American Repertory Ballet

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Cheryl Whitney

Cheryl Whitney (Ballet) received an M.S. in Ballet from Indiana University and a B.A. in English Literature and Music from St. Lawrence University.  She was trained and performed professionally in the Baltimore/Washington, D.C. area. For more than 30 years, she has been involved with Princeton Ballet School and American Repertory Ballet, serving as a faculty member, rehearsal director for both the ARB productions of The Nutcracker and the Princeton Ballet School shows, and Coordinator for Princeton Ballet Workshop. Ms. Whitney is the 2008 recipient of the Audrée Estey Award for Excellence in Dance Education. She is an Adjunct Associate Professor in the dance programs at Rider University. 

Guest teaching credits include Brandywine Ballet, Peabody Conservatory and NJ Governor’s School. Her teaching in academic settings includes Princeton University, Howard University, Indiana University, The Lawrenceville School, Foxcroft School and Latin School of Chicago. and has received grants from the New York and New Jersey State Councils on the Arts. She is Artistic Director of Reverence Dance Company.

Nanako Yamamoto

Nanako Yamamoto was born and raised in Japan where she began her training at the Geijutsuza Ballet Studio “Jardin des Arts”, performing such roles as Clara in The Nutcracker, Rose Adagio in The Sleeping Beauty and the title role in Cinderella. In 2005, she was selected to attend the prestigious Royal Ballet Summer School, then was accepted to the Elmhurst School for Dance in Association with the Birmingham Royal Ballet. While a student, she performed in the Birmingham Royal Ballet’s National Tour of Firebird, Fokine’s Petrushka, Petipa’s Raymonda and David Bintley’s Beauty and the Beast. She performed for his Royal Highness Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall in addition to the grand re-opening of Birmingham’s Town Hall. Since graduating in 2009, she has performed with New Tampa Dance Theatre, Dance Theatre of Tampa, Ballet Fleming, Virginia Regional Ballet, in Giselle with Boca Ballet Theatre alongside Julie Kent and Marcelo Gomes, and as soloist in La Bayadere with Gillian Murphy and José Manuel Carreño. Since joining ARB, she has danced featured roles in The Nutcracker, including Sugar Plum Fairy and Snow Queen, the title role in Ethan Stiefel and Johan Kobborg’s Giselle, Changeling and Titania in Stiefel’s world premiere of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, as well as Belle in Kirk Peterson’s world premiere of Beauty and the Beast. She has also been featured in Gerald Arpino’s Confetti and Sea Shadow, Peterson’s Carmen and Glaznov Variation, Claire Davison’s world premiere Time Within A Time and other works by Douglas Martin, Kirk Peterson, Mary Barton, David Fernandez, Colby Damon and Ethan Stiefel.

Erikka Reenstierna-Cates

A California native, Erikka Reenstierna-Cates received her training under Leslie Ann Larson and Rene Daveluy. Before joining American Repertory Ballet in 2016, she previously danced with Central West Ballet, Oklahoma City Ballet, and Ballet Ireland. Reenstierna-Cates has been featured in a number of ballets in such notable roles such as Elena in Ethan Stiefel’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Caroline Bingley in Douglas Martin’s Pride and Prejudice, and Zulma and Bathilde in Stiefel and Johan Kobborg’s Giselle. She has had the privilege of performing works by renowned choreographers including George Balanchine’s Serenade, Who Cares?, and Valse Fantaisie, José Limón’s There Is A Time, Paul Taylor’s Air, Ethan Stiefel’s Wood Work, Paul Vasterling’s Peter Pan, Val Caniparoli’s Songs and Violin, Septime Webre’s Fluctuating Hemlines, Ronn Guidi’s Trois Gymnopedies, Dennis Spaight’s  Scheherazade, Kirk Peterson’s Tears of the Moon, Carmen, and Beauty and the Beast, Ryoko Tanaka’s Saudade and Hindsight, Claire Davison’s Bewitched, Stiefel’s Woodwork and VARIANTS, Amy Seiwert’s World, Interrupted and Sight Line, Caili Quan’s Circadia, Da’Von Doane’s Kaleidoscope Mind, Arthur Mitchell’s Holberg Suite, Meredith Rainey’s Intrare Forma, Stephanie Martinez’s The Time That Runs Away, and Drosselmeyer in The Nutcracker. 

