Faculty Biographies

Cher Carnell
Acting Director, Dance Program Cher Carnell danced professionally for eleven years with numerous ballet companies both in the United States and Europe, including Milwaukee Ballet, San Diego Ballet, Ballet Metropolitan, Theater an der Wien and Scottish-American Ballet. She was featured in principal roles, such as Odette in Swan Lake, Giselle in full-length Giselle, Titania in Midsummer's Night Dream, and Sugar Plum Fairy in Nutcracker. Ms. Carnell has an extensive teaching background as a master teacher in pre-professional schools, Universities, as well as professional ballet and modern companies. She chaired the University of Louisville Dance Department and served as the Artistic Director of the University of Louisville Ballet Civic Company from 1982-1991. She has taught ballet at Western Washington University since 1997, specializing in the intermediate and advanced levels of ballet.

BA Psychology, University of Wisconsin, Madison


MICHAEL BAJUK
has accompanied dance for ACDFs, ADF, AXIS Dance, Bill Evans Dance Intensives, the National Ballet of Zimbabwe, and Western’s dance faculty. Composition projects have included music for dance, film, and concert pieces. Mike has served as an audio engineer at Binary, Recording Studios and Media For Development Trust (MFDI) Studios in Harare, Zimbabwe. He has performed aboard Majestic American and Carnival cruise lines, and with jazz and rock groups throughout the Northwest. Mentors include composer Roger Briggs, jazz artist Chuck Israels, and percussionist Patrick Roulet. Mike is active in K-12 music education and has composed for Western’s Dance Makers program for the past seven years. He is currently pursuing a M.S. in Music Technology from IUPUI.

BM in Music Composition Western Washington University


JANA GUECK  is a junior at Western Washington University. She is majoring in theatre with a double concentration in acting and theatre education. She has been a camp counselor at Camp Coleman as well as a party attendant at pump it up.
 


Nolan Dennett has been teaching at Western since 1989, first as a movement specialist in the Theater Department and then as Director of the Dance Program from its inception in 1998-2008. During this time he has directed and collaborated on a number of theatrical works as well as choreographing over 25 major ballets. In addition to being an award winning choreographer in the academic setting, Mr. Dennett has created new works for the National Ballet of Peru, Ririe/Woodbury Dance Company, and the Idaho Theater for Youth-all of which tour internationally. Mr. Dennett has been a Fulbright Scholar and has appeared as a dancer, in the works of Louis Falco, Lucas Hoving, Bill Evans, Della Davidson, and Anna Sokolow. He is also the author of the critically acclaimed novel, "Place of Shelter."

BA Brigham Young University, MA Western Washington University


Pam Kuntz danced in NY, Boston, and Montana before moving to Bellingham, WA in 1999 to teach at WWU. As a teacher Pam strives to guide her students to explore their own creative voice, discover habits and make choices. Pam’s teaching is most strongly informed by her training in the Alexander technique, which is why she is currently in the process of becoming an Alexander teacher herself. She is also dedicated to arts education for children and worked closely with OSPI by helping the state create the dance arts assessments for both children and educators. Pam is currently working on her 5th community based collaborative dance piece Conversations, a piece involving non-trained dancers above the age of 70 and under the age of 14, along side 3 professional dancers. Her choreography has been recognized by the American College Dance Festival, she is a 2007 Bellingham Mayor’s Arts Award recipient, and her film two dogs, a cat, and a baby was invited to the POW film festival in Oregon. Her work has been funded by the City of Bellingham, The Bossak Heilbron Charitable Foundation, and Western Washington University.

BFA University of Montana, MFA Boston Conservatory


vanessa wallen is a core-company member of Bellingham Repertory Dance and has over ten years of experience in teaching various styles of contemporary dance to all ages. While obtaining her BFA in Dance Performance, she participated in nearly all of the dance program’s concerts, including the re-staging of Mark Morris’s, “New Love Song Waltzes” and Susan Marshall’s, “The Most Dangerous Room in the House”. She was also invited by WWU to perform a student work at the American College Dance Festival. Vanessa currently teaches ongoing classes at The Firehouse Performing Arts Center in Fairhaven and Fidalgo Dance Works in Anacortes, specializing in modern, jazz and hip hop. She has also recently co-choreographed for META Performing Arts’ production of “The Wiz”, danced in “Conversations”, a dance theatre production by Pam Kuntz, and performed an exert from the production at On the Boards’ 12 Minutes Max in Seattle.

BFA Western Washington University  


Cyndie Shepard initially trained and danced with the Cleveland Ballet Theatre. While completing her undergraduate and graduate degrees in psychology and education she studied with the Los Angeles Ballet. She began her ballet teaching career at the Muckenthaler Cultural Center in Fullerton, California, worked with the Fullerton Public Arts in the Schools Program, and was owner and director of the Monterey Dance Workshop in Monterey, California. While working as a special education teacher and consultant in the K-12 system Ms. Shepard taught and performed ballet with the West Kentucky Ballet Company. She later moved to Oregon where she worked as a administrator in K-12 Special Education and taught ballet with the Pendleton Academy of Ballet. Most recently Ms. Shepard taught ballet at the University of Wisconsin Green Bay while also directing an award winning university-public school collaborative program for at-risk students. She now works as an adjunct instructor teaching ballet at Western Washington University and is a University Associate.