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DOMENICO LUCIANO from Naples, Italy joined Dominic Walsh Dance Theater in 2005. Having made his American debut with Tulsa Ballet in 2004, Mr. Luciano studied at the Teatro di San Carlo Ballet School in Naples Italy, and danced with various companies in Europe as a Principal Dancer including Europadance in France, Deutsche Oper am Rhein in Germany, Teatro Comunale in Florence, Teatro Dell'Opera in Rome and Teatro di San Carlo in Naples. His repertoire includes many of the classical principal leads such as Romeo, Paris, and Benvolio in both Sir Kenneth MacMillan and John Cranko's Romeo & Juliet; Paris in Amedeo Amodio's Romeo & Juliet with Eleonora Abbagnato, Principal Dancer with Paris Opera Ballet; Solor in La Bayadere, The Prince in The Nutcracker, and Albrecht in Giselle, all by Derek Dean; In the Night by Jerome Robbins; Onegin in John Cranko's Onegin; Roland Petit's Ma Pavlova with international ballerina Lucia Lacarra; and Don Jose with the National Ballet of China in Carmen. Mr. Luciano also excels in his contemporary repertoire which includes George Balanchine's La Valse; Nacho Duato's Jardi Tancat and Without Words; Orfeo in Carole Armitage's Orfeo ed Euridice; and Mauro Bigonzetti's Mediterranea. Also with Dominic Walsh Dance Theater, he performed the American premiere of Bigonzetti's Pression, Michele Merola's With Painted Lips, Enrico Morelli's Funabula, Gustavo Ramirez Sansano's Dicese, Jirí Kylián's Double You and 27'52" (gala version), and Mats Ek's Pas de Dans. Dominic Walsh has created many roles especially for Mr. Luciano including Clair de Lune, Le Spectre de la Rose, Desire in Sleeping Beauty, Tybalt in Romeo & Juliet, I Napoletani, Terminus and the title roles in Titus Andronicus and The Trilogy: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart for which he also designed the costumes. Since 2005, Mr. Luciano has danced in all of the company's tours to Mexico, Italy, Spain, Greece, Romania, Florida, New York, Iowa, and Kansas. In 2003, he received the Leonide Massine award in Positano, Italy as Best Male Dancer of the Year and in October 2008, he was named "Best Dancer" by the Houston Press. He also made his choreographic debut in 2008, co-creating The Nutcracker with Mr. Walsh for Ballet Quad Cities. More recently, he performed Mr. Walsh's tour de force The Firebird with Paris Opera Étoile Marie-Agnès Gillot, Victor Frankenstein, and Time out of Line. Mr. Luciano was named one of 12 Standout performers in 2009 by Pointe Magazine for his portrayal of the White Swan in the White Swan pas de deux from Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake, and he also received the "Young Italian Talent Award" in Florence, Italy in 2010.
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Photo by Lynn Lane
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STEFANIA FIGLIOSSI was born in Castelsangiovanni (Piacenza), Italy, in 1976. She began her studies in 1983 at the Accademia Domenichino in Piacenza under the direction of Giuseppina Campolonghi. She completed her training at the Ecole Atelier Rudra Béjart in Lausanne, where she remained from 1993 to 1995, appearing in works by Maurice Béjart. She later joined the Israel Ballet in Tel Aviv, where she performed in the classic and modern repertories. She danced as a soloist in Sleeping Beauty, Carte De Visite, Gurre Lieder, Harmonium by Berta Yampolsky, and Gershwin by Kristof Pastor. In 1998, she joined the English National Ballet. She joined Aterballetto in the beginning of 1999, and participated in all of the company's tours and performed all of the company's repertoire including Steptext by William Forsythe and numerous works by Mauro Bigonzetti. Ms. Figliossi dances with MM Company doing works by Michele Merola and Enrico Morelli, both in Italy and on tour. Most recently, she and DWDT Company Member Domenico Luciano danced in Beijing, China for the closing ceremony gala of the First Beijing International Ballet Competition.
