| Three professional dancers are guest dancing with us for The Nutcracker to make it a truly unique performance!
Haley Altman-Cipot, Dew Drop Fairy
Haley began her dance training with ballet, tap, and jazz classes at the age of five. She continued studying at various dance schools throughout Connecticut, narrowing her focus to classical ballet. In 2009, Haley joined the New England Ballet School’s student company to perform roles including Snow Queen, Dew Drop and Polish Mazurka Soloist. She has attended summer ballet intensives with the Bolshoi Ballet, The Rock School, and American Ballet Theater in New York. Haley placed in the top 12 for her classical variation in the 2012 Connecticut Classic Ballet Scholarship Competition, and was awarded a full scholarship to the Burklyn Ballet Theater summer intensive. In May 2016, Haley graduated from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts with a BFA in ballet, where she trained under Susan Jaffe, Laura Martin, and Jennet Zerbe with the American Ballet Theater National Training Curriculum. Haley danced with Ballet Theater of Indiana for four seasons and taught at The Children’s Ballet for two seasons. We are excited to have you back, Haley!
Megan Noonan, Snow Queen
Megan Noonan, a native of Carmel, Indiana, trained with Suzann Delay at Central Indiana Academy of Dance and was a member of Central Indiana Dance Ensemble for five years. Megan began her dancing at Performer’s Edge, performing in student roles with Gregory Hancock Dance Theater and Central Indiana Dance Ensemble. She is a recent graduate of Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music where she studied ballet under the direction of Michael Vernon and the late Violette Verdy.
There she earned her Bachelor of Science in Ballet with an Outside Field in Kinesiology. At IU she performed in works such as Balanchine’s Raymonda Variations, Rubies, and Emeralds and Paul Taylor’s Musical Offering. Megan has attended summer programs at Ballet Austin, Alonzo King Lines Ballet, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, Cincinnati Ballet, Regional Dance America’s National Choreographic Intensive, and Nashville Ballet. She danced three seasons with Ballet Theatre of Indiana and is a regular performer with Crossroads Dance Indy, Ballet INitiative, and Yuletide.
Rachel Walker, Sugar Plum Fairy
Rachel Walker, born in Grand Rapids, Michigan, began her training with the Grand Rapids Ballet at the age of five. She studied there for 13 years under the direction of Patricia Barker and had the opportunity to perform company and student roles in many ballets including Balanchine’s Serenade and Who Cares. In the summers, Rachel trained with Carolina Ballet, Nashville Ballet, Ruth Page Center for Dance, The Jillana School, and the Grand Rapids Ballet. Rachel joined Central Illinois Ballet as a company member in 2018 and is currently in her third season.
|
