This summer is a very exciting time for Sierra Nevada Ballet. After more than a year of presenting virtual performances, SNB will once again take to the live stage in Reno, Carson City and Lake Tahoe and bring some top star dancers to Nevada to perform for our community.
SNB will present the beloved famous classic story ballet, Giselle, at Rancho San Rafael as part of Artown Festival on July 17 at 7:30 PM; at the Brewery Arts Center outdoor stage on July 23 at 7:30 PM and at the Trepp Amphitheater at Sand Harbor on July 26 at 7:30 PM as part of the Lake Tahoe Shakespeare Festival.
South Korean ballerina Da Young Jung will dance the title role opposite Venezuelan born Alejandro Gonzalez in this ballet about a peasant girl who falls in love with a Duke and dies of a broken heart.
Da Young Jung trained at Moscow’s Bolshoi Ballet Academy, graduated with honors with a Specialist degree in Ballet Pedagogy, and was a semifinalist in the Serge Lifar International Ballet Competition held in Donetsk, Ukraine in 2006. She joined Oklahoma City Ballet in 2012, was promoted to Soloist in 2014 and to Principal in 2017. She has performed leading roles in many well-known ballet classics such as Swan Lake, Giselle, Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, Firebird and the Nutcracker and in ballets by well-known choreographers such as George Balanchine, Twyla Tharp, Robert Joffrey, Jiri Kylian and Robert Mills. As an accomplished ballerina, Da Young’s Swan Lake performances were reviewed as “tremendously controlled, perfectly on balance — with her usual gorgeous extensions and arabesques.” and in Nutcracker, Da Young was reviewed as captivating the audience “with her brilliant dancing and acting.” (Kathleen Redwine, For the Oklahoman)
Da Young was recommended to me by Robert Mills and auditioned via video. She claims that Giselle is one of her favorite ballets: “I first performed the role of Giselle with Oklahoma City Ballet a few years ago and am so looking forward to revisiting the role.” She said: “I have heard amazing things about Sierra Nevada Ballet, and I am so excited to get the opportunity to dance with them.”
This will be Alejandro Gonzales’s second summer with Sierra Nevada Ballet. He first appeared with SNB in 2019 dancing one of the leading roles in SNB’s 12th Night-A Ballet Noir. He became an immediate crowd favorite as his magnificent jumps seemed to defy gravity and made our audiences gasp with enthusiasm.
POINTE Magazine recently featured Gonzales as an up and coming new ballet star. He performed his first leading role for Oklahoma City Ballet, and the magazine reviewed him as having the “physicality and characterization one would expect from a seasoned (lead) dancer.”
Gonzales was born in Venezuela and trained at the Gustavo Franklin School Academy before continuing to train with the Houston Ballet. While with the Houston Company, he performed in a number of works by well-known choreographers such as John Neumeier, Ben Stevenson and Stanton Welch.
Gonzales was invited to join the Oklahoma City Ballet Studio Company in 2017, was raised to First Company Apprentice in 2018, promoted to Corps de Ballet in 2019 and to Soloist in 2020. During the last two seasons, he has performed in Robert Mills’ Swan Lake and The Nutcracker, August Bournonville’s La Sylphide and has danced featured roles in ballets by choreographers such as Jiří Kylián, Helen Pickett, Septime Webre, and Cayetano Soto.
I very much enjoy working with Alejandro. He is not only exciting on a technical level, but he is also an excellent actor and completely immerses himself in his roles. At 22 years old, he shows an amazing artistry and I felt very motivated to give him the opportunity to dance the lead male role in SNB’s Giselle. Gonzales is very enthusiastic at the prospect: “ I am so looking forward to working with SNB again. I can’t wait to come to Nevada!”
Jung and Gonzales will head a cast of 30 professional dancers including Ananda Bena-Weber as Myrtha (Queen of the Wilis), Domingo Rubio as Hilarion (suitor to Giselle) , Alexander Biber as the Prince of Courland and Mary Bennett as Berthe (Giselle’s mother). Do not miss this exceptional cast when SNB returns to the live stage in one of the most beloved of all classical ballets- Giselle.
For ticket information visit www.sierranevadaballet.org or call SNB at 775-360-8663.
Alexander Cain Biber (Principal Dancer/ Ballet Master/ Choreographer in Residence/Teacher) grew up in a performing arts family and has loved theater and performing from an early age. He began his ballet training, at the age of 14, with Rosine Bena at Western Nevada Performing Arts Center – studying ballet, jazz, tap, and musical theater. In 2003, Alexander became an apprentice with Sierra Nevada Ballet and was promoted to the first company in 2006, to soloist in 2008, and to Principal in 2012.
Jennifer Lightfoot-Johnson (Grant Writer and Development Consultant) comes to SNB with 16 years of experience, both professionally and as a volunteer, in grant writing and working in the nonprofit sector.
Jennifer Boyle August (Guest Teacher/Choreographer) discovered her love of dance in Reno, Nev. During her time at Reno High School, Jennifer took a Modern class at TMCC, with instruction in Graham, Luigi, and Horton dance technique. While Jennifer was educated in other areas of dance, she felt these styles spoke to her more than anything else. After graduating from Reno High School, she moved to Boston to study dance with Joan Palladino at Dean College where she received her Associate’s Degree in Dance. She was then hand-selected by Judith Jamison to study at Alvin Ailey Summer Dance Intensive program in New York City.
