THE NEW PBT: As was previously announced, Julia Erickson and Alexandra Kochis are moving up the roster to become principal dancers and Eva Trapp has been promoted to soloist. But there are five new corps members to replace principal dancers Maribel Modrono, Christopher Rendall-Jackson and Daisuke Takeuchi and soloist Kaori Ogasawara who left at the end of last season. A Cuban couple, Cynthia Castillo and Damien Martinez, will join PBT from Columbia Classical Ballet in South Carolina. Both trained at the prestigious National Ballet School in Cuba. Japanese dancer Hiroyuki Nagasawa comes to Pittsburgh via The Australian Ballet School where he graduated last December with an Advanced Diploma of Dance with Distinction. Boston Ballet II member Caitlyn Peabody was a little closer and joins a growing number of ex-Bostonites at PBT. And Amanda Cochrane is literally home-grown — she will jump from PBT’s own school.
THE NEW ALLOY: Dance Alloy has undergone many blends of dance in its 30-plus years of existence. It has gone from collaborative, with the likes of Elsa Limbach (who later led the Alloy alone) and Susan Gillis-Kruman, who still lend their support, to Jerry Pearson, Mark Taylor and, in its most recent incarnation with “Theater” added to the title and plenty of dance drama to underscore that, Beth Corning. Now Penn Hills native, former Dayton Contemporary Dance Company principal and DAT education director Greer Reed-Jones is taking the reins. Reed-Jones will have quite a balancing act as artistic, education and outreach director. She also has a new “baby,” the August Wilson Dance Company and the full support of leading jazz trumpet player and husband, Sean Jones, who also plays in Wynton Marsalis’ Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra. I think the pair will be a true power couple for the arts.
Recent Comments