Artists
2023-2024 Season
Isabel Borges is a New Orleans native and began her ballet training at a very young age with Giacobbe Academy of Dance under the instruction of Joseph Giacobbe. At the age of fifteen, Isabel moved to New York City to attend Ballet Academy East’s pre-professional program under the direction of Darla Hoover. Here, Isabel vigorously trained with renowned ballet instructors like Wendy Whelan, Irina and Olga Dvorovenko, Jenna Lavin, and many more. Her time here includes performing some of her favorite roles, such as the principle roles in George Balanchine’s Walpurgisnacht and Alan Hineline’s A to M. In 2019, Isabel returned to New Orleans to complete her undergraduate degree at Loyola University while dancing with New Orleans Ballet Theater. Isabel looks forward to the 2023-2024 season as a newly appointed apprentice.
Sara Falstad, originally from Atlanta, Georgia, began her ballet training with the Atlanta Ballet Centre for Dance Education, where she studied for 10 years before relocating to New Orleans in 2009. In New Orleans, Sara furthered her training at the Schramel Conservatory of Dance under the direction of Greg and Marjorie Hardwick Schramel before accepting a traineeship with the Charlotte Ballet Academy in 2012, and then a traineeship with the Joffrey Academy of Dance in 2013. During this time, she also enjoyed returning to New Orleans to dance in New Orleans Ballet Theatre’s The Nutcracker and Summer Solstice. In 2015, Sara’s pursuits took her to the Sarasota Ballet, where she performed in ballets by Sir Kenneth MacMillan, Matthew Hart, George Balanchine, Dame Ninette de Valois, Anthony Tudor, and Sir Frederick Ashton. After a year and a half with the company, she had the opportunity to dance internationally with Tokyo Disney Resort in their flagship live show One Man’s Dream II: The Magic Lives On, a Disney medley featuring many of Disney’s iconic characters. She worked in Japan for three years dancing in both title and ensemble roles until the show’s closing in December 2019. Upon her return to New Orleans, Sara rejoined New Orleans Ballet Theatre as a company artist.
Nikolas Gaifullin Originally born in Sarasota, Florida and received his training from both of his parents, Stephanie Murrish and Daniil Gaifullin. Nikolas has had the opportunity to work with well renowned choreographers such as Johan Kobborg, Anna Marie Holmes, Yuri Possokhov, Jade Hale Christofi, Joshua Bergasse, Omar Nieves, Anthony Krutzkamp, Devon Carney, Anthony Johnson, Ryan Nye, Robert Mills, Ma Cong, Dwight Rhoden, Norbert De La Cruz III, Tara Lee, Kiyon Ross, Ross Freddie McCray, Viktor Plotnikov, Bruce Wells, and John McFall. Nikolas has performed with companies and troupes such as Kansas City Ballet II, Atlanta Ballet, Polunin Ink, Oklahoma City Ballet, Tulsa Ballet, and Broadway production of Sugar Hill: Ellington/Strayhorn Nutcracker. His repertoire includes Johan Kobborg’s Romeo and Juliet, Yuri Possokhov’s Don Quixote and Nutcracker, Septime Webre’s Alice in Wonderland, Dwight Rhoden’s Sunrise Divine, Robert Mills Nutcracker, John McFall’s Nutcracker, Kiyon Ross’s Sum Stravinsky, Jiri Kylian’s Return to a Strange Land, Tara Lee’s Blink, Ma Cong’s Tchaikovsky, Ross Freddie McCray’s Fraudulent Smile, Viktor Plotnikov’s Vesna, Anthony Krutzkamp’s Carmina Burana, Anthony Johnson’s Rings of the Rose, Ryan Nye’s Tone it Bach, Norbert De La Cruz’s The Fourth Wall, Bruce Well’s Midsummer Nights Dream, Devon Carney’s Nutcracker. Nikolas has performed principal roles in the classical ballet repertoire such as Basilio in Don Quixote, Prince Siegfried in Swan Lake, Drosselmier in Yuri Possokhov’s Nutcracker, Cavalier in Robert Mills and John McFall’s Nutcracker, and Tybalt in Johan Kobborg’s Romeo and Juliet which was the world premiere in Arena di Verona of 2019 and once again performed and reprised his role of Tybalt at Royal Albert Hall in London of 2021. He has attended The Carreno Festival in 2012, ABT Summer Intensive and National Ballet School of Canada in 2015 and Jacob’s Pillow in 2016. Nikolas has competed in two world renowned ballet competitions, YAGP and World Ballet Competition. In 2007 he performed Gala of the Stars at the Spoleto Festival in Italy. Recently Nikolas has performed the roles of Volga Vouty and the Hooligan King in Sugar Hill Ellington/Strayhorn Nutcracker which premiered in the Auditorium Theatre in Chicago, choreographed by Jade Hale Christofi whom choreographed the famous variation Take Me to Church and Joshua Bergasse from Broadway New York whom choreographed numerous Broadway productions. Nikolas’s career showcases his dedication, talent, and versatility as a dancer. His achievements and performances have earned him recognition and respect in the ballet community.
