Management Team
Board of Directors
Kai Li Fouts Jette
,
President
Danielle Armstrong
,
Secretary
Jamie Germaine
,
Treasurer
Jennifer Roy
,
Ron Stern
,
Jill Wachter
,
Michele Zehner
Executive Director
Ms Zehner trained with John White and Margarita De Saa from National Ballet of Cuba. She has also studied with Pennsylvania Ballet and Boston Ballet with Violette Verdi, as well as in New York with Madame Darvash, David Howard and Robert Denver. She received a full scholarship to Harkness Ballet and an apprenticeship with Hartford Ballet. Michele’s professional dance career included The San Antonio Ballet and Ballet Klos. Ms Zehner has focused on pedagogy and training dancers for over 25 years. She has studied under such greats as Gilbert Mayer, Ruth Petronovic and John White and is an American Ballet Theatre® Certified Teacher, who has successfully completed the ABT® Teacher Training Intensive in Primary through Level 7 & Partnering of the ABT® National Training Curriculum. She is also certified in Progressing Ballet Technique. As an instructor, Michele has taught at Pennsylvania Academy of Ballet, Pennsylvania Centre for Ballet and The Rock School. Some of Michele’s students have gone on to dance professionally with New York City Ballet, Washington Ballet, Stuttgart Ballet, Pacific Northwest, San Francisco Ballet and Broadway shows. Ms Zehner has been an Artist in Residence at BAK MSOA as well as Dreyfoos School for the Arts and sat on the board of the Florida Dance Association. She was the director of Florida School for Dance Education and one of the founding members of Dance Theater of Florida. She continues to teach guest classes nationally when time permits.
Diane McNeal
Advancement and Finance Director
Ms. McNeal is an accomplished sales, fundraising, financial strategy, risk management, and business transformation professional with over 40 years of corporate management and nonprofit board experience. Ms. McNeal has an MBA in Legal Compliance and Risk Management from Florida Atlantic University, a Master Certificate in Transformational Nonprofit Management from Kellogg Graduate School at Notre Dame University, and a Bachelor in Business Administration degree from Adelphi University with a double concentration in finance and marketing. She retired from her commercial banking and private banking career at the end of 2023 and sought an opportunity to join a nonprofit organization whose mission truly resonated with her. Dance has been a part of her life since she was 4 years old. She has enjoyed ballet, jazz, tap, and ballroom dancing as an avocation and an audience member her entire life. She is excited to contribute to the success of Dance Theater of Florida. She believes dance changes lives.
Marci Pagano
Operations Manager
Ms. Pagano took her first ballet class at the age of eight in Queens, New York, and continued to dance recreationally throughout high school. She then attended Nassau Community College where she pursued a degree in accounting. After relocating to Florida, Ms. Pagano worked as a substitute teacher for the Palm Beach County School District for nearly a decade. In the summer of 2014, she joined both Florida School for Dance Education and Dance Theater of Florida as their Administrative Assistant, where she continues to share her love of both dance and education. Marci considers the studio her second home, and the staff, students, and their families her extended family.
Jerry Opdenaker
Co-Artistic Director and Production Director
A Philadelphia native, Mr. Opdenaker holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts from University of the Arts and a Master of Fine Arts in Choreography from Jacksonville University. During his 22-year performing career, he was a principal artist with Pennsylvania Ballet, Kansas City Ballet, and Ballet Florida. Mr. Opdenaker launched Ballet Florida’s choreographic workshop (STEP Ahead), and was selected to participate in Ballet Builders 2003, New York City Ballet’s 2005 Choreographic Institute, and the 2007 National Choreographic Initiative. He has created works for Ballet Arkansas, Ballet Florida, Ballet Gamonet, Florida Dance Theatre, Island Moving Company, Milwaukee Ballet, McKnight Foundation, National Ballet del Peru, New York City Ballet, South Carolina Ballet, New Orleans Ballet Theatre, and Florida Grand Opera. Mr. Opdenaker served as adjunct professor of dance at Florida Southern College and as guest faculty member at University of Utah, University of North Carolina School of the Arts, Ballet Concierto, and Cincinnati Ballet, and served as the National Discipline Coordinator of Dance for YoungArts for five years. He founded and directs O DANCE, a dance company that promotes new collaborative creations from visual and movement artists from inception to performance. He also continues to work in the arts community as a Character Artist, Stage Manager and Choreographer as well as being a Pilates instructor.
Carol Pakri
Outreach Program Director
Mrs. Pakri began her dance training at the David Taylor Dance Theatre in Littleton, Colorado. After earning her Bachelor of Fine Arts in ballet performance (with honors) at the University of Oklahoma, Mrs. Pakri danced with Oklahoma Festival Ballet, David Taylor Dance Theatre, and Colorado Ballet. Mrs. Pakri has been teaching for 20 years. She served as director for the youth ballet company at Spotlight Performing Arts Academy, school principal/principal teacher at the Academy of Colorado Ballet South, and was on the staff of Houston Ballet Academy. In 2006, Mrs. Pakri joined the staff at The Royal Ballet School in London, England, where she taught for seven years and directed their outreach program. While there, she graduated from The Royal Ballet School Professional Dancers Teachers Course, with distinction.