Benjamin Briones Ballet to Present THE ROUND TABLE in NJ and NYC

"The Round Table 2016", presented by Benjamin Briones Ballet, is a collection of some of the most fresh and innovative, upcoming and established choreographers and dance companies in the field.

Presenting original, evocative and stirring choreography in the style of contemporary ballet, neoclassical, modern and contemporary dance. Each artist and company is committed to their voice and artistry, partaking together on the same stage.

8 Performances, 2 Programs:

4 performances will take place at:
Alvin Court Studio Theatre
10 Alvin Court St. East Brunswick, NJ 08816
Phone: (732) 238-7890

August 2016
Friday 19th at 8pm Program A
Saturday 20th at 8pm Program A
Friday 26th at 8pm Program B
Saturday 27th at 8pm Program B

Tickets online at or at the door $20.00

4 more performances will take place at:
Agnes Varis Performing Arts Center
280 Broadway (Entrance at 53A Chambers), New York, NY 10007
Phone: (646) 837-6809

September 2016
Thursday 1st at 7:30pm Program A
Friday 2nd at 7:30pm Program B
Saturday 3rd Matinee at 5pm Program A
Saturday 3rd Evening at 7:30pm Program B

Tickets online or at the door $25.00

Founded by director Benjamin Briones, the Festival was born to share, support, promote and showcase the work of upcoming and established Choreographers and Dance Companies who are passionate about communicating their vision through concert dance and the styles of Contemporary Ballet, Modern and Contemporary Dance. We love being a part of the dance community and enriching our world by sharing experiences with artists of every culture. We promise an evening full of dance you won't forget, produced by Benjamin Briones Ballet.

Participants include choreographers from Mexico, Connecticut, Florida, New Hampshire and New York.

To learn more about "The Round Table", visit www.BenjaminBrionesBallet.org.

Highlighted Artists:

1- Ana Cuellar

2- Carla V annucchi/Formazione Danza

3- Cesar Ortiz/Carousel Dance Studio

4- Dannon O'Brien

5- David Sun/DSundanceX

6- Elizabeth McMillan/Vivid Ballet

7- Erin Forrest

8- George C. Berry/George C. Berry & Company

9- Miguel Angel Palmeros/Momentos Corpo?reos

10- Ned Kinter/Ned Kinter De?s le De?but

11- Nellesa W althour

12- Steve Rooks/Saving Grace Dance Ensemble

13- Ted Thomas and Frances Ortiz-Thomas/Ortiz Dance

14- Vera Huff/Veracity Dance Theatre

Also presenting BBBallet repertory by choreographers: Amanda Turner, Megan Philipp, Ursula Verduzco and Benjamin Briones.

ABOUT THE CHOREOGRAPHERS:

Ana Cuellar is an accomplished choreographer, dancer and aerialist. She's a graduate of the Contemporary Dance at The Autonomous University of Nuevo Leo?n and Theater of National Institute of Bellas Artes in Monterrey Nuevo Leon Mexico. While there she was granted the Talent Scholarship as well as the Individual Artistic Development. Ana has completed "The Meisner Master Program" at Truthful Acting Studio in Orlando, Florida. She earned many awards, accolades and scholarships for her talents in the art fields. Since 2004 Ana Cuellar has performed at Cirque du Solei, La Nouba. She is the captain of the Aerial Ballet in silk group since 2007. She understudied the main role of the "La Petite Madam" character and the Aerial main role for the Aerial Ballet in Silk performance. Ana earned the "Successful Mexican Woman Award" in 2015 for her contributions in Central Florida. She was also honored with the "Tenochtitlan Award" 2012 by Casa Mexico in Orlando, Florida.

As a Choreographer Ana Cuellar has presented her work at many well known festivals and events including: All Stars of Dance WBC in Orlando, Latin Choreographers Festival in New York, Party for the Senses at Epcot in Disney World Orlando, ReverbDance Festival in New York, Dance in the Desert Festival in Las Vegas, International Choreographers Showcase in Guatemala, Dance Gala Florida Dance Theater in Lakeland Florida, Contemporary dance Festival Cuerpo al Descubierto in Mexico City, International Fringe Festival Orlando Florida (show SHATTER), Ballet Inc, The Series in New York and many others.

