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Copyright © 2002-2008
The Metropolitan Ballet. All Rights reserved. Website built and maintained by Claypool Web Design. |
Erik
Sanborn, a native of Minnesota,
started his own company at a young age while pursuing a career
in theater, film and modeling in the Twin Cities, New York
City, Hamburg Germany, Zurich Switzerland and Milan Italy.
His careers have taken him through 25 countries in Europe,
South America, Africa and the Middle East. Film experiences
include principal and feature roles in works with B.B.D.O.,
Digital Video Works, an ABC Movie with Kate Jackson, Northwest
Tele-productions, Goib-Hamburg Germany and Anheuser Busch.
Erik was a celebrity guest of a special Olympics event with
Tommy DePaolo and Tippy Hedgrin and has been the subject of
interviews with numerous programs including NBC Television,
PM Magazine and Twin Cities Live. While living in Europe he
worked with Talents International Krystel Flath Agency for
clients such as OTTO Versand, Neckermann Versand and Vitamin-Genus.
Print works include GQ Magazine, Esquire, and Seventeen Magazine.
Theater experience principal roles in "Fanny’s
Funny Farm" the "Braxton Theater" and the Chimera
Theater, Collings Fine Arts, the North-East Play House. Commercial
work with Carmichael Lynch, Young Rubicam and Saffer-Cravit
are other credits to his career. Mr. Sanborn has performed several leading roles
including the Nutcracker Prince, Sugar Plum Cavalier, Arabian Prince, Snow Cavalier, Blue Bird
Pas de Deux, Head Rancher in Rodeo, Prince Florimund in Sleeping
Beauty, Fall Pas de Deux in Cinderella and the male lead in CAAM’s Butterfly Lovers choreographed by Shen Pei. Erik donates
his time to the fine art of ballet in the spirit of his late daughter Anna.
Tatiana
Berenova, Born in Gorky, Russia, Tatiana received
her training from the Moscow Choreographic Ballet Academy,
the official school of the Bolshoi Ballet. She attained the
rank Prima Ballerina at the National Academic Bolshoi Ballet
Theatre of The Republic of Belarus and the Moscow Renaissance
Ballet and was guest star with the Moscow Imperial Ballet,
the Pushkin Academic Opera & Ballet Theatre of Nizhniy
Novgorod, Philadelphia Ballet, Canyon Concert Ballet and Ballet
du Soleil. In 1995 Ms. Berenova was awarded the First Place
Gold Medal at the Third International Ballet Competition in
Luxembourg. Her roles have included Odette/Odile in Swan
Lake, Kitri in Don Quixote, Giselle
and Myrta in Giselle, Princess Aurora in The
Sleeping Beauty, Marie & Sugarplum Fairy in The
Nutcracker and the roles of Cinderella, Raymonda,
Firebird, Carmen, Esmeralda in
ballets of the same name. During her professional career,
Ms. Berenova has worked with great Russian Ballet Dancers
Raisa Struchkova, Nikolai Fadeyechev, Nina Ocipyan and many
others. She has toured Europe, the United States, and both
the Near and Far East. Tatiana is married to fellow company
member Pavel Homko and this is her second season with Continental
Ballet.
Ramon
Thielen, born in Barquisimeto, Venezuela,
began his ballet studies in the Casa de la Cultura Julio Garmendia
with Nery Johnson and later continued in the Gustavo Franklin
Ballet School in Caracas. In 1987 he joined the Ballet Metropolitano
de Caracas and later the Ballet Nuevo Mundo de Caracas, directed
by Zhandra Rodriguez, where he was promoted to Principal Dancer
in 1990. In 1991 he joined the San Jose Cleveland ballet where
for seven years he performed many principal roles in the classical
and contemporary repertoire. Mr. Thielen joined The Dance
Theater of Harlem in 1998 and was promoted to Principal Dancer
in 1999. He is the first Hispanic male Principal Dancer at
the institution in 36 years. Some of his principal roles include:
Swan Lake, The Nutcracker, Carmina Burana, Raymond (in the
ballet movie The Blue Suede Shoes), Romeo and Juliet, Othello,
Diana and Acteon and Apollo. He has been a guest artist with
many international companies, and has toured many countries,
including: Venezuela, Colombia Curacao, USA, England, Scotland,
Ireland, Germany, Austria, Spain, Switzerland, Italy, Greece,
Russia, Australia and China.
