Instructors

Cynthia Booth is a Sacramento State University alumni who received a BA in Dance and a BS in Psychology. As a student she attended four American College Dance Association conferences where she participated in a variety of classes and performed each year.  Booth received training in aerial dance and unarmed stage combat at CSU Summer Arts 2014. In 2015 she attended and interned at the American Dance Festival at Duke University. She graduated in 2016 as the honor student for the Department of Theatre and Dance. Her movement is mostly influenced by training in Dunham and Horton technique, improvisation, and floorwork. Booth judges colorguard movement for the Northern California Band Association and dances with Lorelei Bayne Dance Projects and Impulse Anima. She is a principal dancer in bbMoves, a social justice dance theatre company. Booth started teaching and choreographing for the School of Sacramento Ballet in 2020. She stands on the shoulders of her teachers and mentors; Lorelei Bayne, Marcus Mills, Bernard Brown, Nolan T’Sani, Nicole Manker, Melisa Cervantes, Philip Flickinger, and Dr. Linda Goodrich.

Ava was born and raised in Flint, Michigan, and received her early training at the Flint School of Performing Arts. She then went on to earn a Bachelor of Science in Ballet and Legal Studies from Indiana University. She also trained at the Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre School and performed with the company while there. Since joining the Sacramento Ballet in 2010, some of Ava’s favorite roles have been Choleric in The Four Temperaments (George Balanchine), Tall Girl soloist in Rubies (Balanchine), soloist in Wild Sweet Love (Trey McIntyre), Myrtha in Giselle (Ron Cunningham), and Gertrude in Hamlet (Stephen Mills). She has also been featured in works by Val Caniparoli, Ma Cong, Jodie Gates, Adam Hougland, Gabrielle Lamb, Edwaard Liang, Darrell Moultrie, Amy Seiwert and Septime Webre.  Ava is a founding member and dancer with Capital Dance Project, and has previously danced for Texture Contemporary Ballet, Oakland Ballet, and The Suzanne Farrell Ballet. Ava is additionally on the faculty of the School of Sacramento Ballet. She also enjoys embroidery and sewing and has her own business creating handmade goods (Picky Stitches).

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!

Jenny grew up in Sacramento training under Barbara Crockett, Ron Cunningham and Carinne Binda. As a student with the Sacramento Ballet she performed with the company in numerous productions including  soloist roles in Ron Cunningham’s Carmina Burana, The Nutcracker and Midsummer Night’s Dream.  Jenny attended summer programs on full merit scholarship at the San Francisco Ballet, the Bolshoi Ballet Academy at Vail, and the Pacific Northwest Ballet School.  Jenny moved to Seattle to complete her training with  Pacific Northwest Ballet School where she was cast in the Company’s London Tour of Midsummer Night’s Dream (featured on BBC), Cinderella, Carmina Burana and Four Temperaments.

Jenny joined Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre performing works by Lynn Taylor Corbet, Balanchine, Paul Taylor, Dwight Rhoden and Ben Stevenson.  Highlights of her time in Pittsburgh include touring to the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angelas and participating in the New York International Ballet Competition. After 4 years in Pittsburgh she returned to Sacramento to complete her career in her hometown and pursue her bachelor’s degree in the Performing Arts at St. Mary’s College of California.  She began teaching at The Sacramento Ballet School as well as schools in the Sacramento and Bay Area.

Post graduation from St. Mary’s Jenny enjoyed a career off the stage as an Account Manager.  This career moved her to San Diego and NY where she continued to teach,  joining the faculty  at  Academy of Performing Arts (San Diego) Scripps Performing Arts (San Diego) and Brooklyn Ballet School (NY).  Jenny has also participated as a judge and master teacher for Dance Masters of America, been on faculty at Regional Dance America and taught master classes at Tyler Jr. College in TX. and Broadway Dance Center in NY.

Since returning (again!) to Sacramento, she has enjoyed being home with her two little boys James (4) and Andrew (3). Jenny is thrilled to return to the faculty at The Sacramento Ballet School.