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HANA SAKAI was born in Seattle, Washington and started her ballet training under Toshiaki Hatasa, Asami Maki, and Kyozo Mitani. Ms. Sakai became the object of critics' attention when singled out dancing the role of Cupid in Asami Maki Ballet Company's performance of Don Quixote. She joined Asami Maki Ballet Company in 1993, making her lead role debut in the company's performance of The Nutcracker and in 1995, she danced Odette and Odile in the company's performance of Swan Lake. In 1997, Ms. Sakai joined the newly established New National Theatre, Tokyo (NNTT) and danced the leading role of Princess Aurora in its memorable opening performance of The Sleeping Beauty with world famous ballet dancers Yoko Morishita and Miyako Yoshida. She has danced leading roles ever since in the theatre's performances, including Giselle, Cinderella, Don Quiote, La Bayadere, La Fille Mal Gardee, La Sylphide, Firebird, Carmen, Paquita, Dying Swan, Romeo and Juliet, and Swan Lake. In 2003, she became the first Japanese ballet dancer to ever perform the title role of Sir Kenneth Macmillan's Manon, (with Dominic Walsh), when staged for the first time in Japan at NNTT. Ms. Sakai has also danced works by choreographers such as George Balanchine, Nacho Duato, Christian Spuck, and Antony Tudor. In 2007, she made her acting debut appearing on the stage of Susan Stroman's Broadway musical Contact. Being a specialist in classical ballet, she positively excels in the field of contemporary dance and musicals, breaking new ground. Her elegant and refined performances on stage, together with her unceasing technical progress, continue to captivate the minds of the audience. She is regarded as one of the most prominent and popular ballet dancers in Japan. Dominic Walsh created the role of Euridice for Ms. Sakai for his full-length Orfeo ed Euridice for New National Theatre, Tokyo in 2007. She made her American debut with Dominic Walsh Dance Theater in 2008, appearing with Mr. Walsh in a duet from this ballet. In 2010, Ms. Sakai danced the lead in Mr. Walsh's Wolfgang for Webb at NNTT with Domenico Luciano. She has appeared at the Charity Gala-Award Ceremony Benois de la Danse Prize at the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow and has received numerous awards including: Tachibana Akiko Prize [1st Prize in Saitama Ballet Competition] (1988), Muramatsu Prize (1996), Dance Critics Society of Japan Prize (1996), Nakagawa Einosuke Prize (1997), Education Minister's Art Encouragement Prize (1998), Hattori Chieko Prize (2000), Kanagawa Culture & Sports Awards (2003), Tachibana Akiko Prize-Superior Prize (2005), Dance Critics Society of Japan Prize (2008), and Education and Science Minister's Art Encouragement Prize (2009) Ms. Sakai's present status is Honorable Dancer, New National Theatre, Tokyo.
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Photo by Toshi Hirakawa
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EMILY MCLAUGHLIN is originally from Plano, Texas where she studied at the Hathaway Academy of Ballet under the instruction of Kirt and Linda Hathaway. She continued her training on a full scholarship at the HARID Conservatory and graduated in 2006. While attending HARID, Ms. McLaughlin performed the title role in the ballet Raymonda and the role of Dew Drop in The Nutcracker. In May 2010, she graduated with a BFA in Ballet Performance from the University of Utah. There she was a member of Utah Ballet and performed roles such as Odette from Swan Lake Act II and the lead in La Vivandiere. She also had the opportunity to tour with Utah Ballet to Seoul, South Korea in 2008 as part of an exchange with Kyung Hee University. In addition, she performed in Aspen Santa Fe Ballet's The Nutcracker in 2007 and 2008. She spent two seasons (2009-2011) with Ballet Austin II where she was part of the original casts of Thang Dao's Quiet Imprint and Jennifer Hart's Strange Shadows.