Pavel
Homko, Born in Minsk, Republic
of Belarus, Pavel received his training from the Belarus Choreographic
Ballet Academy with Serge Pestekhin. He has appeared as a
soloist with the National Academic Bolshoi Ballet Theatre
of The Republic of Belarus and as guest Principal with Philadelphia
Ballet Theatre, Georgia Ballet, Canyon Concert Ballet and
Ballet du Soleil. Mr. Homko has danced the principal roles
of Prince Siegfried in Swan Lake, Count Albrecht
and Hilarian in Giselle, Prince Charming in Cinderella,
Pier Grenguare in Esmeralda, Lucien in Pequita
and others. He has toured much of Europe and the Far East
dancing principal and soloist roles. Pavel is married to fellow
company member Tatiana Berenova and this is his second season
with Continental Ballet.
Richard
Isaac has previously
danced with Minnesota Dance Theatre, Tulsa Ballet, and Kansas
City Ballet where he has performed choreographies by Marcello
Angelini, George Balanchine, Giaconda Barbuto, Todd Bolender,
Val Caniparoli, Ma Cong, Nacho Duato, Wynn Fricke, Lise and
Loyce Houlton, Ruth Page, Andre Prokovsky, Margo Sappington,
Ben Stevenson, Anthony Tudor, Mauricio Wainrot, and Lila York.
He has trained with the schools of Metropolitan Ballet of
Wichita, Boston Ballet, Houston Ballet, and intensively at
San Francisco Ballet School under Jorge Esquivel, Jeffrey
Lyons, and Ellie Klopp. Mr. Isaac was awarded the Kansas Cultural
Trust Fund in 1997 and 1998 and has toured with Tulsa Ballet
to the prestigous Ballet Nights Festival in Sintra, Portugal.
Mifa
Ko was born in Tokyo and studied with the
Matsuyama Ballet School. She also trained at the Academie
de Dance Classique Princess Grace in Monte Carlo, the Bolshoi
Ballet in Russia, and the Boston Ballet School, where she
had the opportunity to perform with the company in The Nutcracker
and Le Corsaire. Mifa has worked with Valentina Koslova at
the Daring Project, the New Dance Group, and Connecticut Ballet.
Most recently, she was a member of the James Sewell Ballet
and Minnesota Dance Theatre where she had the opportunity
to perform works of several well known choreographers including
Dwight Roden, Elisa Monte, Anthony Tuder, Jose Limon and Gioconda
Barbuto. Performing at the Opening Ceremonies of the Olympic
Games in Nagano has been one of the highlights of her career.
Mifa currently dances for The Metropolitan Ballet Minneapolis
~ St. Paul and Ajkun Ballet Theatre in NYC. Mifa has appeared
as a guest artist performing leading roles in several full-length
ballet's including Swan Lake, Nutcracker, Romeo & Juliet
and Giselle. Ms. Ko is a fellow of the Mc Knight Foundation's
prestigious Dancers Award for 2006.
Vitali
Krauchenka,
born in Minsk, Bealarus, started his ballet training at six
years old with National Ballet School in Belarus. After graduation
he joined the National Ballet Theatre of Belarus, and then
performed solo roles with the Latvian National Opera. He has
also danced with Canada’s Atlantic Ballet Theatre and
Ballet Jorgen of Canada. His repertoire includes classical
and modern ballets like Swan Lake, Le Corsaire, Sleeping Beauty,
Giselle, The Nutcracker, Tchaikovsky by Boris Eifman, Carmen
and Le Sacre du Printemps by Kchistof Pastor, 3X by Chao Jeki
Hua, Petrushka by Ben Jorgen. Viali has been dancing with
American Ballet Theatre since 2004 and has performed as a
guest artist throughout Europe, Asia and North America.
