Dancers
Permanent Guest Artists
Susan and Dallas are well-known to Reno Tahoe audiences as well as their music being featured on NPR, Nova, and the Discovery Channel. Composers, performers, recording artists, and producers, Mazer and Smith have just released their 21st CD, New Times Good Times, which is available for the first time tonight. This CD is done in celebration of their 20th year working together as musicians.
In addition, they are the founders of Healing HealthCare Systems, producing the C.A.R.E. CHANNEL for patient television, which is now serving hospitals in 44 states. Susan was recently featured on ABC’s Good Morning America, in which she was interviewed about their work with hospitals around the country. Susan and Dallas are in their fourth year as the primary founders of the Elder Care Concert Series administered by Sierra Arts Foundation.
Ananda Bena-Weber is a principal dancer artist with the Sierra Nevada Ballet and a founding member. She has danced professionally as a soloist with the Reno Ballet, Perspectives Dance Theatre and Fascinating Rhythm Productions. She has appeared as featured soloist with Sam Weber performing in Morton Gould’s “Concerto for Tap Dancer and Orchestra” throughout the SF Bay Area.
She has appeared in principal roles in several original dance works such as Dreams, Take Me To The River, Dancing In The New Millennium, GSR, Back Street, Laura, Blue Rondo, Armando’s Rumba and classics such as The Nutcracker, Les Sylphides, Romeo and Juliet and Paquita. Ms Bena-Weber is an award winning artist and has performed acting, singing and dancing featured roles in over 30 theater productions in the SF Bay Area.
A gifted choreographer, Ananda has choreographed several works for the professional ballet company, Sierra Nevada Ballet, and for the San Francisco State Drama Department, Peninsula Ballet Theater School Performing Group and San Mateo High School performing arts program. Bena-Weber is a Magna cum Laude graduate of San Francisco State University, has attended Columbia University Masters Program in Drama and studies acting at the Linkleter Center in New York City.
She teaches at Mary Mount College and guest teaches all levels of ballet and related dance classes and acting (without words) throughout the US. She has performed leading acting roles with Nevada Shakespeare Company and has been featured as a Principal dancer with the Sierra Nevada Ballet company since 2001.
Sam Weber is SNB’s First Permanent Guest Artist and is a founding member of the company. He danced with the Joffery Ballet, San Francisco Ballet, Sacramento Ballet, Peninsula Ballet Theatre and The Jazz Tap Ensemble. Besides being a fine ballet dancer, Weber is considered one of the greatest Tap dancers in the world. He is known as “the fastest feet in tap”.
He dances all over the USA and Europe and receives standing ovations and rave reviews wherever he performs. He has done numerous TV appearances (including Mr. Rodgers Neighborhood) and stars in the German film, TWO IN TAILS. He is one of the few tap artists to perform Morton Gould’s Concerto for Tap Dancer and Orchestra throughout the US and Europe. Weber has performed with SNB since 2001.
He was featured in SNB’s 2007 Spring Concert dancing a solo piece of his own choreography, MOZART FUR EIN.
Domingo Rubio is SNB’s second Permanent Guest Artist as of May 2005. He has danced professionally for some 20 years. Domingo has danced with the Joffrey Ballet and Ballet Hispanico and was recently featured in the Robert Altman film, THE COMPANY.
Rubio danced the role of Maxfield Parrish in A PAINTER’S LOVE STORY and was a featured artist in SNB’s Dancing By the River and A Celebration Of Gershwin. He choreographed PRELUDE, a pas des deux for himself and SNB principal, Ananda Bena-Weber which premiered in Reno in July of 2005. In addition to performing as a ballet dancer, he is a concert pianist, composer, choreographer and visual artist. He has illustrated several books on ballet and exhibits his sculpture art work throughout the USA. Mr. Rubio teaches ballet and guest performs with dance companies throughout the USA.
Principal Dancers
Ramona Cachinero began dancing when she was 9 years old at Nevada Festival ballet. There she trained with Maggie Banks and Cheryl Bruce. She then went on to study at Houston Ballet and the Joffrey Ballet School in New York City, where she was asked to stay year round on a full scholarship.
