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About Us
Our Staff
At Tybee Ballet Theatre, there’s a special place for all of our dancers. Get to know the talented individuals who started our wonderful school and the amazing instructors who bring life to our studio. If you’re interested in auditioning for our teaching staff, reach out today!
Kate Petit
Co-Founder
Co-Artistic Director
Ballet Mistress
Kate Petit is a native of Lafayette, LA, which is known for its culturally rich performing and visual arts community. Growing up in this rich art community pushed her to begin studying classical ballet at a very young age. At the age of 4 she was accepted to study with the Dance Conservatory, the official school of Lafayette Ballet Theatre. There she performed in various lead and corps de ballet roles in full length classical ballets such as, The Nutcracker, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and many more. To further her training she auditioned and was accepted into some of the top tier national ballet companies such as, The American Ballet Theatre, The School of American Ballet, and The Joffrey Ballet. She went on to study with Giacobbe School of Dance in New Orleans,LA, The Joffrey Ballet in Austin, TX, and the Houston Ballet in Houston, TX performing in various classical, contemporary, and modern ballets across the country. Locally, she has performed an original piece called "SPACES" in the PULSE: Technology Festival at the Jepson Center collaborating with local artists and SCAD alumni. As Co-Artistic Director at TBT, she has created original pieces annually performed by her students and company at the local Tybee Post Theatre.
She now resides on Tybee with her husband Ben and four children. Kate and her family fully embrace the coastal lifestyle, enjoying an active and full lifestyle together discovering the beautiful island of Tybee. She is also a certified 200HR-RYT Yoga Instructor, and continues to pursue her love of the performing arts by teaching community outreach ballet classes for youth and adults alike. Kate is honored to bring her love of movement and the art of dance to Tybee and the greater Savannah area.
Britt Bacon
Co-Founder
Co-Artistic Director
Instructor
Britt Bacon is an independent dancer, choreographer and Fine Arts collaborator. She currently is a senior at Brenau University and is choreographing independent collaborations utilizing multi-media to showcase in different Galleries around Georgia and North Carolina.
Britt developed a passion for dance in grade school and became a senior member of the Royal Danse Ensemblé at Savannah Arts Academy her freshman year. She studied with local studios in the Savannah area before joining the African Dance Company Sankofa Dance Theater while a junior in High School. Over the next 6 years Britt traveled and performed in Nashville, Los Angeles, New York City, Miami, Atlanta as well as many locations throughout the Southeast with Sankofa Dance Theatre, while having the privilege of working with artists such as Samfly Djallo (Samba), Tara Shepard Myers, and Vernard Gilmore from the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater.
Britt later became the assistant choreographer for the Downtown Delilah’s Burlesque Troupe in Savannah, Georgia as featured in the New York Times on the ‘Must-to-do-List in 24 Hours’ in Savannah, GA. Britt followed her career as a photographer and a mother and began studies at Brenau University in 2013. Since then Britt has had the opportunity to work with choreographers such as Vincas Greene, Charlotte Boye-Christensen, Madia Cooper, and Carl Flink. She continues to give back to the local Tybee community by sharing her passion for our local youth through the art of dance!
Greta Valeyko
Associate Artistic Director
Instructor
Growing up in a small town in Virginia, Greta was one of the first dancers to major in dance in college. After finishing her BA in Dance from Columbia College, in Columbia, SC, she taught dance in a middle school, daycare, and studio to gain more experience. After a year of teaching, Greta was accepted into the Graduate Dance program at American University in Washington, DC and was granted an assistantship. After completing her MA in Dance, she took a position as the Member Services Coordinator for a non-profit national dance service organization for professional dance, Dance/USA. Although Greta enjoyed her work at Dance/USA, she wanted to get back to teaching. Luckily, a teaching position at a local middle school was created and Greta was offered a dance teacher position at Kenmore Middle School in Arlington, VA. It was at Kenmore that she developed the first ever dance program for Arlington Public Schools. During that time, she choreographed and directed The Nutcracker, multiple dance concerts, and choreographed all the musical theatre productions. Wizard of Oz, Music Man, 5 Guys Named Moe, and Guys and Dolls, to name a few. While teaching at Kenmore, Greta became a certified Dance Specialist through a program called CETA (Changing Education Through the Arts) offered by the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. In 2005, Greta was invited back to American University to be Artist in Residence for the Musical Theatre department. Her semester’s long work with students ended in a musical montage of past musical theatre numbers, which was showcased at the opening of the Harold and Sylvia Greenberg Theatre at American University.
