2020_Nutcracker_Virtual_Program

SOLOISTS
Katerina De Lawyer is
excited to return for her third season at The Tallahassee Ballet. She began her training at Ballet Lubbock in 2008 performing in a variety of full length works including Sleeping Beauty, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Firebird, Cinderella, and The Nutcracker.
Throughout her training, she attending summer intensives at CPYB,
Kaastbaan, Boston Ballet, Alonzo King Line’s Ballet, Chautauqua,
River North Dance Theater, and Cincinnati Ballet. In 2012, Katerina
attended Texas Christian University and received her BFA in Ballet and
minor in Child Development, graduating cum laude. During her time at
TCU she performed many different classical works including Le Corsaire,
Paquita, Giselle, and Joffrey’s Birthday Variations. She also performed many contemporary dances featuring choreography by Susan Jaffe, Michael Bearden, and Willy Shives as well as many local choreographers. She also participated and performed at ACDA and at The Texas Dance Improvisational Festival. Katerina has received awards including Nordan Fine Art’s Scholarship, Excellence in Lighting Design, and given Honorable Mention for her choreography When They’re Not Watching.
After graduating, Katerina danced professionally with the Central Illinois Ballet as a com- pany member, teaching staff, and lighting designer. She performed soloist roles in Dracula, The Nutcracker, Romeo and Juliet, and Beauty and the Beast. While performing she also designed the lighting for The Nutcracker and Beauty and the Beast. In 2017, she joined the Tallahassee Ballet as a Corps de Ballet member. She performed in The Nutcracker and in Swan Lake as pas de quatre along with many additional contemporary works. During the summer of 2019, she performed for the Corps de Ballet Conference and then shortly after was promoted to Soloist Dancer.
Julia Doering is excited to be starting her fourth season at The Tallahassee Ballet as a Soloist. She received the Joyce Straub
Fausone Scholarship in 2018. She began her dance training at The Esther Center (now Ballet Palm Beach), under Colleen
Smith, dancing in various ballets, including The Nutcracker, Sleeping Beauty, Giselle, and A Midsummer’s Night Dream.
She attended Bak Middle School of the Arts and A.W.
Dreyfoos School of the Arts as a dance major, as well as studying under Jean-Hugues Feray. Julia
has attended Summer Intensives at The Harid Conservatory, Boston Ballet, and Ballet Palm Beach. After attending the Harid Conservatory’s
Summer Intensive in 2012, Julia was invited into the year-round training program, and graduated in 2015, after completing the three-year curriculum. She has had
the pleasure of performing Dulcinea in Don Quixote, George Balanchine’s Serenade, Flower Festival in Genzano, Satanella, Esmeralda, Paquita Pas de Trois, among others. Julia recently graduated from Florida State University majoring in Social Entrepreneur- ship and Humanities.
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SOLOISTS
Naomi Lebhar was a gymnast before training in ballet. She was selected by Ivanka Kirov
to compete nationally on the Rhythmic Gymnastics team at
SCATS Gymnastics in Huntington Beach, California. She went to Houston, TX, for the 2002 national Junior Olympic Championships where her team received the gold and silver medals, ranking them second overall.
After the Junior Olympics, Naomi began formal ballet training
at Huntington Academy of Dance, studying under Marnell Himes
and Judith Hawkesworth. She completed the Cecchetti exams for
Levels 3-6 and attended the Cecchetti USA summer dance intensives
in Sarasota, Florida, and Las Vegas (under full scholarship). There, she
had the opportunity to receive instruction from Trinette Singleton and
Kirk Peterson, and she was featured in a piece set by Trinette Singleton.