Michelle
May-see Mahowald is currently pursuing a Bachelor
of Science in Ballet Performance with an Outside Field in
English Literature. Before joining the IU Ballet Theater,
Ms. Mahowald trained with the Continental Ballet Company in
her native Minnesota, and has attended such nationally recognized
summer programs as American Ballet Theater in New York. During
her two years with IUBT, Ms. Mahowald has performed in Serenade
(Spring Ballet 2003), Glassworks (Fall Ballet 2004),
Viva Vivaldi! (Fall Ballet 2004), and as Lead Mirliton
and “Chinese” in The Nutcracker (2004).
Ms. Mahowald received first place in 2005’s National
Association of Arts and Letters held January 2005.
Ms. Mahowald has been training with with Violette Verdy, Glenda
Lucena, Jacques Cesbron and Gouping Wang.
Norbert
Nirewicz, a native of Poland, began his ballet
studies at the National Ballet School in Gdansk. He was a
finalist in Poland's national Ballet Competition in 1993 and
obtained a silver medal in the same competition in 1995. As
a Dancer for the Polish National Theater he portrayed roles
in a variety of classical ballets such as "Swan Lake","Giselle","Sleeping
Beauty" and "La Fille Mal Gardee" in Warsaw
and throughout Europe. In 1997 Mr. Nirewicz joined Ballet
Classico de Camara in Venezuela, as a Principal Dancer adding
"La Bayadere", "Le Corsaire" and many
more to his repertoire. After Mr. Nirewicz competed at the
1998 US International Ballet Competition in Jackson, Mississippi,
he was offered a contract to join Cleveland/San Jose Ballet.
He performed with the company for two seasons in Nahat's "Blue
Suede Shoes" and Roland Petit's "Carmen" garnering
public and critical acclaim. In the Summer of 2000 Norbert
competed in New York International Ballet Competition where
he was a finalist. After two seasons with Cleveland/San Jose
Ballet Mr. Nirewicz joined Columbia City Ballet with a Principal
contract where he performed in "Don Quichote" and
"Dracula" among the others. Since 2002 Norbert has
been working as a Guest Artist, Teacher and Choreographer
adding many more ballets to his repertory such as "Apollo",
"Who Cares", "Allegro Brilliante", "Combat",
"Serenade", "Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux and "Romeo
& Juliet" to name the few as well as taught numerous
Master Classes, Company Classes and Summer Intensive Workshops
through out the country.
Matthew
Powell
began his training at the West Virginia School of Ballet and
moved to New York City at the age of 16 to study with Peter
Boal, Peter Martins, Jock Soto, Stanley Williams, and many
other teachers at the School of American Ballet. This experience
provided Mr. Powell with the opportunity to dance as a guest
soloist with the San Francisco Opera, perform in various pieces
in New York City, and ultimately led to being hired by The
Pacific Northwest Ballet. Mr. Powell spent three years with
PNB performing soloist and principal roles that included tours
throughout Europe and Asia. Mr. Powell is currently a company
member of The Kansas City Ballet which boasts some of the
best known works in both the classic and contemporary repertoire.
In addition he has choreographed three ballets for the company's
choreographic workshop and is an invited faculty member of
The Kansas City Ballet School. 
Leah Gallas received her training
at Ballet Arts Minnesota, spending summers at the San Francisco
Ballet and the Boston Ballet on full scholarships. Gallas
became an apprentice with the Colorado Ballet, performing
demi-solo roles and later joined the Ohio's Dayton Ballet
as a company member. She then danced as a principal with the
Virginia Ballet Theatre, performing in various roles including
Marie Taglioni in Pas de Déesses and Young
Girl in Abyss. Now in her third year with the Minnesota
Ballet, she has won praise in the principal roles of Swanilda
(Coppélia), Cinderella, and Marie in The
Nutcracker, for which the News Tribune enthused: "Gallas
floated beautifully throughout the stage space and projected
warmth and innocence." Leah would like to thank her family
for their support.
Keith
Glenn Born in Houston, Keith
began his dance training with the Houston Ballet Academy at
age eight. Upon graduating from the academy, Keith was accepted
into the company, where he was fortunate to dance such roles
as Fritz in The Nutcracker, and a lead in Five
Poems and Etudes. Last year in his first season
with the Minnesota Ballet he drew praise from the News Tribune
for his performance as the Mouse King in The Nutcracker
that gave the audience "its first taste of masterful
showmanship from the ballet company's members."
