 New
Jersey native
Adrienne Benz returns to BalletMet for her sixth season. Ms. Benz trained on full scholarship at Theatre Arts Dance Academy where she performed with Theatre Dance America training with Elaine Kudo and Buddy Balou. She has also studied three summers in New York City with American Ballet Theatre. She has performed at the International Contemporary Dance Festival in Poland. She has danced in the National Choreographers' Initiative for two summers. Some of Ms. Benz's favorite roles with the company include: Aurora in The Sleeping Beauty; Juliet in David Nixon's Romeo and Juliet; Mina in Dracula; The Chosen One in Doug Varone's Rite Of Spring, and Twyla Tharp's Sinatra Suite. Ms. Benz is honored to be a 2006 recipient of The Princess Grace Award for Dance.
 Originally
from Kansas City,
Jessica Brown received her training at American Dance Center under Kathy and Dennis Landsman as well as Paula Weber of UMKC. Ms. Brown performed in the RDA Honors Choreography Project at the 2002 International Ballet Competition and presented two pieces at the RDA Festival as an emerging choreographer. This is Ms. Brown's fourth season with BalletMet after dancing with the Company for one year as a trainee. Her favorite roles include Grown Up Clara in Gerard Charles' The Nutcracker, Fairy of Beauty in The Sleeping Beauty and Stanton Welch's Play and Blue. She also participated in the 2006 and 2008 Columbus Choreography Project.
 Olivia
Clark was born in Bellville, Ohio, and trained in the Pre-Professional Training Program of BalletMet Dance Academy, where she received the Lucy Porter Scholarship. Now in her eleventh season with BalletMet, Ms. Clark has danced professionally with Festival Ballet of Rhode Island and Nashville Ballet. She performed in 2006 in Bytom, Poland, as part of the International Contemporary Dance Festival. Her favorite roles include Mina in David Nixon's Dracula,
the Solo Girl in George
Balanchine's Rubies,
and performing Stanton
Welch's Play. Ms. Clark is married to Ballet Master Hisham Omardien and they have a daughter, Safiyyah.
 Jamie
Brianne Dee, a California native, returns to BalletMet for her seventh season. She received her training at the West Coast Conservatory of Ballet, American Ballet Theatre and Cleveland San Jose Ballet. Ms. Dee began her career with the American Repertory Ballet in New Jersey and has also danced with Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company and L.A. Chamber Dance. She has enjoyed dancing the title roles in Gerard Charles' Cinderella as well as The Sleeping Beauty. Other favorites include Odette in David Nixon's Swan Lake,
Walking Girl in George
Balanchine's Emeralds and Juliet in David Nixon's Romeo and Juliet.
 Jeffrey Diehl, a native of Davenport, Iowa, received his early training at the Houston Ballet Academy. He attended Northern Illinois University, where he earned a BFA in dance performance. Upon graduating from NIU, he danced with the Orlando Ballet under the artistic direction of Fernando Bujones from 2001 to 2003. He then went on to join the Louisville Ballet where he danced from 2003 to 2008. He has performed an array of works by such choreographers as Sir Fredrick Ashton, Mark Godden, Val Caniparoli, George Balanchine, Choo-San Goh, Andre Prokovsky, Paul Taylor, Robert North, Michael Vernon, Kathryn Posin, Helen Pickett, Fernando Bujones and Antony Tudor. He had the privilege of performing at the Kennedy Center in 1998 for the ACDFA 25th Anniversary Gala Concert. This is his first season with BalletMet.
 Ellie
Escosa, originally from Fort Wayne, Ind., received her dance training at the Fort Wayne Ballet and studied on scholarship at Hubbard Street Dance Chicago. She graduated summa cum laude with a BFA from Southern Methodist University in 2005. Ms. Escosa began her career with American Repertory Ballet where she danced in works by Graham Lustig, Twyla Tharp and Lauri Stallings and has also appeared as a guest artist with Las Cruces Chamber Ballet and the Fort Wayne Ballet. This is her third season with BalletMet.
