Heidi Cruz Born and raised in Allentown, Pennsylvania, Heidi Cruz-Austin began her dance training at the age of four at The Dolly Haltzman Dance Academy. She went on to study at the School of American Ballet and The Pennsylvania Ballet. Ms. Cruz-Austin received an apprenticeship with Pennsylvania Ballet in 1994 and joined the Company as a member of the Corps de Ballet in 1995. Some of her featured roles include Evelyn in Val Caniparoli's Lambarena, Summer Fairy in Ben Stevenson¢s Cinderella, Vortex in Alvin Ailey¢s The River, Eve in Margo Sappingtons Rodin, Mis En Vie, the Pas de Trois in The Sleeping Beauty, and Christopher d¢Amboise¢s Symposium. She has also had featured roles in many George Balanchine works including Marzipan, Coffee and Dew Drop in The Nutcracker, Hippolyta in A Midsummer Night¢s Dream, Choleric from The Four Temperaments, and leading roles in Serenade, Who Cares?, Western Symphony, Scotch Symphony, and Divertimento #15. Ms. Cruz-Austin has also premiered works for such renowned choreographers as Paul Taylor, Jessica Lang and Pennsylvania Ballet's Meredith Rainey, and Matthew Neenan. In addition to dancing with Pennsylvania Ballet, Ms. Cruz has danced with the Philadelphia based company Ballet X and has performed as a guest artist throughout the United States and Europe. As a choreographer, Ms. Cruz-Austin was a winner for the 2003 Ballet Builders showcase in Nyc, in which she showed her work. Ms. Cruz-Austin has been commissioned to create works for Franklin and Marshall College, Bryn Mawr College, Repertory Dance Theater, and Ballet D'errico. She was a recipient of the 2004-2005 New Edge Residency at The Community Education Center of Philadelphia. Ms. Cruz-Austin has also had her work performed annually since 2000 for Shut Up & Dance. A native of Miami, Florida, began his dance training at age 15. He attended both the New World School of the Arts and Martha Mahr School of Ballet. He has been on scholarship with numerous ballet schools throughout the country, including Pennsylvania Ballet and Pacific Northwest Ballet. He has danced professionally with the Washington Ballet, the Fort Worth Dallas Ballet, the Suzanne Farrell Ballet, Miro Dance and the Jeanne Ruddy Dance company. He has enjoyed dancing many feature roles throughout his career and has worked with many notable choreographers such as Stanton Welch,Tony Rizzi, Robert Battle, Jane Comfort and Johannes Wieland. Throughout his career, Mr. Callender has had the opportunity to perform in Japan, London, and throughout the United States. He is happily married to Meredith Reffner, dancer with the Pennsylvania Ballet, As a native of Vineland, New Jersey, Rosalia performed with the Vineland Regional Dance Company as a soloist for seven years before moving to Philadelphia to attend The University of the Arts. She graduated with honors in May 2007 with a BFA in Jazz Dance Performance. Her previous training includes Philadanco, The Juilliard School, American Ballet Theatre, The Rock School and Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet. This is Rosalia’s first season with BalletX. Tara began her training at the age of seven at the Pioneer Valley Ballet in Northampton, Massachusetts. She then attended the Juillliard School from which she received a BFA in 1995. While there, she was awarded the Jerome L. Greene Fellowship and the Most Outstanding Dance Major award from the National Dance Association. She began her professional career with the American Repertory Ballet and then joined Tharp!, where she performed internationally and at the City Center in NYC. Tara joined the Pennsylvania Ballet in 1998, and was promoted to Soloist in 2003. During her ten year career there, she danced leading roles in numerous classical and contemporary works such as Emilia in Jose Limon's "The Moor's Pavane", Hippoylyta, Hermia, and Helena in
