DANCERS

JOSHUA BEAVER

Joshua Beaver, from Thompsontown, Pennsylvania, began his early training with his mother Cynthia Beaver’s gymnastics studio, Movement Laboratory, and American Ballet Theatre's Summer Intensive. After high school, he attended Boston Conservatory on full scholarship and graduated with a BFA in dance in 2011. After graduating the conservatory, he joined Teatrul de Balet Sibiu, Romania, where he spent three seasons rising to first soloist and choreographer. In the summer of 2014, Josh joined Prague Chamber Ballet touring to Mexico and also winning 1st place in the Lila Lopez Contemporary dance competition in Saint Luis Potosi. Shortly after returning home from his years in Europe, Josh joined Dayton Ballet in Ohio where he spent two seasons as a featured soloist. Some of his featured roles included The Prince in Cinderella and Cavalier in The Nutcracker. Josh has lived in New York City for the past 2 years and is exploring his dance career as a freelance artist.

MICHAEL BISHOP

Michael started his training in Vaganova based ballet at age 21, receiving his BFA in dance and choreography from Belhaven University before going to Ailey to train further. Michael has toured internationally and nationally with many companies and choreographers such as the International European Tour of West Side Story 2012-2014, Opera Philadelphia, Bill T. Jones, Manuel Vignoulle, and Alessandra Corona Performing works to name a few. In addition to dancing, Michael also choreographs and directs dance films with his own dance company, Mollét Contemporary Ballet. Michael is a member of the Equity Union, AGMA Union, Live Core member with New York Live Arts and is SAG-AFTRA Eligible. Michael is very excited to be joining ENCOUNTERS in his first season with the company.

JESSE CAMPBELL

Jesse received his dance training on scholarship at the University of Arizona’s School of Dance and at The Joffrey Ballet School. Jesse danced with The Suzanne Farrell Ballet from 2013-2017. He has also danced with Oakland Ballet and Orlando Ballet in addition to guest performing in New Zealand. Currently, Jesse dances with the Metropolitan Opera Ballet and is excited to join ENCOUNTERS this fall.

HÉCTOR CERNA

Héctor Cerna is a contemporary movement artist based in NYC. Héctor is originally from Silver Springs, MD and began his training in Central Pennsylvania at The Pennsylvania Regional Ballet. He is a 2017 graduate of Marymount Manhattan College where he earned his BFA in Dance with a concentration in Ballet. Héctor joined for his first season at The Metropolitan Opera Ballet in 2018 and will be joining for a second season in 2019.

ESTHER DE LA CRUZ BALBONTÍN

Esther was born and raised in Madrid, Spain. Her first contact with dancing was at the age of 8 when she joined a competition figure skating team. She competed all around Spain winning the silver medal at the National Championship and soon started performing in shows such as Aladdin On Ice and Mamma Mia On Ice. Upon moving to NYC she studied at Peridance and Ballet Arts, then started working freelance and performed in shows such as Fashion Roars, Barkada Lumipad, Rumba Flamenca, and Faux-Bia: The Musical. She has performed with and was the rehearsal director & guest choreographer of Vanessa Long Dance Company, as well as Artistic Director of Long 2. She's been featured in ActMagazine and DanceInforma. Esther is honored to have joined ENCOUNTERS in 2018.

FREDRICK DAVIS

Born in Brooklyn, NY and raised in Chattanooga, TN, He started his training with full scholarship with Ballet Tennessee and then he moved to New York City where he was given a full scholarship to train with the Joffrey Ballet School. Mr. Davis was accepted by Dance Theatre of Harlem Ensemble to have the privilege to work with Arthur Mitchell and then was promoted Company member under direction of Virginia Johnson dancing numerous roles such as the "Pas de Deux" from George Balanchine' s Agon, the "Pas de Deux" from Alvin Aliey's Lark Ascending, "The Male Duet" from Ulysses Dove's Dancing on the Front Porch of Heaven, the "Pas de Deux" from Darrell Grand Montre's Vessels, Christopher Huggins "Pas de Trios" In The Mirror of Mind, "Four Men's Variation" from Freddie Franklin's Pas de Dix of Raymonda and Donald Byrd's Contested Space. He has performed with Dance Theatre of Harlem company on National and International tours, and was also a U.S. Ambassador for Dance Theatre of Harlem in Kingston, Jamaica, St.Thomas, and Honduras. Performed at the Apollo Theatre in Harlem, has been a guest artist for Dallas Black Dance Theatre, Donald McKayle honors performance in Irvine, CA, The Kennedy Center and Honors in DC, The Paramount Theatre in Seattle, WA, danced the "Pas de Deux" with Emiko Flanagan from George Balanchine's ballet Agon for Wendy Whelan's documentary private presentation of "The Restless Creature" and has performed for Arthur Mitchell's DTH Vision Gala with Ashley Murphy (Washington Ballet) alongside with Misty Copeland (ABT) and Matthew Prescott (International Freelance Artist). Mr. Davis is also featured in a Emmy Award winning Documentary from WTCI PBS production "From the Streets to the Stage the Journey of Fredrick Davis" it has premiered in the United Kingdom and every PBS Station in the United States.