Rhodes Elliott is originally from Florence, South Carolina. Rhodes retired in 2018 as a Demi-Soloist with Houston Ballet, after having been with the company for 11 years. He received his early dance training and pre-professional experience with UNCSA, as well as The School of Dance Arts and South Carolina Dance Theater under the tutelage of the esteemed Susan Rowe. He attended several summer programs throughout his training, including North Carolina Dance Theater, Houston Ballet, and the University of North Carolina School of the Arts. While dancing with the Houston Ballet, Rhodes enjoyed performing many works, including those by Stanton Welch, Jiří Kylián, Christopher Bruce, Sir Kenneth MacMillan, Sir Frederick Ashton, Ben Stevenson, Twyla Tharp, George Balanchine, and Christopher Wheeldon. After retiring from Houston Ballet, Rhodes was the Assistant Ballet Director at Texas Academy of Dance Arts in The Woodlands, Texas. In 2021, Rhodes joined Texas Ballet Theater School (TBTS) as a Studio Training Company Instructor, as well as the Professional Training Division Instructor at TBTS Dallas. In November of 2022, Rhodes became an instructor with Sacramento Ballet.

R. Colby Damon was born and raised in Richmond, VA and received his early dance training at Richmond Ballet, Boston Ballet, and Virginia School of the Arts. Throughout his 12-year performing career, he danced professionally for Sacramento Ballet, The Metropolitan Opera Ballet, Mark Morris Dance Group, Northwest Dance Project, and BalletX among others. He has danced the works of George Balanchine, Alexei Ratmansky, Dwight Rhoden, Annabelle Lopez-Ochoa, Bobbi Jean Smith, Matthew Neenan, and many more.

As a choreographer, he has received commissions from Nashville Ballet, American Repertory Ballet, BalletX, Sacramento Ballet, Pennsylvania Ballet II, Nashville Ballet II, Bryn Mawr College, Skidmore College, and many other organizations, and his work has been performed at festivals in Brazil, Mexico, Bermuda, and New York City. His work, On the Mysterious Properties of Light, toured nationally and internationally with BalletX. As a teacher, Colby has taught at a a number of prestigious dance institutions, including of The Rock School for Dance Education, Ballet Tech – NYC Public School for Ballet, Ballet West Academy, Nashville Ballet, and The University of the Arts. He has also been invited to teach company class for City Ballet of São Paulo, Ballet Prejlocaj, BalletX, Pennsylvania Ballet, Ballet Hispanico, BodyTraffic, Nashville Ballet, and Sacramento Ballet. Colby has additionally coached numerous national finalists for the Youth America Grand Prix Ballet Competition, and received the Outstanding Choreography Award at the Philadelphia Regionals in 2019.

Colby graduated Magna Cum Laude with a BA in Performing Arts from Saint Mary’s College of Cailfornia’s LEAP Program, in addition to professional certificates in Non-Profit Arts Management, Marketing Strategy, and Creative Advertising. Besides rehearsing children for Nutcracker and serving as an instructor for the Second Company, Colby is also the Marketing Director for Sacramento Ballet, in addition to continuing to work as a freelance choreographer and dance teacher throughout the USA and beyond. http://www.colbydamon.com.

Samuel Alden Fulk is a professional ballet dancer living in Sacramento. He is experienced in a wide range of dance styles and methodologies, with a focus on classical ballet, modern, and contemporary dance. Born and raised in California, he grew up performing in dance, musical theatre and dramatic productions, later joining the pre-professional company Santa Cruz Ballet Theatre, directed by Robert Kelley and Diane Cypher.

Samuel then went on to perform professionally with Utah Regional Ballet for six seasons under the direction of Jacqueline Colledge.  During this time, he also attended Utah Valley University, from which he graduated with honors in 2014 with a BFA in Dance.  While in Utah, Samuel also taught at Academy of Ballet directed by Lynne Thompson, and served as the Director of their second company Ballet Utah II North.