Katherine Hanson, née Liljestrand, grew up in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where she began studying with Ballet Repertory Theatre of New Mexico at the age of three. She attended summer intensives at American Ballet Theatre, Nutmeg Conservatory for the Arts, the Walnut Hill School, and Alonzo King’s LINES Ballet. Katherine first joined Ballet Repertory Theatre of New Mexico’s company as an apprentice in 2007 and danced with the company until 2016. Katherine danced featured and principal roles in numerous BRT productions, including Sleeping Beauty (Aurora), Beauty & the Beast (Beauty), The Nutcracker (Dew Drop Fairy, Sugarplum Fairy), and Diana & Acteon (Diana). She also returned in 2019 to guest as Titania in Celia Dale’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
Katherine graduated from the University of New Mexico in 2014 with bachelor degrees in Biology and English. In 2016, she moved to Washington, DC to attend Georgetown University Law Center, where she received her J.D. in 2019. Between 2016 and 2020, Katherine danced with several choreographers and groups in the DC metro area, including Moveius Contemporary Ballet. She also danced with The Tallahassee Ballet for a season before joining NOBT in 2021. Since joining NOBT, Katherine has performed featured and lead roles, including the Dying Swan variation and Snow Queen and Sugarplum Fairy in The Nutcracker. Katherine is also attending the University of New Orleans and will be graduating with her M.A. in Arts Administration in May 2024. Katherine is looking forward to her third season with NOBT.
Tristan Hanson was born in Rolla, MO. From a very early age, he trained at his mother’s dance school. At 14, he chose to further his ballet education at COCA in St. Louis. A few years later, Tristan left home to pursue his love of ballet and train full time with Kansas City Ballet School. While at KCBS, he was able to perform with the Kansas City Ballet in Septime Webre’s World Premiere of The Wizard of Oz, Devon Carney’s The Nutcracker, and Devon Carney’s Romeo & Juliet. During his senior year of high school, he traveled to Kansas and Colorado to perform as a guest artist. At age 18 he accepted a contract with Louisville Ballet, performing in a variety of works including “the Merry Widow” by Ronald Hynd, “Velocity” by Stanton Welch, “Tonal” by Daniel Riley, and “Rite of Spring” by Andrea Schermoly. Tristan is thrilled to be starting his first season with New Orleans Ballet Theatre.
Lily Mangiaruga began her dance training at Delaware Valley Dance Academy in her hometown, Montgomeryville Pennsylvania, at the age of six under the directorship of Lisa Wasserman. She continued to study under Lisa Wasserman, performing roles such as the Dewdrop fairy and Swanhilda in “Coppelia” until 2018 when she went on to become a trainee at Pennsylvania Ballet. There she performed in many ballets including George Balanchine's “The Nutcracker'', Angel Corella's "Giselle”, “Don Quixote” and "La Bayadere”, and as the Lilac fairy in the School of Pennsylvania Ballet’s “Sleeping Beauty”. Lily has attended summer intensives at The School of American Ballet, San Francisco Ballet, The School of Pennsylvania Ballet on Scholarship, and has supplemented her training with Magaly Suarez at Florida Classical Ballet, where she was given the opportunity to perform the lead in Esmeralda pas de six. She also received multiple full merit scholarships from such ballet schools as Pacific Northwest Ballet School, Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre School, and Colorado Ballet School. In 2017 Lily competed in the Youth America Grand Prix and received second place in senior classical women, as well as top 12 in contemporary, in the New York Semi-finals.
