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By Paul Kolnik

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1. Sara Calhoun, 17 (Spectrum Dance Theater)
Seattle
Sara Calhoun is currently in her sophomore year at the University of Washington in Seattle. She is in the UW Honors program and is majoring in bioengineering. Sara began dancing at Spectrum Dance Theater at the age of three and joined its Academy Program when it was created in 2006.

2. Alice Cao, 18 (PNB & Sonia Dawkins/Segue)
Seattle
Alice Cao is 18 years old and lives in Seattle, WA. She is a senior at Garfield High School. Cao began dancing in Pacific Northwest Ballet's outreach program, DanceChance, and has studied at PNB for the last ten years. She has also attended summer programs at American Ballet Theatre in New York City, Boston Ballet, and the National Ballet School of Canada.

3. Hallie Ericson, 19 (former PNB student)
Seattle
Hallie Ericson is 19 years old and is a sophomore at the University of Washington. She plans to major in International Studies, and is doing a pre-med course. She studied ballet and other forms of dance at Pacific Northwest Ballet School for thirteen years, and has studied at various other schools including Cornish College of the Arts, Chicago Ballet and at different studios all over the Seattle area. Hallie volunteers with the Zoo Corps Teen Program at the Woodland Park Zoo, and the Rabour Village Project. She was part of the Seattle Memoria group four years ago, and she feels proud to be able to have this chance again.

4. Hayley Danielle Fridenstine, 17 (International Ballet Theater)
Redmond
Hayley Fridenstine is in her fourth year in the professional development division at the International School of Classical Ballet (ISCB), where she is also a soloist for the International Ballet Theatre’s company under the direction of Vera Altunina. She has performed many roles with IBT including Lucy and Queen of Darkness (Dracula), Snow Queen, Arabian and Mirlitons (The Nutcracker), Flower Girl (Don Quixote), and has performed with the Jazz Performance Ensemble. Last summer Hayley attended summer intensive programs at both Lines Ballet School and the San Francisco Conservatory of Dance where she had the opportunity to study under Glenn Edgerton, Summer Lee Rhatigan and Alonzo King. These programs were very exciting for her as she is passionate about contemporary ballet. On two occasions she attended week-long intensive master classes in St. Petersburg, Russia where she received instruction from former Kirov dancers such as Gennady Slutsky, and Lyuba Kunakova. She is well-trained in the Russian style of classical ballet but also has had years of extensive training and performing experience in jazz, tap, character and modern dance. She is currently 17 years old and a senior in High school.

5. Eric Hipolito Jr, 17 (PNB Apprentice & Sonia Dawkins/Segue)
Seattle
Eric Hipolito Jr. is seventeen years old and is from Seattle, WA. He is currently attending Roosevelt High School in Seattle. Mr. Hipolito started ballet lessons at the age of eight through the DanceChance program at the Pacific Northwest Ballet School. He has attended summer courses at Pacific Northwest Ballet, San Francisco Ballet, the School of American Ballet, and Houston Ballet. He continues his extensive ballet training at the Pacific Northwest Ballet as a Professional Division student. As a Professional Division student at the Pacific Northwest Ballet, Mr. Hipolito has performed works by Kent Stowell, Marius Petipa, George Balanchine, and Sonia Dawkins. He danced in Sonia Dawkins‘ Cu Ture, Kiyon Gaine’s Infinite Intricacies, and George Balanchine’s Tchaikovsky Pas De Deux in PNB’s 2007 Student Showcase. He also originated the leading role of the White Bird in Bruce Wells’ Hansel & Gretel. Dancing with Pacific Northwest Ballet he has performed corps de ballet roles in Stowell’s The Nutcracker, The Sleeping Beauty, Swan Lake, Petipa’s Don Quixote, Balanchine’s Theme & Variations, La Sonnambula, and Prodigal Son, and in Jerome Robbin’s The Concert. Mr. Hipolito received a Level II award for ballet from the National Foundation for the Advancement in the Arts in the 2008 Arts Recognition and Talent Search.

6. Margaret Hotchkiss, 18 (The Galletta School of Dance)
Bainbridge Island
Margaret Hotchkiss lives on Bainbridge Island, in Washington State. She is a senior at Bainbridge High School. She has been dancing for 14 years and is planning to continue her dance career in college. She had training in ballet, jazz, modern, lyrical, and hip hop. She currently dances and teaches at The Galletta School of Dance in Poulsbo, WA. She feels honored to be dancing in Memoria along with a company she has looked up to since she was young. She also enjoys theater and this spring will be dancing as a showgirl is BHS's version of Anything Goes. She hopes to continue acting in college. Margaret feels that “Dancing and acting go well together, because one really needs to know how to act to be able to dance.” She hopes to go to California for college.

