Manhattan Youth Ballet and mmac Announce New Faculty Members

Manhattan Youth Ballet and Manhattan Movement & Arts Center announce new faculty members for the fall 2014 semester: Garielle Whittle, Flavio Salazar, Martin Harvey, and Gennadi Saveliev. For more information about classes, visit www.manhattanyouthballet.org.

Garielle Whittle was born in Miami, Florida. She studied under the direction of Thomas Armour. At age 15, she received the Ford Foundation Scholarship to The School of American Ballet where she studied with Alexandra Danilova, Felia Doubrovska, Antonina Tumkovsky, Andre Eglevsky, Stanley Williams, Muriel Stuart, and Helene Dudin.

Garielle was personally invited by George Balanchine to join the New York City Ballet, and danced with NYCB under George Balanchine's direction for 14 years.

She performed in over 50 ballet's by George Balanchin & Jerome Robbins, including "Serenade", "Symphony in C", "The 4 Temperaments", "La Valse", "Episodes", "Theme and Variations", "Jewels", "Emeralds & Diamonds", "Chaconne", "Le Tombeau de Couperin", "Western Symphony", "Vienna Waltzes", Symphony in 3 Movements", "Stravinsky Violin Concerto", "Movements for Piano and Orchestra".

In 1983, Garielle retired from dancing and joined the faculty of The School of American Ballet where she taught 9 levels of students for 30 years. She instructed all new teachers in the Balanchine Syllabus. She was the Auditioner for all new students seeking to enroll in SAB, and the Principal Auditioner for SAB's 5 week summer course.

From 1983-2012, Garielle was the Children's Ballet Mistress for NYCB. She has staged and rehearsed SAB students in roles for all Balanchine, Robbins, and Peter Martins Ballets which they then performed with the NYCB. She also staged children's roles for San Francisco Ballet, Boston Ballet, Pacific Northwest Ballet, Miami City Ballet, Semperoper Ballet of Dresden (Germany), and Pittsburgh Youth Ballet Company.

Flavio Salazar, a native of Colombia, where he began his dance studies at the Instituto Colombiano de Ballet (Incolballet), He joined Ballet de Cali and also joined the faculty of Incolballet, having been certified by the National Ballet of Cuba to teach its methodology and pedagogy in ballet technique. Mr. Salazar went on to study at the Houston Ballet Academy as a full scholarship student under the direction of Ben Stevenson. He later joined Ballet Arizona under the direction of Michael Uthoff. In 1993 Mr. Salazar was invited by Kevin McKenzie to join American Ballet Theatre. During his thirteen year career with ABT, He dance in a variety of classical, contemporary and modern ballets and nearly every ballet in ABT`s repertoire, working with Sir Anthony Dowell, Frederic Franklin, James Kudelka, Lar Lubovitch, Natalia Makarova, David Parsons, Twyla Tharp, Stanton Welch among others before retiring from the company in 2006. Mr. Salazar's teaching experience extends from his early professional dancing years in Colombia, through his time at ABT. Presently, Mr. Salazar is an ABT Certified Teacher, who has successfully completed the ABT Teacher Training Intensive in Primary through Level 7 of the ABT National training Curriculum, and a Certified teacher in Methodology and Pedagogy in Ballet advised by the National Ballet of Cuba. Mr. Salazar has taught in North America, Peru, Amsterdam and the Philippines. He has taught classes at ABT II, the ABT Summer Intensive, the Alvin Ailey Dance Theatre, the Ailey School, Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet, Ballet Tech, the School at Steps, Ballet Hispanico, YAGP, Adelphi University and Marymount Collages. In February 2012 Mr. Salazar was an Assistant Instructor for the ABT National Training Curriculum, Primary through Level 3 session, in Lima, Peru.

