Kristen trained in ballet for over 20 years starting at the age of four.  She is originally from the United States of America with her hometown in Findlay, Ohio. There she studied under Judy Schoaff Reading for 10 years at Dance Unlimited and Findlay Academy of Ballet and attended various summer intensives in the region. She continued her training at Mercyhurst University and received a Bachelor of Arts in Dance in 2012. Since then, she has gained several years of experience teaching ballet to a wide variety of ages across three continents. Most recently, Kristen performed as Maria in TurnOut Ballet’s production of The Sound of Music. She is also now a member of the Dance Academy of South Africa (DASA).

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Kristen met her now husband, Marlon, in Fort Wayne, Indiana, USA in 2013 while he was studying there on an exchange program from Germany. They married in 2014 in Wittenberg, South Africa and then moved to Germany for two years while Marlon finished his theology studies. After he finished, they moved back to South Africa where Marlon now serves as pastor of Evangelical Lutheran Salem Congregation Uelzen just outside of Dundee. They have a daughter and two sons, Maira, Raiko, and Holden.

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Kristen is excited to continue developing the local ballet community and hopes to help our students shine on the stage and in their everyday lives!

Marlon grew up on his family’s farm near the Mahamba border post outside Piet Retief. He went to Wittenberg Primary School and Piet Retief High School. After high school, he first pursued a degree in Mechanical Engineering, but then switched his field of study at the University of Pretoria and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Biblical Languages and Philosophy. His goal was then to complete his theological education at the Lutheran Theological Seminary in Oberursel, Germany. During his studies, he participated in the exchange student program to Concordia Theological Seminary in Fort Wayne, Indiana, USA where he met his wife Kristen. After being married in August 2014, they moved to Oberursel for Marlon to finish his education. Upon returning to South Africa, he served as vicar at St. Peter’s Congregation in Durban and was then ordained to the Holy Ministry at St. Peter’s on 21 January 2018. Since then, he has served as pastor of Evangelical Lutheran Salem Congregation Uelzen.

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While still a novice in the ballet world, Marlon has had a crash course in ballet from his wife and performing experience as the Captain in 2021’s The Sound of Music ballet. Since the Covid lockdowns, he has also acquired various useful skills such as videography, video editing, and other technical skills that have added to TurnOut Ballet’s performances in the last year.

Maricel has been dancing ever since she was three years old, at the local TurnOut Ballet Studio, and has always had a passion for the classical sport. She has lived in Dundee for most of her life, and has always adored the end of year concerts in which every dancer gets to perform and show off their hard work.

Aside from the ballet world, she also enjoys doing other activities such as painting, reading and writing.

She hopes to travel to other cities and countries one day when she's older and perhaps even become a professional dancer for other companies across the world. Her determination for always trying to perfect her skill and become a better dancer has always burned brightly, and she hopes to inspire other dancers and people to show that all things are possible.