This week to Get Ready for Rio, our dancer’s stopped by a few of our favorite boutiques in town to try on some perfect New Year’s Eve outfits!
If you are looking for a new look this year and want to support local businesses, these stores have some of the best festive wear in Eugene!
Read More“I am so excited that they are actually choreographing those pieces. I love ballet, I love dance, but I’ve never had the honor of having my music choreographed. I feel so humbled and grateful for the opportunity, I’m like, I’m just going to do the best I can you know, and perform.”
Check out our exclusive interview with Argentinean guest musician Juan Luqui, as we Get Ready for Rio!
Read More“To me it's like evidence of magic.” Check out our Behind-the-Scenes interview with guest visual artist Milla Oliveira, our scenic painter from Brazil, as we Get Ready for Rio!
Read MoreGet behind the scenes (2021 style) with some of the artists, dancers, and makers of Ballet Fantastique's Pride & Prejudice: A Parisian Jazz Ballet in this special Zoom conversation about the making of the rollicking RomCom BFan original. Ashley Bontrager (Lizzy Bennette), Gustavo Ramirez (Fitzwilliam Darcy), Adam Goldthwaite (Parson Collins), Leanne Mizzoni (Lydia Bennette), Hannah Bontrager (Co-Choreographer-Producer and Jane Bennette), and composer Gerry Rempel dish about their favorite moments and memories. Welcome to Ballet Fantastique's Pride & Prejudice: A Parisian Jazz Ballet Artist Roundtable!
We’re performing again…and we’re SO excited. See you soon, BFans!
Photo: Bob Williams, featuring dancers: Taylor Harrison, Madeline Gambino, Jenavieve Hernandez // Mural artist: Steven Lopez
Silvan Ridge (27012 Briggs Hill Rd, Eugene, OR 97405)
Tickets: $15/ea — tickets required for ages 2+, available at www.balletfantastique.org/events
Proceeds benefit Ballet Fantastique’s innovated dance outreach work for K-12 education, innovated for 2020-2021
Ballet Fantastique and Eugene-based band Bossanaire partner with Silvan Ridge to present a late summer outdoor concert this Labor Day Weekend in wine country, Saturday, Sept. 5.
“We wanted a way to uplift our community, and we’re so excited to present this innovated, site-specific performance series,” says Artistic Director Donna Marisa Bontrager. “Our audience can enjoy a one-of-a-kind performance of live music and dance as the sun sets behind the rolling hills of beautiful Silvan Ridge.”
Silvan Ridge’s outdoor events informal amphitheater stage and grass space can accommodate 150 guests with extensive social distancing. The performance event, which takes place at sunset, will feature live bossa nova music from Bossanaire. Interspersed through the evening, guests will enjoy a series of uplifting, site-specific choreographic excerpts from the professional dancers of Ballet Fantastique, adapted to the Silvan Ridge grass and stage space.
Performance excerpts will include choreography originally planned to premiere in Ballet Fantastique’s postponed May 2020 Hult Center performance, Luna Mística, transporting audiences to the beaches of Ipanema and the streets of Rio: “Girl from Ipanema,” “Batucada,” and “Sambando” by Ballet Fantastique choreographer-producers Donna Marisa and Hannah Bontrager. Also on the program is “Walls” by Brazilian choreographer Valéria Ball (1967-2016), a dear friend of the Bontragers and a regular collaborator with Ballet Fantastique, with live music by Bossanaire.
Ballet in the Vineyard patrons will be invited to bring their own picnic chairs or blanket. Dinner will be available for purchase from a local food truck, and outside food and picnics are also welcome. Wine will be available for purchase from Silvan Ridge.
COVID-19 SAFETY GUIDELINES: We will be following all social distancing protocols throughout the evening, including keeping groups to 10 or less, maintaining a minimum of 6 feet between groups, regularly sanitizing the facility, as well as requiring children to remain seated with their group. See Silvan Ridge Winery’s “Visit Us” page for more details on COVID-19 guidelines in place to keep the winery clean and safe.
Additional information:
All tickets are sold in advance. No groups larger than 10. Minors allowed until 8 pm (tickets required for children ages 2+).
Doors open at 5:30 pm. The Tasting Room will close at 5 pm and reopen for the concert at 5:30 pm.
Ticket price does not include food and beverage.
