Linda Walker - Jeffrey Graham Hughes - Leslie Milligan - Geri Salmen - Pamela Reyman - Alyssa Martinez - Hayley Ader

Linda Walker began her dance training at the age of six in California. She studied with many small ballet schools throughout California, Robert Joffrey in New York, and San Francisco Ballet on full scholarship. She is the founder of, and principal instructor at Academy of Ballet (formerly Tucson School of Ballet, 1981), founder and Artistic Director of Tucson Regional Ballet (1983), proud mother of four, and grandmother of five. From 1988 through May 2002, Ms. Walker instructed students from St. David, Sierra Vista, Dragoon, Pomerine, Benson, and Wilcox at her Benson site.

Ms. Walker’s dedication to quality ballet led the Tucson Regional Ballet to audition for, and gain membership in, Regional Dance America/Pacific (1994), and her innovative creativity has brought TRB to new heights with the original production of A Southwest Nutcracker. TRB also premiered Ms. Walker's original ballet adaptations of the best-selling children's books, The Three Little Javelinas and The Tortoise and the Jackrabbit. Ms. Walker has served on the board of Regional Dance America/Pacific and as a panelist for Tucson Pima Arts Council.

Jeffrey Graham Hughes was born in Alameda, California, where he started dancing at the age of six.  His first two teachers were Vern Nerden and Madame Alexandria Baldina from the Maryinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg Russia and Ballet Russe circa Nijinsky and Pavlova. As a youngster he was a member of Oakland Metropolitan Ballet and was a guest artist with several companies in Northern California.

Mr. Hughes was artistic director of Ohio Ballet, interim director and then rehearsal director for Hong Kong Ballet, associate director/ballet master with Ballet de Monterrey, ballet master for Alonzo King’s Lines Contemporary Ballet, artistic director for Atlanta Ballet’s outreach program, the founder of his own educational performing group Ballet Atlantis and most recently, executive director for Ballet Tucson.

Over a twenty-two year professional career as a dancer, he danced principal roles with Joffrey II, Joffrey Ballet, London Festival Ballet, Cleveland/San Jose Ballet, Oakland Ballet, Sacramento Ballet, and Atlanta Ballet.  Mr. Hughes had a vast repertoire of roles.  Listed among some of his favorites were the Moor in Jose Limon’s Moor’s Pavane, Fleming Flindt’s The Lesson, Franz in Coppelia, Balanchine’s Tarantella, pas de deux from Le Corsaire, Prince Seigfried in Swan Lake, one of the two male leads in Lander’s Etudes, Fokine’s Spectre de la Rose, Prince Igor and Les Sylphides. He danced in ballets by such choreographers as Ailey, Ashton, Bournonville, Cranko, Nureyev, Robbins, Schaufuss, Tharp, Tudor and Watts, to mention just a few.  Mr. Hughes was privileged to be in Robert Joffrey’s Remembrances, enjoyed dancing in many of Gerald Arpino’s ballets, and danced and created many roles in Dennis Nahat ballets.

Over the past twenty-one years he has choreographed over forty ballets. He has been on the faculty of Hong Kong Academy for the Arts, San Francisco Dance Center and New York Academy of Ballet, among others.  Mr. Hughes brings his years of experience to the Academy of Ballet as an instructor and to Tucson Regional Ballet as Artistic Director.

Mr. Hughes is married to Pamela Reyman, and they have a daughter, Maya Esperanza.

Leslie Milligan began her ballet training at the age of nine, receiving her core training at the Academy of Ballet in Tucson, Arizona under Linda Walker. She studied intensively at Ballet Arizona, Ballet Aspen, Houston Ballet, Joe Tremaine, Lines Contemporary Ballet, UA Dance Ensemble and has completed the teacher training program, in Pilates, at the Body Works Studio.  She performed as a soloist with Tucson Regional Ballet and performed professionally with Oakland Ballet.  Ms. Milligan has been an instructress of ballet and jazz in past years at Academy of Ballet and held the position of Ballet Mistress to Tucson Regional Ballet for the 01-02 season.

Geri Salmen began her dance training at the age of 15.  She studied with Zuleka's School of Belly Dance, Fritschy's Dance Academy and Academy of Ballet where she has performed in annual school recitals.  She has performed in Tucson Regional Ballet’s production of A Southwest Nutcracker since its inception and is currently the TRB’s Wardrobe Director.  It was in the fall of 2002, when Ms. Salmen began  working as a teaching assistant, with the younger children, that her natural abilities as an instructor was revealed.   This revelation lead to an invitation to be on staff at Academy of Ballet, as an instructor.

