Guest Artists who have performed with
Colorado Youth Ballet include:
Stella Abrera of South Pasadena, California, began her studies with Philip and Charles Fuller and Cynthia Young at Le Studio in Pasadena. She also spent three years studying with Joan and Monica Halliday at the Halliday Dance Centre in Sydney, Australia. Prior to that she studied with Lorna Diamond and Patricia Hoffman at the West Coast Ballet Theatre in San Diego. Abrera joined American Ballet Theatre as a member of the corps de ballet in 1996. Her repertoire with ABT includes the Girl in Afternoon of a Faun, Calliope in Apollo, Gamzatti and a Shade in La Bayadère, Moss in Cinderella, Aurora in Coppélia, Gulnare and an Odalisque in Le Corsaire, Clair De Lune in Dancing with Monet, She Wore a Perfume in Dim Lustre, the woman in white in Diversion of Angels, Driad Queen and a Flower Girl in Don Quixote, Helena in The Dream, the first passerby in Fancy Free, Myrta and Zulma in Giselle, a principal role in Jabula, Lescaut's Mistress in Manon, the Sugar Plum Fairy and the Arabian Dance in The Nutcracker, Queen of the Carriage Trade in Offenbach in the Underworld, the Ballerina and a Gypsy in Petrouchka, the Polovtsian Princess in the Polovtsian Dances from Prince Igor, Henrietta, the White Lady and the lead Spanish Dancer in Raymonda, Lady Capulet and Rosaline in Romeo and Juliet, Princess Florine and Diamond in The Sleeping Beauty, the Hungarian Princess and the pas de trios in Swan Lake, Ceres in Sylvia, His Mistress in Weren't We Fools?, leading roles in Ballet Imperial, Concerto No. 1 for Piano and Orchestra, In The Upper Room, Meadow, Petite Mort, Sinfonietta, Les Sylphides, Symphonic Variations and workwithinwork and featured roles in Black Tuesday and Gong. Abrera created the roles of His Memory and His Experiences in HereAfter and a leading role in Pretty Good Year. Abrera received the Gold Medal at the Royal Academy of Dancing's Adeline Genée Awards in London in 1995. Abrera was appointed a Soloist in August 2001 and Principal Dancer in 2015. Stella Abrera is now the first Filipina-American Principal Dancer in the history of American Ballet Theatre.
Sascha Radetsky was born in Santa Cruz, California and began his ballet studies in the San Francisco Bay Area with Damara Bennett and Ayako Takahashi. At the age of 15, he was invited to study in Moscow at the Bolshoi Academy under world-renowned men's teacher Pytor Pestov. After a year in Russia, he studied on scholarship at the Kirov Academy in Washington, D. C. under Rudolph Kharatian and Andrei Garbouz. He toured with the Kirov Ballet throughout the United States and internationally. He also studied on scholarship at the summer programs of the School of American Ballet, American Ballet Theatre's School of Classical Ballet with Mikhail Baryshnikov, the San Francisco Ballet School and the Bolshoi Ballet Academy in Vail, Colorado. Radetsky joined American Ballet Theatre as an apprentice in 1995, became a member of the corps de ballet in 1996, was promoted soloist in 2003, and retired in 2014. His repertoire includes Lankendem and Birbanto in Le Corsaire, Benno and von Rothbart in Swan Lake, Act III, Espada and the lead gypsy in Don Quixote, the Head Fakir in La Bayadère, Bluebird in The Sleeping Beauty, Hilarion and the peasant pas de deux in Giselle, Orion in Sylvia, Cavalier and the Nutcracker-Prince in The Nutcracker, Petrouchka in Petrouchka, Bernard in Raymonda, Tybalt and Benvolio in Romeo and Juliet, the Head Fakir in La Bayadère, Hortensio in The Taming of the Shrew, the second sailor in Fancy Free, the Champion Roper in Rodeo, the Warrior Chieftain in Polovtsian Dances from Prince Igor, the third movement in Bruch Violin Concerto No. 1, the fourth movement in Symphony in C, the pas de deux in Jabula, the "Guitar" pas de deux from Within You Without You: A Tribute to George Harrison, and many others. He has danced the works of acclaimed choreographers such as Balanchine, Morris, Taylor, Lubovitch, MacMillan, Tharp, Tudor, Cranko, de Mille, Elo, Robbins, Reinking, Wheeldon, and Kylian. He is an original member of the troupe "Stiefel and Stars" and has been a frequent guest performer and teacher with ballet companies across the United States and abroad.
