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Your September Roster Roundup: Dancers and Directors on the Move

September 4, 2024

The past few weeks have brought another exciting round of dancer career news—check out the latest farewells, appointments, promotions, and more in this month’s ballet roster roundup.

Promotions and Appointments

At Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, Célestin Boutin and Anya Nesvitaylo have been promoted to principal; Kiara DeNae Felder, Graeme Fuhrman, and Angel Vizcaíno to soloist; Aurora De Mori, Marcel Gutiérrez Morales, James Lyttle, Tetyana Martyanova, and Felixovich Morante to demi-soloist; and Tuesday Rain Leduc and Anaïs Roy to the corps de ballet.

Two black and white photos laid side-by side. On the left, Célestin Boutin reaches overhead to hold his left leg, bent in a steep attitude derriere line as he releves, facing profile. He hears nude-colored tight shorts. On the right, Anya Nesvitaylo wears a black leotard and practice tutu, her long dark hair flowing down, and she poses in a low attitude derriere on releve. She lifts up her arms, laying the left gently on top of the right, and uses epaulement in the epaule line to look off into the distance.
From left: Célestin Boutin and Anya Nesvitaylo. Photos by Sasha Onyshchenko, courtesy Les Grands Ballets Canadiens.

Tulsa Ballet’s Jonathan Beloli, Julia Crosby, Sumika Fujiwara, JooYoung Kwon, Fabian Raschitor, and Edward Truelove have been promoted to demi-soloist; and Alison Cervantes, Talisson Farias, and Ian Stocker to the corps.

At Milwaukee Ballet, Marie Harrison-Collins has been promoted to leading artist and second company dancer Nanaho Nakajima to company artist.

Ballet BC’s Eduardo Jiménez Cabrera, Emanuel Dostine, and Pei Lun Lai have been promoted to company artist.

Isabella Bertellotti and Audra Cockrell have been promoted to company dancer at Alabama Ballet.

Marie Harrison-Collins, dressed as Cinderella in a light gold tulle ballgown, does a penche on pointe as her partner, Josiah Cook supports her by holding her hands. He wears a gold and white prince's costume and lunges with Marie, his right leg in tendu a la seconde. Textured purple light fills the stage, and a corps of ball guests surround them in the background.
Marie Harrison-Collins and Josiah Cook in Cinderella. Photo by Rachel Malehorn, courtesy Milwaukee Ballet.

Oklahoma City Ballet apprentice Flannery Werner has been promoted to the corps. OKCB II dancers Kesler Colton, Rayan Dridi, and Rachel Kundzins have been promoted to apprentice.

Charlotte Ballet II’s Karsen Gresham ⁠has been promoted to the main company.

Stephen Gunter has been promoted to company artist at Ballet RI.

Georgia Ballet student trainees Maya Beck and Charlotte Reeves have been promoted to company artist.

On August 1, Demis Volpi succeeded John Neumeier as artistic director of the Hamburg Ballet.

Nikolaj Hübbe, who in May announced that he will step down at the conclusion of his contract in 2026, has taken an indefinite leave as artistic director of the Royal Danish Ballet. This decision coincides with an ongoing investigation into the RDB School’s environment and teaching practices. RDB ballet master and former principal Amy Watson has been appointed as interim director.

Kirsten Wicklund, a former dancer with Ballet BC and Opera Ballet Vlaanderen, will begin her new role as Ballet Edmonton’s artistic director for the 2024–25 season. She succeeds Wen Wei Wang, who led the company for six years.

Marco Goecke, whose directorship contract with Hanover State Opera’s ballet department was dissolved in 2023 for assaulting a dance critic, has been named the new ballet director of Theater Basel. He will succeed current director Adolphe Binder in summer 2025.

Slovak culture minister Martina Šimkovičová has reinstated Nina Poláková as the director of the Slovak National Theatre Ballet. Poláková was let go in July after dancers came forward with allegations of discriminatory and bullying behavior.

Eric Trope is the new artistic director of Lexington Ballet, which celebrates its 50th-anniversary year this season.

On August 1, Tallahassee Ballet welcomed new artistic director Meagan Helman and CEO Lauren Hernandez. Tyrone Brooks and Janet Pichard have transitioned into artistic advisor and CEO emeritus, respectively.

Kurt Froman has been appointed head of the men’s division at Pacific Northwest Ballet School. Nancy Crowley joins PNB as the family matinee rehearsal director, and former principal dancer Jonathan Porretta joins as a rehearsal director.

Joshua Bodden suspends mid-air in a sauté a la seconde, his right leg extended 90 degrees and his arms extended in a straight line with his shoulders, parallel to the stage floor. He wears a fitted white shirt, black tights, and white socks with white ballet shoes. The backdrop is a deep blue.
Joshua Bodden in George Balanchine’s The Four Temperaments. Photo by Brett Pruitt, courtesy Ballet Des Moines.

