Deborah Grebel, a graduate of the University of Alabama at Birmingham, is a former principal/soloist with the Alabama Ballet, University Ballet, Ballet UAB, Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre, Birmingham Ballet Theatre, Omni Dance Theatre and has performed as a guest artist with several companies in the southeast. She earned a B.A. in Dance and a MA.Ed. in Dance Physiology/Kinesiology, concentrating in the biomechanics of dance. Mrs. Grebel received her early training in Birmingham, Alabama; and later in Cannes, France at Rosella Hightower’s Centre de Danse Internationale, and at UAB under the direction of Stevan Grebel. Mrs. Grebel began teaching children in 1979 at the Briarwood Ballet School. She founded the North Jefferson Academy of Dance prior to entering graduate school. She was the principal instructor for UAB Youth Ballet for ten years, as well as adjunct professor of dance in UAB Department of Theatre and Dance; four years with Montgomery Ballet, and ten years as adjunct professor of dance at Birmingham-Southern College. Considered an expert in the field of biomechanics, she is also sought to coach and give instruction to gymnasts and ice skaters. At UAB, she performed under the direction of Frederick Franklin, National Ballet of Washington, D.C.; Edward Caton, New York; David Howard’s, New York; Paddy Toon of Pittsburgh; Joey Puglisi, New York; Fred Siretta; Marcus Alford; Zika Novkov, of the Novi-Sad Ballet Company in Yugoslavia; Nicholas Petrov of Pittsburgh Ballet, and Shamil Yagudin of the Bolshoi Ballet. Most recently, she performed with husband Stevan Grebel at the ODC Theatre in San Francisco in a modern ballet choreographed by Lea Wolf, "The Story of our Lives."