Company Members

Artistic Directors Melissa Hale Coyle and Lisa Leone

Melissa Hale Coyle grew up in Tulsa, Oklahoma where she received her early training from Roman Jasinski and Moscelyne Larkin. She studied as a scholarship student for two summers at American Ballet Theatre with Leon Danelion and Patricia Wilde. After graduating from high school, she joined American Ballet Theatre as a company member for three years. Ms. Hale later joined Cincinnati Ballet Company where she performed in principal roles and Tulsa Ballet Theatre where she was a principal dancer for six years. For the past 19 years, Ms. Hale has lived in Charlotte, North Carolina where she is on the faculty and Artistic Director of the Ballet Program at Sullivan Dance Centre, part-time faculty member at UNCC and teaches company classes at North Carolina Dance Theatre. For many years, Ms. Hale has been on the faculty at the American Ballet Theatre Summer Intensive in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. She has been a guest choreographer for the Charlotte Philharmonic Orchestra, Carolina Voices, Atlanta Dance Theatre, The Dance Collective, Ballet San Antonio, Civic Ballet of Chicago, South Carolina’s Governors Summer School and Orange County Performing Arts High School. In 2001, The North Carolina School of the Arts awarded Ms. Hale “Best Dance Teacher of North Carolina”.

Lisa Leone began her training in Tacoma, WA under Jan Collum. After dancing the role of Cinderella in Washington, the choreographer, Tom Pazik, director of Atlanta Ballet II, invited her to study in Atlanta. She later danced with the Atlanta Ballet and the Ballet Rotaru, touring Romania and performing at the George Enescu Festival in Bucharest. For three years Ms. Leone danced as a soloist with the Oregon Ballet Theatre. After relocating to NC she performed as a guest artist with area companies and was a member of the Moving Poets Theatre of Dance. She is a member of the faculty of the Sullivan Dance Centre, and lives in Marshville, NC with her husband, sculptor Stephen Smith.

Senior Company Members