Aldeir Monteiro

Aldeir Monteiro began his training at the Centro de Arte e Dança de Campo Grande in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, coached by Daniel Mendéz and directed by Alice Arja. Monteiro won the Bronze Medal at the XVIII International Dance Seminar of Brasilia in 2008. He continued his training at the Miami City Ballet School and joined Miami City Ballet in 2012 under the direction of Edward Villella, followed by Lourdes Lopez. Monteiro performed in the original cast of Euphotic choreographed by Liam Scarlett for the Miami City Ballet in 2013. His repertoire includes Alexei Ratmansky’s Symphonic Dances; Sir Frederick Ashton’s Les Patineurs; George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker, Serenade, La Valse, and Slaughter on Tenth Avenue; Paul Taylor’s Piazolla Caldera; John Cranko’s Romeo and Juliet and others. Since joining ARB in 2016, Monteiro has performed principal roles such as Cavalier in The Nutcracker, Lysander in Douglas Martin’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Matador in Kirk Peterson’s Carmen, Franz in Coppelia, Paul Taylor’s Airs, José Límon’s There is a Time, Gerald Arpino’s Sea Shadow and Jean de Brienne in Peterson’s Glazunov Variations. Other credits include Trey McIntyre’s Blue Until June, Septime Webre’s Fluctuating Hemlines, and Riccardo De Nigris’ Beyond the Normal, Ethan Stiefel’s Wood Work and VARIANTS, Amy Seiwert World, Interrupted and Sight Line, and Arthur Mitchell’s Holberg Suite. Monteiro originated the role of Puck, dancing alongside ARB’s Artistic Associate Gillian Murphy in Stiefel’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Albrecht in Ethan Stiefel and Johan Kobborg’s Giselle.

Kathleen Moore

Kathleen Moore trained with Dame Sonia Arova and Thor Sutowski at the Alabama School of Fine Arts (ASFA) and attended summer intensives at the School of American Ballet and the American Ballet Theatre (ABT) School. In 1979 she won an Obelisk Award in the Performing Arts from the city of Birmingham, Alabama and in 1980 she graduated from ASFA as a Presidential Scholar in the Arts and moved to NYC to join ABT II. Invited by Mikhail Baryshnikov to become a member of the corps of ABT in 1982, Moore was appointed soloist in 1988 and Principal dancer in 1991. Her work included roles across the classical, dramatic, modern and contemporary repertory. Having been closely associated with the works of Anthony Tudor she was on the cover of Dance Magazine issue about him in May 1987. Agnes de Mille, Twyla Tharp, Mark Morris and other respected choreographers created roles for her and she was a member of the premiere tour of the White Oak Dance Project under the direction of Mikhail Baryshnikov and Mark Morris in 1990.  Moore has appeared in several dance documentaries, the Herbert Ross movie Dancers, and was interviewed on The Charlie Rose Show, was featured on the cover of the special Spring Magazine of The New York Times in 1988 and profiled in the magazine Mirabella. Moore began teaching for Princeton Ballet School in 1993 as a guest teacher, expanding her hours over the years to include teaching levels 4C through the Trainee program. She has worked with American Repertory Ballet since 2006 and she was the recipient of the Audrée Estey Award for Excellence in Dance Education in 2018. She has also been a member of the ballet faculty at the Lewis Center of the Arts at Princeton University since 2012. Moore is certified to teach all levels of ballet through the ABT® National Training Curriculum.

Carol Bellis

Carol Bellis received her training on scholarship at the School of American Ballet, official school of the New York City Ballet. She danced with the Garden State Ballet and has taught for Garden State Ballet School, Gloria Govrin’s New Hope Ballet Academy, the School of Performing Arts at Somerset Vo-Tech, and NJ Governor’s School. Ms Bellis has been a member of the Princeton Ballet faculty for over 30 years, and is the principal of the Cranbury studio and the Coordinator of Princeton Ballet School’s summer programs. She is a two time recipient of the Audrée Estey Award for Excellence in Dance Education. Ms. Bellis is also an Adjunct Professor of Ballet at Rider University.

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