He has been a principal or guest principal with the Dutch National Ballet, Pacific Northwest Ballet, the Berlin Staatsballett, Ballet San Jose, Ballet do Theatro Municipal of Rio de Janeiro, and the Mongolian State Academic Theatre of Ballet. He has choreographed for Bucknell University’s Department of Theatre and Dance, and written for Vogue.com, Dance Magazine, Dance Spirit, Shinshokan Dance Magazine, and Newsweek.
Radetsky starred as Charlie in the movie Center Stage as well as in pop singer Mandy Moore's music video "I Wanna Be with You" from the Center Stage soundtrack. He has appeared in numerous television and print commercials as well as starring roles in the PBS movie Home at Last, in the NBC television series Midnight Caller, and appeared as a principal actor in the Starz television series, Flesh and Bone.
Scott Marble, originally from New Hampshire, started his classical training at the University of New Hampshire and the Boston School of Ballet. During his performing career, he was a member of Indianapolis Ballet Theatre in Indianapolis, Indiana; Ballet West in Salt Lake City, Utah; and Nevada Ballet Theatre in Las Vegas, New Mexico. Mr. Marble also appeared as a guest artist with the Seacoast Ballet in New Hampshire and the Alberta Ballet School in Edmonton, Canada. He has performed principal and soloist roles in Swan Lake, The Sleeping Beauty, Giselle, The Nutcracker, Cinderella as well as numerous contemporary and original works.
Peter Strand is retired from a 20 year career in dance and is happy to be back in his home town, Colorado Springs, dancing purely for the love of it. He has worked with such companies as Oakland Ballet, Minnesota Ballet, Lexington, and Connecticut Ballet. Internationally, he has worked on the MS Vistafjord as featured dancer, Crystal Cruises, and The Scotia Prince. Modern companies he has worked for include Micheal Mao Dance Company, Muna Tseng, Kim Robbards, and David Taylor. He has also choreographed in Rock Island, Illinois; Nashua, New Hampshire; Venice, Italy; St. George, Utah; NY, New York; and Lexington, Kentucky.
Lawrence Jackson is a graduate of both the University of Southern Mississippi where he received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree and Florida State University where he received a Master of Fine Arts degree. Lawrence has studied with many prominent dance professionals including Donald McKayle, Mary Hinkson, Cleo Parker Robinson, Suzanne Farrell, Dan Wagoner, Joel Hall, and others. Professionally, he devoted several years as a principal dancer with the internationally-known modern dance company, Cleo Parker Robinson Dance Ensemble. He has also performed as a guest artist in a variety of venues: on the concert stage, PBS television programs, industrials, dinner theatres, and summer dance intensives. In addition, he has also choreographed over 30 original works for the concert stage. As an instructor, he has taught and continues to guest teach and choreograph at various universities, academies and summer workshops throughout the U.S. and abroad. His professional training background of ballet, modern, jazz, and African are reflected in his choreography and classes. Mr. Jackson is a faculty member at the University of Wyoming, where he teaches all levels of Modern, Jazz, Repertory, Dance Composition, Partnering and has recently created a course on African American Dance Studies. His current interest of study is researching the relationship between sociology and dance.
David Sckolnik, since 1995, Mr. Sckolnik has taken an active role in the Pikes Peak Region's performing and visual arts scene and brings a lifetime of love for the arts to his efforts. He has been a writer and critic for the Colorado Springs Independent and Springs Magazine and in January 1997, started ArtsPeak for Southern Colorado. Through his own company, à la carte productions, Sckolnik works with numerous performing arts organizations as a consultant, program developer, publicist, and representative. For two seasons he was the Director of Marketing for the Colorado Springs Philharmonic. As a performer, David has spent long hours on the stage in drama, comedy, musical theatre, and opera. A classically trained baritone and actor, Sckolnik has performed with the Fine Arts Center's Repertory Theater Company. He also founded the very popular Thursday Night Recital Series at the Colorado Springs School.
Jacob Mora is artistic director of Moraporvida Contemporary Dance, a company of unique and talented individuals based on urban experiences and human emotions. As well as director of Porvida, Jacob teaches and choreographs using a unique blend of traditional and contemporary techniques that fuse modern, jazz, hip hop, poetry, and ethnic movements. Teaching around the country Jacob is currently on staff at the University of Wyoming as well as the New York Institute of Dance. As a solo dancer, Jacob has had the pleasure of working with many choreographers and companies including The Cleo Parker Robinson Dance Ensemble, David Taylor Dance Theatre, Toronto based Mohawk choreographer Santee Smith Group, Kaleidoscope Dance Theatre, Alaska Dance Theatre, and Hannah Khan Dance Co. As an ADF Scholarship Recipient, Jacob worked with Betty Jones, Nathan Trice, Lisa Race and performed the critically acclaimed piece "Subverse" with the David Dorfman Dance Co. Jacob has also had the pleasure of working with Master Choreographers such as Donald Mckayle, Milton Meyers, Betty Jones, Bill T Jones, Ron K Brown, and Eleo Pomare among many. As well as an accomplished stage performer, Jacob works as an actor and producer of video and film.
