Erica Bury
Founding Artistic Director
Erica Bury began her dance training at Huntsville Ballet Company in Huntsville, Alabama with Dawn Crouch. She continued her training in Oregon under Sylvia Bolton, Penny King, and Nancy Gordon. She also trained or performed with Boston Ballet School, Ballet Magnificat, and State Ballet of Oregon, as well as for regional musical theatre and dance companies. Favorite ballet roles have included the Sugar Plum Fairy in The Nutcracker, as a soloist in Balanchine’s Who Cares, and Aurora in The Sleeping Beauty.
As a teacher and choreographer she has worked with many wonderful studios, theaters, and companies. Most recently these included Stillpoint Ballet, Heartland Dance, One Eleven Theatre, Clarion Theatre, Barnstormers Theatre, Fusion Dance, All That Jazz Dance, Steps on Broadway, San Francisco Ballet School, Alonzo King LINES Ballet, Complexions Contemporary Ballet, Miss Diana’s School of Ballet, Bodyvox, and Pacific Northwest Ballet Teacher’s Seminar.
She is an American Ballet Theatre Certified Teacher, who has successfully completed the ABT Teacher Training Intensive in Pre-Primary through Level 7 & Partnering of the ABT National Training Curriculum.
ABT’s National Training Curriculum is a breakthrough program that combines high quality artistic training with the pillars of dancer health and child development. The program provides teachers with the information needed to fully understand the best practices in pedagogy, child development, dance psychology, and anatomy. Ballet teachers receive a holistic education on the National Training Curriculum and the best practices in how to teach ballet.
She is also a Progressing Ballet Technique certified instructor and holds her Bachelor of Science from the University of Oregon.
Her passion is choreography, where she uses her knowledge as a teacher to bring out the unique beauty in each dancer she works with. She dreams up full-length ballets and contemporary pieces, and loves to direct and choreograph musicals.
Whether coaching pre-professional students for the Youth America Grand Prix or experimenting with movement to bring characters to life in a musical, her goal is to give her dancers safe and excellent technique instruction combined with a joy for dance!
Diana Garett
Executive Producer
Diana Garrett is the Executive Producer of Oregon Youth Ballet.
She is also the Executive Director of Miss Diana’s School of Ballet, home of OYB.
Her love of dance began at a young age. She studied ballet, tap, jazz and Irish step at Motion dynamics in Vacaville, CA, and she has been deeply involved in the arts ever since.
She was Ballet Rogue’s Production Manager, where she also started and directed the Children’s Ballet program. After building the program successfully, she started her own studio with the children’s program dancers after Ballet Rogue closed its doors.
Over the years Diana has added additional instructors and raised the level of training and professionalism as her studio has grown to well over 200 students. She produces multiple recitals and mainstage productions each year and also has her dancers participate in community outreach at retirement homes, local festivals and charity events.
She has built a studio culture where all dancers are respected and valued, instilling them with confidence, strength, and discipline. Most of all, she encourages every dancer to find their joy in dance and build a love for ballet.
She has joined with Oregon Youth Ballet to continue raising the bar of excellence in training and providing amazing performance opportunities for dancers throughout the Rogue Valley.