At the end of 2006, Greta and her family moved to Charlottesville, VA. Having just had her daughter, Chloe, Greta decided to take some time off from teaching. During this time, she got a certification to teach Zumba. After a short hiatus from teaching, Greta started a creative movement program called “GetGoingKids!” at a local preschool in Charlottesville. In 2013, Greta and her family moved to Cumming, GA for her husband’s job and she continued to teach Zumba and became certified in a Barre format called FreedomBarre. While in Cumming, she continued her educational journey and became an Instructional Assistant for Self-Contained Special Education in Forsyth County.
Greta and her family are now residents of Tybee Island and she is very excited to get back to teaching dance.
Emily Liebtag
Instructor
Emily is originally from Michigan and began dancing at the age of 5 studying ballet, jazz, and modern. As a teenager she studied classical Russian ballet under Elzbieta Alabuszew-Kutek while performing and choreographing for various shows with Lansing Community College, the Community Dance Project, and the Happendance professional company. Emily then moved to Philadelphia, PA where she completed her BFA in Dance from Temple University.
Through college and beyond, Emily studied and performed under Philip Grosser, Keith Thompson, Megan Durham Wall, and Kun-Yang Lin while also studying Lighting Design and Stage Production with Nanette Hudson Joyce. She took class and interned for two summers at the American Dance Festival where she had the pleasure of learning under and collaborating with some some of the top dance companies in the world such as Paul Taylor, David Dorfman, Mark Morris, and Pilobolus to name a few. Emily has also freelanced as a Lighting Designer and Production Manager for Music and Dance ensembles working in theaters across the United States, Australia, England, Germany, and the Netherlands.
Jameson Burke
Instructor
Jameson Burke was born in Savannah, GA and began their dancing career at the age of 10. They first began at Gretchen Greene School of Dance and spent 9 years on the studio’s competitive ensemble. Along with training at a studio, they also attended Savannah Arts Academy for the Performing and Visual Arts where they studied ballet, modern, classical and con temporary partnering, composition and was vice president of the school’s National Dance Honor Society. Jameson is a recent graduate from The Juilliard School in New York City where they currently reside. They have performed works by Ohad Naharin, Bobbi Jene Smith, Justin Peck, Andrea Miller and Paul Taylor. They also had the opportunity to learn repertoire from William Forsythe, Crystal Pite, Sharon Eyal, and Jiri Kylian at Arts Umbrella’s summer intensive.
Lindsey Clark
Instructor
Lindsey Clark is originally from Salt Lake City, Utah. She began dancing at the age of 3 and continued to study all types of movement throughout her life, eventually concentrating on modern and contemporary styles. As a dancer and lover of dynamic movement, she has incorporated this into her lifestyle. She discovered yoga as a teenager and has turned to the practice for peace and grounding ever since. Lindsey studied with specialized and talented teachers and completed her 200 hour yoga teacher training in October of 2020.
Lindsey and her husband Ben have four beautiful kids. The Clarks love surfing, music, and traveling and can most often be found at the beach. Lindsey loves Tybee and is excited to teach and connect with others through her love of yoga and creative movement.
John Cronin
Ballet Instructor
John began studying ballet at the age of 4 at the Ann Clark School of Dance, where his mother was a company member. Ann Clark, a Tybee resident, became a ballet dancer for the Radio City Music Hall Rockettes and danced on the Ed Sullivan Show. He went on to study at The University of North Carolina School of the Arts, Houston Ballet Academy, and The School of American Ballet on full scholarship. John danced professionally for 17 years and was featured in The Carolina Ballet in Raleigh, NC, North Carolina Dance Theater in Charlotte, NC,
Nevada Dance Theater in Las Vegas,Nevada, Montgomery Ballet in Montgomery, AL, Columbia City Ballet and Columbia Classical Ballet. John has also freelanced all over the United States and Japan. During his career, John was hired by Paula Abdul as a dancer in the 20th Century Fox, Martin Lawrence movie "The Black Knight". John has loved teaching classical ballet for over 30 years, and continues to bring his knowledge and copious experience to local aspiring artists and students. John and his family are now Tybee residents and he looks forward to putting back into his community with his massive love for his artform.