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BOSTON BALLET ANNOUNCES NEW
ADDITIONS AND PROMOTIONS TO ITS INTERNATIONAL
ROSTER
The Company Promotes Six Dancers and
Welcomes Eight New Company Members
BOSTON, MA – September 4, 2008 – Boston
Ballet Artistic Director Mikko Nissinen announced today the
company’s 2008-2009 dancer roster along with the promotion of
six current company members and addition of eight new dancers.
Nissinen has continued Boston Ballet’s tradition of
developing a diverse company by bringing in talented dancers from
all over North America and the world and cultivating new talent
from its esteemed school. Boston Ballet’s new roster has
dancers from 15 different countries and 47% of the company is from
outside of the U.S.
“Today the world is even more connected
internationally and I feel it is very important to have a diverse
company that reflects it,” said Nissinen. “I am always
excited to welcome new dancers to the company. Every artist brings
individual strengths and values to the stage and studio, and I look
forward to the new dynamics that our new dancers will add to our
strong company. In addition, company members who have been promoted
have performed at a very high caliber over the past years. I
anticipate many more wonderful performances from them in their new
positions.”
Boston Ballet company members Jaime Diaz,
John Lam, Heather Myers and James
Whiteside have been promoted to soloists; and two dancers
from Boston Ballet II have been promoted to the corps de ballet:
Paul Craig and Robert Kretz.
Nissinen announced four new additions to the corps de ballet:
Alison Basford, Tiffany Hedman, Tanner Schwartz
and Mark Wax and four additions to Boston Ballet
II: Rachel Cossar, Sylvia Deaton, Emily Mistretta
and Yoshiya Sakurai. Cossar, Deaton and Mistretta
are all Boston Ballet School alumni.
Dancers who have been promoted within the company
are:
Paul Craig has been promoted to
Boston Ballet’s corps de ballet from Boston Ballet II. Craig
was a member of Boston Ballet II for the 2007-2008 season. His
Boston Ballet repertoire includes Don Quixote, The Nutcracker, Swan
Lake and In on Blue, among others. He has toured to Moscow with
Boston Ballet II. Craig trained at the Conservatory of Dance and
Performing Arts and the Virginia School of the Arts.
Jaime Diaz joined Boston Ballet in
2004 and has been promoted to soloist. Diaz began his career with
Jeune Ballet de France in 1999 but returned to his native Cuba in
2000 to join the National Ballet of Cuba as a soloist. He has an
extensive repertory including, among others, Swan Lake, Giselle, La
Sylphide, Cinderella and Sarabande. Diaz received his training at
Anna Pavlova’s Ballet Academy in Bogota and the Cuban
National Ballet School.
Robert Kretz was a member of Boston
Ballet II from 2006-2008 and has been promoted to corps de ballet.
His Boston Ballet repertoire includes Don Quixote, Romeo and
Juliet, In on Blue, La Sylphide and The Nutcracker, among others.
He has trained at the Norfolk Academy and with Central Pennsylvania
Youth Ballet.
John Lam joined Boston Ballet in
2004 and has been promoted to soloist. He first joined Boston
Ballet in 2003 as a member of Boston Ballet II. His repertory at
Boston Ballet includes a number of new works including Plan to B,
Brake the Eyes, In on Blue and Etesian. His repertory also includes
La Sylphide, Don Quixote, Polyphonia, Cinderella and Taming of the
Shrew. He trained with Canada’s National Ballet School and
was the recipient of a 2005 Princess Grace Fellowship, which
identifies and assists young talent.
Heather Myers joined Boston Ballet
in 2002 and has been promoted to soloist from second soloist. Myers
made her Boston Ballet debut as a choreographer this past season
with the world premiere of Gone Again which was featured in Boston
Ballet’s Next Generation program during the 2007-2008 season.
Her repertory at Boston Ballet includes The Sleeping Beauty, The
Nutcracker, Swan Lake, Falling Angels and Serenade, among many
others. She received her training at The National Ballet School and
The Royal Winnipeg Ballet School. Myers danced with Alberta Ballet
for four years under the direction of Boston Ballet Artistic
Director Mikko Nissinen.
James Whiteside joined Boston
Ballet in 2003 and has been promoted to soloist. Whiteside
participated in Boston Ballet School’s Summer Dance Program
in 2002 and received an invitation to join Boston Ballet II for the
2002-2003 season. He was promoted to the Corps de ballet in 2003.
His repertory includes A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Serenade,
Swan Lake, The Sleeping Beauty and world premieres of Brake the
Eyes, Plan to B, Etesian, Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion, Ten
Part Suite and others.