Meredith Rainey, former soloist with Pennsylvania Ballet began dancing at 15 in his hometown of Fort Lauderdale. In 1985 he joined the Milwaukee Ballet. In 1987, he was asked to join the newly formed Pennsylvania-Milwaukee Ballet, remaining with the Pennsylvania Ballet when the collaboration ended. He was also a demi-soloist with the Dance Theatre of Harlem for a short time in 1997. Meredith has performed in South America throughout Europe and the United States. His repertoire includes many principal and soloist roles in the works of George Balanchine, Alvin Ailey, Paul Taylor, Lar Lubovitch, Jose Limon, John Butler, John Cranko, and William Forsythe. He has premiered original works by Kevin O’Day, Christopher D’Amboise, David Parsons, Lynne Taylor-Corbett, Robert Weiss, Richard Tanner, Jean Grand-Maitre, Dwight Rhoden, Jorma Elo, Ib Anderson, Matthew Neenan, and Christine Cox. The recipient of the 1995 & 2002 PA Council on the Arts Fellowship Grant for Choreography, the 2001 Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation Artist as Catalyst Grant, the 2002 Independence Foundation Fellowship in the Arts and, a 2003 Pew Fellowship in the Arts Finalist. Meredith has been commissioned to create work for Pennsylvania Ballet, Delaware Ballet, Hubbard Street 2, Phrenic New Ballet, Ballet X, Philadanco for their 25th Anniversary celebration, and has had his work performed at many festivals throughout North and South America including Jacob’s Pillow, Miami International Ballet Festival and the International Ballet Festival of Ecuador and the First International Ballet Festival of Calí. Emily Wagner, a Michigan native, began to dabble with dancing when she was 7 years old, but only began to train seriously in ballet at the age of 15. She trained under scholarships at the Flint Youth Ballet, Virginia School of the Arts and the American Ballet Theater School. Her most influential training came from her dear friend, mentor and still current coach from the New York City Ballet, Sabrina Pillars. Emily's career began to blossom at the American Ballet Theater which then led her onto Ballet Austin, Eglevsky Ballet, Aseid Contemporary Dance Company, Albano Ballet, International Ballet Theater, Dance Continuum and eventually onwards to Europe. In 2005 Emily performed Peter Breuer's Bolero in Salzburg, Austria with the Salzburg Ballett under invitation by the Ballet Master, Yehuda Maor. The highlight during her time in Austria was having the honor of being coached by the prima ballerina Maya Plisetskaya, on the role of Kitri. For the following 2 years, she danced as a soloist with the Movement Network of Amsterdam, The Netherlands, dancing new and edgy contemporary works, as well as neo classicial works such as Balanchine. While in Europe, she also received an international Pilates certification with Body Arts and Sciences International, with additional training in NYC as well as specialties in pre-natal exercise. In under 1 year she received her international status and was invited to teach at the annual Chinese Fitness Conference in Beijing, China. Some Choreographers Emily has worked with include,: Nick Mishoe - Het Nationale Ballet, Peter Leung - Het Nationale Ballet. Lorn MacDougal – England Moderne, Celia Grannum – Ballet Black, Jennifer Hanna, - Galili Dance, NDT, Peter Breuer - Düsseldorf, Vincenzo Orlando – Eglevsky, Adam Hougland - Julliard, Victor Quijada - Rubberbanddance, Stuart Loungway - SFB/American Repertory Ballet, Dardo Galleto - Ballet de Argentino and Micheline Dumonceau – Chiztina de Chatel, among others. Back in the US, Emily has begun dancing the tango and is an artist with the The New Generation Dance Company. Also this year, Emily was titled the principal resident guest artist for the Virgina Civic Ballet. In addition she is an artist with Terra Firma Dance Theater and the Chamber Dance Project in New York City. Emily is very excited to be performing her first season with Ballet X. Originally from Traverse City, MI, Brent performed with the Milwaukee Ballet for four years before moving to NYC to pursue a freelancing career. He currently dances with Fugate/Bahiri Ballet NY and Ballet X. He has enjoyed performing in works by George Balanchine, Mark Godden, Paul Taylor, and Lila York. Brent also enjoys Bikram Yoga and the great outdoors! |
Meredith Rainey
