BALLET PHILIPPINES FOUNDATION - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Principal Dancer, New York City
Anthony Huxley was born in Walnut Creek, California, and trained at San Francisco Ballet School and the Contra Costa Ballet School before attending SAB's five-week Summer Courses in 2002 and 2003. He enrolled as a full-time student in the fall of 2003 and was awarded SAB's Mae L. Wien Award for Outstanding Promise in June 2006. He performed the virtuoso principal male role in George Balanchine's Square Dance as part of the School's 2006 annual Workshop Performances and later that year he was asked to become an apprentice with New York City Ballet. He joined the Company as a member of the corps de ballet in July 2007, was promoted to the rank of soloist in July 2011, and was named a principal dancer in June 2015.
Mr. Huxley's repertoire includes principal roles in Balanchine's Ballo della Regina, Coppélia, Divertimento from ‘Le Baiser de la Fée', Duo Concertant, Jewels ("Emeralds" and "Rubies"), The Four Temperaments, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Mozartiana, Prodigal Son, George Balanchine's The Nutcracker®, Raymonda Variations, Symphony in C, Symphony in Three Movements and Vienna Waltzes; in Bournonville's La Sylphide; in Jerome Robbins's The Four Seasons, Goldberg Variations and Two & Three Part Inventions; in Peter Martins's Romeo + Juliet, The Sleeping Beauty, Swan Lake and Fearful Symmetries; in Justin Peck's Year of the Rabbit and Rodeo: Four Dance Episodes; in Alexei Ratmansky's Concerto DSCH; in Christopher Wheeldon's Mercurial Manoeuvres; and in Richard Tanner's Sonatas and Interludes.
He has originated featured roles in ballets by Justin Peck (Belles-Lettres, Pulcinella Variations, Scherzo Fantastique), Peter Martins (Mirage, Ocean's Kingdom), Liam Scarlett (Acheron), Troy Schumacher (Common Ground) and Peter Walker (dance odyssey).
Mr. Huxley served as a SAB Teaching Fellow for the 2016-17 Winter Term and was a regular guest teacher at SAB for the 2017-18 winter and summer training programs. He joined the School's permanent faculty in September 2018 while continuing his performing career with New York City Ballet.
Atty. Kapunan is the daughter of Retired Supreme Court Justice Lino M. Patajo and Cristeta Taaca Patajo, Past Dean of Manila Doctors School of Nursing and VP Academic Affairs UDMC and member Professional Regulations Board for Nursing. She is the widow of former RTC Judge Eduardo Roden E. Kapunan, her Classmate in UP Law School. She has five sons and two grandsons. All her sons (except one Architect) and grandsons are lawyers or future lawyers. Her eldest son, Lino, is now a Managing Partner in her Law Firm.
Atty. Kapunan is an advocate for Womens and Childrens Rights and the Environment. She has the distinction of being the first to have obtained a Writ of Kalikasan from the Supreme Court for her West Tower/Barangay Bangkal oil spill case. She is Legal Counsel of Kilusang Makabansang Ekonomiya (KME) which advocates economic nationalism and champions the fight against poverty and corruption in all branches of the Government.
Job Titles:
- Master / American Ballet Theater
Carlos Lopez is currently a Ballet Master with the American Ballet Theatre. He began his professional career at the Victor Ullate Ballet in his native country, Spain where he danced as Principal Dancer for 6 years. Some of his repertory included leading roles in Don Quixote, Giselle, Theme and Variations, Allegro Brillante, Paquita, Les Sylphides and ballets by Maurice Bejart, Rudi Van Dantzig or Hans Van Manen. With this company he toured to Argentina, Belgium, Cuba, England, Germany, Italy and the United States.
Lopez joined American Ballet Theatre in 2001 and danced as a Soloist from 2003-2011. He has worked with Natalia Makarova, Gelsey Kirkland, Twyla Tharp, Alexei Ratmansky or William Forsythe. His repertoire with ABT includes Iago in Othello, the Bronze Idol in La Bayadère, Mercutio and Benvolio in Romeo and Juliet, the Nutcracker-Prince in The Nutcracker, Birbanto in Le Corsaire, Puck in The Dream, Benno in Swan Lake, the second sailor in Fancy Free, Alain in La Fille mal gardée, Eros in Sylvia, the Lead Pontevedrian dancer in The Merry Widow, the Peasant Pas de deux in Giselle, the Bluebird in The Sleeping Beauty, The Joker in Jeu de Cartes and Roles in Offenbach in the Underworld, Amazed in Burning Dreams, The Green Table, Petite Mort, Sinfonietta, Dark Elegies, In the Upper Room, Gong, Company B, Seven sonatas, Symphonic Variations, Glow Stop, Within You Without You: A Tribute to George Harrison and workwithinwork.