Picnics are welcome, but please no outside alcohol. Planktown and Oakshire beer and non-alcoholic beverages also available.
All seating is first come, first served. Most seating is on the grass, so be sure to bring a blanket/lawn chairs.
No groups larger than 10.
Concert begins at 6:30 pm, ends at 8:00 pm.
Children are welcome, but must have a ticket for capacity safety guidelines, and must remain with an adult at all times and be able to follow social distancing protocols.
Saturday, Sept. 12 • 5–8 pm
Shadow Hills Country Club (92512 River Rd, Junction City, OR 97448)
Tickets: $75/ea or $150/couple (includes dinner) — available at www.balletfantastique.org/events
Proceeds benefit Ballet Fantastique
This Sept. 12, 2020, Ballet Fantastique offers a unique, late summer outdoor en plein air benefit at the gorgeous Shadow Hills Country Club, with custom late summer fare, curated wines, and a live site-specific ballet performance on the green. This event is limited to 50 guests.
Beginning at 5 pm, guests will be welcomed in the Smith Garden. Following a touchless check-in, guests will proceed to their private cocktail table, where they will enjoy the custom picnic box menu created by Shadow Hills Executive Chef Diana Seligman (served picnic style for a no-contact experience).
“Our vision for this event is like an outdoor music dinner club experience,” says Ballet Fantastique Executive Director Hannah Bontrager. “Our audience will get to get out, dress up, support art they love—and do so with the confidence that they are still supporting our community’s safety responsibly, with distancing and in alignment with Governor Brown’s guidelines for outdoor gatherings.”
At 6 pm, guests will proceed to the adjoining fairway, where they will experience special first-release showings of "Amazon Awakenings," "Gaucho," and "Luna," with choreography by Brazilian choreographer Valéria Ball + Ballet Fantastique's Donna & Hannah Bontrager. “Amazon Awakenings” will be accompanied with live music from drummer Jim Reinking.
“It’s an incredible artistic challenge to create for a space like this,” says Ballet Fantastique Artistic Director Donna Bontrager. “As I’m designing the choreography and the costumes for the green, it acts as its own artistic player in the visual impact. Audiences will truly be seeing dance unlike we’ve ever imagined it before, with the ballet dancers barefoot on the grass, embracing the beautiful expanse of the space.”
Finally, from 6:30-8 pm, guests are invited to a (distanced) garden reception with the artists.
COVID-19 SAFETY GUIDELINES: https://www.balletfantastique.org/ballet-on-the-green-social-distancing-protocols
More information coming soon about the following 2020–2021 Ballet Fantastique offerings:
Fall 2020: Vault—A Ballet Club
December 2020: Christmas Carol, Made-for-TV Ballet Movie
During this time where we’re all in our minds instead of the studio, we’re digging deep into conversations about the BFan creative process. One of the questions we’re asked MOST is: HOW DO YOU DO THIS?
The answer is, it’s complicated. There’s usually an idea that comes forward, sometimes written on a napkin (The Odyssey with live looping electric violin, 2015), or brainstormed across a picnic table (Cleopatra with the music of Beats Antique, 2019), or even on the way to a completely unrelated OSF touring appearance (Cinderella in a 1960’s prom, set to billboard hits, 2012). When it’s time to move the idea from napkin to reality: our process begins, in earnest. NOTE: In an upcoming blog entry, we’ll post our commitment to amplify the voices of BFan’s cross-cultural and cross-disciplinary artists and collaborators. We’re talking a lot—stay tuned.
Before we launch into an exposé of our process, we think it’s important to say that we didn’t “invent” artistic referencing; we’re not the first ones to use it, and we’re not saying it’s necessarily the “best” way. For time immemorial, artists of all mediums have referenced each other. Stravinsky was influenced by Russian folklore and then jazz. Van Gogh influenced Picasso. Socrates influenced Plato. Electro-swing remixes Duke Ellington. We’re definitely no Stravinsky, Picasso, Plato, or Ellington(!). But, like these great artists, our creative process often intentionally references the past.
After we come up with a concept for a performance, we freak out. In fact, my mom and I ALWAYS have at least one conversation entitled “How can we possibly do this?!” Usually, at this point in the creative process, someone ironically stops one of us in line at the grocery store and says “An electro-swing Alice in Wonderland?! I can’t wait to see what you guys do!” And we say with one of the emoticon faces with all teeth (AND IN ALL TRUTH), “We can’t wait to see what we do with that, either!”
