Leadership

Founder and Creative Director

Sterlin Mosley

PhD

Sterlin Mosley received his bachelor’s degree in English and went on to complete a master’s in Human Relations with an emphasis on personality psychology and mental health counseling, before graduating with a PhD in Communication from the University of Oklahoma in 2015. He is an Associate Professor of Human Relations at the University of Oklahoma, where he also leads workshops and lectures on diversity, inclusivity and social change, and he provides coaching and training in personality, productivity and human relations.

Dr. Mosley is well versed in the performing arts. He studied music performance for two years as a flutist in college and has participated in, directed and produced numerous musical theatre performances, including serving as Executive Creative Director of University Sing and as a director of the Sooner Scandals, productions he continues to judge.

He began his professional dance career as an adult, quickly discovered both an aptitude and a passion for the art form and the business of dance production, and progressed rapidly, training and performing with Oklahoma City Ballet and taking courses in advanced ballet technique at the University of Oklahoma. He has studied with Finis Jhung, founder of Finis Jhung Ballet Technique; Michael Bearden, Director of the OU School of Dance; Penny Askew, former School Director of the Oklahoma City Ballet Yvonne Chouteau School; Oklahoma City Ballet soloist Walker Martin; Ilya Kozadayev, former Houston Ballet soloist and professor of ballet performance at UNCSA; and Yulia Zhmutski, owner of Julia’s Academy of Dance.

Founder and Executive Director

Aaron Addonizio

MHR, MPA

Aaron Addonizio received her bachelor’s degree in Sociology from the University of Oklahoma and holds master’s degrees in both Human Relations and Public Administration from the same institution. She is the co-founder, coach and Chief Operating Manager of Insightful Innovations, a professional consulting and coaching firm where she trains individuals and organizations on personality theory and human potential management. She also founded Insightful Organization, a consulting service providing personal and professional organization solutions.

In 2011 she began lending her organizational and management skills as an Administrative Support Specialist for Enneagram Explorations in Palo Alto and Katherine Fauvre Consulting in Menlo Park, California. Her love of performance and musical theatre began in college, where she served on executive committees and production teams for University of Oklahoma performances from 2002 to 2006. In 2015 she joined Julia’s Academy of Dance in Norman as business operations manager and financial director, managing daily operations and bookkeeping for the studio while maintaining her consulting firm.

Rehearsal Director, Program Director and Ballet Master

Penny Askew

MFA

A native Oklahoman, Penny Askew began her serious ballet training with Candace Jones Smalley in Clinton. She also studied at the Oklahoma Summer Arts Institute, Ballet West, National Academy of Arts and the School of Pennsylvania Ballet, and was influenced during her formative years by teachers including Robert Joffrey, Richard Englund, Lupe Serrano, David Howard, Bruce Marks and Toni Lander.

For more than 25 years she directed Western Oklahoma Ballet Academy and Western Oklahoma Ballet Theatre as their primary artistic, administrative and marketing force. She received a Governor’s Arts Award in 2008 for building a high-quality ballet program in rural Oklahoma, and was twice awarded the Regional Dance America/Southwest Stream Award for artistic excellence and service. She later served as School Director of the Oklahoma City Ballet Yvonne Chouteau School, where she led the faculty, taught multiple levels, oversaw the professional training programs, directed the Summer Intensive and the Oklahoma City Youth Ballet, and served as a Ballet Master for the professional company.

She was named Outstanding Choreographer of the Regional Dance America Choreography Conference in 1996 and 1998, and her works have been commissioned by several companies. She holds a Master of Science in Applied Psychology from Southwestern Oklahoma State University and a Master of Fine Arts in Dance and Choreography from the University of Iowa. She is an American Ballet Theatre® Fellowship Teacher, certified in Primary through Level 7 and Partnering of the ABT® National Training Curriculum, and has taught at AileyCamp New York, the Glenda Brown Choreography Project and RDA Festivals. Her students have gone on to professional careers in ballet, modern dance and musical theatre in the United States and Europe. She directs Askew Ballet Academy in Oklahoma City, COBT’s partner school.

Community and Development Director

Emma McGirr

Originally from Ohio, Emma McGirr began her training at the Schrader Youth Ballet. She graduated magna cum laude with a BFA in Ballet from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, and danced with Louisville Ballet and Eugene Ballet before joining Nevada Ballet Theatre in 2014.

Her repertoire includes Septime Webre’s Wizard of Oz (Dorothy) and Alice (in Wonderland) (Alice), Trey McIntyre’s Peter Pan (Wendy) and Blue Until June, and Ben Stevenson’s Dracula (Flora) and Cinderella (Cinderella). She has performed principal and soloist roles in numerous Balanchine ballets and originated roles in world premieres by Matthew Neenan, Nicolo Fonte, Sidra Bell and Lauren Lovette.

Founder

Catie Tramel

Catie Tramel is a native of Colorado who studied Vaganova technique under German Zamuel, Oleg Dedogryuk and David Taylor before entering the University of Oklahoma School of Dance. She danced as a company apprentice with Oklahoma Festival Ballet for four seasons and graduated from the University of Oklahoma with a bachelor’s degree in Dance Education in 2014.

She has choreographed and performed original works and taught workshops in international dance forms, stage makeup, athlete nutrition, ballet and modern dance. As a teacher she focuses on developing the self-aware dancer, coaching students toward correct technique and injury prevention within each dancer’s own anatomy. She has performed in Texas, Oklahoma, Colorado and Kansas and in Indonesia, and has taught at Zamuel Ballet School in Colorado Springs and Julia’s Academy of Dance in Norman.