OPA Alumni

Sara Beth Rothhammer – Sara Beth began her training at Oklahoma Performing Arts in 2004, studying and performing with the Tulsa Youth Ballet division. She graduated from Broken Arrow High School in 2007 with top honors. The summer intensives Sara Beth studied at include Tulsa Ballet, California Ballet, Joffrey Workshop Texas, and Kansas City Ballet. For her freshman year of college, she attended Wichita State University, studying under the instruction of Nick Johnson, Denise Celestin, Sabrina Vasquez, and Stephanie Thibeault. With the WSU dance department, she was given the unique opportunity to take a two-week trip, touring and dancing in Taiwan. In 2008 she transferred and began training at the University of Missouri-Kansas City’s Conservatory of Music and Dance. At UMKC, she trained under the instruction of Paula Weber, Mary Pat Henry, Ronald Tice, Sabrina-Madison Cannon, Deanna Hiett, and Rodni Williams. Also, she was given the opportunity to work with guest choreographers Robert Battle and Bernard Gaddis. She graduated from UMKC cum laude with a BFA in Dance in May 2011. Sara Beth moved to Springfield, MO in 2011 to begin as a Student Apprentice with Petra Ballet Company.

Rachel Michelle Weese – Rachel began her training at Oklahoma Performing Arts in 2007 studying and performing with the Tulsa Youth Ballet division. She was homeschooled and graduated in 2009.  The summer intensive programs Rachel studied at including two Ballet summer intensives in Las Vegas and a summer workshop at the University of Central Oklahoma.   She is currently a student at UCO where she received both dance and academic scholarships.  She started as a Dance Performance and Severe/Profound Special Education major for two years prior to changing to a Dance Education major in the spring of 2011. She has had the privilege of training under the instruction of Jamie Jacobson, Hui Cha Poos, Emily South, Kim Loveridge, Robyn Pasternack, Jill Priest, Tina Kambour, and Anne Blasdel. She was also given the opportunity to work with guest choreographers, including Chip Abbott, Andrew Palarmo, Cindera Che, Malaya, Patrick Debenham, Adam Parson, and many others. Her academic achievements include being inducted into two honor societies, Alpha Lambda Delta and the Golden Key International Honor Society and being named to the Dean’s Honor Roll four times. Rachel hopes to teach and work with orphans in a foreign country someday and is going to Haiti in June 2012 as a part of a Show Hope student trip to work with orphans.