Archives: People
Jaeyeon Chung
Jaeyeon Chung was born in South Korea and began playing the piano at an early age, accompanying her church choir by the time she was 12 years old. She attended Westminster Choir College in Princeton, NJ where she majored in Piano Performance and Pedagogy, before returning to Dankook Graduate School in Seoul, South Korea where she majored in Piano Accompaniment. She studied Dance Accompaniment at Sungshin Women’s University (Graduate) School In Sungshin, South Korea, later earning a third graduate degree in Piano Performance and Pedagogy from Westminster Choir College in Princeton, NJ. Jaeyeon has performed extensively in places such as the Australian Opera House in 1992, Ecole Normale, France in 1997 where she also studied. Jaeyeon’s illustrious accompanying resume includes playing for the Gospel Church in Yeouido, Korea in 1992, Seoul Arts High School in 2005, the Korean Ballet Company and Bergen Catholic High School, Oradell, NJ 2015. For a period spanning more than 10 years, Jaeyeon has accompanied and performed in numerous colleges, universities and other venues in South Korea and around the world. Today Ms. Chung is on the staff at Westminster Choir College in NJ where she accompanies several choirs. She also serves as accompanist for the Princeton Ballet School, pre-kinder school music teacher in Basking Ridge, NJ, and organist at Pemberton Grace Church.
Pavel Zarukin
Pavel Zarukin won second prize in the 1984 Viotti International Piano Competition in Vercelli, Italy. He received his D.M.A. in Musical Arts from the St. Petersburg State Conservatory in 1985 and worked as a Piano Department Faculty member there 1986-1991. After coming to the US in 1992 he taught Piano at the Musical Arts Academy of Bucks County, General Music and Choir at Elizabeth, NJ, Trenton, NJ Public Schools and Gateway Special Needs School in Carteret, NJ, 1999-2019. Currently he teaches music at the Christ the King Regional School in Haddonfield, NJ and holds positions of an Organist and Choir Director at Beth David Reform Congregation in Gladwyne, PA and a Staff Accompanist at the American Repertory Ballet/Princeton Ballet School in Princeton, NJ.
Megan Register
Megan Register is a pianist and teacher based in Hillsborough, NJ. As a performing pianist, Megan has performed as a soloist and collaborative artist, both on stage and at special events. She is a frequent accompanist in student recitals, exams, and competitions. She has been a staff accompanist at the American Repertory Ballet’s Princeton Ballet School since 2004.As an educator, Megan works to help each student find their unique voice in music. Her students have received high honors in examinations, and often participate in community service-oriented performances. Since 2003 she has taught private piano lessons at Westminster Conservatory of Music, where she has served as Concerto Competition Coordinator and co-director of Westminster’s summer Piano Camp. She maintains an independent piano studio in Hillsborough. Megan earned Bachelors and Masters degrees from Columbus State University and Westminster Choir College. Her primary piano teachers were Linda Dyson, Betty Anne Díaz, and Phyllis Alpert Lehrer, and her pedagogy teachers were Steve Clark, Ingrid Clarfield, Jean Stackhouse, James Goldsworthy, and Phyllis Alpert Lehrer.
Pasqualina DeBoer
Pasqualina DeBoer specializes in experiential and digital marketing and community development for the arts and entertainment field. Previous to joining American Repertory Ballet, Pasqualina was the Director of Marketing for the legendary Asbury Park Boardwalk, including world-renowned concert and entertainment venues (The Stone Pony, Convention Hall, Paramount Theatre), retail, restaurants, and the arts, hosting over 3.5 million guests per year. Pasqualina also assisted in launching internationally known arts and music initiatives. She is a founding and current board member of The Wooden Walls Project public arts initiative. Pasqualina has worked extensively as a government and business community liaison. Her digital initiatives have earned several high-profile awards, including an Addy and Webby.
