These 6 Major Companies Have Promoted a Slew of Dancers
Promotions season is well underway. Earlier this spring we covered exciting changes at Boston Ballet and Pennsylvania Ballet; now we’re back with news from six more companies—English National Ballet, San Francisco Ballet, National Ballet of Canada, Miami City Ballet, Ballet West and Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre. (Stay tuned throughout the summer as additional companies release their updated rosters.) Here’s who’s doing a happy dance.
Rina Kanehara in “The Nutcracker.” Photo Courtesy ENB.
English National Ballet
American Ballet Theatre principal Jeffrey Cirio will be joining ENB as a lead principal for the 2018–19 season. Cirio had guested with the company a number of times over the past year, but now he’s making his position official.
National Ballet of Canada’s Francesco Gabriele Frola and Emma Hawes will join ENB as principal and first soloist respectively, while remaining members of NBoC.
ENB is also promoting from within: James Streeter is now a first soloist, and Rina Kanehara is a soloist. Henry Dowden, Sarah Kundi and Jia Zhang have been promoted to first artist, and Fernando Carratalá Coloma is now a fourth year artist of the company. New artists include Prix de Lausanne prize winners Shale Wagman, Miguel Angel Maidana and Carolyne Galval as well as Breanna Foad, Josue Moreno Lagarda, Rentaro Nakaaki, Maria Del Mar Bonet Sans, Rebecca Blenkinsopp and Ivana Buena.
Wei Wang in Val Caniparoli’s “Lambarena.” Photo by Erik Tomasson, Courtesy SFB.
San Francisco Ballet
SFB recently announced 10 promotions as well as four new company members. Soloist Wei Wang was promoted to principal mid-season, immediately after a performance of Jerome Robbins’ Other Dances. Since arriving at the SFB School in 2011, Wang has quickly risen through the ranks.
SFB has also promoted corps dancers Benjamin Freemantle, Wona Park, Elizabeth Powell, Henry Sidford and Lonnie Weeks to soloist, and apprentices Ethan Chudnow, Anatalia Hordov, Carmela Mayo and Swane Messaoudi to the corps de ballet. Of the dancers new to SFB, Vladislav Kozlov joins as a soloist, and Cavan Conley, Lucas Erni, and Nicolai Gorodiskii join the corps.
Skylar Campbell. Photo by Karolina Kuras, Courtesy NBoC.
National Ballet of Canada
Earlier this week, NBoC announced that Skylar Campbell and Francesco Gabriele Frola will be promoted to principal. Cambell, a California native, recently danced in the world premiere of Frame by Frame and created the title role in Will Tuckett’s brand-new Pinnochio last season. Italian-born Frola is best known for regal roles like Albrecht and Prince Florimund. NBoC also promoted Jack Bertinshaw to first soloist and Christopher Gerty, Spencer Hack and Miyoko Koyasu to second soloist. Brenna Flaherty, Hannah Galway, Larkin Miller, Teagan Richman-Taylor and Alexander Skinner join the corps de ballet from the the company’s apprentice program.
Samantha Hope Galler in “Carousel Pas de Deux.” Photo Courtesy MCB.
Miami City Ballet
Exciting updates at MCB include the return of principal Jeannette Delgado after a one-year leave of absence, and the promotion of Samantha Hope Galler to soloist. Galler has been with the company since 2014, and recently excelled in a number of Robbins ballets including The Cage, In the Night and more.
MCB also welcomes five new dancers into its corps: Gustavo Ribeiro joins from Kansas City Ballet, Madison McDonough from Los Angeles Ballet and Nina Fernandes from Houston Ballet. Satoki Habuchi and Petra Love are both recent graduates of Miami City Ballet School.
Katlyn Addison with Artists of Ballet West. Photo by Beau Pearson, Courtesy Ballet West.
Ballet West
Ballet West has promoted six dancers for the upcoming season: Soloists Katlyn Addison and Tyler Gum will becomefirst soloists, and Chelsea Keefer and Jordan Veit will graduate from demi-soloist to soloist. Corps artists Emily Neale and Hadriel Diniz will become demi-soloists. Supplemental artist Amber Miller becomes a full-time corps artists, and David Huffmire will join the corps from Ballet West’s second company.
This season also marks two retirements: Senior corps artist Elizabeth Weldon will leave the company after nine years, and first soloist Beau Pearson will step down to join the staff as a videographer and photographer.
JoAnna Schmidt in “The Nutcracker.” Photo by Rich Sofranko, Courtesy PBT.
Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre
Earlier in the spring, PBT announced that the promotion of three new soloists: Masahiro Haneji, William Moore and JoAnna Schmidt. Moore and Schmidt both tried their hand at choreography in March as part of PBT’s New Works program. Two beloved dancers are also leaving the company. Soloist Alexandre Silva retired at the end of the 2017–18 season, and principal Julia Erickson will give her final performance with the company in October.