Born in Swindon, Martin Harvey trained at the Tanwood School of Dance and the Royal Ballet School, where he danced Peter and the Wolf (Wolf) and The Rake's Progress (the Rake). He joined the Royal Ballet in 1996 and was promoted to First Soloist in 2004. His repertory includes Onegin (title role), La Fille mal gardée (Colas), Romeo and Juliet (Mercutio), Mayerling (Crown Prince Rudolf), Manon (Lescaut), Winter Dreams (Solyony), Giselle (Hilarion) Daphnis and Chloë (Dorkon), L'Après-midi d'un faun (Faun), Sylvia (Eros), Ondine (Tirrenio), La Sylphide (Gurn), My Brother, My Sisters (Brother) and roles in Devil's Holiday, The Leaves are Fading, Tryst, Les Biches, Symphony in C, Agon, Scènes de ballet, Sinfonietta, Danses concertantes, Gloria, The Judas Tree, Prodigal Son, Requiem, Tombeaux and Polyphonia. He has created roles in There Where She Loves, Traces, Night Falls Fast, Tanglewood and Les Saisons and has appeared with Irek Mukhamedov and Company (1999 - 2001).

Gennadi Saveliev was trained at the Bolshoi Ballet Academy and the School of American Ballet. He has studied with such distinguished teachers and coaches as Sergei Berezhnoi, Pyotr Pestov, Mikhail Lavrovsky, Stanley Williams, Eleanor D'Antuono and Cynthia Gregory.

Mr. Saveliev was a member of Bolshoi Ballet before he joined American Ballet Theatre in 1996. He has appeared as a guest artist throughout the United States and has toured in Russia, Europe, Egypt, Brazil, Argentina, Japan, Hong Kong, and China, and has worked with such choreographers as Yuri Grigorovich, Lar Lubovich, Kevin McKenzie, Ben Stevenson, John Neumeier and Twyla Tharp. Mr. Saveliev's repertoire includes leading roles in Swan Lake, The Nutcracker, Giselle, Sleeping Beauty, Raymonda, Coppelia, Les Sylphides, Le Corsaire, Eugene Onegin and Don Quixote.

In 1996, Mr. Saveliev won a silver medal at the New York International Ballet Competition. Currently, he continues to perform as a soloist with American Ballet Theater and as guest artist with Angel Corella and Friends.

About Manhattan Youth Ballet - Modeled with an emphasis on European classical ballet, Manhattan Youth Ballet (MYB) offers world-class training in a nurturing environment focused on discipline, precision and artistry. MYB is the culmination of Ms. Rose Caiola's effort for the past seventeen years to create a viable, curriculum-based ballet academy in Manhattan in order to serve the needs of the multifaceted community. Principal members of the faculty have received their training in schools such as the The Kirov Ballet, School of American Ballet, and Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet. The faculty strives to bring out the individual potential of each student with an emphasis on artistry as well as technique to create truly versatile dancers for the current dance world. Manhattan Youth Ballet has acquired a reputation for excellent teaching in an intimate and individually supportive environment. The school's graduates have danced professionally with American Ballet Theatre, New York City Ballet, Nederlands Dans Theater, Ballet de España, San Francisco Ballet and Complexions.

Education is a top priority at Manhattan Youth Ballet and the school has numerous community outreach programs to promote dance education. Since moving to its new home at Manhattan Movement & Arts Center in September 2008, over 2,500 New York City school children have participated in lecture demonstrations and/or been MYB's invited guests at full-length performances. For more information, visit www.manhattanyouthballet.org.

About Manhattan Movement & Arts Center - Manhattan Movement & Arts Center was developed by Rose Caiola as the home of the Manhattan Youth Ballet. Ms. Caiola, a former dancer and actress, founded the academy in the fall of 1994 as Studio Maestro at 48 W. 68th Street, and today serves as the youth ballet's executive artistic director. As the ballet academy grew, the search for a larger space inspired in Ms. Caiola a highly personal vision of a studio and theater complex that would encompass all aspects of dance education and performance.

mmac opened its doors in June 2008, occupying a dramatic bi-level space within The Element, a luxury high-rise condominium. mmac's theater, has become a popular off-broadway venue for both sit down and limited run productions. mmac's studios host a variety of classes including open ballet and fitness, a full mmac kids curriculum, as well as a number of Broadway Workshops and rehearsals with stars such as Beyonce, Lady Gaga, Natalie Portman, and Alec Baldwin.

For more information about mmac, visit www.manhattanmovement.com.