Melinda Roy
Artistic Director and Co-founder,
Gulfshore Ballet, Fort Myers Florida
Former Principal Dancer, New York City Ballet
Tony-Nominated Broadway Choreographer
During her tenure as a Balanchine-trained Principal Dancer with the New York City Ballet, Ms. Roy performed for audiences all over the world. She danced leading roles in the works of George Balanchine, Jerome Robbins, Peter Martins, and William Forsyth, among others. She performed in China under the direction of Jerome Robbins, and toured world wide with Stars of American Ballet. Her television appearances include the Dance in America program Balanchine in America, Balanchine Celebration, and a live telecast of Ray Charles in Concert with New York City Ballet. In addition, she is the co-creator of the New York City Ballet Workout, published by William Morrow in 1996. Ms. Roy has also made her mark as a Broadway Choreographer. In 2003, she received a Tony nomination for her work on the Broadway musical version of the movie Urban Cowboy. Other choreographic credits include the Broadway hit show Master Harold and the Boys, starring Danny Glover, Paparazzi with Tommy Tune, and the Encores! Series production of Can-Can starring Patti Lupone.
Roberto Munoz
Executive Director and Ballet Master,
Gulfshore Ballet, Fort Myers, Florida
Former Ballet Master and Principal Teacher,
Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre and
Director, Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre School
Mr. Munoz has been teaching and coaching young dancers for 28 years both in the USA and abroad. Before his tenure with Pittsburgh Ballet Theater, Mr. Munoz was Director of the Conservatory of Dance and Music Point Park College University. There he created two very successful programs for young aspiring dancers, The Pre-Professional Division and International Summer Dance Program. During this time he assembled an impressive faculty of world-renowned Master Teachers, including Laura Alonso, Magda Aunon, Haidee Gutierrez, Karen Brown and Eva Evdokimova. Mr. Munoz’ former students are recognized for their high level of professionalism as well as their artistic and technical achievements and most have gone on to successful careers with major companies across the U.S.
Sean Lavery
Sean Lavery, a former principal dancer with New York City Ballet, is the Company’s Assistant to the Ballet Master in Chief, a position he has held since 1989. Mr. Lavery’s duties include teaching Company class, staging ballets, and assisting Mr. Martins in the preparation of programs and season schedules. In addition, Mr. Lavery stages Balanchine ballets for the George Balanchine Trust, and in 2003 joined the faculty of the School of American Ballet.
Mr. Lavery was born in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and began his ballet training at the age of ten. He studied at the Pennsylvania Ballet School, and in 1968 he appeared as the Nutcracker Prince in the premiere of their production of The Nutcracker. In 1973, Mr. Lavery joined the San Francisco Ballet, and in 1975 he joined the Frankfurt Opera Ballet, where he was promoted to principal dancer.
In 1976 Mr. Lavery began classes at the School of American Ballet, the official school of New York City Ballet. He was invited to join the Company in 1977, and his debut role with the company was as Titania’s Cavalier in Balanchine’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. He was promoted to soloist in early 1978, and then to principal dancer later that year.
Mr. Lavery originated roles in Balanchine’s Vienna Waltzes (1977) and Kammermusik No. 2 (1978); Jerome Robbins’ Concertino and I’m Old Fashioned; and Peter Martins’ A Schubertiad. His large repertory included such ballets as Balanchine’s Apollo, Chaconne, Concerto Barocco, Divertimento No. 15, Gounod Symphony, Jewels (Diamonds), La Source, Symphony in C (second movement), Mozartiana, Tschaikovsky Suite No. 3 (“Theme and Variations” and “Elegie”), and Who Cares?; and Robbins’ Afternoon of a Faun, Dances at a Gathering, In G Major, and Other Dances.
After retiring from dancing in 1986, Mr. Lavery hosted the Dancers’ Emergency Fund benefit (1988) and directed the Saratoga Springs Choreography Project (1988). At that time he was also a guest teacher at the School of American Ballet and served as a teaching assistant at NYCB.
In 1989, Mr. Lavery taught at Barnard College and choreographed an original piece for Barnard students, Twinkliana, which was performed at the Minor Latham Theatre. In 1991, Mr. Lavery choreographed the balcony scene from Romeo and Juliet for a special performance for the Dancers’ Emergency Fund Benefit; this pas de deux is now part of New York City Ballet’s repertory. Mr. Lavery’s other choreographic credits include Aurora’s Wedding (1998) and Classical Symphony (1999) for Ballet Florida.
Mr. Lavery received the New York Public Library Performing Arts Lion Award in 1989.
