Artistic Director and Assistant Director
Kwang-Suk Choi & Sae-Young Kang
Choi was a former principal dancer with Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre and is currently part of the adjunct faculty at Point Park University. Choi is also the director of Seneca Valley’s Academy of Choice Dance Program, which has been established since 2012. With a total of 32 years of professional experience, he is one of the main instructors with his wife, a former professional ballerina with the National Ballet of Korea, Sae-Young Kang. At a young age, Kang was recognized for her talent and was recruited as 1 of 3 students to study abroad in Japan the year of 1988. Together they have successfully trained dancers to join prestigious ballet companies such as San Fransisco Ballet and Pacific Northwest Ballet as official company members and have also guided students to join renowned ballet schools around the world.
Our Team
Patricia Hohman
Patricia Hohman began her training at Pittsburgh Ballet House with Kwang-Suk Choi and Sae-Young Kang. She then attended the Kirov Academy of Ballet in Washington, D.C. on full scholarship. While with the Kirov, she was chosen to perform with the Mariinsky Ballet Theatre in their production of La Bayadère at the Kennedy Center. Patricia furthered her training at Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre's Graduate Program under Susan Jaffe. She then traveled to London to be a trainee of The English National Ballet under Viviana Durante. After formal choreography training, she participated in a composer collaboration project, performed at London's Royal Albert Hall. Patricia was a dancer and choreographer. She danced in the international GradPro competition held at the Royal Ballet, competing with a self-choreographed contemporary piece in addition to her classical work. She qualified for the Final Round at Elmhurst Ballet in Birmingham, England, and was the first ever American finalist. Patricia is also a 2x YAGP Finalist. In London, Patricia had the opportunity to work with choreographers including Katarzyna Kozielska, Mauro de Candia, Kristina Paulin, and Dickson Mbi. She completed her training at the Classical Dance Academy of Pittsburgh under Christopher Fellows. She is passionate about sharing her love of music and movement through teaching and choreography, with experience working with dancers of all ages.
Emily McGoey
Emily McGoey began her training at Pittsburgh Ballet House under the direction of Kwang-suk Choi and Sae-young Kang. She has attended summer intensives at the Chatauqua Institute, Bolshoi Ballet, Houston Ballet, and Texas Ballet Theater. In 2017, she joined Texas Ballet Theater’s Professional Division, now Studio Training Company. While there, Ms McGoey had many opportunities to perform with the company and work with artistic director, Ben Stevenson OBE. Her repertoire includes Ben Stevenson’s The Nutcracker, Swan Lake, and Glazunov, as well as Marius Petipa’s Paquita, and Tim O’Keefe’s Peter and the Wolf. She also performed contemporary works by Andre Silva, Carl Coomer, Jiyan Dai, and Hailey Von Schlehenried. Ms McGoey then went on to join Columbia Classical Ballet in 2019, as a member of their Corps de Ballet. While there she performed in Radenko Pavlovich’s Coppelia and The Nutcracker. Emily is also a certified Progressing Ballet Technique instructor.