Emily received her early training in her hometown of Schenectady, New York and later trained in Saratoga Springs, NY, with Elizabeth Carroll and Olga Kostritzky. Emily danced professionally for nine years with Nevada Dance Theatre, Ballet Iowa, and Ballet Omaha. She later earned a Master of Fine Arts from the University of Iowa. Fulfilling a three year Graduate Assistantship, she had teacher training in both classical and contemporary techniques under the tutelage of Francoise Martinet, Alicia Brown, and Alan Senar. After graduate school, Emily worked as an assistant professor at the University of Idaho, and was later promoted to Director of the Dance Program. As program director, her responsibilities included directing biannual productions, overseeing faculty, curriculum and program development and teaching ballet and contemporary, as well as a dance history course. Prior to coming to Boise and Ballet Idaho, Emily lived with her family in Cremolino, Italy where they ran a Bed & Breakfast and hosted programs in Dance, Art, and Education. She also taught locally as a freelance ballet instructor. Emily has gained additional teacher training credits through the Vaganova method beginning level course while in Italy, and through intensive seminars with David Howard and just recently with Pacific Northwest Ballet. She loves her work at Ballet Idaho Academy and remains committed to curriculum development and building a strong faculty, which together leads to high student achievements. During her leadership, a number of students have studied at high caliber summer programs and year-round programs on scholarship while others have gone on to dance professionally.

Madeline began her training at Illinois Ballet Theater in Moline, Illinois. At 16, she became a member of their pre-professional company, River Point Ballet Theater. She studied under scholarships with the Bolshoi Ballet, Ballet West, Northwest Dance Project, Pittsburgh Ballet, Orlando Ballet, and Texas Ballet Theater. Upon high school graduation, she moved to Salt Lake City to study at the University of Utah and joined their resident ballet company, Utah Ballet, in 2009. She also performed soloist and lead roles as guest artist for Salt Lake City Ballet and danced several performances with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. Madeline graduated in 2012 with a B.F.A. double emphasis in ballet performance and teaching. Upon graduation, she joined Ballet Idaho as a company member and began teaching for the Ballet Idaho Academy. She is currently pursuing a graduate degree at Boise State University. The past three summers, she had the opportunity to perform in Seattle with ARC Dance, under the direction of Marie Chong. While with ARC, she had the opportunity to work with Alex Ketley, David Fernandez, and Edwaard Liang. She performed with Boise Dance Co-op for four seasons where she worked with local artists: Lydia Sakolsky-Basquill, Marla Hansen, and Sayoko Knode.

A native of Walden, Vermont, Cyrus studied at the School of Ballet Chicago, under the direction of Daniel Duell and Patricia Blair. He also attended summer programs at Ballet Chicago, Nutmeg Conservatory and at the American Ballet Theatre Collegiate Summer Intensive in New York. For the Ballet Chicago Studio Company, he danced in the Corps de Ballet in George Balanchine’s Rubies, Grand Pas in The Nutcracker, and Waltz Boy in Serenade; and as a soloist in Ted Seymour’s Intermezzi, as well as his “Winter” in a Young People’s Concert at the Chicago Cultural Center. He spent the past few seasons dancing in the Midwest, first with Minnesota Ballet then with Madison Ballet. As a company member he has had the opportunity to perform a range of works including Embraceable you from Gorge Balanchine’s Who Cares?; Salvatore Aiello’s Clowns and Others; and W. Earle Smith’s Dracula. The 2017/2018 Season will be his second with Ballet Idaho. Sponsored for the 2017-18 season by Iris and Don Hendrickson.

Antonio was born in St. Louis, Missouri and at the age of 3 was adopted and moved to Boise Idaho. He started his dance training at Ballet Idaho in the fall of 2009, after being awarded a full-tuition scholarship from an outreach program by Ballet Idaho for third grade students. He continued his training at Ballet Idaho Academy while also taking part in Ballet Idaho productions where he danced alongside the professional company in productions such as Daniel Ojeda’s Together featuring the music of Fleetwood Mac, Cinderella, The Nutcracker, Don Quixote, Peter Pan, Sleeping Beauty, and more.

He then took company positions with 2 local companies– Idaho Dance Theater and Project Flux Dance Company. In April of 2019 Antonio was given the opportunity to choreograph his very own piece on the Idaho Dance Theater company titled A Seamless Change.

Antonio has taken part in many prestigious summer training programs such as Oregon Ballet Theater, Nutmeg Conservatory Of The Arts, Burklyn Ballet Theater and Northwest Dance Project. He has also been invited to train with various schools around the county such as Alvin Ailey, Next Generation Ballet, James Sewell Ballet and Gelsey Kirkland, and more.

This is his first season with Ballet Idaho.

Generously sponsored for the 2019.20 season by Rick Clark & Liz Roberts, Brandy Stemmler, and Dave & Kathy Wali.

