Ruth C. Petrinovic

I grew up in Brazil (my father was Brazilian) where I received my early dance training. I graduated with a B.A. in Theatre and Art from Principia College in Illinois. After marrying, I lived in Chile where I danced for several years. I then moved to the United States where I received my initial teacher's training from Jo Anna Kneeland, which became the foundation for my teaching, using principles of kinesiology and anatomyas applied to dance.

Most recently I spent two years with Ballet Florida in West Palm Beach, as Academy Director, after having held the position of School and Training Director for the Richmond Ballet for eight years. Previously I was the Performance Director for Marin Ballet near San Francisco, California.

I was in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida for many years, first as Director of Imperial Studios, while simultaneously directing the Training and Research program at Harkness House for Ballet Arts in New York City. I then became Founder and Artistic Director of the Atlantic Foundation. During that period I held the position of Director of Ballet and Resident Choreographer for the Greater Miami Opera Association.

I have a long list of dancers who have trained with me, and who have performed with national and international companies, including American Ballet Theatre, Joffrey Ballet, San Francisco Ballet, Houston Ballet, Cleveland Ballet, Boston Ballet, Miami City Ballet, Geneva Ballet, Zurich Ballet, Dutch National Ballet, and Israel Ballet, and major musicals on Broadway and touring.

I have choreographed several ballets which have been presented in the areas where I worked. Included in my repertoire are full-length story ballets, along with shorter works suitable for very young audiences, such as "Peter and the Wolf", and "Scenes from Alice in Wonderland", which was performed for Elementary Schools throughout Palm Beach County.

Presently, I am retired from teaching in ballet schools, and hope to devote my energies to training teachers through residencies, workshops, or seminars. My work with classical ballet, along with a knowledge of kinesiology and anatomy as applied to dance, has been the basis of my training countless teachers.

Contact: MMELATENDU@aol.com

Scott Plank

Photo Used With Permission

Scott Plank spent two years on the Fox TV series “Melrose Place” playing the recurring character of Desert Storm veteran ‘Nick Reardon,’ a man the actor describes as “a highly explosive sociopath with a warped code of honor.”

As ‘Wiley Ferrell’ in his new one-hour syndicated action series “Air America” (debuting September 28th), he’s once again a military veteran, but this time out he’s a bit more well-adjusted. “Wiley works undercover for the U.S. Government’s office of Strategic Implementation (OSI) in Central America’s Costa Perdida region,” says Plank. “[He] is a highly trained, highly lethal ex-Navy SEAL who is an expert pilot and a master in the detonation and dismantling of high-tech devices.” Wiley and fellow Navy SEAL ‘Rio Arnett’ (Lorenzo Lamas) work undercover for Air America, a commuter airline service that flies anything, anywhere, anytime, to and from Costa Perdida, in the country of Buenaventura, where the Hotel Parador is the only luxury resort on a “lost coast” that has fallen on difficult times, due to increased guerilla activity, drug trafficking and an ineffective government.

Born in Washington D.C. and raised in Virginia and Florida, Plank was an exceptional football and baseball prospect during his school years, and he dreamed of becoming a professional athlete. But after an injury put an end to those dreams, he had to rethink his future.

He had always enjoyed making his fellow students laugh doing impressions, so he decided to enroll in the Broward County School of the Arts. At the age of 18 he received a partial scholarship to the North Carolina School of the Arts, where he trained in classical and modern dance.

After college, he auditioned for “A Chorus Line” when the show came through town and was hired. “I was an understudy for three monthes during a national tour and got my break when Michael Bennett saw me perform at a rehearsal,” remembers Plank. “I was ‘moved up to the line’ by the time we reached The Pantages Theatre in Los Angeles, at the age of 21.

Plank subsequently joined the show on Broadway and performed several roles including ‘The Dance Captain’ and ‘Al’ (whose wife couldn’t sing). He went on to dance in the Broadway production of “Dream Girls” and “Ginger Rogers’ Rockette Spectacular’” at Radio City Music Hall. Despite his success, he slowly grew frustrated with the limitations of expression allowed dancers and decided to re-focus on acting. He studied with actress/teachers Uta Hagen, Sondra Seacat and Elaine Aiken at the Strasberg Theatre Institute and was made a member of the famed Actors Studio in 1985.

In 1987, Plank relocated to Los Angeles to pursue a career in feature films and television. He went on to rack up an impressive list of small screen credits, including roles in the series “Miami Vice” (NBC), “Crime Story” (NBC), “The Marshall” (ABC), “Sons and Daughters” (CBS), “The Big Easy” (USA), and “Pacific Blue” (USA) and the telefilms “Terror in the Tower” (NBC), co-starring George Clooney, “Coed Call Girl” (CBS) co-starring Tori Spelling, and “Dying to Remember” (USA), co-starring Melissa Gilbert. Plank’s big screen credits include roles in “The ‘In’ Crowd” (d: Mark Rosenthall/1988), co-starring Donavan Leitch and Jennifer Runyon, “Pastime” (d: Robin B. Armstrong/1991), co-starring William Russ and Glen Plummer, and “Mr. Baseball” (d: Fred Schepisi/1992), starring Tom Selleck, “Saints and Sinners,” and “Marshall Law,” co-starring Jimmy Smits. Plank’s L.A. stage credits include roles in “G.R. Point,” co starring Craig Sheffer, “The Kindness of Women” written and directed by Sean Penn, and “Hurly Burly,” written and directed by David Rabe.

Contacts:
Agent: Paul Kohner, Inc. (Mark Scroggs) 310/550-1060
Management: Media Four (Pam Prince) 310/556-5445
Publicity: Cheryl J. Kagen P.R. (Cheryl Kagen) (918) 296-430

more info: http://us.imdb.com/Name?Plank,+Scott