Since relocating to Sacramento in 2016, Samuel has become a highly sought after dance instructor in the region.  In January of 2018 he became a professor of dance at CSU Sacramento, where he teaches upper division ballet.  Samuel regularly teaches master classes and private lessons in classical and contemporary ballet, pas de deux, modern dance and broadway jazz.  Samuel choreographs works on dancers with varying levels of experience, from beginning to professional.  Samuel performs as a guest artist for professional and pre-professional companies. He is proud to have been a company member for three seasons with Sacramento Contemporary Dance Theatre, a company which partners with organizations to produce impactful work about important causes such as sign language integration, confronting cancer, and human trafficking.

Agata Grzelak began her training in multiple disciplines including ballet, pointe, modern, jazz, and character under the artistic direction of Ayako Takahashi and faculty which included Michael Lowe, Maria LeMance, Audie Atienza, and Mariko Takahashi. In 2010, she quickly immersed herself in the Sacramento State Dance program and began training under noteworthy faculty members such as Nolan T’Sani, Lisa Ross, Randee Pauve, Lorelei Bayne, Dr. Linda Goodrich, Philip Flickinger, and Ed Brazo. Agata has performed in numerous works on and off campus in venues such as CSUS University Theatre, Crocker Art Museum, and ODC Theatre for guest artists. In spring 2013, Agata was the very first recipient of the new Department of Theatre and Dance Joseph Allen Long Scholarship, recognizing excellence in Dance. In fall 2014, she graduated with her Bachelors of Arts in Dance. Agata is currently teaching dance at St. Francis High School.

Local to Sacramento, California, Alexa has been a part of the world of ballet since the age of 4. Starting at Pamela Hayes Classical Ballet Training in El Dorado Hills, she learned the foundational techniques from those who studied and danced at London’s Royal Ballet.

Alexa then moved on to Deane Dance Center where she trained under Barbara Crockett (founder of the Sacramento Ballet), Allison Deane, and Jorge Esquivel. She participated in Regional Dance America and attended summer courses at the University of Utah and San Francisco Ballet.

She then joined Sacramento Ballet’s Trainee program at its inception in 2019, being given the opportunity to perform a variety of roles ranging from contemporary movement to classical ballets such as Swan Lake, Napoli, La Bayadere and Giselle. She was an apprentice at Sacramento Ballet for two years,

She has switched to teaching ballet at School of Sacramento Ballet and is thrilled to pass on her knowledge to the students.

Photo by Tony Nguyen

Shirin Keyani-Rose is a native of Iran. She received her early training at the Conservatory for the Performing Arts in Tehran, under the direction of Bijan Kalantari. Upon moving to United States, she continued her training with Tamara Kinsell at Santa Barbara Ballet. As a young dancer she received scholarships to North Carolina School of the Arts, Pennsylvania Ballet and San Francisco Ballet school. Shirin joined Alonzo King LINES Ballet Company in 1989. She later served as Director of the Summer Program and Discovery Project Outreach at LINES Ballet school. She is currently a certified GYROTONIC® trainer at EPY Pilates studio.

Katie Kilbourn starting dancing at the age of four and trained all over Sacramento before moving to the East Coast where she earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Jazz Dance Performance at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia. After relocating to New York City, Katie had the opportunity to dance with several companies including Balasole, J/D Dansfolk, and IKADA before she co-founded Borne Dance Company with Kianna Moye in 2015 and became Borne’s Artistic Director. Katie’s work with Borne Dance Company has been performed at the Alvin Ailey Citigroup Theater, Bellevue Hospital, BAAD!, The Producer’s Club, and Anita’s Way. Through Borne, Katie has had the opportunity to work with and collaborate with Renoly Santiago, The Theater Development Fund, Frank Sinatra School of the Arts, Project Heal, Natomas Charter Performing and Fine Arts Academy and the National Eating Disorders Association. Alongside choreographing with her company, Katie’s other passion is teaching dance to students of all ages and backgrounds. She has been a teacher for over seven years and has had the privilege to teach all ages and levels. She loves helping her students develop and expand their artistic expression and she believes art is a necessary tool in everybody’s life.