IN CASE YOU HAVEN’T SEEN IT BEFORE, THIS IS TRUE.
Meltdown completed, we move to (extensive) contextual, historical, cultural, and movemental research. We invite experts to our meetings and into the studio. We talk. We learn. We read. We also watch everything we can. Our research stage includes:
Historical research
Literary research
Social dances of the culture/period
Cultural dances and other theatrical or martial arts forms of the culture/period
Other, more traditional or “classical” tellings of the story in dance, music, theater, or film
We also research and play with innovative and intriguing lifts/movements/motifs from great world choreographers, classical and contemporary, to see how a feeling or an energy translates. Like musicians learning music from other composers to evolve something “new,” our team learns together in this way.
We collect our research in what we call our “Planning Database,” which functions sort of like a Pinterest board/digital Vision board/Idea box. This database includes: The characters we’ve chosen // Motifs we’ve chosen to emphasize // Our working scenes list // The music we’re considering matching to each scene.
When it’s time to move into the studio, we share this database with our team. What happens next is a messy artistic process involving playing, building, and editing. Sometimes, we infuse the choreographic process with source material, immersing and engaging BFan’s team of artist-performers directly in the research/inspiration process. We explore and play. In many cases, the final work that evolves out of this exploration process references, tributes, and recycles the source material. Some of these reasons include: Historical and cultural accuracy (e.g., when telling a story about another culture, like Celtic folk dancing in Dragon & the Night Queen); Humor (e.g., “quoting” The Nutcracker “Waltz of the Flowers” scene in our trippy version of flowers dancing in Alice in Wonderland: Remix); or as our own (humble!) homage to another great artist.
ABOVE: Cinderella: A Rock Opera Ballet Set in 1964 prom scene: Reference material drawn directly from Dee Dee Sharp's "Mashed Potato Time" TV music video (1962) and converted on pointe for the Stepsisters at Prom. Our Prom scene was also inspired by the feeling of the Mambo! scene in Jerome Robbin's West Side Story for Broadway (1957). Throughout the ballet, we referenced other social dance forms of the time (including The Twist), as well as classical ballet versions of the classical ballet Cinderella (including the Gennadi Ledyax 1960 Bolshoi Cinderella)—especially for the Twist. We loved the feel of Twyla Tharp's remixed ballroom dance scenes with Baryshnikov (1984) for some of our partnering work.
ABOVE: Nevermore: Tales from Edgar Allan Poe — Death scenes: “Annabel Lee,” drawn from Frederick Ashton's Marguerite & Armand death scene, one of the greatest of all time (England's Royal Ballet, 1963). “Fall of the House of Usher” aesthetic drawn from Roger Corman’s 1960 Fall of the House of Usher cult classic film (with Vincent Price). Gustavo was inspired in his interpretation of Roderick Usher by Joaquin Phoenix’s The Joker (2019)
Alice in Wonderland: Remix Queen of Hearts bad girl scene: References the articulate, bossy girls of classical ballet: Black Swan variation from Swan Lake (Kirov Ballet Marius Petipa, 1895) and "Finger Fairy" variation from Sleeping Beauty (Kirov Ballet, Marius Petipa, 1890), remixed with stylizations from Madonna's "Vogue" (1990).
ABOVE: American Christmas Carol — Fezziwig's Party scene: Includes excerpts from Miss Mildred Melrose's Piccadilly Cabaret's "Real Black-Bottom Dance” (1928).
ABOVE: Cleopatra — Temple of Isis scene: Studied reference material from Layla Taj for Youssef Zada, Egyptian Ambassador, Consul Temple of Isis, reconstructed by Ms. Taj from the Ptolemaic Dynasty (as published/shared in 2017).
Eliot Grasso is an award-winning performer and recording artist whose performances on Irish uilleann pipes have been delighting audiences around the world for two decades. Contemporaries claim that Grasso’s “intuitive sense of melodic and technical variation make him one of the most creative and dynamic musicians in the contemporary world of Irish traditional music,” and “one of the finest uilleann pipers in the history of Irish music in America.”
