Performers
Ali Block |
Ali is originally from Cleveland, OH. She trained at the former School of Cleveland Ballet, North Carolina School of the Arts, and Miami City Ballet School, with summer study at the National Ballet School of Canada, the Chautauqua Institution, Jacob’s Pillow, and BalletX. She has danced professionally with Texas Ballet Theater, Eugene Ballet Company, and as Clara in the Radio City Christmas Spectacular. She danced at the Hollywood Bowl Opening Night Gala with the LA Philharmonic, and is featured in Steve Childs’ 2009 documentary, And We Will Dance. In 2014, Ali relocated to New York City to both continue her performance career and attend Columbia University.
In New York City, she has danced with Eglevsky Ballet, Thomas/Ortiz Dance, Movement Headquarters Ballet Company, Claudia Schreier Dance, Lydia Johnson Dance, and has performed as a guest principal artist across the country. Her repertoire includes the title role in Cinderella, the title role in The Snow Maiden, the principal role in Rite of Spring, Clara and Dewdrop in The Nutcracker, a principal role in Suite Dreams, and soloist roles in works by George Balanchine, Ben Stevenson, Gerald Arpino, Agnes deMille, Claudia Schreier, Amy Hall Garner, Emery LeCrone, and numerous other choreographers. Ali graduated from Columbia University in 2020 as the salutatorian of her class, summa cum laude, phi beta kappa, and as the recipient of the Jennifer A. Pack Prize for excellence in the study of psychology and neuroscience. She continues to work in the field of psychology and as a psychology researcher, in addition to dancing. |
Danielle Shupe |
Danielle began her early training at the Woodbury Ballet under the direction of Randyl Errica. After graduating high school she became a full scholarship trainee at the Joffrey Ballet School in NYC, where she performed works by Robert Joffrey, Gerald Arpino, Peter Pucci and Margo Sappington. After her time at Joffrey Ballet, Danielle became one of eight trainees chosen to perform with Arts Umbrella in Vancouver, Canada, and was also featured in Dance Spirit Magazine. Later, Danielle joined the New York Theatre Ballet—allowing her the opportunity to travel nationwide and perform works by esteemed choreographers Agnes DeMille, Keith Michael, Frederick Ashton, and Antony Tudor. She was also invited to join the original cast of Richard Alston’s “A Rugged Flourish” and was involved with the “Little Dot” project, which premiered at Dancespace.
After three seasons with the New York Theatre Ballet, Danielle joined the Connecticut Ballet, where she is now beginning her fifth season. The Connecticut Ballet has showcased Danielle in many soloist roles, including: Spanish and Columbine in The Nutcracker, Spring Fairy in Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty Pas de Trois, and the “Waltz” variation in Les Sylphide. While now dancing with the Connecticut Ballet, she also freelances in New York City with several companies including Thomas/Ortiz Dance. Some highlights of her performance work with Thomas/Ortiz Dance include: NY Fashion Week, Battery Dance Festival, Bryant Park Dance and the Southern Vermont Dance Festival. Danielle is a ABT certified teacher in Pre-Primary through Level 3 and has been teaching throughout the Tri-State area for several years, where she loves to instill the love and discipline of dance in her students. |
Deanna Garcia |
Originally from Miami, Florida, Deanna began studying ballet at the age of four with Marielena Mencia and Yanis Pikieris at the Mencia-Pikieris School of Dance. At the age of nine, Deanna was accepted to study with Miami City Ballet where she trained before moving to Gainesville, Florida. Deanna then attended the University of Florida's, P.K Yonge Developmental Research School where she was accepted into their competitive middle and high school Performing Arts Program. At P.K Yonge, Deanna served as dance captain and was featured in musicals such as Hairspray, Curtains, and 42nd street as well as ensemble pieces for various community productions and competitions with the highly selective Vocal Ensemble. Deanna was also accepted as a scholarship recipient at Pofahls Dance Studios, the teaching studio for Dance Alive National Ballet, under the tutelage of Kim Tuttle and Judy Skinner, where she began training at the age of ten. At Pofahls, Deanna was trained in various dance styles including ballet, tap, jazz, contemporary, and hip hop. At age eleven, Deanna was selected to serve as an assistant teacher for ballet, jazz, tap, and hip hop classes. At the age of twelve, Deanna became an apprentice with Dance Alive National Ballet where she performed and toured in productions such as Nutcracker, Carmina Burana, Dracula, Robin Hood, and others. Deanna also performed as part of Next Generation, a community outreach program, to provide dance to the Greater Gainesville Community; especially for disadvantaged youth and elderly populations, who normally would not have access to the cultural arts. As a junior in High School, Deanna was accepted as a performing arts dual enrollment student at Santa Fe College where she pursued an Associate in Fine Arts Degree under the direction of Alora Hayes. After graduating, she moved back to Miami to attend New World School of the Arts in collaboration with Miami Dade College and the University of Florida where she was accepted as a scholarship recipient. At New World, Deanna studied Ballet with Laura Murphy and Horton technique with Rebecca Cannan. Deanna was also chosen to be a part of Thomas Armour's production of The Nutcracker in collaboration with their youth program and New World. Deanna then moved to New York City to study at the Joffrey Ballet School and was featured in classical works such as Le Corsaire and Don Quixote, as well as contemporary works from Earl Mosley and Africa Guzmán. Most recently she was featured in Tony Williams Urban Nutcracker with the City of Boston Ballet.
