Meet the professional dancers of Grand Rapids Ballet. This wonderful, diverse group includes dancers from around Michigan, across the country, and from locations around the world. Their commitment and dedication to the art of dance and ballet is what makes what we do possible. Learn more about them here and follow us on Instagram, too!
Company photos and headshots courtesy of Ray Nard Imagemaker.
Rowan Allegra is a third generation ballet dancer from the Bay Area, CA. She received her primary ballet education from her parents, Andre Reyes and Cynthia Drayer, former principals with San Francisco Ballet. She went on to train at Boston Ballet School and later at Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre School and the San Francisco Conservatory of Dance. Rowan has danced professionally with Texas Ballet Theater, Indianapolis Ballet, and is happy to now be with the Grand Rapids Ballet. Some of her most cherished career experiences include Aurora in The Sleeping Beauty, Russian Girl in Balanchine’s Serenade, Balanchine’s Sonatine, Andy Blankenbuehler’s Remember Our Song, Ohad Naharin’s Minus 16, and Harald Lander’s Etudes.
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Rowan has performed various principal guest roles and also with Grand Rapids Circle Theatre in their musical production Pippin. In addition to dancing Rowan has choreographed premieres on both Indianapolis Ballet and Grand Rapids Ballet.
James Cunningham grew up in Little Hocking, Ohio. His early dance education began at age 10 at the Mid Ohio Valley Ballet Academy. In 2010, he graduated magna cum laude from the University of Cincinnati. While earning his BFA in dance on full scholarship, he was able to begin his career as a professional dancer with Cincinnati Ballet. His career in Cincinnati spanned 11 seasons with a promotion to Soloist in 2016. He joined Grand Rapids Ballet in 2019. Some highlights have been dancing the roles of Mercutio and Romeo from Romeo and Juliet, Escamillo from Carmen, Country Boy from Fancy Free, Principal Pas de Deux from Rubies, Stomper from In The Upper Room, Mad Hatter from Alice in Wonderland, Puck from A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Kashchei from Firebird, Red Man from Elemental Brubeck. Waltz Boy from Serenade, Liza from Who Cares? and the Prince from Cinderella and Seeping Beauty.
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James has had the pleasure perform work by many choreographers; Adam Hougland, Penny Saunders, Darrell Grand Moultrie, Jennifer Archibald, Justin Peck, Jiri Kylian, Ma Cong, Annabelle Lopez-Ochoa, Ohad Naharin, Septime Webre, Amy Seiwart, Trey McIntyre, Lar Lubovitch, Danielle Rowe, Val Caniparoli, James Kudelka, Nicolo Fonte, Katarzyna Skarpetowska, Yuri Possokhov, Alejandro Cerrudo, Ben Stevenson, Christopher Stowell, Victoria Morgan, Devon Carney, Edward Liang, and James Sofranko.
Originally from Tampa, Florida, Anderson trained under teachers Paula Nunez and Osmany Montano at America’s Ballet School in his hometown. After graduation he continued his training and studies as a ballet major at Indiana University Jacobs School of Music Opera and Ballet Theater. While his time at IU Anderson performed numerous lead and corps roles like George Balanchine’s Allegro Brillante and La Source, Christopher Wheeldon’s Carousel (A Dance), Jerome Robbin’s N.Y. Export: Opus Jazz and The Concert, and Mark Morris’ Drink To Me Only With Thine Eyes. After graduation Anderson joined Cincinnati Ballet’s second company.
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During his two years at Cincinnati Ballet he performed alongside the main company in Victoria Morgan’s Cinderella and The Nutcracker (Nutcracker Prince and Russian), Jennifer Archibald’s Sit, Septime Webre’s Alice in Wonderland and had the chance to work with choreographers Annabelle Lopez Ochoa, Jennifer Archibald and Amy Seiwart on a few new works created for the second company.
Sam Epstein grew up in Saratoga Springs, New York, dancing at the National Museum of Dance School of the Arts. He studied as a Wells Scholar at Indiana University, where he earned a B.S. in Ballet, Outside Field in Choreography, and a Music Composition Minor. There he performed featured roles in works by George Balanchine, Mark Morris, Jerome Robbins, Twyla Tharp, Antony Tudor, and Christopher Wheeldon. Upon graduation, he joined Cincinnati Ballet’s Second Company, performing works by Jennifer Archibald, Gerald Arpino, Jodie Gates, Victoria Morgan, Amy Seiwert, and Septime Webre. As a guest artist, Sam was invited to perform in Confetti as part of Gerald Arpino’s Centennial Celebration at Diablo Ballet’s 29th Anniversary Gala.