She continued ballet training in Tokyo, Japan, at the Kobayashi Noriko
Ballet Academy. There she studied under the Royal Academy of Dance (RAD) method and completed the Intermediate exam. While in Japan, Naomi had the opportunity to perform the White Cat from the third act of The Sleeping Beauty, Coppélia, and the ballet set to the opera Platée. After high school, Naomi was accepted into the Trainee program at Ballet Magnificat, based in Jackson Mississippi, where she performed in A Christmas Dream,
Snow Queen, and toured in the Jackson Metro area. Upon graduation, she taught ballet in Bangalore, India for a year. Naomi joined the Tallahassee Ballet in 2016. She is an American Ballet Theatre® (ABT) Pre-primary through Level 3 Certified Teacher. She has taught ballet and rhythmic gymnastics since 2012.
Christopher Miller
began performing
around the age of 10.
He attended the Florida
State University School of
Dance. He transferred from
the dance program at Santa Fe College
in Gainesville, Florida. Alongside ballet, Chris finds interest in many other forms of
performing. He has performed in musicals, such as
West Side Story, and even spent a year and a half in a hip hop crew called The Levitations. In the future, Chris sees himself using dance as a way to travel, meet new people, and gain new life experiences.
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CORPS DE BALLET
Elizabeth Brooks is entering into her 10th season with The Tallahassee Ballet. She
has trained under artistic directors Tyrone Brooks and Rick McCullough and ballet mistresses Meagan Helman and Lauren Hernandez. Elizabeth has performed numerous ballets. Some of her
favorites include Duke’s Place,
Rendezvous, Chaos, Sing Sing Sing and Retour. During the summers, Elizabeth has trained
with Kansas City Ballet, University of North Carolina School of the Arts, Ballet Austin, and Next Generation Ballet. She has also had the chance to perform the role as Clara in The Nutcracker, it is her first and favorite lead role with The Tallahassee Ballet. Elizabeth is a senior at Leon High School, and hopes to pursue her dance career far beyond her high school years.
Ellie Casteel is a Corps de Ballet
member who has danced with The Tallahassee Ballet Company for nine
seasons. Ellie has trained under Artistic Directors Tyrone Brooks and Rick McCullough and Tallahassee Ballet School Directors Meagan Helman and Lauren Hernandez. She has performed in The Tallahassee Ballet’s productions of An Evening of
Music and Dance, The Nutcracker, and Spring shows. Her favorite pieces performed are Jennifer Medina’s Grooveboxes and TTB’s rendition
of Swan Lake. She has attended summer intensives at Wake Forest University, University of North Carolina School of the Arts, American Ballet Theater Texas and North Carolina, and Orlando Ballet. Ellie is a senior at Maclay School and plans to attend college after graduation to continue her academic and artistic pursuits.
Support Tallahassee’s Ballet Company
The Tallahassee Ballet is a not-for-profit institution. It is through corporate partnerships with local businesses that The Tallahassee Ballet continues to expand our programming and successfully reach our goals of providing excellent training, discipline, direction and leadership for our community’s most talented young artists. For further information on how your company can contribute, please contact Carla DeLoach at 850-591-2271.
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CORPS DE BALLET
Conrad Channell is is pursuing a BFA in dance at Florida State University. His devotion to dance stems from his introduction to New Tampa Dance Theatre at the age of
10. After training in ballet, tap, jazz, modern, and hip hop that first year, Conrad moved to Kansas City,
Missouri, and continued his dance
education as a company member of
Heart of America Youth Ballet and
their performing group. For two years, Conrad shared
his enthusiasm of dance by teaching youth ballet classes
as an assistant instructor at Heart of America Dance Centre.
He trained with Kansas City Ballet, Manhattan Dance Project, Autie Miller
& Company, P&D School of Dance, Tremaine, NYCDA, and KAR. In past performances, Conrad was featured in DTT and HADC’s productions of
The Nutcracker, as well as original renditions of Cinderella and The Little Mermaid. Last year, Conrad performed in Caleb Mitchell’s Linked in Florida State University’s Evenings of Dance and trained with Texas Ballet Theater over the Summer. This year, Conrad performed in The Tallahassee Ballet’s An Evening of Music and Dance in pieces by choreographers Katy E. Cashin and Jennifer Medina as a member of the Corps De Ballet.