 Lynorris
Evans began his training at Tri-Cities High School and Total Dance/Dancical Productions. He has been awarded scholarships to study at Jacob's Pillow, Ballet Divertimento, Lines Ballet, Dance Theater of Harlem and National Ballet School of Canada. In 2006, Mr. Evans graduated with honors from the Ailey/Fordham BFA Program in Dance where he was a recipient of the Liberace Scholarship. To date, he has performed works by world-renowned artists such as Merce Cunningham, Dwight Rhoden, Paul Taylor, Milton Myers and Ronald K. Brown. He has also performed as a member of Connecticut Ballet, Opus Dance Theater, Nilas Martins Dance Company and the Francesca Harper Project. Mr. Evans performed in Santa Fe Opera's 2007 production of Platee and Daphne.
Austin M.G. Finley began his dance training at age 3 in his hometown of Clearwater, Florida. At age 9 he discovered a passion for ballet while performing the role of the Prince in The Nutcracker with the Miami City Ballet. Mr. Finley received further ballet training under the tutelage of Lidia Fomina, Pavel Fomin, Suzanne Pomerantzeff, Sean Musselman, Mervet Elnabarawi, and Wagih Aboella. He continued his studies with Chautauqua Institute, Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre, Miami City Ballet, School of American Ballet, and American Ballet Theatre. Throughout his training he has appeared as a guest artist in numerous roles with various ballet companies. Mr. Finley competed in the Youth America Grand Prix Finals 2006 and was awarded a full scholarship to the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School at American Ballet Theatre in New York City where he trained for two and a half years with Franco De Vita prior to joining BalletMet.
 Emily
Gotschall is happy to be returning for her fourth season with BalletMet. A Columbus native, she received her training at the BalletMet Dance Academy where she was a member of the Professional Training Program and recipient of the Nancy Strause Scholarship. Ms. Gotschall has also performed with Terpsicorps Theatre of Dance in Asheville, N.C., and for seven seasons with Dayton Ballet prior to joining BalletMet. There, she performed many principal roles and was awarded the 2005 Josie Award for outstanding Concert Dancer. Some of Ms. Gotschall's favorite roles include Clara in The Nutcracker, Princess Florine in The Sleeping Beauty, Stanton Welch's Blue, KT Nelson's They've Lost Their Footing and Ophelia in Stephen Mills' Hamlet.
 Adam
Hundt, now in his fifth season with BalletMet, has danced as a member of Ballet Pacifica, American Repertory Ballet, and Hubbard Street 2, and as a guest with the Dominic Walsh Dance Theater. Mr. Hundt studied with San Francisco Ballet, BalletMet, Indiana University Ballet Department and Barbara Pontecorvo in his hometown of Dayton. In addition to teaching for the Lou Conte Dance Studio, Princeton Ballet School and BalletMet, he performed and taught for the International Contemporary Dance Festival in Poland and in Lithuania. Mr. Hundt interests also extend into choreography. He has choreographed for Ballet Pacifica and DanceWorks Chicago and in 2006 was a fellowship recipient from the Greater Columbus Arts Council's Columbus Choreography Project. He was a featured choreographer in BalletMet's 30x30 and Sports Spectacular. In 2007 he earned a Fellowship Initiative grant from the New York Choreographic Institute, an affiliate of New York City Ballet, to support the development of new choreography in a studio setting. His favorite roles include original pieces choreographed by Dwight Rhoden, Jodie Gates, Harrison McEldowney and Robert Battle.
 Dustin James began his dance training at the age of 11 at his middle school in Houston, TX. From there he went to the small studio Discovery Dance Group under the direction of Pamela Stockman. Mr. James furthered his training at the High School for the Performing and Visual Arts. While attending HSPVA, Mr. James began his formal ballet training at Ben Stevenson's Houston Ballet Academy. He trained at Houston Ballet for seven years and was a member of Houston Ballet II for two years. While at Houston Ballet, Mr. James was trained and coached by Claudio Munoz as well as Lazaro Carreno, Phillip Broomhead and Priscilla Nathan-Murphy. He has been fortunate enough to work with such choreographers as Stanton Welch and Tina Felhant. This is his first season with BalletMet.