The new company dancers are:
Alison Basford joins as a member of
the corps de ballet. Prior to joining Boston Ballet, Basford danced
with Pacific Northwest Ballet for six seasons. She has been a guest
artist at both Miami City Ballet and New York City Ballet. Basford
trained at the Joffrey Ballet School, School of American Ballet and
Pacific Northwest Ballet School.
Rachel Cossar joins Boston Ballet
II. Prior to joining Boston Ballet as a trainee, Cossar’s
training began at the National Ballet School of Canada and
continued at Royal Winnipeg Ballet School and Supérieure de
Danse Contemporaire. Her Boston Ballet repertoire includes The
Nutcracker, Swan Lake and Romeo and Juliet. Additionally, Cossar is
an accomplished rhythmic gymnast. She was a member of the Canadian
National team for ten years and was ranked third when she
retired.
Sylvia Lee Deaton joins Boston
Ballet II. She joined Boston Ballet School as a trainee in 2005
under the Sydelle Gomberg Scholarship following her training at the
Otto M. Budig Academy of Cincinnati Ballet. She attended Boston
Ballet Summer Dance Program as a scholarship student for three
years under Margaret Tracey, Diedre Miles Burger, Celia Marino,
Jacqueline Cronsberg and Kathleen Mitchell.
Tiffany Hedman joins as a member of
the corps de ballet. Hedman returns to Boston after dancing with
Miami City Ballet for four seasons from 2004-2008. In 2002, after
training at Boston Ballet School, Hedman joined Boston Ballet II.
Her Boston Ballet repertoire includes Swan Lake, Romeo and Juliet,
Sleeping Beauty, The Four Temperaments, an the world premiere of
Jorma Elo’s Sharp Side of Dark.
Emily Mistretta joins Boston Ballet
II. She began training at Boston Ballet School in 2004 and became a
trainee in 2006. Her training experience also includes summer
intensives at San Francisco Ballet, Pacific Northwest Ballet, San
Francisco Conservatory of Dance and Boston Ballet School.
Yoshiya Sakurai joins Boston Ballet
II. Sakurai’s previous training was with National Ballet
School of Canada and Nigata Ballet School. Sakurai placed 5th in
the 2003 Japan Grand Prix in Sapporo, was a semi-finalist in the
2007 Prix de Lausanne and was the recipient of the 2006 Peter Dwyer
Scholarship which is awarded to the most promising students at
National Ballet School of Canada.
Tanner Schwartz joins Boston Ballet
as a member of the corps de ballet. Schwartz studied at the School
of American Ballet and performed in a number of productions with
New York City Ballet, including The Nutcracker, Firebird, and The
Sleeping Beauty. Schwartz danced with Pennsylvania Ballet II from
2006-2008 and performed in productions including The Nutcracker,
Giselle and Lambarena, among others. He was the recipient of the
D.A.N.C.E. (Danish American National Cultural Exchange) Scholarship
in 2002, dancing as an apprentice with the Royal Danish
Ballet.
Mark Wax joins Boston Ballet as a
member of the corps de ballet. He trained under full scholarship at
Pacific Northwest Ballet School in the Professional Division from
2005-2007, School of American Ballet from 2007-2008 and Miami City
Ballet School during the summer of 2008. Wax performed Concerto
Barocco with the School of American Ballet at the Kennedy Center in
Protégés II. He performed in Pacific Northwest
Ballet’s 2007 Choreographic Showcase.
About Boston Ballet
Founded in 1963, Boston Ballet is one of the
leading dance companies in North America. Under the leadership of
Artistic Director Mikko Nissinen, the Company maintains an
internationally acclaimed repertoire of classical, neo-classical
and contemporary works, ranging from full-length story ballets to
new works by some of today's finest choreographers.
Boston Ballet's second company, Boston Ballet
II, is made up of pre-professional dancers who gain experience by
performing with Boston Ballet and as an independent group,
presenting lecture-demonstrations and unique programs to audiences
throughout the Northeast. The Boston Ballet Center for Dance
Education is the largest ballet school in North America. In service
of its mission to bring the highest quality arts education to all,
it reaches and instructs more than 5,000 students of all ages each
year through Boston Ballet School, Summer Dance Workshop, Summer
Dance Program, Citydance, Taking Steps, and Adaptive Dance. The
wide array of dance education programs are held at four major
ballet studio locations, in community centers, and throughout the
Boston Public Schools.
Boston Ballet gratefully acknowledges the
following institutional partners:
State Street Corporation, 2008 Sponsor, The
Nutcracker
Carl and Ruth Shapiro Family Foundation/Linda S.
Waintrup, Trustee
Massachusetts Cultural Council
National Endowment for the Arts
Boston Organ & Piano, Official Piano
Supplier of Boston Ballet
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