Instructors

Owner

Carla grew up in a home with a Radio City Music Hall Rockette turned Ballet studio owner mom and an opera singing, symphony playing, airline pilot dad so her love of performing started as far back as she can remember. Now Carla brings 30+ years teaching experience and 40+ years study as well as an extensive background in dance, theater, vocal performance, choreography, acting and instruction to Northwest Classical Ballet.

Carla trained in the Vancouver/Portland area, New York and LA doing study & workshops with instructors including: Ann Reinking, JoJo Smith, Frank Hatchett, Luigi, Andre Paradis and Ray Hesselink. She worked as a dancer/vocalist for Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines and spent years performing in numerous Musical Theater productions with roles including: Ulla in ‘The Producers’; Celeste Romano in Portland’s long-running production of ‘Tony & Tina’s Wedding’; Diana, Sheila and dream-role Cassie in several productions of ‘A Chorus Line’; Sister Mary Amnesia in ‘Nunsense’, Rizzo in ‘Grease’, Sonia in ‘They’re Playin Our Song’, Nancy in ‘Oliver’ and Laurie in ‘Oklahoma’. In Los Angeles she was honored to perform in Long Beach Civic Light Opera’s productions of ‘Cinderella’ and then ‘Follies’ alongside the legendary Juliet Prowse.

In more recent years as a singer/songwriter with her original band, Colorfield, she has shared stages with Ian Anderson (Jethro Tull), Animotion, Rob Hotchkiss (Train), Glen Phillips (Toad the Wet Sprocket) & Gin Blossoms, to name a few. She recorded the song ‘This Time’ with Frankie Valli for the Eternity movie soundtrack and spent years with several show bands including Portland favorite ‘5 Guys Named Moe’. Theatrical choreography credits include: The Producers, Anything Goes, How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, and Guys & Dolls in addition to choreographing for numerous showcases & studio performances. Acting & commercial work includes: Oregon Forestry Service, On Point, Bissell, Intel, Sunbeam, Con Air, Oster, WebMD, Parr Lumber, AT&T, Xerox & Nike.

Carla is honored to own Northwest Classical Ballet and work with such world-class instructors and wonderful dance families.

Ballet

Cameron Smith Purandare hails from Portland, Oregon where she was trained in the Royal Academy of Dance method under Marjorie Soriano. She also trained extensively in tap and jazz at June Taylor’s School of Dance in conjunction with her technical ballet training.

Cameron has had an impressive professional dance career spanning 14 years. She worked her way through the ranks to soloist with Houston Ballet. Later she danced as a principal with Ballet Memphis and Ballet Florida. During her career she danced a wide range of both contemporary and classical roles by some of the dance worlds most renowned choreographers like Glenn Tetley, Paul Taylor, George Balanchine, Ben Stevenson, Sir Kenneth MacMillan, Christopher Bruce, William Forsythe, James Kudelka, Trey McIntyre, Stanton Welch, Vicente Nebrada, Lila York, Mark Godden, and Peter Martins.

After retirement from the stage in 2007 she returned to the Northwest and started working with Northwest Dance Theater and June Taylor’s School of Dance. During her tenure there she served as an assistant artistic director, co-artistic director, and choreographer, creating their Dance Education Outreach Program. Cameron has received teacher training in R.A.D. syllabus at the Advanced and Intermediate levels as well as I.S.T.D advanced jazz teacher training. She has also taught dance classes through Dance for Parkinson’s Oregon.  Cameron lives in Vancouver, WA with her husband and two children.

Ballet

Elenaluisa Alvarez started her dance career in Peru with the Municipal Ballet of Lima. In college she was mentored by Galina Panova before participating in the MASA program with Kibbutz Contemporary Dance Company in Israel. Returning to the United States, Elenaluisa joined Bowen McCauley Dance Company and Vaught Contemporary Ballet, where she had the honor of performing at the Kennedy Center. She spent one season with Wonderbound in Denver before moving to Portland to join BodyVox. She has performed works by David Ingram, Lucy Bowen, Katie Vaught, Mats Ek, Rami Beer, Albert Galindo, Ilana Goldman, Sarah Tallman and Garrett Ammon amongst others.