 A
Florida native,
Bryan Jenkins
studied with Dance with
Distinction, an after
school program at The
Jacksonville University
under the directorship
of Jonathan Guise and
Christina Teauge from
2001 to 2003. In 2003,
Mr. Jenkins attended The
Harid Conservatory where
he received training
from Olivier Pardina,
Victoria Schneider and
Svetlana Osiyeva. Upon
graduating from Harid in
2004, Mr. Jenkins joined
Houston Ballet 2 where
he was trained and
coached by Claudio
Munoz, Lazaro Carreno
and Phillip Broomhead.
Mr. Jenkins received The
Most Improved Award
given to him by the
Houston Ballet's
artistic staff. In 2006
Mr. Jenkins was chosen
to set Stanton Welch's
Fingerprints on
the Cincinnati Ballet.
Mr. Jenkins has
performed numerous roles
in ballets such as
Birbanto in The Harid
Conservatory's Le
Corsaire, Stanton
Welch's Bruiser,
Martin Fredmann's A
Little Love pas de
deux, Paquita pas
de trois, Gopak and
Chinese in The Harid
Conservatory's The
Nutcracker, Stanton
Welch's Fingerprints
and Bluebird pas de deux.
 Jaime Kotrba grew up in Manton, Mich., and started her training with Betsy Carr at Dance Arts Academy in Traverse City. She continued her training at Interlochen Arts Academy under the direction of Sharon Randolph. After graduation she moved to New York to study with Dance Theatre of Harlem and joined the Dancing Through Barriers Ensemble. In 2004, she joined the Dance Theatre of Harlem company and toured nationally and internationally dancing works by George Balanchine, John Taras, Michael Smuin and Geoffrey Holder among others. She has also worked with Collage Dance Collective under the direction of Kevin Thomas and Viewpointe Dance with Helen Heinman. This is her second season with BalletMet.
 Samantha Lewis joins BalletMet for her first season after spending the previous season as a trainee. A Columbus native, Ms. Lewis began her training at BalletMet and is a graduate of the Professional Training Program. As a student, she was a recipient of the Daryl Kamer, Lucy Porter and Nancy Strause scholarships. Ms. Lewis has studied for two summers with American Ballet Theatre in New York City and as an apprentice with the Chautauqua Ballet.
 Annie
Mallonee, from Placerville, Calif., is in her fifth season with BalletMet after dancing with the company for one year as a trainee. Prior to joining the company, she trained on scholarship with BalletMet and was a recipient of the Lucy Porter Scholarship. She has also studied on scholarship with the Sacramento Ballet, Lines Ballet, and Idyllwild Arts Academy, where she graduated and was named Outstanding Dancer in 2003. Ms. Mallonee participated in the 2004 and 2006 Columbus Choreography Projects, and has appeared as a guest artist with Opera Columbus in 2003 and with ProMusica Chamber Orchestra in 2004.
 Christine
Mangia is happy to return to BalletMet for her eighth season. A native of Columbus, Ms. Mangia trained at Columbus Youth Ballet, Milwaukee Ballet School and Wright State University. She is a recipient of an Arts Achievement Award from WSU and the Josephine and Hermene Schwartz Award from Dayton Ballet where she began her professional career. She has been a guest teacher for New American Youth Ballet, New Albany Ballet Company, the Columbus Academy and Young People's Ballet Theatre. Some of Ms. Mangia's favorite roles with BalletMet have been Clara in The Nutcracker, Giselle in Giselle,
Liberty Bell in Stars
and Stripes, Lucy in Dracula, the pas de deux in Jimmy Orrante's Touch
and Harrison
McEldowney's Call It
Off, performed with former dancer and husband Justin Gibbs.
 Originally
from Charlotte, N.C.,
Bethany Manley returns to BalletMet for her fourth season after studying at Houston Ballet. She graduated from Houston Ballet in spring 2005 where she was a part of Houston Ballet II on full scholarship. While in Houston, she enjoyed working with such choreographers as Stanton Welch and Claudio Munoz. Last season, Ms. Manley enjoyed performing the role of Bonnie of the duo Bonnie and Clyde in Harrison McEldowney's Group Therapy Part Deux, as well as Puss in Boots and the Fairy of Beauty in Petipa's The Sleeping Beauty.