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Additionally, Sam has choreographed full length works for both ballet and opera, most recently the world premiere of “Anne Frank” at Indiana University. Sam is very excited to be joining Grand Rapids Ballet for the 2023-2024 season!
Julian Wen-Sheng Gan is from Subang Jaya, Malaysia. During the 2021-2022 season, he was a member of the Joffrey Ballet Studio Company in Chicago where he performed works by Sir Frederick Ashton and Gerald Arpino. In 2020, he graduated from The HARID Conservatory in Boca Raton, Florida under the Male Award Scholarship awarded in 2018. He was awarded the Jeannot B. Cerrone Award for Excellence in Dance Performance in May 2020. He also won 2nd place in both the Classical and Contemporary categories (Senior) of YAGP Dallas 2020. In 2019, he won 2nd place and the Margot Fonteyn Audience Choice Award from the Genée International Ballet Competition in Toronto.
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In the same year, he was awarded a gold medal and the Best Performer in Ballet (Senior) from the Hong Kong Challenge Cup 2019. He previously studied with The Kirov Academy of Ballet in Washington D.C. from 2015 -2018. He received the invitation from the Asian Grand Prix International Ballet Competition 2014 which he also won a Gold Medal. In 2015, he was awarded a Silver Medal from the Star of Canaan Dance International Ballet Competition with additional awards such as the Outstanding Male Award and the Outstanding Performance Award.
Julian has performed classical works such as “Seguidillas in Don Quixote”, “Fairy Doll Pas de Trois”, “Flames of Paris Pas de Deux”, “Raymonda Pas De Quarte”, “Flower Festival Pas de Deux”, “The Fountain of Bakhchisarai” and “Valpurgis Night”. He has also performed character works such as “Sirtaki” and “Summer” originally choreographed by Igor Moiseyev. He has worked with choreographers such as; Yoshihisa Arai in “Appalachian Spring”, Mark Godden in works titled “Return, Return Again” and “Conjuring Louis” and Lauren Carey in “The End and Again” which was also performed with Ballet Florida in their 2020 VISION.
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Natalia continued her training at Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music, where she studied under esteemed faculty including Kyra Nichols, Michael Vernon, and Sarah Wroth. While at IU, she performed featured roles in several world premieres, including Sasha Janes’s The Nutcracker as Marie/Sugarplum and A Star on the Rise by Doug Fullington and Phil Chan. She graduated in 2024 with a Bachelor of Science in Ballet Performance and an Outside Field in Art History.
Natalia joined GRB as an apprentice for the 2024–2025 season and was later promoted to company dancer. She is thrilled to begin her second professional season with GRB.
Josué was born in Cuba where he began studying ballet at nine in his hometown of Santiago de Cuba. When he was 14, he entered the National Ballet School of Cuba in Havana under the guidance of masters Fernando Alonso and Ramona de Saa. During his time there, he was a successful competitor in the International Ballet Competitions of Havana winning one silver and two gold medals. After graduation, he entered the National Ballet of Cuba under the direction of Prima Ballerina Assoluta Alicia Alonso. After only two years with the company, he earned the title of soloist. He came to the United States permanently soon after where he joined the Studio Company of the Washington Ballet.
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In 2014, he joined the former Ballet San Jose under the direction of ballet legend Jose Manuel Carreño. Jose is a founding member of Dimensions Dance Theatre where he collaborated with well-known choreographers such as Septime Webre, Tara Reid, Vicente Nebrada, and Yanis Pikieris.
Talia grew up in Agoura Hills, California. She began her ballet training at age 5 with California Dance Theatre, where she trained under Kim Maselli, Colleen O’Callaghan, Patrick Frantz, Romy Karz, and Francine Kessler. In 2018, Talia attended Kansas City Ballet School’s summer intensive on a full scholarship and was invited to join their Daytime program under the direction of Grace Holmes. After one year in KCB’s school, she was asked to join Kansas City Ballet as a trainee. While in KCB’s trainee program, Talia had the opportunity to perform in Devon Carney’s productions of The Nutcracker and Swan Lake. In addition, Talia performed the second solo in Vectors, choreographed by Parrish Maynard as well as the Nutcracker Grand Pas de Deux, Black Swan Pas de Deux, and Four Little Swans in various outreach performances.
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In 2018 and 2019 Talia placed 2nd at YAGP in the senior classical division. She has also attended summer intensives with the Joffrey Ballet (New York,) Ellisons Ballet, American Ballet Theatre (New York,) and the Tiler Peck summer intensive.
