Dancers
Airi Miyata is from Osaka, Japan and she began her dance training at the age of 3 at Tamaki Ballet School and the Soda Ballet School. At the age of sixteen she moved to Canada to further her training at the Victoria Academy of Ballet, continuing on to graduate from the Post Secondary Bridge Program in 2017. Airi was ranked top 12 in the Senior Level Contemporary category at the 2015 YAGP Seattle regionals, and in 2016 she received top 12 ranking in both the Senior Level Classical and
Contemporary categories. She also participated
in the Ensemble category at YAGP, her group taking first place at the
Seattle YAGP competition in both 2016 and 2017.
Rowan Catel is a native of Bremerton, Washington. She began her dance training at Liberty Bay Danceworks in Poulsbo Washington at the age of five studying ballet, modern, contemporary, hip-hop and jazz. She has continued her training most recently at Northwest School of Dance in Bremerton. Rowan has attended summer intensives with Milwaukee Ballet, Summer Dance Lab where she apprenticed with the Oberlin Dance Collective, Alonzo King LINES Ballet, and Colorado
Ballet. Rowan has completed Olympic Ballet Theatre’s Trainee
Program, and is now a company dancer with Olympic Ballet Theatre.
Elianna Langley began dancing at Sky Valley Dance at age three. She has trained in various dance styles over the years including ballet, tap, musical theater, contemporary, African, lyrical, and modern. At age eleven she was invited to dance as a student guest in the Katy Hagelin Dance Project’s modern production of George McDonald’s Phantasties in the role of a woodland fairy. Most recently, Elianna has been dancing at Duvall Performing Arts in their Performance Division, and has
enjoyed performing in various roles in their productions and teaching the
younger dancers. Elianna participated in Olympic Ballet School’s summer intensive in 2017, completed Olympic Ballet Theatre’s
Trainee Program, and is now a company dancer with Olympic Ballet
Theatre.
Carlos Narvaez began his ballet training at age eighteen, at The Academy of Ballet San Francisco under Richard Gibson and Zory Karah. There, he danced with the school’s nonprofit company, Chamberdance SF, performing works by Richard Gibson, Joshua Trader, Elizabeth Gravelle, and Mary Ellen Hunt, including excerpts from The Nutcracker, Por Vos Muero, Raymonda, Les Patineurs, and Etudes. In addition, Carlos has also participated in ProDanza’s summer
intensives in Cuba, under Laura Alonso. He has danced professionally
with Peninsula Ballet Theatre, Bay Pointe Ballet, and guests with San
Francisco Bay Area ballet schools. This is Carlos’s second season with
Olympic Ballet Theatre.
Alberto Gaspar is from Mexico City, and he received his training at Escuela Nacional de Danza Clásica and Miami City Ballet School. He started his career as an apprentice with Miami City Ballet in 2008, then joined the Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre as a member of the corps de ballet in 2009. Gaspar spent three years in Japan with Horiuchi Ballet while also dancing as a soloist with Saint Louis Ballet. In 2013, he became a member of Ballet Memphis, dancing there until last season. His
repertoire includes many classical ballets, Balanchine ballets, and
works by renowned contemporary choreographers.
Christine Humbach grew up in Wilmette, IL studying ballet at Chicago Ballet Arts and Center of Creative Dance. She graduated with a BFA in Dance from University of Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music. During her studies she had the privilege of training in Glasgow at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. Christine has danced professionally with Ballet Theatre of Maryland under the direction of Dianna Cuatto, as well as with Chicago Repertory Ballet, under Wade Schaaf.
Christine’s repertoire includes a variety of classical and contemporary
works, the most memorable include Dark Angel in Balanchine’s
“Serenade” and as a featured couple in Hubert Essakov’s “Monad.”
She is very excited to be joining Olympic Ballet Theatre this season.
Tony Lee is a California native who started his dance training at age 18 at Anaheim Ballet, and later trained with Runqiao Du and Susan Mann at Towson University. After graduating from Johns Hopkins University with degrees in Computer Science and Film & Media Studies, Tony became a trainee, and later a second company member, with American Repertory Ballet (ARB) in Princeton, New Jersey. Through his career, Tony has performed with VT Dance, Goucher College, SLAM Hip Hop
Dance Group, Centenary Stage Company, Connecticut Ballet, and
Connecticut Theater Dance. Tony is very excited for his first season as
a company member with Olympic Ballet Theatre.
Trainees
Courtney Beery*, Paulina Christian*, Grace Roodhouse*
*Olympic Ballet School Alumni
Company Classes
During Olympic Ballet Theatre’s performance season, approximately 20 weeks per year, OBT offers company morning classes open to professional and pre-professional dancers. Morning classes take place 10:30–12:00pm Tuesday through Friday & 11:15am–12:45pm Saturday at the Olympic Ballet studios in Edmonds.
Next session of classes:
Feb 12-16
Instructors:
Tue, Thur, Sat – Victoria Pulkkinen
Wed, Fri – Oleg Gorboulev
Mar 12-Apr 3
Instructors TBA
Contact dance@olympicballet.com for more information.
About Trainee Program
The program was established in 2015 to supplement OBT’s productions. It consists of talented pre-professional dancers ages of 18-24 and is an excellent chance to continue education while gaining performing experience.
Accepted dancers receive partial and full scholarships to Olympic Ballet School as well as performance stipends & shoes based on experience. Please visit Employment Page to learn on how to apply for the program.