 Emma
Misner returns to BalletMet for her third season after studying with the company as a trainee for one season. Originally from Northern Virginia, Ms. Misner trained with the Center Dance Company in Arlington under the direction of Nancie Woods. She also studied at the Rock School and the Richmond Ballet on scholarship. In 2004, Ms. Misner won the Washington Post Music and Dance Scholarship Award for both artistic and academic excellence.
 Andrew Notarile hails from Cranford, NJ, where he began his training with New Jersey School of Ballet. He continued his studies at the School of American Ballet, Miami City Ballet and Chautauqua Dance Festival, all on full scholarship. As a dancer with American Repertory Ballet, Mr. Notarile's strong virtuosity was seen in the roles of Cavalier and Nutcracker Prince in Graham Lustig's The Nutcracker; the title role in Petruchka, and featured roles in Danzante, Octet and I (Heart) Kenji. His comedic timing was evident in the world premieres of Shadows in the Attic and Baker's Dozen. Additional lead roles include: Val Caniparoli's Suite and Lisa de Ribere's Starry Night. Mr. Notarile was invited by choreographer Richard Gibbs to participate in San Francisco's Third Annual "Choreographers and Friends." He is thrilled to be part of BalletMet and looking forward to an exciting premiere season.
 Jimmy Orrante is a recipient of a 2005 Princess Grace Choreography Award, one of the world's highest arts honors. Now in his fourteenth season with BalletMet, the Los Angeles native choreographed Ad Infinitum for 2007's Rendezvous at the Riffe, Touch as part of 2005's Rendezvous at
the Riffe and later
premiered Revelry
during the Dance
Metro program. Mr. Orrante attended the Los Angeles County High School for the Performing Arts under Don Hewitt as well as North Carolina School of the Arts. He has attended the International Summer Workshop in Budapest, Hungary; studied modern dance in London; danced with Memphis Ballet, Nevada Dance Theatre and Los Angeles Chamber Ballet, and taught at Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp in Michigan's Manistee National Forest, where he is now on faculty. A past recipient of the Violetta Boft Memorial Award, Mr. Orrante has performed as a guest artist with Dance Kaleidoscope in Los Angeles and Northern Ballet Theatre in England. He and his wife, former dancer Sonia Welker, have a young son, Isaac, and a daughter, Aiyana.
 Amanda
Phillips-Bosshart, a Connecticut native, began dancing at age three. She has studied at the School of the Hartford Ballet and has attended the American Ballet Theatre and the Exploring Ballet with Suzanne Farrell summer intensives. Ms. Phillips-Bosshart spent her senior year of high school as a trainee with the Hartford Ballet and, upon graduation, joined the Sarasota Ballet of Florida. As a member of the Company for four years, she danced numerous roles including the Black Swan in Swan Lake an the title role in Alberto Alonso's Carmen. She then went to study on scholarship at the Lou Conte Dance Studio, home of Hubbard Street Dance Chicago. Ms. Phillips-Bosshart has also taken part in the Northwest Professional Dance Project where she worked with Sarah Slipper, James Canfield, Luca Veggetti, Donald McKayle and Thaddeus Davis. As a member of BalletMet, she has danced as the Fairy of Grace in The Sleeping Beauty and one of the brides in Dracula. Ms. Phillips-Bosshart is thrilled to be returning to BalletMet for her third season and wishes to thank her family and friends for their endless love and support.
 Emily
Ramirez is thrilled to be in her fifth season with BalletMet after dancing with Houston Ballet II and the Sandra Organ Dance Company. Ms. Ramirez, who was born in Pasadena, Texas, studied at Houston's High School for the Performing Arts. She also received a full scholarship both to Adamson Ballet School and to Houston Ballet, where she choreographed a work on fellow students. Ms. Ramirez was a winner of the 2008 Columbus Choreography project. She participated in the Blue Lake Fine Arts Project this summer and toured through Europe performing the Don Quixote pas de deux. Her favorite roles include the lead woman in Bolero, Sugarplum Fairy in The Nutcracker and a Bride in Dracula.