Rocky DeSpain began her dance career in Oklahoma at the Classical Ballet Academy where she studied ballet, contemporary, and modern dance from 2001-2013. During her time there, she performed at the London Olympics and the Lincoln Center Plaza in New York City. She attended Julia’s Academy of International Dance from 2011-2017, and performed with the Moscow Ballet while
at the academy. While attending Norman High School she was concurrently
enrolled in ballet classes at The University of Oklahoma. Rocky studied at the Oklahoma City Ballet School from 2014-2017. She was then offered a contract with the Oklahoma City Ballet and danced with them from 2017-2019.
Justin Santiague—This is Justin’s second year with The Tallahassee Ballet as a member of the Corp
de Ballet. Trained in contemporary dance,
Justin has performed in a variety of styles
from The Koresh Israeli Dance Company to Modern works at Broward College. At The Tallahassee Ballet, he has worked with choreographers such as Katy Cashin and Millicent Johnnie to create contemporary ballets. In
The Nutcracker, Justin has been cast as Chinese and The General—his dream is to perform lead Arabian.
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APPRENTICES
Eden Desotell Abby Ginn Reagan Hill Emma Iseman
Caroline Martell Emilia Minton Bella Rich Lillee Tang
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INTERMEDIATES
Anastasia Atayants Aileen Bae Logan Click Bailey Corrigan
Anna Iseman Morgan Manrique Malia Morton Adriana Ranjbari
Kayleigh Stuart JaShayla Swatts Katherine Zurko
JUNIORS
Blake Burns Helen Piris Arianna Spurlock
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THE TALLAHASSEE BALLET
2020-2021 donorS
honorary
prima: Kathryn Karrh Cashin; Jim and Lisa Graganella prinCipal: Nancy Carroll & Stuart Abbey; Adele Cunningham SoloiSt: Gregory & Kali Iseman; Katie Pernell
Len & Marcia Taliaferro
demi-SoloiSt
Barbara L. Aguirre Fred & Sarah Burns Blaine & Nancy Click Eden Desotell Chris & Alli Ginn Linda Ginn
Drs. Cory & Melanie Hill Carla Hutchinson The McFadden-Swatts
Family
Jimmy & Mia Minton
Joanna Piris
Jessica Ranjbari
Dr. Kenya Rich
Jonathan Waters
Khanty Xayabouth & Thomas Morton
CorpS de Ballet
Daniel & Shelby Augustyniak
Kasia Chodyla Betsy Couch Brooke Kennerly Trina Searcy Richard & Mary Thiry
apprentiCe
Larry Deeb
Dr. Thyria Greene-Ansley Myron & Judy Hayden Michelle Kazmer Hae Young Kim Jason & Jessica Spurlock Marjorie Turnbull
Susan vanHoeij Bill and Montse Webb
SuStaining patronS
Angela & Byron Burroughs Cindy Hamilton Katherine Hartsell Pamela Marsh Linda Neumayer Katie Pernell
Lori Danello Roberts Nancy Shank
As of 11-17-20


Laney Atchley Audrey Augustyniak Ella B. Augustyniak Juliana Brennan Charlotte Click Kendall Grace Crowell McKenzie Grace Dobak Leila Maria Doolin
Alexandria Engstrom- Sutton
Penelope Goodson Madison Heap Presley Hildebrand Eliza Horton Kendahl Chante Jenkins Kensley Cai Jenkins Katherine Johnson Blythe Lewis Molly Kate Newell
Lilly Pichard Doris Marie Roy Kaili Searcy Hayes Christine Smith Lily Stewart Lydia Scout Trent
petite patronS
EVERYTHING IN THE UNIVERSE HAS A RHYTHM,
—Maya Angelou
THE RHYTHM OF LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL
Tyrone Brooks, Artistic Director
NOFRET
EXPERIENCE
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