Born in Portland, OR, Wyatt McConville-McCoy began his ballet training at Oregon Ballet Theatre. In 2017 he joined Boston Ballet II, under the tutelage of Peter Stark, where he performed Harlequinade in Boston Ballet’s At Home Series and alongside the main company in Jerome Robbin’s West Side Story. Two years later he joined Atlanta Ballet II where he had the privilege of performing in ballets such as La Bayadere and in featured roles of The Nutcracker while on tour to the Kennedy Center. Wyatt joined Sacramento Ballet in 2021 where he has graced the stage in roles such Gnome in The Nutcracker, the Men’s Trio in Val Caniparoli’s Tutto Eccetto il Lavandino, and the featured pas de deux in Isaac Bates-Vineza’s Rumor as well as in Jennifer Archibald’s Soar.

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.

Ms. Samuelson received her training from Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet in Carlisle, PA where she studied for 15 years. Upon graduating in 2006, she continued studying at Pacific Northwest Ballet School as a professional division student for one year where she performed with the company, dancing roles in Kent Stowell’s The Nutcracker and Swan Lake. Her professional career began at Pennsylvania Ballet as a member of their second company and then led to a 10 year career with Pacific Northwest Ballet. She danced featured roles in the classics such as George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Coppelia, Kent Stowell’s The Nutcracker, Swan Lake, and Cinderella, and Ronald Hynd’s The Sleeping Beauty. She was also featured in William Forsythe’s New Suite and The Vertiginious Thrill of Exactitude, David Dawson’s A Million Kisses to my Skin, and Jiri Kylian’s Petite Mort. Ms. Samuelson retired from PNB in 2018 and in February, 2019 she began teaching at Pacific  Northwest Ballet School in addition to other local ballet studios. Ms. Samuelson is currently  studying Exercise Science at Sacramento State and plans to attend Physical Therapy school next fall.

Genevieve Szaly Eidem was born and raised in Anchorage, Alaska. She began her classical training at Anchorage Classical Ballet Academy under Farah Zoetmulder.

While training in Alaska, Genevieve enjoyed dancing in roles including Aurora-A Tale of the Northern Lights with Anchorage Ballet, The Nutcracker with Oregon Ballet Theatre and with Eugene Ballet. She performed in Quq Yucq, an Alaskan Swan Lake, choreographed by Gilmer Duran of Eugene Ballet and danced the leading role in Into the Jungle choreographed by Niki Maple with ADT Company II. In 2013 Genevieve accepted a position in the Ballet 5:8 trainee program. She spent two years dancing with Ballet 5:8, and enjoyed touring and performing classical and original works including soloist roles with the company and school.

Leaving the stage due to injury, Genevieve discovered her love and passion for teaching and choreography. She has taught various dance styles and has choreographed for studios in Alaska, Illinois, California, and Kyiv, Ukraine. To continue her education she traveled to Lyon, France in 2019 to earn her Progressing Ballet Technique teaching certificate under Callie Sant.

In 2019 Genevieve joined the faculty at Sacramento Ballet and has enjoyed teaching a wide variety of classes and skill levels. One of her favorite roles at SSB is teaching older adults Falls Prevention Through Movement, and she is currently the Director of Outreach, and Children’s Rehearsal Director.

Sally Torres-Gil – Sally majored in dance at the University of Utah where she studied ballet, contemporary, tap, musical theater, choreography, music theory and acting. She trained at the Academy of Classical Ballet (ACB) under Karen Morell, former soloist with the Dutch National Ballet. She received instructor’s certification in the Vaganova Syllabus through ACB as well as through John White of the Pennsylvania Academy of Ballet. Sally is also certified in Progressing Ballet Technique. Sally has been dancing and training her whole life. She owned and operated her own dance studio for 12 successfulyears before devoting her full attention to raising her daughter (who is now in college). Sally has been teaching ballet for over 20 years. Her performing career includes musical theater, music videos, traveling companies, and cruise ships in the U.S. and abroad. Sally has an excellent reputation workingwith students from beginner levels to the more advanced levels and strives to develop their skills and passion for dance while keeping her students motivated to perform their best.