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Gabrielle Bangora |
Gabrielle Bangora started dancing at the age of three at New England Academy of Dance in New Canaan, CT under the leadership of Ted Thomas, Frances Ortiz and Ginna Ortiz. She attended SUNY Purchase and received her BA in Arts Management. Gabrielle then went to receive her Master’s degree from New York University in Dance Education. Along with performing with Thomas/Ortiz Dance, Gaby is a public school dance teacher in Brooklyn.
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Mackenzie Allen |
Mackenzie began dancing at Metropolitan Ballet Theatre in Rockville, MD when she was five years old. She trained at The Washington School of Ballet during high school and attended summer intensives at Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, Ballet Austin, Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet, Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre, America Ballet Theatre, and Kaatsbaan Extreme Ballet. She attended Indiana University where she trained with Kyra Nichols, Carla Korbes, Violette Verdy, and Michael Vernon while earning her B.S. in Ballet and B.S. in Accounting. She danced with Island
Moving Company in Newport, RI before moving to New York City to freelance and work with a variety of companies such as Brooklyn Ballet, Trainor Dance, Quixotic Cirque Nouveau, and Errant Movement. She started dancing with Thomas/Ortiz Dance in 2019. |
Melissa Weber |
Melissa Weber was born in North Haven,CT but started her serious ballet training when she moved to Boca Raton, Fl. Melissa received the majority of her early dance training with Boca Ballet Theatre under the tutelage of Jane Tyree and Dan Guin and at Alexander W. Dreyfoos School of the Arts under the guidance of Jeff Satinoff. Melissa's first professional experiences were with Louisville Ballet in Don Quixote and in Christopher Fleming's Nutcracker in Lakeland,Fl while still in high school. After graduation she attended Wright State University and danced with Dayton Ballet II. After spending two years in Ohio, Melissa joined Nashville Ballet as a trainee. Melissa joined Charleston Ballet Theatre where she danced soloist and principal roles for eight seasons. Ms Weber has performed many works by renowned choreographers such as George Balanchine, Twyla Tharp, Marius Petipa, Lew Christensen, Christopher Fleming, Dermot Burke, Karen Russo, Jon Rodriguez, Paul Vasterling, Choo San Goh, Dan Guin, Jonathan Tabbert and Jill Bahr. Some of her favorite roles include The Mistress in Lew Christensen's Con Amore, Lead Gypsy girl in Don Quixote, The Matriarch in Jill Bahr's Rite of Spring, Helena (Jill Bahr) and Hippolyta (Brett Raphael) in A Midsummer Nights Dream, Lady Capulet in Bahr's Romeo and Juliet, Arabian in The Nutcracker, and the Lead Girl in Guin's Ella Sang. Since moving to the Connecticut/NYC area Melissa has performed with Ballet Neo, Arch Contemporary Ballet, Benjamin Briones Ballet, CT Dance Theatre and performed with Armada Dance in New York Fashion Week's "Style Pointe". Currently Melissa dances with Connecticut Ballet as a soloist, Dance KeyWest, Sarah Berges Dance and joined Thomas/Ortiz Dance during summer of 2021. Melissa has been featured in Jordan Matter’s Book, Dancers After Dark, danced in Cal Kehoe's music video "Marilyn", an extra for OneRepublic's video "Connection" and danced in the “Corpse de Ballet” episode of CBS’s Elementary.
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Ethan Schweitzer-Gaslin |
Ethan Schweitzer-Gaslin is a New York City based freelance dance artist and educator. He began studying ballet at age 5 at Amherst Ballet in western Massachusetts with Catherine Fair, then trained on scholarship at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, and at summer programs around the country. After graduating from the UNCSA high school program, he spent 2 years as an apprentice with Oregon Ballet Theatre and 8 years as a Company Artist at Ballet Idaho. He has also been appearing with Arc Dance Company in Seattle since 2015 and with Project Flux Dance in Boise since 2018, and has appeared in the New York area as a Guest Artist with Eglevsky Ballet, MorDance, Staten Island Ballet, CityDance NY, Chevalier Ballet, New England Academy of Dance, Neville Dance Theatre, Long Island Ballet Theatre, Catskill Ballet Theatre and Swan's Ballet Center. He was a semi-final Silver and Bronze medalist and a two-time finalist at Youth America Grand Prix, and has performed and presented choreography at the Men In Dance Festival and Treefort Music Festival. Ethan is known for performances in the roles of Peter Pan and the Nutcracker Prince, and in works by choreographers including George Balanchine, Alejandro Cerrudo, Edwaard Liang, Penny Saunders, Alex Ketley, Marie Chong, Daniel Ojeda, Lauren Edson, Anne Mueller and Peter Anastos. He has choreographed for dancers from Boston Ballet School, Houston Ballet II, Oregon Ballet Theatre, Northwest Dance Theatre, and Ballet Idaho. Ethan is an instructor for the Misty Copland Foundation BE BOLD Program, and has been an instructor for Ballet Idaho’s Learning Through Dance outreach program and the Project Flux Dance community class program, and a guest instructor at Ballet Idaho Academy, Boise State University TRIO Upward Bound, Idaho Fine Arts Academy, Northwest Dance Theatre and Amherst Ballet.
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William Roberson |
William Roberson, a native of Tennessee, graduated with a B.F.A in Dance from Howard University in 2013. Through Howard, he’s been fortunate to work with Ronald K Brown, Hope Boykin, Deeply Rooted Dance Theater, and many others. He met Camille A Brown in college when she was a guest choreographer and has maintained his connection with her ever since. He’s been blessed to take part in productions like “Porgy and Bess” at the Metropolitan opera and Shakespeare in the Park’s “Much Ado About Nothin’”. He is incredibly grateful to now be a new company member with CABD and gives thanks to everyone who’s helped him along the way.
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