During twenty of her twenty-eight years at the Washington Ballet, she served as Repetiteur for Mary Day's popular "The Nutcracker". She also served as Director of The Young Dancers, a pre-professional group of students who served the Washington community's outreach programs.
She has received numerous distinguished teacher awards, including honors from the White House Commission on Presidential Scholars, the National Foundation for the Arts, the Saraband Dance Festival, and Outstanding Teacher award for the Youth America Grand Prix.
Ms. Berrend has coached students who have won prestigious international, national, and regional ballet competitions. In 2004, she coached Puanani Brown, First Place Awardee, Senior Division, at the National Youth America Grand Prix, New York. Ms. Berrend also received her second Outstanding Teacher Award for that national competition.
Dmitri Malikov
Ballet and Pointe
Mr. Malikov graduated from Bolshoi Ballet Academy (Russia) in 1987. Mr. Malikov was a soloist and principal dancer with Donetsk Ballet Company, L'vov Ballet Theatre, Moscow City Ballet, and Ballet Theatre of MD. He has performed internationally in the United States, United Kingdom, Poland, Estonia, Taiwan, Philippines, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Italy. In 1994 and 1995, Mr.Malikov appeared in the International Festival "Stars of World Ballet", and in 1995 he was promoted to Highest Category Ballet Artist.
Mr. Malikov's repertoire include most famous classical roles such as Prince in "Nutcracker" and "Swan Lake", Cavalier in "Chopiniana", Albrecht in "Giselle", Franz in "Copellia", Oberon in "Midsummer Night's Dream", Jose in "Carmen Suite" and many others classical/modern and contemporary works. His repertoire also includes many works of the world famous choreographers.
Since moving to the Baltimore/Annapolis area, Mr. Malikov has been featured many times in the local newspapers, such as the "Baltimore Sun", "Voice of Severna Park", and "Capital". Dmitri is also featured in the new book "A Young Dancer's Apprenticeship" by Olimpia Dowd and "Annapolis (A Portrait)".
Linda Miller
Ballet and Pointe
Graduate of the North Carolina School of The Arts, Winston-Salem, N.C. Ford Foundation Scholar at The School of American Ballet, The Joffery Ballet, The Washington Ballet, and the North Carolina School of the Arts. As a professional dancer with The North Carolina Dance Theater and The Feld Ballet, Ms. Miller
performed and toured internationally and had the honor to work with Mikhail Baryshnikov, Jerome Robbins, Mark Morris, Agnes DeMille, Alvin Ailey, Glen Tetley,Eliot Feld and Patrick Swayze. Ms. Miller is presently Associate Professor of Dance at the Conservatory at Shenandoah University in Winchester, Virginia.
Tally Frieder
Ballet and Pointe
Tally Frieder is a former member of the San Francisco Ballet under the direction of Helgi Tomasson. Ms. Frieder has danced soloist and principle roles in many famous ballets such as Helgi Tomasson's "Swan Lake," Anthony Tudor's "Dark Elegies," Agnes de Mille's "Fall River Legend" and Balanchine's "Serenade." While at the San Francisco Ballet choreographer Val Caniparoli created two leading pas de deux for Ms. Frieder. She has also danced with Oakland Ballet. Ms. Frieder has taught locally at various schools since 1994. She holds a BA in Creative Arts Therapy from George Washington University.
Robin Gilbert
Ballet
BFA, Dance, University of Utah. Graduate of Jane Bittner's Dance Center. Formerly taught dance in Virginia, Arizona, and Potomac, MD.
Kate McDonald
Modern
Kate McDonald is from the Pacific Northwest where she began her dance training at a young age with Anacortes Dance Center under the direction of Paula Clancey. She holds a B.F.A. in modern dance from Texas Christian University where she was a recipient of the Fine Arts Guild Scholarship Award. She has danced professionally with Caroline Calouche & Co., Martha Connerton's KineticWorks, and Opera Carolina in addition to working with such artists as Leah Cox, Christian von Howard, Jin-Wen Yu, Susan Douglas Roberts, Elizabeth Gillaspy, and the late Fernando Bujones. She has taught at numerous institutions including The Perfect Step (Gastonia, NC), the North Carolina Dance Theatre School of Dance (Charlotte, NC), and was a full-time Dance Educator in a public high school. Currently she is a faculty member and Outreach Program Manager with CityDance Ensemble and a member of the Studio Company.
