SUMMER 2025 BALLET INTENSIVE
Grand Rapids Ballet School’s Summer 2025 Ballet Intensive, running from June 23 to July 25, provides students with the opportunity to refine their technique and artistry through daily classes. The program includes training in ballet, contemporary, pointe, repertoire, and variations, along with specialized classes in Progressing Ballet Technique®, jazz, cardio training, and more. Students will also have the unique experience of working with GRB Company dancers and guest faculty. Students will have the opportunity to perform in a showcase at the end of the summer.
OUR SUMMER 2025 FACULTY INCLUDES
Attila Mosolygo
Grand Rapids Ballet School Director
Biography
Attila was born in Kisvarda, Hungary. He received his early training at the National Ballet Institute in Budapest. After moving to the United States, he joined the Joffrey Ballet School. He has performed as a guest artist with Mobile Ballet, Bravo Dance, Harrisburg Ballet, Ballet Theatre of Chicago and the Joffrey Ballet of Chicago. Attila spent sixteen years as a company dancer and eight years as a Ballet Master at Grand Rapids Ballet. As a company dancer, a few of his notable roles include The Prodigal Son in George Balanchine’s Prodigal Son, Max in Septime Webre’s Where The Wild Things Are, Charlie Chaplin in Gordon Peirce Schmidt’s Flickers, Tibalt in Mario Radacovsky’s Romeo and Juliet, and Melancholic in George Balanchine’s The Four Temperaments. Attila became the Director of the Grand Rapids Ballet School Junior Company in 2011 and School Director in 2017. For the Junior Company, Attila has choreographed Snow White, Peter Pan, Beauty and the Beast, Carnival of the Animals, Mother Goose Nursery Rhymes, and The Wizard of Oz.
James Sofranko
Grand Rapids Ballet Artistic Director
Biography
A dancer for 18 years at San Francisco Ballet, James Sofranko has danced in numerous works and world premieres by choreographers such as Helgi Tomasson, Val Caniparoli, William Forsythe, Liam Scarlett, Justin Peck, Alexei Ratmansky, Edwaard Liang, Lar Lubovitch, Wayne McGregor, Mark Morris, Julia Adam, Yuri Possokhov, Christopher Wheeldon, Paul Taylor, Arthur Pita, Stanton Welch, Jorma Elo, Hans Van Manen, Jiri Kylian, John Neumeier, James Kudelka, Lila York, Kenneth Macmillan, George Balanchine, and Jerome Robbins. Some of his favorite roles include ‘Mercutio’ in Tomasson’s Romeo and Juliet, ‘Eros’ in Mark Morris’ Sylvia, ‘Bugle Boy’ in Taylor’s Company B, and the second sailor in Robbins’ Fancy Free.
He received an Isadora Duncan award (“Izzie”) for Best Performance in 2011 in Yuri Possokhov’s Classical Symphony.
James was featured in the principal role of ‘Eddie’ in the Broadway touring company of Movin’ Out, a musical choreographed by Twyla Tharp to the songs of Billy Joel.
In 2012, Sofranko co-founded DanceFAR (Dance For A Reason), an annual benefit performance and after-party that brings the Bay Area dance community together to support the work of the Cancer Prevention Institute of California (CPIC). In 2014, he received the Inspiration Award from CPIC. To date, DanceFAR has raised over $450,000 in support of their programs and initiatives to prevent cancer.
In 2014, Sofranko formed a new contemporary repertory company in San Francisco, SFDanceworks. The first two seasons have played to sold out houses and the company has presented works by Alejandro Cerrudo, Lar Lubovitch, José Limón, and world premieres by Penny Saunders, James Graham, Danielle Rowe, Dana Genshaft, and James Sofranko.
Sofranko has also created many original choreographic works, including two for the San Francisco Ballet School Trainee program, SFDanceworks, Long Beach Ballet, and Marin Dance Theater. James also works as a repetiteur for Yuri Possokhov, resident choreographer for San Francisco Ballet, and has staged his ballets on Cincinnati Ballet, Colorado Ballet, and San Francisco Ballet.
Along with his duties to Grand Rapids Ballet, Sofranko will continue to develop SFDanceworks, currently presenting a San Francisco season every summer.
