Allyson Ratliff

Ms. Allyson Ratliff began her dance training at the Lenhoff School of Music and Dance, where she discovered her love of movement and her passion for the arts. She went on to train at several of Chicago's premier dance institutions, including the Bryant Ballet, the School of Ballet Chicago under the watchful eye of Daniel Duell and Patricia Blair, the Joel Hall Dance Center, and the Hyde Park School of Ballet. Ms. Ratliff also studied dance at the University of Arizona in Tucson and the Washington Ballet in Washington DC. Ms. Ratliff has taught at the School of Ballet Chicago and AileyCamp Chicago. She has also served as Ballet Mistress for Expressions Dance Theatre and Rhythm Street in Washington DC. 

Ms. Ratliff has a Master of Arts Management degree with a focus on performing arts, and serves as a senior ballet instructor here at Hyde Park School of dance in addition to her role as Director of Community Engagement where she oversees all community partnerships for HPSD.

Born and raised in Los Angeles, California, Teanna Zarro began her ballet training with former Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo Soloist, Meredith Baylis. She attended summer intensive programs at The Pennsylvania Ballet School, and The Joffrey Ballet School, where she studied on a full scholarship. At the age of seventeen, Zarro was invited to join The Joffrey Ballet II, and performed as an apprentice with The Joffrey Ballet of Chicago. After dancing in Robert Joffrey’s production of The Nutcracker, Zarro was asked to join The Joffrey Ballet of Chicago, under the direction of Gerald Arpino. With The Joffrey, she performed ballets by renowned choreographers such as George Balanchine, Leonard Massine, Agnes de Mille, Vaslav Nijinsky, Frederick Ashton, and Martha Graham. Zarro has performed featured roles with Ballet New York, The Los Angeles Ballet, RPM Productions, Civic Ballet of Chicago, The San Diego Opera, The Dallas Opera and The Lyric Opera of Chicago. Principal roles include Aurora in The Sleeping Beauty, The Sugarplum Fairy in The Nutcracker, Medora in Le Corsaire, Swanilda in Coppelia and Juliet in Romeo and Juliet. In 2013, Zarro performed in her first musical, The Lyric Opera’s production of Robert and Hammerstein’s, Oklahoma! For over 20 years, Zarro has been teaching various levels of ballet, pointe, variations, and pas de deux at many schools across the country, including Loyola Marymount, University of Los Angeles, Luna Negra Dance Theater, Lou Conte Dance Studio, and The New Mexico Ballet Company. She was also a faculty member at The Chicago High School for the Arts from 2013-2022. Since 2013, Teanna Zarro has been on faculty at The Hyde Park School of Dance. She is currently the director of The Hyde Park School of Dance’s top tier studio company for youth dancers. Zarro’s passion is to play a part in building a sense of confidence, equity, inclusion, and joy to her classroom and beyond.