ARB Position: Teacher

Jericho Lopez was born in Queens, New York. He is 24 years old and graduated from Berkeley College with a medical & health science degree. He attended Broadway Dance Center since 2015. He started training with some of the world’s most renowned teachers & choreographers, in all forms of dance, but specialized in Hip Hop, Street Jazz and Contemporary fusion. In 2017, he was chosen as an Advanced Elite Protégé for the Pulse On Tour giving him the once in a lifetime opportunity to travel across the United States. While his most memorable moment was performing at the 2018 VMA’s. At the age of 12 he was introduced to dance and began training at Icon Dance Complex in all styles of dance. He has performed at venues, Radio City Music Hall, Apollo, Hammerstein Ballroom, World of Dance NJ, Symphony Space to NYU Skirball Center.

Olivia graduated from The Ailey School and Fordham University with a B.F.A. in Dance and English (2018). She currently dances with Axelrod Contemporary Ballet Theater and previously danced with Ballet Hispanico’s BHdos. She has performed works by Alvin Ailey, Paul Taylor, Annabelle Lopez Ochoa, Colby Damon, Graham Lustig, Riccardo de Nigris, Andrea Weber, and Kanji Segawa. She has performed at Lincoln Center and the historic Apollo Theater. Miranda has presented and performed choreographic works at Asbury Park Dance Festival, Ailey Citigroup Theatre, Dixon Place, Rider University, The Tank NYC, and Bell Works. Miranda has taught dance in New Jersey for over six years and is also a certified yoga instructor. 

Anna Fredeen (B.A. Dance Science, Rider University) has danced with multiple dance studios in Connecticut and New Jersey where she trained in ballet, pointe, tap, jazz, lyrical, contemporary, hip hop, musical theater, choreography, modern, and leaps and turns. Before attending Rider University, she studied at Texas Christian University for two years in the School of Classical and Contemporary Dance. Fredeen has attended residential dance intensives in New York City and performed with dance companies at venues such as The Joyce Theater, Peridance, Disney World, and The Orange Bowl, where she had the opportunity to work with choreographers such as Tyler Gilstrap, Sidra Bell, and Chris Judd. In the most recent years, Fredeen participated in American Dance Festival and the National Choreography Intensive, and has become a satellite member of the modern dance company Luminarium, based out of Boston, MA. She has received awards from various institutions, including Rider University and the National Choreography Intensive, for her choreography and involvement in the dance community. Fredeen currently teaches dance at local studios and works with many studios over the summer as a guest artist. As a committed dancer, teacher, and choreographer, Fredeen strives to pass down her knowledge and experience to students, using Dance Science to bring awareness to the physicality required of dancers to ensure a safe environment for all.

Maura Ryan’s primary training was under the instruction of Susan Jaffe and Risa Kaplowitz. She attended SUNY Purchase College’s Conservatory of Dance on scholarship where she received a BFA in Dance Performance and Composition. She performed many lead roles with the Purchase Dance Corps and graduated cum laude with extensive training in Ballet, Modern and Ballet Composition. Upon graduation, she completed the ABT® National Training Curriculum in levels Primary through Level 5. Ryan has had the privilege of working with hundreds of children and families throughout New Jersey. She was a guest teacher at Rutgers University, as well as an adjunct professor for The College of New Jersey. She enjoys teaching outreach programs within the community and provides a disciplined yet nurturing environment to connect with students in order for them to trust their training process.

Emily Cordies-Maso started her training at her mother Rebeca Maso’s studio in Somerset, NJ at a young age. At age 12 she attended Ballet Hispanico under the direction of Dr. Ana Maria Correa and later with current director Michelle Manzanales. Cordies-Maso was part of the Pre-Professional program for her last three years there under a full scholarship. During that time she was able to travel to Cordoba Mexico for the Festival de Danza and to Havana Cuba for the Ballet Nacional Festival International de Danza. In 2019 Cordies-Maso started studying under the direction of Aydmara Cabrera at the Princeton Ballet school and was later a trainee with the ARB/PBS in 2021. In December 2020 Emily left to Switzerland to study as a stagiare at Ecole Rudra Bejart in Lausanne with a full scholarship, under the direction of Micheal Gascard and Julio Arrozarena where she got to perform at Vaison la Roman, France and Martingy, Switzerland. Cordies-Maso has also attended various summer intensives including Sarasota Cuban Ballet School, Taina Morales and Jesus Corrales Summer Intensive in Montreal, Canada, and Leonel Morales & Friends Dance Course in Granada, Spain. Her American Repertory Ballet credits include The Nutcracker, Da’Von Doane’s Kaleidoscope Mind, Ethan Stiefel and Johan Kobborg’s Giselle, Arthur Mitchell’s Holberg Suite, and Stiefel’s VARIANTS.

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. 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. Bellis is also an Adjunct Professor of Ballet at Rider University.

Born in Juneau Alaska, Anna McDowell received her ballet training at Juneau Dance Theatre under the direction of Julie Diana and Zachary Hench. As a student she danced the roles of Dew Drop Fairy and Snow Queen in The Nutcracker, Myrtha in Giselle, and attended summer programs at Carolina Ballet, Walnut Hill School for the Arts, Atlanta Ballet, Indiana University and Cincinnati Ballet. She joined ARB/PBS as a trainee in 2018 and danced the roles of Snow, Flowers and Spanish corps in Nutcracker with ARB and danced in PBS’s production of Don Quixote in Seguidillas and Dryad corps. She started teaching for Princeton Ballet School in 2020. Anna has choreographed works for Harvard Ballet Company, Princeton Ballet School students and trainees, and has created several pieces for Juneau Dance Theatre including a work titled Blurred Visions created in collaboration with composer and conductor, William Todd Hunt.

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.