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.
Archives: People
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.
Clara Pevel
Clara Pevel was born and raised in France, where she began her training. In 2018, she was selected to join the American Ballet Theatre’s Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School on a scholarship, awarded to her by Cynthia Harvey at the Youth America Grand Prix. Highlights of her career include being the only student chosen to perform The Nutcracker with ABT (2019), participating in the choreographic project at Le Prix de Lausanne (2020), appearing on the French TV show Prodiges in front of 50,000 people in Lille, France (2017), and the third place winner at the Young America Grand Prix (2018). At ABT’s JKO school, Pevel trained with Cynthia Harvey, Mikhail Ilyin, Robert La Fosse, Ethan Stiefel, Petrujska Broholm and Karin Averty. Since joining ARB in 2021, she has performed in David Fernandez’s Mexican Music, The Nutcracker, Titania opposite Gillian Murphy in Ethan Stiefel’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Delibes Duet, Ethan Stiefel and Johan Kobborg’s Giselle, and Arthur Mitchell’s Holberg Suite.
Leandro Olcese
Leandro Olcese was born in Brazil and raised in Italy. In 2013, he began his training at Spazio Danza Cicagna in Italy, and continued his training at the English National Ballet School from 2016-2019. He joined Northern Ballet in 2019, where he performed in Ethan Stiefel’s Beneath the Surface, an original dance film by Northern Ballet, American Ballet Theatre and Burberry Inspire. His American Repertory Ballet credits include The Nutcracker, Stiefel’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Ja’ Malik’s Moving to Bach, Caili Quan’s Circadia, Ryoko Tanaka’s Hindsight, Arthur Mitchell’s Holberg Suite, and Ethan Stiefel and Johan Kobborg’s Giselle.
Gillian Murphy
Gillian Murphy is currently celebrating over twenty years as a principal ballerina with American Ballet Theatre (ABT). Her repertoire includes leading roles in ABT’s most iconic full-length classics and in shorter works by luminary choreographers of the past and present. As a teenager, Murphy was awarded the Prix de Lausanne Espoir, and she joined American Ballet Theatre in 1996. After being honored with a Princess Grace Foundation Award, Murphy was promoted to Soloist in 1999 and to Principal Dancer in 2002. She starred as Odette/Odile in ABT’s PBS television production of Swan Lake and as Giselle in the New Zealand Film Commission’s movie of Stiefel and Kobborg’s production of Giselle at the Royal New Zealand Ballet, where she was a Principal Guest Artist for three years. Murphy has danced as a guest artist throughout the world, performing with the Mariinsky Ballet, the Royal Swedish Ballet, the Staatsballett Berlin, the Kiev Ballet, the Australian Ballet, as a ballerina with the Metropolitan Opera, and in numerous other international engagements and galas. She is a recipient of a Princess Grace Statue Award and an honorary doctorate from her high school alma mater, the University of North Carolina School of the Arts. In 2018, Murphy graduated summa cum laude from St. Mary’s College of California with a Bachelor of Arts. In 2019, Murphy completed the Harvard Business School’s “Crossover into Business” program and served on the international jury panel of the Prix de Lausanne. In recent years, she has enjoyed teaching classes at American Ballet Theatre, the ABT Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School, the Dance Theater of Harlem, the City Ballet of San Diego, Kaatsbaan, and the Princeton Ballet School.
Luis Napoles
Luis Napoles began his dancing training as a child at the National School of the Arts in Havana, Cuba. Upon graduating he danced with Dance Contemporary of Cuba and later with Ballet Theatre of Havana. He danced principal roles and traveled the world with both companies. In the U.S, Napoles danced as a soloist with the Oakland Ballet, and in 1997 joined the Sacramento Ballet where he was a principal dancer for over 8 years. Napoles was also a resident choreographer at the Sacramento Ballet, creating over fifteen ballets.
In the classical repertory, Napoles has performed the role of Spade in Don Quixote, Tybalt in Romeo and Juliet, Thesious in A Midsummer Night’s Dream and the Cavalier in the Nutcracker. He has danced principal roles in David Parson’s The Evelope and Instinct, Septime Webre’s Fluctuating Hemlines, Van Cannaparoli’s Devil Sonata; and Ron Cunningham’s Bolero, Carmina Burana, Rite of Spring, Fire Bird, Incident at Blackbriar, Etosha, A Streetcar Named Desire, The Tempest, Hamlet among others
Napoles is the founder/artistic director of Napoles Ballet, Contemporary Cuban Company.