In 1996, he won the Silver Medal at the "Paris International Ballet Competition" and in 2004 was awarded the "Les Etoiles de Ballet 2000" Prize in Cannes.
As a Guest Artist, he has performed with the National Ballet of Georgia, National Ballet of Cuba, Ballet Concierto de Puerto Rico, Inoue Ballet of Japan and Lar Lubovitch Dance Company among others and been invited to international ballet galas such as the "World Stars Gala" in Budapest, the "Miami International Ballet Festival", "Stars of the 21st Century" in Toronto or the "Havana International Ballet Festival".
Lopez is an ABT® Certified Teacher in Pre-Primary through Level 7 of the ABT® National Training Curriculum.
Lopez joined the faculty of the ABT Studio Company in 2013 and was appointed Ballet Master in September 2014. During this time he participated at the ABT and Royal Ballet School exchange in London, "Ibstage" Summer Course in Barcelona, "YoungArts" Miami and member of the jury of the "Youth America Grand Prix".
In 2016 he was appointed Ballet Master at American Ballet Theatre.
Since then, Lopez has taught classes at Harvard University, Boston Ballet, Saint Paul's School and multiple Ballet Conservatories in Spain. Since 2018, he has served as artistic coordinator of the ABT Summer Intensive in California. In November of 2019, Lopez did his first Choreographic work for the Saint Paul's School Dance Company.
In March 2020, during the "Stay at Home" order for Covid-19, Carlos became Pioneer in teaching ballet classes online, being recognised by the press around the world like The New York Times, New Yorker Magazine, The National Geographic, The Chicago Tribune and was included among other creators and personalities in the Apple Campaign "Creativity goes On".
Job Titles:
- Classical Ballet Teacher and Coach, Vella C. Damian School
Born in Quezon City, she began her ballet training at the School of Ballet and Dance Arts, now known as the Vella C. Damian School of Ballet, and the Dance Concert Company. In 1994, she joined the Philippine Ballet Theater as company member.
1995 saw her as one of the founding members and soloist of Ballet Manila, where she danced in many cities across the country various classical repertoires and works by Filipino and foreign choreographers. Among her memorable roles were Odette (Swan Lake), Giselle, the Snake Goddess in Jean Paul Comelin's The Firebird, Manny Molina's Mirror, Romance pas de deux, and, following in her Aunt's footsteps, as Carmen in Eric V. Cruz's ballet adaptation of the opera.
She joined Ballet David Campos in Barcelona, España as first soloist in 2003 until her retirement in 2013, interpreting principal roles in most of David Campos's ballets, such as Eurasia, Volveré a Nacer, El Cascanueces, En Clave de Jazz, Don Quixote, La Bella Durmiente, in places like the famous Gran Teatro de Liceo (Barcelona), Teatro de Madrid, and also in the prestigious Versiliana Festival in Italy, among many other venues.
As a teacher of classical ballet, she taught in the Ballet Manila school from 1995-2003. She was also a member of the faculty of the Escuela Ballet David Campos from 2004-2020, imparting her experience and passion for ballet to students from preballet up to the preprofessional level. Returning to her roots, she has presently joined her Auntie Vella upon her invitation as a member of the faculty of the Vella C. Damian School of Ballet.
Job Titles:
- Assistant Choreographer and Dancer
Jason Kittelberger hails from Rochester, New York, where he began training and performing at Performance Plus, Draper School of Dance and School of the Arts, studying dance, acting, musical theater and production design, and where he had plentiful opportunities to perform, choreograph and create. He continued his dance education at the North Carolina School of the Arts, where as a ballet major he was able to focus on technique and perform works by Twyla Tharp, George Balanchine, Carlos Orta, Lynne Taylor Corbett and Duncan Noble.
Kittelberger has performed with the Rochester City Ballet under Timothy Daper, Carolina Ballet under Robert Weiss and Hubbard Street II under Julie Nakagawa, where he appeared in works by Robert Battle, Aszure Barton and Kevin O'Day. With Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet, under the direction of Benoit-Swan Pouffer, he was able to work with Ohad Naharin, Crystal Pite, Hofesh Shechter, Didy Veldman, Jo Stromgren, Jacopo Godani, Jill Johnson, Emanuel Gat and Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui.
His interest in commercial work has lead Kittelberger to training actors such as Emily Blunt and Benedict Cumberbatch. He appeared in films like The Adjustment Bureau, MA, Afloat (in 10 Crosby), Looking Glass and Samsung advertising spots. Recent projects include working with photographer and director Anton Corbijn on a music video for Depeche Mode's In Your Room and contributing to Jagged Little Pill at A.R.T. as associate choreographer.