Carla Vannucchi graduated in Science of Sport Education and in Pedagogy at Bologna University, she improved her dance techniques in Rome at "Danza Prospettiva"-Vittorio Biagi and "Centro Professionale Danza Contemporanea -Elsa Piperno" and in New York (Alvin Ailey School, Laban Centre, Merce Cunningham Studio, Limo?n Foundation, Movement Research and Nikolais Studio). She spent her career as dancer, assistant choreographer, mai?tre of contemporary and ballet techniques in Germany, Netherlands, Switzerland, Austria (Liz King, Ismael Ivo, Marcia Haide?e, Itzik Galili, etc.). She founded in 1997 "Formazione Danza"; in her work as choreographer there is a fusion of various dance techniques with the tradition, butoh and tanztheater. Recently, the solo 'Frida Portrait' - commissioned and created for Kitty Lunn / Infinity Dance Theater - was premiered at Joyce Soho in May 2009.

Cesar Ortiz - Director / instructor co-owner of Carousel Dance and DanceSport Foundation. Cesar has been dancing since the tender age of 7 years old. His professional training has taken him across the world from South America to Russia, Europe and the USA. Cesar began his career as a dancer for Ballet de Cali Company dancing the role of Don Quixote, The Nutcracker and other great works such as Barrio Ballet, Coppelia and much more. He has danced with notable companies such as the Ohio Dance Theater, Black Door ensemble, Ganesville Ballet Theater, Sacramento Ballet, Saratoga Springs Ballet, Westchester Ballet Company & the Geoffrey Ballet NYC prior to joining Carousel Dance / DanceSport Foundation.

Erin Forrest began her ballet training at the O.D.U. Ballet in Virginia with Istvan and Ana Ament of Romania. In 1992, she received an invitation to study with Nina Sakhnovskaya at the Vaganova Academy in St. Petersburg, Russia. While at Vaganova Academy, she was awarded a scholarship to continue her education at the St. Petersburg State Institute of Culture & Arts, studying Ballet Pedagogy, Choreography, and Russian language under Boris Bregvadze and her teacher, Olga Muxhortova.

Ms. Forrest has taught at Ellison Ballet, Boston Ballet School, Joffrey Ballet School and Gelsey Kirkland Academy. She has coached gold medalists at YAGP and Indianapolis International Ballet Competition. She has also successfully taken part as an instructor and a choreographer in Classical Dance Alliance's "International Youth Ballet Festival" with Oleg Vinogradov, Artistic Director. Ms. Forrest has coached students to perform the lead role in full-length Giselle in St. Petersburg, Russia, and has produced choreography which was taken on tour around Russia. Her students have performed at International Dance Day Gala in St. Petersburg, Russia, and can be found dancing at Dutch National Ballet, Stuttgart, Salzburg Ballet, and Colorado Ballet.

George Clarkson Berry has just finished his BA in Dance at the University of Alabama. While at the University, under the direction of Cornelius Carter, George has been Don Quixote in Don Quixote by Qianping Guo, Lucien in Paquita, and the Knight in Rita Snyder's El Dorado. George has performed modern works by Jane Wiener, George Stalib, and Gregory Catellier. His training began at Atlanta Ballet and he has performed as a guest artist for Nutcracker as Snow King, Spanish, and Arabian at the Southeast Alabama Dance Company (SEADAC) and at the Bama Theatre. While participating in Broadway Dance Centers Professional Semester, he worked with Matthew Powell, Wes Veldink, and Jim Coney. He has also starred in multiple dance productions such as Hans in Frozen and the Indian Chief in Peter Pan at SEADAC . His works have been featured in the Alabama Dance Festival for multiple years, the Young Choreographer's Festival, and at Broadway Dance Center. George has an amazing support system of parents, grandparents, and friends who encourage his choreographic work and help him grow as an artist and as a person

Miguel Angel Palmeros has made over 140 choreographies. Her repertoire inspired by works ranging from Bach to experimental electronic music. He began his career as a dancer in the Dance Company of the University of Veracruz; also danced in the National Ballet of Mexico, Independent Ballet, Theatre Space Ballet among other companies. He has worked with choreographers: John Fealy, Anna Sokolow, Alvin Ailey, Job Sanders, among others.

He has also choreographed for University Contemporary Dance, Contempodanza, Contradanza, Dance Company of the University of Guadalajara, Taller Coreogra?fico de la UNAM, etc.

