Ballet Des Moines EXECUTIVE Staff
ERIN ARNDORFER
Company Manager & Nutcracker Rehearsal Director
erin@balletdesmoines.org
Erin began her dance training in the Chicago suburbs where she trained in all genres in dance. While dancing at the Chicago Academy for the Arts, she performed the Grand Pas Classique pas de deux at the Youth American Grand Prix Finals in New York City and the principal role in the academy’s production of Paquita. From 2014 to 2016, Erin continued her training at the Houston Ballet Academy, where she performed roles such as Waltz and Russian Girl in the first movement of George Balanchine’s Serenade, Paquita pas de trois variation, and corps de ballet in Coppélia, Nutcracker, and Stanton Welch’s The Ladies. During this time, Erin also attended summer programs at the Houston Ballet, School of American Ballet, and Pacific Northwest Ballet. Upon graduation from Houston Ballet, Erin joined the Trainee Program at the Dutch National Ballet in Amsterdam. While there, she performed the principal variation from Pierre Lacotte’s Pharaoh’s Daughter and works by Christopher Wheeldon and Nils Christe.
Erin joined the Colorado Ballet Studio Company in 2017, where she performed in the corps de ballet of Nutcracker, Romeo and Juliet, Sleeping Beauty, Carmina Burana, and Serenade. In 2018, Erin performed the principal role of Cinderella as a guest artist for Baton Rouge Ballet Theatre. Erin was dancing with Ballet Des Moines for the 2019-2020 season, where she has been given the opportunity to perform multiple leading roles. Erin is on staff as a judge with Starpower and Believe National Talent Competitions through Star Dance Alliance.
FELIX CAMPBELL
Production Manager
Felix Campbell has been a part of the Ballet Des Moines family since its inception in 2002. During his time as Production Manager, Felix has overseen hundreds of productions, ensuring every backdrop, prop and flying monkey finds its place. As hardworking as he is creative, we’re grateful for the role he plays at Ballet Des Moines.
SARAH DORNINK
Wardrobe Director
Sarah Dornink grew up surrounded by her mother Faythe Dornink’s custom dress business and could often be found picking up pins in Faythe’s work room or taking apart seams for alterations. Despite such a strong influence for a career in the apparel business, Sarah attended University of Iowa where she majored in mathematics and intended to go into medicine. During her senior year, when she found herself sketching clothing designs rather than writing math formulas, Sarah realized she needed to follow her true passion into the world of fashion. In May 2001, having received a degree in Mathematics, with Honors, Sarah packed a car full of clothes, fabric, two sewing machines and headed for New York.
Sarah worked for designers Jill Anderson and Elizabeth Gillett in 2001-2002 before attending the Fashion Institute of Technology. While at FIT, Sarah specialized in Eveningwear and graduated with the One-Year Medal Award in May 2003.
After moving back to the midwest, Sarah co-launched Dornink Couture and opened a retail location in the East Village of Downtown, Des Moines in 2008. Since then, Sarah has been designing and producing custom apparel ranging from bridal, evening, and cocktail gowns to show choir and ballet costumes for various productions around the country, including costumes for FIFA World Cup Beach Soccer dancers and organizing 70+ designers for ChildServe’s charity gala Bubble Ball.
BEAU KENYON
Director of Education & Outreach
beau@balletdesmoines.org
Beau Kenyon joins Ballet Des Moines while serving as faculty at Northeastern College of Arts, Media + Design, where he teaches graduate coursework in arts leadership, audience engagement, and strategic planning. His collaborative approach to strategic initiatives makes interdisciplinary dialogue, curiosity, and mindfulness central to his work in education, community outreach, and audience engagement. Throughout his career, Kenyon has supported creative communities and learning institutions throughout the country, creating system-wide Social Emotional Learning initiatives in schools and public libraries, producing STEAM curricula for students age 5 - 15, and facilitating professional development workshops for education leaders and career artists. His research has been published with PLoS ONE, MIT Press, and Harvard Graduate School of Education. He is also currently engaged with Mainframe Studios, where he is building a Creative Incubator for Iowa artists, and with Iowa State University, where he is creating a research-based toolkit to support rural transformation through arts and culture. Beau Kenyon draws upon these same values and process for his award-winning compositions and public artwork.
BLAIRE MASSA
Chief Executive Officer
blaire@balletdesmoines.org
Blaire Massa came to the area via Washington, D.C., and brings a wealth of experience in nonprofit and arts administration to her role at Ballet Des Moines. Massa studied at the London School of Economics and has a uniquely blended background which allows her to connect the priorities of business management and artistic vision. Before moving to Iowa, she held leadership roles in independent schools in D.C. and Maryland, leading fundraising, communications, and marketing efforts as well as serving on various nonprofit boards.
Massa previously worked at the Washington Ballet, overseeing a $3 million fundraising budget and managing donor relationships in the dynamic D.C. arts community. In addition to being a classically trained ballet dancer and teacher, having worked all over the globe, Massa co-founded a nonprofit community summer musical theater company for children and is deeply committed to ensuring access to high-quality arts education for at-risk youth.
TOM MATTINGLY
Artistic Director
tom@balletdesmoines.org
Born in Sidney, MT, Tom Mattingly began his dance training in California's Mojave Desert. Following full scholarships to the summer intensives of San Francisco Ballet School, Boston Ballet School, American Ballet Theatre, and the Rock School for Dance Education, Mattingly completed his studies at Virginia School of the Arts and is the 2005 recipient of the Dame Margot Fonteyn Award for Artistic Excellence.
Mattingly’s professional career included Richmond Ballet, Chautauqua Ballet, and Cincinnati Ballet before joining Ballet West in 2008. There he tackled many leading roles under the watchful eye of industry experts such as Cynthia Gregory, Anna Marie Holmes, and Sir Anthony Dowell. Proving to be a versatile and dynamic performer, Mattingly quickly rose through the company ranks and by 2013 was promoted to principal dancer.
In 2014, Mattingly relocated to Chicago to join the newly formed contemporary ensemble Visceral Dance Chicago. After two years, he was hand picked to join the first national tour of “An American in Paris”, the four time Tony Award winning musical directed & choreographed by Christopher Wheeldon. In 2019, Mattingly joined Madison Ballet as Ballet Master.
Now retired from the stage, Mr. Mattingly is a passionate teacher, choreographer, and coach. To date he has created world premieres for National Choreographers Initiative, Ballet West, Ballet West II, Ballet West Academy, Dance in the Parks, Richmond Ballet, Madison Ballet, Utah Arts Festival, Ballet Arkansas, Charlottesville Ballet, Elite Choreographic Initiative, Arova Contemporary Ballet.
JAMI MILNE
Creative Director
jami@balletdesmoines.org
Jami Milne joined the staff of Ballet Des Moines during the 2019-2020 season, having been involved with the professional company since 2015, through various board roles and creative projects including the development of the artist-in-residence program.
Milne’s background is in creative strategy, spending over fifteen years in the advertising world before focusing on independent efforts as a visual artist. In addition to her work with Ballet Des Moines, Milne has partnered on artistic collaborations with Des Moines Public Schools, dsm Magazine, Dwolla, One Iowa, Tech Journey, the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, Movement515, Vice Media for Levi’s and others. Her work has been shown in galleries nationwide and can be found in many private residences.