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MATTHEW PRESCOTT was born and raised in Idaho. He graduated high school from Interlochen Arts Academy and attended the inaugural year of the Joffrey/New School University in New York City. In 2000, he was invited to join the Joffrey Ballet. Mr. Prescott works as a freelance artist and has worked with Donald Byrd's Spectrum Dance Theater, Alonzo King's LINES Ballet, Ballet NY, Complexions Contemporary Ballet, Amanda Miller, The Suzanne Farrell Ballet, The Alabama Ballet, Armitage Gone! Dance, BalletX, Morphoses, and Dance Theatre of Harlem. Mr. Prescott was also featured in Robert Altman's film The Company. He has choreographed works performed by Complexions Contemporary Ballet, Chamber Dance Project, the Joffrey Ballet School, and BalletX.
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KATHRYN THOMAS a Denver native, trained at San Francisco Ballet School and The School of American Ballet. Most recently she danced with the Norwegian National Ballet. Prior to that, Ms. Thomas worked with Spectrum Dance Theatre in Seattle, Eugene Ballet, Atlanta Ballet, and Colorado Ballet. She has performed leading roles in William Forsythe's Limbs Theorem and The Vertiginous Thrill of Exactitude, in addition to solo roles in The Sleeping Beauty and Don Quixote. She has performed the works of Jirí Kylián, Christopher Wheeldon, Christian Spuck, and Donald Byrd and is very excited to be working in her first season with Dominic Walsh Dance Theater.
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ANTONIO CARMENA was born and raised in Madrid, Spain. He began his dance training at age seven with the Royal Conservatory of Professional Dance in Madrid. While at the Conservatory, he studied with Virginia Valero and Antonio Almenara. In addition, he studied with Maria de Avila, Aurora Bosch, Ricardo Franco, Lazaro Carreno, and Stanley Williams. After winning a Prix de Lausanne Scholarship, he went to New York City in 1997 to study at the School of American Ballet (SAB), the official school of New York City Ballet. He was invited to become an apprentice with New York City Ballet in October 1998 and joined the company as a member of the corps de ballet in October 1999. In March of 2006, he was promoted to soloist. Since joining New York City Ballet, Mr. Carmena has danced featured roles in: George Balanchine's Chaconne, Coppélia (Discord & War), George Balanchine's The Nutcracker™ (Cavalier, Soldier and Chinese Tea), "Emeralds" from Jewels, A Midsummer Night's Dream (Oberon), Prodigal Son, La Sonnambula, Symphony in C (Third Movement), Tschaikovsky Suite No. 3, La Valse, and Vienna Waltze; August Bournonville's Flower Festival in Genzano Pas De Deux; Eliot Feld's The Unanswered Question; Peter Martins' Eight More, Fearful Symmetries, Les Gentilhimmes, The Sleeping Beauty (Jester), and Swan Lake (Benno, Neapolitan); Jerome Robbin's Dances at a Gathering, Fanfare (Trumpets), The Four Seasons (Winter and Fall), Interplay, and Piano Pieces. Mr. Carmena has originated featured roles in: Douglas Lee's Lifecasting, Peter Martins' Romeo + Juliet (Benvolio), and Alexei Ratmansky's Russian Seasons. Mr. Carmena is the recipient of numerous awards. In 1996, he was awarded the Gold Medal at the Third International Competition in Havana, Cuba. In 1997, he received top honors at the Prix de Lausanne, as well as at the "Prix des Telespectateurs," which was voted on by the television viewers of the Prix de Lausanne. He was awarded Grand Prix in the Seventh Eurovision Competition for Young Dancers, and in 1997, Mr. Carmena was named the "Most Outstanding Young Dancer" in the First International Dance Competition in Zaragoza, Spain.
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Photo by Benjamin Spell
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CARL COOMER originally from Liverpool, England, began training at the Royal Ballet School in London in 1998. Three years later, Mr. Coomer joined Houston Ballet under the direction of Ben Stevenson. In 2007, he joined Texas Ballet Theater and is now in his fourth season with the company. Mr. Coomer has performed lead roles in Mr. Stevenson's The Nutcracker, Coppelia, Swan Lake, Dracula, and Three Preludes, as well as John Cranko's Onegin, George Balanchine's La Valse, Stanton Welch's Indigo and Red Earth, and Christopher Bruce's Hush and Ghost Dances. When not dancing, Mr. Coomer enjoys playing football (soccer), and is a Liverpool FC fan.
