Dance & Fitness Faculty
Mason Alexander
FDC Director, Contemporary/Jazz, Ballet
Mason Alexander is from Cleveland, Ohio. He began his dance training at Cleveland City Dance under the direction of Courtney Laves-Mearini and Mark Otloski, joining the studio company during his final two years there. Mason then continued his pre-professional training with Ana Lobe at the Ana Lobe Ballet Academy, performing feature roles in The Nutcracker and in studio repertoire. After graduating from high school, Mason trained with Ohio Contemporary Ballet (formerly Verb Ballets) under Richard Dickinson before shifting his career focus from ballet to modern after being introduced to Inlet Dance Theatre. He later joined Inlet Dance Theatre in 2018. During his time with Inlet, Mason has had the opportunity to tour nationally with the company and to collaborate on the creation of several new works. Mason has also held teaching artist positions through Inlet classes for youth and through residencies at several Cleveland City schools, and later became the company’s social media coordinator. Mason lives in Cleveland with his two cats, brother and sister- Dipper and Dottie (also known as Dip n’ Dot).
Andrea Belser
Hip Hop, Zumba, Ballet/Tap
Andrea Belser is a Performing Artist and Instructor from Cleveland, Ohio who has received her Bachelor of Arts from Wright State University in Theatre Studies, with an emphasis in Dance and Vocal Music. Beginning with ballet at 3 years of age, she also continued her studies in various dance forms, including tap, African folk dance, liturgical/spiritual dance, jazz, musical theatre dance, modern/contemporary, hip hop, Bollywood, Latin ballroom, and anything else she can get her hands on. Andrea (or Mrs. A to young students) currently teaches drama/theatre arts, musical theatre and dance in different theaters, outreach programs and venues, both in groups or private lessons. Since 2009, she has taught students ranging from 2 years old to elder, with theaters and companies such as Playhouse Square, Beck Center for the Arts, Dancing Wheels, Cleveland Play House, Kultue Kids, DANCEcleveland, Cleveland School of the Arts, Solon Center for the Arts, and Great Lakes Theatre. She has also recently been added to the Ohio Teaching Artists Roster. You can find a few class performances and choreography by Andrea on her YouTube channel: Thespian Drea.
Kate Webb Berk
Ballet
Kate dances professionally with Ohio Contemporary Ballet (formerly Verb Ballets) in Cleveland. Originally from Richmond, Virginia, she danced as a company trainee with Richmond Ballet. She then attended Butler University where she graduated cum laude with a BS in Dance-Arts Administration and high departmental honors. Seeing her students improve is one of her favorite things! She is deeply passionate about helping children experience personal growth by finding their own artistic connections.
Saundra Bohl
Spanish Dance Artistic Director
Saundra Bohl studied ballet at the Ballet Arts of Carnegie Hall and the Metropolitan Company in New York. She has a BA in Math and Music from Oberlin College and a Masters in Education from John Carroll University.
Debora Erksa
Deep Relaxation
Debora is a 300 Hour certified yoga instructor teaching in studios, workshops, and community settings in both Ohio and Arizona. She also leads workshops on meditation and stress management for corporate leaders and their teams. Debora has a BA in Organizational Communication as well as graduate studies in Fine Art, Eastern Philosophy, and Medicinal Plants. Supported by her career experience as a Director of Program Services for the Mahan Cultural Arts Center, and The Veale Wellness Center on the Ohio Living Breckenridge Village Campus, she brings a great deal of knowledge regarding wellness and older adults. In 2019, Debora was the recipient of McKnight’s Women of Distinction Rising Star Award, a national award honoring her innovative intergenerational programs and curriculum created for life enrichment of older adults.
Isaac Hileman
Ballet, Pointe
Isaac Hileman was born and raised in Dallas, Texas where he began his dance training with the Dallas Ballet Center and attended summer intensives such as Ballet Chicago, Miami City Ballet, and Pacific Northwest Ballet. He graduated from the University of Oklahoma with a BFA in Ballet Performance. Isaac is also a dance instructor and has performed as a guest dancer in with youth companies locally including Ohio Ballet Theatre. Since joining the company in 2021, he has toured with the company to Chicago to perform in the Gerald Aprino Centennial Celebration. He has been featured in works including Spartacus and Schubert Waltzes. Isaac is excited to be dancing his fourth season with Ohio Contemporary Ballet.
Kia Hileman
Ballet, Jazz
Kia is from Saskatoon, Canada and fell in love with dancing at her local studio. She began her dance training at the age of seven and has done many summer intensives including Royal Winnipeg Ballet. At age 16 she was accepted to Alberta Ballet School’s Professional Division and continued her training in their Post-Graduate Program. Following graduation in 2019, Kia joined US International Ballet as a trainee for two seasons where she had the opportunity to perform Giselle and Alice in Wonderland. Kia is now an apprentice with Verb Ballets.
Darlene Kelbach
Yoga, Ballet, Homeschool
Darlene is a Cleveland native and has been part of the Fairmount Team since June 2018. She is the Outreach Director and teaches a variety of dance and fitness classes.