At the age of 19, Ramona returned to Australia, her birthplace. At that time she attended college for an Associate’s Degree in Dance. She also performed with Ballet Theatre of Queensland and was one of the first company members in Harold Collin’s Australian Theatre Ballet. Ramona then returned to America which saw her dancing with companies such as the Dayton Ballet, South Florida Ballet Theatre, Area-51 Dance Theatre, Nevada Ballet Theatre and Ohio Dance Theatre for which she was a principal dancer.
Ms. Cachinero has a passion for teaching ballet and choreography. In May of 2007 she choreographed and staged “The Wizard of Oz” into a ballet which she hopes to present again in the future.
Ramona is a principal dancer and choreographer for the Tasmanian Classical Ballet Company in Australia. In 2007 she danced the lead role of “Giselle”, her favorite role thus far.
Ramona hopes to one day start her own ballet company on Australia’s “Sunshine Coast”.
Larrissa Cassera has danced numerous professional roles in companies including the Oregon Ballet and the University of Arizona Dance Ensemble.
Larissa trained with the school of the Oregon Ballet and joined SNB as a soloist in May of 2004 and was quickly raised to Principal in September of 2004. She has danced featured roles in Four For Tango, Rococo and was featured as the Snow Queen and Flower Soloist in The Peanutcracker-The Story In A Nutshell.
Ms. Cassera has been featured as a principal in such works as: Gershwin Allegro; Paging Mr. Stair; Take Me To the River; Walking On Broken Glass and A Shape of A Pair. Larissa is a third grade teacher with the Washoe County School District, part of the Masters Program at UNR and teaches Beginning and Adult Ballet at In Motion Studio of Dance in Reno.
David Fonnegra is SNB’s new principal dancer as of 2009. Born in Venezuela,,he became a principal dancer with Ballet Nacionál de Caracas where he performed the leads in the great romantic ballets including Raymonda, Swan Lake, Giselle, Romeo & Juliet and Don Quixote. Edward Villela, invited him to join the Miami City Ballet in 1995 where he danced many principal roles through 2001.
From 2002-2004, Mr. Fonnegra danced with State Street Ballet as a guest artist and later joined Diablo Ballet,2004-2008 where he has been featured in The Legend of Taj Mahal, Petrushka, Who Cares?, Stars and Stripes, Once upon a Ballroom, Jazz Fever and more. Besides his work with SNB, Mr. Fonnegra dances as a guest artist with Oakland Ballet and, in Italy, Germany, and south America, teaching and Choreographing. He is currently working toward a bachelor of Arts through the LEAP program at St. Mary’s College
A native of Michigan, Rachel Speidel Little has had the pleasure of being a member of a number of dance companies throughout the United States. She began her career as a trainee with the Milwaukee Ballet, and then went on to dance with the chamber companies Ballet Wisconsin and Channel Islands Ballet, and with the Oakland Ballet. Recently, she has worked with Les Grands Ballet Canadiens de Montreal, and Ballet de Teatres Generalitat Valenciana in Valencia, Spain.
Rachel spent her early training at the Flint School of Performing Arts in Flint, Michigan. She spent summers on scholarship at the schools of the Pennsylvania Ballet and the Milwaukee Ballet, and subsequently went on to study full time at the Joffrey Ballet School, before becoming a member of Milwaukee Ballet II.
In addition to the classical repertoire, her performance highlights include principal and soloist roles in ballets by George Balanchine, Yves de Bouteiller, and Phillipe Trehet. She has also performed in numerous pieces by such notable choreographers as Dwight Rhoden, Peter Quanz, Mark Dendy, Bronislava Nijinska, Eugene Loring, Jean-Paul Comelin, Inma Rubio Thomas, Michael Lowe, Robert Garland, and Twyla Tharp.
Alexander has trained exclusively with Rosine Bena at Western Nevada Performing Arts Center in Carson and at In Motion Studio in Reno. Alex was taken into the SNB Apprentice Program in June of 2003 and has appeared with the Apprentice Company and the professional Company since.
Biber was featured as the Wolf in Peter and The Wolf; in Tarentella For Three and SNB’s A Celebration of Gershwin, Take Five, Mozartina and Take Me To The River. He was featured as the Rat King, Flower Prince, Lead Father and Chinese Prince in the PEANUTCRACKER-The Story In A Nutshell. He was featured the Count and the Gorgon in the SNB 2007 Spring production of THE UNICORN, THE GORGON and THE MANTICORE.
