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Debbie Parou - Artistic Director
Debbie Parou is the artistic director of New Castle Regional Ballet. Debbie founded the New Castle Parou Ballet Company 20 years ago as a non-profit organization to promote quality ballet training and to present performances for the New Castle area. She has owned and operated Menichino School for Dance for 33 years along with the Parou Ballet School.
Her students have been accepted to summer intensives at the Boston Ballet, Cleveland Ballet, and Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet, to name a few. Her dancers have also received scholarships to the Julliard School for Fine Arts in New York City; Butler University’s Jordan School for Fine Arts; Indianapolis, Indiana University’s dance program in Bloomington; and the Duquesne University Tamburitzans.
Ms. Parou began her formal ballet training in New York and continued to study with Maggie Carlson (Cleveland Ballet), Gilbert Reed (Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo), Van Curas (Chicago Ballet), The Pittsburgh Theatre, Enid Richardson (Ballet Detroit), and Mansur Kamaletdinov (Bolshoi Ballet). In 1980, Ms. Parou was the only recipient in America of the Cecchetti Council of American Bellet Scholoarship for the continued study of ballet.
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| Megan Trambley - Faculty
Megan trained with the Lake Erie Ballet School, under the direction of Sharon Filone, and at the Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre School. She danced with Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre for 6 seasons where she performed such roles as the Spring Fairy in Ben Stevenson’s Cinderella, Elegy in George Balanchine’s Serenade, and the Sugar Plum Fairy in The Nutcracker. She also enjoyed performing contemporary works such as The Rite of Spring and Kevin O’Day’s STING/ing Situations. Megan also participated in choreographic and fundraising projects such as The Move and The Dancer’s Trust. Ms. Trambley is on the summer faculty for the Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet's Summer Intensive Program. This will be her fourth season on faculty teaching ballet, pointe, and running rehearsals at NCRB.
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| Lori Scheidemantle- Faculty
Lori began her journey with dance as a member of the Parou Ballet Company until 1985. She has attended Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet, Regional Dance America Festivals, and Dance Masters Conventions to further her knowledge of teaching dance. Lori now focuses her energies on teaching the Creative Movement, Pre-School and Ballet 1 levels. She is the Assistant Director for NCRB's annual production of the Nutcracker, as well as the secretary for the NCRB Board of Directors.
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| Elissa Houk- Faculty
Elissa trained with the New Castle Regional Ballet where she was a company member for nine years and performed at five RDA festivals. She has attended summer programs at Allegheny Ballet Company and Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet, including a teacher's workshop at CPYB. Elissa also attended the Craft of Choreography Conference held in Seattle. While competing for the national title of Junior Miss in 2009, she won the America's Junior Miss Talent Award for her Don Quixote wedding variation en pointe. Elissa is a junior at Grove City College majoring in Exercise Science with future plans of becoming a Doctor of Physical Therapy. Elissa assists with and teaches ballet classes and also conducts rehearsals.
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| Ashley Babick- Faculty
Ashley is the tap instructor for all levels at NCRB. She has 15 years of dance training across all specialities including tap, ballet, jazz, gymnastics, and clogging. Prior to teaching at NCRB, Ashley held previous dance instructor positions, one being at Spotlight Performing Arts Studio in Pittsburgh, PA. While employed at Spotlight, she taught beginner ballet, middle school drama, and jazz from beginner through advanced. She also worked with their director to produce the theater and dance productions. In addition, Ashley served as choreographer and Assistant Director to produce the musicals at Mercer High School, where they performed such classics as Guys and Dolls and West Side Story. Ashley graduated from Youngstown State University with an Honors Degree in Music Education. While in college, she taught Music and Movement classes during the Dana Flute Festival to all participants in addition to teaching private flute lessons throughout the year. After graduation, Ashley returned to Youngstown to earn her second teaching certification in Special Education. Ashley is currently employed at Central Valley School District in Monaca, PA, where she teaches elementary music.
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