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 courtesy of Ray Nard Imagemaker. Headshots courtesy of Rebecca Humes Photography.
Rowan Allegra is a third generation ballet dancer and was raised in the Bay Area. She received her primary ballet training 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 both Texas Ballet Theater and Indianapolis Ballet before coming to Grand Rapids. Some of her most cherished career experiences include Ohad Naharin’s Minus 16, George Balanchine’s Sonatine, and Valse Fantaisie, Harald Lander’s Etudes, and Aurora in Marius Petipa’s The Sleeping Beauty. Rowan is thrilled and grateful to be joining the Grand Rapids Ballet this season!
Isaac is from Salt Lake City, Utah and began his ballet training at Ballet West Academy. He then studied at Salt Lake Ballet Conservatory, The University of Utah Ballet Department with Conrad Ludlow and Mikhail Tchoupakov, and the Kirov Academy of Ballet in Washington DC with Nikolai Kabaniaev. Isaac attended summer courses on scholarship at The School of American Ballet, Kaatsbaan, PNB, Ellison Ballet, and Miami City Ballet School. Isaac received a full scholarship to attend the Professional Division at Pacific Northwest Ballet in Seattle where he performed with the company.
James Cunningham is originally from Little Hocking, Ohio. His early dance education began at age 10 from 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. Some highlights have been dancing the roles of Mercutio from Romeo and Juliet, Escamillo from Carmen, Country Boy from Fancy Free, Principal Pas de Deux from Rubies, the Mad Hatter from Alice in Wonderland, Puck from A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Kashchei from Firebird, Waltz Boy from Serenade, and the Prince from Cinderella.
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James has had the pleasure to work with and collaborate on new choreography with many choreographers; Adam Hougland, Penny Saunders, Darrell Grand Moultrie, Jennifer Archibald, Justin Peck, Ma Cong, Annabelle Lopez-Ochoa, Septime Webre, Trey McIntyre, Danielle Rowe, Val Caniparoli, Nicolo Fonte, Katarzyna Skarpetowska, Yuri Possokhov, Christoper Stowell, Victoria Morgan, and James Sofranko.
Born in Blackpool, in the northwest of England, Brodie Donougher’s first love from a very early age was gymnastics and he competed in many regional and national competitions with the Garstang School of Gymnastics. The confidence and flexibility he gained as a gymnast led to an offer from the Royal Ballet for Brodie to train as a Junior Associate at age nine. In 2014, at age 11, Brodie added acting and singing to his resume when he began a two-year run (144 performances) in the title role of “Billy” in Billy Elliot the Musical on London’s West End. During that time, he also performed at the Olivier Awards (UK’s equivalent of the Tony Awards), representing Billy Elliot for Best West End Musical.
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He also performed “Billy” on various television shows, including “This Morning”, a British daytime magazine programme, and on the “Late Late Show” in Ireland. After Billy, Brodie resumed ballet training at Elmhurst Ballet School, in Birmingham, England, where he also trained in jazz, contemporary, drama, and flamenco. Brodie appeared in a Land Rover/Jaguar car commercial, he was cast in Steven Spielberg’s 2018 “Ready Player One”, and was featured in a BBC documentary, “One Day that Changed My Life.” In 2020, Brodie received a full scholarship to attend San Francisco Ballet School in San Francisco, California; in 2021, he was promoted to Trainee. Brodie was thrilled to return to the stage, performing in the San Francisco Ballet Trainee Tour, and in Helgi Tomasson’s The Nutcracker (Russian Dancer & Dragon), Don Quixote (Seguidilla & Gitano), and Swan Lake (Court).
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.
Yuko began her ballet training at the Reiko Yamamoto Ballet School in 1998. She was chosen as a candidate for the prestigious Prix de Lausanne in Switzerland in 2011 and from this competition, she was awarded a scholarship to further her training at the John Cranko School in Stuttgart, Germany. Yuko won 1st Prize in All Japan Ballet Competition in 2008 and 2009. She has participated in “Opto dance project 2013 and 2015” by Rei Watanabe, “Ballet Creation 2017” by Megumi Nakamura, World Ballet Gala “K Ballet World 2018” dancing Don Quixote with Bakhiyar Adamzhan, Le Corsaire with Daniil Simkin. Nutcracker The Australian Conservatoire of Ballet 2018.
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...
