Canyon Concert Ballet hires Artistic Director, Executive Director and School Director New Leadership Brings Exciting Changes to Oldest Ballet Company and school in Fort Collins
December 8, 2016 – Founded in 1979 in Fort Collins, Colorado, Canyon Concert Ballet (CCB) is presenting its 37th season at the Lincoln Center and expanding both as a professional Ballet Company as well as Ballet School. Because of this growth, the CCB Board of Directors has hired a new School Director, Executive Director, and 2016-2017 Artistic Director.
The Interim Artistic Director for the 2016-2017 Season, Alicia Laumann is a ballet and modern dance teacher and choreographer and is currently on faculty at Canyon Concert Ballet. She received her Master in Fine Arts in dance from the University of California and has participated in a variety of workshops over the last 10 years including: Bartenieff Fundamentals/ Laban Movement Analysis; release/contemporary technique from ODC in San Francisco and the Salzburg Experimental Academy of Dance; and, contact improvisation at P.O.R.C.H. in Berlin. Formerly a Dance professor at Colorado Mesa University in Grand Junction, Laumann taught a variety of lecture and studio courses and choreographed extensively. While there, she choreographed Snow Scene and all of Act II of the Grand Junction Symphony’s production of The Nutcracker. She has been adjunct faculty and choreographed for University of San Diego, Mira Costa College, Mt. San Antonio College, Fullerton College, and the Orange County School of the Arts and was the assistant to the directors at the Rock School for Dance Education in Philadelphia. Laumann also travels to both teach and choreograph for various schools across the country.
Executive Director Jody Touchton brings more than 22 years of non-profit management, marketing, fundraising and event-planning experience to CCB. With a Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism and a published undergraduate thesis, Touchton is a successful grant-writer and fundraiser. She raised more than two-million dollars collectively for several not-for profit groups in Colorado including a chamber of commerce, hospital, skilled nursing facility, political groups, dance school and a private school. The Former Executive Director of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences which administers the annual EMMY awards for the Midwest United States, Touchton also directed marketing campaigns for subsidiaries of TV Guide and the Discovery Channel.
Professional personnel manager and trainer, Abby Behm, comes to Canyon Concert Ballet as the School Director with a Bachelor of Science degree in Human development and Masters in Business Administration from Colorado State University. A current dance instructor and former dancer at CCB, Behm is responsible for the administration of more than 300 students and 20 faculty including the development of lesson plans, scheduling, hiring, performance reviews and contracts and curriculum testing. Behm has extensive experience interviewing, training, scheduling and managing staff for the University of Colorado Health System Campus in Fort Collins.
Canyon Concert Ballet is a 501c3 not-for-profit organization. It has two studio locations in Fort Collins and serves students from 18-months-old through adults in ballet as well as other forms of dance instruction.