Darlene started dancing at age 6 and continued studying dance as an elective through college. She has experience in creative movement, tap, ballet, lyrical, jazz, gymnastics, and line dancing. She also cheered from 8th grade through college and has coached middle school cheer. She has been the choreographer for school drama clubs and theatrical performances such as 101 Dalmations, Jr. and Beauty & the Beast, Jr. Additionally, Darlene was drawn to yoga as a form of choreographed dance with the postures as a unique repertoire of movements.
Darlene has over 10 years of experience working as a freelance teaching artist and speaker. She also worked for the National Park Service as a Historical Landscape Architect for 18 years at Cuyahoga Valley National Park. Darlene has her 500 hour yoga certification and recorded the album, “Children’s Yoga Songs for the Classroom” in 2018. She has a BA in Political Science from Wittenberg University and a Master’s Degree in Landscape Architecture from the Ohio State University. She has additional certifications with Barre Above, Music Together, LLC, T. Colin Campbell Center for Nutrition Studies in Plant-Based Nutrition as well as Hearts in Hands Reiki II. Darlene is a Cleveland native and has been part of the Fairmount Team since June 2018. She is the Outreach Director and teaches a variety of dance and fitness classes.
Megan Sobnosky
Ballet, Pointe
Megan Sobnosky is an alumna of Nan Klinger’s Excellence in Dance and the Cuyahoga Valley Youth Ballet (dba Ballet Excel Ohio) located in Cuyahoga Falls, OH. She attended summer intensives at Chautauqua Institute, Saratoga Springs, NY, Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet and Indiana University before continuing her training at Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music. There, she earned a Bachelor of Science and Outside Field (BSOF) degree in Ballet and Kinesiology and a minor in Psychology. She then moved to Hartford, Connecticut to perform professionally and began training young dancers in classical ballet. She became Ballet Mistress for Ballet Theatre Company in West Hartford, CT and assisted in staging and producing full-length ballets as well as small collaborative community performances for four seasons. She moved back to her home state in 2020 amid the pandemic and continued instructing dance at Hudson Conservatory of Ballet and Excellence in Dance. In 2022 she became a Certified Personal Trainer and currently coaches small group fitness classes at Lifetime Beachwood. She lives in Shaker Heights with her husband, Rob, and their kitty, Baby Squirrel.
Brittany Sterling
Ballet/Tap
Brittany Sterling holds an M.E.d. in Education and Clinical Counseling. Her undergraduate experience is in Communication Disorders & Dance. Currently, she teaches Itty Bitty Combo classes at Fairmount’s flagship location and outreach program offerings throughout NE Ohio. She has a background in teaching and facilitating dance/movement experiences for all ages and abilities including the genres of creative movement, modern, tap, ballet, jazz, and hip hop. Brittany began teaching dance in 2018 at several dance studios where she coached hip hop competition teams and taught recreational as well as adapted dance classes. Additionally, she is a registered yoga teacher (200 hour RYT). Recently, she has added baby wearing (caregiver and baby) classes to her repertoire!
Over the years Brittany has been involved in various performance and dance education engagements including work abroad in the Cayman Islands, Vietnam, and Greece. She has facilitated outpatient dance groups at NorthCoast Behavioral Healthcare Hospital for the adult population. Brittany has presented choreography with the Cleveland Dance Project, Cleveland Dance Fest, Lakewood Arts Festival, the Beck Center for the Arts and the Baldwin Wallace Testing Grounds showcases. Brittany was a member of MadJax Dance Company (2020-2022), Expedition Dance company, and performed with the Cleveland Dance Project. She has studied dance/movement therapy in Cambridge, MA and Rochester, NY and incorporates techniques into her teaching style.
Brittany enjoys time with her family and going on adventures with her husband and son as a new mom. Hobbies and interests include novel experiences, cooking, listening to podcasts/audiobooks, crafting, crossfit, yoga and hiking.
Andrea Trimmer
Tap
Andrea has loved tap dancing for as long as she can remember, and strives to share this love via teaching, choreographing, producing, and working to build a thriving tap community in Cleveland.
Andrea has performed at The Detroit International Jazz Festival and at numerous tap festivals around the country. She is founder/director of 3&a Break Rhythm Ensemble, an adult tap and music based performance ensemble. Andrea works to further her tap dance knowledge by attending festivals, intensives, and master classes across the United States and Canada.
Andrea’s love of tap has strong ties to music and she defines herself as a percussion artist as well as a dancer. She has strengthened her connection to jazz music by studying with Heather Cornell at her Tap Labs. She has played and performed with the NEO Women’s Big Band as a percussive and improvisational dancer/musician, and she includes music theory in all of her tap instruction. Andrea’s classes also include tap dance history, and she enjoys learning, preserving, and passing down historical tap dances.
Andrea is also an engineer by training and has a passion for bringing fun informal STEM education to children of all ages.
libby Lubinger
Spanish Dance Artistic Director Emeritus
Libby has been part of Fairmount Center since its inception in 1971, sharing her passion and vision for the Spanish Dance program. In addition to Spanish Dance, she has studied Ballet, Modern, Jazz and Ethnic dance. She holds a BA in English from Brooklyn College in New York City. Fairmount and the Fairmount Spanish Dancers are proud to uphold her legacy.