ARTISTIC DIRECTOR
Marta Jackson
Marta Jackson has been teaching ballet for nearly 50 years. After teaching in Miami for 10 years, she became a prominent figure in the ballet world of Jacksonville where her late husband Bobby Maduro was the owner of the Jacksonville Suns baseball team. Marta is one of the original directors of the Nutcracker Ballet in Jacksonville and worked for many years to establish the ballet as a tradition for the city. Marta also founded the Southern Ballet Theatre Company, which participated in many events within the city of Jacksonville. The company toured Latin America under the name of Jacksonville International Ballet and was awarded a grant by the National Endowments for the Arts. Marta Jackson's School of Dance is a member of the Florida Dance Association.
Some of Marta's students have joined companies such as the American Ballet Theatre, New York City Ballet, Cleveland Ballet, Eliot Feld, North Carolina Dance Theatre, Martha Graham Company, Charleston Ballet, National Ballet of Flanders, Pacific Northwest, etc.
Marta studied dance in Havana, Cuba at the Sociedad Pro Arte Musical where her teachers were founding members of the National Ballet of Cuba. She has trained under George Balanchine and Vincenzo Celli in New York and also performed with the National Ballet of Cuba and the Metropolitan Opera Company. She also received her Bachelor of Arts from the University of Havana. Ms.Jackson taught at the University of Miami in 1980 and she is listed in the Who's Who of American Women, Personalities of the South and Community Leaders of the South. Marta continually works with famous ballet artists and invites them as guest artists at MJSOD.
Tara Babajtis
Tara has been dancing since age three and trained in the Boston area in all styles of dance for 15 years. She competed nationally for over 10 years, and received numerous platinum and elite judges awards at various competitions throughout New England. Tara then attended college at Fordham University, in New York City, where she danced for both their dance ensemble, Expressions, and performed and choreographed for Fordham's nationally competing Dance Team. While in New York, Tara trained at Broadway Dance Center under some of the best choreographers the dance world has to offer, including Sheila Barker, Derek Mitchell, Brain Thomas and more. After college Tara spent several months as a featured dancer for a Boston based hip-hop company, Triiiple Treat Entertainment, under Carl Alleyne. She then accepted a year contract with Disney, where she performed in the Magic Kingdom's Castle Show as well as MGM's Fantasmic and numerous park parades. Tara first came to Jacksonville during the summer of 2007 and since then has taught at a few local dance studios, as well as Florida School of the Arts. She also had the pleasure of putting choreography on the Douglas Anderson School of Arts dance students. While in Jacksonville, she also danced with Scott Leigh on his Positive Influence Tour. Tara looks forward to sharing her passion for dance and bringing her unique style of dance to the students of Marta Jackson School of Dance.
Megan Knickerbocker
Megan Knickerbocker began her serious ballet training at the age of nine in Jacksonville, FL at Marta Jackson School of Dance. Her teacher, Marta Jackson had studied at the School of the National Ballet of Cuba.At the age of 16 Megan performed in Clay Ballet Theatre's production of Giselle as Giselle. She performed with the First Coast Ballet Company in the Nutcracker as the Dew Drop Fairy in December of 1998 and 1999. Megan spent the summers of 1998, 1999, and 2000 studying with American Ballet Theatre's Summer Intensive in New York City as a scholarship recipient of the National Training Program. In February 2000, Megan competed in the first Youth American Grand Prix regional competition and was awarded the grand prize. At the finals in New York City, Megan was awarded the third grand prize for ballet and contemporary dance.
After Megan graduated high school in 2000, she was accepted to the American Ballet Theatre's Studio Company. She danced with the Studio Company from 2000 to 2001. Her repertory with the Studio Company includes " La Folia, " " Oblivion," " Napoli," " Blackberry Winter," soloist in " The Flying Lesson," Pas de Deux from " Won;" a contemporary piece choreographed by Julia Adam; " Blue Rain," choreographed by Kirk Peterson and " Little Deuce Coupe," choreographed by Twyla Tharp.
When Megan left the Studio Company in the fall of 2001, she joined Alabama Ballet under the direction of Wes Chapman for one season. She performed in their production of Sleeping Beauty, solo from " Raymonda " and a solo with a live choir choreographed by Roger Van Fleteran, ballet master of Alabama Ballet. after leaving Alabama Ballet in 2002, Megan returned to Jacksonville, FL and began teaching ballet technique and choreographing contemporary and classical ballets at Marta Jackson School of Dance. She was Ballet Mistress of Clay Ballet Theatre's production of the Nutcracker in December 2008. Megan has studied with prestige artistic influences such as Fernando Alonso, Twyla Tharp, Cynthia Harvey, Leslie Brown, Julia Adam, John Meehan, Kirk Peterson, Wes Chapman, Roger Van Fleteran and Marta Jackson. Megan has been teaching at Marta Jackson School of Dance for five years.
Johanna Loughran
Johanna Loughran grew up in South Florida with a love for theater and dance, performing and taking classes along the way. She graduated from Palm Beach Atlantic University, majoring in Theatre Arts with a concentration in IMPROV. Highlights from her various theater and dance experienced include: Family Recreational Entertainer with Glass Productions, Inc.; 2004 stage management intern with Ballet Florida, W.P.B.; and Summer Camp Artist with The Riverside Children's Art Center. She moved to the Jacksonville area two years ago to teach drama at a local elementary school, and has enjoyed every minute of it!
Heather OlschewskeHeather Olschewske began dancing in high school, studying under Bill Hotaling (Manhattan Dance Project,) in Utica, NY. She continued her dance education at SUNY Brockport where she received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in dance, graduating with honor. There, she studied with Tim Draper (Rochester City Ballet,) Randy James (Randy James Danceworks,) Clyde Morgan, Susannah Newman, and Sondra Fraleigh, among many others. While at Brockport, she performed and toured with the school's two performing companies, DANSCORE and SANKOFA. After graduating from Brockport, she taught dance and theater to ages three through adult in Jacksonville, FL. From 1999-2004, Heather directed the dance program for Berwick Academy (a private day school) in Southern Maine and choreographed for the Portsmouth School of Ballet. She has also continued her studies in dance at the Bates Dance Festival, Florida Dance Festival, and The Portsmouth Percussive Dance Festival. Since returning to the Jacksonville area, Heather has worked for Douglas Anderson School of the Arts, and is currently a member of the St. John's Country Day School Faculty.
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