Elenaluisa currently teaches at various studios in Portland and participates in choreographic projects around the Pacific Northwest.

Ballet, Petite Primas, Creative Movement

Anna Olmstead brings a wealth of experience to Dance Fusion Northwest/Northwest Classical Ballet with a Cum Laude BFA in Dance and Minor in Arts Management from the Alonzo King Lines program at Dominican University of California. She is a Portland native who began taking ballet and contemporary at Classical Ballet Academy in 2007. While at CBA she also studied dance at Da Vinci Arts Middle school, was a company member of Arts and Communication Magnet Academy’s Dance West, and later became a company member of the Jefferson Dancers. During her time with the Jefferson dancers she had the opportunity to teach dance at local Portland Public Schools and perform throughout China. While in college she had the privilege of teaching and performing dance to underserved communities throughout Central America and California with JUNTOS Collective. Since graduating in May, Anna has received her certification to become a GYROKINESIS® trainer, presented work by Alexander Dones in the Portland RAW Showcase, and is currently creating works with Jana Zahler.

Lyrical/Ballet/Jazz/Stretch & Strength

Robyn has a heart for dance, especially ballet and contemporary. Starting in ballet at the age of 3, Robyn branched out into other styles of dance such as: jazz, lyrical, hip hop, modern, and contemporary. She has both performed in, and choreographed for, numerous recitals, competitions, and productions. At Western Oregon University, where she minored in dance, Robyn found a passion for movement exploration and teaching. She has taught for several years now and enjoys introducing a fresh perspective of dance to her students.

Ballet

Candalee Wrede comes to Northwest Classical Ballet with a wealth of knowledge and extensive teaching background. Candalee trained with Marcelle Renoux in the Cecchetti Ballet method and Luigi style Jazz. At 14 she became the soloist for their company before heading to the University of Oregon to major in dance, simultaneously pursuing Royal Academy of Dance (RAD) studies with a former San Francisco Ballet instructor. After a genetic knee defect derailed her professional dance aspirations, Candalee reset her goals and made it her mission to become the best ballet instructor she could. Her passion and dedication has paid off.

She began her teaching career as Ballet Mistress for the National Academy of Gymnastics teaching classes and choreographing for aspiring Olympic gymnasts. She continued to work with numerous internationally recognized competitors and performers in the genres of ballet, freestyle skiing, ice skating, dance conditioning, body building and musical theater.

Throughout her career, Candalee has owned her own studio, developed training programs, choreographed original children’s ballets and added aerobics, step and dance conditioning to her certifications. She has continued to research and study dance history (establishing the Dance History program at Sam Barlow High School), various dance methodologies, multiple styles, and designed ballet training programs for both dancers and athletes. Ultimately she was awarded an Honorary Teaching Certificate by the State of Oregon.

Candalee has had the privilege of teaching for many of the best studios in the Oregon/Washington area. She acted as Assistant Director and instructor for Classical Ballet Academy for nearly a decade and is currently the Artistic Director at Grande Finale Dance Studio. She is also a frequent guest artist for numerous schools and studios in the Pacific Northwest. Utilizing her own successful training methodology, Candalee desires to continue instructing and mentoring young students as well as instructors with hopes of preserving the classical ballet technique as she was taught, so that it lives on in following generations.

Petite Primas

Hailey Kendall-Bray began her dance career at age 2.5 training in Ballet, Tap, Jazz, Lyrical and Hip Hop before adding competitive gymnastics. She is an accomplished actress and vocalist currently studying with The Studio Northwest and Nicole Vasquez. Hailey had the opportunity to spend a summer training at the New York Conservatory of Dramatic Arts in New York City, and the honor of serving as Miss Hazel Dell’s Teen as part of the Miss America program. Vocal, dance and acting performances include Christmas Stories (DFNW), King Tara (Star of Magnolia Productions), Disneyland (DFNW), Art Alive (Ridgefield Youth Arts Month) and many more. Hailey has a love of working with children and animals, and does mean Australian dialect if you can talk her into it. She is thrilled to be joining the incredible staff at Dance Fusion Northwest!

Ballet/Partnering/Mens Ballet