About
Teachers
Avery Hand
From a very young age, Avery loved to dance and perform, and she began ballet at the age of 4. When she was 8, she joined Cambridge School of Ballet (CSO Ballet) (now City Beautiful Ballet) in Orlando, Florida, and participated in her very first “The Nutcracker.” Avery danced with CSO Ballet for 10 years, training in ballet, pointe, tap, lyrical, and jazz. At age 12, she joined the Junior Company and was honored to be a part of many memorable performance opportunities. Her favorite roles include Cinderella (“Cinderella”), Sugar Plum Fairy (“The Nutcracker”), Blue Bird Fairy (“Sleeping Beauty”), and Alice (“Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland”).
Avery studied at Liberty University, where she was a part of Divine Call Dance (DCD), a college ministry group that seeks to share the joy of worshiping God with dance through community performances and outreach. Avery served as co-captain of DCD from 2018–2019.
In 2020, Avery moved to Memphis to join the Children’s Ministry at Bellevue. She currently helps direct the ministries of KidVue, KidVue Worship, and CampOutrageous. Avery is so grateful to the Lord for allowing her these incredible opportunities to use her love of performing arts to share biblical truth with children. It is her deepest hope that through the ministry of Bellevue Ballet, young dancers will not only learn life lessons of grace, discipline, and teamwork but will, most importantly, grow in their understanding of God’s love for them and His uniquely beautiful plan for their lives.
Mary Claire Hamm
Mary Claire has lived in Memphis her whole life and was homeschooled through elementary school, middle school, and high school. She is a long-time Bellevue member and began ballet at the early age of 3. She began training at Ballet 5, 6, 7, 8 in East Memphis, and after finishing the early levels of dance, she continued her dance training at the Buckman Performing and Fine Arts Center.
Mary Claire received most of her training during ages 9 through 19 at Independent Presbyterian Church Ballet (IPC Ballet). There, she trained under a Christian-based teaching technique that allowed each girl to learn to use her talents to dance for the Lord.
Mary Claire’s goal is to relay that same love of dance to each ballet dancer she teaches so they can discover their abilities to worship and praise the Lord through their movements.
Mary Claire is currently a sophomore at the University of Memphis and is studying to earn her degree in early childhood education, with hopes to become a 1st grade teacher. She loves to spend her free time with her family, friends, and sorority sisters.
Gabby Gregory
Gabby began ballet lessons at the age of 4 and was classically trained at Ballet Memphis for nine years. She has performed in “The Nutcracker,” “Cinderella,” and “The Wizard of Oz” at the Orpheum Theatre.
Gabby grew up taking violin lessons at Bellevue’s School of Performing Arts and is now pursuing a career in music at the University of Memphis.
Gabby’s dedication to music and passion for dance are often intertwined. Her desire is to provide young girls with a firm foundation of ballet training and teach them to glorify the Lord through dance. “Praise him with the tambourine and dancing; praise him with strings and flutes!” Psalm 150:4 (NLT)
Yvette Lewis
Yvette Lewis began her ballet training with Nancy Sulik at Ballet Academy of Corpus Christi, Texas, performing in classical ballets including The Nutcracker, The Firebird, Cinderella, Coppélia, and La Fille Mal Gardée. At age 13, she began assisting with preschool dance classes under the mentorship of Mrs. Sulik and helped launch the Encore Performing Arts Outreach program in local schools to introduce children to the magic of music and dance.
At age 15, Mrs. Lewis moved with her family to live in Saudi Arabia, where she started ballet classes for the expatriate children in her community. She enjoyed teaching students from Canada, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, and India before returning to the U.S. for college. Mrs. Lewis graduated summa cum laude from Belhaven University in Jackson, Mississippi, with a degree in Elementary Education and a minor in Dance. While completing her degree, she taught at Ballet Magnificat School of the Arts and eventually rose to serve as director of the school’s Junior Company. Mrs. Lewis completed her student teaching at Wells APAC, an advanced academic and performing arts school in Jackson, Mississippi. She is certified to teach K-8 in both Mississippi and Tennessee, as well as K-12 in the areas of Dance, English, Literacy, and History.
Upon graduation, Mrs. Lewis joined the Belhaven University dance faculty as an adjunct professor, where she continued refining her skills as a teacher of the Vaganova ballet curriculum with freshman and sophomore students. Mrs. Lewis later left her role at Belhaven to help found a professional dance company in Jackson. As part of Polarity Dance Theater, she performed original ballet and modern works in local shows and on tour in the region, as well as in Times Square for Project Dance New York.
After marrying her husband, Brian, Mrs. Lewis chose to put her education degree to work in the classroom and taught for Jackson Public Schools until the birth of her first child. A mother of two sons, Mrs. Lewis has homeschooled her children since 2011. In 2014, Mrs. Lewis and her family relocated to the Memphis area, where she continued to teach ballet in Germantown. In January 2023, Mrs. Lewis joined the staff of the SPA ballet school as Program Director where she organizes curriculum, directs teacher training and development, and teaches the upper level extra classes.
Frances Fonville
Frances’ love for dance is rooted in artistry and musicality—transforming foundational steps and technique into beautiful expressions of emotion and storytelling. She was classically trained at Ballet Memphis School for 13 years under the direction of Janet Parke, Virginia Pilgrim Ramey, and Brandon Ramey. Frances’ earliest stage experiences were dancing student roles in Ballet Memphis’ presentation of “The Nutcracker” at the Orpheum Theatre, where she fell in love with performing.
At age 11, Frances joined Youth Ballet Memphis (YBM), the junior company of Ballet Memphis School. She developed strong pointe and partnering skills during her seven years in YBM, performing in numerous student productions that featured modern dance and both classical and contemporary ballet. Frances’ favorite pieces include Janet Parke’s “Awake My Soul” and “Paganini Variations,” Virginia Pilgrim Ramey’s “Escapades,” and excerpts from “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” During high school, Frances was honored to dance the title roles in two full-length story ballets, “Match Girl” and “The Not-So-Ordinary Princess.”
When she was 14, Frances was selected to dance with the professional company corps in Ballet Memphis’ presentation of “The Nutcracker.” Throughout high school, she continued to dance with the company in “The Nutcracker” and other large productions, including “Cinderella,” “Romeo and Juliet,” and “Paquita,” and she served as an understudy in George Balanchine’s “Concerto Barocco.”
Frances is delighted to share her love of dance with the students at Bellevue’s School of Performing Arts while she pursues a degree in nutrition and dietetics at the University of Memphis.
School of Performing Arts
Bellevue’s School of Performing Arts (SPA) is a place where excellence in fine arts education and devotion to Christ are combined to provide families with a distinctly Christian artistic community of learning.