Ahna Lipchik trained and performed with the Milwaukee Ballet School and later attended the University of North Carolina School of the Arts. While in school, she competed at Youth America Grand Prix and World Ballet Competition, earning high marks, winning best choreography at both, and an invitation to perform in the World Ballet Competition’s final gala performance. Ahna has since performed as a company dancer with San Diego Ballet, State Street Ballet, Indianapolis Ballet, and as a guest artist with various schools and companies across the country. She has had the pleasure of dancing featured roles in works by Kevin Jenkins, Kassandra Taylor Newberry, and Autumn Eckman, and as well as principal roles in ballets by Sir Frederick Ashton, George Balanchine, Marius Petipa, and August Bournonville.
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Ahna has found great fulfillment through teaching, choreographing, and through her inter-arts collaborations, and is excited to jump into her first season with Grand Rapids Ballet.
Yuka was born in Japan where she received her training from Hitomi Takeuchi Ballet School. In 2006, she attended English National Ballet School in the UK where she also danced many soloist roles. Upon graduating, Mario Radacovsky invited her to join the Slovak National Ballet where she danced a variety of roles such as Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux by George Balanchine, Spring lead lady in Four seasons by James Kudelka. Yuka was then invited to join Grand Rapids Ballet in 2011 where she has since danced many principal roles in ballets by George Balanchine (Serenade, Allegro Brilliant, Who Care’s?, Rubies and Four Temperaments) Marius Petipa (Sleeping Beauty, Swan Lake)…
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…Yuri Possokhov (Firebird), Ben Stevensen (Cinderella), Val Caniparoli (Ibsen’s House, The Nutcracker), Christopher Stowell (A Midsummer Night’s Dream), Trey McIntyre (Wild Sweet Love), Adam Hougland (Cold Virtues), Annabelle Lopez Ochoa (Written and Forgotten, Memorias del Dorado, Dangerous Liaisons), Alejandro Cerrudo (Extremely Close), James Sofranko (Romeo & Juliet Balcony Pas de Deux), Nicolas Blanc (Aquatic Hypoxia), Katarzyna Skarpetowska (Off the Canvas), Daniella Rowe (For Pixie), Olivier Wevers (The Sofa, Midsummer), Mario Radakovsky, Jennifer Archibald, David Parsons, Jose Limon, Kirk Peterson, Brian Enos, Sagi Gross, Andrea Schermoly, Norbert De La Cruz and Penny Saunders. Yuka has won many competitions in Japan including NBA All Japan Ballet Competition, Saitama All Japan Dance Competition, UB All Japan Ballet Union Competition, International Ballet Competition in Yokohama, and others. In 2013, Yuka had the honor of performing Olivier Wever’s The Sofa at the Joyce Theatre in New York and reprised her role in Seattle. Yuka performed Le Corsaire Pas de Deux in the gala at The National Theatre in Tokyo and the Pas de Deux from Le Carnaval de Venise in Fukushima. In 2014, Val Caniparoli choreographed Clara on Yuka for the world premiere of The Nutcracker. She also choreographed for Grand Rapids Ballet since 2015 such as Wave, Eriha, Death and Maiden, Tomorrow Never Comes and Chansons de Bilitis. 2021 Virtual season Yuka had the opportunity to choreograph, direct and film her piece “sol and luna” . Her new piece for the Grand Rapids Ballet “Land of Gods” was commissioned for part of the program 2023-24 season. She also was invited to choreograph and stage her piece with Ballet Arkansas, Saint Louis Dance Theatre trainee program and Flint Institute of Music.
Wade Mesecar was raised in Akron, Ohio where he first began training at Nan Klinger’s Excellence in Dance. After being awarded First Place at YAGP Pittsburgh in 2017, he moved to California to train at the San Francisco Ballet School on full scholarship under the direction of Patrick Armand. After graduating in 2021, he moved to Salt Lake City, Utah to continue his training at Ballet West as a Trainee for the 21’-22’ season. He later joined Nashville Ballet as a Second Company Member for two seasons under the direction of Maria Konrad. He joined Grand Rapids Ballet as an Apprentice in 2024 and was then promoted to Company Dancer in 2025.
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Wade has also spent several summers training at San Francisco Ballet, Royal Danish Ballet, Pacific Northwest Ballet, Ballet West, and others. In 2022 he was awarded the Birger Bartholin Scholarship at the Royal Danish Intensive. He has performed the works of Helgi Tomasson, Willam Christensen, George Balanchine, Penny Saunders, Paul Vasterling and others. He is thrilled to return as a Company Dancer for the 2025-2026 season.
