Boston Ballet Announces 2019–2020 Company Roster

Boston Ballet Artistic Director Mikko Nissinen announces the 2019-2020 season roster. A total of 69 dancers make up the Company roster, with 56 in the main company and 13 in Boston Ballet II (BBII), Boston Ballet's Second Company.

Eleven nationalities are represented, with dancers hailing from Armenia, Australia, Brazil, China, England, France, Georgia, Russia, South Korea, Spain, and the United States. BBII alumni comprise 36 percent of the Company, and 25 percent are Boston Ballet School alumni.

"I am thrilled to welcome these talented and diverse new dancers to our Company," said Artistic Director Mikko Nissinen. "There are plenty of opportunities during Boston Ballet's exciting and versatile 56th season, which features an array of classical and contemporary works, for audiences to become enamored with our newest members."

Boston Ballet welcomes new dancers to the Company including Tigran Mkrtchyan (Yerevan, Armenia) as a soloist, Chisako Oga (Carlsbad, California) as a second soloist, and Madysen Felber (Jacksonville, Florida), Louise Hautefeuille (Burlingame, California), Sangmin Lee (Seoul, South Korea), Soo-bin Lee (Seoul, South Korea), Mallory Mehaffey (Baton Rouge, Louisiana), Lily Price (Winter Park, FL), Fuze Sun (Shandong, China), Jorge Villarini (San Juan, Puerto Rico), Paulina Waski (Westport, Connecticut), and Joy Womack (Beverly Hills, California) as artists of the Company. New dancers to join as members of BBII include George Chadick (Denton, Texas), Austin Dabney (Youngstown, Ohio), Juliette Jones (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania), Suzanna Lathrum (Tustin, California), Soana Madsen (Toulouse, France), Nikolia Mamalakis (Boston, Massachusetts), Grace Mullins (Bloomington, Indiana), Molly Novak (Santa Monica, California), Jethro Paine (London, England), Mia Steedle (Weston, Massachusetts), and Paul Zusi (South Bend, Indiana).

Joining the Company as artists from BBII are Tyson Ali Clark (Somerville, Massachusetts), Georgia Dalton (Columbus, Ohio), Ryan Kwasniewski (Cincinnati, Ohio), and My'Kal Stromile (Dallas, Texas). Nissinen also previously announced the following promotions: Chyrstyn Fentroy (Los Angeles, California), Addie Tapp (Glenwood Springs, Colorado), and Lawrence Rines (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) were promoted to soloist; and María Álvarez (Madrid, Spain), Dawn Atkins (Chesterfield, Virginia), Emily Entingh (Orange County, California), and Matthew Slattery (Cooma, Australia) were promoted to second soloist.

Tigran Mkrtchyan of Yerevan, Armenia, joins as a soloist. He trained at the Armenian Ballet School for seven years before studying at the Zürich Dance Academy. He was a finalist at the Prix de Lausanne in 2009. He joined Ballet Zürich in 2011, where he was awarded the Dance Prize of the Friends of Ballet Zürich.

Chisako Oga of Carlsbad, California, joins as a second soloist. She trained at San Francisco Ballet School before being promoted to trainee and then apprentice. After spending a year as an apprentice, she joined Cincinnati Ballet, where she quickly rose to the rank of principal. Recently, Oga was named one of Dance Magazine's "25 to Watch."

Tyson Ali Clark of Somerville, Massachusetts, joins as an artist of the Company. He began his dance training at Mary Flynn Murphy Dance Studio in Somerville and the Gold School with Project Moves Dance Company in Brockton, Massachusetts. Clark trained with Boston Ballet School from 2008 to 2011 and returned in 2015 as a Boston Ballet School trainee. In 2016, he received the Princess Grace Foundation Dance Scholarship Award and the Chris Hellman Dance Award. He joined Boston Ballet II in 2017.

Georgia Dalton of Columbus, Ohio, joins as an artist of the Company. She trained at Dublin Dance Centre, Columbus City Ballet, and the Indiana University Ballet Theater. She has also attended summer intensive programs at American Ballet Theatre, Boston Ballet, Miami City Ballet, Ballet Met Columbus, and the Chautauqua Institute. She graduated from the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music with a Bachelor of Science in Ballet where she was awarded the school's prestigious Premier Young Artist Award (2015-2018). She joined Boston Ballet II in 2018.

