A member of the Ailey troupe since 1996, Mrs. Sims is the recipient of an award from the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts. She has been highlighted in the “Best of 2009” list in Dance Magazine, and she's become a pop-culture celebrity as well. She's performed as a guest star on "So You Think You Can Dance” and "Dancing with the Stars."
She also made a guest appearance at the White House tribute to Ailey artistic director Judith Jamison, who is retiring soon. Mrs. Sims, who was named Ailey's assistant to the rehearsal director in 2010, continues on.
The Canadian-born Ms. Robin was raised and trained in Tulsa. A veteran of the Tulsa Ballet Theatre and the Milwaukee Ballet, she became a Tulsa Ballet Theatre corps member and danced with the company for two years. Ms. Robin then joined the Milwaukee Ballet. She is also the 1990 bronze medal recipient at the New York International Ballet Competition.
Her Joffrey credits include roles in Apollo, Giselle, Italian Suite, Reflections, and A Wedding Bouquet.
Ms. Oderkirk joined Tulsa Ballet in 2008 from a trainee program with the San Francisco Ballet School. Swan Lake, Glass Pieces, Street Songs, and Giselle are among the many ballets in her repertoire.
During her first year with Tulsa Ballet, she danced featured roles in Serenade and Nine Lives, among other works.
A formal principal dancer with the Alvin Ailey troupe and a veteran of seven Broadway shows, she runs her own namesake performing arts school in Montclair, New Jersey, and she is a faculty member of a local private school. The mission of her school, the Sharron Miller Academy For the Performing Arts, is to teach "dance and related theatre arts without regard to cultural ethnicity or economic background."
More information on her academy is here.
Full disclosure requires me to credit Wendy McNeil of Montclair for suggesting her, and I am happy for her suggestion.
