Pennsylvania Ballet Announces Additional Promotions And New Dancers

Pennsylvania Ballet's Artistic Director Angel Corella welcomes four dancers into the Corps de Ballet, including three newcomers and the promotion of previous Pennsylvania Ballet II (PPBII) dancer Lucia Erickson. Two additional PBII dancers, Sophie Savas-Carstens and Denis Maciel are promoted to Apprentices, while six new dancers join the Second Company.

"We're thrilled to acknowledge Lucia's talent and dedication with this promotion and to welcome our new dancers Gabriella, Julia and Nick to Pennsylvania Ballet and the Corps de Ballet alongside Lucia," said Angel Corella. "I'm also excited to promote Sophie and Denis to Apprentices and bring on so many new dancers to Pennsylvania Ballet II. This season promises the greatest display of talent to date."

Corps de Ballet

Now Corps de Ballet dancer and Minnetonka, Minn. native Lucia Erickson joined Pennsylvania Ballet II last year after two years in the School of Pennsylvania Ballet. Erickson has danced many impressive ballets with the company, including George Balanchine's The Nutcracker and Angel Corella's Swan Lake.

Havana, Cuba born Gabriella Mesa danced with the National Ballet of Cuba from 2011 to 2016 and most recently with Dimensions Dance Theater of Miami. She was also one of the top ten finalists in the 2011 Youth America Grand Prix in New York.

From Jupiter, Fla., Julia Vinez trained at The Harid Conservatory before studying as an Apprentice with Charlotte Ballet for the 2018-2019 season, followed by a summer Apprentice role at the Chautauqua Institute.

Richmond, Va. born Nicholas Patterson studied with Boston Ballet's trainee program for two years before dancing for the past four seasons with Orlando Ballet.

Apprentices

PBII dancer and San Diego, Calif. native, Sophie Savas-Carstens came to Pennsylvania Ballet during the 2019-2019 season and began her training at Ballet Arte Academy of Classical Ballet in California. She also attended summer intensives at the School of American Ballet.

From Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, PBII dancer Denis Maciel also joined during the 2018-2019 season. He studied at the Art Center of Campo Grande and School of Dance Alice Arja in Brazil, and at Miami City Ballet School.

Denis was a member of the Companhia de ballet of Rio de Janeiro, City Ballet of San Diego, and Ballet Tucson.

Pennsylvania Ballet II

Originally from Medford, Ore., Grace Hill was offered a full merit scholarship to the School of Pennsylvania Ballet after attending Pennsylvania Ballet's "Company Experience". She competed and placed in the top three in the Youth America Grand Prix semi-finals in Seattle and Las Vegas in the classical, contemporary, and pas de deux categories.

Originally from Pervouralsk, Rus., Victoria-Oksana Renzetti studied at Corella Dance Academy in Barcelona under the direction of Carmen Corella from 2012 to 2019 with a full scholarship this past year. She also participated in the Youth America Grand Prix semi-finals in Barcelona.

From Tampa, Fla., Jordan Martinez competed in the Youth America Grand Prix from 2013-2016, winning the Tampa semi-final for the senior age division of the Grand Prix in 2016. At age 15, Jordan attended the Royal Ballet's Upper School and received an artistic award from the London Ballet Association.

Garritt McCabe, Macungie, Pa. native, attended summer intensives at School of American Ballet and San Francisco Ballet on full scholarship. From 2017-2019 he was a trainee at Boston Ballet School, performing most notably the role of Teacher in August Bournonville's Le Conservatoire.

Jeremy Power, from San Diego, Calif., trained with the California Ballet School in San Diego before a promotion to Apprentice with California Ballet in 2016. In 2017 he attended Ballet West's summer intensive and continued studying there for the past two years. '

From Medford, Ore., Jake Roxander earned a full merit scholarship to Pennsylvania Ballet's week-long "Company Experience" workshop in both 2017 and 2018 and to American Ballet Theater's New York summer intensive in 2019. He was awarded the Youth Grand Prix award at the Youth America Grand Prix Seattle semi-finals in 2016 and 2017 and the Grand Prix Award at the Las Vegas semi-finals in 2018 and 2019.

The updated roster of dancers is available on paballet.org.

To post a comment, you must register and login.