Colin
D. Claypool began dancing in 2001. His was
trained at the Continental School of Ballet and danced there
as a company member. He has danced for Deuxmension Dance Theatre
& School, St. Paul City Ballet, the Third Rabbit Dance
Ensemble and The Metropolitan Ballet. He has taught ballet
at Shoreline Dance in Red Wing, MN. He is currently dancing
for The Ballet Quad Cities and The Metropolitan Ballet. He
swing dances socially, and used to perform with Rhythm &
Swing. Colin began working with the Metropolitan Ballet in
2004 both as a dancer and assistant carpenter. In 2005, he
was asked to work with the company as its Associate Producer,
as well as carpenter and webmaster. Besides dance, Colin also
does fine art photography and web design.
Shannon
Corbett began
her training in her hometown of Stillwater, Minnesota. She
later attended Ballet Arts Minnesota under the direction of
Bonnie Mathis. While there, she attended summer programs such
as Milwaukee Ballet, Minnesota Ballet, Boston Ballet, Extreme
Ballet at Kaatsbaan International Dance Center, and City Ballet
of San Diego—all on scholarship. Upon graduating from
high school, Ms. Corbett received a scholarship to attend
Point Park College as a dance major. She later joined Ballet
Arts Minnesota for their Springboard Apprentice Company for
three years. Ms. Corbett began her professional career as
a guest artist for Peoria Ballet, and later joined Ohio Dance
Theatre as an apprentice. Since her launch as a professional
dancer, she has spent seasons with the Augusta Ballet, Artisan
Dance, Northern Plains Ballet and now Metropolitan Ballet.
She has been privileged to dance the principle role in Ron
Cunningham's Incident at Blackbriar and was most recently
seen as Lucy in Northern Plains Ballet's Dracula.
Katherine
Krieser (University
of Minnesota). Katherine Krieser brings performance and choreography
experience, which includes principal roles as Princess and
the Arabian pas de deux in the Nutcracker, and performances
with Matthew Keefe, Peggy Seipp, Danny Buraczeski, and others.
Katherine has also choreographed work for adjudication, which
was accepted and performed in the annual RDA festival in Chicago.
Her dance training and education includes the American Ballet
Theater, University of Minnesota, Ballet Arts, Youth Ballet
Company, and the Minnetonka Dance Theater and School, where
she trained since 1988. She is the recipient of full dance
scholarships from the Washington School of Ballet and Alexandra
Ballet. She has studied with David Howard, John Meehan, Rebecca
Wright, Bonnie Mathis, Ronald Tice, Marianne Simmons, and
others.
Edward
McPherson 
Amy
Pennaz, a
Minnesota native, has been dancing in the Twin Cities for
10 years, performing in local Nutcrackers with Ballet
Arts Minnesota and Minnesota Dance Theatre. She apprenticed
with the Colorado Ballet and has trained over the summers
at the Milwaukee Ballet, Colorado Ballet, Royal Winnipeg Ballet,
the Kirov Ballet Academy in Washington D.C., and the Boston
Ballet. She performed last spring in Metropolitan Ballet Project's
Romeo and Juliet. Amy has a degree in Biomedical
Engineering and will be attending the physical therapy program
at the College of St. Catherine this fall. This summer she
will be traveling in Brazil.
Jennifer
Rockwell
is an alumus of the Walnut Hill School for the Fine Arts in
Natick, MA. Ms. Rockwell danced as a soloist with Rosella
Hightower's Jeune Ballet International in France, and as a
principal with the Amherst Ballet and Pioneer Valley Ballet
after returning to the United States. In France and the U.S.
she danced such roles as Swanhilda in Coppelia, the Dewdrop
Fairy in the Nutcracker, and Aurora in The Sleeping Beauty.
Ms. Rockwell holds a BFA in dance and a BA in psychology from
the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Since moving to Minneapolis,
she has danced soloist roles in Minnesota Dance Theater's
Nutcracker Fantasy, and has been with the Metropolitan Ballet
since 2005. Jennifer dances courtesy of St. Paul Chamber Ballet.
Yuki
Tokuda