Madysen Felber of Jacksonville, Florida, joins as an artist of the Company. Her formal ballet training began at Jacksonville Ballet Theatre. After participating in the Youth America Grand Prix, Felber was selected to attend Canada's National Ballet School in Toronto. After graduating, she attended their post-secondary program and was asked to join the National Ballet of Canada for Christopher Wheeldon's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. In 2015, Felber joined the Sarasota Ballet.

Louise Hautefeuille of Burlingame, California, joins as an artist of the Company. She trained at Menlo Park Academy of Dance, studying under the Royal Academy of Dance curriculum. After receiving first place at San Francisco Youth America Grand Prix in 2017, she was invited to join Boston Ballet School as a trainee. At BBS, Hautefeuille was awarded the Pao Scholarship in 2018.

Ryan Kwasniewski of Cincinnati, Ohio, joins as an artist of the Company. She trained at Mason Dance Center and Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. She also studied under Oliver Arana in Cincinnati from 2008 to 2014. She placed fourth in the pre-professional division of the 2012 World Ballet Competition and received a silver award at the 2013 YoungArts Program in Miami, where she was nominated as a Presidential Scholar. She joined Boston Ballet II in 2018.

Sangmin Lee of Seoul, South Korea, joins as an artist of the Company. He trained at Korea National University of Arts. Lee has received many awards, including the gold medal at Youth America Grand Prix in 2018 and silver medal at the USA International Ballet Competition in 2018.

Soo-bin Lee of Seoul, South Korea, joined Boston Ballet mid-season in 2019 as an artist of the Company. She began her training at age 11 at the Korea National Ballet Academy in 2010. She continued at the Sunhwa Arts School and the Korea National Institute for the Gifted in Arts between 2011-2014. Lee graduated from the Korea National University of Arts.

Mallory Mehaffey of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, joins as an artist of the Company. She trained at the Fort Bend Academy of Dance in Sugar Land, Texas and the Houston Ballet Academy. She danced with Houston Ballet and Houston Ballet II. In 2017, Mehaffey joined The National Ballet of Canada as a member of the corps de ballet.

Lily Price of Winter Park, Florida, joins as an artist of the Company. She trained at Orlando Ballet School from 2004 to 2014. In 2015, she was a trainee with Boston Ballet School. From 2016 to 2018, she attended the School of American Ballet. In 2018, Price was offered an apprenticeship with New York City Ballet, where she toured to China, Washington D.C., and Saratoga Performing Arts Center.

My'Kal Stromile of Dallas, Texas, joins as an artist of the Company. He studied under Kim Abel in Dallas/New York, Ceyhun Ozsoy in Dallas, and Anna-Marie Holmes in Boston. He attended The Juilliard School from 2014 to 2018, where he received Choreographic Honors three years in a row and was awarded the school's Hector Zaraspe Prize in Choreography (2018). Stromile was named a U.S. Presidential Scholar in the Arts (2014) and has danced with Bruce Wood Dance, Dallas Black Dance Theatre II, Disney Productions, and Repertory Dance Company I. He joined Boston Ballet II in 2018. In February 2019, he choreographed a new work for the BBII@home program.

Fuze Sun of Shandong, China, joins as an artist of the Company. Following his training with the Beijing Dance Academy, Sun joined the Tianjin Ballet Troupe, where he quickly rose through the ranks to become a soloist. Sun competed in the Fourth Beijing International Ballet and Choreography Competition in 2017, winning the bronze medal. In 2018, he won the gold medal at the Beijing International Dance Academy Ballet Invitational Competition.

Jorge Villarini of San Juan, Puerto Rico, joins as an artist of the Company. Upon graduating from high school, Villarini moved to New York City to pursue a degree in Dance at Marymount Manhattan College. He attended the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School at American Ballet Theatre from 2008 to 2010 on full scholarship. He has danced professionally with Dance Theatre of Harlem, Martha Graham Dance Company, and BalletMet

Paulina Waski of Westport, Connecticut, joins as an artist of the Company. She attended American Ballet Theatre's Summer Intensive program and was invited to join the American Ballet Theatre Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School. She later joined American Ballet Theatre as an apprentice at the age of 16 and was promoted to corps de ballet in 2017.

