FACULTY
Kristy O'Connell
Kristy is the director and owner of British Ballet Academy. She has been a faculty member for 40 years. She is the director and choreographer for ballet, jazz, & Tap. She is a TATD member for over 27 years & has served on the board of directors. She is an associate member of the national dance association, associate member of the international tap association, 1983 & 1984 senior Texas division winner jazz competition. Kristy was a UT El Paso Golddigger: performer & choreographer (1984-1987), 1986 national spirit association competition first place winner under direction of Paula Abdul at UC Santa Barbara.
Kristys professional choreography credits include work with the late Sherman Hensley for a tribute to our military, commercials for El Paso, Stewart title and the El Paso water utilities.
Erica Salazar
Erica has been at British Ballet Academy as a dancer for 25 years and a faculty member for 15 years. She is an instructor and choreographer for all levels of ballet, including pointe. She is a mother to 2 beautiful children. In 2016, she became a member of the Texas Association Teacher of Dancing and is currently a certified ballet instructor. Erica is a graduate of UTEP with a Bachelors in Kinesiology with a minor in Psychology. She holds a BLS certification through American Red Cross and is also a certified barre fitness instructor since 2017.
Her performance experience includes, the Alamo Bowl, Sugar Bowl, Disney Magic Music Days, Knotts Berry Farm and UTEP basketball halftime show.
Ray Alba
Ray has been a Faculty member of British Ballet academy for 6 years. He has dance training in Jazz, Hip-Hop, Ballet, & Contemporary. He holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts from UTEP in dance performance with an emphasis in Ballet and modern dance. Ray founder & was artistic director of FAWNZ Dance Company where he choreographed and ran the company for 3 years (2017-2019) He also Founded & is the associate director of Moon|Collective, a performance art company. Ray is also CLI certified in Jazz, Contemporary, and Ballet.
Ray has submitted work for Bailando international dance festival, World Dance Alliance Americas regional assembly (2018), the Segerstrom Center for the Arts: Irvine, California, and American Dance Festival (2017)He has performed at American College Dance Associations (2014-2018) & was selected for a special Gala performance (2017) He was a performer for UTEP’s dance company, He has guest performed and choreographed for UTEP, NMSU, and EPCC faculty and student concerts.
Ivan Marquez has been a British Ballet Academy Staff member for 10 years. He is a Mexican/American El Paso Native that was born with a speech impediment and started dancing at a young age as a means to communicate and express himself. Coming from a Mexican/Puerto Rican background, he was first introduced to Salsa and other Latin ballroom styles of dance before discovering the world and his love for the style of Hip-Hop. In 2006 he joined his first performing arts studio, "Step It Up Dance Studio" and immediately demonstrated untapped potential and leadership characteristics. Fast forward to 2010, after graduating high school, he moved to San Antonio and attended the University of Texas at San Antonio where he joined "Unified Soul", a promotional competition hip-hop team out of Semenya Dance Studio. He returned to his hometown of El Paso in 2012 where he then join "Cause Revolution" a hip-hop competitive team, propelling and elevating his dance career in the hip-hop style. Since then, he has traveled across the country training and teaching at various studios as well as competing in numerous national hip-hop dance competitions. He continues to develop his style and train in the El Paso, Los Angeles and Houston areas to adequately prepare the next generation of hip-hop dancers to come.
Ivan Marquez
Haleigh Tomasello
Haleigh Tomasello has been a dancer at British Ballet Academy for 19 years and has been a part of our staff for 9 years. Her dance styles include pointe, tap, jazz, hip-hop, and pom. For the 2021-2022 dance year, Haleigh is one of our tap and jazz instructors. She is a former Chapin Legends Dance Company captain, and a former captain for the UTEP Golddiggers Dance Team. She is currently a UTEP student pursuing a Bachelor’s of Science in Nursing (BSN).
Bailey Hollis
Bailey is BBA Ballet Instructor and has taught with us for 8 years. She has performed with BBA for 20 years; having begun with us at the age of 3. She is proficient in dance styles like Ballet en Pointe, Contemporary, Lyrical, Jazz, and Tap.Bailey is CLI Certified and she is currently in the process of completing her TATD Certification.
Bailey has a Master’s of Education in Curriculum and Instruction focusing in Early Childhood from The University of Texas at El Paso.
Her performance experience includes the Champs Sports Bowl, the Valero Alamo Bowl, and Disney Dance the Magic.
Vanessa McBain
Faculty member of British Ballet Academy for 10 years.
Instructor for Tap, Jazz, Ballet, and Children's combination classes. Vanessas years of being involved in dance, gymnastics and choreography Make her a great addition to the british ballet academy staff. In her spare time she sponsors young girls dance teams, cheer teams and she choreographs quinceñeras.
Alyssa McBain
Alyssa has been a student with British Ballet Academy for 13 years. She has been on staff for 4 years & has been teaching ballet & jazz classes for two years. She is currently a junior at Eastwood high school & is on the Eastwood Trooperettes. She’s been a part of the team for three years & has been the line leader for the past two. Alyssa was a finalist in the Pointe Shop modeling competition(2021) & modeled for Kingdom fitness wear.
Lala Quiroz
Lala has been a student at British Ballet for 12 years. She started as a ballet assistant and has worked her way up to become a staff member. She is a sophomore at Eastwood High School and is a captain for the Eastwood Trooperettes. She has been accepted into the Kirov ballet summer intensive and was a finalist in the Pointe Shop modeling competition (2021)
Angel Quiroz
Angelica has been dancing at British Ballet Academy for 13 years. She has been a part of our staff for 4 years now. She started volunteering as a junior assistant in 7th grade & progressed to her position now. Angelica is a Junior at Eastwood High School and Co-leader of the Trooperettes. has performed at Disney Magic Music days (2018) & performed at the Tostitos Alamo bowl.