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soon after where he joined the Studio Company of the Washington Ballet. 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.
Ms. Marley was born on St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands, training in the Cecchetti Method with Sonja Dickerson-Faust and Heidi Wright. She continued her training under the direction of Peter Stark with the Orlando Ballet School and was accepted into the trainee program at age fourteen, performing in the corps de ballet alongside the professionals. Ms. Marley was invited by the legendary Fernando Bujones to join the company in 2004 and danced with the company for the next six seasons. That same year she became part of the Orlando Ballet School faculty, teaching various levels and adult ballet classes regularly...
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Ms. Marley has also danced with the San Diego Ballet, Company C Contemporary Ballet, the San Diego Opera, Chicago Repertory Ballet, and Smuin Ballet. Through the course of her career, Ms. Marley has performed soloist and principal roles in classical and contemporary works by Marius Petipa, George Balanchine, Twyla Tharp, Michael Smuin, Maurice Causey, Helen Pickett, Bruce Marks, Amy Seiwert, Patrick Corbin, Kenneth von Heidecke, and Garrett Ammon among others.
Alexandra trained under Ana Lobe in Ohio until 2008 when she joined Nashville Ballet. She danced with the company until 2018, during which time she performed principal roles in Nashville’s Nutcracker, Sleeping Beauty, Swan Lake, Dracula and Cinderella. She also performed leading roles in ballets by Christopher Bruce, Jiri Kylian, and Paul Vasterling, and had the pleasure of working with Christopher Wheeldon, Brian Enos, James Gregg, Darrell Moultrie, Gina Patterson, Sarah Slipper, James Sewell, and Christopher Stuart. In 2018 she joined the Grand Rapids Ballet. Performance highlights have included Principal Girl in Balanchine’s Allegro Brillante, Clara in Val Caniparoli’s The Nutcracker, Mrs. Alving in Ibsen’s House...
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and the ensemble of Trey McIntyre’s Wild Sweet Love. She was honored to perform two world premieres by James Sofranko, Ballade and The Sweet By and By, set on her. In the summer of 2016, performing a pas de deux, she represented the USA at the 27th International Ballet Competition in Varna, Bulgaria. Previous solo competitions include the 2010 USA International Ballet Competition in Jackson, Mississippi, and the 2011 Boston International Ballet Competition. Besides teaching for the past 10 years, Alexandra coaches and choreographs for both competitive and pre-pro ballet schools.
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)...
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Marius Petipa (Sleeping Beauty, Swan Lake), 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”.
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 attended summer intensives on scholarship at the School of American Ballet, Pacific Northwest Ballet and The Chautauqua Institution. As an Apprentice at Chautauqua, she performed with Nashville Ballet and Charlotte Ballet and was coached by Patricia McBride for the role of the Dark Angel in Balanchine’s Serenade. Claudia attended Indiana University Ballet Theatre on scholarship and graduated in 2020 with Distinction, earning a Bachelor of Science in Ballet with an Outside Field in Business Studies.
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She was a member of IU’s Hutton Honors College, and a teacher for the IU Pre-College Ballet Program. Her most notable performances while at IU were soloist and principal roles in George Balanchine‘s Walpurgisnacht, Martha Graham’s Diversion of Angels, Mark Morris‘s Sandpaper Ballet, Antony Tudor’s Dark Elegies, and Twyla Tharp’s Deuce Coupe. Claudia joined Grand Rapids Ballet as an Apprentice in 2020 and has since performed corps de ballet roles as well as Arabian/Coffee in The Nutcracker, the Winter Fairy in Ben Stevenson’s Cinderella and the Dark Angel in George Balanchine’s Serenade.
Nigel began dancing at age 10 with The Academy of Dance in his home town of Savannah, Georgia. In 2013, he became a trainee with Next Generation Ballet, and performed in the school’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 company in 2015, he has been a part of tours to Kalamazoo, St. Louis, and Seattle, and performed in pieces such as Paul Taylor’s Company B...
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Annabelle Lopez Ochoa’s Dangerous Liaisons, and Penny Saunders’ The Happy Price and Other Wilde Tales. In his time with the company has also had the privilege of working with choreographers such as Brian Enos, Jennifer Archibald, Dani Rowe, and Bruce Wells, among others. His first work, Errant Thoughts, debuted on the company in 2019.
