American Repertory Ballet

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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.

Clara Pevel showed that she “owned” the role of the Black Swan. Not only is her technique downright wowing (yes, those 32 fouettés went off without a hitch), but every move she makes exudes the evil Swan’s deceptiveness and the creature’s glee in being such a wily bird.

– US1 – October 23rd, 2024

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. 

Ethan Stiefel

Ethan Stiefel is an internationally recognized artist, educator, and leader in the performing arts. After serving as American Repertory Ballet’s Artistic Director for over three years, he is currently The Nora C. Orphanides Artist in Residence. Stiefel was the Principal Guest Instructor at American Ballet Theatre (ABT) from 2016-2021 and the Artistic Director of the Royal New Zealand Ballet (RNZB) from 2011-2014. Just before being appointed the RNZB’s Artistic Director, he served as Dean of the School of Dance at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts (UNCSA) from 2007-2011.

Stiefel began his professional career at age 16 with the New York City Ballet where he quickly rose to the rank of Principal Dancer. He was also a Principal Dancer with Ballett Zürich and joined American Ballet Theatre as a Principal Dancer in 1997. Stiefel gave his final performance with ABT in July 2012.

During his career, Stiefel performed leading roles in all of the full-length classics and danced in an extensive range of shorter works created by the industry’s foremost classical, modern and contemporary choreographers.

Guest appearances include The Royal Ballet, The Mariinsky Ballet, New York City Ballet, The Australian Ballet, Ballett Zürich, Bayerisches Staatsballett, Hamburg Ballet, The National Ballet of Canada, Teatro Colón, Teatro dell’Opera di Roma, Arena de Verona, New National Theatre (Tokyo), Kings of the Dance and numerous tours in the United States, Japan, Russia and throughout Europe.

He starred in the feature film Center Stage and returned to play the role of Cooper Nielsen in Center Stage 2-Turn It Up and Center Stage: On Pointe. Stiefel’s television and video credits include The Dream, Le Corsaire, Die Fledermaus, Gossip Girl and the documentary, Born to be Wild.

As a choreographer, Stiefel created a new staging of The Nutcracker for the UNCSA. He choreographed a one act comedic ballet, Bier Halle, and collaborated with Johan Kobborg on choreographing and producing a new production of Giselle for the RNZB. In 2013, Giselle was adapted into a feature film, directed by Toa Fraser, and was selected for screening in the NZ International Film Festival, Vancouver International Film Festival and the Toronto International Film Festival. Giselle was restaged and performed in 2015 at the Opera National Bucharest.

Additionally, Stiefel choreographed a new work for the top level of ABT’s Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School, Knightlife, which was performed at the Joyce Theater in New York in April 2016. He choreographed a collaborative work on the ABT Studio Company and the Royal Ballet School, See the Youth Advance!, which had its premiere at London’s Covent Garden, in May 2016. Stiefel created FRONTIER, a new ballet for The Washington Ballet which premiered at The Kennedy Center in May 2017. In the fall of 2018, Stiefel created Overture for the ABT Studio Company and subsequently he choreographed Wood Work for The Washington Ballet in April 2019.  In 2021, Beneath the Surface, a short dance film for Northern Ballet Theatre (UK) was conceived by Stiefel. Stiefel’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream for American Repertory Ballet had its premiere at the NBPAC in April 2022. Inspired by American musicians and poets, he choreographed Prine Time, a solo commissioned by the Guggenheim Works and Process Virtual Artists Series set to the music of John Prine, and in October 2023 created if, using a song of Blaze Foley’s. 2023 also saw the premiere of the vibrant and virtuosic VARIANTS.

Stiefel was the choreographer for Flesh and Bone, a 2015 limited edition television series for STARZ network.

He has been a guest instructor for many institutions including the Paris Opera Ballet, The National Ballet of Canada, The Royal Ballet School, The Australian Ballet School, Norwegian National Ballet, Ballett Zürich, Ballet de Bordeaux, Opera National Bucharest, John Cranko Schule Stuttgart, Tanz Akademie Zürich, Berlin State Ballet School, Dance Theatre of Harlem, American Ballet Theatre Studio Company, ABT’s Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School and The School of American Ballet.

Stiefel was invited to serve on the jury for the Paris Opera Ballet’s 2014 annual promotion examination and was on the jury of the 2015 Prix de Lausanne.

His Royal Highness Crown Prince Albert of Monaco presented Stiefel with the Statue Award of the Princess Grace Foundation, the Foundation’s highest honor, in October 1999. He received the prestigious Dance Magazine Award in December 2008.

Yuliya Rakova

Yuliya Rakova was born in Russia and began her ballet training at the age of ten at the Perm State choreographic college in Russia, home of the famed Russian ballet traditions, where her studies included classical ballet, history of theater, history of art and music, acting, stage makeup, history of European and American ballet, character, historic dance, and pas de deux. Upon graduation in 1995, she was invited to join the Perm Tchaikovsky Opera and Ballet Theater. Rakova danced with the company for five years before moving to Moscow. She joined the Moscow Dance Theater of Alexei Fadeechev as a soloist. She was featured in the modern dance choreographer Stanton Welsh`s world premiere Opus X. In 2001 she was invited to join Russian National Ballet and danced with the company until she moved to the United States to teach. She toured nationally and abroad, enjoying great success and quickly building a classical repertoire while performing such roles as Odile, the Sugarplum Fairy, Lilac Fairy and Maria Taglioni from Pas de Quatre. Rakova has worked with notable choreographers such as Trey McIntyre, Ben Stevenson and Alexei Ratmansky. Her repertoire includes soloist roles in Swan Lake, Coppelia, Don Quixote, Paquita, Raymonda, Nutcracker, Chopiniana, The Sleeping Beauty, Le Corsaire and others. She taught for professional ballet schools such as Kirov Academy of Ballet, Ellison Ballet, Joffrey Ballet School, and Pennsylvania Ballet. Rakova continues to teach as well as stage classical productions and original works around the country and abroad. As an accomplished dancer and experienced teacher, Rakova would like to share her knowledge with passion for young dancers.