7. Ingelise Ditlev Kozora, 15 (Ballet Arts Academy, Spokane)
Spokane
Ingelise Kozora is from Spokane, Washington and a sophomore at Lewis & Clark High School. She has been dancing with Ballet Arts Academy for twelve years and has been performing with Theatre Ballet of Spokane for three years as a company member under the direction of Dodie Askegard. The past two summers Ingelise attended Pacific Northwest Ballet's summer program and in 2005 participated in Walla Walla's Summer Dance Lab. She has also danced in Alberta Ballet's production of The Nutcracker.

8. Ivana Lin, 14 (PNB & Sonia Dawkins)
Redmond
Ivana Lin is 14 years old and goes to Bellevue Christian School. Lin lives in Redmond, Washington and has studied ballet at Pacific Northwest Ballet School (PNBS) for the past nine years. In her fifth year of training she started learning other types of dance including modern. Lin recently received the Paul Robinson Award for excelling in dance and maintaining good grades in school

9. Johänna Lund, 15 (The Galleta School of Dance)
Poulsbo
Johänna Lund is 15 years old and attends North Kitsap High School in Poulsbo,WA. Lund is thrilled to have this opportunity to work with Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. Some of the roles she has previously performed in ballet are Cinderella, Snow & Rose Queen, and Clara in The Nutcracker. She has participated in several years of summer dance intensives including PNB for two years and SDL Whitman College for three. She is active in her community participating in Grease (as Marty), National Honor Society, Leo Club and as a teen mentor.

10. Cara Maldonado, 21
Olympia
Cara Maldonado is a dance instructor at Prairie Dance Center where in the past year she has choreographed over 20 dance pieces. Several have gone to competitions, local dance festivals and been peformed at The Evergreen State College. She has recently danced at The Washington Center of Peforming Arts, Evergreen's Day of Absence and several benefit shows. Cara is currently studying performance art under Kabby Mitchell and Rose Jang at The Evergreen State College in Olympia.

11. Jamie Maslach, 16 (Bainbridge Dance Center)
Bainbridge Island
Jamie Maslach lives on Bainbridge Island where she attends Bainbridge High School. Maslach began dancing at the age of four at Bainbridge Dance Center, under the direction of Susan Thompson. For the last three years she has received scholarship awards through Bainbridge Music and Arts organization. She has studied with John Passafiume and Denise Dabrowski at the Whitman Summer Dance Intensive where she received a merit award. Last summer Jamie traveled to Senegal where she worked with native musicians learning traditional dance and drumming.

12. Tasia Nash, 15 (PNB & Sonia Dawkins/Segue)
Sammamish
Tasia Nash lives in Sammamish, WA and is in ninth grade at Inglewood Junior High School. She has danced at Pacific Northwest Ballet for seven years and is currently in level seven. At PNB she has been in over 10 productions including The Nutcracker, Romeo and Juliet, Sleeping Beauty, A Midsummer Night's Dream, and Swan Lake. She received a student of the month award at her school.

13. Charlotte Newman, 15 (Kaleidoscope)
Seattle
Charlotte Newman started dancing at age two at the Creative Dance Center in Greenwood, WA. Now at 15, she is a sophomore at Nathan Hale High School in Seattle. Outside of school, she loves to dance and has studied modern, ballet, jazz, hip-hop, salsa, swing and more. At the age of eight, she joined Kaleidoscope Dance Company, a performing dance company for young dancers of which she is still a part of today. With this company she has performed throughout the United States and traveled to Brazil and The Netherlands.

14. Brendan Philip, 15 (PNB & Sonia Dawkins/Segue)
Seattle
Brendan Philip lives in Seattle and is a sophomore at Ballard High School. He is in his 10th year with Pacific Northwest Ballet School and is a 2008 Paul Robeson Scholar-Athlete Award recipient.

15. Sarah Poppe, 19 (Cornish)
Lake Stevens
Sarah Poppe currently takes classes at Cornish Preparatory Dance, Dance Fremont and The Dance School (Everett). Last year, she danced with the Atlanta Ballet Centre for Dance Education in their Pre-Professional Division. Sarah has danced by invitation in Juans le Pains, France, as well as being selected to participate in a dance cultural exchange to Russia. She is currently in college, pursuing premed education. She hopes to eventually specialize in osteopathic manipulation and treatment for dancers, as well as pursuing other dance and performance opportunities.

