Crystal Serrano is a Seattle, Washington, native who began her dance training with John and Helen Wilkins at Olympic Ballet. She later attended The School of American Ballet before continuing her studies on full scholarship at Pacific Northwest Ballet.
Her professional career includes dancing with Oregon Ballet Theatre, guest appearances in Seoul, Korea, and Principal roles with Ballet San Antonio. She then joined Dance Theatre of Harlem under the direction of Virginia Johnson, where she spent five years as a leading Principal dancer, touring internationally, with some of her most memorable performances in Brazil, Hungary, Lithuania, and Poland.
Following her tenure with Dance Theatre of Harlem, Serrano danced with Boston Ballet, further expanding her repertory and artistic range. Currently based in New York City, this is her first season with Chamber Dance Project.
Fuki Takahashi was born Yokohoma, Japan, and began training at age 3 at Yuzue Ballet Academy. She moved to the United States in 2010, and trained at Princeton Ballet and Hariyama Ballet in New York. Ms Takahashi competed in the International Ballet Competion in Jackson, Mississippi. In 2014 she earned silver in the Tanzolymp International Dance Festival. Through American Dance Competition Fuki joined Orlando Ballet’s second company. She joined Atlanta Ballet in 2018. She’s had the opportunity to perform works by renowned choreographers such as George Balanchine, Liam Scarlet, Justin Peck, Yuri Possokhov, Lar Lubovitch, Dwight Rhodes and Claudia Schreier.
Hannah Ray Bruce was born in Barrington, IL where she trained at Barrington Dance Academy. She graduated summa cum laude from Point Park University with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in dance. While at Point Park, Hannah performed works by Peter Merz, Ernest Tolentino, Kiesha Lalama, and Nicholas Petrov’s Romeo and Juliet. Hannah has danced professionally with MERZTANZ Contemporary Ballet Company under Peter Merz, Convergence Ballet under Jennifer Cafarella, and was a principal dancer with Central Illinois Ballet under Rebekah von Rathonyi. Hannah has performed roles including Mina and Lucy in Dracula, Clara and Sugar Plum Fairy in The Nutcracker, the title role in Firebird, Daisy in Gatsby the Ballet, the title role in Cinderella, Glinda in Wizard of Oz, Johanna Barker in Sweeney Todd, Aurora in Rose Adagio with the Peoria Symphony Orchestra, and originated the role of Christine in von Rathonyi’s Phantom of the Opera. This is Hannah’s first season with Chamber Dance Project.
John-Paul Simoens began his dance training at age seven under Diane Lauridsen in Los Angeles, California. In 2012 he was a semi-finalist in the Prix de Lausanne competition in Switzerland where he received a scholarship to attend the San Francisco Ballet School. In 2014 He was named an apprentice with the company. John-Paul has been with the San Francisco Ballet for nine years performing principal roles including Helgi Tomasson’s Don Quixote, Concerto Grosso and Fifth Season; Jerome Robbin’s Fancy Free and The Cage; Val Caniparoli’s Ibsen’s House; Benjamin Millipied’s The Chairman Dances; Arthur Pita’s Bjork Ballet; Yuka Oishi’s Bolero; Liam Scarlett’s Fearful Symmetries and many other featured roles. John-Paul has been involved in the process of creating new works with many choreographers including Christopher Wheeldon, William Forsythe, Cathy Marston, Justin Peck, David Dawson, Dani Rowe, Yuri Possokhov, Robert Garland, and Myles Thatcher among others. This is John-Paul’s first season with Chamber Dance Project.
From Manila, Philippines, Lope has been a company member of The Washington Ballet since 2017. He began his dance training at Steps Dance Studio Philippines under Jeffrey Espejo and Sofia Elizalde. In 2015, he won the silver medal at the Asian Grand Prix finals in Hong Kong. In 2017 he received an offer from The Washington Ballet at the Youth American Grand Prix finals in New York. Lope has danced in works by many choreographers, including George Balanchine’s Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux, Allegro Brillante, Theme and Variations, Stravinsky Violin Concerto and Slaughter on Tenth Avenue, Kenneth Macmillan’s Diana and Acteon pas de deux, Septime Webre’s The Nutcracker,Frederick Ashton’s Birthday Offering, John Cranko’s Romeo and Juliet, Edwaard Liang’s Murmurations, Jessica Lang’s Reverence, Beethoven Serenade, and Coloring Silent Space and new works by Dwight Rhoden, Annabelle Lopez Ochoa, and Dana Genshaft, among many others. This is Lope’s first season with Chamber Dance Project.
Michael Cherry was born and raised in Springfield, Virginia. He is currently a senior at George Mason University and is working towards receiving a BFA in Dance and Choreography as well as a minor in Arts Management. Michael has had the opportunity to dance in works created/set by Camille A Brown, Alejandro Cerrudo, Doug Varone, Manuel Vignoulle, Rafael Bonachela, Rena Butler, Fiona Jopp, Susan Shields, Shaun Boyle-Darcy, and Christopher d’Amboise. During past summers he has had the opportunity to attend the Juilliard summer dance intensive in 2018 and 2019, the Complexions Summer Intensive and winter intensive, as well as the LINES Summer dance intensive. He has had the opportunity to create works on dancers in the DMV area and is beginning his work as a company member with Complexions Dance in New York this next work.
