faculty

Cindy Free is the Executive and Artistic Director of the Birmingham Ballet and Birmingham Ballet Academy. In a short period of time, she has grown Birmingham Ballet from a small performing outlet for Academy students into a full scale semi-professional ballet company producing two full-length ballets annually. Her unique version of The Nutcracker at the Birmingham-Jefferson Civic Center is now the largest ballet produced in Alabama. Mrs. Free‚s roots hail back to the well known Birmingham Ballet of the 1970s, under the direction of Alfonso Figueroa, where she held the distinction of being the youngest professional dancer in the company. Free has studied with ballet luminaries Robert Joffrey, Robert Barnett, and Hilda Butsova, and has been associated with the Canton Ballet, the Cincinnati Conservatory, and Birmingham Southern College, where she earned her Bachelor of Arts. Many of her students have gone on to dance professionally and been accepted into nationally acclaimed schools affiliated with American Ballet Theatre, Boston Ballet, The Rock School and Joffrey.

Amanda Whitney Limbaugh is the Academy Director for Birmingham Ballet Academy. She received her early dance training at the North Carolina School of the Arts and went on to the University of Alabama to major in Dance Performance and Choreography under the direction of Edie Barnes. Amanda earned three scholarships from American Ballet Theatre and two from the Radio City Rockettes. She has been both an Instructor and Operations Manager for the Radio City Rockette Summer Intensives in Alabama and California. She worked closely with American Ballet Theatre as a manager for their summer intensives in Tuscaloosa and is selected annually to assist the ABT National Audition Tour.

Beth Hughes has been on faculty for BBA for five years, serving as both Assistant Director and Ballet Instructor. Studying on both a four year dance scholarship and a trustee scholarship, she earned her B.A. in Ballet from Birmingham Southern College under the tutelage of Yugoslavian ballerina Mira Popovich. While at BSC, Beth was also awarded the prestigious Nina Kirsanova fine arts scholarship, recognizing her excellence in dance. Prior to joining Birmingham Ballet Academy, Beth taught for the LaGrange School of Ballet in Georgia and was the Director of Dance Studies at the Gadsden Community School of the Arts.

Adriana Keathley is the Ballet Mistress for Birmingham Ballet. She trained in New York with ballet icon Igor Youskevitch and danced professionally with the Metropolitan Opera Ballet of New York, Ballet Romantique, and as a Principal Dancer with the Miami Ballet, where she later served as Ballet Mistress. Adriana also danced on Broadway in long running productions of Camelot and My Fair Lady. She has been a ballet instructor for the International Ballet School, Bard College, and the Miami Conservatory of Ballet.

Clarence McDorman is the Ballet Master for Birmingham Ballet Academy. He received his early training from Dame Sonia Arova and Houston Ballet Academy, and went on to study in Chicago for 4 years at the Ruth Page Foundation School of Dance on talent scholarship. Clarence‚s professional dance credits include Lyric Opera Ballet of Chicago, Ballet Hawaii, Nevada Ballet, and Jubilee! at Bally‚s Las Vegas. His teaching and choreography experience includes Principal Ballet Instructor for Studio One Dance in Las Vegas, guest teacher for Cirque du Soliel‚s Mystere, and choreographer for the WPA Theatre off-Broadway.

Leigh Burns joins the BBA faculty teaching both ballet and tap in the Junior and Elementary division. Leigh received her early training in Roakoke, Alabama before furthering her education with a degree in Dance Education from Birmingham Southern College. Currently, Leigh is training for a career in massage therapy.

Natalie Nesbitt Cambron has been a featured performer with Birmingham Ballet for many seasons. She has performed the roles of Dew Drop Fairy, Arial Frost Fairy, Chinese soloist, Arabian soloist, Harlequin, and Mistletoe in the Nutcracker, the cat in Hansel and Gretel, and Tinkerbell in Peter Pan. She has also danced professionally with Nashville Ballet, Montgomery Ballet, Ballet Magnificat, and Hosanna Sacred Arts.

Stephanie Thompson joins the BBA faculty teaching both jazz and Pre Ballet. Stephanie is originally from Jacksonville, Florida and received her training from the Florida Ballet. She has been seen in Birmingham Ballet‚s The Nutcracker as Arabian, Snowflake and Waltz of the Flowers and in Peter Pan as Tiger Lily.