Faculty

Ian Thatcher
Artistic Director

Intermediate/Advanced Ballet

Ian Thatcher received his early dance education with The Washington School of Ballet. He is a graduate of Canada's National Ballet School (NBS), where he trained in Ceccheti and Vanganova methods. He has completed Cecchetti exams from Elementary to Advanced levels. While at Canada's NBS, he studied Bournonville, Men's Variations, Partnering, Character, Modern Dance and Flamenco.
Mr. Thatcher is a Certified Teacher with ABT's National Training Curriculum, Pre-Primary through Level 3. He also attended SUNY Empire State College, studying Dance and Dance Arts Administration. He taught for over ten years with two schools in New York, as well as guest teaching with LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing, Adelphi University and Rioult Dance NY.
After graduating from the National Ballet School of Canada, Mr. Thatcher apprenticed with the National Ballet of Canada. He danced with the San Francisco Ballet, Les Ballets de Monte Carlo and Pacific Northwest Ballet. He has performed soloist and principal roles and has danced major works by Jean-Christophe Maillot, George Balanchine, William Forsythe, Nacho Duato, Glen Tetley, David Bintley, Mark Morris and James Kudelka. In New York, he danced with Ballet NY, Viewpointe and the Metropolitan Opera for ten years.

Molly Daly
Associate Artistic Director

Intermediate/Advanced Ballet, Contemporary, Variations

Molly Daly is the Associate Artistic Director at Peoria Ballet. She is also a dance instructor at Illinois Wesleyan University. She is a certified teacher with ABT’s National Training Curriculum for Pre-Ballet to Level Three, and has an IM=X Pilates certification. She teaches multiple levels of ballet, as well as jazz and contemporary..
Ms. Daly has staged ballets for internationally acclaimed choreographer Septime Webre. She has set his work on Washington Ballet, Pittsburgh Ballet, Ballet Austin, Sacramento Ballet, Diablo Ballet, Dayton Ballet, and Aspen Santa Fe Ballet. She has co-choreographed a full-length Coppélia, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, and The Nutcracker for the Peoria Ballet. Her choreography has been performed by Peoria Ballet, American Repertory Ballet, and at various venues in New York City and Hartford. She has also co-choreographed for the Illinois Wesleyan University Faculty Choreographed Dance Concert.
Ms. Daly was a principal dancer in the American Repertory Ballet. She has also danced in Hartford Ballet, Ballet Michigan, Eglevsky Ballet, and as a scholarship student, performed with Pennsylvania Ballet. She has danced in major works by Septime Webre, George Balanchine, Paul Taylor, Antony Tudor, Alvin Ailey, Choo San Goh, Robert Joffrey, Kirk Peterson, and Kevin O’Day. Some of her favorite lead roles include Juliet (Romeo & Juliet), Odette/Odile (Swan Lake), Sugar Plum (Nutcracker), Balanchine’s Sanguinic (Four Temperaments), and Waltz Girl (Serenade). She has performed in the world-renowned Vail Dance Festival “International Principal Dancer’s Pas de Deux.” She was one of twelve principal dancers from around the world, where she danced three different pas de deux. The following year, the Vail Dance Festival asked her and her partner to perform Septime Webre’s Romeo and Juliet Balcony Pas de Deux for the grand opening of the Beaver Creek Theater. Ms. Daly trained on scholarship in the professional division at the Pennsylvania Ballet, and with the Milwaukee Ballet and San Francisco Ballet.