ARB Position: Teacher

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.

Alexandra “Ali” Jans has been training in ballet and other dance forms for over twenty years. She grew up a military kid, stationed across the U.S. as well as abroad, which presented opportunities to work with many world-renowned instructors and choreographers. She trained under various acclaimed instructors including Stefan Grebeldinger, Franca Desinia, Paula Weber, David Justin, Gary Abbott, DeeAnna Hiett, Ronald Tice, and Mishic and Valentine Liberatore. Jans trained for three years in Italy at the feeder school to Teatro alla Scala in Milan. While in Europe she performed The Nutcracker with the Croatian National Ballet and Don Quixote with the State Ballet of Georgia (Europe). She also attended an invitation-only summer intensive in Novi Sad, Serbia. Jans spent two years pursuing a BFA in Dance Performance and Choreography at the University of Missouri-Kansas City where she worked with a variety of choreographers including Nilas Martins and Cleo Parker Robinson. She is currently earning a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with a concentration in Nonprofit Management. As a freelance professional dancer, she performed in various ballets including Don Quixote, Swan Lake as Odette in Swan Lake with Fredrick Davis and the title role in Paquita with Michael Crawford. For two seasons, she was the the Assistant Artistic Director for two seasons at Central New Jersey Ballet and the Junior Company Ballet Mistress for one year. Jans is a certified teacher of the Progressing Ballet Technique (PBT) strengthening program for dancers.

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.

Katrina has been training in classical ballet since she began at two years old. She studied tap dance for over eight years and has both taught and assisted in tap classes. In addition, her training in contemporary, modern, and jazz ranges over many years. Participating in numerous intensives and workshops, she also broadened her study of dance through several other dance forms. She trained for three years in Italy at the feeder school to Teatro alla Scala in Milan. While in Europe she performed in The Nutcracker with the Croatian National Ballet and attended an invitation-only summer intensive in Novi Sad, Serbia. Jans has performed in many productions including The Nutcracker, Sleeping Beauty, Wizard of Oz, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Snow White, and more. Several of these include Pas de Deux, soloist, and principal roles. Her favorite roles are White Swan in Central New Jersey Ballet Theatre’s White Swan Pas de Deux with internationally renowned dancer Fredrick Davis. Another is Dorothy in the Vacaville Ballet Company’s Wizard of Oz. Also, as The Fairy of Grace with the Contra Costa Ballet’s Sleeping Beauty. She trained under numerous distinguished instructors including Stefan Grebeldinger, Franca Desinia, Katarina Wester, Charles Anderson, Mishic and Valentine Liberatore, Emily Borthwick, and Shannon Bresnahan. Jans has placed 3^rd and top 24 in YAGP Pre-Competitive Division and Junior Division respectively. Presently she continues as an ARB/Princeton Ballet School trainee under the direction of Aydmara Cabrera and Rebeca Maso. She has performed in the PBS Nutcracker as Marzipan, Willis corps in Giselle, and a soloist role in Raymonda. Jans is excited to pass on her love for dance with the students of PBS.                         

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.

Amanda Donato began her career at American Repertory Ballet in 2018 as a Dance Power teaching artist. The following fall she took on an additional position as the assistant children’s stage manager for the company’s annual Nutcracker. During her years of extensive dance, gymnastics and baton twirling training she found a love for all things behind the scenes involving studio management and spent most of her off dance hours learning how to run a successful school. That love will serve her well as she now takes on her role at American Repertory Ballet/Princeton Ballet School as Office Manager and Children’s Coordinator. She is excited for this new chapter in her career while still being able to bring her 25 years of teaching experience into her classes during Dance Power. 

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.