Jock Soto
Jock Soto began studying ballet at the age of five, with local teachers. Mr. Soto continued his studies at the School of American Ballet (SAB). He became a member of the Company’s corps de ballet. In June 1984 he was promoted to the rank of soloist, and one year later he became a principal dancer.
Mr. Soto’s extensive repertory includes featured roles in many of George Balanchine’s ballets, including Agon, Allegro Brillante, Brahms-Schoenberg Quartet, and Bugaku. He has also danced featured roles in a number of ballets by Jerome Robbins, including Afternoon of a Faun, The Cage, and Dances at a Gathering. Mr. Soto made his Broadway debut in the Encore Series of Ziegfeld Follies, also choreographed by Mr. Wheeldon, at City Center. Mr. Soto has appeared as a guest artist with the Kirov Ballet in Jewels in 2003 and at the Bolshoi Theatre with stars from New York City Ballet and American Ballet Theatre in 2003.
Mr. Soto’s television appearances with New York City Ballet include Five Live from Lincoln Center broadcasts on PBS: “A Choreographer’s Notebook. Mr. Soto also appeared in Mr. Bonnefoux’s Five, as part of the Guggenheim Museum’s “Works in Process” series on PBS. He has appeared on seven episodes of Sesame Street.
Mr. Soto has been a member of SAB’s permanent faculty since 1996. He teaches partnering class to intermediate and advanced students.
Mr. Soto was the recipient of the Casita Maria Award for Hispanics and The First Americans in the Arts Trustee Award. Friends In Deed recognized Mr. Soto for his patronage of AIDS research, and in 2002, the School of American Ballet presented him with the Mae L. Wein Award for Distinguished Service.
Our Meals, a cookbook written by Mr. Soto and former NYCB principal dancer Heather Watts, was published by Riverhead Books in October 1997.
Dana Arey
Dana Arey has an extensive career as a dancer, ballet master and teacher, working in a variety of styles and disciplines. As a principal dancer with Pennsylvania Ballet, she performed works by Balanchine, Limon, Van Manen, Tudor, Taylor-Corbett, Butler, Harkarvy and many more, in addition to the full-length classics. She began her professional career with Eliot Feld’s first ballet company in New York City.
Upon retiring from a performing career, she became Ballet Master with Pittsburgh Ballet Theater, working closely with Patricia Wilde, Artistic Director for 16 years. At Pittsburgh Ballet she has also been Principal and Director of the School. She has been a guest teacher at a number of schools across the country and has staged ballets for both Milwaukee Ballet and Sacramento Ballet.
Simon Ball
Simon Ball studied with School of American Ballet, Pittsburgh Ballet Theater, The Conservatory of Point Park College, and The School of Classical Ballet (American Ballet Theatre's training program). Before becoming a professional, he also performed as a guest artist with many companies in the United States and abroad.
Mr. Ball began his professional career in 1995 as a member of the corps de ballet at Boston Ballet. He was promoted to soloist in 1996, then to principal in 1999, where he remained until 2003. Simon Ball joined Houston Ballet as a principal dancer in July 2003. Mr. Ball has performed leading roles in many important works including: Prince in The Sleeping Beauty; the slave in Le Corsaire (staged by Anna Marie Holmes and Natalia Dudinskaya); Oberon in Bruce Wells’ A Midsummer Night’s Dream; the prince in Cinderella (staged by Michael Corder), and Mr. Corder’s Danses Concertant; Albrecht in Giselle (staged by Maina Gielgud); Romeo in Rudi van Dantzig’s Romeo and Juliet; Basilio in Don Quixote; Siegfried in Swan Lake; Colas in Sir Frederick Ashton’s La Fille mal gardée; Vershinin in Sir Kenneth MacMillan’s Winter Dreams; the title role in John Cranko’s Onegin; Pinkerton in Stanton Welch’s Madame Butterfly; the Bugle Boy in Paul Taylor’s Company B; William Forsythe’s In the middle, somewhat elevated; Nacho Duato’s Jardi Tancat and Without Words; Twyla Tharp’s Waterbaby Bagatelles; Mark Morris’ Maelstrom; and Christopher Wheeldon’s Corybantic Ecstasies, The Four Seasons, and Ivan in Mr. Wheeldon’s staging of The Firebird. Lead roles in Ben Stevenson’s Cleopatra, Dracula, Sleeping Beauty, Romeo and Juliet and Nutcracker. Mr. Ball has also performed ballets by George Balanchine including Divertimento No. 15, the Waltz in Serenade, Symphony in C, Theme and Variations, Ballo de la Regina, Apollo, La Valse, Prodigal Son, Monumentum Pro Gesualdo, and Movements. Since joining Houston Ballet Mr. Ball has also been featured in Mr. Welch's A Dance in the Garden of Mirth, Tales of Texas, Maninyas, Nosotros, and Divergence, as well as Forgotten Land by Jiri Kilian.