Lincoln Thomas is a software engineer and team lead for Hewlett-Packard Company. In the arts community, he is more often heard than seen. He moonlights as a substitute on-air host for KCME-FM, 88.7's classical music programming. He has provided voices for KCME Radio Theatre productions, and performs in the classical guitar quartet Colorado Springs Guitar Ensemble. He is as surprised as you that he is playing Tchaikovsky, having neither formal acting training nor significant experience beyond high school drama classes. Script author David Sckolnik remembered him from their KCME days together and offered him the role. Lincoln overcame his shyness and self-doubt (as Tchaikovsky did) and is now thoroughly enjoying bringing the master to life and watching the amazing Youth Ballet from his better-than-front-row seat during these performances.
Erik Bryan (Drosselmeyer) is well known to Southern Colorado audiences for his frequent leading role performances for Opera Theatre of the Rockies. This past February, he portrayed Papageno in Mozart's The Magic Flute. A baritone, Erik is equally at home on the musical theatre stage as was named "Best Actor in a Musical Role" by the Denver Post in their 2009 Ovation Awards for his performance as the Phantom in Candlelight Dinner Playhouse's Phantom. Erik is also the co-creator of the National Renaissance Festival act Charming & Dashing in which he plays the role of Sir Charles Dashing. Erik was born in C/S to magicians John and Michèle Bryan. His first steps on the stage were at the age of four when he joined his parents in their magic act. He continues in the family tradition: Erik is a master of illusion and sleight of hand.
Franklin Leo Bennett has worked with a variety of performing arts organizations in Colorado Springs. In Alleycat Theatrics, he made his acting debut as Ryan Evans in High School Musical. Bennett was cast in Aiming for the Stars, part of the Fine Arts Center Youth Rep program and other theatrical roles include: Luther Billis in South Pacific and Frederick in The Pirates of Penzance, both part of the Grammy award-winning Mesa Ridge High School Performing Arts Department. Bennett is a nine-season member and dance captain of the Colorado Springs Children's Chorale, which recently performed in Eric Whitacre's New York premiere of Paradise Lost: Shadows and Wings at Carnegie Hall.
Christophor Moulton, began his training with Rozanne David at the Dance Center of CS and continued his training with German Zamuel. He is a graduate of the Harid Conservatory in Florida. During his years at Harid, Moulton performed roles including Siegfried in Swan Lake and the lead in Balanchine’s Allegro Brillante. He also studied for a year at the Jacquelyn Kennedy Onassis School under Franco Devita. Moulton is a recipient of the 2007 Rudolph Nureyev Education Fellowship. He joined Colorado Ballet's Studio Company in 2009 and was promoted to Soloist this past season.
Hanna Atencio, began her ballet training in her hometown Nuremberg, Germany. Her final training years were in Berlin at the State Ballet School. During her last year of school she was invited to dance with Ballet Dortmund as a guest artist in Swan Lake. Upon graduation she received a contract at the Landesbuehnen Saxonia. In 2006, Hanna moved to Jackson, MS, to be a trainee with Ballet Magnificat!. She was promoted to dance with the Ballet Magnificat! Omega company where she performed and taught throughout the United States as well as internationally in Canada, Israel, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Germany, Kosovo, Macedonia, France, and Italy.
Matthew Helms, currently dances as a principal with Boulder Ballet under the direction of Ana Claire and Peter Davison. Matthew began his training in Colorado on full scholarship at the Academy of Classical Ballet, where he danced principal roles in The Nutcracker, Giselle, and Le Corsaire. Matthew competed in the 2008 Youth America Grand Prix and the 2008 Denver Ballet Guild Competition where he received a full scholarship to The Ballet West Academy in Salt Lake City, Utah. Matthew has been a guest artist with ballet companies in Utah, California, and Idaho; and for the last three years, has performed leading roles in several ballet classics. He choreographed a contemporary ballet that was premiered in the Ballet West Academy Spring show in 2009. Matthew was promoted to the Ballet West Pre-Professional Trainee Program in 2010. Matthew has studied martial arts since age three, has been acting since age four, and has appeared in movies, commercials and TV shows as an actor and a fight choreographer.