As a professor he has given courses in the Dance Faculty of the University Veracruzana, Ollin Yoliztli Cultural Center, Mexican Dance Academy INBA, Morelos Center for the Arts, Los Talleres Cultural Center, to name a few. He has toured around Spain, France, Germany, Holland, Poland, the former Czechoslovakia, Rumania, Bulgaria, Finland, the United States, Cuba, Bolivia and the Mexican Republic

He worked as founder, director, choreographer and dancer of the contemporary dance group Expansio?n 7. It was the first independent contemporary dance group in Me?xico. In 2001 he founded and directed alongside teacher and dancer Maribel Michel the contemporary dance company Momentos Corpo?reos.

Recognition Career National Autonomous University of Mexico -UNAM, 2014

National System of Art Creators 2008 y 2012 "Jose? Limo?n" Dance National Award 2005 "Rau?l Flores Canelo" Award 2005.

Nellesa Walthour is a native of Dublin, GA. She trained on full fellowship at the Alvin Ailey School and danced with companies that include The Metropolitan Opera, Dallas Black Dance Theater (DBDT), Patricia Kenney Dance Collection, Earl Mosely's Diversity of Dance and Nathan Trice Ritutals. She has had the pleasure of working with such choreographers as Ron Brown, Hope Clarke, Sean Curran, Louis Johnson, Alonzo King and Donald McKayle. Nellesa has also performed the works of Milton Myers, Elisa Monte, David Parsons, Talley Beatty, Jose? Limo?n and Donald Byrd. She has choreographed works for DBDT, NYMF's Trav'lin (associate), Boston's Jazz Dance Recovery Project, benefits and solo projects. Favorite theater credits include Disney's The Lion King (national tour), Ragtime (Kennedy Center), Once on This Island (Andrea), and Pippin (Fastrada u/s). Most recently she has worked as an actress in TV (The Good Wife, Flight of the Conchords, The Haunting of...), short films and industrials. Nellesa is a Harvard graduate, a certified instructor in GYROTONIC® and mat Pilates and an AEA member.

Steve Rooks was a principle dancer for the Martha Graham Dance Company from 1981-1991. His performance credits with the Graham Company include the Metropolitan Opera House presentation of Diversion of Angels televised for "Celebrate! 100 Years of the Lively Arts at the Met", and as a featured dancer on the television special, "The Martha Graham Company in Japan". Mr. Rooks' choreographic credits include a solo--Outside, which was selected to be presented in the 1989 New Choreographers series during the Graham Company's fall season at City Center Theater in New York. A later work, Cool River, became a part of that company's 1996-1997 repertoire after its World Premier at Lincoln Center. Mr. Rooks currently serves as resident choreographer for the Vassar Repertory Dance Theatre. Besides his work as assistant professor of dance at Vassar, Mr. Rooks is also a regular guest instructor at the Alvin Ailey & Martha Graham Schools of Dance. He has also taught internationally at several dance festivals, as well as the Dallas Black Dance Theater, Ballet Nacional de Mexico, The American Academy of Ballet, and the Houston Ballet.

TED THOMAS and FRANCES ORTIZ - Met while earning their Bachelor of Fine Arts degrees in dance at the State University of New York at Purchase. They then went on to achieve their Masters degrees in Dance Education at New York University. Mr. Thomas danced in Ballet Hispanico, Elisa Monte, Murray Louis and Nikolais Company and the Paul Taylor Dance Company and Ms. Ortiz has performed with Kevin Wynn, Tim Martin, and Carl Paris. The two founded Thomas/Ortiz Dance in 2003 and while choreographing and continuing to perform, Mr. Thomas was for two years Artist-in-Residence at Barnard College and Ms. Ortiz a guest teacher and choreographer at Yale University. Thomas and Ortiz along with her twin sister Ginna Ortiz are co-owners and directors of the New England Academy of Dance and New England Dance Theater in New Canaan, CT.

About Thomas/Ortiz Dance - Combining their choreographic and musical sensibilities, Ted Thomas and Frances Ortiz founded?Thomas/Ortiz Dance in 2001. The company of twelve dancers from culturally diverse backgrounds performs a repertoire that explores a multitude of thought-provoking and socially-relevant themes, while at times being content to present non- mimetic dance that strives to captivate because of its technique, musicality, and originality, -- in short because of its "mere" choreography.

Thomas/Ortiz Dance made its debut at The Bronx Academy of Art and Dance in 2001. Among many other venues, the company has since performed at Joyce SoHo, Clune Center for the Arts, 2005, DeBaun Center for the Performing Arts, Dance Theater Workshop, Broadway Cares, Dancing at the Crossroads Time Square, Alvin Ailey Citigroup Theater, American Dance Guild at Dance New Amsterdam, John Prinz and Friends at the Ailey Citigroup Theater, Dance New York Festival, Lincoln Center, Master Dance Series, Nazareth College, Latin Choreographer festival, Jacob's Pillow, and Merce Cunningham Studios. In 2010, they were commissioned to create a work for Connecticut Ballet (CT), resulting in "Corelli", which premiered at July 2010 at the Katherine Hepburn Theater (CT). For more info, visit thomasortizdance.org.

