2010-2011 Company Dancers

Guest Artists    Principal Dancers  Soloists  Senior Dancers    First Year Senior Dancers    Apprentice    Auxilliary    Demi-Charactre Dancers

Guest Artists

Lavinia Reid 
Guest Choreographer.  Danced with the Rainbow Arts Co., Saga Ambegaoker and Dancers, and others.  Studied at the Boston School or Ballet with Tatiana Baboushkina, Boston Conservatory, American Ballet Cent, Ballet Center of Ithaca, and Village.  Choreographer and costume designer for companies in Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Texas, and the District of Columbia.  Awarded scholarship to National Craft of Choreography Conference and a residency at the Carlisle Project, funded by the Ford Foundation.  Former faculty member, Ballet Center of Ithaca and the Seneca School of Ballet (Dundee, NY).  Currently artistic director of the Chambersburg Youth Ballet in Pennsylvania and teaches ballet at Willson College in Shippensburg.

Johann Studier 
Resident Guest Dancer.  Born in Naples Italy.  Ballet training from the Houston Ballet, San Francisco Ballet School, Marin Ballet School, and Marin Ballet Company.  Danced for three seasons with the Houston Ballet under Director Ben Stevenson.  Has appeared as resident guest artist at the Ithaca Ballet since 2003, appearing as Cavalier in The Nutcracker, Tybalt in Rafael Grigorian's Romeo and Juliet, the lead role in Bonnie Valant-Spaight's Sentimental Journey, as well as Larry Brantley's Breugelscape and Wintersong. Mr. Studier also teaches the Men and Boys class at the Ballet Center of Ithaca.

 

Byron Suber

 


Principal Dancers

Teresa Lynn
Born:  Columbia, MO. Teresa has been dancing at the Ballet Center of Ithaca for 16 years and has been an Ithaca Ballet company member for 10. Previous roles include Coffee, Snow Queen and Dew Drop in The Nutcracker, Love in Haunted House, a Willi in Giselle and Helena in Midsummer Night’s Dream. She has Summer Intensive experience at the BalletMet, Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet and the Rock School. She is currently majoring in Nursing at TC3 and will graduate in 2013. 

Nora DeMott Grady

  Born: Ithaca, NY.  Nora has danced at Ballet Center of Ithaca since the age of six and has been an Ithaca Ballet company member for 6 years. Nora has performed in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Nutcracker, La Bayadere, Tilyou’s Revenge, Swan Lake and Raymonda. Summer study at the Ithaca Ballet. She is currently a student at TC3.       

Soloists

Katarina Dvorak
Born: Ithaca, NY. Katarina has been dancing at the Ballet Center for 12 years and has been an Ithaca Ballet company member for 6 seasons. Noteworthy roles include Chocolate, Marzipan, Clara and demi-soloist, Waltz of the Flowers in The Nutcracker, Little Swan in Swan Lake and Fairy of the Crystal Fountain and Jewels in Sleeping Beauty and Jupiter. Summer studies include the National Ballet School of Canada and the Ithaca Ballet. She will graduate from Lehman Alternative Community School in 2012.

Catherine Branche

Born:  San Jose, CA. Catherine has been dancing at the Ballet Center for 4 years and has been an Ithaca Ballet company member for those 4 years. Previous roles include Jester in Cinderella, 1st Corps Snow and Candy Cane side in The Nutcracker and a Willi in Giselle. She is majoring in Entrepreneurship at TC3 and will graduate in 2014.

Senior Company Dancers

Gabrielle Branche

 Born:  San Jose, CA. Gabrielle has been dancing at the Ballet Center for 5 years and has been a company member for 4 of those years. Previous roles include Party Teen, Tea side in The Nutcracker, Waltz and Vision Corps in Sleeping Beauty and Danse d’Enfants in Ramonda. Summer intensive experience includes Next Generation Ballet, Ballet Magnificat! and the Ithaca Ballet. She will graduate from homeschool in 2013.

Sylvie Finn

Born: Montour Falls, NY. This is Sylvie’s eleventh year dancing with the Ballet Center of Ithaca and she has been a company member for 3 years.  Previous roles include side Tea, Waltz of the Flowers in The Nutcracker and demi-waltz in The Sleeping Beauty. Summer experience includes the Ithaca Ballet. She will graduate from Ithaca High School in 2014.

Prisca Hoffstaetter

Born:  Hamburg,Germany. Prisca has danced at the Ballet Center for 8 years and this is her fourth year in the company. Summer intensive experience has been at the Ithaca Ballet. She will graduate from Ithaca High School in 2014.

Alta Millar
Born: DE. Alta has been dancing at the Ballet Center since age 8 and has been a company member for 2 years. Previous roles include 2nd corps Snow, Lieutenant Mouse, Rosebud and Party Child in The Nutcracker. Summer experience includes the Saratoga Summer Dance Intensive. Alta will graduate from Lehman Alternative High School in 2015. 
James Potter
Born: Ithaca, NY. James has danced for 5 years and this is his first year as an Ithaca Ballet company member. Previous roles include the Prince in The Nutcracker, wolf in Sleeping Beauty and Peter in Peter and the Wolf. Summer intensive experience includes the Ithaca Ballet and Canada’s National Ballet School. He will graduate from Lehman Alternative High School in 2015.
 

Bridget Schmidt

Born: Binghamton, NY. Bridget has danced at the Ballet Center for 12 years and has been a member of the company for 2 years. Previous roles include Snow and Mother Ginger in The Nutcracker. Summer intensive experience has been with the Ithaca Ballet. She will graduate from Dryden High School in 2014.

Keara Soloway

Born: Buffalo, NY.  Keara has been dancing at the Ballet Center for 8 years and has been a company member for 3 seasons. Previous roles include Harlequin and Candy Cane side in The Nutcracker. Summer intensive experiences include Ithaca Ballet and Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet. She will graduate from Ithaca High School in 2013.

Apprentice Dancers

Standing, L to R: Ruby Williams, Callie Kaplan-Wright, Kyiah Steel
Kneeling, L to R:  Claire Derry, Sarah Strauss, Frida Brown.

Auxilliary Company Dancers

Standing:   Alexa Wnorowski
Middle row, L to R:   Aurora MacNeill, Emily Healy
Seated on floor, L to R:   Rebecca Roberts, Maggie Sawyer


 

Demi-Charactre Dancers

Allen MacNeill

Born in Homer, NY.  Trained in Shakespearean theater and contemporary dance.  Performed in many venues, including a one-man show Off-Broadway called An Evening with Charles Darwin.  Has also performed with the Kitchen Theater in Ithaca and danced many roles with the Ithaca Ballet inlcuing Dr. Drosselmeyer in Nutcracker.
Tom McHugh

Born in Milburn, NJ.  Studied with Golbert Reed and Kent Stowell at Indiana University.  First appeared with the Ithaca Ballet in 1998.  Roles include:  Mouse King in Nutcracker; Ugly Stepsister and Courtier in Cinderella; and Queen of Hearts and Mad Hatter in Alice and Wonderland.
Melissa Schmidt

Born: Ithaca NY. Melissa was an apprentice and senior dancer with the Ithaca Ballet form 1985-’89. From 1989-93, she performed with dance groups at Boston College and Binghamton University. In 1998, she began performing again with the Ithaca Ballet. Recent roles have included: Clara’s mother, Lady Capulet and the wicked stepmother. She received her PhD in rural nursing at Binghamton University in 2009. She is an associate professor in the nursing program at Tompkins Cortland Community College.