Guest Instructors ISP 2022

CARRIE CHENG

Carrie Cheng was born in Miami, Florida and started her training with Thomas Armour of the Miami Conservatory. She continued her training under Dulce Anaya and the Jacksonville Ballet Theater. She earned a BFA in ballet from the University of Utah with a full four-year scholarship. She has danced professionally with numerous companies including the Utah Ballet, Eugene Ballet, Ballet Theatre of Boston, North Atlantic Ballet and Ballet Concerto and has made guest artist appearances throughout the United States, Mexico and Taiwan. She has been a guest teacher for summer ballet programs such as Texas Ballet Theater, Pittsburgh Ballet, Atlanta Ballet and Ballet Theatre of Boston. Internationally, she has taught in Taiwan and Macau, China. Cheng has been adjunct ballet faculty at Texas Christian University, Tarrant County College and has served on the board of directors for the Dance Council of North Texas and currently The Talon Cultural Foundation. Cheng is the Director of Ballet at Fort Worth Country Day and Artistic Director of The Ballet Conservatory of Fort Worth Country Day. She received a National Honor Roll’s Outstanding American Teachers Award in 2005-2006 and Teacher of the Year award at Texas Ballet Theater School in 2013 and 2015. Carrie is an ABT* Certified teacher who has successfully completed the ABT* Teacher Training Intensive in Primary through Level 5 of the ABT* National Training Curriculum. In 2017 she was awarded the FWCD Master Teacher award in Fine Arts for distinguished teaching in the Arts.

LI-CHOU CHENG

Mr. Cheng was born in Shanghai, China. He started his professional training at the age thirteen at the Beijing Dance Academy. In 1961 he joined the Beijing Central Ballet and in 1975 he served as a company ballet master and rehearsal director. After immigrating to the United States in 1980 he held position as Assistant professor at the University of Utah and Arizona State University. In 1988, he was invited by Bruce Marks to join Boston Ballet as a Principal teacher for both the company and the school. Mr. Cheng served as Ballet Master in residence at TCU since 1990. In 2006 he was promoted to Professor of Professional Practice in Ballet and in 2018 he retired after he worked for TCU 28 years. In 2020 he served as a visiting Professor of Ballet at Texas Tech University. Mr. Cheng is in demand nationwide as a master teacher. He has frequently worked with many ballet companies and their summer dance programs such as Pittsburgh Ballet, Atlanta Ballet, Texas Ballet Theater, Ballet West, Ballet Met, Ballet Austin, Indianapolis Ballet, Eugene Ballet, Ballet Oregon, Lexington Ballet and Walnut Hill School of Arts. He also taught for many universities such as Bucknell University, Butler University, Brigham Young University, North Carolina School of the Arts, University of Iowa, Richmond University, University of Wisconsin, University of Wyoming and Virginia Commonwealth University. His international teaching experience includes the The Beijing Dance Academy, National Ballet School of Canada, Mexico Institute of Arts, Taipei National University of Arts, Taiwan Cloud Gate Dance Company, Taipei Dance Forum, Pen-Wa School of Ballet in Macau. In 2019 he taught for the Beiing Central Ballet and restaged a classical pas de deux for the company. He was invited as a Master teacher work for the America College Dance Festival Association and the America Regional Ballet Festival. He has been an adjudicator for the Southeast Regional Ballet Competition. He received the Larry White Dance Educator Award from Dance Council in 2007.

ALEXANDRA KOCHIS

Alexandra, a Massachusetts native, received her early training from Mimi Ferrell of Ballet Arts Academy in Boxford, Massachusetts, and Iacob Lascu of Lascu School of Ballet in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. She continued her studies at The Boston Ballet Center for Dance Education, The Kirov Academy in Washington D.C. and The School of American Ballet. She joined Boston Ballet II in 1995 and the company in 1998. Since joining PBT in 2006, she has enjoyed the opportunity to dance principal roles in the company’s productions of Swan Lake, The Sleeping Beauty, Giselle, Don Quixote, Coppèlia, Le Corsaire, Peter Pan, Cinderella, The Great Gatsby, Moulin Rouge® – The Ballet, La Bayadère and Balanchine’s Sylvia Pas de Deux, Western Symphony, Serenade, Divertimento No. 15 and Rubies. She also danced the roles of Juliette in Jean-Christophe Maillot’s Roméo et Juliette and Derek Deane’s Romeo and Juliet, Stella in John Neumeier’s A Streetcar Named Desire, and Caroline in Antony Tudor’s Jardin Aux Lilas (Lilac Garden). Some of her contemporary credits include the Cowgirl in Agnes DeMille’s Rodeo, the Ballerina in Jerome Robbins’ The Concert as well as the second pas de deux in his In the Night. She’s had featured roles in Paul Taylor’s Company B; Mark Morris’ Maelstrom and Drink to Me Only With Thine Eyes; Twyla Tharp’s In the Upper Room; Jiří Kylián’s Petite Mort and Sinfonietta; and William Forsythe’s In the Middle, Somewhat Elevated.