Andi Salazar
Contemporary Instructor
June 23-27
Biography
Born and raised in Santiago, Chile, Andi is a choreographer, dance educator, performer, and sociologist with a multifaceted career. She got her BA degree in Sociology at UC of Chile, the same place where she founded Kazé Dance, a Contemporary dance company where she was the Artistic Director and Choreographer for eight years. In 2017, Andi relocated to the San Francisco Bay Area, California, and obtained her MFA in Dance and Choreography from Mills College. There, she also had the opportunity to perform for choreographers such as Joe Landini and Molissa Fenley and showed her work with her Dance Company “A Pulso Dance Project” at many festivals around the State. During her years in the Bay, Andi also worked as a faculty member at the Bay Area Ballet Conservatory, Shawl Anderson Dance Center, and as a Teaching Artist at Alonzo King Lines Ballet Dance Center. In 2023, she relocated to New York to keep her studies and joined the Master’s degree “Teaching Dance in the Profession: ABT Ballet Pedagogy” at New York University while working as a Teaching Artist for ABT and as an assistant at the ABT JKO School. During her time in NYC, she also did an internship at Peridance Contemporary Dance Company with Igal Perry as an administrative assistant and worked as a Contemporary faculty member for Maria Kowroski’s New Jersey Ballet Summer Intensive. In 2024, she moved to Michigan, where she has taught at UofM Dance Department, Western Michigan University, Alma College, and Grand Rapids Ballet, as well as choreographed for Eastern Michigan University and Grand Valley State University.
Michael Wagley
Ballet Technique & Men’s Class
July 14-18
Biography
Born in Columbus, Ohio, Michael Wagley trained at the Grand Rapids Ballet School, San Francisco Ballet School, and as a member of Houston Ballet II. He began dancing professionally with Ballet San Jose and went on to work at The Royal Ballet of Flanders (Belgium), Staatsballett Berlin (Germany), and Universal Ballet Company (Korea).
Since retiring from a performing career in 2017, Michael has worked as a ballet teacher and holds RAD Registered Teacher Status as well as a BA in Dance Education from the Royal Academy of Dance in London. He has taught at both the professional and university level as an artistic staff member at Incheon City Ballet and Hansung University and is proud to have worked with students now dancing in professional ballet schools and companies across Europe, Asia, and North America. He has also served as a ballet competition jury member at the World Ballet Trial in Malaysia.
In addition to his current work as a teacher at Jose Mateo Ballet Theatre, Michael has also taught at Boston Ballet and Northeast Youth Ballet and is pursuing a Master’s degree in Dance Education.
Amber Neumann
Ballet Techique, Pointe, & Variations
June 30 – July 4
Biography
Amber Neumann is an accomplished dancer, choreographer, and teaching artist with an international career spanning performance, education, and creative collaboration. She currently teaches with the Joffrey Ballet and works as a guest teacher and choreographer across the U.S. and Germany. Formerly Ballet Master and Interim Director at Ballett Hagen, Amber has also held leadership roles with Staatsballett Karlsruhe and Dance Aspen.
As a performer, she danced leading roles in works by William Forsythe, Wayne McGregor, Jiří Kylián, George Balanchine, and Twyla Tharp, and has created original choreography for ballet, opera, and theater. Amber is a New York International Ballet Competition winner and a Youth America Grand Prix Grand Prix Award recipient.
Michael Kelly
Contemporary
July 21-22
Biography
Michael Kelly was born in Kalamazoo, Michigan where he began his dance training at West Michigan Dance Center and the Grand Rapids Ballet School. He later earned his B.F.A. in Dance from NYU Tisch School of the Arts in New York City. Upon graduation, Michael embarked on an international performance career, starting with the world-renowned Feerie at the Moulin Rouge in Paris. During his time in France, he was featured as a Can-Can Soloist in La Grand Soirée à Fontainebleau, a special televised New Year’s Eve celebration. His additional credits include performing with Rambert Contemporary Dance Company in London, the White Light Festival at Lincoln Center, the Bright Lights Gala at the Joyce Theater, and Extravaganza the Show in Las Vegas. Currently based in Las Vegas, Michael is a performer in WOW: A Vegas Spectacular at the Rio Hotel and Casino. While working with Rambert, he toured the UK, showcasing works by renowned choreographers Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, Jermaine Spivey, and Andrea Miller. In 2020, he collaborated with 59 Productions on the creation of a groundbreaking show for the Sheikh Jaber Al-Ahmad Cultural Center in Kuwait. In addition to performing, Michael is a passionate educator and choreographer. He has taught and created works for institutions such as the Grand Rapids Ballet School, Live Arts Collective, and the Las Vegas Academy of the Arts. Michael has a passion for teaching young dancers, helping them bridge the gap between their training and the professional world
Yuka Oba-Muschiana
Grand Rapids Ballet Company Dancer
Biography
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), 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.
James Cunningham
Grand Rapids Ballet Company Dancer
Biography
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. 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.
Sarah Marley
Grand Rapids Ballet Company Dancer
Biography
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. 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.
Nigel Tau
Grand Rapids Ballet Company Dancer
Biography
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. 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.
Julian Gan
Grand Rapids Ballet Company Dancer
Biography
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.
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.
