Claire Jones
Owner, Artistic Director, Instructor
Miss Claire is a graduate of Hope Garden Ballet Academy, with several additional years of study at Maryland Youth Ballet. She has performed multiple roles in HGCBT’s annual “A Christmas Carol”, as well as several spring performances. She has performed with American Ballet Theater and the Joffrey Ballet at the Kennedy Center, and at the height of her performance career danced with Bowen McCauley Dance at multiple venues in the DMV, including the Terrace Theater at the Kennedy Center.
Regionally Miss Claire has also performed with Deep Vision Dance in Baltimore, ClancyWorks Dance Company in Washington, DC, Other Voices Theatre in Frederick, and at Olney Theatre Center. She has assistant directed, choreographed, and taught for Red Branch Theatre, Round House Theatre Education, and with our own Poolesville High School Midnight Players.
Whilst deeply versed in classical ballet, Miss Claire has studied tap, contemporary, modern, stage management, and lighting, earning a degree in dance with a minor in theater from the University of MD, Baltimore County. She has been teaching all age groups for 14 years at multiple studios in Columbia, Germantown, Silver Spring, and Frederick. She taught for HGBA from the time she was 15, including summer ballet camps.
Energetic, fun, and disciplined, Miss Claire loves kids and dance, and will use that passion to take Essence Studios into the future for years to come!
Fran Ichijo
Founder and Artistic Director Emeritus
Frances Drayton Ichijo began her dance training in 2nd grade in Philadelphia. She received a degree in Dance and Art at Hamilton College, and performed with Kirkland Dance Theater. She continued her classical ballet training in New York at the then American Ballet Theater School. She went on to become a founding member and soloist with the Universal Ballet Company in Seoul, Korea, from 1978 -1986. For two years, she was director of the Sun Hwa Arts Ballet School which trained dancers for UBC.
Miss Fran taught classical ballet for more than 40 years in Korea, New York, and the Washington, DC metropolitan area. She received her teaching certificate with commendation from the Academie de Danse Classique de Princess Grace de Monaco. Miss Fran started Hope Garden Ballet Academy in 1998 in Poolesville, Maryland, and launched the Hope Garden Children’s Ballet Theatre in 2008.
Justin Rustle
Instructor
Originally from Maryland, Mr. Justin began dancing in a creative movement class at the Liz Lerman Movement Exchange with Gesel Mason, and went on to receive his formative training at Maryland Youth Ballet. Mr. Justin holds a BFA in Dance Performance from Butler University, and an MA in Performance Studies from the TISCH School of the Arts at New York University. He has previously danced with companies including Ballet Arkansas and Bowen-McCauley Dance Company, as well as appearing as a guest artist and teacher across the United States.
Mr. Justin has performed work by choreographers including Nacho Duato, Paul Taylor, George Balanchine, Gerald Arpino, Harrison McEldowney, Darelle Grand Moultrie, Kiyon Gaines Ross, Lucy Bowen-McCauley, and Ilana Goldman, as well as roles across the classical repertoire. He has also been a contributing writer to the DC Dance Journalism Project. Mr. Justin currently dances with Dana Tai Soon Burgess Dance Company.
Lynn Schaeber
Instructor
Lynn Schaeber has been developing young hearts and minds for over 20 years. Lynn has created several Early childhood Education programs in the US and Europe for children of many nationalities and abilities, integrating academic excellence and the arts. Inspiring her students to love, learn, and excel through a creative arts education is her passion. In addition to teaching preschool, Lynn is a Kindergarten teacher. She holds an MFA from Temple University in Dance. She has taught, choreographed, and danced professionally throughout the US and Europe. As a Specialist Professor for 15 years, Lynn focused on developing and training teachers in the arts education field. She is the mother of 4.
Austin St. John
Instructor
Austin is a native of Pasadena, CA where he trained at Le Studio (now Pasadena Dance Theater) with Phillip and Charles Fuller and Cynthia Young Fuller. He was a company member of the Oakland Ballet, Sacramento Ballet, and Cleveland San Jose Ballet. He has performed works by George Balanchine, Agnes de Mille, Lew Christensen, Flemming Flindt, Bronislava Nijinska, Alonzo King, Dennis Nahat, and many others. He performed with Rudolph Nureyev in “The Overcoat” at the Edinburgh Festival. After moving to Bethesda in 1991 he danced with the Maryland Youth Ballet, Eric Hampden Dance, Bowen McCauley Dance, Dancesmith, and other local companies. He has been a teacher in the DC area since 1991 and at the Maryland Youth Ballet from 1991-2020. His responsibilities at MYB included rehearsal director, outreach leader, Gala co-coordinator, and for over 15 years, performing the role of Drosselmeyer in their annual production of The Nutcracker. He is excited to be teaching at Essence Studios.
Audra Johnson
Instructor
Audra Johnson, a New Jersey native, received her early training from Christine Taylor and Luba Gulyeava and went on to continue her studies at The New Jersey Ballet School, The Harid Conservatory, and The Atlanta Ballet Center for Dance Education. She spent various summers studying at The Eglevsky Ballet, School of American Ballet, Boston Ballet, and The Harid Conservatory. She has danced professionally with The Suzanne Farrell Ballet, The Washington Ballet, and American Repertory Ballet. Ms. Johnson performed several principal and soloist roles in ballets such as The Nutcracker, Kirk Peterson’s Glazunov Variations, and George Balanchine’s Serenade and Allegro Brilliant. Her Balanchine Repertoire includes Danse Concertantes, Gounod Symphony, Stars and Stripes, Swan Lake, Concerto Barocco, Episodes, and Divertimento from Le Baiser de la Fee. She has also been featured in Twyla Tharp’s Eight Jelly Rolls, Octet, and Nine Sinatra Songs and in new works by Kirk Peterson, Harrison McEldowney, Graham Lustig, Susan Shields, Douglas Martin, Laurie Stallings, and Melissa Barak. Ms. Johnson has taught at Princeton Ballet School, North Jersey School of Dance Arts, Ballet Nova, The Washington Ballet, Maryland Youth Ballet, and Olympia Dance Center in Olympia, WA. In 2018, she taught for Suzanne Farrell at the Kennedy Center during her summer program.