16. Joseph Schanbeck, 20 (UW & DANCE This)
Kent
Joseph Schanbeck has been dancing since he was 12 years old and has trained in ballet, tap, lyrical, jazz, modern and hip hop. He was a member of the Allegro Precision Dance Company for three years and a member of the Seattle Theater Group DANCE this...Company in 2004 and 2005, performing African and modern dance at the Paramount Theater in Seattle, WA. He has received instruction from multiple accomplished choreographers and dance artists such as Savion Glover, Jamel Gaines, Sonia Dawkins, Adam Parson, Nacho Duato of La Compania de Danza and others. Joseph has received awards including: Senior Mr. Dance Educators of America (DEA), Mr. Starpower ('04-'05), Senior Regional Mr. West Coast Dance Explosion ('05), WCD Elite male dancer ('06 and '07), Co. Dance scholarship ('06), LA elite Scholarship ('07) and he was the 2006 winner of LA Dance Force's Dance With The Force. Joseph has also performed as a duo and back-up dancer for the V.H. Production of Showcase 2K4. Additionally Schanbeck was awarded dance scholarships to study in LA, New York, and Las Vegas from nationally recognized convention competitions including West Coast Dance Explosion, LA Dance Force and Co Dance. Joseph aspires to become a recognized dance instructor and choreographer. He currently attends the University of Washington in Seattle as an undergraduate dance major and pursues liberal studies in science.

17. Christie Schmidt, 15 (Westlake Dance Center)
Newcastle
Christie Schmidt is from Newcastle, Washington and is a 15-year old freshman at Liberty High School. Christie has received formal dance training in ballet, jazz, tap, modern, lyrical and hip-hop. She has won scholarships from The Wade Robson Project and Monsters of Hip-Hop. Among Christie’s many talented instructors are Daniel Cruz (Cruz Control), Kolanie Marks (Rated PG), Cameron Lee (Potion), and Keri Lee Florentine (In Effect). She has performed locally in Battle of Seattle, Sign of the Times, Unrated, En ‘Lair and is a member of the Women’s NBA Seattle Storm Dance Troupe.

18. Lisa Reinbold, 22 (UW)
Seattle
Lisa Reinbold received her dance training from Pacific Northwest Ballet, Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet and also spent several years studying Tahitian dance and hula privately under Merehau Kamai. Lisa currently lives with her husband Jeff in Seattle and dances at the University of Washington while working towards becoming a Clinical Social Worker.

19. Isaiah Sumler, 18 (Ken Kisner, Tacoma Contemporary Dance)
Tacoma
Isaiah Maurice Sumler is eighteen years old and is a senior attending Herey Foss High School. He has been dancing for four years and attends the Washington Contemporary Ballet School in Tacoma, Washington. He also draws/paints and plays the viola and piano in his school orchestra. Isaiah’s long term goals in life are to study with Alvin Ailey Dance Theater as well as to one day open a school for the arts where he can inspire and motivate the youth through arts.

20. Rie Ueda, 17 (PNB)
Seattle
Rie Ueda is from Japan and came to Seattle in 2006. She is currently attending her junior year at the Northwest School in Capitol Hill.

21. Kelly Vittetoe, 15 (PNB)
Sammamish
Kelly was born with a fierce love of dancing and music and began creative movement classes at the age of three. After her first class, she declared that she would be a ballerina and a day hasn’t gone by where she hasn’t focused on her dream. She began her formal ballet training at Pacific Northwest Ballet School when she turned eight. She loves to express herself through all dance styles and has performed modern works with Sonia Dawkins in 2005 and 2006 in DANCE This performances. Kelly knows that to be a successful dancer in today’s performing art world it is important to be well rounded and has included tap, jazz and hip-hop in her studies and she attends local master classes whenever she can. Kelly also takes modern class with Sonia Dawkins at PNB. She is currently in level 8 at PNB, and is looking forward to a long and successful dancing career. She quotes “Dance IS my LIFE”. A life changing moment for her was when she had her first opportunity to see the Alvin Ailey’s dancers perform. The dancers literally took her breath away, and now that she will be performing with them she feels like it is a dream within a dream. Kelly has trained with American Ballet Theatre for the past two summers and will be training with the School of American Ballet this summer. She is currently attending Eastlake High School in Sammamish. In her rare free time she models and studies fashion.

22. Kate Wallich, 18 (Cornish)
Seattle
Kate Wallich is from Ann Arbor, Michigan. She has trained on scholarship at Interlochen Arts Academy in Michigan. She is currently on scholarship at Cornish College of the Arts as a dance major.

23. Alex Wheelwright, 17, Spectrum Studios
Bellevue
Alex Wheelwright is presently a student in the Academy program at Spectrum Dance in Seattle while finishing her last year at Interlake High School in Bellevue. She previously danced with ProArte in Vancouver, BC, Canada until 2006, participating in two Ballet BC/Alberta Ballet series of the Nutcracker. Alex has been accepted in the Dance Department of the Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle for fall 2008.