Ballet Des Moines has announced that Joshua Bodden will join as a rehearsal director for the 2024–25 season.

Alberta Ballet welcomes new rehearsal director Brian Waldrep, who retired from the stage in May and was most recently a soloist at Ballet West.

Alyssa Martin has been appointed artistic producer of creative action at National Ballet of Canada.

Choreographer Robert Binet has been appointed artistic director and co-CEO of Fall For Dance North, which runs September 26–October 6 this year in Toronto.

Farewells, New Arrivals, and Guestings

Scottish Ballet soloist Aisling Brangan has retired from the stage after 11 years with the company. She will pursue her postgraduate law diploma in London.

On August 3 and 4, respectively, Joburg Ballet bid farewell to longtime principals Nicole Ferreira-Dill and Shannon Glover.

Terminus Modern Ballet Theatre dancer, co-founder, and co-director Rachel Van Buskirk will take her final bow with the company in its Out of the Box: Series II program this September. 

Staatsballett Berlin welcomes new soloist Riho Sakamoto; group dancer Olmo Verbeeck Martínez; demi-soloist Andrea Marino; and corps members Barbara Andrade, Paulina Rosa Blum, and Inara Wheeler.

At Miami City Ballet, Katya Chernyshev, Antonia Deprey, Sujanya Dhillon, Guillermo Dominguez, Lucy Nevin, SarahAnne Perel, Natalia Scheinson, and Giselle Tiret join the corps.

Bayerisches Staatsballett’s Melissa Chapski and Sava Milojević join Oregon Ballet Theatre as a soloist and a company dancer, respectively. Cyrus Shaskan and Dominique Wendt also join as company dancers, and Nicholas Kosanovich-Ware and Karl Pil join as apprentices.

Evelina Godunova flies through the air in a saut de chat, suspended as if floating in front of a cloudy gray background. She wears a black leotard and pointe shoes, her dark hair slicked into a low bun.
Evelina Godunova. Photo by by Nickolas Mackay/Mackay Productions, courtesy Boston Ballet.

Boston Ballet welcomes Evelina Godunova as a soloist, and Sam Stampleman and Alexis Workowski as artists of the company.

Joey Dlearo and Troy Santulli will join Milwaukee Ballet as company artists for the 2024–25 season.

At Oklahoma City Ballet, Leonardo Celegato and Federico Ginetti join the corps.

Smuin Contemporary Ballet welcomes new dancers Dominic Barrett, Shania Rasmussen, Julia Gundzik, Jacopo Calvo, and AL Abraham.

Daniel Leger joins Les Grands Ballets Canadiens’ corps, and Éliane Jacques and Benjamin Poirier join as apprentices.

Four new dancers join BalletX for the upcoming season: Luca De-Poli, Mathis Joubert, Eileen Kim, and Minori Sakita.

Jacy Contreras joins Alabama Ballet as a company dancer; Carly Darnell, Horus Hudgins, Jenna Renfield, and Sofia Scalisi join as apprentices.

Brandon Lawrence lunges straight downstage, arms extended to the side, parallel to the floor. Behind him, Camille Bracher penchés on pointe, leaning across his shoulders to rest her arms on top of his. They are rehearsing in a brightly lit ballet studio.
Brandon Lawrence and Camille Bracher in rehearsal for Sir Kenneth MacMillan’s Concerto pas de deux. Photo by Magda Hoffman Photography, courtesy Cape Ballet Africa.

Maia Lee, Stephen Meyers, David Senti, Fuki Takahashi, and Adriana Wagenveld join Charlotte Ballet as first company dancers for the 2024–25 season.

Fletcher Barr joins Louisville Ballet as a company artist.

Ballet BC says hello to its new emerging artists: Nathan Bear, Imani Frazier, Joziah German, and Kelsey Lewis.

Uma Deming, Thomas Kingsbury, and Jonathan McCray Jr. join Carolina Ballet’s corps; Benjamin Brown, Daphne Little, Fiona McKiernan, and Cassidy Prince join as apprentices.

Styles Dykes joins Ballet RI as a company artist.

Nasrullah Abdur-Rahman joins Cincinnati Ballet as an apprentice.

Georgia Ballet welcomes new company artists Ruby Anderson, Marygrace Campbell, Madison Elizabeth Case, Rose Castell, Elaina Cordray, Bailey Goss, and Kyra Opdyke.

Ballett Zürich soloist Brandon Lawrence will perform as a guest artist in Cape Ballet Africa’s inaugural season, SALT, which runs September 21–28 in Cape Town, South Africa.

Awards and Recognitions

Houston Ballet soloist Eric Best is among four artists named 2024 Princess Grace Award winners in dance performance. American Ballet Theatre soloist Jake Roxander is one of three honoraria in the category.

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