Faculty

Alison Bundrick
Founder, Artistic Director, Ballet and Pointe Instructor, and Choreographer for South Georgia Ballet: Alison Bundrick has an extensive performing, teaching, and choreographic career. An Albany native, she holds a Bachelor of Arts in Dance from Birmingham-Southern College, and a Master of Fine Arts in Dance from Florida State University. Most recently she graduated from Royal Winnipeg Ballet's Professional Division Teachers' Course of Canada and was awarded her Associate status with Cecchetti Society of London. She also attended an extensive master's workshops with David Howard at the International Ballet Competition. She received her certification with Music Together.

Alison's performing credits span over fifteen years and include such ballets as The Nutcracker, Giselle, Don Quixote, and Coppelia, as well as such musicals as Hello Dolly, West Side Story, Bye Bye Birdie, Chicago and may others. As a Choreographer Ms. Bundrick has over 40 musicals and ballets to her credit including The Sound of Music, FAME, West Side Story, Annie, A Chorus Line, Oklahoma, Coppelia, Alice in Wonderland, Beauty and the Beast, Twelve Dancing Princesses, and many others. She served as Artistic Director for Young Actors Theatre, Ballet Chairman for DeKalb Center for Performing Arts, School Director for Southern Ballet Theatre, and resident choreographer for a variety of schools and companies. Her choreography has been recognized with various awards throughout her career and many of her students have gone on to major in dance and perform professionally.

Jenna Miller Jones Ballet, Tap, and Jazz Instructor, Company rehearsal assistant, Company Production Manager: Jenna Miller Jones received her bachelor's degree in Theatre Arts Administration with a minor in Theatre and Business from Wesleyan College in Macon, Georgia. Mrs. Jones studied with South Georgia Performing Arts and was a Senior Company member of South Georgia Ballet and performed such roles as Feather Duster (Beauty and the Beast), The Mad Hatter and Sea Pearl (Alice in Wonderland), and Lead Russian, Lead Chinese, Tea Rose and Columbine (The Nutcracker). She has also studied tap, jazz, and traditional Irish step dancing. While at Wesleyan, Mrs. Jones taught ballet at Dance Dynamics and was a member of Wesleyan’s Expressions Dance Company. Mrs. Jones is also an accomplished actress with roles including Adela (The House of Bernarda Alba), Adelaide (Guys and Dolls), The Cheshire Cat (Alice in Wonderland), Lilly (Annie), Charity (Anything Goes) and The Cowardly Lion (The Wizard of Oz) and has trained under Anne Alcocer (Trinity College/NYU), Mark Duncan (Second City-Chicago) and Alison Bundrick (SGPA Theater). She also has credits as a director with Wesleyan College, the Grady Cultural Center and Cairo High School including Samuel Beckett’s Act Without Words I & II, A Christmas Carol, Kiss Me, Kate!, Godspell, Dear Edwina, Seussical the Musical, Brigadoon, Footloose, Aida and many others. Mrs. Jones has choreographed numerous productions for Wesleyan, CHS and Bainbridge Little Theatre, has taught acting and stagecraft at Young Actors Theater and SGPA, and has co-written three award-winning musicals at the collegiate level. As Production Manager, Mrs. Jones works with the technical staff to coordinate lighting, sound, special effects and more. This is her ninth year working with South Georgia Performing Arts and South Georgia Ballet. Mrs. Jones resides in Cairo with her husband, Jason Jones, their daughter, Wimberly, and their dog, Baker..

Mary Oglesby Ballet and Tap Instructor, Thomasville: Mrs. Oglesby studied and taught dance for over fifteen years with Shari Rarick School of Dance in Battle Creek, Michigan. She received her Teacher Training through Dance Masters of America at Kent State University. She also studied with international teacher and choreographer Gus Giordano, and taught in Thomasville at Ruth Salter's School of Dance. Currently, Mrs. Oglesby is the Youth Program Director at the Thomasville Cultural Center as well as the dance instructor for that studio.

Tabytha Bates Advanced Jazz and Tap Instructor:  Tabytha Camille Bates is a recent graduate from Ohio University where she obtained her Bachelor’s of Fine Arts in performance and choreography.  In 2008 and 2010, she became certified in Pilates Mat Training, along with reformer and apparatus work.  Tabytha now is studying to receive her Master’s of Arts at Florida State University’s School of Dance.  In the future she plans on dancing in a professional modern or jazz company and has an interest in establishing her own community dance center.

Candace Howard Outreach Instructor, Thomasville: Candace Howard is a 2007 Honor Graduate of Bainbridge High School. She is currently a sophomore attending Valdosta State University where she is pursuing a double major in Mass Media Communication and Dance. Candace is very passionate about the art of dance. She danced at Lucretia’s School of Dance for 15 years. She also trained at the Tallahassee Ballet for 2 years under the direction of Kathryn Cashin and was a 2006 participant at the San Francisco Conservatory of Dance Summer Intensive. For the past 2 years Candace has been a participant of the Miss Georgia Pageant which is linked to the Miss America Organization.  In 2008 she represented the city of Thomasville as Miss Thomasville and the Satilla River of Southeast Georgia as Miss Satilla 2009.  She currently holds the title of Miss Southwest Georgia 2010 and will be competing at the 66th Annual Miss Georgia Competition in June.  Her platform is “Kaleidoscope: The Colors of Dance,” which promotes  exposure to the arts, confidence building, and physical fitness to disadvantage youth as well as patients of the Children’s Miracle Network.