Ian Hussey
Ian Hussey began his ballet instruction at age nine with the Rock School for Dance Education and continued his training at Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet in 2001 under the direction of Marcia Dale Weary. As well, Ian had attended summer intensives (on scholarship) at the School of American Ballet, San Francisco Ballet, and Exploring Ballet with Suzanne Farrell, among others. Ian joined Pennsylvania Ballet as a member of PBII. After becoming an apprentice, he was promoted to the corps de ballet for the 2007/2008 season. In 2010, he was promoted to the rank of soloist and then to principal dancer for the 2012/2013 season. He danced in featured roles that include Twyla Tharp’s Push Comes to Shove and Nine Sinatra Songs, Jerome Robbins’ The Concert and Other Dances, Paul Taylor’s Company B, Christopher Wheeldon’s After the Rain and Swan Lake, and the Divertissement Pas de Deux in George Balanchine’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. He has created leading roles in ballets for such renowned choreographers as Annabelle Lopez Ochoa’s Requiem for a Rose, Jorma Elo’s Pulcinella, Trey McIntyre’s The Accidental, and Matthew Neenan’s Pampeana No. 2, Penumbra, Keep, and At the border. In May 2014, Ian was featured in Margo Sappington’s Under the Sun Pas de Deux during the PBS nationwide broadcast of Pennsylvania Ballet at 50. In May of 2019 Mr. Hussey retired from the Pennsylvania Ballet after a distinguished 15-year career.
Da’ Von Doane
Da’ Von Doane began his training at the Salisbury Studio of Dance, where he trained with Betty Webster, Tatiana Akinfieva-Smith and Elena Manakhova. At age 15, he began training at Atlantic Contemporary Ballet Theatre as a full-time academic student and remained there for four years. In 2008, Da’ Von moved to New York City to join the Dance Theatre of Harlem Ensemble. In 2009, Da’ Von performed with Ballet Noir at East River Park, as part of SummerStage, and at Jacob’s Pillow. In the fall of 2009, he began dancing as part of Dance Theatre of Harlem (DTH), and that winter he began touring with DTH as part of its Dance for America tour. As a guest artist, Da’ Von has performed with the Classical Contemporary Ballet Theatre and with choreographer Ja’ Malik in 2009’s E-Moves Emerging Choreographers Showcase. In the summer of 2010, Da’ Von performed once again with Ballet Noir in the 200th Anniversary Chopin Celebration and the 2010 World Dance Gala in Kielce, Poland. Da’ Von joined the newly reborn Dance Theatre of Harlem in 2012. Da’ Von was featured as one of Dance Magazine’s Top 25 to Watch in 2014 and in a new dance web series For the Love of Dance with Sarita Lou. Da’ Von can be seen in Estelle’s new video for the single “Conqueror” from her new album True Romance, directed by Paul Jung. With The Dance Theatre of Harlem, Da’ Von can be seen in various roles from “Black Swan Pas de Deux” staged by Anne Marie Holmes, “Act III Pas de Deux” from Raymonda, Dancing on the Front Porch of Heaven by Ulysses Dove, and Balanchine’s Agon and Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux. He was also part of Nacho Duato’s Coming Together and works by other choreographers such as Robert Garland, Tanya Wideman and Thaddeus Davis, Helen Pickett, Donald Byrd, Bill Wilson, Arthur Mitchell, Darrel Moultrie, Francesca Harper and John Alleyne. Da’ Von performed this year as part of the Vail International Dance Festival’s International Evenings of Dance as well as the NOW: Premieres program alongside dancers from NYCB, ABT and more. As an independent artist, he has performed with numerous companies and worked with choreographers from across the globe. Da’ Von Doane has also created a number of original dance works curated and presented by Bryant Park, Thelma Hill Performing Arts Center, Dance Theatre of Harlem, Periapsis Music and Dance, the CUNY Graduate Center, Composers Now Festival and Symphony Space. Da’ Von is currently pursuing his graduate degree at University of the Arts.
Stella Abrera
Ms. Abrera is from South Pasadena, California, and began her ballet studies at the age of five. After winning the Gold Medal of the Margot Fonteyn International Ballet Competition (fka Adeline Genee Awards) and performing on the Bolshoi stage at the Prix de Lausanne, she joined the corps de ballet of American Ballet Theatre (ABT) in 1996 at the age of seventeen. In 2001 she was appointed to Soloist, and then to Principal Dancer in 2015. During her 24 years as a ballerina with ABT, her repertoire included leading roles such as Aurora, Cinderella, Giselle, Juliet, and Tatiana, as well as in works by Fredrick Ashton, George Balanchine, Agnes de Mille, William Forsythe, Martha Graham, Jiri Kylian, Jessica Lang, Sir Kenneth MacMillan, Lar Lubovitch, Cathy Marston, Benjamin Millepied, Jerome Robbins, Antony Tudor, and Christopher Wheeldon. She created several roles at ABT in ballets choreographed by luminaries such as Mark Morris, Alexei Ratmansky, Twyla Tharp, and Paul Taylor.
