The Asheville Ballet
Artistic Team
Ann Dunn
Artistic Director
Ann Dunn serves as Artistic and Executive Director of The Asheville Ballet, Inc. She is humbled and proud to say that it is North Carolina's oldest professional and non-profit ballet company. She is also owner and CEO of the Asheville Academy of Ballet and Contemporary Dance (originally the Fletcher School of Dance), which she founded. In addition, Dunn is a recently retired faculty member from UNC Asheville where she taught undergraduate and graduate courses in The Medieval and Renaissance World, Art and Religion, as well as various courses in Shakespeare. It was here that she was awarded Most Distinguished Teacher of the Year Award in Humanities.
Ann's dance pedigree includes full scholarships to The School of American Ballet (NYC Ballet's School) and Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival, principal ballerina with The Hartford Ballet, The American Ballet, and American Repertory Ballet, choreographer of Menotti's officially sanctioned U.S. tour of Amahl and the Night Visitors, choreographer of Turandot for The New York City Opera at Lincoln Center, winner of the NC Artist of the Year Award, and a dancer/choreographer for her own company since 1972.
In addition to obtaining Bachelor's and Master's degrees in Literature and Interdisciplinary Studies, her Ph.D. work focused on Shakespeare with a minor in The Literature of The Italian Renaissance. Dunn has won scholarships to such writing retreats as Breadloaf and Weymouth and has received numerous awards for her poetry. She has published three volumes of poetry with Urthona Press and has another volume under consideration at Pisgah Press. Her poetry has been anthologized and published widely in such journals as Carolina Quarterly and Hiram Poetry Review.
Dunn's academic research has been presented at international conferences and published in international journals. She won Best Research Article Award for 2013 for her work on The Merchant of Venice by The International Journal of Arts and Sciences. Dunn is one of 32 international academics invited to participate in The Aspen Institute's 2015, week-long WYE Faculty Seminar on Citizenship in the American and Global Polity. Her lifelong interest is in the Humanities and is therefore eclectic. Dunn is made most happy by learning, thinking, teaching, choreographing, and by her five children and twelve grandchildren.
Tricia Renshaw
Assistant Artistic Director
Tricia Renshaw began her training at Delaware Dance Center and Delaware Dance Company and continued her studies at Shenandoah Conservatory, Temple University, The Professional School, the Martha Graham School, Jeanne Ruddy Dance, and East Coast Ballet. She has performed with Underground Danceworks (PA), Next Step Dance Company (NJ), and East Coast Ballet Dance Contemporary (FL), and previously served as Artistic Director of The Professional School’s Modern Dance Company. Tricia joined the Asheville Ballet in 2015 and has been Assistant Artistic Director since 2017. She holds a BS in Dance from Skidmore College and a Doctorate in Physical Therapy from the University of North Florida, integrating her clinical and somatic expertise into her teaching and choreography. She is a NeuFit practitioner with advanced training in Clinical Neuromuscular and Structural Bodywork, is certified in relational Bodywork for Somatic Experiencing (BASE), and is currently completing her Somatic Experiencing certification. She currently enjoys teaching at Western Carolina University and practicing somatic physical therapy in her office in Asheville (restorative-pt.com).
Outside the studio, she enjoys the mountains of Western North Carolina, where she resides with her partner. She finds inspiration in nature, travel, reading, photography, and spirituality, and continues to explore the intersection of dance, healing, and human potential.
Fleming Lomax
Ballet Mistress
Fleming Lomax fell in love with ballet at age four and has been dancing ever since. She attended high school as a ballet major at NC School of the Arts, earned a B.S. in Dance Education from UNC-Greensboro, and completed an internship and certification at The Pilates Center of Boulder. Fleming has been teaching ballet for over thirty years at institutions such as Dreyfoos School of the Arts (WPB, FL), Denver School of the Arts, Goldsboro Ballet, and Academy of Asheville Ballet. Her professional performing experience includes season contracts with Ballet Nouveau Colorado, Kim Robards Modern Dance Company, and The Asheville Ballet where she has been dancing and choreographing since 2010. In addition to her artistic endeavors, Fleming is a Pilates practitioner of twenty years who holds a deep affection for cats. For more information on Fleming's performing experience, see her dancer biography under artist information.
Allison Hertzberg
Youth Director
A native of Western North Carolina, Allison began her childhood training with Marilyn Cloutier of Sylva, NC, and Walter, Linda, and Peggy Fletcher of Asheville, NC. She then spent her high school years training at the NC School of the Arts in Winston- Salem and the VA School of the Arts in Lynchburg. After graduating, Allison joined Allegro Dance Theater of Chattanooga, TN, as a principal dancer and soloist and toured both nationally and internationally. In 1996 she returned home to Asheville to start her lovely family and to teach and perform with the Asheville Ballet, ADDANCE, The Fletcher School of Dance, Wayne Burritt Dance, Angie's Dance Academy, Terpsicorps Theatre of Dance, Terpsicorps Theater of Dance, and the Academy at Terpsicorps. Allison has now been training aspiring dancers of all ages and abilities for over 30 years. Some of the amazing teachers and coaches Allison has had the pleasure of working with include Melissa Hayden, Melinda Lawrence, Gina Vidal, Trish Casey, Dianne Markham, Joan Saunders, Duncan Noble, Frank Smith, Gyula Pandi, Richard Kutch, Richard Gain, Petrus Bosman, David Keener, Mark Schneider, Alexander Bennett, Gelsey Kirkland, Heather Maloy, Brynar Mehl, Valerie Concha, Heather Maloy, and Ann Dunn.