Apprentices
Born and raised in Dallas, Texas Joseph started his love of dance through hip-hop and slowly started to get into ballet at the Ballet Academy of Texas. In his senior year of high school, Joseph moved to Columbus, Ohio to be a trainee with BalletMet for one year with his most notable role being the Fourth Movement lead in Balanchine’s “Western Symphony”
Joseph then was accepted into Sacramento Ballet’s second company as an SB2 member in its inaugural year. For the next two years he performed works both in the second company and with the main company choreographed by Anthony Krutzkamp, Julia Feldman, Colby Damon and many others.
Joseph is excited to be an apprentice with Sacramento Ballet for its 70th season!
When he was nine years old, William began taking ballet classes at Dance Gallery of SD in his hometown, Sioux Falls, SD. There, he trained extensively in the Cecchetti method of ballet, receiving his Advanced Grade VII certificate through the Cecchetti Council of America. Upon graduation, he joined Kansas City Ballet School’s Daytime program, and danced in the academy’s performing ensemble, Kansas City Youth Ballet. After that season, he joined Sacramento Ballet’s Second Company as an inaugural member of SB2. While in the second company, he performed works by Ilana Goldman, Thang Dao, Paul Vasterling, Julia Feldman, Colby Damon, Jill Marlow Krutzkamp, and Anthony Krutzkamp, among others. He was most recently promoted to the rank of Apprentice in the main company for the 2024-25 year.
Born and raised in Houston, Tx, Julia Payne began her ballet training at Payne Academy of Ballet. After graduating high school, Julia attended the University of Oklahoma where she continued her training in the School of Dance under the direction of Michael Bearden. In 2019, she joined Texas Ballet Theater’s Studio Training Company where she performed in many works including Ben Stevenson’s The Nutcracker and The Sleeping Beauty.
Julia joined Sacramento Ballet as a trainee in 2021 and was promoted to SBII the following season. During those two years, she performed many classical and contemporary works by Anthony Krutzkamp, Jill Krutzkamp, Colby Damon, and Julia Feldman. In 2023, Julia joined the main company as an Apprentice.
Ava Grace began her training in all styles of dance under the instruction of her mom, Leigh Williams. From there, she continued to train mainly in ballet locally around her home town of Wilmington, North Carolina. Ava Grace attended summer programs at Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre and Miami City Ballet, and later went on to attend the University of North Carolina School of the Arts for all four years of high school. At UNCSA, she had the opportunity to perform roles such as Sugar Plum Fairy in the Nutcracker, Russian Girl in George Balanchine’s Serenade, and Little Red Riding Hood in the Sleeping Beauty to name a few. While training at UNCSA and beforehand, Ava Grace competed and placed in both YAGP and ADC IBC for multiple years. After graduating from UNCSA, Ava Grace went on to dance with Sacramento Ballet 2 for one season. She had the opportunity to perform in works such as K281 by Adam Hougland, Nocturnal Bliss by Thang Dao, and alongside the company in The Nutcracker and Cinderella. Ava Grace was promoted to an apprentice after one season with SB2 and is excited to continue dancing here in Sacramento with the main company.