Roger Riggle
Jazz and Tap/Adult Tap and Jazz
Roger has a degree in drama from the Catholic University of America, Washington, D.C. and, since 1978, has choreographed, directed and produced numerous operas and musical theatre productions. For eight years, Roger was the Associate Producer of TheatreFest, theatre-in-residence program, at Montclair State University, Montclair, N.J. Roger has worked with many celebrities including: Leslie Uggams, Susan Lucci, Debbie Reynolds, Kim Zimmer, Pattie LuPone and Betty Buckley. Roger has directed operas at the annual Amalfi Music Festival in Italy . He is a member of the Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers. Roger is the make up consultant for Parlights, Inc. in Frederick, MD, a leading theatrical supply house for the greater Washington/Baltimore areas.
Laura Urgellés (Guest Faculty, The Washington Ballet)
Ballet , Pointe, Repertoire
Laura Urgellés, of Cuba, is in her ninth season with The Washington Ballet. She was trained at the Vocational School of the Arts in Camagüey and at the Professional School of Ballet and Plastic Arts, where she graduated with honors. She started her professional career with Cuba’s Ballet of Camagüey under the direction of Fernando Alonso, where she danced principal roles of their classical, neoclassical and contemporary repertoire. After a brief period dancing with Ballet of Monterrey in Mexico, she came to the U.S in 1995. Ms. Urgellés has danced as a principal with Hartford Ballet, Miami Hispanic Ballet and Maximum Dance Company, and as a guest artist with many companies around the world. Her repertoire includes the principal roles in Giselle, La Fille Mal Gardeé, The Sleeping Beauty, Romeo and Juliet, Paquita, Coppélia, Le Espectre de la Rose, Les Sylphides and in works by George Balanchine, Martha Graham, Choo-San Goh, Jean Grand-Maitrê, Trey McIntyre, Septime Webre, Fernando Bujones and others. Ms. Urgellés is the recipient of the Gold Medal and the Grand Prix of the VII International Ballet Competition of Trujillo, Peru. In 1996, she was honored by the Association of Critics of the Arts in Miami with the Annual Dance Award.
Aaron Jackson (Guest Faculty, formerly with The Washington Ballet)
HipHop/Stretch
Aaron Jackson, of Johnson City, Tennessee, is currently dancing with Company C Contemporary Ballet in Walnut Creek, California. He danced for six seasons with The Washington Ballet after dancing with Dance Theatre of Harlem for one season. He received his ballet training at the Johnson City Ballet Company, where he studied for seven years. Mr. Jackson attended summer programs on full scholarship at School of American Ballet, San Francisco Ballet School, Joffrey Ballet School and Pennsylvania Ballet School.
Gigi Buscaglio (Guest Faculty)
Jazz and Tap
A native Washingtonian, has performed and taught theater arts in DC area for many years. Gigi received her B.A. from Catholic University in Speech and Theater. She toured nationally in repertoire with the National Players Acting Company in the Boys from Syracuse, The Miser and Richard III. She also toured internationally, entertaining U.S. troops in Germany and Italy, singing and dancing in a rock 'n roll review. Gigi is a director, choreographer and a theatre/dance educator (tap and jazz), perpetuating performance arts for children at the Woods Academy, Holton-Arms Academy, the Bethesda Academy of Performing Arts and any other group that would be interested in learning aspects of performance. Currently she is a faculty member with the Knock on Wood Tap studio in Silver Spring, Maryland.
Krisie Allen
Dancin' Tots and Adult Tap/HipHop
Susan Allen
Pilates
