Faculty
John Grensback - Houston Ballet
John Grensback
Artistic Director - Upper School Director
(Upper Level Ballet Classes, Pointe, Boys Program Coordinator)
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Since his arrival as director of the Academy in 2003, John Grensback has had a profound influence on the students of the academy, specifically with his high standard of excellence, his working relationship with teachers, and his dedication to every student. He has trained students who are now professional dancers with American Ballet Theater, San Francisco Ballet, Orlando Ballet, Oklahoma City Ballet, and more.
John Grensback began dance training at the age of 7 with his foster father, Eldon Parish, in Chicago. At the age of 15 years, Mr. Grensback attended The School of American Ballet in New York City. Upon graduation from SAB, Mr. Grensback joined the New York City Ballet and danced with the company for two seasons. He then joined the Joffrey Ballet where he danced until 1982. In 1982 he was invited to join the Houston Ballet where he became a principal dancer and danced under the direction of Ben Stevenson.
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Mr. Grensback retired from the stage in 1990 and moved to the island of Guam with his wife, Megan Murphy. He opened and directed his own studio in Guam until June of 2003. Mr. Grensback taught master classes in Hong Kong, The Philippines, Houston Ballet Academy and at the Joffrey Ballet School. While in Guam he choreographed, produced and directed The Nutcracker Ballet, The Sleeping Beauty Ballet, Hansel and Gretel, Carmina Burana, The Emperor and the Nightingale, and many other classical and contemporary works.
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Principal roles (Artistic director)
Prince Siegried, Swan Lake (Ben Stevenson)
Prince Albrecht, Giselle (Peter Wright)
Prince Florimund, Sleeping Beauty (Ben Stevenson)
James, La Sylphide (Ivan Nagy)
Prince, Nutcracker (Ben Stevenson)
Dr. Faulke, Rosalinda (Ronald Hynd)
Male Jumper, Etudes (Harold Landers)
Dark Angel, Serenade (George Balanchine)
Male Lead, Paquita (Larry Long)
Prince, Cinderella (Ben Stevenson)
Pas De Deux, Don Quixote (Ben Stevenson)
Pas De Deux, Esmerelda (Ben Stevenson)
Pas De Deux, Blue Bird(Ben Stevenson)
Guest appearances Performed as a guest artist with the Cincinnati Ballet,
Chicago Ballet, Bartlesville Civic Ballet, St. Louis Ballet, Indiana State
University, Teatro Municipal de Rio de Janiero.
Megan Murphy
Administrative Director
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Ms. Murphy began ballet training in Guam and left to study at The National Ballet School of Canada when she was fifteen years old. She attended The San Francisco Ballet School, studied under Richard Gibson in Palo Alto, California, and trained at The Houston Ballet Academy on a scholarship. She danced professionally with both The Atlanta Ballet and The Houston Ballet, and danced in ballets such as Swan Lake, Ben Stevenson's Cinderella, Serenade, and more.
After retiring from performing, Ms. Murphy joined the staff at the Houston Ballet Academy where she directed the pilates studio and the adult dance program. While attending The University of Houston she also managed the large aerobics program at the Downtown YMCA in Houston.
Ms. Murphy opened Oregon Ballet Academy is 2003 with her husband John after moving to Eugene from Guam with their children. While not in the studio, Ms. Murphy is a real estate agent with United Real Estate Properties.
Kristi Hill
Lower School Director
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Kristi Hill grew up in Helena Montana where she began dancing at the age of 5. She danced at Creative Art Center with Premiere Dance Company training in ballet, jazz and modern. After graduating from high school she moved to Utah to attend Brigham Young University. While at BYU she danced with Theatre Ballet Company. She was able to
perform lead roles in several productions and tour to Colorado, New Mexico, California, Washington and Oregon. Her professional dancing experience includes the Fairy Godmother in Cinderella and The Queen and the lead Pixie in The Life in the Labyrinth. She was also the Queen and a Swan in Swan Lake. Kristi has performed the following roles in the Nutcracker as a guest artist: Arabian, Snow Queen and Sugar Plum Fairy. Her favorite was the Sugar Plum Fairy. Kristi graduated from BYU with a BA in Dance with an emphasis in Ballet. Kristi has been teaching ballet for over 20 years in Utah, Montana and Oregon. She taught at
Lifehouse Performing Arts Academy in Salem, Utah for 12 years. While teaching at Lifehouse she choreographed and restaged ballets such as Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, The Nutcracker, Coppelia, sections of La Bayadere and Paquita, and the Wizard of Oz. Kristi was also the director over the ballet program at Lifehouse. Kristi has taught all ages and levels: from 18 months to adult classes. Kristi was trained in Leap n’
Learn which is an early childhood dance program for ages 2-8 years old. She has been able to implement this training the past 5 years as she has focused on teaching 18 month-7 year olds. Kristi has created a pre-pointe program to help dancers transition to pointe more successfully. She has guested at several summer camps to teach pre-pointe classes.
Kristi loves to encourage dancers to meet their full potential. She believes that with hard work anything can be achieved. Kristi believes that mastering the basics is what makes a strong dancer. Kristi strives to assist her students in finding a love for ballet by making it fun, creating a structured environment and giving each student opportunities to
progress. Aside from teaching, Kristi loves to spend time with her 4 children and husband out in nature in beautiful Oregon. Kristi is excited to start her 4th year with OBA.
Mayim Stiller
Co-Director
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Mayim is originally from Seattle Washington, started his dance training doing salsa, hip hop, and some ballroom/vaudeville at the age of 8. His formal ballet training began at age 11 with Oregon Ballet Academy under the direction of John Grensback. He continued his training on scholarships at the Pacific Northwest Ballet and the School of American Ballet, where he performed with the company at PNB and did the lead role in Faust at the end of the year workshop at Lincoln Center for SAB.