BARBARA SAMILLE DE LIMA LINS

Barbara was born in Brazil and she started dancing when she was 6 years old. She trained at Ballet Eliana Cavalcanti for several years, where she was also a principal dancer for 5 years. She attended summer courses with Bolshoi's teachers, and also attended a summer course and trainee program at Ballet Chicago in 2013 and at Joffrey Ballet School (NYC) in 2015. Recently, she graduated from the Certificate Program at Peridance Capezio Center. Since moving to NYC she has enjoyed dancing with: Connecticut Ballet Company, Arch Contemporary, Homo Veritas Dance Theatre, Albano Ballet of America, American Swiss Ballet Company, Jersey City Ballet Company and guest at Metropolitan Ballet & Academy. Barbara has performed ballets such as: Don Quixote, Le Corsaire, Paquita, The Flames of Paris, Nutcracker, Coppelia, La Esmeralda, La Sylphide, Diana y Action, Serenade, Concerto Barocco, etc. Barbara is very excited to have joined ENCOUNTERS since this summer 2019.

AYLA EILERT

A native of central New Jersey, Ayla started her training at numerous dance schools in the area, developing her technique and artistry at Ballet Technique, American Repertory Ballet/Princeton Ballet School, New Jersey Dance Theater Ensemble, Princeton Dance Theater and Ballet Central New Jersey. At 15, she attended high school at Walnut Hill School of the Arts in Natick, MA. Since graduating, she went to The Washington Ballet to continue her training. After a year there, she accepted her first contract with Mystic Ballet in Connecticut. In 2018 Ayla moved to NYC, where she has danced with Ajkun Ballet, American Liberty Ballet, and ENCOUNTERS.

KYLA ERNST-ALPER

Kyla was invited to attend Eliot Feld’s ballet school in New York City at twelve years old. She began her professional dance career at the age of sixteen for Eliot Feld's Ballet Tech and began performing as an aerialist while working with Dzul Dance. She has appeared on stages all over the world - England, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Jordan, Mexico, Morocco, Poland, South Korea, Tunisia, The Bahamas, India, and the United Arab Emirates. She performs aerial and ground duo with Sylvana Tapia as RAVEN, is currently a featured performer in The Devouring at Paradise Club in the Times Square Edition, and is a freelance performer with ENCOUNTERS, Indelible Dance, ABCirque, Phoenix Entertainment NYC, The Box, and The House of Yes among other companies. Kyla has a parallel career as a video editor and producer. She was on the team at Spin The Bottle where she produced several tv shows, and she established the video department at Praytell, where she produced and edited documentary film More Than T, which was picked up by Showtime. Her multi-platform project Under One Dances connected audiences to dance through minute-long videos, digital content, and interactive performances of #TweetDance and The Process. Her multi-platform work been thinking… subverted the traditional dance performance model by being a constant work-in-progress, performed live and in short-film form.

FIONA HUBER

Fiona Claire Huber grew up in Atlanta, GA and was classically trained at Atlanta Ballet, where she graduated from both the Pre-Professional and Conservatory programs. She spent a year dancing professionally with Richmond Ballet, then went to Butler University where she danced featured roles with Butler Ballet and graduated with a degree in Dance Arts Administration. Her next endeavor will be performing as Lise in the 2020 National Tour of 'An American in Paris' and she sends eternal love to her incredibly supportive friends and family!
@fionasfun | http://www.fionaclairehuber.com

TATIANA KAPTAN

Tatiana grew up dancing in Vermont under the tutelage of Christine Harris. She left high school early to attend Bard College at Simon's Rock, which enabled her to continue her ballet training with Ruby Aver. Tatiana finished her studies at Marymount Manhattan College in NYC and has trained additionally at programs at the Boston Conservatory, Les Étés de la Danse in Paris, France, the Paul Taylor Intensive, and NYU Tisch summer intensive. Tatiana has danced as a company member for the Montgomery Ballet (AL), United States International Ballet (NC), and Sunhwa Chung/Ko-Ryo Dance Theater (NYC) and has competed in classical ballet competitions in Zagreb, Croatia and NYC. She has had the privilege to student teach in Chimboté, Peru and assist as master class demonstrator for Elena Madrigal in San José, Costa Rica. She is thrilled to now be part of this incredible team.