Simon Ball has also received a number of prestigious awards including the Margarite Amelita Hoffman scholarship at the international ballet competition in Jackson, Mississippi (1990); the gold medal at the First International Ballet Competition in memory of Rudolf Nureyev (1994) in Budapest, Hungary; and the gold medal at the international ballet competition in Jackson, Mississippi (1994). He was invited to perform at the Benois de la Danse in Berlin, Germany (1999).
In addition, Mr. Ball has been on the teaching faculty of Houston Ballet’s Ben Stevenson Academy, Boston Ballet School, Pittsburgh Youth Ballet, Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre School, and the Saratoga Summer Dance Intensive.
Yvonne Borree
Yvonne Borree's interest in dance developed very early, due in large part to the influence of her mother, Susan Borree, who danced with Jerome Robbins' Ballets: U.S.A., New York City Ballet and American Ballet Theatre. Ms. Borree was raised in Norfolk, Virginia, where she began her dance training at the Tidewater Ballet Association when she was five years old. She attended summer sessions at the School of American Ballet (SAB), the official school of New York City Ballet, for three years and was invited to enter SAB full-time in 1985. In 1987, she became an apprentice with New York City Ballet and was invited to join the corps de ballet in 1988. During the Company's 1992 spring season, Ms. Borree was chosen by Ballet Master in Chief Peter Martins to dance with Guest Artist Mikhail Baryshnikov in George Balanchine's Duo Concertant. She was promoted to the rank of soloist in 1993 and to principal in 1997.
Ashley Bouder
Ashley Bouder was born in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, and began her ballet training at the age of six at the Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet with Marcia Dale Weary. After attending the 1999 Summer Program at the School of American Ballet (SAB), the official school of New York City Ballet, she was invited by SAB to continue her training during the Winter Session. As a student, Ms. Bouder performed featured roles in Balanchine's Dances Concertantes and Stars and Stripes for the School of American Ballet's 2000 Annual Spring Workshop. Ms. Bouder was named an apprentice with New York City Ballet in June 2000 and became a member of the corps de ballet that October. She was promoted to the rank of soloist in February 2004, and in January 2005, Ms. Bouder was promoted to principal dancer.
Jason Fowler
Jason Fowler was born in Dallas, Texas. He began his ballet training at the age of 11, at the Dallas Ballet Academy where he studied dance for five years. In 1993, Mr. Fowler entered the School of American Ballet (SAB), the official school of New York City Ballet. While he was at SAB, he performed in lecture-demonstrations, dancing selections from George Balanchine's Agon, Cortège Hongrois, George Balanchine's The Nutcracker™, and A Midsummer Night's Dream. He became an apprentice with New York City Ballet in August of 1995 and was invited to join the Company as a member of the corps de ballet in April of 1996. In March of 2006 he was promoted to soloist.
Stephen Hanna
Stephen Hanna was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He entered the School of American Ballet (SAB), the official school of New York City Ballet, in the fall of 1992. Mr. Hanna became an apprentice with New York City Ballet in 1997, and later that year he joined the Company as a member of the corps de ballet. Mr. Hanna was promoted to the rank of soloist in February 2004, and in January 2005, he was promoted to principal dancer.
Natasha LaFayette
Natasha LaFayette discovered the Pilates Method of Body Conditioning while as a dancer as a way to keep up with the strenuous demands that dance puts on the body. After practicing Pilates for the past 7 years it has become a way of life for Natasha, and she decided to continue her education by obtaining her certification through Power Pilates in NYC. Natasha has described her experience with Pilates as one that allowed her to dance longer and stronger injury free. Natasha’s love of Pilates has developed into a passion of teaching her students and watching them discover their own physical capacities within their bodies as they grow through practicing the classical Pilates technique. She finds it especially fulfilling to see her clients excel at their crafts as performing artists and athletes when they develop that core strength that too will keep them going longer and stronger. Natasha can speak first hand about the results she has achieved through Pilates and what she has observed in her students bodies.
Maria Kowroski
Maria Kowroski was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where she began her ballet training at age seven with the School of Grand Rapids Ballet. Ms. Kowroski entered the School of American Ballet (SAB), the official school of New York City Ballet, in the fall of 1992. She became an apprentice with New York City Ballet in the summer of 1994 and was invited to join the Company as a member of the corps de ballet in January of 1995. In the spring of 1997, Ms. Kowroski was promoted to the rank of soloist and in the spring of 1999, she was promoted to principal dancer.
