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Your December Roster Roundup: Dancers and Directors on the Move

December 3, 2025

As we approach the new year, the past few weeks have brought another exciting round of ballet career news. Check out the latest farewells, appointments, promotions, and more in your December 2025 roster roundup.

Promotions and Appointments

The Dutch National Ballet’s Salome Leverashvili was promoted to principal following her performance as Juliet in Rudi van Dantzig’s Romeo and Juliet on November 11.

Pacific Northwest Ballet has announced six promotions: Christopher D’Ariano and Clara Ruf Maldonado to principal; and Ashton Edwards, Mark Cuddihee, Juliet Prine, and Yuki Takahashi to soloist.

Two photos side-by-side. On the left: Clara Ruf-Maldonado poses on a right diagonal in right attitude back in a lavander tutu with her right arm extended side and her left arm bent on a upper diagonal with her hand next to her cheek. On the left: Christopher D'Ariano poses mid-air with his ankles crossed so his legs make a diamond shape. He pushes forward with his arms, palms flat and turned away from him as he peers through the space between them. He wears long light blue tights that come up mid-torso, with suspenders.
From left: Clara Ruf-Maldonado; photo by Angela Sterling. Christopher D’Ariano; photo by Angela Sterling, courtesy Pacific Northwest Ballet.

Four graduates from The Australian Ballet School will join the company as corps members: Estelle Crompton-Lamb, Natalie Henry, Stephanie McQuire, and Bronte Mollison.

At Milwaukee Ballet, Carly Jones has moved up from Milwaukee Ballet II to the main company.

Duncan Barlow was promoted to soloist on the opening night of Ballet Tucson’s Magic in the Moonlight program.

As of November 2025, Samantha Dunster has been appointed artistic director of American Repertory Ballet and Princeton Ballet School. Dunster, who joined the organization as director of artistic operations for the 2024–25 season, will work alongside artist in residence Ethan Stiefel, artistic associate Gillian Murphy, and assistant rehearsal director Nanako Yamamoto.

Farewells and New Arrivals

New York Theatre Ballet has announced that its artistic director, Steven Melendez, will be transitioning out of his role to focus on his health, according to a company press release. The NYTB board will launch a search for a new artistic director in the coming weeks.

Gary Avis, longtime principal character artist and senior répétiteur with The Royal Ballet, has announced his retirement.

On October 30, Claudia Mota, longtime principal with the ballet company of the Theatro Municipal do Rio de Janeiro, said farewell to the stage.

On a dark stage, Claudia Mota floats in a sissone en arriere, arms floating up as her ankles gently cross behind her. Her long, white Romantic tutu swishes.
Claudia Mota in Giselle. Photo by Carlos Villamayor, courtesy Theatro Municipal do Rio de Janeiro.

Orlando Ballet’s Francis Mihm has taken his final bow, joining the company’s philanthropy team.

Precious Adams, currently a first soloist with English National Ballet, will be moving to The Australian Ballet as a senior artist in January. Also joining The Australian Ballet: Polish National Ballet’s Marko Juusela as a soloist; Damen Axtens as a coryphée; and LilySophia Dashwood, Isabella Howard, and Nanami Inoue as corps members.

Deanna Pearson will dance with Boston Ballet as an artist for the 2025–26 season.

Nevada Ballet Theatre has welcomed new company artist Lucas Castro.

Amanda Bacallao, Thierry Blannchard, Maya Canestaro, Matthew Mancuso, and Kevin Ortiz Lemus have joined Ballet Hispánico.

Dresden Semperoper Ballett’s newest apprentices are Niko Adachi, Letizia Austoni, Unai Celis, Benjamin Dunlap, Tayumi Fukuda, and Xuehao Zhao.

Awards and Recognitions

Following her farewell performance on October 22, 2025, Misty Copeland has joined American  Ballet Theatre’s board of trustees. In this role, she will help “guide ABT’s long-term strategic priorities, support the organization’s financial and operational strength, and champion ABT’s mission, values, and impact,” as stated in a company press release. 

On November 4, Copeland also received the W. E. B. Du Bois Medal, Harvard University’s highest honor in the field of African and African American studies.

Onstage in front of a dark backdrop with a grave, Chloe Misseldine does a gentle arabesque in profile, arms lifted in front. She wears a long, white Romantic tutu with her hair in a low bun. A line of dancers stand in b-plus on the diagonal behind her.
Chloe Misseldine in Giselle. Photo by Laura Sukowatey, courtesy American Ballet Theatre.

ABT principal Chloe Misseldine has been named in Forbes’ 30 Under 30 list for 2026, in the Art & Style category.

Staatsballett Berlin demi-soloist Leroy Mokgatle has been awarded the German theater award Deutschen Theaterpreis Der Faust in dance performance for her portrayal of Puck in Edward Clug’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. William Forsythe also won a Der Faust award in choreography for his Blake Works V (The Barre Project), performed by the Hamburg Ballet.

In rehearsal, Leroy Mokgatle wears a purple leotard and purple wrap skirt while posing en pointe in fifth position releve to the right with her arms outstretched in a left tilting V.
Leroy Mokgatle in William Forsythe’s Approximate Sonata. Photo by Yan Revazov, courtesy Staatsballett Berlin.

The Australian Ballet coryphée Adam Elmes has been awarded the 2025 Telstra Ballet Dancer Award. Now in its 22nd year, the award “celebrates emerging artists who exemplify The Australian Ballet’s core values: ambition, boldness, inclusivity, respect, and responsibility,” as described in a company press release.

Alicia Graf Mack, who took the helm at Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater this summer, has been named on Ebony magazine’s 2025 “Power 100” list honoring individuals “shaping the future of Black excellence.”

australian ballet ballet news ballet roster roundup christopher d'ariano clara ruf maldonado Claudia Mota new york theatre ballet pacific northwest ballet precious adams roster roundup Salome Leverashvili Samantha Dunster steven melendez Theatro Municipal do Rio de Janeiro