Emily Reed is from Monee, Illinois and began dancing when she was three. She studied at Faubourg School of Ballet followed by the Ruth Page Center of the Arts, where she trained under beloved ballet master Larry Long and Birute Barodicaite. Emily attended various summer intensives across the country on scholarship and was one of the first trainees for Joffrey Ballet in Chicago. Emily spent 2010–12 in the Milwaukee Ballet II program where she performed a wide range of repertoire with MBII and in the main company productions. For six seasons Emily was with the Minnesota Ballet dancing such roles as Lucy in Dracula, Titania in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Aurora in Sleeping Beauty, and George Balanchine’s Who Cares? and Tarantella before joining the Grand Rapids Ballet in 2018.
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Some of her favorite performances with GRB include Trey McIntyre’s Wild Sweet Love, Clara in Val Caniparoli’s The Nutcracker, Alejandro Cerrudo’s Extremely Close and one of the principals in Adam Hougland’s Cold Virtues. Original works Emily had the pleasure of being a part of include Darrell Grand Moultrie’s Three Offerings, Danielle Rowe’s November, and James Sofranko’s Two Tangos.
Claudia Rhett is from Nashville, Tennessee and started her dance training at a young age. She attended summer intensives on scholarship at the School of American Ballet, Pacific Northwest Ballet and The Chautauqua Institution, where she performed with Nashville Ballet and Charlotte Ballet. Claudia attended Indiana University Ballet Theatre as a member of IU’s Hutton Honors College and graduated in 2020 with Distinction, earning a B.S. in Ballet with an Outside Field in Business Studies.
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Her most notable performances while at IU were soloist and principal roles in works by George Balanchine, Martha Graham, Sasha Janes, Mark Morris, Antony Tudor, and Twyla Tharp. Claudia joined Grand Rapids Ballet as an Apprentice in 2020 and was promoted to Company Artist in 2022. She has since performed in works by Jennifer Archibald, George Balanchine, Andy Blankenbuehler, Val Caniparoli, Devon Carney, Darrell Grand Moultrie, Adam Hougland, Lar Lubovitch, Trey McIntyre, Penny Saunders, Katarzyna Skarpetowska, James Sofranko, Ben Stevenson, Christopher Stowell, Septime Webre. Some of her favorite roles have been in Berceuse by Penny Saunders, Sinfonia Concertante by Yuka Oba-Muschiana, the Winter Fairy in Ben Stevenson’s Cinderella, and the Dark Angel in George Balanchine’s Serenade.
Claudia created her first work, Sunday in the Park, for GRB’s 2024 Jumpstart Program and looks forward to choreographing more in the future. She has been teaching for 10 years and loves finding new ways to inspire the next generation of dancers, both in the Grand Rapids community and beyond.
Originally from Ann Arbor, Michigan, Isabella first trained at Ballet Chelsea under Wendi Dubois before earning a scholarship to Miami City Ballet’s pre-professional program. After graduation, she continued her development as a trainee for Cincinnati Ballet where she danced in numerous company productions including the roles of snow and flowers in The Nutcracker and the swan corps in Swan Lake. In 2021, Isabella joined Ballet Austin as a Butler fellow and was promoted to Ballet Austin’s second company the following year. She performed in multiple corps roles in Steven Mill’s Nutcracker, Swan Lake, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Cinderella, and the acclaimed Light/ The Holocaust and Humanity Project.
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Isabella also had the opportunity to dance the role of Russian Demi soloist in George Balanchine’s Serenade as well as interpreted the lead role of Maria in Maria and the Mouse Deer, a children’s ballet based on a Filipino folk tale. Isabella is thrilled to be joining Grand Rapids Ballet as a company member and is eager to work under the direction of Artistic Director, James Sofranko as well as with the talented dancers of GRB.
Rena Takahashi began her training at Hitomi Takeuchi Ballet in Japan when she was 3 years old. At 16, Rena was offered a full scholarship at The Rock School for Dance Education. While at The Rock School for Dance Education, Rena appeared in numerous performances and workshops including The Nutcracker, Flames of Paris and Paquita and Don Quixote. Rena has placed Top 12 at The Youth America Grand Prix Final several times and has also won numerous regional First Place awards in both Classical and Contemporary categories.
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Furthering her training with summer courses and short term studies, Rena attended Academie Princess Grace, Canada’s Royal Winnipeg Ballet School, the Australian Ballet School and the Dutch National Ballet Academy, all on full scholarship. Rena has also returned to Hitomi Takeuchi Ballet as a teacher and guest performer, dancing in a variety of classical and contemporary work.