Frances Perez-Ball
Frances Perez-Ball trained at Julian E. Blanco School of Performing Arts in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Hartford Ballet School, Eglevsky Ballet, and Point Park College. Frances began her career with Ballet Teatro Municipal de San Juan . As a principal dancer with Ballet Municipal, she toured the United States and Latin America performing various roles in full-length ballets such as Aurora in The Sleeping Beauty, Swanhilda in Coppelia, and Kitri in Don Quixote.
Frances joined Boston Ballet in 1995. Her performances with Boston Ballet include featured roles in The Nutcracker, Swan Lake, Cinderella, Giselle, Dracula, Onegin, Abdallah, Anna-Marie Holmes' staging of La Bayadère, Laszlo Berdo's Below Down Under, Christopher Wheeldon's Corybantic Ecstasies and The Four Seasons, Balanchine's Serenade, Theme and Variations, Ballo de la Regina, Symphony in C, Movements Pro Gesualto, and The Four Temperaments, Daniel Pelzig's 1998 World Premiere set to music by George Gershwin, Nine Lives: Songs of Lyle Lovett, and Bachianas, Nacho Duato's Without Words and Jardi Tancat, Lila York’s Ode to Joy and Celts, William Forsyth’s In the Middle Somewhat Elevated, Paul Taylor's Company B, Stanton Welch’s Madame Butterfly, as well as Ben Stevenson's Dracula and Cleopatra.
In 2003 Frances was invited to join Houston Ballet under the direction of Stanton Welch. There she performed works by Mr. Welch including Divergence and In the Garden of Myrth, Serge Lafar’s Suite en Blanc, Trey MacIntyre’s Touched, and Balanchine’s La Valse among others.
Frances was the recipient of the 1999 Copa International Capezio Award for her outstanding work in ballet. She has also been on the teaching staff of Boston Ballet School, Pittsburgh Ballet Theater School, The Hope Stone, and the Saratoga Summer Dance Intensive.
Chad Schiro
Chad Schiro’s performance credits include the recently released film The Producers, the Broadway musical Urban Cowboy, and the national tours of Saturday Night Fever and Victor/Victoria. He was also the winner of the Spotlight on Award for Best Supporting Actor in Alan Bowne’s Forty Deuce. He has appeared on Saturday Night Live and in many TV commercials. His choreography credits include Urban Cowboy, Encore’s Can-Can, and Master Harold and the Boys. Chad is Resident Choreographer for the University of Wisconsin’s summer program, the Wisconsin Singers, and recently appeared in the revival of Mame at the Kennedy Center.
Daniel Ulbricht
Daniel Ulbricht was born in St. Petersburg, Florida, and began his dance training at the age of 11 at the Judith Lee Johnson Studio of Dance, studying with Lenny Holmes. He also studied at Les Jeunes Danseurs with Javier Dubraq and attended the Chautauqua Summer Dance Program, training with Jean Pierre Bonnefoux and Patricia McBride. In 1999, Mr. Ulbricht was invited by the School of American Ballet (SAB), the official school of New York City Ballet, to continue his training during their Winter Program. As a student at SAB, Mr. Ulbricht performed with New York City Ballet as a Jester in Peter Martins' The Sleeping Beauty. In December 2000, he became an apprentice with New York City Ballet and in November 2001 he joined the Company as a member of the corps de ballet. In January 2005, Mr. Ulbricht was promoted to the rank of soloist.
Rossana Machi
Rossana Machi earned highest teaching degree given by the Italian Ministry of Education through the "Accademia Nazionale di Danza, Rome". As a dancer, Mrs. Machi performed in nationally renowned companies in Italy, such as the Opera Theatre in Rome and the Company of Balletto di Roma. As a teacher, she started her career at the School of Balletto di Roma. She was later invited as guest instructor at the Opera Theatre in Rome and the National Academy of Dance. In Milan, Mrs. Machi was honored to be invited by La Scala Theatre teach for the Ballet Summer Bozen Program.After teaching and performing in Europe for ten years, Mrs. Machi moved to the United States where she has taught at the Western Ballet School, the Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre, and Point Park University. Mrs. Machi joined the Cary Ballet faculty in 2004, and was named its Director in 2007.