Stiller began his professional career with Los Angeles Ballet where he danced for three seasons. He then joined Ballet San Antonio in 2016 as a corps de ballet member and was promoted to soloist in 2017. He has also guested with Alberta Ballet and in 2020 Stiller joined Oklahoma City Ballet as a corp de ballet member.
His professional repertoire includes works by George Balanchine, Gerald Arpino, Fredrick Ashton, JiÅ™í Kylián, Jerome Robbins, Kent Stowell, Bruce Wells, Edward Liang, Willy Shives, Jean Grand-Maître, Brian Enos, Bryan Pitts, Robert Mills, Septime Webre, Val Caniparoli as well as many other works after Petipa. His favorite roles performed include Romeo in Romeo & Juliet, principal man in Round of Angels, Thor in Golden Section, Baron in Lady of the Camellias, Espada in Don Quixote, Corp Men in Stars and Stripes and Cacti. Stiller loves choreographing and has choreographed several of his own works. Stiller is excited to be coming back to his home studio and work at this great place with wonderful and talented kids of OBA.
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Thor, Golden Section (Twyla Tharp)
Claudius, Hamlet (Stephen Mills)
Baron, Lady of the Camellias (Val Caniparoli)
Duchess, Alice in Wonderland (Septime Webre)
Stepsister, Cinderella (Ryan Nye)
Slow Couple, Variations for Six (Bryan Pitts)
Featured Role, 2 and 3 Part Interventions (Jerome Robbins)
Rhinestone Cowboy, Western Sympony (George Balanchine)
Prince, Nutcracker
Albrecht, Giselle (Willy Shives)
Prince Desire, Sleeping Beauty (Willy Shives)
Espada, Don Quixote (Willy Shives)
Romeo; Paris, Romeo and Juliet (Edward Liang)
Principal Man, Round of Angels (Gerald Arpino)
Beast, Beauty and the Beast (Bruce Wells)
Don Jose, Carmen (Yosevani Cortellan)
Annabelle Brinkhous
Teacher
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Before ballet Annabelle took part in competitive gymnastics. She began ballet training at age 10 at Oregon Ballet Academy. Annabelle just came back from a Joffery Ballet Summer Intensive. She is so excited to be helping out teaching the younger kids.
Featured in various roles in OBA productions
Sugar Plum Fairy, Nutcracker
Fairy Godmother, Cinderella
Tinkerbell, Peter Pan
Snow White, Snow White and Seven Dwarfs
Rachel Richardson
Guest Faculty/Alumni
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Rachel Richardson began her training with John Grensback Oregon Ballet Academy. In 2009, she was awarded a scholarship to attend The Rock School for Dance Education year-round program in Philadelphia, under the direction of Bojan and Stephanie Spassoff. While at The Rock School, she competed in Youth America Grand Prix and won the silver medal at the New York City finals in 2013. Richardson has received scholarships to multiple summer intensives including Pacific Northwest Ballet, Bolshoi Ballet, Houston Ballet, Royal Ballet School, and San Francisco Ballet. She has performed classical variations from Raymonda, The Nutcracker, Grand Pas Classique, Giselle, Paquita, Esmeralda, and Swan Lake, as well as works by Susan Jaffe, Antony Tudor, and Bruce Steivel.
Richardson joined American Ballet Theatre Studio Company in 2013, became an apprentice with the main Company in January 2015, and joined the corps de ballet in June 2015. Her repertoire includes a Porcelain Princess in Aurora’s Wedding, Amour in Don Quixote, Moyna in Giselle, Columbine and one of the Nutcracker’s Sisters in Alexei Ratmansky’s The Nutcracker, the Fairy Miettes qui tombent (Breadcrumb) and the Gold Fairy in Ratmansky’s The Sleeping Beauty, the Italian Princess in Swan Lake, Persephone in Sylvia, and featured roles in The Brahms-Haydn Variations and Deuce Coupe.
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Porcelain Princess, Aurora's Wedding (Ratmansky)
Featured Role, The Brahms-Haydn Variations
Amour, Don Quixote (McKenzie/Jones)
Moyna, Giselle (McKenzie)
Columbine; Nutcracker's Sister, The Nutcracker (Ratmansky)
The Fairy Miettes qui tombent (Breadcrumb); Gold Fairy, The Sleeping Beauty (Ratmansky)
Italian Princess, Swan Lake (McKenzie)
Nathan Rowell
Guest Faculty/Alumni
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Nathan Rowell (Eugene, Oregon) began his ballet training at age seven and joined Houston Ballet Academy’s Professional Division at 17, studying under Claudio Muñoz and Melissa Bowman. He later trained with Texas Ballet Theatre’s Studio Training Company before joining Orlando Ballet II three seasons ago. His repertoire with Orlando Ballet includes George B. Wilson in Jorden Morris’ The Great Gatsby, Stanley Kowalski in Annabelle Lopez Ochoa’s A Streetcar Named Desire, Toulouse in Morris’ Moulin Rouge® The Ballet, and a featured role in “Confronting Genius” by guest choreographer—and now Rehearsal Director—Heath Gill.
Orlando Ballet School Alumnus ’21. This is Nathan’s fifth season with Orlando Ballet.
Katie Torkornoo
Social Media Manager
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Katie has been a parent at OBA since 2013, and joined our OBA staff as Social Media Manager in early 2023. Her love for capturing detail and emotion through photo and video have made her a perfect fit for the job. Check out Katie's content on our Facebook and Instagram pages!
@oregonballetacademy