Julia Turner began her training at The Academy of Dance Arts (Downers Grove, IL) and continued at Joffrey Ballet’s Academy of Dance in Chicago. She attended summer programs on scholarship at Pacific Northwest Ballet and Miami City Ballet. In the Chicago Youth America Grand Prix, Julia received first place in the contemporary category and second place in the classical category. Julia was a scholarship student in Pacific Northwest Ballet’s Professional Division for two years; during this time, she performed corps roles with the company in The Nutcracker, Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Giselle. After completing this program, Julia joined Tulsa Ballet II...
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where she performed in original works by Ma Cong and Norbert de la Cruz III and with the main company. After one year in Tulsa, Julia joined Grand Rapids Ballet as a company member for two seasons under the artistic direction of Patricia Barker, where she performed featured roles in works by George Balanchine, Annabelle Lopez Ochoa, Paul Taylor, and others. Julia then joined Ballet San Antonio, where she danced for two seasons, performing in ballets such as Rubies by George Balanchine and in original productions by Willy Shives, and Bruce Wells.
Adriana is originally from Puerto Rico, and started her training at the age of 3 after her family moved to Illinois. She trained at two different studios over 12 years, and competed and placed in the Top 12 at YAGP, in both classical and contemporary categories. Adriana attended Grand Rapids Ballet’s Summer Intensive on scholarship in 2015. From there, Patricia Barker invited her to join the professional company. While dancing under Patricia, Adriana worked with many renowned choreographers such as Robyn Mineko Williams, Danielle Rowe, Annabelle Lopez Ochoa and Bruce Wells. She performed in several classical ballets, Balanchine’s Serenade being among her favorite...
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Under the direction of James Sofranko, Adriana has had the honor of performing works such as Testimony by Penny Saunders and Trey McIntyre’s Wild Sweet Love, and had the pleasure of working with Alejandro Cerrudo for his work Extremely Close.
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.
Evan Arredondo grew up in San Diego, California where he began his ballet journey at the age of 11 with private lessons. When he turned 15, his love of the art form resulted in him pursuing the hobby more seriously, training during the day with Lynch Dance Institute while completing online school to accommodate his education. During Evan’s time in their Professional Experience Program, he performed various roles in their "Mixed Nuts" including Spanish and Cavalier. Following the year and a half spent there, Evan started attending Golden State Ballet Academy under the direction of Raul Salamanca and Cindy Huang.
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Evan was offered many opportunities to perform in the subsequent two years with them, exploring his artistry with mentorship from Andrew Brader as well as in brand new works such as “Last Warning” choreographed by Andie Schermoly. He worked to develop his technical side through classical repertoire such as a staging of “Raymonda” and in “The Nutcracker,” where he was given the role of the Nutcracker Prince. Evan also performed and was recognized at the international ballet competition Youth America Grand Prix in which his ensemble placed in the Top 24 globally (2022). Some of his favorite memories come from the range of prestigious summer intensives he has attended including San Francisco Ballet, Ballet Austin, Boston Ballet, and most recently the highly selective Choreographic Workshop at Ballet West. Evan is excited about his first company contract with Grand Rapids Ballet and is also very enthusiastic about their 2022-2023 season.
Mackenzie Davis grew up in Frederick, Maryland where she began her dance training at age 4. She started her love for dance at 24/7 Dance Studio in Frederick, Maryland where she learned all styles of dance such as jazz, contemporary, tap, hip-hop, ballet, and musical theater. She then trained at City Dance School and Conservatory in Bethesda, Maryland under the direction of Lorraine Audeoud Spiegler and Ballet Master Stanislav Issaev. Mackenzie performed many classical and contemporary works in her training, and participated in the Youth America Grand Prix ballet competition where she placed 1st in the contemporary category and Top 12 in the classical category.
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To further her training and evolve her love for ballet, Mackenzie attended summer intensives at the Joffrey Ballet School in Chicago and Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre. Mackenzie joined Grand Rapids Ballet for the 2021/2022 season as a Trainee. As a Trainee she performed many roles in Val Caniparoli’s Nutcracker which include Snow and Flower Corps, Sugar Plum Doll, and Marzipan. She also performed as Waltz Corps in Ben Stevenson’s Cinderella, Corps Member in George Balanchine’s Serenade, Fairy Corps in Christopher Stowell’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Corps Member in Isaac Aoki’s Soireé, and Little Red Riding Hood in Artistic Director James Sofranko‘s Spring Break for Kids. Mackenzie became an Apprentice with the company in 2023.
