Six new Company dancers, including one Columbus native, have joined BalletMet Columbus’ 22 returning dancers for the 36-week 2008-09 season.
Upon their return to the studios, the Company dancers began embarking on Hot Nights, Cool Dance featuring several world premiere works, the BalletMet favorite Play and John Butler’s historic Othello. The Company will also begin work on a free outdoor performance, Music in the Air’s Rhythm on the River, 8pm Aug. 29 at the Riverfront Amphitheater.
Artistic Director Gerard Charles looks forward to an exciting season with a talented troupe of dancers. “The Company dancers are one of the most essential elements in BalletMet’s long tradition of artistic excellence,” Charles said. “We welcome our new and returning dancers for what promises to be an extraordinary season.”
NEW DANCERS
JEFFREY DIEHL, a native of Iowa, received his early training at the Houston Ballet Academy. He attended Northern Illinois University, where he earned a BFA in dance performance. Upon graduation, he danced with the Orlando Ballet under the artistic direction of Fernando Bujones from 2001 to 2003. He danced with the Louisville Ballet from 2003 to 2008. He has performed an array of works by choreographers including Sir Fredrick Ashton, Val Caniparoli, George Balanchine, Choo-San Goh, Paul Taylor, Kathryn Posin, Fernando Bujones and Antony Tudor. He had the Privilege of performing at the Kennedy Center in 1998 for the American College Dance Festival Association 25th Anniversary Gala Concert.
Mississippi native JON DRAKE started ballet through gymnastics training. He trained with Henry Danton for two years. On scholarship, he attended the Vienna Staats Opera Ballet School and John Cranko School under Pytor Pestov. Mr. Drake earned scholarships to summer intensives at Kirov Academy, American Ballet Theater, Vail Summer Ballet Festival and Virginia School of the Arts. He participated in the Prix de Lausanne, Moscow Competition, the third OTR Austrian Competition and the International Ballet Competition. He has choreographed for academic schools, competitions and professional venues in the U.S. and Europe. Mr. Drake has danced in Russia, China, Venezuela, Germany and Switzerland. He has danced choreography from James Kudelka, Lar Lubovitch, Trey McIntyre, Julie Adam and others.
Favorite roles include Romeo from Yuri Vamos' Romeo and Juliet, Jerome Robbins' In the Night pas de deux and Just, set on him by Trey McIntyre. He has danced as a soloist or principal for Deustch Oper am Rhein, Atlantic Southeast Ballet, Eugene Ballet and Oregon Ballet Theatre. DUSTIN JAMES began his dance training at the age of 11 at his middle school in Houston, TX. From there he went to the small studio Discovery Dance Group under the direction of Pamela Stockman. Mr. James furthered his training at the High School for the Performing and Visual Arts. While in high school, Mr. James began his formal classical ballet training at Ben Stevenson’s Houston Ballet Academy. He trained at Houston Ballet for seven years and was a member of Houston Ballet II for two years. While at Houston Ballet Mr. James was trained and coached by Claudio Munoz as well as Lazaro Carreno, Phillip Broomhead and Priscilla Nathan-Murphy. He has been fortunate enough to work with such choreographers as Stanton Welch and Tina Felhant.
Columbus native SAMANTHA LEWIS joins BalletMet for her first season as a Company dancer after spending the previous season as a trainee. Ms. Lewis began her training at BalletMet and is a graduate of the Professional Training Program. As a student, she was a recipient of the Daryl Kamer, Lucy Porter and Nancy Strause scholarships. Ms. Lewis has studied for two summers with American Ballet Theatre and as an apprentice with the Chautauqua Ballet.
ANDREW NOTARILE hails from New Jersey. He began his training with the New Jersey School of Ballet and continued at the School of American Ballet, Miami City Ballet and Chautauqua Dance Festival. He began his career with Atlantic Contemporary Ballet Theatre and was a featured artist with Dance Council Movement Theater. In his three years with American Repertory Ballet, Mr. Notarile’s virtuosity was seen in the roles of Cavalier and Nutcracker Prince in Graham Lustig’s The Nutcracker; the title role in Petruchka, and featured roles in Dialogues, Cinderella, Six Pianos and Barcarolles. His comedic timing was evident in Shadows in the Attic and Twyla Tharp’s Baker’s Dozen. He performed lead roles in the premieres of Val Caniparoli’s Suite and Lisa de Ribere’s Starry Night, as well as featured roles in Melissa Barak’s premiere of Danzante, Twyla Tharp’s Octet and Susan Shield’s I (Heart) Kenji. Mr. Notarile was invited to participate in San Francisco’s third annual “Choreographers and Friends.”
GABRIEL GAFFNEY SMITH, from Saugerties, New York, began dancing at the Saugerties Ballet Center. After studying in the Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre School Graduate Program, he joined the company in 2005 as a corps de ballet member. Mr. Smith has also performed with River North Jazz Company in Chicago and Hisatomi Yoshiko Ballet in Japan. -- www.balletmet.org
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