Starting in 2020 Lily joined BalletMet in Columbus Ohio as a company dancer and performed with the company for two years dancing in multiple world premiers created and choreographed by Edwaard Liang and Karen Wing. In 2023 Lily worked closely with one of her mentors, dancer and choreagrapher Jennifer Yackel, to create and film an original neo-classical work, and most recently Lily has taken part in outreach programs in Philadelphia and performed as a guest artist with The International Ballet Exchange, which aims to bring dance to schools in the greater Philadelphia area. She also enjoys teaching ballet to all ages and has shared her knowledge in her home town in Pennsyvania as well as studios in Columbus Ohio. Lily is excited to be joining New Orleans Ballet Theatre for the 2023/2024 season!
Drew Lenore Pearson: Originally from Chicago, Drew received her pre-professional training at Ballet Chicago under the direction of Daniel Duell and Patricia Blair. While with Ballet Chicago Studio Company, she performed several pieces in the Balanchine repertoire, including Serenade, Who Cares, Rubies, and Tarantella, as well as world premiere ballets by Daniel Duell and resident choreographer Ted Seymour. Since joining NOBT in 2021, Drew has performed both classical and contemporary works, such as Surrender, Evanesce, The Nutcracker, Swan Lake, Under the Olive Tree, and Romeo and Juliet. A multidisciplinary artist, Drew has experience with stage acting, musical theatre, and immersive theatre. She has a BA and BS from Tulane University (2019) and a Master's of Library and Information Science from Louisiana State University (2022). While at Tulane, she continued her dance training with Diogo de Lima, Jeffrey Gunshol, Nikki Hefko, and Donald Williams. Drew is thrilled to be joining NOBT for her third season.
Hannah Wang Powell is originally from Austin, Texas where she started dancing at Ballet Austin at age three. She began her pre-professional training at Austin Metamorphosis Dance Academy. She studied there under Melanie Kregel and Melissa Glouchkova for seven years while performing with Metamorphosis Dance Ensemble. She had the opportunity to participate in Bailando Dance Festival and also perform as a guest artist for Corpus Christi Concert Ballet. Hannah spent summers studying at American Ballet Theatre, Ballet West, and Joffrey Ballet Chicago. In 2017, she joined the Atlanta Ballet Conservatory Program under the direction of Sharon Story where she had the opportunity to perform in the world premiere of Yuri Possokhov’s The Nutcracker, Johan Kobborg’s La Sylphide, and Bruce Wells’ Beauty and the Beast. Subsequently in 2019, Hannah was offered a scholarship to Richmond Ballet’s trainee program under the direction of Judy Jacob and Stoner Winslett. She toured and performed with Richmond Ballet for two years, including in their productions of Paquita and The Nutcracker. Hannah joined New Orleans Ballet Theatre in 2021 and this will be her season with the company.
Jonathan Robbins started his professional training in Salt Lake City, Utah at Ballet West Academy in 2017, where he trained closely under the mentorship of Jeff Rogers. While at Ballet West, he was invited to perform with the company in their production of Cinderella with original choreography by Sir Frederick Ashton. In the fall of 2018, he performed in Las Vegas as a guest with Nevada Ballet Theatre in their production of Ben Stevenson’s Dracula. While in Salt Lake, he had many opportunities to train with many world-renowned artists such as Stephanie Saland, Susan Jaffe, and Sofiane Sylve.
In 2019, he was offered a traineeship with the Richmond Ballet, where he trained for two years, He studied repertoire ranging from Swan Lake to George Balanchine’s Tarentella and worked closely with notable dancers and teachers such as Igor Antonov and Dianna Seay.
