School of North Carolina Dance Theatre,
in Charlotte. She continued her studies at
age 14 with Stanislav Issaev at the South
Carolina Governor’s School for the Arts and
Humanities in Greenville. Mearns entered
the School of American Ballet (SAB), the
of cial school of New York City Ballet,
full time in the fall of 2001. In the fall of
2003, she became an apprentice with New
York City Ballet. As an apprentice, Mearns
danced a featured role in Michel Fokine’s
Chopiniana, performed by SAB as part of
New York City Ballet’s 2004 winter season.
In June 2004, Mearns joined the Company
as a member of the corps de ballet. In
March 2006, she was promoted to soloist
and in June 2008, Mearns was promoted to
principal dancer.
AMAR RAMASAR
(Cavalier, Czarist, Fabergé,
Mariinsky Casts) was born
in the Bronx, New York.
He began his studies at
the School of American
Ballet (SAB), the of cial
school of New York City Ballet, in 1993. In
addition, he studied at the American Ballet
Theatre Summer Program and The Rock
School of Pennsylvania Ballet. In July
2000, Mr. Ramasar was invited to become
an apprentice with New York City Ballet,
and in July 2001 he joined the Company as
a member of the corps de ballet. In March
of 2006 he was promoted to soloist and in
October 2009 was promoted to Principal
Dancer.
Artistic and Administrative Staff 2017
Philip Neal . . . . Artistic Director, Next Generation Ballet, Dance Department Chair
Ivonne Lemus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Next Generation Ballet Mistress
Laurie Jones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Patel Conservatory Youth Ballet Principal
Kelly King . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Lead Contemporary Dance Teacher
Susan Downey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Lead Tap and Jazz Dance Teacher
Claire Florio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Assistant Director of the Dance Department
Aubrey Paffenroth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Dance Department Coordinator
Additional Dance Faculty
Curra Alba, Hannah Box, Tatiana Cater, Baxter Cheek, Svetlana Datseva,
Nestor Garcia, Giselle Guillen, Maria Konrad, Bradley McCaskill, Julio Montano,
Elizabeth Smedley, Sherrice Rose, Gabriella Yudenich
52 CENTERBILL • DECEMBER 2017
Next Generation Ballet
New Artists
Avery Jarrard, Colin Jeffress, Stephen Myers, Savannah Payne
Apprentices
Morgan Johns, Gillian Yoder
Trainees
Cameron Acree, Dominika Afanasenkov, Kenny Allen, Isabella Anderson,
Maisee Anderson, Grace Apfel, Virginia Archer, Kendall Baker, Daniella Bennetti,
Jayden Capella, Audra Cockrell, Olivia Colbert, Angelina Curatelli, Anna Datseva,
Daryn Diaz, Timothy Dobbins, Hannah Eng, Regan Forster, Annie Freeman,
Zoe Gallagher, Devin Hammond, Autumn Kilby, Ethan Kroll, Emilie Leyva,
Ericca Leyva, Trae Mikus, Kiyo Miyazato, Maia Montgomery, Casey Noble,
Sasha Silverman, River Stenz, Julius Taiber, Roxanne Vermette, Abigail White,
Amy Wilson, Tyler Wright, Luke Yee
Program information and artist biographies provided by the cast and/or production company.