We recently welcomed our new 17/18 dancers to our studios, where they and the rest of the company began rehearsals for our first performance of the season: Parallel Connections.
The group of seven dancers hail from all over the country. Meet them below.
Leiland Charles
Hometown: Columbia, Md.
Previously with: Alberta Ballet
Favorite meal: Ackee and codfish with Jamaican-fried dumplings
Surprising fact: I am half Jamaican and half Guyanese.
Claudia Fernandez
Hometown: Miami, Fla.
Previously with: Ballet de Santiago, Polaris Dance Theatre, Oregon Ballet Theatre
Favorite book: La Caverna de las Ideas by Jose Carlos Somoza
Favorite quote: “Happiness isn’t about getting what you want all the time, it’s about loving what you have and being grateful for it.”
Darian Kane
Hometown: Lincoln, Calif.
Previously with: BalletMet 2
If I weren’t dancing, I’d be… training to become a tattoo artist.
Favorite song: “Young Lust” by Pink Floyd
William Newton
Hometown: Columbus, Ohio
Previously with: Houston Ballet
Favorite roles: Dyad 1929 (Adam), Murmuration (Own Role), The Four Temperaments (Phlegmatic) Taming of the Shrew (Hortensio)
Jim Nowakowski
Hometown: Rochester, N.Y.
Previously with: Houston Ballet
Memorable career moment: Performing at New York City Center in 2007 at the YAGP Gala
Surprising fact: I was adopted at six months old.
Photo by Vikki Sloviter
Sean Rollofson
Hometown: Redmond, Wash.
Previously with: Pacific Northwest Ballet, City Ballet of San Diego
Favorite movie: Any of the classic animated Disney movies
If I weren’t dancing, I’d be… a marine biologist or a lawyer. Maybe both.
Photo by Stacy Ebstyne
Madeline Skelly
Hometown: Orlando, Fla.
Previously with: Houston Ballet
Memorable career moment: Working privately with William Forsythe on In the Middle, Somewhat Elevated