Jonathan is excited to start his first professional year as a dancer in New Orleans. He is exhilarated to be doing what he loves with New Orleans Ballet Theatre for the 2022-2023 season.
Josh Reynolds began his dance training at the age of 12 at Georgia Academy of Dance. He later went on to train at The Rock School in Philadelphia and School of American Ballet in New York. In 2003 he began his career at Atlanta Ballet performing leading roles in Romeo & Juliet, Swan Lake, Sinfonietta Giocosa, The Great Gatsby, and Twyla Tharp’s In The Upper Room. In 2010 Josh joined Milwaukee Ballet where he became the youngest artist to ever portray the title role in Michael Pink’s Dracula. He danced various repertoire including new works by Mauro de Candia and Darrell Grand Moultrie.
In the summer of 2011 Josh was asked to perform Ashton’s Cinderella pas de deux with Julianne Kepley in Talliin, Estonia as a founding member of Tiit Helimets & Company. Later that same summer, he was selected to perform with Dance GrandMoultrie at Summerstage in NY. In 2012 Josh joined Smuin Contemporary Ballet in San Francisco. While there, he performed leading roles in Michael Smuin’s Eternal Idol, Stabat Minor, Jiri Kylian’s Return to a Strange Land, Helen Picket’s Petal and Adam Hougland’s Cold Virtues. As well, he originated in many leading roles and world premieres by choreographer in residence, Amy Seiwert.
Josh joined Canada’s Royal Winnipeg Ballet as a Second Soloist in 2015 and was promoted to First Soloist at the end of his first season. Since then, he has appeared in many leading roles including The Nutcracker Prince (Nutcracker), Matthew (Moulin Rouge® –The Ballet), Captain Hook (Peter Pan), Bob (Val Caniparoli’s A Cinderella Story), and Rothbart (Swan Lake). Further, he originated roles of World Premieres by James Kudelka and Peter Quanz. Josh has been a member of New Orleans Ballet Theatre for over a decade and has originated roles in works by Diogo De Lima, Greg and Marjorie Schramel and Douglas Gawriljuk. Josh joined the company full time in 2019 with his wife Jo-Ann Sundermeier.
Jo-Ann Sundermeier Originally from Pompano Beach, Florida, Jo-Ann Sundermeier began ballet lessons with Liana Navarro in Miami, Florida before joining Canada’s Royal Winnipeg Ballet School’s Professional Division. She became an Apprentice with the RWB Company in 2003, and in 2012 she was promoted to Principal Dancer. In 2013, Jo-Ann left the RWB to join Smuin Contemporary Ballet in San Francisco, California, and then returned to RWB in 2015 to fulfill her principal title. In the course of her career, she has performed various repertoire by choreographers such as Helen Pickett, Twyla Tharp, Val Caniparoli, George Balanchine and Jiri Kylian. Some lead roles include Odette/Odile (Swan Lake), Princess Aurora (The Sleeping Beauty), Giselle (Giselle), Myrta (Giselle), Sugar Plum Fairy (Nutcracker), Juliet (Romeo and Juliet) Tinkerbell (Peter Pan) and Russian Girl (Balanchine’s Serenade). Jo-Ann has originated in works by choreographers James Kudelka, Peter Quanz, Diogo De Lima, Joshua Beamish, and most recently in the lead role of Oliver Halkowich’s Romeo + Juliet. Jo-Ann’s image was the face of the 80th anniversary of Jacob’s Pillow Dance Summer Festival and she appeared on a $20 minted Canadian coin to commemorate the 75th anniversary of Canada’s Royal Winnipeg Ballet. She is a Gemini Award winner for the made-for-tv film The Tale of The Magic Flute for 'Best Performance in a Performing Arts Series’. In 2002, Jo-Ann performed for the late Queen Elizabeth II, as part of the Golden Jubilee commemorating 50 years as monarch, and she also performed as part of the 2010 Vancouver Olympics Cultural Olympiad.
