Rachel began her love for dance at the young age of three. Throughout her years she began training at the British Dance Academy and the Cornish College Institute in Seattle. Later she was accepted in to Pacific Northwest Ballet School where she studied classical ballet, modern dance, flamingo dancing, jazz and music. While at Pacific Northwest Ballet, she performed many years in the Nutcracker, the premier of A Mid Summers Night Dream and the Motion Picture production of the Nutcracker. At Washington State University she earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree, while performing as a member of the WSU Pom/Cheer Squad. Recently, she was teaching and directing the young ones program at the Washington Academy of Performing Arts in Redmond. Today, a mother of two young aspiring dancers, she has the dream to build a performing arts studio in Duvall. As a teacher and a mother the joy of seeing children take their first step into the world of performance is priceless.

Mrs. Valerie's dance career started when she was five years old. She dabbled in all the arts, but her passion was ballet. She performed under Gloria Hudson in Kirkland, Washington, dancing in many ballets including Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella and of course the Nutcracker in the old Seattle Opera House. While at Gloria Hudson, she danced under the instruction of teachers from San Francisco Ballet and New York City specializing in French and Russian lessons. She also danced competitively through Roberts' School of Dance in Woodinville, Washington. After having children she danced open adult classes at Pacific Northwest Ballet. She has a BA in Liberal Studies from the University of Washington and an Associate's degree specializing in Early Childhood Education from EvCC. Mrs. Valerie is an ABT® Certified Teacher, who has successfully completed the ABT Teacher Training Intensive in Primary through Level 3 of the ABT® National Training Curriculum. She also has a Turbo Kick Certification from Powder Blue Productions (2009).

Megan started dancing at the age of 3. She took classes in ballet, tap & jazz. She learned to Hula and African dance from a friend from Sudan. Megan taught classes at her home for 6 years. She also took gymnastics for 4 years and later taught for Gymnastics Express. She was on the Cedarcrest Drill team for 4 years and was Captain her senior year. She's currently a dance/drill judge for competitions in Washington State. Megan is a student at Lake Washington Technical College studying to become a preschool teacher.

Sharon Buck teaches voice privately in her home studio in Woodinville as well as at Duvall Performing Arts in Duvall. She loves to share her passion for singing with students of all ages and levels of talent. While a classically trained singer, Sharon has studied and teaches a variety of singing techniques and styles including belt (Broadway), mixed belt (pop), and legit (classical). Her teaching background includes teaching music classes and conducting choirs from pre-Kindergarten to High School and Adult. Her students have won recognition and awards at local and regional competitions. She is a member of the National Association of Teachers of Singing, the Music Teachers National Association, and the American Guild of Organists.

Sharon is also an accomplished professional singer who actively performs in the Northwest. Solo engagements in the Puget Sound area have included performances with the Bellevue Philharmonic and Bellevue Chamber Chorus, as well as with Philharmonia Northwest, Seattle Bach Choir, Seattle Symphony, Seattle Choral Company, Kirkland Choral Society, and Music Center of the Northwest. In Eastern Washington she has sung with the Walla Walla and the Yakima symphonies. She has presented recitals in many Seattle venues, in Portland, Oregon, and in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, where her recital was recorded and aired by CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) radio. Sharon has appeared on local television and been heard on King-FM. Her opera credits include lead roles with Puget Sound Concert Opera, Bellevue Opera, Willamette Concert Opera, Skagit Opera, Portland’s Bel Canto Northwest, and Seattle’s Accademia d’Amore. Sharon won first place at the Performing Arts Festival of the Eastside competition and was awarded the Helen Jensen Memorial Scholarship.

Sharon holds a dual Masters degree in organ and voice performance from Concordia University Chicago and a Bachelor’s of Music degree from the University of Saskatchewan. She has pursued further studies at the Baroque Performance Institute at Oberlin College as well as at Bel Canto Northwest in Portland, Oregon.

For more information and a list of upcoming performances, please visit Sharon’s website at www.sharonbuck.net. (She performs under her stage name “Sharon Annette Lancaster”.)

Valerie Ramer brings more than 20 years experience in all aspects of the industry. Born and raised in New York, she got her degree in acting from The American Academy of Dramatic Arts. In New York she was an actress working in commercials, theatre and film. She also worked as a casting director, casting music videos and NY based films. She eventually moved to the Seattle area where she ran a talent agency and began teaching acting to kids and adults. Many of her students are professional working actors. Ten years ago Valerie wrote and directed her first children's play. Since then she has written and directed numerous plays, award winning monologues and has furthered her writing career by writing two movies for Lifetime TV. She currently has three screenplays in pre-production.

Music is great art, created by people. It is not science, which has to be learned and explored by advanced intellect. The power of music lays in it's ability to speak beyond the words, to make direct contact with our emotions, to change our outlook on life, to enrich and brighten our spirit, to give us joy and satisfaction and to change us for the better. How empty our lives would be without music!

Lenore, a native of Detroit, began the study of the violin at the age of eight. She attended both New England Conservatory of Music in Boston and Oberlin Conservatory of Music on full scholarships and received her BM degree in violin performance from Oberlin. She continued her post-graduate education in New York on full scholarship with the renowned pedagogue, Dorothy Delay at Sarah Lawrence College, where she earned her MFA in Chamber Music and Violin Performance, during which time she also studied viola with the esteemed viola virtuoso, Emanuel Vardi.

She was a founding member of both the Laurentian String Quartet and the Westchester Chamber Players, and has been a member of the Amacorda String Quartet, The Sutton Ensemble, Musica Sacra of New York, and the Philharmonia Virtuosi under Richard Kapp. Lenore has also frequently performed world-wide as violinist in the Vardi Duo with her husband and world renowned violist, Emanuel Vardi.

In 1988, she made her London debut in recital at the Royal Academy of Music, and she made her Canadian recital debut the following year at the Domaine Forget Music Festival in Quebec. Lenore also has the distinction of being one of the violists profiled in Maurice Riley’s book THE HISTORY OF THE VIOLA.

Ms. Vardi has been actively involved in teaching and often teaches and gives master classes on the violin and viola in collaboration with her husband, Emanuel Vardi. As a former dancer, she brings a unique problem solving capability to her students with her understanding of movement and the physical problems of the string player. The Vardi’s have called the Seattle area home since July of 2007

Since her New York solo recital debut in Merkin Hall in 1982, violinist Lenore Vardi, has received international acclaim as soloist and chamber musician for her refined artistry and extraordinary technique. Richard Kimball of the New York Post has hailed Ms. Vardi as a soloist of “…amazing elegance and musicianship…a natural performer.”

For more information, please visit Lenore’s website at www.lenorevardi.com.