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Your November Roster Roundup: Dancers and Directors on the Move

November 5, 2025

The past few weeks have brought another exciting round of ballet career news—check out the latest farewells, appointments, promotions, and more in your November 2025 roster roundup.

Promotions and Appointments

New York City Ballet recently announced six major promotions from the corps de ballet to soloists: Victor Abreu, Dominika Afanasenkov, India Bradley, Naomi Corti, Mary Thomas MacKinnon, and Andres Zuniga. Bradley is the company’s first Black female soloist. Additionally, Peyton Gin, Vanessa Mlyniec, and Kylie Vernia have been promoted to corps de ballet.

The Paris Opéra Ballet’s concours de promotion took place November 3–4 at the Palais Garnier. The following dancers have been promoted following their performances: Clara Mousseigne and Bianca Scudamore to première danseuse; Apolline Anquetil, Keita Bellali, Enzo Saugar, and Seohoo Yun to sujet; and Nathan Bisson, Yeeun Lee, Loup Marcault-Derouard, Sofia Rosolini, and Shale Wagman to coryphée.

  • A dancer in a flowey white tutu and diamond headpiece poses on a left diagonal in arabesque with her mouth partially open and arms extended in an L shape against a backdrop of a dark cross-shaped gravestone.
    Clara Mousseigne in Giselle. Photo by Maria Helena Buckley, courtesy Paris Opéra Ballet.
  • A female dancer in a yellow dress partners with a male dancer en pointe in arabesque to the left with her right hand on her hip and left arm outstretched.
    Bianca Scudamore and Nicola Di Vico in Giselle. Photo by Maria Helena Buckley, courtesy Paris Opéra Ballet.

Les Grands Ballets Canadiens has promoted Mai Kono to principal.

Philadelphia Ballet’s Yuval Cohen has been promoted to soloist.

Chloe Oronoz has moved up from trainee to apprentice with Los Angeles Ballet.

Oregon Ballet Theatre 2 dancer Sophia Guasco has moved up to OBT’s main company as an apprentice.

A smiling dancer poses in a white and gold tutu in arabesque to the left where a male dancer with a grey beard and long hair looks towards her with outstretched arms, holding a rose in his left hand.
Mai Kono in Don Quixote. Photo by Sasha Onyshchenko, courtesy Les Grands Ballets Canadiens.

Twin Cities Ballet celebrates the promotions of three apprentices this season, including Olivia Gorgas and Merrith Skaar to associate company dancers and Joanna Heup to company member. 

Farewells, New Arrivals, and Guestings

Les Grands Ballets Canadiens principal Raphaël Bouchard has given his final performance after a decade with the company.

After 18 seasons with Ballet Idaho, principal Graham Gobeille took his final bow after the world premiere of Penny Saunders’ Sherlock.

two dancers in black bike shorts and turtlenecks pose in the air mid leap to the right with right legs bent at the knee and left leg extended behind them. Their arms are extended above their heads in a V shape.
Adrienne Kerr and Graham Gobeille in Ethan Schweitzer Gaslin’s New Dance, courtesy Ballet Idaho.

Corps dancer Konstantin Tkachuk will retire from the stage this month, in his fourth season with the National Ballet of Canada. His final performances will be in Christopher Wheeldon’s The Winter’s Tale, running November 14–21.

First soloist Duosi Zhu has concluded her performance career after 18 years with Dresden Semperoper Ballett. The following dancers have also departed the company: Lorenzo Alberti, Lauren Alving, Giulia Cacciatori, Carla Reynes Caputo, Francesca Cesaro, Kanako Fujimoto, Milda Luckute, Yo Nakajima, Felix Russell, Zarina Stahnke, Ayaha Tsunaki, and Marlena Umland.

A dancer in a red leotard, black and grey striped pants, red socks, and white shoes poses in mid-battement side with her left leg and left arm straight up and her right arm extended side.
Duosi Zhu in Twyla Tharp’s In The Upper Room. Photo by Jubal Battisti, courtesy Dresden Semperoper Ballett.

Dresden Semperoper Ballett welcomes principals Hyo-Jung Kang and Jun Xia; second soloist Madoka Ishikawa; coryphées Mattia Baccon, Melissa Chapski, and Rafael Vedra; and corps members Samantha Eve and Sava Milojević.

Three new dancers have joined Oregon Ballet Theatre: Swane Messaoudi, from San Francisco Ballet; Giovanny Garibay, from Grand Rapids Ballet; and Hart Isaacoff, from Charlotte Ballet II.

Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre says hello to new corps members Henrique Barbosa and Ethan Clarisey, and to new apprentice Michael Stadtherr.

Evan Gorbell will dance with Los Angeles Ballet for the 2025–26 season.

Christian Chester has joined Dayton Ballet for the 2025–26 season.

Ballet Spartanburg welcomes demi-soloist Pedro Caballero and company artists Ava Gray Bobbitt, Ming Diller, Abigail Forbes, Mikaela Guidice, Isabella Iannuzzi, Sofia Niebuhr, and Lauren Zimmermann.

The following guest dancers will perform with Dance Theatre of Harlem in the return of John Taras’ Firebird and throughout the rest of the 2025–26 season: David Atilley, Eunhye Darbozue, Amber Harper, Darius Kaiser, Michael Shavelle, Amar Smalls, Tatiana Stevenson, and Hope Roberts.

International guest artist Solomon Osazuva will appear as Albrecht in Cape Ballet Africa’s performance of Maina Gielgud’s Giselle.

Awards and Recognitions

On October 29, at the Princess Grace Awards Gala, American Ballet Theatre principal Isabella Boylston received the Princess Grace Statue Award alongside filmmaker Sky Hopinka.

The University of Florence has given La Scala Ballet étoile Roberto Bolle an honorary master’s degree in practices, languages, and cultures of communication.

Nashville Ballet’s Claudia Monja has been named one of Nashville Lifestyles’ 25 Most Beautiful People for 2025.

A dancer in a red dress smiles at the camera while in a right leg front attitude on a left diagonal with her arms in an L shape.
Claudia Monja. Photo by MA2LA for Pointe

andres zuniga claudia monja dance theatre of harlem dresden semperoper ballett duosi zhu firebird Graham Gobeille india bradley isabella boylston les grands ballets canadiens mai kono mary thomas mackinnon naomi corti national ballet of canada new york city ballet oregon ballet theatre paris opéra ballet pittsburgh ballet theatre raphael bouchard roberto bole