Nigel began dancing at age 10 with The Academy of Dance in his hometown of Savannah, Georgia. In 2013, he became a trainee with Next Generation Ballet, where performed in the conservatory’s own productions as well as with Opera Tampa and the Florida Orchestra. He went on to train with BalletMet on a full scholarship, where he performed and rehearsed alongside the company in shows such as The Great Gatsby and The Nutcracker. Since he started working with the Grand Rapids Ballet in 2015, he has been a part of tours to Houghton, Petoskey, St. Louis, and Seattle, and performed in pieces such as Paul Taylor’s Company B, Alejandro Cerrudo’s Extremely Close, and Twyla Tharp’s In the Upper Room.
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In his time with the company he has also had the privilege of working with choreographers such as Olivier Wevers, Jennifer Archibald, Dani Rowe, and resident choreographer with the Grand Rapids Ballet, Penny Saunders, among others. His first work, Errant Thoughts, debuted on the company in 2019, and he has since choreographed several works on the company as a part of their Jumpstart program and for outreach performances.
Tristan was born in New York City and was raised in the Bay Area. He began dancing at the age of 9 and attended the Joffrey summer intensives in New York on scholarship. He later attended the Ruth Asawa School of Performing Arts High School in San Francisco under Elvia Marta and Andrea Hinman while training at the Academy of Ballet San Francisco under Zory Karah and Richard Gibson.
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After high school, he joined the Boston Ballet School’s inaugural Graduate Program under Kathleen Mitchell, while also studying with Peter Stark, Margaret Tracey, Igor Burlak, and Andrea Long. There, he performed in Boston Ballet’s Duke Ellington’s “The Gift” and learned repertoire by Jorma Elo. While in Boston, Tristan worked on a solo with choreographer Cathy Marston for Ballet Unleashed’s first creative project, Switchback, a collaborative dance film project with other schools around the world. After he joined BalletMet 2 under Edwaard Liang, where he performed pieces such as Donald McKayle’s Rainbow Round My Shoulder and David Nixon’s Dracula as well as Liang’s Mumurations, Tributary, Cinderella, Dorothy and the Prince of Oz, Giselle, and Swan Lake.
In 2023, Tristan was selected to be a part of the USA International Ballet Competition (USAIBC) held in Jackson, Mississippi where he performed a Pas de Deux from Satanella as well as Edwaard Liang’s Symphonic Dances. He was a part of Amy Seiwert’s final season of SKETCH 13: LUCKY, being a part of unique and original pieces from choreographers Hélène Simoneau and Trey McIntyre.
Rheya Shano grew up in the Boston area and trained at The Brookline Ballet School under the direction of Trinidad Vives and Parren Ballard.
As a student, she participated in numerous ballet competitions — most notably, the USA IBC in 2018, where she was a Bronze medal prize winner, and Prix de Lausanne in 2019.
In 2019, she went on to dance in Tulsa Ballet’s second company, and then danced as a freelance artist in the Boston area before joining Grand Rapids Ballet.
Will was born in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and raised in New Orleans, Louisiana, where at age 12, he told his parents he wanted to “try ballet.” Soon after, he accepted a full scholarship to train year-round with the American Ballet Theatre Gillespie School. During COVID, he joined the Houston Ballet Academy’s “ballet bubble” to continue year-round training and graduated from the Academy in 2023. In addition to performing in main stage Houston Ballet and Academy productions, Will has been a featured guest in lead roles with Richter Ballet, Victoria Ballet, and Ballet Taos, including creating original works with New York City Ballet’s Jock Soto. He is thankful to his parents and sister for their fierce support of his ballet ambitions.
Originally from Little Rock, Arkansas, Nathan began his training at the age of 13 at the Arkansas Academy of Dance. He attended summer training programs such at Ballet West, Joffrey Ballet, and Long Beach Ballet. In 2013, Nathan graduated from the University of Oklahoma, where he received a Bachelor’s of Fine Arts in Ballet Performance. Nathan then moved to Nashville, Tennessee, dancing for the Nashville Ballet for four season. He has performed in notable works by Christopher Wheeldon, Jiří Kylián, Jennifer Archibald, Trey McIntyre, Val Caniparoli, Danielle Rowe, and Yuri Possokhov.
Annaliesa Gowe
Charleston, SC
Madison Bruns
Reno, NV
Delaney Hart
Houston, TX
Carly Jones
Lincroft, NJ
Axel Rickard
Denver, CO
Natalie Taylor
San Jose, CA
Gabriel Weiner
Indianapolis, IN
Jaelyn Anderson
Minneapolis, MN
Maia Atzemis
Cleveland, OH
Emma Blake
Belvidere, NJ
Aurora Chernis
San Francisco, CA
Ansley Hynes
Orlando, FL
Carol Mahan
Charlotte, NC
Lillian Munson
Wynnewood, PA
Carter Waters
Hagerstown, MD
