Faculty and Staff

Lisa Hess Jones

Lisa Hess was born in Amarillo, Texas. She received her early training from her parents, Neil and Camille Hess.

At the age of 10 years old she was the youngest dancer to receive a scholarship to study at The San Francisco Ballet School.  She trained with Harold Christiansen, Anatole Vilzak, and Ludmilla Schollar. She also received scholarships to study at Harkness Ballet School working with David Howard and Ben Stevenson, American Ballet Theatre School, and School of American Ballet. At School of American Ballet, she trained with Alexandra Danilova, Felia Doubrovska, Stanley Williams, and Suki Schorer. While a student at SAB Miss Hess was chosen to perform with Rudolph Nureyev at the Uris Theatre in George Balanchine’s “ Apollo “!

In 1975 she was invited by George Balanchine to join the New York City Ballet. While a member of the corps de ballet, Miss Hess was chosen by Mr. Balanchine to dance the role of The Sugar Plum Fairy and The Dewdrop Fairy in the production of “ The Nutcracker. “  She was promoted to soloist in 1983 and danced principal roles in ballets by George Balanchine, Jerome Robbins, Bart Cook, and Peter Martins.  She also appeared as a soloist in the filming of Bournonville Divertissements, staged by Stanley Williams.  She appeared with Peter Martins and Patricia McBride in Ruth Page's The Merry Widow.   Ms. Hess-Jones also toured with Peter Martins and Mikhail Baryshnikov. As a Guest Artist, she appeared throughout the United States, Australia, and Asia. In 1987 she followed her husband to Texas where she joined the Fort Worth Ballet as Principal Dancer under the direction of Nannette Glushak and Michele Rand.

After leaving her career as a dancer in order to start a family, Mrs. Hess focused on her interest in choreography. She received an invitation to participate in the Carlisle Project directed by Barbara Weisberger, founder of the Pennsylvania Ballet.  Her work with the project was showcased in Philadelphia and Aspen, Colorado. Mrs. Hess has created works for The San Antonio Symphony, Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet, Brigham Young University, West Texas State University, Ballet Theatre of Annapolis, Cumberland Dance Company, The Lonestar Ballet, Chamberlain Dance Company, and Lake Cities Ballet.  Recently two of her ballets were chosen by the judges at the Youth America Grand Prix to be performed at the New York Finals.

Currently Mrs. Hess freelances as a choreographer, ballet teacher, and competition coach.  She and her husband, Wayne Jones, are active in their community and church congregation, and the lives of their two adult sons and one wonderful daughter in law.

Staff

Office Manager/Director of Development and Operations

Rachel Stanley Warren, originally from Waynesboro, MS, found her love for ballet at 5 years old at The Ballet and Theatre Arts School in Gilbertown, Alabama.  There she received her foundation in ballet from Fred and Svetlana (Vasily) Kimbrough.  She continued her dancing throughout grade school and eventually joined The Laurel Ballet Academy in high school where she danced in several Nutcracker performances and other productions.  

Rachel carried her love for dance with her to college where she continued studying ballet at The University of Mississippi. While there, she received degrees in Management and Marketing and a minor in Accounting.  After graduating from Ole Miss, Rachel furthered her education at Millsaps College’s Else School of Management where she received an MBA with an emphasis in finance. 

Her previous work experiences include Hancock Bank, financial advisor at Prudential Securities and UBS PaineWebber, registered Investment associate at UBS Securities.  Rachel is married to Mitchell Warren and lives in Madison.  They have four children, Walker, Jackson, Katy Rix, and Stella.