POLLYANA RIBEIRO

Originally from Rio de Janeiro Brazil, Pollyana Ribeiro began her dance training at the age of three with Hortencia Mollo. She also studied with Tatiana Leskova at the Municipal Theatre in Rio de Janeiro. After winning three consecutive gold medals at the festival de Joenville, she was awarded a scholarship to the Harid Conservatory in Boca Raton, Florida. In July 1992, Ribeiro won the gold medal at the International competition in Helsinki, Finland. At age 16, she began her professional career with the Boston Ballet and later was promoted to principal dancer there. She was a strong fixture at the Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre School from 2005-2014. In 2014 Ribeiro joined the prestigious San Francisco Ballet School. During her time with San Francisco Ballet, Ribeiro was featured in the February 2016 issue of Dance Studio Life, where she was recognized as one of the “fresh voices that enrich the offerings at the San Francisco Ballet School.” The Brazilian Consulate has awarded Ribeiro a trophy in honor of her excellence in the arts. Ribeiro’s Repertoire includes many lead roles in works by Nureyev, MacMillan, Cranko, Balanchine, Sir Fredrick Ashton, Forsythe, Nacho Duato, Tywla Tharp, Rudy Van Dantzig, Peter Martin, Christopher Wheeldon, Jerome Robbins, Maina Gielgud, Stanton Welch, Daniel Pelzig, Paul Taylor. She has performed principal roles in such classical ballets as: La Bayadere, Giselle, Le Corsaire, Don Quixote, Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty, The Nutcracker, Coppelia, Van Dantzig’s Romeo and Juliet, Cranko’s Taming of the Shrew and Onegin; MacMillan’s Winter Dreams; Ashton’s La Fille mal Gardee; and Welch’s Madame Butterfly. Ribeiro’s Neoclassical Repertoire includes such ballets; Balanchine’s Danses Concertantes, Capriccio for Piano and Orchestra, Who Cares?, Serenade, Divertimento No. 15, Theme and Variations, and Ballo della Regina; Tharp’s Brief Fling, Waterbaby Bagatelles, and In the Upper Room; Duato’s Without Words and Jardi Tancat; Kylian’s Falling Angels; Robbin’s Interplay; Forsythe In the Middle Somewhat Elevated; Taylor’s Company B; and Wheeldon’s The Four Seasons and Corbantic Ecstasies. Ribeiro’s reputation in the world of dance has afforded her international acclaim and recognition. She has graced the international stages of Spain, France, Japan, Korea, Buddapest, Prague, Montreal, Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo, and Brazilia. She has had the pleasure of working with such directors as Bruce Marks, Anna Marie Holmes, Miko Nissenen, Terrence Orr, Dennis Marshall, Marjorie Grundvig, Helgi Tomasson and Patrick Armand.

ROBERT MOORE

A native of Indiana, Robert began his dance training at the age of ten with the White River Ballet School in Noblesville, IN. Moore continued his training, receiving a full scholarship to the Harid Conservatory in Boca Raton, Florida. Upon graduation in 1996, Moore started his professional career with the Boston Ballet. After nine successful years with Boston Ballet as a company member and summer intensive instructor, he joined the Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre in 2006 as a soloist where he was the first American to dance the lead role in John Neumeier’s ballet “Street Car Named Desire.” Known for his expertise in partnering, Moore was a popular faculty member with the Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre School. In 2014 he accepted a principal position with the Smuin Ballet Company in San Francisco, CA where he furthered his contemporary element in ballet. Moore’s Repertoire includes many lead roles in works by Balanchine, Cranko, Kylian, Neumeier, MacMillan, Christopher Wheeldon, Val Caniparoli, Mark Morris, Twyla Tharp, Paul Taylor, Helen Picket, and Ben Stevenson. He has performed in such classical ballets as The Nutcracker, Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty, Les Corsair, Don Quixote, Copellia, Gisselle, Cinderella and Romeo and Juliet. In 2004 Robert, was invited to dance the lead role in John Cranko’s, Onegin, with the Teatro Municipal in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. His Neoclassical ballet repertoire includes such ballets as Balanchine’s Theme and Variations, Serenade, and Agon; Taylor’s Company B; Tharp’s Upper Room; Whelldon’s Firebird, and Four Seasons; and Caniparoli’s Lady of the Camellias and Tutto Eccetto il Lavandino; and Kylian’s Return to a Strange Land. Moore has had the pleasure of working with such directors as: Bruce Marks, Anna Marie Holmes, Miko Nissenen, Richard Cragun, Terrence Orr, and Celia Fushille.