Stephen Wynne, (Drosselmeyer) is Artistic Director of Sangre de Cristo Ballet and School of Dance in Pueblo. A former dancer with Joffrey Ballet, Mr. Wynne spent 16 years overseas employed as a dancer in Europe at Scapino Ballet in Amsterdam, CH Tanz Theater in Zurich, Switzerland, and Tanz-Forum, the resident modern dance company at the Metropolitan Opera House in Cologne, Germany. Later in his career, Mr. Wynne began to choreograph and subsequently was awarded for his choreographic achievement from the German Cultural Department in October of 1993.
Caitlin Hopwood, began her dance studies at Ballet Society of Colorado Springs, and completed her training at Canada's National Ballet School. Upon graduating from NBS, Caitlin danced professionally with Tulsa Ballet. While at Tulsa Ballet and NBS, Caitlin performed in many ballets including Swan Lake, La Sylphide, The Nutcracker, Balanchine's Serenade, as well as many contemporary works. Caitlin currently owns her own business, Ballerina Boutique, and is a faculty member of Ballet Society. Caitlin enjoys offering her firsthand experience in the ballet world to her students and customers.
April M. Longo is originally from Johnson City, TN and is new to the Colorado Springs area. She most recently danced professionally with The Florida Ballet, performing principal roles such as Sugar Plum Fairy in The Nutcracker, Tatiana in Florida Ballet's Urban Dream and soloist roles in Paquita, Fairest of Them All, and other Florida Ballet exclusives. She has also danced professionally with Tulsa Ballet, under direction of Marcello Angelini, performing Balanchine's Serenade, as well as Swan Lake, Pas de Quatre, Les Sylphides, and contemporary choreography by Tulsa Ballet's Ma Cong. Prior to that, she danced with Kentucky Ballet Theatre, directed by Norbe Risco and earned her dual undergraduate degree on scholarship from Radford University in Virginia, with a B.F.A in Dance and a B.B.A in Business Management, graduating Summa Cum Laude in both.
Misha Izotov, Artistic Director of Premiere Ballet, is a ballet danseur trained in Ukraine. After graduating from the Ukraine Dance Academy in Kiev, he was invited to join the National Ballet and Opera Theatre in Donetsk, Ukraine, where he became a principal soloist. He immigrated to the United States in 2003 and began his American career with Colorado Ballet. He performed with Metropolitan Classical Ballet for three seasons while developing his reputation as a guest artist and teacher. As a freelance artist, he has performed with ballet companies across the United States including Ballet Concerto, Ballet Ensemble of Texas, Ballet Montana, and Peoria Ballet. He moved to Pueblo to direct the Sangre de Cristo Ballet. He is proud to now call Southern Colorado home and enjoys performing with his wife, Melian Izotova.
Melian Izotova trained with Fernando and Karen Schaffenburg and owes significant influence and thanks to Sallyann Mulcahy and Lauri Worrill-Biggs. She began her professional career with Metropolitan Classical Ballet, performing in both classic Russian ballets such as The Nutcracker and Spartacus, and Balanchine works including Agon, The Four Temperaments, and Concerto Barocco. She is a featured guest artist around the United States, dancing often with Ballet Concerto, Ballet San Antonio, and Allen Civic Ballet. In addition to freelance performing, Melian has been an instructor and ballet mistress at New World Ballet and Allen Civic Ballet. She is currently the ballerina of Premiere Ballet under the artistic leadership of her husband and favorite dancing partner.
Tessa Victoria has performed with the City Ballet of Houston, Houston Ballet, and Ballet West. She has attended summer programs at Boston Ballet, Pacific Northwest, Pennsylvania Ballet, and Houston Ballet. Tessa dances with Robert Sher-Machherndl's Lemon Sponge Cake Contemporary Ballet in Boulder, CO.
Dex Honea danced professionally for fifteen years with Canada's Royal Winnipeg Ballet, Milwaukee Ballet, Eugene Ballet Company, and The Sarasota Ballet. Dex has been teaching since 2004, and directed the Sarasota Ballet School for five years, until recently transitioning into professional photography. His duties as director included running The Sarasota Ballet School, The Margaret Barbieri Conservatory, and Dance The Next Generation outreach program for at risk youth. Dex specialized in teaching ballet technique, partnering and character classes. He has directed numerous successful summer intensives that included international students and teachers. As Education Director, he produced and directed all the shows, workshops, end of the year performances, outreach and master classes, adult program, and full school curriculum and syllabus. The Sarasota Ballet School won Best School at YAGP in 2015.