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Photo by Leticia London
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ROBERT DEKKERS was recently named a "25 to Watch" artist for 2011 by Dance Magazine. He trained with the School of Atlanta Ballet and Gwinnett Ballet Theater on full scholarship and began dancing professionally with Ballet Arizona, where he performed in works by choreographers including George Balanchine, Twyla Tharp, Paul Taylor, Marius Petipa, August Bournonville, and Artistic Director Ib Anderson. After moving to San Francisco to work with ODC/Dance where he performed in works by Directors Brenda Way and KT Nelson, Mr. Dekkers joined Company C Contemporary Ballet and danced in works by Twyla Tharp, Lar Lubovich, Charles Moulton, Maurice Causey, Jodie Gates, and Artistic Director Charles Anderson. He began choreographing in 2001. His first work, Vivo Acesco, was awarded the Monticello Award for Emerging Choreography, allowing him to attend RDA's Craft of Choreography Conference on full scholarship. Since then, he has created dozens of new works, including Toccare (2006) which was performed at the Ballet Builders Showcase in New York City; Suite No. 2 that was presented at the World Ballet Competition in Orlando; and Believe (2003) which was performed at the Tanzsommer Festival in Vienna, Austria. In 2008, Mr. Dekkers was named Resident Choreographer of NovaBallet, Arizona's contemporary ballet company, where he created works including AnOther (2008), Milieu (2009), and No One Does It Like You (2009). In 2009, he founded Post:Ballet in San Francisco with the vision to create multidisciplinary collaborations that use dance as a means, not an end, to artistic expression. Mr. Dekkers works closely with diverse artists to develop works that are presented through various mediums - including film, photography, and live performance. He has created several new works for Post:Ballet since its inception, including The Happiness of Pursuit, Colouring, Ours, I need to be touched, Me No You, Flutter, and B-Sides. The company was named "Best New Dance" of 2010 by San Francisco's 7x7 Magazine; has received funding from the Zellerbach Foundation, the San Francisco Foundation, and the In Performance Series; and has been featured in Dance Magazine and the Bay Area's In Dance Magazine. In addition to his work as a choreographer and dancer with Diablo Ballet, Mr. Dekkers also holds a degree in business from Rio Salado College in Phoenix, Arizona.
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Photo by Richard Cammack
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ASHLEY LYNN GILFIX is a native of the Chicago area, where she received her formal training from Sherry Moray. Ms. Gilfix performed with the Alabama Ballet prior to joining Ballet Austin in 2002. During her eight seasons with the company, she has had the honor of performing in many world premieres by Stephen Mills, and touring with the company to Italy, Slovenia, The Joyce Theater, and The Kennedy Center, where she was featured in George Balanchine's Episodes in collaboration with The Suzanne Farrell Ballet. Ms. Gilfix has also danced a variety of roles by such choreographers as Sidra Bell, Thang Dao, Thaddeus Davis, Nicolo Fonte, Gina Patterson, Dwight Rhoden, Amy Seiwart, Twyla Tharp, Michelle Thompson, Septime Webre, and Dominic Walsh, and has appeared as a guest artist with Dominic Walsh Dance Theater and the Califa Arts Collaborative. She has especially enjoyed dancing the roles of Aurora in Sleeping Beauty, Kitri in Don Quixote, Ophelia in Hamlet, Cinderella, Odette in Swan Lake, and Swanhilda in Coppelia. Ms. Gilfix was honored to receive a 2009 Austin Critic's Table Award for Outstanding Dancer for her performance in Mr. Balanchine's Episodes, Mr. Mills' Hamlet, and Mr. Fonte's Left Unsaid. Ms. Gilfix is currently pursuing a degree in Dance and The Humanities from St. Edward's University.
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Photo by Tony Spielberg
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