Odin, was a high school scholar athlete, started dancing at 17 and is a senior at George Mason University’s School of Dance. He has worked with choreographers Rena Butler, David Parsons, Kate Skarpetowska, Ronald K. Brown, and among others. He also plays the cello and piano. This is his first season with Chamber Dance Project.
Patric Palkens is in his first season with Atlanta Ballet after having been a Soloist for Boston Ballet, with over a decade of experience performing both classical and contemporary repertoire for ballet companies around the world. Patric is known for his charming stage presence, dynamic jumps and athletic partnering. He has performed leading roles by choreographic greats such as Jerome Robbins, George Balanchine, William Forsythe, Annabelle Lopez Ochoa, Victoria Morgan and Val Caniparoli. Patric Is excited and grateful to return to Chamber Dance Project this summer for his fifth season to be a part of creating new work and revisiting some old favorites.
Peter Mazurowski is a freelance artist based in New York. At age 13, he made his Broadway debut as Billy in Billy Elliot: the Musical. He played the title role in over 140 performances and was part of the closing cast. Peter later danced as a junior apprentice for Urbanity Dance and was a trainee with Boston Ballet. He joined Charlotte Ballet as a first company member in 2016, where he danced for five seasons under the direction of Jean-Pierre Bonnefoux and Hope Muir. In 2021, he joined Benjamin Millepied’s LA Dance Project as a company member, where he danced for three seasons. Throughout his professional career, Peter has performed works by Jiří Kylián, Ohad Naharin, Johan Inger, Bobbi Jene Smith & Or Schraiber, Alonzo King, Christian Spuck, Helen Pickett, Stephanie Martinez, Medhi Walerski, Dwight Rhoden, Bryan Arias and many others. This is his first season with Chamber Dance Project.
Sophie Miklosovic, Michigan native, is currently a Company Artist with BalletMet.
Her pre-professional training was under Magaly Suarez, The Art of Classical Ballet, Pompano Beach, FL. Her early ballet training was developed in Michigan by Valentina Barsukova, Valentina’s Ballet and Meg Paul, Complexions Ballet Associate Artistic Director. Her early contemporary training was with Liz Schmidt-Mazurkiewicz, Spotlight Dance Works.
Since joining BalletMet in 2017, at age 17, she has performed leading roles in Cinderella, Romeo and Juliet, The Nutcracker, Giselle, Don Quixote, among others. She has also performed works by George Balanchine, Jerome Robbins, Edwaard Liang, David Nixon, Christopher Wheeldon, Gustavo Ramirez Sansano, Ulysses Dove, Amy Siewert, Andrea Schermoly, Annabelle Lopez Ochoa, Alexander Ekman. As a professional guest artist, she has performed principal roles from Swan Lake, La Bayadere, Don Quixote, Le Corsaire, Flames of Paris, The Nutcracker.
Her awards include the Gold Medal at the World Ballet Competition in Orlando, the Morning Star Foundation Award at the Beijing IBC in China, 1st Place, Gold Medal at the Cuban IBC & festival in Havana, she also received the Director’s Legacy Award at the Universal Ballet Competition and was a Top 3 Scholarship winner, at the National Society of Arts & Letters, En Pointe Classical Ballet Competition. In 2019, Sophie was named as one of Dance Magazine’s Top 25 to Watch.
Tamako is from Tokyo and is in her 13th season with The Washington Ballet. Prior to that she danced Columbia Classical Ballet and The Washington Ballet Studio Company. She studied at Kaneta Kono Ballet Academy, Michiko Aoyama Ballet Studio, and the Reiko Otsuka Ballet Studio and on full scholarship for two years at La Scala Ballet School in Milan. Tamako earned full scholarships to study at the National Ballet of Canada, John Cranko School and The Washington Ballet. Tamako has performed principal and soloist roles in works by choreographers such as Sir Frederick Ashton, George Balanchine, Mikhail Fokine, Jerome Robbins, William Forsythe, Jiri Kylian, John Cranko, Hans van Manen, Twyla Tharp, Ulysses Dove, Mark Morris, Paul Taylor, Merce Cunningham, Septime Webre, Christopher Wheeldon, Alexis Ratmansky, Christopher Bruce, Edwaard Liang, Trey McIntyre, Jessica Lang, Dana Genshaft, Dwight Rhoden among others. She has been a guest artist with the Japan Ballet Association, International Ballet Festival in Miami, Associazione Culturale Artedanza Rossana in Italy, AllStars of Dance Gala, The Dream Celebration, the International Ballet Gala in Johannesburg and Chicago Dance Festival. Her awards include the Silver Medal at USA International Competition Jackson in 2014, first place in the Youth America Grand Prix finals in 2002, second place in the All Japan Ballet Union Competition. This is Tamako’s first season with Chamber Dance Project.
Header Photo: Silhouettes of our dancers in Songs by Cole
Photo by Eduardo Patino.NYC
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Chamber Dance Project. All rights reserved.
Chamber Dance Project is a 501 (c) 3 not-for-profit organization. All donations are tax-deductible to the full extent of the law and most appreciated. Federal Tax ID 13-4109515. Chamber Dance Project is a Resident Company at BalletNova. Chamber Dance Project is supported by The DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities.
Diane Coburn Bruning, Artistic Director | Sally McLain, Principal Musician
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