Kittelberger is currently working alongside Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui as assistant choreographer, rehearsal director and dancer in productions like Shell Shock, Fractus V, Pluto, Firebird with Stuttgart Ballet, m¡longa, Puz/zle, Icon, Harbor Me with L.A. Dance Project, Satyagraha, Pelléas et Mélisande, and Qutb, where he partners with Natalia Osipova and James O'Hara.
Job Titles:
- GUEST CHOREOGRAPHER & MENTOR
John McFall joins BP as Guest Choreographer and mentor for Ballet Philippines' 52nd Season. With 38 years as artistic director, guest teacher and choreographer, he has helped define and shape the future of the arts.
In his earliest years, McFall was trained and mentored by Ms. Tatiana Dokoudovska who was a protégé of the Fokine era. From 1964 to 1985, the artist began his professional career as danseur and choreographer for the San Francisco Ballet. He joined the company at age 17 where he became a principal dancer and stayed for 20 years. While training under the Christensen brothers, Anatole Vilzak, Erik Bruhn, Terry Westmoreland, Sasha Minsk, Kathleen Crofton, and Sally Streets, he learned virtuosic technique filled with brightness and more importantly learning from their illustrious experience and deep sensibility, paved the way for his artistic development as both a dancer and choreographer for companies such as American Ballet Theater, Dance Theater of Harlem, National Ballet of Canada, Hubbard Street Dance Company, San Francisco Opera, Oakland Ballet, Seattle Opera and of course, San Francisco Ballet. He had the privilege of working with exceptionally talented dancers such as Fernando Bujones, Cynthia Gregory, Kevin McKenzie, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Virginia Johnson, and Robert LaFosse.
From 1986 to 1994 McFall worked as Artistic Director, teacher and choreographer for BalletMet. Realizing the importance of dance education, he built a large facility, expanded the Dance Academy and assembled a repertoire of new premieres that attracted significant touring opportunities, thereby expanding the number of weeks the dancers were employed while doubling the budget during his tenure.
McFall founded the Atlanta Ballet Centre for Dance Education in 1994, recognizing that teaching is at the heart of developing artists and promoting excellent dance theater. His teaching approach transformed students into superb dancers, becoming members of professional companies, including Atlanta Ballet, collaborating and presenting choreography on stages around the world; choreography by Wayne McGregor, Ohad Naharin, James Kudelka, Alexander Ekman, Twla Tharp, Jorma Elo, Annabelle Lopez Ohoa, and many more. McFall served as Artistic Director, CEO and choreographer for the Atlanta Ballet from 1994 to 2018.
From 1983 to present, McFall has applied his experience as student, professional dancer, choreographer, member of the Board of Governors of the Union, and other alliances to inspire cities and philanthropic leaders to invest substantially in building arts infrastructure. He has led three campaigns to build arts facilities for dance schools that empower artistic vision in major metropolitan cities. He has choreographed productions that included students thereby contributing to the story telling, resulting in enchanting performance development. Through his work and advocacy, McFall has proven that the synergy of a professional dance company with outstanding repertoire representing the best choreographers in the world, coupled with a dance center of 1400 students is a powerful voice for the arts.
Job Titles:
- United Ballet Theatre 's Artistic Director ( Founder )
Joseph Gatti is United Ballet Theatre's Artistic Director (Founder); he was formerly a Principal Dancer with the Cincinnati Ballet and Corella Ballet, and First Soloist with Boston Ballet. He was born in Warwick, New York and raised in Orlando, Florida, where he began dancing at the Orlando Ballet School and continued his training with Vadim Fedotov and Irina Depler. Joseph danced at Orlando Ballet as an apprentice from 2001-2003, under the direction of Fernando Bujones.
In 2003, he was coached by Orlando Molina for the Youth American Grand Prix Ballet Competition in New York, where he was awarded the gold medal and a scholarship to the Royal Ballet School in London. Upon graduating with honors, he received the Dame Ruth Railton Award for Excellence in Dance in 2004. After attending the American Ballet Theater Summer Intensive in 2003, he joined the American Ballet Theater Studio Company for the 2004-2005 season. In 2005, he became the first American male dancer to win the prestigious gold medal at the New York International Ballet Competition.
Joseph was nominated as Best Male Dancer for the 2006 Benois de la Danse in Moscow, Russia. That same year, he became a bronze medalist at the USA International Ballet Competition and a silver medalist at the Seoul International Ballet Competition in Korea.
He was also chosen to be featured in a video entitled "The Male Ballet Dancer" presented by master teacher Finis Jhung. In 2007, Joseph was coached by Magaly Suarez for the first World Ballet Competition in Orlando, Florida, where he received the gold medal. Mr. Gatti also received the bronze medal at the 2010 Istanbul International Ballet Competition. In 2013, Joseph received the Mr. Virtuosity Award at the Dance Open Ballet Festival in St. Petersburg, Russia. In 2014, he also received the "Best Pas De Deux" award at the Dance Open Festival in St. Petersburg.
