Instructors
Gloria Tuohy
Founder and CEO of the Indiana Ballet Theatre
Mrs. Tuohy’s career has spanned over 60 years of professional dance, teaching, and artistic direction experience in England, Europe, and the United States. She was trained in the prestigious French Cecchetti classical ballet syllabus and is proficient in ballet, classical jazz, and tap.
She is proficient in Cecchetti and the Imperial Society of Teachers of Dance (ISTD). She is the founder of Indiana Ballet Theatre NW, Inc. (IBT), which opened its doors in 1978 as Imperial Dance Studio, becoming a 501(c)(3) non-profit ballet and contemporary dance company in 1998. She has designed costumes and choreographed nine full-length original ballets that have been staged over 40 times during the 38 years the company has existed—20 of those years at the Star Plaza Theatre. Many students have toured with her to countries in Europe and across the USA, taking classes, performing, and competing. In 2012, they competed in the Grand Prix in Italy, winning 1st place.
Mrs. Tuohy has worked with children in the Safe Harbor Program, Boys and Girls Clubs, Merrillville Parks Department, Healthy East Chicago, and other organizations—teaching classes and establishing outreach programming. She is a 29-year Master of Dance member of the Chicago National Association of Dance Masters, and has been a Leaders as Heroes and ATHENA nominee. Mrs. Tuohy was a recipient of the CALA Award for Arts Professionals (2012) and nominated for Influential Women of NWI and the Society of Innovators (2017).
Mrs. Tuohy has lobbied the Lake County Commissioners and was donated the Lake County Sanatorium Nurses Home—the last remaining building of its kind in America that has not been destroyed or renovated. This historic building will become the Classical Arts Centre and will house many arts organizations as well as IBT.
From 10 students in the basement to teaching over 8,000 students and reaching 550,000 audience members—with now 3 schools in DeMotte, Merrillville, and Valparaiso, a ballet company, and so much more—Mrs. Tuohy says,
“It was all from the dreams of the children.”
Amanda Tuohy
Associate Artistic Director, Indiana Ballet Theatre
Amanda Tuohy, Associate Artistic Director of Indiana Ballet Theatre, is also a Certified Dance Educator (CDE), Licensed Mental Health Counselor (LMHC), and AR-Dance/Movement Therapist (candidate) with an education from Columbia College in Performance and Choreography. Her professional career has included performance, makeup artistry, show direction, instruction, coaching, and choreography.
Amanda has a long history in dance styles and forms. She traveled and performed in the company’s featured repertoire for over 20 years and has contributed significantly to IBT’s choreography. She is the Founder and Director of IBT’s Modern & Contemporary program, including concerts Kaleidoscope and Standing Room Only. She is a former member of Perceptual Motion Chicago and a consultant for Rebound Dance. Amanda has taught throughout the Chicagoland area, including studios and workshops at Northwestern University.
Amanda is an Honors graduate of ISTD. She has taught ISTD classes in the Elementary and Professional Prep Divisions and has helped prepare students for competitions such as F.A.M.E. and Youth America Grand Prix (YAGP). Her students have gone on to win, place as finalists at F.A.M.E., and rank in the top 12 at YAGP.
Holding a Master’s in Counseling from Valparaiso University, she works therapeutically with youth and families in Northwest Indiana. Believing in the power of movement, Amanda returned to Columbia for a Master’s in Dance/Movement Therapy and also studied Revolutionary Principles of Movement (RPM) in Florida.
She recently returned to the stage with MOVED, Chicago in Fall 2014 and worked with IBT’s outreach performance program in Spring 2015. Amanda supports technical proficiency, longevity, and artistry in dance and believes in inspiring others to find their authentic selves through movement.
Kristy Victor
Kristy Victor, an oncology nurse, began dancing at the age of 3 with IBT. Kristy studied at the Chicago National Association of Dance Masters, where she danced the lead in the ballet gala performance. She went to Las Vegas, Nevada to receive further training as a dance teacher and choreographer at the Dance Teachers’ Expo. Kristy traveled to London, England, where she received her ballet certification in the ISTD rubric.
In 2012, Kristy performed at the Auditorium Theatre in Chicago, IL with principal dancers from American Ballet Theatre. She has danced many lead roles for Indiana Ballet Theatre such as Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Lilac Fairy, Sugar Plum, and Snow Queen.
Aside from her experience in dance, Kristy was a three-time state champion in gymnastics in the balance beam, floor exercise, and all-around.
Wendy Holland
Wendy Holland has been a member of IBT for over 20 years. Her credentials include certifications in Checcittti and ISTD. She also has her Bachelor of Science Degree in Recreation, specializing in Therapeutic Recreation, as well as an Indiana Teaching License.
She currently teaches the foundation classes for our ballet students and company classes. She is also a 5th grade teacher at Porter Lakes Elementary School in Hebron, IN.
Her involvement with IBT includes dancing lead roles in many of our past performances, assisting with rehearsals, and choreographic work for the LEAP event.
She is the mother of three children: Ashley, Sarah, and Jack.
Christie Kamanaroff
Christie’s love for dance began as a gymnast at the age of 4; her early ballet lessons turned into a lifelong passion, and at 7 she began dancing with Indiana Ballet Theatre. Christie performed with Indiana Ballet Theatre in all of their full-length ballets including The Nutcracker, Peter Pan, Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, Coppelia, Swan Lake, and Firebird, in Kaleidoscope, and later toured with IBT to Disney World in France, as well as Germany, England, and both Cancun and Cozumel in Mexico.
Christie received her BA in Dance from Columbia College, Chicago in 2005, and has been one of two keynote modern dance program faculty members with IBT for almost 20 years. She is trained in RPM and ISTD training methods, and choreographs for Company 1, 2, and the Trainees.
Julie Newman
Julie Newman has been dancing for over 20 years. She began in her hometown at Broadstreet Dance Co., and in her early teens, continued training at The Ruth Page Foundation and Lou Conte Dance Studio in Chicago, studying ballet, jazz, tap, and hip-hop.
Throughout her dance career, she performed in numerous shows and ballets including The Nutcracker with The Empire State Ballet, Tulsa Ballet Theatre, Indiana Youth Ballet, and Ballet Legere, and danced for the IUN Dance Company in college.
In addition to dance, Julie also trained in singing, acting, and modeling. In her late teens, she was selected as the fifth member of a pop/R&B group called Endera, signed to Universal Records. During that time, she trained with choreographers such as Chris Flournois and Jamaica Kraft, who have worked with artists including P. Diddy, TLC, and 3LW (now known as The Cheetah Girls).
Julie has been teaching and assisting in studios across the Chicagoland area for over 15 years, including workshops, private lessons, and choreography. She is currently pursuing a B.S. in Computer Information Systems at Indiana University Northwest, and also works at Dance Stuf Etc in Merrillville.
