Faculty & Staff
Robin Twarowski: Executive Director
Owner of Ballet Arts, Robin has successfully developed young-dancer ballet programs for Agoura and Thousand Oaks communities. She has danced with Bay Area Ballet, Santa Cruz Ballet and CCBC. Robin is also Executive Director of Conejo Civic Ballet Company. In her executive positions Robin focuses on selection of faculty and staff, and acquiring resources and support for the faculty and CCBC artists so that they can provide our students with the best dance instruction in the Thousand Oaks area.
Eva Pokorny: Artistic Director
Graduate of the Vaganova Method, City Ballet School, Zlin, Czechoslovakia. Member of the National Ballet of Czechoslovakia for 20 years. Besides teaching advanced ballet classes at Ballet Arts, Eva has overall responsibility for the core ballet teaching program. She is also artist director of Conejo Civic Ballet Company and though you will rarely see her come out and take a bow, all major decisions about the CCBC productions come from her.
Helena Pokorny: Ballet
Soloist with the Prague National Ballet Theatre in the Czech Republic, dancing in such ballets as Cinderella, Swan Lake and Nutcracker. Helena teaches at Ballet Arts and is Ballet Mistress at Conejo Civic Ballet Company where her responsibilities include dancing, choreography, and cradle-to-grave management of our ballet productions.
Brett Weidlich: Ballet
Brett graduated from the the conservatoire of Rimsky-Korsakov in St. Petersburg, Russia with a masters degree in choreography and a ballet master diploma. He has danced in and choreographed many productions in both Europe and the North American continent. Throughout his career he has worked with many talented performers and choreographers such as Jiri Kylian and Alvin Alley. He joined the faculty of Ballet Arts in June 2000 bringing his teaching skills to Ballet Arts and enriching Conejo Civic Ballet Company with his dancing and choreographic skills.
Robert Loftin Smith: Tap
Robert has performed in various shows including Ragtime in Los Angeles and on Broadway, Chicago (in Los Angeles) and Male at the Kennedy Center. He toured with Debbie Reynolds in the Unsinkable Molly Brown. He teaches tap at Ballet Arts and has performed many roles in Conejo Civic Ballet Company productions. When Robert is on stage, the energy level definitely rises.
Linda Lewis: Ballet and Jazz
Linda Lewis graduated from University of Iowa with a Master in Art majoring in Dance. She taught at the University of Alaska in Fairbanks and was Artistic Director of Dance Domenium. She now teaches dance at Long Beach City College and Ballet Arts. Linda is also an active member of Conejo Civic Ballet Company both as a dancer and behind the scenes helping our young dancers give their best performance.
Tracy Shibata: Hip Hop
Tracy Shibata has performed as a dancer in numerous theater productions including Star Wars, Chicago Suites and The Angel's Gift, where she was lead, and Temptations Opening Act. She has also performed on videos in Paris By Night, the Prince Compilation, Click2Dance and others. Tracy has training in dance, voice and acting. Her dance training has extended from hip-hop to ballet.
Pamela Brezinski Lappen: Modern, Ballet
Pamela Lappen received a BFA from University of Wisconsin in Dance and Theatre Performance and an MA from UCLA in Dance and Education. She has over two decades of experience teaching dance at High Schools, Universities and dance studios. Pamela also has extensive experience in choreography and has produced many dance numbers for jazz and modern dance.
Anzhela Martynava: Ballet
Anzhela Martynava was born and raised in Belarus, is a graduate of the Vaganova School of Ballet in Minsk, Belarus, and has a BA degree in Education and Child Psychology. She has seven years experience as a professional dancer with the Meshta Troupe-Minsk under the direction of Terehovskaya Raisa Lvovna and Eremeeva Raisa Aleksevna. Anzhela also has eight years experience as a dance instructor and choreographer in the U.S.
Catrina Quintanilla: Musical Theater
Catrina Quintanilla was trained in opera and classical ballet at CSU Fullerton. She was the resident choreographer at the Simi Valley Cultural Arts Center from 2002 to 2005 while teaching musical theater and dance classes at St. Genevieve High School in Panorama City. She co-created the Children's Summer Musical Theater Workshop for the Simi Valley Cultural Association and has worked with Kids Acting Out, Young Artist's Ensemble, and ARTS. Catrina actively performs in the greater Los Angeles area. Local credits include Joice Heth - Blues Singer in Barnum (Moorpark Theater on High Street), Reno Sweeney in Anything Goes (SVCAC) and Mary Magdalene in Jesus Christ Superstar (ARTS), and many more!
Ben Wolff: Hip Hop
Ben Wolff graduated from Ohio State University with a BFA in Dance. Ben has taught and choreographed hip-hop and jazz around the U.S. including Guest Artist at University of Richmond in Richmond, VA and Dance Instructor at Ohio State University. In addition Ben taught two master classes at Dance Plus in NJ and served as a traveling summer intensive dance instructor for High School dance teams in the mid-west.