Received her professional classical ballet training from the prestigious Beijing Ballet Academy in China and the Royal Academy of Dance. Ms. Wu earned certificated from both schools. In 1975 she came to the United States and was awarded full scholarships with the Joffrey Ballet School, Martha Graham School of Contemporary Dance in New York. She was a former soloist/principal dancer in Hong Kong in the early 1970s. She had the great honor of dancing with the great British ballerina Margot Fonteyn and was guest principal in the mid-1980s for Hong Kong Contemporary Dance Company’s premier production Requiem. Ms. Wu has studied classical ballet pedagogy with ballet legacy master teachers such as Jorgen Schneider, Oleg Briansky and Paris Opera Ballet School Professor-Gilbert Mayer. In 2003 and 2008 she received the “Outstanding Teacher Award” from the Youth America Grand Prix in Chicago and the “Artist Teacher Award” in 2004 from the Chautauqua School of Dance Institute. She has been teaching and training young dancers for over 25 years. Some of her former students have become soloists with the Pacific Northwest Ballet and dancers with New York City Ballet and Royal Danish Ballet.

Young Ge Chen: Ballet/Variation

Trained with Beijing Ballet Academy in China with Russian Vaganova classical ballet method. Mr. Chen was a former ballet master of Lio Ning Ballet Company in China. He has coached many students and won the prize from the world major ballet competition in Japan and China, some of these students currently dance with professional ballet companies such as Australia Ballet and the Guangzhou National Ballet Company. Mr Chen has been working with Shir Lee Wu since 1998.

Anastasia G. Rigsby: Variation/Rehearsal

Anastasia became an apprentice at age 14 with the San Francisco Ballet Company. She was a former dancer with the Pennsylvania Ballet and Ballet Met. This is her third season with the Columbus City Ballet School.

Natasha Maehta: Modern/Jazz/Hip Hop

Received her early professional dance training with South Dayton School of Dance and was formerly a dance major at The Ohio State University. Currently, she is a “Dancelinx” Hip Hop team member. This is her second season teaching for CCBS.

Whitney Elliott: Pre Ballet/Primary Ballet

Whitney received her dance training in Fort Hayes Dance Department, Ohio State University, and Wright State University as a dance major. She has been teaching dance in local studios since 1996 and she was the director of The Little Gym of Central Ohio in 2000-2002. This is her third season with the Columbus City Ballet School.