Micah McKee
Instructor
Miss Micah graduated from the George Mason School of Dance with a B.F.A. where she studied ballet and contemporary dance with world-renown teachers such as Susan Shields, Roger Jeffrey, Christopher D’Ambois and Shaun D’Arcy. Originally from Knoxville, Tennessee, Micah studied classical ballet, pointe, variations and contemporary dance as well as jazz, hip-hop, tap and Horton Technique. Micah has attended summer dance programs such as Bates Dance Festival in Maine, San Francisco Conservatory of Dance, and Joffrey Ballet. She has attended professional workshops including Countertechnique with Joy Davis and New Dialect in Nashville, Tennessee and Rubberband Dance Winter Intensive in Montreal, Quebec this past December, training in the unique movement vocabulary of Victor Quijada. Micah brings an expansive contemporary teaching approach to classical forms of dance.
Diane Robinson
Instructor
Miss Diane Robinson is excited to join the Essence Studios team. She has been a dance teacher and choreographer for several years, with ages kindergarten through adult, and through those years has won awards in dance and choreography. She is a graduate of the Montgomery College Dance Program and participant in their Dance company for four seasons in both concert shows and traveling shows. Miss Diane also competes as an amateur ballroom dancer and has been recognized with honors. She is excited to work with the students of Essence Dance Studios to help them realize their dance dreams.
Tara DelPrete
Instructor
Tara DelPrete grew up locally in Gaithersburg, MD, where she began training at the age of 5 in a wide range of dance styles including ballet, tap, jazz, hip hop and contemporary. Growing up, she participated in musical theater productions, local youth-run contemporary dance companies, and her high school poms team. Tara has continued her dance studies persistently throughout her adulthood, finding her creative voice through choreography and deepening her relationship with movement as a personal means of self expression, and a practice for holistic well-being. She has a deep affinity for youth education, having provided a variety of lessons in schools, camps and after school programs over the last 10 years across the DMV area and beyond, in addition to leading yoga and movement classes for children and adults. She currently teaches contemporary, ballet and creative movement classes at local dance studios, works the front desk and provides yoga classes at the new SportRock in Rio, and works as a stagehand at venues around the region (she has a passion for music as well, having graduated with a BA in vocal performance at UNCA!). She is thrilled to join the Essence team, and looks forward to growing with her students!
Ashley Kelch
Instructor
Ashley joined our Essence family in October 2023. She is currently certified in LaBlast® & TRX® and was a multi-sport collegiate athlete with a strong background in Tap & Jazz. Ashley teaches a wide variety of dance from Ballroom to Line Dancing and anything in between. Dancing has always been a big part of her life and she is so excited to spread the joy & passion through movement to all. She loves spending time with her family, pets, garden, and of course dancing!
Roland Jones
Guest Instructor
Mr. Roland’s dance career began at the age of eight with five years of instruction under Fran Ichijo at Hope Garden Ballet, followed by another five years at Maryland Youth Ballet. Upon graduating high school he moved to Salt Lake City to take a trainee position at Ballet West, and was promoted to the second company the following year. Covid interrupted his quick progression, and he returned to Maryland, where he continued his development with zoom instruction from Eric Trope (shown below.) Mr. Roland was a member of the second company at Richmond Ballet for the 2021-22 season, and is now a 1st Company dancer at American Repertory Ballet under the direction of Ethan Stiefel.
Avery Snyder
Guest Instructor
Born and raised in Charlottesville, Virginia, Miss Avery began her dance training at the age of 3. When her interest in ballet grew into a passion for the art form, she transferred to the newly formed Charlottesville Ballet Academy in 2011. She was a student there until 2016 when she joined the professional company as a trainee, while simultaneously completing her junior year of high school. In 2018 Miss Avery attended the University of North Carolina School of the Arts high school classical ballet program for her senior year, then continued her training at the collegiate level at UNCSA and graduated in May of 2021 with a BFA in classical ballet. Miss Avery is now a 2nd Company dancer with American Repertory Ballet in Princeton, New Jersey, under the artistic direction of Ethan Stiefel.
Eric Trope
Guest Instructor
Mr. Eric is a freelance dancer, choreographer, repetiteur, and teacher. He finished his eighth season with the Miami City Ballet in April of 2021. He previously danced with the Pennsylvania Ballet for four seasons and most recently was a guest artist with BalletX. Mr. Eric has danced a vast amount of repertoire including works by Balanchine, Robbins, Forsythe, Ratmansky, Taylor, Kylian, Peck, and many others.
Mr. Eric has been a guest teacher at the Rock School for Dance Education, the Finnish National Ballet, Maryland Youth Ballet, Ballet Elite, among many others. In March 2021, Mr. Eric began staging Justin Peck’s Heatscape for the Finnish National Ballet in Helsinki. Mr. Eric’s latest choreographic work was seen at the Nantucket Atheneum Dance Festival in July of 2021. Earlier that year, Mr. Eric premiered Fire and Gold for the Miami City Ballet outdoor pop-up series. He has also made works for the Mainly Mozart Festival, Dimensions Dance Theater of Miami, Louisiana Delta Ballet, the New World Symphony, and the fundraiser Shut up and Dance. www.erictrope.com