Matthew Golding (second soloist) was born in Canada and studied at the Royal Winnipeg Ballet School, the Kirov Academy in Washington and the Royal Ballet School (London). He won a scholarship prize at the Prix de Lausannne in 2002 and was awarded the Grand Prix at the Youth American Ballet Competition in New York in the same year. Matthew danced with ABT from 2005 – 2007. From 2008 – 2009 he toured around Spain with Corella Ballet - dancing principal roles like Corsair, Tshaikovsky pas de deux, Bruck Concerto and In the Upper Room. He has danced works of choreographers such as: George Balanchine, Mark Morris, Ian MacMillan, Twyla Tharp and Christopher Wheeldon.
Kaori Morito (grand sujet) received her education at the Acri Horimoto Ballet Academy in Japan and the Vaganova Ballet Academy St. Petersburg (Russia). She was a winner of the Silver Medal of the Japan Ballet competition in Tokyo and Saitama and won the Bronze Medal of the NBA competition. In 2001 she started her dance career with the Deutsche Oper am Rhein where she has been promoted as demi-soloist and for the past few years as principal dancer. She worked with choreographers including: Youri Vamos to Jiri Kylian, Mats Ek to John Neumeier, Hans van Manen to Uwe Scholz. Principal roles include: Giselle, A Midsummers Night’s Dream, Le Sacre du Printemps, Carmina Burana, Swan Lake, Nutcracker and many others. Kaori has the Japanese nationality.
Suzanna Kaic (grand sujet) studied at the Kharkow Ballet Academy in Ukraine - where she was born - and the Vienna Conservatory in Austria. In 2002 she won the 1st prize at the Serge Lifar competition in Kiev and 2nd prize at the Premio Roma in Italy in 2005. From 2002 she has danced with Deutsche Oper am Rhein where she has been promoted first as demi-soloist and in 2008 as principal dancer. Suzanna has been dancing principals and soloist roles in Swan Lake, Nutcracker, Giselle, Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, Petit Mort, Kammerballett and others. She has danced as a guest artist at galas in Italy, Czechia (Prague) and Australia.
Jordan-Elizabeth Long (coryphée) from the United States trained at the North Carolina School of the Arts and The Art of Classical Ballet. She danced with the Cuban Classical Ballet of Miami, under the direction of Pedro-Pablo Pena and Magaly Suarez from who she received private classes, and with Suzanne Farrel Ballet and Southwest Virginia Ballet in various roles at festivals and galas. Ballets includes: Carnival in Venice, The Nutcracker, Bayadère, Swan Lake, Paquita and more. Jordan was a finalist in the Shanghai International Ballet Competition and was named an American Ballet Theatre National Training Scholar 2002 - 2003. In 2009 she won the Gold Medal at the World Ballet Competition in the USA.
Maria Chugai (coryphée) graduated from the Vaganova Academy with special honour in 2006. In the same year she was a prize winner at the Vaganova Prix International Ballet Competition in St. Petersburg. For the last 3 years she was a member of the Kirov Ballet / Mariinsky Theater and has been dancing roles in ballets such as: Swan Lake, Le Corsaire, La Bayadère, Jewels, Apollo, Serenade, Le sacre du printemps, Don Quixote and others. She has toured with the Mariinsky Theater to UK, Germany, China, Italy, Taiwan and the USA. Maria has the Russian nationality.
Aubert Vanderlinden (corps de ballet) started ballet at the age of 7 and successfully graduated from the School of the Paris Opera Ballet in 2004. From 2004 he danced with the Paris Opera Ballet and in 2007 on he joined San Francisco Ballet. Aubert has danced ballets by Helgi Tomasson, George Balanchine, Christopher Wheeldon, Jerome Robbins, Maurice Bejart, Lifar, Frederick Ashton and others. He won the Bronze medal at the International Ballet Competition in Varna in 2006 and the Gold Medal in the Carpeaux and International Mediterranean competition in France. Aubert is from Belgium.
Toshiro Abbley (corps de ballet) was born in California (U.S.A.) and trained at the South Bay Ballet (California), Ballet Pacifica (California) and Heinz Bõsl Academy in Germany. Toshiro previously danced with Miami City Ballet, Bavarian State Ballet and American Ballet Theatre. In 2006 he was a 1st place winner of the Spotlight Awards, received the Great Hope Award in Germany and was semi finalist at the USA International Ballet Competition in 2006.
Angela Agresti (élève) trained at the North Carolina School of the Arts (U.S.A.) and the Jordan Academy of Dancer of Butler University (U.S.A.). She has danced with the Cincinnati Ballet as a trainee last year and performed ballets such as: Nutcracker, Coppelia, Rubies, Serenade, Turcescsa, Snow Queen and The Sleeping Beauty. Angela was finalist at the NKAA Young Arts week Presidential scholar Award and participated in different Summer sessions. She has the American citizenship.
La Bayadère / short contracts from 31 august – 25 october 2009:
Aya Okumura (adspirant)
John Cranko Ballet School / Stuttgart (Nationality Japanese).
Tess Sturmann (stagiaire)
Koninklijk Conservatorium / The Hague (Nationality Australian).
For season 2009 / 2010 the following dancers have been promoted:
Michele Jimenez (1e solist)
Maia Makhateli (2nd solist)
Viktoriya Ananyan (grand sujet)
Arthur Shesterikov (coryphée)
Vera Tsyganova (grand sujet - since April 2009)
The following dancers will leave the company:
Ainara Garcia Navarro (Oper am Rhein / Düsseldorf)
Yaset Rosell (new career)
Jonatas Albuquerque (new career)
Veronique Tamaccio (Zurich Ballett)
George Hill (Dresden Ballett)
Celine Kraal (Norwegian National Ballet)
Sascha Radetsky (U.S.A.)
Ami Sakachi (Japan)
Matthew Pawlicki Sinclair (USA / freelance)
Seo Yeon Yu (English National Ballet)
Leave of absence:
Ji-Young Kim (Korean National Ballet)
Peter Leung (Ballet de l’Opéra de Lyon)