In 2008, Alex traveled to Australia to dance with the Tasmanian Classical Ballet company for their “Les Sylphides” Tour.
He is now dancing with Sacramento Ballet.
Cort trained exclusively with Rosine Bena at Western Nevada Performing Arts Center in Carson City and at In Motion Studio in Reno. Larson was taken into the SNB Apprentice program in January of 2003, and was raised to the first Company in September 2004 and raised to soloist in June of 2006.
He has danced featured roles in Story Book Tales; A Painter’s Love Story; A Tribute to Roy Orberson, Tarantella for Three, The Peanutcracker-The Stoy In A Nutshell, Take Five, Mozartina, Take Me To The River and the Gershwin Concerto. He created the role of Peter in SNB’s Peter and The Wolf and the Russian Prince in The Peanutcracker-The Story in a Nutshell. A talented teacher and choreographer, Cort was the recipient of the SNB’s 2005 Young Choreographers Award for SLAVE DANCE which was featured in SNB’s 2005 Summer Concert series.
Soloist Dancers
Courtney Jankovic, a native of Cleveland Ohio, received the majority of her dance training at the School of Cleveland San Jose Ballet under the direction of Dennis Nahat. Other schools she spent formative years at were Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre and North Carolina Dance Theatre as a scholarship recipient. When she was eighteen, Courtney was offered her first contract with the Minnesota Ballet, thus beginning her professional career. After dancing and touring with them for three seasons, Ms. Jankovic then continued to dance professionally with several more ballet companies including Ohio Dance Theatre, Sierra Nevada Ballet and Fargo Moorhead Ballet as a principal and soloist dancer.
There she enjoyed performing in various ballets such as “Swan Lake”, “Coppelia”, “Carmen”, “Cinderella”, “Alice in Wonderland”, George Balanchine’s “Valse Fantaisie”, “Snow White”, “Sleeping Beauty”, and the “Nutcracker” featured as Arabian and Sugar Plum, as well as numerous other repertoire works. Most recently, Courtney had the opportunity to perform overseas in Australia with the Tasmanian Classical Ballet Company as a soloist in “Les Sylphides”, “Peter and the Wolf, and the premieres of “Illusions” and “Ode to V.” Currently she continues to dance and perform with Ohio Dance Theatre and Sierra Nevada Ballet. She is also a dance instructor and serves as Director of a youth ballet company in the Northeast Ohio area.
Laura Lunde joined the Sierra Nevada Ballet as an apprentice in July 2007, and was promoted to full time company member in October 2007. She has trained at the Kirov Academy of Washington D.C., Contra Costa Ballet, and Central West Ballet.
While at the Kirov Academy, Ms. Lunde trained with Jacqueline Akhmedova, Ludmila Morkovina, Anatoli Kucheruk, and Vladimir Djouloukhadze. She has also worked with Zola Dishong, Charles Anderson, Karen Burns, and presently Rosine Bena.
Ms. Lunde has danced numerous roles such as a gypsy in “Esmeralda”, the dancing doll, flower soloist, and the Spanish dancer in “The Nutcracker”, a soloist Willi in “Giselle”, a corps de ballet dancer in “La Bayadere” and “Le Corsaire” , as well as many other classical and contemporary roles.
In 2008, Laura traveled to Australia to dance with the Tasmanian Classical Ballet company for their “Les Sylphides” Tour.
She is now a company dancer with Manassas Ballet Company in Virginia.
Company Dancers
Maggie has been dancing since she was a young child at local dance studios in Montana and Nevada. She began training with Rosine Bena in the summer of 2004 at In Motion School of Dance in Reno and was accepted into Sierra Nevada Ballet as a trainee in September of 2005. Maggie presently trains with Bena and was raised to an apprentice in September of 2006.
Maggie has performed in multiple ballets with the SNB company including A Painter’s Love Story, Gershwin Concerto, and Paging Mr. Stair. She was featured in Romeo and Juliet as Rosaline and as the Girl Doll and a Flower in Peanutcracker – The Story In A Nutshell. She was also featured as The Doctor’s wife in THE UNICORN, THE GORGON and THE MANTICORE.
Maggie was promoted to company dancer in 2007.
Apprentices & Trainees
Coming Soon!
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