 Jackson Prescott Sarver, returning for his fifth season, began his dance training at Nan Klinger's Excellence in Dance under Nan Klinger and Mia Klinger and performed with the Cuyahoga Valley Youth Ballet in Akron, working closely with choreographers Michael Vernon and Francis Patrelle. Mr. Sarver spent summers at the School of American Ballet, Chautauqua Dance Festival, Houston Ballet Academy and danced in Vevey, Switzerland. Graduating as valedictorian from high school in 2002, he was accepted to college at North Carolina School of the Arts (NCSA) and studied there from 2002-2004, with Warren Conover and Melissa Hayden. While working full time at BalletMet, Mr. Sarver compled his college coursework and, in July 2008, graduated from NCSA with a BFA in Dance. His favorite BalletMet roles include Jack Seward and Dracula in David Nixon's Dracula, Mercutio in Nixon's Romeo and Juliet, Carabosse in Gerard Charles' The Sleeping Beauty, duets Number 3 and Number 5 in James Kudelka's There, below, Fred Astaire in Harrison McEldowney's Group Therapy Part Deux, and Rat King in Charles' The Nutcracker. He thanks his family for their endless love and support.
 Gabriel Gaffney Smith, from Saugerties, New York, began dancing at the Saugerties Ballet Center. After studying in the Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre School Graduate Program, he joined the Company in 2005 as a corps de ballet member. Mr. Smith has also performed with River North Jazz Company in Chicago and Hisatomi Yoshiko Ballet in Japan. This is his first season with BalletMet.
 David Tlaiye was born in Puebla, Mexico, and began dancing at Myra Mier School of Ballet in New Orleans at age 11. He also studied at South Carolina Dance Conservatory's summer session and on scholarship at Houston Ballet Academy, where he won the Most Improved award in 2002. Now in his fifth season with BalletMet, Mr. Tlaiye danced previously with Bruce Wood Dance Company in Forth Worth, Texas, and Terpsicorps Theatre of Dance in Asheville, N.C.
Carrie West, born in California, received her training with the Sacramento Ballet as well as the San Francisco Ballet School, the School of American Ballet and the Houston Ballet Academy. Prior to joining BalletMet in 1998, she danced exclusively with the Sacramento Ballet. Ms. West's career as a principal dancer consists of many major classical ballets including Aurora in The Sleeping Beauty, Giselle, Odette/Odile in Swan Lake, Romeo and Juliet, Don Quixote and many more. She has also performed in numerous Balanchine and contemporary works and was the recipient of the Violetta Boft Memorial Award for Artistic Excellence in 2004. Ms. West has been teaching for several years while continuing to perform.
 Jeff
Wolfe, from Clearwater, Fla., attended Houston Ballet Academy for two years on scholarship and was accepted into Houston Ballet's second company. In addition to studying dance at the Pinellas County Center for the Arts, a performing arts high school, he trained at the Academy of Ballet Arts in Florida. Mr. Wolfe, now in his fourth season with BalletMet, has worked with renowned choreographers including Stanton Welch and Randy Duncan. He also attended the 2002 Youth America Grand Prix finals in New York.
 Hitomi
Yamada returns to BalletMet for her fifth season having danced as a member of Ballet Pacifica, James Sewell Ballet, Ballet Chicago, Ballet El Paso and Connecticut Ballet Theatre, and as a guest of the Dominic Walsh Dance Theater, Minnetonka Dance Theater and Chicago Festival Ballet. Born in Osaka, Japan, Ms. Yamada studied at Beijing Dance Academy and School of American Ballet, and was a participant in Terpsicorps Theatre of Dance in 2006 and the National Choreographers Initiatives in 2004 and 2005. Among her favorite roles are original parts choreographed on her in works such as Dominic Walsh's Lover Inter-fere
and Bello, Jodie
Gates'
Somewhere/In-Between,
Anne Marie DeAngelo's
Man in White Shirt
and Unknown Territory
by Choo-San Goh.
Trainees
Hilary Katzman, Tiffany Mori, Kerri Riccardi |