BETHANY KELLNER

Bethany Kellner began her dance training at the age of two in Buffalo, NY. To further her training, Bethany studied at the Conservatory of Dance at SUNY Purchase College where she graduated Summa Cum Laude in May of 2018 with a BFA in Dance Performance and a Minor in Arts Management. While at Purchase, Bethany had the opportunity to study abroad in Asia at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts. Bethany has trained with Alonzo King LINES Ballet, BalletX, Complexions Contemporary Ballet, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, DanceWorks Chicago, RiverNorth Dance Chicago, and Ballet Hispanico to name a few. She has performed the works of Dexandro Montalvo, Brian Enos, Iratxe Ansa, George Balanchine, David Fernandez, and Michelle Thompson Ulercich among others. Bethany currently lives in NYC dancing professionally with Hudson Ballet Theatre, CoreDance Contemporary and Kins Dance Company in addition to ENCOUNTERS.

JOEL LEVY

Joel Levy of Washington D.C., trained at The School of The Washington Ballet. He has danced for The Washington Ballet, Sacramento Ballet, City Ballet of San Diego, and Columbia City Ballet. He currently freelances in the tri state area and nationally. He holds a BFA from Indiana University.

DEVIN LOH

In May 2019, Devin received her BFA in Dance Performance from Purchase College, SUNY. While at Purchase, she performed works by George Balanchine, Taryn Kaschock Russell, Norbert de la Cruz III, and Bettijane Sills, among others. Devin was honored as the 2019 recipient of the Bert Terborgh Dance Award by the Purchase College Foundation, which formally recognized Devin for her artistry, dedication, and leadership skills in the studio. In addition to dancing with ENCOUNTERS, Devin is dancing with Graham 2 for the 2019-20 season.

MARY KATE REYNOLDS

Mary Kate Reynolds grew up in Greenville, South Carolina, where she started ballet at the Greenville Ballet School at age two. At age 14, she joined the school of Carolina Ballet Theatre under the direction of Hernan Justo and Anita Pacylowski. While training there, she placed in the Youth American Grand Prix regional competition and competed in the Finals in New York in 2008 and 2009, and received a scholarship to the Bolshoi summer program in NYC. She also credits much of her training to many summers spent studying with Magaly Suarez in Pompano Beach, Florida. In 2007, Mary Kate became an apprentice to the company of Carolina Ballet Theatre where she experienced highlights, including a week spent with Alonzo King, rehearsing and performing his pas de deux from MAP; and the opportunity to replace a principal dancer on an international tour to South America. In 2009, Mary Kate joined First State Ballet Theatre, in Wilmington, DE. She spent 8 seasons there under the direction of Pasha Kambalov, who was instrumental in her growth thanks to his knowledge and coaching of the Vaganova method. In 2012, she debuted as Aurora in The Sleeping Beauty and appeared in a range of principal roles, including Swan Lake (Odette/Odile), Cinderella (title role), The Nutcracker (Marie, Sugar Plum Fairy, Dew Drop) A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Titania), and Juliet in Viktor Plotnikov’s Romeo and Juliet.

TANYA LYNN TROMBLY

Originally from Michigan, Tanya holds a B.A. in Dance from Mercyhurst University in Erie, PA. She danced with several professional companies across the country before settling in New York City to work as a freelance artist. Currently dancing with 5 companies, she has performed principal roles in Swan Lake, Beauty & the Beast, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, The Little Mermaid, and many more classical ballets along with contemporary choreographic works. She is also the founder and owner of AntiBunhead Fitness. Through her patented Bulletproof Ballerina system of cross-training as well as nutrition & lifestyle coaching, she works with dancers to help them reach their true potential as artists.

REBECCA WALDEN

Rebecca Walden received her early ballet training from Radenko Pavlovich, Hillary Krieger, and Gabor Toth in Columbia, South Carolina. She graduated from North Carolina School of the Arts ballet program, and went on to further her contemporary training at Alonzo King’s LINES Ballet Training Program. She has danced professionally with Columbia Classical Ballet, Nevada Ballet Theatre, Terra Firma Dance Theatre, and Ballet Inc. She has also worked with Constantine Baecher, Hee Ra Yoo, Sidra Bell, Bennyroyce Ryon, Benjamin Briones, and Kay Nishikawa, among others, while working as a freelance artist in New York. She graduated in 2016 from Columbia University with a degree in Anthropology, and is a certified trainer of the GYROTONIC® Expansion System. Rebecca is thrilled to be working with the talented artists of ENCOUNTERS.

DAVID LEBOVICH

Student

A native New Yorker, David started dancing at the age of 6 at Peridance, followed by two years at Joffrey Ballet School and he is now at the School of American Ballet. David is thrilled to be a part of ENCOUNTERS as a student under the direction of his beloved teacher Gisela Quinteros and he's exited to be surrounded by an amazing team of professionals.