Patricia Wilde
Patricia Wilde: gifted dancer, teacher, and administrator. It is rare to find this combination of gifts in one person, especially one who is also so gracious, caring, and generous. She is a charismatic presence both on and off the stage, in the studio and out of it. She has traveled through her phenomenal career as dancer, teacher, artistic director, role model and dancer advocate in a quietly innovative way, introducing futuristic elements with lasting effectiveness and importance, always moving her charges on to the next step; quietly elevating dance to a higher level of public awareness, while raising the standards of the art, both technically and artistically, to an ever complex and advanced limit. As she forged ahead through the stages of her career she contributed innovations in each area that has had significant impact and far-reaching effects still seen throughout the dance world today.
In her dancing career, Ms. Wilde was blessed with incredible speed and accuracy. She began ballet at age three after accompanying her older sister to dance classes. At age twelve she met George Balanchine for the first time when she auditioned for the School of American Ballet (SAB) but was sent home to Canada because she was too young. At 14 she was invited to join the Marquis de Cuevas Ballet International. Only a year later she began her long time association with George Balanchine when she joined Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, performing for four years as a soloist and principal, as well as a corps member. When George Balanchine left Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, Wilde went to Europe to continue her studies. When the newly formed New York City Ballet traveled to London on tour, Balanchine sought out this talented dancer and enticed her to join the Company, where she remained as principal dancer for fifteen years. She was one of the first ballerinas to attain the physical speed that was the foundation of the Balanchine style. She danced every major role in the repertoire of NYCB. Balanchine, who created roles only on dancers he considered to have exceptional talent and deep passion for ballet created eighteen roles for Ms. Wilde including Scotch Symphony, Divertimento #15, Square Dance, and Raymonda Variations. She also made eight international tours with the Company, dancing to critical acclaim on the stages of the world’s legendary theaters: the Bolshoi, the Kirov, La Scala, Covent Garden, and the Paris Opera as well as in the Philippines, Japan, and Australia.
Balanchine has been credited with bringing about the 20th Century renaissance of ballet. Of Patricia Wilde it has been said that, “the physical speed that he [Balanchine] asked for and received from Patricia Wilde was essential to carry ballet into the 21st Century. Through sheer physical presence, Ms. Wilde was to teach an entire generation of dancers how ballet was to look in the future…As a dancer she pushed her technique past the limits, opening the way for new forms of the classic dance. In a way she was a feminist ballerina who gladly tackled the steps usually reserved for men.” Robert Garis, author of Following Balanchine, observed that Patricia Wilde “…was revealed late in her career as the brilliant technician of the company [NYCB]: her gargouillades were so dazzling that I felt I had to learn this technical word to name what she was doing.” Her incredible speed, accuracy, quick footwork, full-bodied energy, and fancy jumps became part of the signature look of NYCB which remains today and has transformed the technical level to which all professional ballet companies aspire.
After having made her mark on the stage, she created an unprecedented model for dancer education at the Harkness House of Ballet in New York City. This led to an invitation from George Balanchine to assist him in establishing a school for the Grand Theatre of Geneva in Switzerland. Upon her return to the United States, she became ballet mistress and coach at American Ballet Theatre where she began influencing professional dancers and students alike.
In 1982, Mrs. Loti Falk, founder and Executive Director of PBT, decided it was time to take this Company to a new and higher level. In search of a new artistic director, she called Patricia Wilde for advice and suggestions. Upon hearing that Ms. Wilde, herself, was going to be professionally available, the decision was made.
Ms. Wilde immediately began introducing the clean, precise technique of the Balanchine style for which she herself was famous and re-structured the company members to reflect that more advanced technique. Her varied dancing and teaching career of Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, New York City Ballet, and American Ballet Theatre reflected both sides of the balletic coin, and she drew the best from each. She carefully balanced the contemporary avant-garde and abstract style of Balanchine with the Ballet Russe style of story ballets including their star-developing roles and folk-style and character dances. She wanted the audience to see new things while enjoying the ballets they already loved. Her belief is that an audience does not have to love every ballet it sees, but people should have an opportunity to experience all styles. To accomplish this, she commissioned many new works by established and up-and-coming choreographers.
When Patricia Wilde came to Pittsburgh she promised that someday PBT would perform Balanchine’s Symphony in C in which she herself had danced three of the four principal roles. Symphony in C is one of the many Balanchine ballets she was able to present because of her influence with the Balanchine Trust and her friendship with others who own rights to his ballets. Fifteen years after her debut in Pittsburgh she deemed the Company ready. At her farewell performance, the celebration of her retirement, Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre presented Symphony in C – a tribute to her talent, creativity, and tenacity; a gold medal for the company she had sculpted; and a gift to the loyal ballet fans of Pittsburgh.