He has performed extensively at venues including Constitution Hall, the Library of Congress, the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, National Geographic, and the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. He has collaborated with actor Russell Crowe, Grammy-winning conductor, David Sabee, and NPR personality Garrison Keillor on “A Prairie Home Companion.” For a fuller picture of Grasso’s artistic endeavors, visit www.eliotgrasso.com.
This is his second collaboration with Ballet Fantastique.
CRITICALLY ACCLAIMED ELIZABETH DORMAN JOINS BALLET FANTASTIQUE’S MUSICAL ENSEMBLE AS GUEST PIANIST FOR BALLET FANTASTIQUE’S WORLD PREMIERE OF NEVERMORE: STORIES OF EDGAR ALLAN POE (PERFORMANCES OCT. 25-27, 2019 AT THE HULT CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS).
ELIZABETH DORMAN BIO
Praised by Joshua Kosman of the San Francisco Chronicle for her “crisp, brightly finished” playing and her “elegance and verve,” pianist Elizabeth Dorman received the 2017 Father Merlet Award from Pro Musicis and was a finalist in the 2018 Leipzig International Bach Competition. Appearances in the 2018-2019 season included Leipzig Chamber Orchestra and Folsom Lake Symphony, solo recitals in Washington, California, and New York, chamber music performances with principal players from the Los Angeles and New York Philharmonics as well as members of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. Upcoming recording projects include an album of Scarlatti sonatas, anticipated for release in Fall 2019.
Elizabeth performs frequently as a soloist and chamber musician and is a member of New York’s Bridge Arts Ensemble. Elizabeth was an Artist in Residence at the Banff Centre and has also appeared at summer festivals including Tanglewood, Sarasota, Aspen, Toronto, Icicle Creek, and her live performances have been nationally broadcast on public radio. She has appeared as a soloist with orchestra in San Francisco’s Davies Symphony Hall, Stanford’s Bing Concert Hall, Leipzig's Hochschule für Musik, Walnut Creek’s Lesher Center for the Arts, San Francisco’s Herbst Theater, and at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. Elizabeth was also winner of the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra Concerto Competition, the Ross McKee competition, and the California Young Artist’s Beethoven Competition.
Elizabeth holds her PhD in music under Gilbert Kalish at Stony Brook University, where she also served as Adjunct Lecturer of Piano Pedagogy. A passionate educator, she has previously held teaching positions at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music Preparatory Division and has been piano faculty at summer festivals including the Icicle Creek Music Center and Summer Music West at the San Francisco Conservatory. She has participated in masterclasses with Robert Levin, Robert McDonald, Leon Fleisher, Wu Han, Arthur Haas, John Perry, Menahem Pressler, and Ann Schein. A native of San Francisco, CA, Elizabeth began her training with Paul Hersh at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.
Why are you excited to have been involved in this performance project, and how is it different from what you've done in the past?
I'm thrilled to be working with you all. First of all, I'm a huge ballet and dance fan and I always love collaborating with dancers. (I even studied dance for a while as an adult because I admire dancers so much!) It's a wonderful program with lots of juicy parts for the piano and I'm excited to see how it all fits together.
What intrigued you about connecting with Ballet Fantastique?
The PNW is very close to my heart as a lot of my family leaves nearby in Oregon and Washington, including my mother. I love traveling to this part of the country and it's always really special when I perform in this area because often my family will come to the performances. I've only been to Eugene once in my life and I'm excited to explore the city more.
INTERNATIONAL AWARD-WINNING ACCORDIONIST SERGEI TELESHEV JOINS BALLET FANTASTIQUE’S MUSICAL ENSEMBLE AS MUSICIAN AND GUEST COMPOSER FOR BALLET FANTASTIQUE’S WORLD PREMIERE OF NEVERMORE: STORIES OF EDGAR ALLAN POE (PERFORMANCES OCT. 25-27, 2019 AT THE HULT CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS).
Tell us about your background.
Official bio: Classically trained in Russia, Sergei Teleshev is one of the most versatile accordion players today, winner of International competitions, US V-Accordion champion. Composing and arranging music in different styles, he collaborates with many recognizable musicians all over the world. He is also a promoter and manager of several international projects from Russia, Sweden, and the US. Sergei has produced more than 100 music videos available on his YouTube channel with thousands of subscribers and millions of views. He is featured on major recordings with major orchestras, including the London Philharmonic.