Michelle Quiner

Michelle Quiner was born and raised in Chester, New Jersey, and began her formal ballet training at the North Jersey School of Dance Arts under the direction of Christine Taylor and Luba Gulyaeva. In 2010, she was cast as Clara for the Radio City Christmas Spectacular starring the Rockettes. She has been featured on the cover of Inside Dance magazine (May 2019) and in Dance Spirit magazine as both a Cover Model Search Finalist and the Dancer You Should Know. Quiner has been a final round participant at the World Ballet Competition and a bronze medalist at the Valentina Kozlova IBC Contemporary Competition. She spent a year at the Washington Ballet School on full scholarship under the direction of Xiomara Reyes before joining the ARB Trainee program. She was promoted to ARB2 in 2020, then apprentice in 2021, and joined the company in 2022.

Quiner has performed featured roles in ARB’s The Nutcracker including Dew Drop, Hot Chocolate, Marzipan, and Bird Song. Other performances with ARB include: Myrtha in Ethan Stiefel & Johan Kobborg’s Giselle; Oberon in Stiefel’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream; Lilac Fairy in ARB’s Classic Beauty; Diana & Acteon Pas De Deux; Don Quixote Pas De Deux; Caili Quan’s Circadia; Stephanie Martinez’s The Time That Runs Away; Stiefel’s if (solo); Stiefel’s Wood Work; Ryoko Tanaka’s Hindsight; Colby Damon’s Strange Sentience; Stiefel’s VARIANTS; and Arthur Mitchell’s Holberg Suite.

Madison Elizabeth Egyud

Madison Elizabeth Egyud was raised in Newtown, Pennsylvania and began her formal ballet training at the Princeton Ballet School at the age of 6. In 2012, she attended American Ballet Theatre’s summer intensive on full scholarship, awarded by Philadelphia Dance Access. That summer, she was invited to study year-round at the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School at ABT where she continued her training for the next five years under the direction of Franco DeVita and Cynthia Harvey. Egyud danced as a trainee with American Repertory Ballet for two seasons before joining ARB2 in 2020. She was promoted to apprentice in the beginning of 2022, and joined the company later that year. During her time with ARB she has had the privilege of performing featured roles such as Coffee in ARB’s The Nutcracker and Elena in Ethan Stiefel’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Other works with the company include Colby Damon’s Strange Sentience, Ethan Stiefel’s Wood Work and VARIANTS, Claire Davison’s Time Within A Time and Bewitched, Ethan Stiefel and Johan Kobborg’s Giselle, Ryoko Tanaka’s Hindsight, and Arthur Mitchell’s Holberg Suite.

Andrea Marini

Andrea Marini started his professional training at the Rome Opera House Dance School in 2014, where he graduated in July 2019 under the direction of Laura Comi, former Étoile of the Rome Opera House. During his time at American Repertory Ballet, he danced: several leading roles of The Nutcracker; Puck for Ethan Stiefel’s A Midsummer’s Night Dream; Albrecht in Ethan Stiefel and Johan Kobborg’s Giselle; as well as Siegfried in Swan Lake Act II and Prince Desiré in Sleeping Beauty Act III. Marini joined American Repertory Ballet in 2019 as a member of ARB2, promoted to Apprentice the following year and eventually joined the main company in 2021. Recent credits include: Ryoko Tanaka’s Hindsight; Claire Davison’s Bewitched and Time Within A Time; Arthur Mitchell’s Holberg Suite; Amy Seiwert’s Sight Line; Meredith Rainey’s Intrare Forma; and Stephanie Martinez’s The Time That Runs Away. As an international guest artist, he has performed for the Gala della Danza near Milan in The Nutcracker; for the Pennsylvania Regional Ballet in The Nutcracker and in Don Quixote; for Princeton Ballet School in Le Corsaire and Don Quixote; Cavalier for Nutcracker of Middle Georgia; for the Margot Fonteyn Academy in The Sleeping Beauty; as well as guest teacher for the Pennsylvania Regional Ballet Summer Intensive 2024. He has worked with renowned teachers and choreographers around the world including Pablo Moret, Ofelia Gonzalez, Mauro Bigonzetti, Ethan Stiefel, Gillian Murphy, Mauro Astolfi, Trey McIntyre, Amy Seiwert, Stephanie Martinez, Ian Hussey, Chris Bloom, and others.

Lindsay Jorgensen

Lindsay Jorgensen is a performing artist in the New York/New Jersey area. She currently dances with Buglisi Dance Theatre and Axelrod Contemporary Ballet Theater. She has performed at Lincoln Center, the David H. Koch Theatre, Asbury Park Dance Festival, and works by Alvin Ailey, Paul Taylor, Robert Battle, Patrick Delcroix, Riccardo de Nigris, Blakeley Maguire, and Gabrielle Lamb. Her poetry was featured at APAP and Women/Create, and her choreography was premiered at Bell Works and Ailey Citigroup Theatre. Jorgensen is a graduate of the Ailey/Fordham B.F.A. Dance Program, where she graduated summa cum laude with an honorable mention in Dance. She holds a dual degree in Dance and English. As a former ARB Trainee and PBS student, Jorgensen is so excited to continue her choreographic endeavors with American Repertory Ballet’s Trainees Program and fostering growth and creativity with the dancers at Princeton Ballet School. (www.lindsayjorgensen.com).