Courtney Bourman
Ms. Bourman has been an instructor of ballet at the Culture House Conservatory of the Arts since 2005 and was named Director of the School of Dance in 2010. As a dance educator, Ms. Bourman has been privileged to be on the faculty of the Storling Conservatory of Dance, Kansas School of Classical Ballet, American Academy for Dance and the Kindred Arts, the School of Ballet Omaha, Kansas City Ballet School and American Dance Center working under her mentors Kathy and Dennis Landsman.
Ms. Bourman’s dance training began in Kansas City at the age of two. She later was a scholarship student at the San Francisco Ballet School where she trained under influential master teachers Larisa Sklyanskaya, Irina Jacobson, Jonathan Watts, Henry Berg, and Jocelyn Vollmar. She went on to a professional career with Ballet Omaha, Kansas City Ballet, and was a premiere soloist with the Tulsa Ballet. She had the privilege to dance leading roles in classics such as Sleeping Beauty, Giselle, Nutcracker, Paquita and Cinderella as well as attaining an extensive principal repertoire with the ballets of George Balanchine, Agnes de Mille, Anthony Tudor, Todd Bolender, Arthur Mitchell, John Butler, Leonide Massine, Frederic Franklin, and Lew Christensen among others. Ms. Bourman was a featured performer with Storling Dance Theater for seven years during which time multiple leading roles were created on her by director Mona Enna.
Ms. Bourman has set her own original ballets on schools and companies across the country. Her pieces have been presented at Regional Dance America Festivals in the Pacific and Midwest regions; most being chosen for gala evenings. She has been the recipient of four awards for choreography including the Monticello Foundation Award for Outstanding Female Emerging Choreographer in 2000. She was awarded the Choreographic Recognition Plan Award for the Mid-States Region in 2002 and 2009 in addition to receiving the same award at RDA’s National Festival in 2007.
Passing along the beauty, discipline, and traditions of classical dance to a new generation of artists brings Ms. Bourman great joy. She cherishes the time spent working with the young people at the Culture House, watching them become inspired by dance, growing in their craft, and seeing the arts change their lives.