Alessia Astro (Latina, Italy) received her early training in Latina, then moved to Rome to study at the Teatro dall’Opera di Roma. Alessia came to the US this past summer for the Princeton Ballet School’s Summer Intensive.

Estelle Botella (Chalons en Champagne, France) started her training in Paris, at the Académie Américaine de Danse de Paris. She first came to Princeton Ballet School for the 2009 Summer Intensive. She has also attended summer programs at Boston Ballet and Nutmeg Conservatory, and has spent the past three years at the Nutmeg Conservatory.

Tullio Catà (Rome, Italy) has trained in Rome with Fabula Saltis and at the Accademia Nazionale di Danza, and in Florence with Balleto di Toscana. He has spent the past two summers at Princeton Ballet School’s Summer Intensives, and is happy to be staying on through the year, having graduated last spring from “liceo” (high school).

Janessa Cornell (Albany, NY) received trained at Nutmeg Conservatory in Torrington, Ct., participating in Summer Intensives with Boston Ballet and Colorado Ballet. For the past three years, she has been dancing with the Roxey Ballet of Lambertville, where her roles included Dewdrop Fairy in “Nutcracker,” and The Fairy Godmother in “Cinderella.” She has been studying at Princeton Ballet School in Douglas Martin’s advanced/professional class for the past few years. Janessa is also an accomplished seamstress, and is helping with costumes for ARB.

Andrea D’Annunzio (Conshohocken, Pennsylvania) recently graduated from Jordan College of Fine Arts at Butler University in Indianapolis, with a B.A. in Dance Pedagogy. Early dance training was with the Metropolitan Ballet Academy in Jenkintown, Pa. Andrea has done summer intensives with Richmond Ballet and with the Paul Taylor Dance Company. While at Butler, she received the Freshman Award (most outstanding freshman dancer) and the Performance Award, as well as being on the Dean’s List.

Shaye Firer (Winnipeg, Canada) was born in Cape Town, South Africa, and raised in Vancouver, Canada. In 2004, she was accepted into the Royal Winnipeg Ballet School’s Professional Division. During the summers, Shaye attended various intensive programs such as The National Ballet of Canada, Alberta Ballet, Kaatsbaan International Dance Centre, Houston Ballet’s Ben Stevenson Academy, and Ellison Ballet. Shaye joined the inaugural class of ARB’s Trainee program and has performed with the company in The Nutcracker, Our Town and Kirk Peterson’s Glazunov Variations.

Carola Goldoni (Rome, Italy) started training in Mirandola, Italy, and then moved to Rome to pursue her studies at the Accademia Nazionale di Danza, and with Fabula Saltis. She has also spent two summers studying ballet in London, with the Royal Ballet School, and with the Central School of Ballet, and three summers attending Princeton Ballet School’s Summer Intensive. Carola recently received her “laurea (Bachelor of Arts) degree in languages (Italian, French, English and Spanish), with honors, from the Libera Universita Maria Ss. Assunta in Rome.

Jacopo Janelli (Tor Vaianica, Italy) has been training for the past nine years with Fabula Saltis in Rome, and with summer study at the Royal Ballet School in London (three summers) and then three summers at Princeton Ballet School.

Shayla Jones (New Brunswick, NJ) has been a student at Princeton Ballet School since childhood. She started dancing with us through American Repertory Ballet’s DANCE POWER project, in affiliation with the New Brunswick Public School system. Shayla has been a member of ARB Workshop for the past several years, and a student in the Professional Training Program of Princeton Ballet School, and has appeared in numerous “Nutcrackers,” as well as “Sleeping Beauty,” “Coppélia,” “Don Quixote,” and “Swan Lake.”

Asuka Kososhi (Iruma, Japan) began her training at the Grand Ballet Academy in Iruma. From there, she studied in the NBA Ballet School in Shintokorozawa. She spent two years,  2008-10, at the Hungarian Dance Academy in Budapest.

Mathilde Labrusse (Paris, France) is in her second year as a Trainee. She began her training at Jennifer Goubé’s European Dance Centre in Paris, and then continued at the Académie Américaine de Danse de Paris. Mathilde first came to Princeton Ballet School for Summer Intensive 2010, and stayed on for the year, dancing with ARB in “Our Town” and “Nutcracker,” and with the school in “Coppélia.”

Miranda Lennox (Rochester, NY) trained at the Hochstein School of Music and Dance in Rochester, NY; The Rock School, in Philadelphia, and at the Cheshire Dance Centre in Cheshire, Connecticut, where she also taught ballet to children. She has participated in summer intensives with BalletMet in Columbus, Ohio, and at the Joffrey School in New York. She has also performed the role of Odette in Swan Lake, and the Fairy Godmother in Cinderella, with the Adirondack Dance Company. Miranda started her training with Princeton Ballet School at the 2011 Summer Intensive.

Kelsey McFalls (Syracuse, NY) received her early training at Dance Center North, in Syracuse. Kelsey has attended summer intensives with the American Ballet Theatre program in Manhattan, and with Alonzo King’s LINES in San Francisco. She was a student at NYU before pausing to pursue the Trainee Program.  This is Kelsey’s second year as a Trainee. Last year, she performed with ARB in “Nutcracker,” “Our Town,” was an understudy for “Eight Jelly Rolls,” and danced with the school in “Coppélia.”

Lesley Mogel (Cinnaminson, NJ) trained at North Carolina School of the Arts, Ballet Workshop New England, and Sandonato School of Ballet. She has appeared in Spanish and Tea with Pennsylvania Ballet’s “Nutcracker,” and as a guest artist in “Nutcracker” (Arabian) and “Graduation Ball” (Pigtail Girl) with Sandonato Ballet.

Valentina Palladino (Cagliari, Italy) received her early training at Balleto Mediterraneo in Sardinia, then moved to Rome two years ago to study at the Accademia Nazionale di Danza. Valentina is enjoying working on “Romeo and Juliet” again—when she was 12, she had the opportunity to be a child extra in Hamburg Ballet’s production in Sardinia, and then when she was 15, she danced the role of Juliet in the Susanna Beltrami production, also in Sardinia.  Valentina began training with Princeton Ballet School at the 2011 Summer Intensive.

Mattia Pallozzi (Rome, Italy) started his training at the Scuola del Teatro dall’Opera di Roma, and then continued at the Accademia Nazionale di Danza in Rome for the next four years. In 2010, he received the Diploma Accademico di Primero Livello in Classical Dance from the Accademia Nazionale di Danza.  Mattia began his studies at Princeton Ballet School with the 2011 Summer Intensive.

Eliana Trenam (Petaluma, California) is a recent graduate of the University of Iowa, with a double B.A. in religious studies and dance, with honors in dance. While at Iowa, she was awarded the Iowa Center for the Arts scholarship as a freshman. Eliana was also awarded a two -year research grant through the Iowa Center for Research by Undergraduates, funding the research which culminated in her honors thesis: “Sylphs and Savages: the Woman Question in Romantic Orientalist Ballet,” which was featured in the magazine of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences of the University of Iowa. Eliana joined us for Summer Intensive 2011. Her pre-college study was at Marin Dance Theatre with Margaret Swarthout.