Isabella Velasquez grew up training in Orange County at the Maple Conservatory. At 17 she joined The Washington Ballet in DC as a trainee, and continued training at Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre’s graduate program for two years after. Isabella joined Sacramento Ballet in 2014 where she has had the opportunity to perform many lead roles including Odette/Odile in Swan Lake, Cinderella in Paul Vasterling’s Cinderella, Sugar Plum in The Nutcracker, Ophelia in Stephen Mills’ Hamlet, and the lead in George Balanchine’s Allegro Brillante, Donizetti Variations and Tarantella. She has also been featured in neoclassical and contemporary works by choreographers Alejandro Cerrudo, Ma Cong, Septime Webre, Adam Hougland, Ron Cunningham, Amy Seiwert, Annabelle Lopez Ochoa, Val Caniparoli, Twyla Tharp, and Ihsan Rustem. Outside of Sacramento, Isabella has danced multiple times with The National Choreographers Initiative in Irvine, Amy Seiwert’s Imagery in San Francisco, and has guested multiple times with Nevada Dance Company. Isabella has also danced and choreographed for Capital Dance Project, and Ballet Project OC. When not working Isabella loves to spend time with her two wiener dogs Luigi and Leonardo!

Florrie Sésé Geller began her pre-professional training with the legendary Marcia Dale Weary and
the faculty of Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet. She continued her education at Next Generation
Ballet with Ivonne Lemus and directors Peter Stark and Philip Neal, as well as summer programs
at the School of American Ballet and San Francisco Ballet school on full tuition scholarships.
Florrie won the gold medal at the Youth America Grand Prix Semi-Finals, and distinguished
herself by placing in the Top 12 Junior Women in the Final Round of YAGP at Lincoln Center
where she was selected by Susan Jaffe and Gillian Murphy as the first recipient of the Gillian
Murphy Endowed Scholarship to UNCSA. After performing Aurora and Giselle in Next Generation
Ballet’s full-length productions, Florrie completed her pre-professional training at San Francisco
Ballet school on full scholarship.

At the age of eighteen Florrie was offered a professional contract with Cincinnati Ballet’s main
company where she performed Princess Florine in Devon Carney’s The Sleeping Beauty, the solo
role in Jiri Kylian’s Sechs Tanze, Virginia Woolf in Sarah Van Patten’s Skylight, Cygnet in Kirk
Peterson’s Swan Lake, and a soloist role in Myles Thatcher’s Anomaly. Florrie also danced in
ballets by Adam Hougland, Victoria Morgan and Septime Webre.

Florrie performed the Black Swan pas de deux from Swan Lake with Rochester City Ballet, and
originated the role of Arsinoe in Terpsicorps Theatre of Dance’s world premier Cleopatra. She has
appeared in galas including YAGP’s Stars of Today Meet the Stars of Tomorrow and was invited to
represent the United States in the Beijing International Ballet and Choreographic Competition in
2019.

As an artist with Oakland Ballet Company she danced in the premiere gala of Misty Copeland’s
short film Flower and performed works by Graham Lusting, Phil Chan, Feng Ye, and Natasha
Adorlee.

Florrie is a certified instructor in various training modalities including Progressing Ballet
Technique and mat Pilates. She has taught ballet on the faculties of Cincinnati Ballet, M.
Budig Academy, Magaly Suarez’s The Art of Classical Ballet, and the Draper Center for Dance
Education and has been certified in the Escuela Nacional de Ballet de Cuba Methodology, Year 1.
Florrie has been featured in Dance Spirit Magazine’s “Dancer You Should Know,” the podcasts
Becoming Ballet, Dancer Talks, and most recently Dance Magazine’s “Pack it Up.”
Florrie is thrilled to join Sacramento Ballet for the 24/25 season.