Carreño served as the artistic director of the Ballet San Jose from 3 September 2013 until the company closed in 2016.
Job Titles:
- Master Teacher of the Body Code System
Joy Annabelle Womack born April 20, 1994 is an American ballet dancer. She is the first to graduate from the Bolshoi Ballet Academy's main training program, and the first American woman to sign a contract with the Bolshoi Ballet. She was a principal dancer with the Universal Ballet and Kremlin Ballet, and is currently an artist at the Boston Ballet.
Job Titles:
- Creative Manager
- WEB DEVELOPER
Job Titles:
- Principal
- Principal Dancer
Lina Sheveleva is a Principal Dancer of the Imperial Russian Ballet.
Lina was born in Odessa (Ukraine). In 2009, after graduating from the National Choreographic College in Chisinau, Moldova, she was invited to the National Opera and Ballet Theatre and likewise joined the Academy of Music, Theatre and Fine Arts.
After two years here, Lina began her solo career in the Imperial Russian Ballet and in 2012 presented her first work as a leading ballerina.
It has been said of Lina that her natural and very subtle sense of dance exhibits lyrical imagery and harmonious movement in any role she plays.
Sheveleva graduated from the Academy of Music,Theatre and Fine Arts in Moldova in 2013. The following year, she danced lead in the first environmentally-themed ballet entitled, "Flying Over a Legend."
Awards that grace Lina's dancing career include:
Job Titles:
- Principal
- Principal Dancer of the Royal
English dancer Matthew Ball is a Principal dancer of The Royal Ballet. He trained at The Royal Ballet School and joined the Company during the 2013/14 Season, promoted to First Artist in 2015, Soloist in 2016, First Soloist in 2017 and Principal dancer in 2018.
Ball was born in Liverpool. He joined The Royal Ballet School aged 11 and graduated through the School. Roles while a student included Fritz (The Nutcracker) with The Royal Ballet. Awards as a student include at the School's 2011 Lynn Seymour Competition, the 2009 Kenneth MacMillan Senior Choreographic Competition and the Gailene Stock and Gary Norman Award for Excellence. He was twice a finalist at Young British Dancer of the Year.
Ball's roles with the Company include Prince Siegfried, Romeo, Armand, Prince Florimund and Bluebird (The Sleeping Beauty), Prince (The Nutcracker), Crown Prince Rudolf (Mayerling), Solor (La bayadère), Lensky (Onegin), Lysander (The Dream), Young Man (The Two Pigeons), Escamillo (Acosta's Carmen), Officer (Anastasia), Albrecht and pas de six (Giselle), Matvei and Beliaev (Month in the Country), Lensky (Onegin), Wirt Roddy (The Wind), Basilio (Don Quixote) and in Yungen, Symphonic Dances, Jewels, The Human Seasons, Woolf Works, Afternoon of a Faun, Carbon Life, Scènes de ballet, Aeternum and Age of Anxiety. His role creations include Albert de Belleroche (Strapless) and in Corybantic Games, The Illustrated ‘Farewell', Multiverse, Obsidian Tear, Strapless, Connectome, Untouchable, The Unknown Soldier and Medusa. In 2016 he was named Best Emerging Artist at the Critics' Circle National Dance Awards. He performed The Swan/Stranger in Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake.
Job Titles:
- Coordinator
- Production Assistant
Job Titles:
- Director, Choreographer
- Film and Theater Actor / Moscow, Russia
Olga Nasyrova is a director, choreographer, musical artist, dancer, and dance teacher, having starred in productions such as: "Mama Mia" (2013), "Cabaret" (2009), "Scarlet Sails"(2014-2015), and "Flying Ship (2018)," to name a few.
After completing Master of Sports, she decided to leave her sports career and enter the ballet school at the Orenburg Theater of Musical Comedy, and a few years later in the Orenburg Music and Pedagogical School for the specialty "Music Teacher". After graduating from the ballet school, she stayed on to work in theater as a ballet dancer, but soon the thirst for adventure and new experiences led her to the city of Yekaterinburg, where she enrolled in the Sverdlovsk School of Culture and Arts to become "Teacher-choreographer".
After graduation she worked at the Sverdlovsk Academic Theater of Musical Comedy as an artist of the "Eccentric" ballet under the direction of S. Smirnov.
Nasyrova is an accomplished teacher of Stage Dance in the Russian Institute of Theatre Arts (GITIS). She is a member of The Union Of Theatrical Figures. She also completed an internship in the Broadway Dance Center in New York City from 2011 to 2018.