Sara Weir (Demi Soloist) was born in Provo, Utah, and started ballet at age three. She trained in dance with Trisha Wilstead at Rocky Mountain Dance and then trained with Brittany Squires and Heather Gray at Jaquiline’s School of Ballet. She performed professionally with Showcase and Theater Ballet at Brigham Young University, Utah Regional Ballet, and Sacramento Ballet.
Carlee Bertero (Soloist/ Teacher) was born in northern Nevada and began studying dance at an early age at Fascinating Rhythm School of Performing Arts in Reno. Carlee was invited to join the Sierra Nevada Ballet Apprentice program in 2012; was raised to the first company in 2013; to featured corps member in 2016, to Demi-Soloist in 2017, and to Soloist in 2021. She has performed in many SNB story ballets such as Peanutcracker-The Story In A Nutshell, Giselle, Swan Lake, Coppelia, Romeo and Juliet, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty-A Fairy’s Tale, A Midsummer Nights Dream- A Steam Punk Ballet, and Twelfth Night-A Ballet Noir. She has performed as a featured dancer with SNB annually in Dancing By The River as part of Reno’s Artown Festival and in SNB’s annual Brew Brats and Ballet in Reno and Carson City.
Domingo Rubio (Second Permanent Guest Artist/Guest Teacher) is SNB’s second Permanent Guest Artist as of May 2005. He has danced professionally for some 30 years. Domingo has danced with the Joffrey Ballet and Ballet Hispanico and was featured in the Robert Altman film, The Company. Rubio danced the role of Maxfield Parrish in SNB’s, A Painter’s Love Story and is a featured artist in SNB’s Dancing By the River and annual ballet classics.
Sam Weber (First Permanent Guest Artist/ Guest Teacher) is SNB’s first Permanent Guest Artist and is a founding member of the Company. He was one of the first permanent guest artists of The Reno Ballet under the direction of Rosine Bena. Weber danced with the Joffery Ballet, San Francisco Ballet, Sacramento Ballet, Peninsula Ballet Theatre, and The Jazz Tap Ensemble. Besides being a fine ballet dancer, Weber is considered one of the greatest tap dancers in the world. He is known as “the fastest feet in tap.”
Gina Nelson (SNB Company Coordinator for Carson City and SNB Board Member) is originally from Napa Valley, Calif., and a long-time supporter of the arts and arts education. Gina worked as a crisis prevention specialist in a day treatment elementary school and was a counselor/teacher in a non-public school for at-risk boys.
Steven M. Porter (SNB Board President/SNB CEO) is a long-time devotee of the arts. Originally from the East Coast, Steve was raised with love and devotion to all the arts.
Cathy Mercer (SNB Company Coordinator for Reno/Managing Director/Board Member) grew up in Carson City and is a former dancer with a long-time devotion to the art form.
Ananda Bena-Weber (Associate Director, Dance Artist/ Ballerina/Principal/Teacher) is a principal dancer and NY award-winning artist and the Associate Director of the Sierra Nevada Ballet and a founding member. She has danced professionally as a soloist with the Reno Ballet when it was formed in 1994/95 and 1996. She danced with Perspectives Dance Theatre and Fascinating Rhythm Productions. She has appeared as a featured soloist with Sam Weber performing in Morton Gould’s “Concerto for Tap Dancer and Orchestra” throughout the SF Bay Area. She has appeared in principal roles in several original dance works such as Take Me To The River and Blue Rondo, and classics such as Les Sylphides, Romeo and Juliet, and Paquita.
Rosine Bena (Founder and Artistic Director/Master Teacher)
Sophia Riella (Trainee) was born in Truckee, Calif. She started ballet at the age of two with Sherrie Petersen, Sierra Ballet School and continued there for six years while also studying Irish and Scottish Dance with Lindsey Marccaci in Lake Tahoe and at Truckee Dance Factory doing competition dance. She has also studied classical music, composing, and piano with Elaine Courtney and has studied voice with Stephanie McMoy.
Erin Garman (First Year Company) began dancing at the age of 12 at Scene Stealers Theatre Arts where she trained in jazz, tap, lyrical, musical theatre, and ballet. She later began training with Fascinating Rhythm School of Performing Arts where she continued training in many styles and at Sierra Nevada Ballet Academy where she first met Rosine Bena, and started getting more serious about ballet, also dancing with Spiral Ballet.
Maya Macias (Trainee) was born in Houston, Texas into a military family. While her family was stationed in Memphis, Tennessee, at age two and a half years old, Maya began studying dance at the Children’s Ballet Theater because she wanted to go to “ballerina school. “ Maya continued her ballet training at Space Coast Ballet and when she was six years old, she began performing with Space Coast Ballet in the Nutcracker.
Olivia Mann (SNB Summer Demi Soloist) began studying at the age of four at Dallas Metropolitan Ballet, and the Dallas Ballet Center and later trained at Booker T. Washington for the Performing and Visual Arts.
Heather Rodriguez (Trainee) started dancing at nine years old in Corpus Christi, Texas. She continued studying Ballet, Contemporary, and Jazz throughout her childhood with Corpus Christi Concert Ballet.