Jo-Ann has performed with New Orleans Ballet Theatre since 2014. In the summer of 2019, she and her husband Josh made a permanent move to New Orleans to join NOBT as Principal Dancers and Ballet Masters. Jo-Ann loves teaching and is very excited to pass on her knowledge to the next generation of dancers.
Avery Ward began her dance journey, at age of 3, at the Lawrenceville School of Ballet under the direction and instruction of Phyllis Allen and Amy Gilbert. Her early training continued at Gwinnett Ballet Theatre under the direction of Wade Wathall, and summer intensives at Carolina Ballet, Miami City Ballet, American Ballet Theatre in New York, Houston Ballet, and The Joffrey Ballet in Chicago. In 2017, Avery joined the Atlanta Ballet Conservatory program, under the direction of Sharon Story, where she performed in the debut of Atlanta Ballet’s The Nutcracker, choreographed by Yuri Possokhov and in George Balanchine’s Serenade staged by Bobby Barnett.
During her senior year of high school, Avery joined the Trainee program at The Joffrey Ballet Academy of Dance in Chicago where her love for classical ballet and contemporary dance flourished under the instruction of Sir Ashley Wheater, Raul Casasola, and Katlin Bourgeois. While at Joffrey, Avery had the opportunity to work with choreographers Durante Verzola (Ballet de Coeur), Chanel DaSilva (Borders), Tsai Hsi Hung (Brushstroke), and Pablo Sanchez (Viva!) perform their original choreography during Winning Works 2020 and 2021.
After graduating from the Joffrey Trainee program in 2021, Avery continued as a Trainee with Cincinnati Ballet with Sarah Hairston, David Morse, under the direction of Victoria Morgan and Jodie Gates.. While at CB, Avery performed in Victoria Morgan’s The Nutcracker, Bolero, and as Juliet in her Romeo and Juliet Balcony Pas de Deux. Additionally Avery performed as a Fairy in Septime Webre’s Cinderella, a flamingo and playing card in Septime Webre’s Alice in Wonderland, in George Balanchine’s Valse Fantasie staged by Margaret Tracey, and Les Corsaire Pas de Deux by Marius Petipa. Avery is excited to begin this new adventure and honored to join New Orleans Ballet!!
Aaron Wiggins was born and raised in Houston, Texas. Growing up, he trained in Vaganova ballet technique, tap, jazz, and musical theatre from the age of 4. He went on to attend summer programs from American Ballet Theatre, the School of American Ballet, Joffrey Ballet School, and Houston Ballet. Aaron then graduated from Marymount Manhattan College with a B.F.A. in dance. While in college, Aaron broadened his training with Horton and Graham techniques, and performed works by Twyla Tharp, Paul Taylor, and Loni Landon.
Locally, he has performed with Marigny Opera Ballet, Delta Festival Ballet, Melange Dance Company, Rivertown Theatres, Komenka Ethnic Dance Ensemble, and Jefferson Performing Arts Society.
Aaron proudly teaches Ballet, Tap, and Contemporary at SCOD. This is Aaron’s second season with NOBT.
Kaylin Wilson is from Mobile, Alabama. At the tender age of two, Kaylin began her training with the Marguerite Benson Hall School of Dance. She then studied seven years at Mobile Ballet, and three years in Kinetics Dance Company at W.P. Davidson High School. Ms. Wilson is a recent graduate of the University of Southern Mississippi. There she received her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Dance: Performance and Choreography. Ms. Wilson has also studied at the Ailey School, the official school of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre. There she was a professional division scholarship student, having received the Oprah Winfrey Foundation scholarship. Currently, she enjoys teaching at the Louisiana Academy of Performing Arts, Studio G, and Schramel Conservatory of Dance.
Trainees
Ella Almer
Matilda Bak
Olivia Gobbell
Madelyn Harpole
Mary Wyatt Johnson
Laura Knipp
Allyssa Nelson
Zoe Russo
Isabella Schramel
Katherine Steele
Zoey Uhlman
James Shaw Photography