Born in Carmel, Indiana, Avery Held, began her ballet training at the Russian Ballet Academy of Indiana under the direction of Alyona Yakovelea-Randall and continued training with Jane Hachiya-Weiner at Ballet Theatre of Carmel. Avery then went to Walnut Hill School for the Arts and trained under Micheal Owen for the four years she was there. Following Walnut Hill, she studied and performed with BalletMet in Columbus, OH as a trainee, for two years. Avery then moved to Michigan and joined Grand Rapids Ballet in 2020 as a trainee.
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Since then, she performed as a Corps Member in Artistic Director James Sofranko‘s Precious Lord, Snow and Flower Corps in Val Caniparoli’s Nutcracker, Waltz Corps in Ben Stevenson’s Cinderella, Corps Member in Isaac Aoki’s Soireé, Little Red Riding Hood in Artistic Director James Sofranko‘s Spring Break for Kids, Fairy Corps in Christopher Stowell’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Asprin Girls and Little Russian Girls in George Balanchine’s Serenade. This is her third season with Grand Rapids Ballet.
Arianna Hughlett, a Kansas City native, began her training at Kansas City Ballet School and studied under Racheal Nye. She received additional formative training at Kansas School of Classical Ballet from Juan Pablo Trujillo and attended summer programs at The Royal Ballet School, Pacific Northwest Ballet School, and San Francisco Ballet School.
In 2019, she joined Boston Ballet School as a Trainee and entered the Graduate Program a season later, training with Kathleen Mitchell and Peter Stark. While at BBS, she performed with Boston Ballet in the company’s productions of The Nutcracker, Giselle, and Chaconne as well as multiple featured roles in Boston Ballet II performances, including works by George Balanchine, Marius Petipa, Jorma Elo, and Mikko Nissinen.
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Additionally, she participated in Boston Ballet School’s Student Choreographic Project and had the opportunity to be mentored by Helen Pickett. As a result of the SCP, she was invited by Margaret Tracey and Mikko Nissinen to premiere her work, Quartet, at the Citizens Bank Opera House as the first student-choreographed ballet in Next Generation in 2022. She has choreographed other works for Boston Ballet and Boston Ballet II, including a work for Boston Ballet’s virtual season as part of The Gift, titled Chinoiserie.
Arianna joined Grand Rapids Ballet as an Apprentice in 2022.
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....
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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. 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.
Nia grew up in Framingham, Massachusetts, where she began her ballet training at age four with Boston Ballet School. She began homeschooling in 8th grade to continue her training at Northeast School of Ballet, and later at Integrarte under the direction of Erica Cornejo and Carlos Molina. In 2020, Nia was accepted into the Professional Division at Pacific Northwest Ballet, where she spent two years, and performed corps de ballet roles with the company in George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker and Kent Stowell’s Swan Lake. In summer 2022, Nia had the opportunity to work with Juliano Nunes, and Alice Klock and Florian Lochner of FLOCK, at Orsolina28 in Italy. She has also attended Summer Programs at Henny Jurriens Studio, BalletX, Arts Umbrella, Pacific Northwest Ballet, San Francisco Ballet School, School of American Ballet, and Bolshoi Ballet Academy (CT).
Isabella Marino began dancing at age nine with Metropolitan Ballet Theater under the direction of Maniya Barredo in Atlanta, Georgia. During her training, she attended Regional Dance America festivals and was awarded several program scholarships. Isabella continued to further her training during summer intensives at Orlando Ballet, Oklahoma City Ballet, Pittsburgh Ballet Theater and Texas Ballet Theater. At 17, she joined Texas Ballet Theater’s professional division. The following year she was promoted to trainee.
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While at Texas Ballet Theater, she got to perform in Ben Stevenson’s The Nutcracker, William Tuckett’s Pinocchio, Tim O’Keefe’s Peter and The Wolf and Ben Stevenson’s The Sleeping Beauty. In 2020, she joined BalletMet’s trainee program and studied under Maria Torija, Dmitri Suslov and Brooke Moore. While there, she danced featured roles in ballets such as George Balanchine’s Western Symphony, Coppelia, and Sleeping Beauty. In 2022, Isabella joined Grand Rapids Ballet as an apprentice.
