ARB Position: Dancer

Andrea Marini started his professional training at the Rome Opera House Dance School in 2014, where he graduated in July 2019. During his senior year, Marini performed The Nutcracker Grand Pax De Deux as a guest artists in the Gala della Danza near Milan, staged by Pablo Moret and Ofelia Gonzalez. During his time at American Repertory Ballet he danced in several roles of The Nutcracker including the Cavalier in 2021, Puck for Ethan Stiefel’s A Midsummer’s Night Dream, and Albrecht in Ethan Stiefel and Johan Kobborg’s Giselle. Marini joined American Repertory Ballet in 2019 as a member of ARB2, before being promoted to apprentice, and eventually joining the main company in 2021. Recent credits include Ryoko Tanaka’s Hindsight, Claire Davison’s Bewitched and Time Within A Time, Da’Von Doane’s Kaleidoscope Mind, Arthur Mitchell’s Holberg Suite, and Amy Seiwert’s Sight Line. 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 Corsiare and Don Quixote; Cavalier for Nutcracker of Middle Georgia; and for the Margot Fonteyn Academy in The Sleeping Beauty. He has worked with renowned teachers and choreographers around the world including Alessandro Molin, Pablo Moret, Ofelia Gonzalez, Mario Marozzi, Giorgio Mancini, Mauro Bigonzetti, Ethan Stiefel, Gillian Murphy, Mauro Astolfi, Trey McIntyre, and others.

Ryoko Tanaka was born and raised in Wakayama Japan, where she began her training. In 2013, she was selected to be in the Nancy Einhorn Milwaukee Ballet II program. In 2017, she joined the trainee program at American Repertory Ballet and soon moved up to ARB 2, and by 2018, she was promoted to ARB company member. Since joining the company, Ryoko has performed the title role in Ethan Stiefel and Johan Kobborg’s Giselle, Sugar Plum Fairy in The Nutcracker, Odette in Swan Lake (for Princeton Ballet School). She has also performed featured roles in Stiefel’s Wood Work, Overture, VARIANTS, as well as Caili Quan’s Circadia, Amy Seiwert’s Sight Line and World, Interrupted, Paul Taylor’s Airs, Trey McIntyre’s Blue Until June, Meredith Rainey’s Intrare Forma and multiple other roles. In 2021, she made her debut as choreographer for ARB with Saudade. She continued her choreographic work with ARB in 2022, collaborating with composer/pianist Ian Howells to create Hindsight and most recently TSUBOMI, for Princeton Ballet School.  

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.

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.