Joy Womack of Beverly Hills, California, joins as an artist of the Company. She began her dance training in Santa Monica at the Westside School of Ballet. Her training includes studies with the Austin School of Classical Ballet, Kirov Ballet Academy and the Bolshoi Ballet Academy in Moscow. In 2012, she was one of the first American women invited to join the Bolshoi Ballet. In 2014, she joined the Kremlin Ballet as a principal dancer at age 19. Most recently, she was a principal dancer at Universal Ballet in Seoul, South Korea.

George Chadick of Denton, Texas, joins as a member of Boston Ballet II. His dance training includes the Moscow State Academy of Choreography and Canada's National Ballet School. In the summer of 2018, he participated in the student exchange program with the Royal Danish Ballet School.

Austin Dabney of Youngstown, Ohio, joins as a member of Boston Ballet II. His dance training includes studies with Ballet Western Reserve and Interlochen Arts Academy. He attended summer programs at Cleveland Ballet School, American Ballet Theatre, School of American Ballet, and Boston Ballet School. While at Interlochen Arts Academy, Dabney was awarded the Young Artist Award upon graduating in 2019.

Juliette Jones of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, joins as a member of Boston Ballet II. She began her dance training at Dance Theatre of Pennsylvania. She continued her studies at the School of Pennsylvania Ballet. She later joined Philip Neal and Ivonne Lemus' Next Generation Ballet as an artist before enrolling in Miami City Ballet School's pre-professional program. Jones was an apprentice with Miami City Ballet from 2018 to 2019.

Suzanna Lathrum of Tustin, California, joins as a member of Boston Ballet II. She began her studies with jazz, tap, and lyrical at Lovett Dance Center. She competed at the Youth America Grand Prix New York Finals, where she earned a full scholarship to attend Canada's National Ballet School. Lathrum was a Trainee with San Francisco Ballet School from 2018 to 2019.

Soana Madsen of Toulouse, France, joins as a member of Boston Ballet II. Her training began at age four with the VM Ballet Toulouse and she joined the VM Ballet Junior Company at age 15. She has attended summer programs at School of American Ballet, Royal Ballet School, and Princess Grace Academy.

Nikolia Mamalakis of Boston, Massachusetts, joins as a member of Boston Ballet II. She began dancing at New England Movement Arts in Burlington, Massachusetts. She later attended Vienna State Opera Ballet Academy in Austria. She returned to Massachusetts to study at Integrarte under Erica Cornejo, a former Boston Ballet principal dancer. In 2018, She joined American Ballet Theatre's Studio Company.

Grace Mullins of Bloomington, Indiana, joins as a member of Boston Ballet II. Mullins started dancing at age four and in 2009, began training at Indiana University in the Pre-College Ballet Program. She was later offered the opportunity to begin taking college technique classes to further her training. She attended Miami City Ballet School in 2016 and was offered an apprenticeship with Miami City Ballet in 2017. In 2018, Mullins was accepted into Boston Ballet School's trainee program.

Molly Novak of Santa Monica, California, joins as a member of Boston Ballet II. She trained at Westside School of Ballet under the direction of Martine Harley. Novak attended summer intensives at School of American Ballet, San Francisco Ballet School, Pacific Northwest Ballet School, and Boston Ballet School. In 2017, she was invited to join the trainee program at BBS and was later named the Pamela Jones Scholar of 2018-2019. In 2018, Novak participated in a five-week exchange with the Dresden Semperoper Ballet as a guest apprentice for the company's production of La Bayadère.

Jethro Paine of London, England, joins as a member of Boston Ballet II. He began dancing at Saravejo National Theatre in 2009. In 2011, Paine enrolled in the Ljubljana Music and Ballet Conservatory in Slovenia. He was later accepted to The Royal Ballet School, which he attended for six years.

Mia Steedle of Weston, Massachusetts, joins as a member of Boston Ballet II. She attended Boston Ballet School for 15 years in the Pre-Ballet and Classical Ballet Program before joining the Pre-Professional program. As a trainee at Boston Ballet School, Steedle was named a Laura Young Scholar for the 2018-2019 season and was also chosen to work with Principal Dancer Lia Cirio for her work, the peppermint wind, as part of the 10th anniversary Next Generation performance.

Paul Zusi of South Bend, Indiana, joins as a member of Boston Ballet II. He began his training at Southold Dance Theater in 2009 and joined the Illinois Youth Dance Theater in 2018. In 2019, Zusi received first place in the senior classical division and third place in the senior contemporary division at the Youth America Grand Prix Chicago/Indianapolis.

For full biographies, please visit bostonballet.org.

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