Why are you excited to have been involved in this performance project, and how is it different from what you've done in the past?
I have played for Ballet Fantastique a number of times and known the company for many years. It's always a pleasure to work with talented, creative, and professional people. I'm excited to be involved to this performance with some other great musicians. There also will be two solo accordion pieces, including my original composition "Waltz for Katya"—which I wrote for my daughter. I'm so looking forward to seeing this piece on the stage with Ballet Fantastique!
Nathan Farrington joins Ballet Fantastique’s creative team as original arranger for Ballet Fantastique’s world premiere of Nevermore: Stories of Edgar Allan Poe (performances Oct. 25-27, 2019 at the Hult Center for the Performing Arts).
Tell us about your background.
I'm primarily a performer. I've played in the Philadelphia Orchestra's, the LA Philharmonic's, the San Fransisco Symphony's, and the Chicago Symphony's bass sections. I also love to sing, and have enjoyed using the combination of bass playing and singing to collaborate with musicians across many genres. I've arranged works for the LA Philharmonic and Weezer, Dreamworks Entertainment, the Britt Music Festival Orchestra, and the Musicians from Garden Music, and run a music production company called Hazard Audio in Los Angeles.
(PS: Nate’s official bio: Nathan Farrington is a bassist, singer, and composer living in Los Angeles. He regularly appears in the bass sections of many of America's top orchestras, including the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Chicago Symphony, the New York Philharmonic, the Cleveland Orchestra, the East Coast Chamber Orchestra, and the Seattle Symphony. Nathan was recently named the Principal Bass of the Los Angeles Opera Orchestra under James Conlon and Placido Domingo, and pursues chamber music and solo opportunities avidly. Nathan has appeared at the Marlboro Music Festival, the Aspen Music Festival, the Olympic Music Festival, ChemberFest Cleveland, and at the Da Camera Society. In addition to his performance interests, Nathan is deeply interested in Cinema. His LA based audio company, Hazard Audio, connects top classical minds, with the artistic minds in movie and tv production. His life in each of these fields has helped him engage in new and interesting projects across the US.
Why are you excited to have been involved in this performance project, and how is it different from what you've done in the past?
Combining the art forms is powerful. Stacking great music, talented musicians, new arrangements, marvelous dancers, and the sounds/visuals that come along with a ballet performance, enhances all of the individual parts. The results transcend a normal orchestral performance, and an audience with little or no 'music' or 'dance' experience can come enjoy an accessible and inspiring evening of 'high art'.
What intrigued you about connecting with Ballet Fantastique?
Ballet Fantastique’s creative team is uniquely interested in serving their audiences. The thought and consideration they exhibit during the planning process for a new work is inspiring, and the opportunity be a part of their artistic efforts is a real pleasure. I'm so excited to see Ballet Fantastique's evening of dark entertainment come together and am pleased to have been able to contribute.
Guest artist Alastair Morley Jaques is “Edgar Allan Poe” for Ballet Fantastique’s Nevermore: Stories of Edgar Allan Poe world premiere, Oct. 25-27, 2019 at the Hult Center for the Performing Arts.
Tell us about your background.
I'm an Oregon native and I studied theatre and literature, with a special focus on the nineteenth century, at the U of O and the Evergreen State College. About ten years ago, I began developing a live, one-person show about early nineteenth century literary great Edgar Allan Poe. This involved not only total immersion in Poe's stories and poems, which I specialize in performing, but also on the biography and the character of Poe the person.
Why are you excited to be involved in this performance, and how is it different from what you've done in the past?
This performance will be an exciting and expansive experience for me. Nearly all of my past performances consist of me standing, moving about the stage, and talking at great length, unaided by any sort of music of visual display. It's really just me and Poe up there most of the time. Ballet Fantastique's blending of music and dance with the dark lyricism and themes of Edgar Allan Poe is a wholly new experience for me and my ever evolving interpretation of the stories and poems. And it's a melding of artistic perspectives of which I think Poe would have approved. Not only did Poe speak of "the pleasure derivable from sweet sounds with the capacity for creating them" in his lesser known but highly influential work "The Island of the Fay," but he also made sure to include ballet dancers among the macabre amusements offered up in "The Masque of the Red Death."
