Artistic Director Susan Clark enjoyed a long and distinguished ballet career prior to joining MFB. She was a Principal dancer with the Milwaukee Ballet for eight seasons, then became Ballet Mistress while the company was under the directorship of Basil Thompson.

Ms. Clark grew up in Midland, Texas and started dancing with Georgia Harston. Her primary training was with William-Martin Viscount in Fort Worth, Texas. At the age of twelve she was awarded a merit scholarship to study at The National Academy of Dance in Champaign, Illinois under Artistic Director Michael Maule.

Ms. Clark was one of sixteen dancers chosen to dance with American Ballet Theatre’s Ballet Repertory Company in New York under Richard England. Her career then took her to dance with the Atlanta Ballet under Robert Barnett for ten seasons where she was quickly promoted to Principal dancer. She performed notable roles such as Odette/Odile in Swan Lake, Aurora in Sleeping Beauty, The Sylph in Scotch Symphony, and Giselle in Giselle.

Other highlights of her career include working with Twyla Tharp in the film version of Hair and being a prize-winner in the International Dance Competition in Osaka, Japan. Ms. Clark is known for her teaching skills and is a sought-after guest teacher and coach throughout the United States.

Autumn received her dance training here at Midland Festival Ballet. During her time as a company member, she often assisted our Founding Director, Judy Coleman in classes for our youngest dancers. She also helped Susan Clark begin and grow our summer programs, specifically our Prince and Princess Camps and our Ballet Camps.

Mrs. Garrett began her ballet training locally with Janice Collerd. Her professional training continued under William Martin-Viscount, Susan Clark, John Wey Ling, Nanette Glushak, and Michel Rahn. She also attended the School of American Ballet under full scholarship before starting her professional career at the age of 16. Mrs. Garrett enjoyed many years with the Fort Worth Ballet, now known as Texas Ballet Theater, under the directorship of Paul Mejia, where she was honored to perform many of Balanchine’s great works. She is most known for her role as the evil step-sister in Mejia’s Cinderella. Her greatest joy is now her beautiful family and sharing her love and knowledge of ballet with the young dancers of today.

Ellie received her ballet and dance training from Ballet Arkansas, Arkansas Festival Ballet, The Rock School, and Pacific Northwest Ballet’s PD program. She earned a BFA Dance Performance from Southern Methodist University: Meadows School of the Arts in 2014. Additional certifications include the National Dance Institute Teacher and the Balanced Body Comprehensive Pilates Instructor.

Before coming to Midland, Ellie taught for Houston Ballet Academy and the Houston Ballet Education and Community Engagement program. She was an X3 Teaching Artist, a high energy movement and music class designed for children in the 3rd-5th grade. She was also a Chance to Dance Teaching Artist, which is a scholarship program for students from economically disadvantaged areas of Houston. Students who show technical potential and an interest in the study of ballet are awarded scholarships into the Houston Ballet Academy. She was a Rehearsal Assistant for Stanton Welch’s “The Nutcracker,” “Sylvia,” and “Studies.” She also was a Ballet Instructor for many of the lower and intermediate levels of the Houston Ballet Academy.

Cara (Shanks) Radke is a retired dancer, choreographer, teaching artist, business professional, wife, yogi, and animal lover. Her technical dance training credits include Houston Ballet's Ben Stevenson Academy, Houston Met, and Royal Academy of Fine Arts (RAFA). She also attended the High School for the Performing & Visual Arts (HSPVA) where she learned of her love for modern dance and choreography. As a growing artist, Cara participated, performed, and presented choreography at Regional Dance of America (RDA) Southwest representing Bay Area Houston Ballet & Theatre (BABHT). Upon graduation, Cara danced professionally for BABHT, Houston Rockets Basketball, PMT Productions, Bert Entertainment, and Juxtapose Arts Collective.

After graduating cum laude from University of Houston with a BA, Cara entered the workforce as a business professional working for NOV and most recently Airgas. While juggling a full time career, Cara continued to teach ballet, modern, and contemporary dance for RAFA and most recently Juxtapose Emphases Theatre & Performing Arts Center (The JET-PAC). Her original choreographic works received the Monticello Choreographer Award in 2009 & 2011 awarded by RDA Southwest. More recently, her works have been presented in various festivals in Houston (Mind The Gap, Houston's Fringe Festival, Generations Dance Festival, Artists For Hope), Austin (The Dance Project), and New York City (The Series Vol. III) as well as original works throughout the Juxtapose Arts Collective, BABHT, and PMT Productions performance seasons. In 2016, a growing need for a new mixed media performance company catering to young adults and professional artists was developing, thus, Cara co-founded Juxtapose Arts Collective, a non-profit 501(c)(3), with fellow friends Heather Steele and Dwain Travis.

Cara had the honor of working with various ballet master/mistresses and choreographers whom most notably developed her dancing career: Luis Fuente, Lynette Mason Gregg, Heather Steele, Cheryne Bush, Priscilla NathanMurphy, John Magnus, Misha Bart, JoDee Engle, Janie Carothers, Peter Chu, Amber Thornton, Dontee Kiehn, and Kevin Cahoon.

Cara currently lives in Midland, TX with her loving husband, Dan Radke, and her two cats and two dogs: Piper, Toby, Bailey, and Rocky.

Jadyn is a multidisciplinary dance artist from El Paso, Texas. She began her training at age ten with Olga Balbocean at Olga’s Russian Ballet School. She was later invited to attend The Rock School for Dance Education in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to continue her training at the next level from 2012-2014. Soon after, she was accepted to IBStage in Barcelona, Spain for two summers where she danced with renowned dance artist from all over the world.

Jadyn graduated Cum Laude from Utah Valley University with Bachelor’s of Fine Arts degree in Modern Dance. While at UVU, Jadyn performed with both Synergy Dance Company and Contemporary Dance Ensemble. These opportunities gave her insight which helped her grow as a technician in dance, performer, and choreographer. Throughout her company experiences she has performed works by Andy Noble, Bret Easterling, Courtney Mazeika, Brian Gerke, Melissa Younker, WHYTEBERG, and Martha Graham. Jadyn was recently chosen to learn works choreographed by Martha Graham and restaged by Virgine Mecene. These works included Steps in the Street and a reimagined solo titled Ekstasis where only a handful of people have performed the solo in the world.

Jadyn also performed as a guest artist with Repertory Dance Theater in Salt Lake City, Utah. She looks forward to teaching the next generation of dancers and is thrilled to see what the future has in store.

An inspiration to all young dancers, Karen’s dance career had been varied and extensive. Performing first with Permian Civic, later Ballet Midland, her experience led her to dancing many different roles under the directorships of Bill Martin Viscount, Ann Burton, and Anthony Ferro. Karen has also performed with Midland Theatre Dancers, Lubbock Civic Ballet, and San Antonio Dance Theatre, and James Cramer and Friends companies. Karen is also a graduate of Texas Tech.

Throughout her local teaching career at Audrey Walker School of Dance, Ballet Midland, Judy Gorlin’s in Odessa, Coleman Academy and now Midland Festival Ballet, she has trained many local dancers.