In June 2020, Ms. Abrera retired as a dancer with ABT and was appointed Artistic Director of Kaatsbaan Cultural Park.
As a repetiteur of Alexei Ratmansky’s work, she has been invited to the Mariinsky Ballet in St. Petersburg, Russia, as well as to ABT and ABT Studio Company. And she continues to teach ABT and ABT Studio Company classes on a regular basis. Previously, Ms. Abrera was the Associate Director of the summer Kaatsbaan Ballet Intensive and spearheaded Pro-Studio, a coaching program for professional ballet dancers in the formative initial years of their careers.
Ms. Abrera’s charity work includes founding Steps Forward for the Philippines, an organization that partnered with Operation USA to rebuild an elementary school in the wake of 2013’s Super Typhoon Haiyan. She cofounded Artists for Aveni, to benefit the Aveni Foundation’s mission to cure cancer. She also curated and danced in a series of galas in Manila in 2018 and 2019 to benefit the gifted yet economically disadvantaged Filipino children of CENTEX elementary schools in the Philippines, which resulted in the building of the Stella Abrera Dance and Music Hall in Batangas. She was also a frequent performer in galas for Dancers Responding to Aids and Dance Against Cancer.
She studied at Long Island University, Harvard University “Crossover into Business” program, and participated in the 2020 DanceEast Rural Retreat.
Ms. Abrera’s awards and nominations include:
Benois de la Danse Nomination for The Sleeping Beauty | 2017
New York State Assembly recognition for service to the community | 2017
Woman of the Year recognition from the Philippine Consulate General in New York | 2016
California State Senate recognition for contributions to the performing arts | 2015
Gold Medal, R.A.D.’s Adeline Genee Awards | 1995
Seth Koffler
Hailing from New York, Seth Koffler began his training at the age of six in the Riverdale YMHA Dance Program. In 2012, he was accepted into the Children’s Division of American Ballet Theatre’s Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School on a full scholarship, learning from Franco De Vita, Melissa Bowman, Richard Bowman, Miklhail Ilyin, and Elizabeth Ferrell. He contributed his training through the graduated from that program in 2016 and continued his training with ABT’s JKO School in the Pre-Professional Division where he trained with Cynthia Harvey, Mikhail Ilyin, Robert La Fosse, and Ethan Stiefel. At the age of 10, Koffler danced various roles in Alexei Ratmansky’s production of The Nutcracker for American Ballet Theatre at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. In 2015, he performed the role of the Little Nutcracker Prince in the ABT’s production at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa, California. His ARB credits include The Nutcracker, Ethan Stiefel’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, VARIANTS, Delibes Duet; Claire Davison’s Time Within A Time; Meredith Rainey’s Intrare Forma; as well as Ethan Stiefel and Johan Kobborg’s Giselle. In summer of 2023, Koffler performed Grand Pas Classique at the Les Rayonnantes Festival in Perpignan, France.
Tiziano Cerrato
Tiziano Cerrato was born and raised in Rome, Italy, where he began his early training at the age of nine. Among his earliest teachers was the legendary Italian ballerina Elisabetta Terabust. He continued his training at Rome’s Accademia Nazionale di Danza where he studied with Giuseppina Ercolani and the celebrated Croatian ballet dancer Zarko Prebil. From 2016-2019, he trained at the Accademia Teatro alla Scala in Milan with Leonid Nikonov, Frederic Oliveiri and Maurizio Vanadia. In 2019, Cerrato joined American Ballet Theatre’s Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School where he trained under Cynthia Harvey, Mikhail Ilyin, Robert La Fosse and Ethan Stiefel. During the 2020-2021 season, Cerrato was a trainee with the San Francisco Ballet under Patrick Armand, and Helgi Tomasson. His American Repertory Ballet credits include The Nutcracker, Stiefel’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Delibes Duet and VARIANTS, Arthur Mitchell’s Holberg Suite, Amy Seiwert’s Sight Line, and Ethan Stiefel and Johan Kobborg’s Giselle.
