Grant Jacoby joined American Repertory Ballet | Princeton Ballet School in 2024. He previously held Marketing roles at Morven Museum & Garden, DANCE NOW, Ballet Tech, and the Sarah Lawrence College Dance Program. He was a company member of Quicksilver Dance and Lorraine Chapman The Company, and has performed in works by Merce Cunningham, Trisha Brown, David Parker & The Bang Group, Mark Dendy, and Annie Kloppenberg, among others. He has presented his choreography nationally and abroad in venues such as La MaMa ETC, Triskelion Arts, Green Space, Movement Research, The Dance Complex, Green Street Studios, AS220, Les Champs Melisey, and The International Festival of Arts & Ideas. He has been on faculty at Boston Ballet, The Boston Conservatory at Berklee, and The National Theater Institute. He received his Bachelor of Arts in Dance and Theater from Connecticut College and his Master of Fine Arts in Dance from Sarah Lawrence College.
Archives: People
Gavin Hounslow
Gavin Hounslow was born and raised in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, where he began his ballet training at the age of 15. At 16, Gavin joined the Washington School of Ballet where he trained under Xiomara Reyes and Rinat Imaev. From 2017 to 2019, Gavin joined the Houston Ballet Academy and trained under Claudio Munoz and Kelly Myernick. In 2020, Gavin moved back to Oklahoma to become a farmer, and he spent the year receiving the rest of his ballet training from YouTube and TikTok. In 2021, Gavin joined Boulder Ballet where he danced ‘Cavalier’ and Paul Taylor’s AIRS as well as soloist roles for choreographers such as Sidra Bell, Gregory Dawson, and Amy Seiwert. From 2022 to 2023, Gavin joined the Oregon Ballet Theatre where he danced Christopher Bruce’s HUSH and debuted as ‘Cavalier’ for George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker. He also worked with choreographers such as Daniel Rowe, Trey Mcintyre, and Yin Yue.
Headshot by Brian Simcoe
Samantha Dunster
Samantha Dunster began her ballet training with Cristina Pora in Toronto, Ontario. Then, at age 17, she traveled to Havana to train with the National Ballet of Cuba. She continued dancing with the company of Centro Pro-Danza, under the direction of Laura Alonso, where she also worked as Regisseur and Ballet Mistress.
In 1996, Samantha accepted the position of Artistic Director and Principal Dancer of Bale da Ilha in Brazil, where she staged numerous full-length ballets. By 2000, she became Ballet Mistress of Orlando Ballet, where, under the direction of the late Fernando Bujones, she re-choreographed La Fille mal gardée for the company. In 2004, she was commissioned by Orlando Ballet to create a world-premiere production of Camelot, the success of which broke ticket sales records. In 2007, she accepted the role of Assistant to the Artistic Director of Orlando Ballet, under the direction of Bruce Marks. The following year, the pair together staged the full-length Don Quixote.
In 2011, Samantha accepted the position of Chair and Artistic Director of the Hartt School Community Division Dance Department at the University of Hartford. During that time, she created and choreographed two new full-length ballets: Snow White and Peter Pan with original scores by Kermit Poling. She also founded the pre-professional company HarttWorks as well as created the summer ballet intensive program “From Studio to Stage,” which has attracted Guest Artistic Directors such as Bruce Marks, Laura Alonso, and Angel Corella.
Samantha has danced and taught in countries all around the world, including Sweden, Argentina, and Brazil. In 2003 and 2009, she set her staging of La Fille mal gardée for the National Ballet of Korea and the NBA Ballet Company in Tokyo, respectively. Additionally, she has staged several works by Bruce Marks, including Lark Ascending for Louisville Ballet, and in 2010, she served as the Canadian judge for the International Ballet Competition in Jackson, MS.
Samantha began her tenure as Ballet Mistress with Philadelphia Ballet (formally Pennsylvania Ballet) in November 2014 and was appointed Assistant Artistic Director in November 2015. During her time there, she choreographed Snow White, Prince Charming, and Fairy Rhymes for Philadelphia Ballet II and staged Peter Pan for the School of Philadelphia Ballet. She has also appeared on stage as ‘Carabosse’ in The Sleeping Beauty and ‘Berthe’ in Giselle.
Photo courtesy of Samantha Dunster.
Noelani Pantastico
Ms. Pantastico joined the Pacific Northwest Ballet as an apprentice in 1997 and became a corps de ballet member a year later. She was named soloist in 2001, and a year after dancing Aurora in Sleeping Beauty, a principal in 2004. In 2008, she left PNB and joined Jean-Christophe Maillot’s Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo in Monaco as a soloist, having previously danced Maillot’s Roméo et Juliette at PNB. She was named first soloist a year later. In 2015, she returned to PNB again as a principal dancer. During her 25-year career, she has danced a diverse repertory, including works by George Balanchine, Jean-Christophe Maillot, Jiri Kylian, William Forsythe, Jerome Robbins, Susan Stroman, Crystal Pite, Alejandro Cerrudo, Penny Saunders Robyn Mineko Williams and many more. She was featured in the 1999 filmed version of PNB’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. In 2017, Pantastico choreographed Picnic for Sculptured Dance by the Seattle Art Museum. Outside of PNB, in 2004, she made a guest appearance at the New York City Ballet, dancing the second movement of Balanchine’s Brahms–Schoenberg Quartet at NYCB’s Balanchine Centennial. In 2019, she founded Seattle Dance Collective with fellow PNB principal dancer James Moore. In January 2022, Pantastico announced her retirement from Pacific Northwest Ballet and dedication to teaching. Ms. Pantastico is a freelance teacher, coach, and stager for Jean-Christopher Maillot’s works.
Photo Credit – Lindsay Thomas
Stephanie Palm
Olivia Musanti
Sarah Fratesi
Shannon Dolan
Jillian Kramarck
Jillian Kramarck was born and raised in Newark, Delaware and began her dance training at the age of 3. She trained at Delaware Arts Conservatory in all styles of dance and received the majority of her ballet instruction under ballet mistress Priscilla Payson, as well as private coaching from Philadelphia Ballet Principal Dancers, Yuka Iseda and Sterling Baca. Kramarck has been a finalist at Youth America Grand Prix and a bronze medalist at National Ballet Competition. She has also received multiple awards for her own choreography. Kramarck has attended summer training at Philadelphia Ballet, Carolina Ballet, Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre, Dance Theatre of Harlem, and Koresh Dance Company. She danced with American Repertory Ballet as a trainee for two years starting in 2022. While in the trainee program, Kramarck performed both Dulcinea and the Act 3 Pas De Deux in the trainee program’s production of Don Quixote. She has also danced in ARB’s The Nutcracker, Ethan Stiefel and Johan Kobborg’s Giselle, and Ethan Stiefel’s Classic Beauty.
Jericho Lopez
Jericho Lopez was born in Queens, New York. He is 24 years old and graduated from Berkeley College with a medical & health science degree. He attended Broadway Dance Center since 2015. He started training with some of the world’s most renowned teachers & choreographers, in all forms of dance, but specialized in Hip Hop, Street Jazz and Contemporary fusion. In 2017, he was chosen as an Advanced Elite Protégé for the Pulse On Tour giving him the once in a lifetime opportunity to travel across the United States. While his most memorable moment was performing at the 2018 VMA’s. At the age of 12 he was introduced to dance and began training at Icon Dance Complex in all styles of dance. He has performed at venues, Radio City Music Hall, Apollo, Hammerstein Ballroom, World of Dance NJ, Symphony Space to NYU Skirball Center.