We are happy to announce our distinguished ballet faculty for this year's program...

Mary C. Geiger - Director

    Mary Celeste Geiger has danced professionally for over
    ten years. She performed
    with three major European Companies, touring three
    continents and culminating as
    Principal Dancer with The Royal Ballet of Flanders
    (Antwerpen, Belgium). As Principal
    Dancer, she performed in Balanchine roles, many of
    the classics and contemporary
    roles such as Carmina Burana and La Peri, the latter
    of which was created especially for
    her by John Butler.

    Under the tutelage of Sandra Severo, she danced
    extensively with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra
    (DSO) in annual productions of The Nutcracker and the
    Kresge Concert Series. Mrs. Geiger received the
    American Ballet Ford Foundation
Scholarship at the young age of twelve. At nineteen, she was awarded scholarships
to the
American Ballet Theatre School, New York; the Vaganova School, Russia; and
the
John Cranko School, Germany; the latter of which she attended.

Mary Celeste Geiger has been the director of her own school, the Geiger Classic Ballet
Academy, for twenty two years and has been the Artistic Director of the Michigan Classic
Ballet Company since its' inception in 1989. She is currently President on the national board
of
Regional Dance America and Parliamentarian of it's MidStates Division. Mrs. Geiger has
given master classes at
Western Michigan University, Interlochen Dance Academy, Santa
Cruz Ballet Theatre, Nyon Ballet School and Ballet Vesoul. She has been a guest
choreographer and master teacher for regional ballet companies in Louisiana and Georgia.
Mrs. Geiger is married, no children, speaks fluent French and resides in West Bloomfield,
Michigan.


Melissa Scheck
Melissa Scheck began her studies at the Geiger Classic Ballet Academy at the age of
twelve.  As part of the
Michigan Classic Ballet Company, she danced lead roles in The
Nutcracker
(Clara, Dew Drop Fairy, Sugar Plum Fairy) and Giselle (Queen of the Willis,
Peasant Pas de Deux)

Mrs. Scheck received a full scholarship to the Cleveland Ballet Summer Program. She was
engaged professionally with the Fort Wayne Ballet in their trainee program for one year.

Since 1993 she has been ballet mistress for the Michigan Classic Ballet Company. Her
choreographic achievements include the Montecello Award for her ballet
Natural Elements.
In 1999 Mrs. Scheck received her Masters Degree in Physical Therapy from Oakland
University.  She and her husband Richard live in Troy. They have a daughter Sarah.    


Jenni Pankau

    Jenni Pankau began her ballet studies at Geiger
    Classic Ballet Academy in 1993 and attended until
    2001, during that time she was a member of the
    Michigan Classic Ballet Company. In addition to her
    ballet training, Jenni has studied ballroom dance for
    several years and was trained by Paul Holmes, Chuck
    Danza, Glennis Dee, Billy Howell, and Diana
    McDonald. She has competed all over the nation and
    won numerous gold medals in International Latin and
    American Smooth, along with the title of US
    International Latin Pro/Am Gold Medalist in 2004.

    Mrs. Pankau  is a graduate from Oakland University
    with a Bachelor’s degree in Exercise Science, and was
    an active member of Gamma Phi Beta, Gamma Sigma
    Alpha, and co-founder of the OU Swing and Salsa
    Club.  Mrs. Pankau is currently a certified personal
    trainer through the American College of Sports
    Medicine and a certified Zumba Fitness Instructor.  



Eliska Mayer

    Eliska Mayer has been an international dancer,
    teacher, actor, designer, director and choreographer for
    over 40 years. Her dance training started in Prague,
    Czech Republic, at the Prague Conservatory of Music
    and Dance, where she obtained certification in
    pedagogue for ballet, modern, and character dance as
    well as ballet theory and history of dance. Ms. Mayer’s
    professional dance career began at the National
    Theatre in Prague, where she danced as a soloist and
    studied with Natalia Dudinska, Alicia Alonso, Boris
    Bregvadze, Ctibor Turba, and Marcel Marceau. Later
    she became a principal dancer with the prestigious
    Fialka Mime Company, in Prague, CZ, where she was
    also appointed as modern dance mistress.


Along with an extensive dance background, Ms. Mayer has acted in leading roles for theatre,
television, radio and film and directed and designed for theatre. She was a full-time
professor and chair for the Department of Movement and Object Theater the Academy of
Musical Arts in Prague (AMU), Czech Republic.

She has taught professional dancers, actors and directors at theatre and mime festivals in
France, Germany and the Netherlands.In the U.S. she’s been on faculties of
Wayne State
University, where she was the recipient of 2003 Copper Foot Award for creativity of WSU,
American Ballet Theatre Summer Intensive, and is currently on faculty at
Marygrove College.
Click here for fall 2010 faculty class assignments