Verb Ballets Announces 2021-22 Roster of Dancers

Verb Ballets has announced the 2021-22 roster of dancers. We welcome apprentices Isaac Hileman of Texas and Kia Jimmy of Canada. Cleveland School of the Arts graduate Demetrius Lee returns as a summer apprentice while he is attending Boston Conservatory. Local dancer Lily Cole, student of Inna Stabrova, joins as a trainee.

Hunter Hoffman of Miami was promoted to company dancer and is dancing his third season with the company. Ashley Forché was promoted to intern after completing a two-year traineeship with the company. The new dancers' first performance will be at the Heinz Poll Summer Dance Festival on July 30 & 31, 2021 at Goodyear Metro Park in Akron. Visit https://verbballets.org/performances/ for full summer listing of appearances.

Isaac Hileman, Apprentice

Isaac Hileman was born and raised in Dallas, Texas where he began his dance training with the Dallas Ballet Center. Attending summer intensives such as Ballet Chicago, Miami City Ballet, and Pacific Northwest Ballet allowed him to deepen love for performative dance and envision a professional dance career. He continued his dance training at the University of Oklahoma, where he graduated in the Spring of 2021 with a BFA in Ballet Performance. While at OU, he loved getting to explore a wider variety of dance styles and techniques and was privileged to perform repertoire by Alejandro Cerrudo, Nilas Martins, Willam Christensen, Marianna Oliviera, and Gerald Arpino, as well as classical pas de deux and original choreography set by the faculty. Isaac is very excited to be joining Verb Ballets for the 2021-22 season.

Kia Jimmy, Apprentice

Kia Jimmy was born in Saskatoon, Canada and began her dance training at the age of seven. She has done many summer intensives including Royal Winnipeg Ballet. At age 16 she was accepted to Alberta Ballet School's Professional Division and continued her training in their Post-Graduate Program under the direction of Murray Kilgour, Janet Tait and Edmund Stripe. Following graduation in 2019, Kia joined US International Ballet as a trainee for two seasons where she had the opportunity to perform Giselle and Alice in Wonderland. Kia is excited to join Verb Ballets 2021-2022 season as an apprentice.

Demetrius Lee, Summer Apprentice

Demetrius Lee was born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio where he began his dance training at Cleveland Inner-City Ballet under the direction of Chandra Ford-White. Later, he studied at the Cleveland School of the Arts then went on to the Tri- C Creative Arts Dance Academy from 2015-2020 while being a full-time high school student. He has also studied at various summer intensives on scholarship including San Francisco Ballet, Houston Ballet, Joffrey Ballet, and American Dance Festival. Lee graduated from Cleveland School of the Arts, in the top 10 of his class. Last year, Demetrius was a recipient of the Presidential Scholarship Award for the dance division at Boston Conservatory at Berklee where he will be receiving his BFA in dance in 2024. Furthermore, he has performed works by Christopher Huggins, Darrell Moultrie, Troy Powell, Kay Eichman, Deshona Pepper- Robinson, and so many more. Demetrius is so excited and blessed to be able hold a place as a summer apprentice again at Verb Ballets for the 2021 summer season.

Ashley Forché, Intern

Originally from Pickerington, Ohio, Ashley received her dance training from BalletMet in Columbus, Ohio. She has trained with several other companies including Alonzo King LINES Ballet, Complexions Contemporary Ballet, Nashville Ballet, Oklahoma City Ballet, Festival Ballet Providence, Orlando Ballet, Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet, and BalletMet. In December 2019, Ashley graduated Summa Cum Laude with a bachelor's degree in business from Belmont University. Professional experience includes traineeships with Nashville Ballet and Oklahoma City Ballet. Works she has performed include The Nutcracker, Sleeping Beauty, and Swan Lake. Ashley joined Verb Ballets as a trainee in 2018 and was promoted to intern in 2021.

Lily Cole, Trainee

Lily grew up in Richfield, Ohio where she studied at the Ohio Conservatory of Ballet under the leadership of her teachers and mentors Inna Stabrova and Dmitriy Tuboltsev. At the age of 15, Lily was accepted into the Joffrey Academy of Dance in Chicago and danced as a trainee with the Pre-Professional Academy. Her summer intensive training has included American Ballet Theater (New York), Chautauqua Institute of Dance, Miami City Ballet, Ballet West, Pittsburgh Ballet Theater, Joffrey Ballet Chicago, Ballet Arizona, Master Ballet Academy, and Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet. She has received recognition including Top 12 from Youth American Grand Prix, Top 12 at the Washington Grand Prix, 8th Place at the Universal Ballet Competition, and 2nd Place at the Allegretto Grazioso Arts Festival in Moscow. Lily also had the opportunity to work with former Boston Ballet principal Dusty Button, former Alvin Ailey dancer Riccardo Battaglia, and choreographer Stephanie Martinez.

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