance turned into a life-long passion as Berdo performed onstage for the first time.

Berdo later intensified his studies at the National Academy of Arts in Champaign, Illinois. Upon graduation he first joined Ballet Austin and then the Louisville Ballet under Alun Jones and Helen Starr. He was later hired by Ivan Nagy first as a guest artist then later as a soloist with the Cincinnati Ballet. Berdo joined the Boston Ballet in 1990 as a corps de ballet member under Bruce Marks. He was promoted to soloist in 1993 and became a principal dancer in 1995. As a principal, he has danced numerous roles in ballets by Cranko, McMillan, Balanchine, Bournonville, Hynd and Stevenson. Berdo also excelled in contemporary works by Tharp, Taylor, Feld, Butler and York. Berdo is honored to be the first to perform the lead role in Cranko’s Eugene Onegin in the United States.

He began choreographing in 1993, creating the pas de deux Eternal Being which later was performed for a Boston Ballet gala. In 1997, Berdo was commissioned to create a new work for Boston Ballet. Four Hands premiered in March of 1998 and was performed in many venues such as the International Ballet Competition in Jackson, Mississippi, and at a summer festival in Biarritz, France. In 1999 Berdo created Below Down Under which premiered at the Shubert Theatre in February 1999. In March of 2001 he created Sanctuary for the Norwegian National Ballet in Oslo. He choreographed Bass Elements for the Boston Conservatory and participated in ChoreoPlan 2001 in which he created Concertante for the Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet.

Berdo staged Four Hands for the Finnish National Ballet in Helsinki which premiered in October 2002. From 2000 to 2003 he was a faculty member for the Boston Conservatory and Harvard University. In 2003 he joined the faculty of CPYB full time. In 2008 Berdo choreographed Snow White, premiered Peter Pan in 2009, restaged Swan Lake in 2011, and premiered Carnival of the Animals in 2011. He was commissioned to present The Nutcracker for the Eglevsky Ballet, which premiered in December 2010.

Erin Stiefel Inch – Ballet Faculty

Erin Stiefel Inch was born in New Haven, Connecticut and at age 9 began ballet classes at the Monona Academy of Dance in Madison, Wisconsin. Erin continued her ballet study, under scholarship, with Milwaukee Ballet School, Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet, Carlisle Project and School of American Ballet (the official school of The New York City Ballet) in New York City. Erin was professionally contracted by Basel Ballet in Basel, Switzerland under the direction of Heinz Spoerli shortly after turning 17 years old. She also danced professionally with Bonn Ballet and Zurich Ballet where she danced numerous principal roles under the direction of Bernd Roger Bienert and Heinz Spoerli. Erin has an extensive repertoire in classical ballet having danced many of the great classics such as Swan Lake, Giselle, Don Quixote, La Vivandiere, Raymonda, The Merry Widow and more. She is well versed in contemporary and modern ballets having danced ballets from such eminent choreographers as Hans Van Manen, William Forsythe, Mats Ek, Balanchine, Nijinsky, Amanda Miller, Ed Wubbe and Bejart.

Upon retirement, due to a knee injury, Erin returned to the U.S. Eleven years ago she opened a small studio in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania to provide coaching and specific ballet instruction to serious ballet instruction to serious ballet students. She has seen many students who have passed through her doors go on to dance professional ballet. She has also given numerous master classes at Bucknell University, as well as, has rehearsed ballets for them. Erin has served as a faculty member for the Performing Arts School of Central Pennsylvania in State College, Pennsylvania.

Beth Baker – Ballet, Tap & Jazz Faculty

Beth Baker began her dance training at age 4 with The Wevodau Dance Center, and also studied at The Harrisburg Dance Conservatory before attending Penn State University. At Penn State, she studied ballet and modern while performing with and choreographing for The Orchesis Dance Company. She was a teaching assistant for university jazz classes, and graduated with a degree in Exercise Science. Beth has been a part of the dance faculty of The Dance Academy of State College, The Harrisburg Dance Conservatory, The Wevodau Dance Center and CPYB. Since 2008, Beth has taught The Children’s Division ballet, tap & jazz classes and the Adult Ballet classes at PRB, and thoroughly enjoys nurturing PRB’s future pre-professional students while also encouraging adults to continue pursuing ballet as exercise and fun.

Kristina Grant – Ballet Faculty

Originally from San Diego, California, Kristina Grant began her ballet training in 1979 at the Ballet Society of San Diego under the direction of Jacqueline Hepner, eventually joining BSSD’s performing company. During her time there she danced roles in the Nutcracker, Swan Lake, the Firebird, Serenade, Giselle, Les Sylphides and Sleeping Beauty, among others. Her ballet training later continued at the California Ballet under the direction of Maxine Mahon.

During the early 1990’s, Ms. Grant choreographed for junior and senior high school show choirs in San Diego, CA. She also began creating choreography for figure skaters which has since led to becoming a member of the Professional Skaters of America in the discipline of choreography and style. From 2006-2009, Ms. Grant was the dance coach for the Twin Ponds Synchronized Skating Team “Team Reflections”, National Champions in 2006.

After moving to Harrisburg, PA in 2004, she joined the faculty of Harrisburg Dance Conservatory. In 2005, she became a guest artist and resident choreographer for HDC’s performing company, the Harrisburg Dance Ensemble. In 2006, Ms. Grant was promoted to Associate Artistic Director of HDC. In 2008, Ms. Grant co-founded the Harrisburg Ballet Theater and is currently HBT’s Artistic Director. She also is currently on the faculty of Footprints Performing Arts in Ephrata, Pa.

Ms. Grant still performs periodically as a freelance dancer performing character roles in regional ballet companies. She has also been a guest teacher for Eastern Virginia School for the Performing Arts Summer Intensives, a guest artist with American Youth Ballet and an adjudicator for Pennsylvania Regional Ballet’s Summer Intensive Scholarship Program

Lauren Eichelberger – Modern Faculty

Lauren Eichelberger began dancing at the age of three at Pennsylvania Regional Ballet, formerly the Cumberland Dance Company. Throughout her youth she attended summer programs at Walnut Hill School of Performing Arts and performed at numerous Regional Dance America Northeast Festivals. After graduating from East Pennsboro Area High School in 2004, Lauren participated in a cultural exchange in Heidelberg, Germany. Lauren then attended Marymount Manhattan College where she earned a Bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts in Dance and double majored in English. While at Marymount, Lauren performed roles in student and faculty choreographed productions as well as works by Johannes Wieland, Twyla Tharp and David Parsons. Lauren was also chosen to be a part of the Marymount Manhattan Dance Company, a small group of twenty students selected to participate in a year-long residency, in which the students work with choreographers from the New York City area. Upon graduation, Lauren attended Villanova School of Law, attaining her J.D. in 2012. Lauren works as a law clerk for the Perry County Courthouse and teaches at various dance schools in the Central Pennsylvania area including Studio ’91 and Carlisle Dance.

Regular Guest Faculty

Kimberly Chapman, Jeffrey Gribler, Kristen Weiser, Kirsten Kaschock, Leda Meredith, Heidi Robitshek, Erin Long Robbins, Taryn Kaschock Russell, Lauren Fadeley Veyette, Francis Veyette, Anton Wilson