What intrigued you about connecting with Ballet Fantastique and doing a performance in Eugene/the Pacific Northwest?
Well, just as Poe was a proud southern boy, I'm a son of Cascadia and love working with arts and educational organizations of the Pacific Northwest. While my Poe engagements have taken me as far as Chicago this year, it's always to Oregon that I return for the latter part of October. Working with a premier Oregon arts organization like Ballet Fantastique is just the sort of collaboration I try to exemplify in all of my productions, both Poe-related and otherwise: Classic works of American literature, but done in that ineffable but instantly identifiable Oregon way by Oregon artists and craftspersons. Again, Poe was from Virginia and died ten years before Oregon was granted statehood, but he was a weirdo and an outsider…and Oregon loves weirdos and outsiders. We celebrate and glorify them in a way that I think Poe would have appreciated. He did write one piece that talked about the expanding United States and what was, for him, the most far flung boundaries of civilization in the Pacific Northwest in a critical essay entitled "Astoria.”
Alastair Morley Jaques in costume as Edgar Allan Poe.
Cleopatra. You have heard of her, but who was she? Spruce up your historical knowledge with these recommended books and videos!
Read MoreMeet Sidecar Tommy, the beats of Beats Antique, playing LIVE for Cleopatra
Read MoreMeet one of our new company dancers, Gabriel Ritzmann!
Read More
GABRIEL RITZMANN
COMPANY SOLOIST
Hometown:
Florianópolis, SC - Brazil
Favorites:
Movies, play board games with friends, traveling, and taking pictures of beautiful things
Originally from Brazil, Gabriel studied classical ballet at Ballet Juvenil de Florianópolis and completed his training at the prestigious Escola de Dança do Conservatório Nacional in Lisbon, Portugal and Pacific DanceArts in Vancouver, Canada. In 2011, Gabriel was invited to be part of the pre-professional program at Coastal City Ballet in Vancouver, BC. Gabriel also attended the professional summer intensive at Atlanta Ballet and the Banff Centre Dance Program on scholarship. Gabriel has won gold medals and many scholarships at many international dance competitions, including the largest dance festival in South America, the “Festival de Dança de Joinville.”
Gabriel joined Canada's Ballet Jörgen in Toronto as a company dancer from 2012-2014, performing classical repertoire including Swan Lake, Romeo and Juliet, soloist roles in The Nutcracker, and many contemporary works under Director Bengt Jӧrgen. Gabriel's professional resume also includes work with Cia Independente de Florianópolis in Brazil, and guest performances across Canada and the US.
With Ballet Fantastique, Gabriel recently starred as the charming rake, Rafael Moncada, in Ballet Fantastique's ZORRO: The Ballet with the LA-based band Incendio and virtuoso violinist Brendan Vance playing the original music of Oregon composer Kim Angelis.
ESPERANZA MoNTERO
COMPANY ARTIST
Hometown:
MIAMI, FL
Favorites:
Trying new foods, being adventurous, watching movies, learning new styles of dance, and spending time with her family!
Esperanza began her training and danced professionally under the direction of Aida Villoch, former prima ballerina and Artistic Director of Ballet de Camaguey, Cuba. Growing up, Esperanza spent her summers at many prestigious ballet intensives, including Orlando Ballet, Milwaukee Ballet, San Francisco Ballet, and Oklahoma City Ballet.
In 2015, Esperanza moved to Brussels, Belgium and worked with Menia Martinez, Director of Studio Maison Bejart. Under Ms. Martinez’s direction, she performed many choreography works from the late Maurice Bejart. In 2016, Esperanza moved back to the U.S. and performed under the direction of Ms. Villoch. She performed many soloist roles in ballets including Le Corsaire, Paquita, Nutcracker, Grand Pas Classique, and Swan Lake.
Esperanza has also had the opportunity to work and perform as an apprentice with Dissonance Dance Theatre in Washington D.C. Under the direction of Shawn Short, she performed many of his choreography works including "Viewmaster, Time=No Man" and "Unsettled" by St. Louis choreographer Kameron N. Saunders.
Aside from training and performing, Esperanza finds great pleasure and excitement teaching young and experienced artists her love and passion for the art.
This is Esperanza's first season with Ballet Fantastique.