Kate Honea joined of Longboat Key, Florida, is a Principal dancer and Assistant Ballet Mistress at The Sarasota Ballet of Florida under the direction of Iain Webb. She is currently in her seventeenth season with the company, and has been part of The Sarasota Ballet since she started her training in the school in 1995. Kate trained at prestigious summer programs including School of American Ballet and American Ballet Theatre, and participated in Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre's pre-professional graduate program. She began her professional career with The Sarasota Ballet in 2002, and was promoted to Soloist in 2006, then to Principal in 2009. Kate has performed lead and featured roles by Sir Frederick Ashton, George Balanchine, Antony Tudor, Paul Taylor, Sir Kenneth MacMillan, Hans Van Manen, Christopher Wheeldon, Twyla Tharp, Matthew Bourne, Jerome Robbins and Martha Graham.
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Roles were created on Kate by Matthew Hart, Will Tuckett, Dominic Walsh, and Ricardo Graziano. Most recently, she guest performed in Alessandra Ferri: Art of the Pas de Deux in a gala at Michigan Opera Theatre. Kate also reprised her role the second year in a row as the Sugar Plum Fairy in Colorado Ballet Society's A Colorado Nutcracker in December 2018. In 2017, she danced the Lead Gypsy Girl with Marcelo Gomes in Ashton's The Two Pigeons. She has toured to The Kennedy Center with The Sarasota Ballet, as well as The City Center and The Joyce Theatre in New York City. She also toured to Marrakech, Morocco for the 2005 FIFA Congress performance, as well as through out Germany and Austria for the 2006 Best of Musical Tour. Kate also appeared in Susan Stroman's Contact in 2009. Kate has choreographed four works for the company, and has also been an instructor with the Sarasota Ballet School for twelve years, and a guest teacher at Colorado Ballet Society's Summer Intensive in 2017 and 2018.
Dana Benton was born in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada and at the age of 9, she was accepted to the National Ballet School in Toronto where she trained for eight years. Dana graduated from the National Ballet School with Honors in Academics and was awarded the Peter Dwyer Award for Excellence in Dance. Upon graduating in 2000, Dana received a contract with Alberta Ballet Company in Canada. She spent one year with the Company as an Apprentice. In 2001, she joined Colorado Ballet and she has performed many soloist and principal roles with the Company.
Yosvani Ramos was born in Camagüey, Cuba and trained at the National Ballet School. In 1998, he went on to dance with Jeune Ballet de France and Ballet de l'Opéra National de Paris. He joined English National Ballet as a Soloist in 1999 and was promoted to Senior Soloist in 2000, then Principal dancer in 2003 after his performance as Franz in Coppélia. He danced with ENB until 2008, when he joined The Australian Ballet as a Principal Artist, where he remained until April 2013. He spent several months guesting then joined the Cincinnati Ballet as Principal dancer in 2014. Yosvani joined Colorado Ballet in 2015 as a Principal dancer.
Yamil Maldonado studied with The Sarasota Ballet School with teachers Isabel and Javier Dubroc, Pavel Fomin and Wendy Johnson. He danced with Sarasota Ballet and Miami Classical Ballet and as guest artist with Brandon School of Dance Arts in the role of Basilio in Baryshinikov’s Don Quixote. In 2014 he won first place in the classical senior men’s division of the 2014 Youth American Grand Prix in Atlanta, Georgia, and in 2017 he competed in the Moscow International Ballet Competition. Yamil’s repertoire with the Eugene Ballet includes peasant pas in Giselle, the Bluebird in The Sleeping Beauty, Pulcinella in The Nutcracker and he was featured in Stephanie Martínez’s Wandering On and Suzanne Haag’s Look.
Colton West trained with Colorado Ballet Society as well as spending a year abroad studying at L’Academie de Danse Singapore under the direction of Jonathan Guillarme. He attended summer intensive programs at Pacific Northwest Ballet, Boston Ballet, Ballet Austin, American Ballet Theatre, The Paris Opera Ballet School, and The Rock School. Colton has participated in the International Concours de Grasse and Youth America Grand Prix. He has also danced as a guest artist with Jose Mateo Ballet Theatre and State Street Ballet and participated in their tour of China. Colton was previously a company member with Ballet Idaho. Last season, Colton performed as Hans in The Nutcracker as well as Puck in A Midsummer Night’s Dream.