Pamela Reyman, born in New York City, began her dance training at the age of fifteen.  She trained with Istvan Rabovsky and at the American Ballet Theatre School with Valentina Pereyslavic, Olga Merinowa, and Patricia Wilde.

In 1977 she began her professional career with Dennis Wayne’s Dancers in NYC.  Over the course of her twenty-two year performing career she also danced as a principal dancer with Cleveland/San Jose Ballet, Atlanta Ballet, Dayton Ballet and Ohio Ballet.  An artist recognized for her versatility, Ms. Reyman has danced a range of roles, including Tzarina, Sugar Plum Fairy, Dew Drop, Dying Swan, Giselle, Juliet, Lizzie Borden in deMilles’s Fall River Legend, Emilia in Limon’s Moors Pavane, the Partisan in Jooss’ The Green Table, the Woman in His Past in Tudor’s Lilac Garden and Fairy Godmother in Holder’s Cinderella. She danced principal roles in an extensive Balanchine repertoire including Tarantella, Square Dance, Minkus Pas de Trois, Agon, Apollo, Serenade and Nutcracker. Ms. Reyman has also performed in works by Butler, Van Dantzig, Lubovitch, Byrd, Arpino, Flindt, Fokine, Massine, Nault and many others, including her husband Jeffrey Graham Hughes.  In 1990, she performed in Scotland at the Edinburgh Festival in Flindt's The Overcoat with Rudolf Nureyev.  As a principal dancer with Cleveland/San Jose Ballet, she had roles created for her by Dennis Nahat in many of his ballets.  She has also participated as a dancer in New Steps, a choreographic workshop in Ohio and in Festival of Life, a benefit for children and adults with AIDS in Atlanta. 

Ms. Reyman was ballet mistress for Ohio Ballet, interim ballet mistress for Hong Kong Ballet and was on the staff of the Hong Kong Academy for the Performing Arts.  She has guest taught throughout the U.S. and has choreographed two chamber ballets that have been performed in Ohio and Switzerland.  Locally, Ms. Reyman has taught at Ballet Arts in Tucson and briefly worked as a part-time ballet mistress for Ballet Tucson.  She is grateful to the many teachers who have inspired her throughout her career and would especially like to thank Maggie Black and Alonzo King.

Ms. Reyman is married to Jeffrey Graham Hughes, and they have a daughter, Maya Esperanza.

Alyssa Martinez began her study of ballet at the age of four at Academy of Ballet, where she also studied jazz, has served as a teaching assistant for many years and joined the AOB staff as an instructor in the summer of 2011.  She has completed two years of college, studying the Chinese language.  Ms. Martinez has been accepted to summer programs at State Street Ballet in Santa Barbara, California and Milwaukee Ballet, and to the Long Beach Ballet Arts Center summer program on partial tuition scholarship.  She has studied at several intensive summer workshops at Academy of Ballet, and for the summers of 2005, 2006 and 2007 studied with the American Ballet Theatre School in Austin, Texas.  For the summers of 2008, 2010 and 2011, Ms. Martinez traveled to China with Long Beach Ballet as an ambassador and mentor on a performance tour to several different cities in mainland China.  While in China, she studied with Lu Chang from the Guangzhou Ballet Company.  Ms. Martinez grew up performing children’s roles in Tucson Regional Ballet’s production of A Southwest Nutcracker, has dedicated one season to TRB's Junior Apprentice and Junior Companies, and this is her eighth season with TRB's Senior Company.

Hayley Ader is a junior at the University of Arizona, where she is a double-major in Dance and Physiology.  She began her dance education at the age of three with Peak Academy of Dance in Conifer, Colorado, studying tap, ballet, jazz, and hip hop.  Her teachers included Danielle Heller, Kathi Crum, and Kevin O’Keefe.  She has taken master classes with tap icons such as Bril Barrett, Ira Bernstein, Jason Samuels Smith, Chloe Arnold and Ellie Sciarra.  In 2007, she trained at Shelly True Dance Academy in Littleton, Colorado, studying jazz, ballet, modern and contemporary under Shelly Trujillo, Beka Arth, and Jenny Schiffe.  At the University of Arizona, Ms. Ader studies jazz, ballet, modern and tap from such teachers as Michael Williams, Susan Quinn, Sam Watson, Douglas Nielsen, Amy Ernst, Liz George, and Melissa Lowe.