Cody Bakhshi
COMPANY ARTIST
Hometown:
Philadelphia, PA
Favorites:
Adventuresome eating, exploring new places, spending time laughing with family, and his dog, Stella
Cody comes to Ballet Fantastique after working with Nevada Ballet Theater in Las Vegas last season.
Originally from Philadelphia, Cody trained at Metropolitan Ballet, where he trained under Denis Gronostayskiy, Sergei Pupurov, Eva Szabo, and performed in world premiere choreography by both Kanji Segawa and Sarah Mettin.
Cody was awarded full scholarship to the Bolshoi's Summer Intensive program in NYC, Cincinnati Ballet, Orlando Ballet and a full year scholarship to International Ballet Academy in North Carolina under Servy Gallardo.
He has additionally performed in roles in The Nutcracker and Coppelia at South Jersey Ballet Theater, and multiple roles in The Nutcracker at Wilmington Ballet in the historic Dupont Theater.
Kateri Bilay
COMPANY CORPS
Quick Facts
Hometown:
Boise, ID
Ballet Fantastique:
First season
College:
Boise State University
Photographer Credit: Mike Reid
Kateri began her ballet training in Boise, ID at Capital City Ballet Center. At age 15, she was offered a scholarship to train at Ballet Idaho Academy, where she continued her ballet training until graduation. During her years in the Ballet Idaho Academy, Kateri performed frequently with their professional company in ballets such as Serenade, Swan Lake, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, and The Nutcracker. She then spent a year training with Ballet West's Academy in Salt Lake City, UT on scholarship. Her main mentors were Jeff Rogers, Heather Frixell, and Jan Fugit. She also spent five summers studying under scholarship at Ballet West. Kateri then returned to Ballet Idaho as an apprentice for their 15-16 season.
Kateri has also performed as a company artist with Idaho Dance Theatre for their 16-17 season. There, she danced a variety of new and contemporary choreographic works by IDT director Marla Hansen and choreographer Sayoko Knode. Returning to her ballet roots, Kateri danced with Central West Ballet in their 17-18 season as a company artist, where she performed many soloist roles. Among her favorite roles were Jewell Doll and Chinese lead in The Nutcracker, and the Spring Fairy in Rene Daveluy’s Cinderella.
Kateri is also pursuing her Bachelor of Science degree, majoring in the field of biology at Boise State University.
She is excited to join Ballet Fantastique for the 18-19 season.
Madeline Gambino
COMPANY ARTIST
Hometown:
Madison, WI
College:
Butler University
Favorites:
Yoga, cooking, eating sushi, spending time with friends and family
Photographer Credits: Kat's Photography/Kat Stiennon + MoKnows Photos/Josh Morris
Madeline was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, raised in Madison, Wisconsin and has been dancing for over 15 years. She began training at the School of Madison Ballet under artistic director W. Earle Smith. Madeline begins her first season with Ballet Fantastique from Butler University’s nationally-recognized dance program. Madeline received a scholarship to the Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre School, where she attended intensives during three summers. She also attended summer intensives at other prestigious ballet schools around the country such as Ballet Chicago and the Kirov Academy of Ballet. While at the School of Madison Ballet, Madeline was asked to join the pre-professional program for the 13-14 and 14-15 seasons. During these two seasons, she performed in many ballets including The Nutcracker and Cinderella, as well as W. Earle Smith’s critically-acclaimed, neoclassical works of Groovy, Expressions, Dracula, and La Luce D’Amore. As part of this program, Madeline additionally toured throughout the state of Wisconsin with Madison Ballet performing various repertory works.
Madeline performed many corps roles in works such as George Balanchine’s Elegie and The Four Temperaments at Madison Ballet and Butler University, respectively. At Butler, Madeline performed corps roles in ballets including The Nutcracker, Swan Lake, Giselle, Cinderella and various works in the annual Midwinter Dance Festival. In 2017, she performed her debut soloist role of the “Arabian Queen” for the Indianapolis community in Butler University’s production of The Nutcracker.
Madeline spent the past few years at Butler University on academic scholarship studying dance, arts administration and strategic communication. She hopes to pursue her education throughout her dance career and complete her bachelor’s degree.
Not only is Madeline motivated by expressing herself onstage, but she is also fascinated by how dance can have such a positive impact on people of all ages and enjoys performing as a way to empower herself as well as the audience.