BBBallet Choreographers:

Megan Philipp was born and raised in southern California. She graduated from Butler University in 2002 with a degree in dance pedagogy and relocated to NYC. She spent 8 years in NYC teaching, performing, and choreographing. In 2010 she graduated from NYU with a masters in Dance Education and relocated to Chicago to become a full time faculty member and curriculum coordinator for the Joffrey Academy of Dance. After three and a half years at the Joffrey Ballet, Megan returned to southern California. She is currently an artist in resident at State Street Ballet in Santa Barbara. She is thrilled and proud to be part of BBBallet and sends her best from the west coast to all of the artists.

Amanda Turner trained in the UK and had an international ballet and theater career working with Israel National Ballet, Munich Ballet Theater, Vienna Festival Ballet, and others. She performed in many musicals including Phantom of the Opera, Evita, Damn Yankees, Little Me, and West Side Story, has taught and choreographed for the Broadway dance community in NYC for over 15 years, and is a guest teacher with the London College of Music. Ms. Turner has choreographed everything from classical ballet and musical theater, to music videos. She is also trained in Ayurvedic medicine, yoga, and spiritual counseling. Her passion is to inspire others and to explore the human inner landscape through dance and the arts, and to bring about social change, creative evolution, and intrapersonal transformation through the medium of dance, visual art, and choreographic work.

Ursula Verduzco trained at Ballet Austin Academy and the Joffrey Ballet School, She has danced with several companies including Ballet Austin, Staten Island Ballet, Benjamin Briones Ballet, New York City Opera, Eglevsky Ballet, Ajkun Ballet Theatre, Connecticut Ballet, Some Dance Company,Veracity Dance Theatre, New York Dance Theatre, Dance Theatre in Westchester, Ad Hoc Ballet, Ballet Neo and BalaSole among others, performing in classical and contemporary repertoire. She has been honored to appear in Dance Magazine as one of the dancers to highlight in their "Race Issue", July 2010

As a choreographer Ms. Verduzco has created commissioned works for The Staten Island Ballet, Ellison Ballet, Benjamin Briones Ballet, Nomad Contemporary Ballet and Periapsis Music and Dance. As a teacher, Ms. Verduzco has been a guest company teacher with Les Ballets Grandiva in NYC, she has been on faculty at The Joffrey Ballet School and has taught extensively throughout the NYC area as well as LEON Dance Arts and Southern New Hampshire Dance Theatre summer programs.

She is a professional actress with experience in the TV and the Theatre Play world since the age of nine. She is a Co-Founder of Mid-Pointe Project. As the Founder and Director of The Latin Choreographers Festival, Ms. Verduzco created this Festival in 2008 with the mission to share, support and present the work of talented Latin Choreographers in NYC. The Festival celebrated its 5th Anniversary in 2012.

BENJAMIN BRIONES - Professional dancer, choreographer, teacher, designer and entrepreneur. A graduate of The National School of Classical Ballet, The National School of Contemporary Dance and The Royal Academy of Dancing in Mexico City. His eclectic educational background includes training in Cuban and Royal Ballet styles, as well as study of Graham, Cunningham, Limon and Francis modern dance styles. As a soloist, he has appeared with many companies, among them Ballet El Paso, Ballet Austin, Connecticut Ballet, Mid Ohio Ballet, Ballet Theater of Annapolis, Granite State Ballet, Southern New Hampshire Ballet, New Haven Ballet, Staten Island Ballet and River Ballet. As a teacher, he has taught extensively throughout the NYC including The Joffrey Ballet School, LEON Dance Arts & Southern New Hampshire Dance Theatre. Benjamin was appointed Ballet Master At The Staten Island Ballet in 2006-09. During that time, he also began his choreographic career, serving as the Resident Choreographer for both the Staten Island Ballet and Ajkun Ballet Theatre (New York). In 2012, his numerous choreographic endeavors culminated in the created Benjamin Briones Ballet. He is also Founder and Co-Director of Mid-Pointe project. Co-owner and co-founder of UBCostumesDancewear.com, Benjamin has been designing costumes for the past 18 years.