Annika is originally from San Diego, California where she trained under Taeko Nishino, artistic director of Chula Vista Ballet. At the age of 12 Annika moved to Washington D.C. to train at Kirov Academy of Ballet under scholarship from 2011-2013. In 2013 Annika joined Pittsburgh Ballet Theater School’s Full-Time High School program with School Directors Marjorie Grundvig and Dennis Marshall. She then joined Pittsburgh Ballet Theater School’s Graduate program for the 2016/2017 school year. Annika has attended summer programs under scholarship at Kirov Academy of Ballet of Washington D.C., Pittsburgh Ballet Theater School, and The HARID Conservatory. She has also competed at Japan Grand Prix International Ballet Competition in 2014, 2015, and 2016. At Japan Grand Prix in 2015 she was a scholarship recipient for the Alvin Ailey School’s summer program, and she was also a competition finalist in 2016.

As a student she performed as Aurora from Sleeping Beauty, Odette/Odile from Swan Lake, Swanhilda from Coppelia, and the Lead Woman in Pittsburgh Ballet Theater School’s Tarantella. Roles she has performed with Ballet Idaho include Pas de Trois from Swan Lake, Corp de Ballet in Balanchine’s Allegro Brilliante, Third Duet from Alejandro Cerrudo’s Lickety Split, and Spring Fairy in Edwaard Liang’s Cinderella.

Biography coming soon

Adrienne’s dance education began in Albuquerque and included internationally-recognized ballet company summer training programs. In Youth America Grand Prix solo and contemporary competitions she earned Top 12 and bronze honors before performing in New York finals.

At age 14, she entered Pacific Northwest Ballet School on a full annual scholarship. She joined Ballet Idaho at age 17 where she was nominated for the Princess Grace Foundation Dance Performance Award. In addition to her study of principal roles with Gelsey Kirkland in New York, Adrienne has performed lead roles in Anastos’ Firebird, Don Quixote, Swan Lake, The Nutcracker, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Balanchine’s Square Dance, Walpurgisnacht, Who Cares?, Serenade, and Rubies.

As a principal dancer, she has performed in Anastos’ The Sleeping Beauty, Raymonda’s Wedding, Swan Lake, and Ravel Concerto, Balanchine’s Concerto Barocco and Agon, Tharp’s Nine Sinatra Songs, Mineko Williams’ Grey Horses, Davidson’s Ambiguous Content, and Liang’s Cinderella. She also has served as company dancers’ representative, featured artist for Russian Pointe brand, Apolla Shocks beta tester, and performs with contemporary dance company Project Flux.
She also teaches advanced ballet/pointe and jazz classes, Dance for Parkinson’s, and in summer intensive courses throughout the northwest. Her select private students have been accepted to nationwide summer, collegiate, annual training programs, and professional companies.

This is her twelfth season with Ballet Idaho.

Generously sponsored for the 2019.20 season by Sandra & Brent Fery.

Desiree began her professional career at 18 in Los Angeles dancing at Disneyland and soon moved to dancing on the high seas with Norwegian Cruise Lines. Desiree then traveled to Las Vegas,utilizing her gymnastics background and performing in high energy acrobatic shows. Her next stop was New York City where she studied at Steps, Broadway Dance Center and at Alvin Ailey along with being a back up character dancer for several Broadway shows. Desiree is also a 14-year certified Romana’s Pilates instructor.

Stephanie began her training in 1992 with the San Francisco Ballet School where she danced with both School and Company for the next ten years. In 2002, Stephanie moved to Boise, Idaho and danced with Ballet Idaho’s School and Company for one year. She then moved to Basel, Switzerland to dance with the Basel Ballet School and Company for one year. Stephanie came back to the states in 2004 and joined the Inland Pacific Ballet as a principal dancer, dancing there for eight years. Stephanie’s teaching and choreographing career also began at the Inland Pacific Ballet in 2005. In 2011, Stephanie moved to Portland, Oregon where she instructed and choreographed for The Portland Ballet, Bodyvox, Westside Dance Academy, Allegro Dance Academy, Center for Movement Arts, and Polaris Dance Theater. In 2016, Stephanie moved back to Boise, Idaho to raise her family. Stephanie is very excited to get back into the studio and be teaching with Ballet Idaho Academy.

Sada Popick was born in Portland, Oregon, and received early training at the School of Oregon Ballet Theatre. She attended summer intensives on scholarship at San Francisco Ballet, Joffrey Ballet, Boston Ballet, Richmond Ballet, Ballet Austin, Ballet Chicago, and Oregon Ballet Theatre. She finished training at The Portland Ballet and performed with The Portland Ballet Youth Company. Sada moved to Boise to join Ballet Idaho where she danced with the company for five seasons. During this time she also performed with Boise Dance Co-Op for four seasons. She is excited to be teaching in the school on a regular basis this year.

Nathan is from Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada, where he received his early dance training. He started professional training at Canada’s Royal Winnipeg Ballet School and had the chance to tour with the school throughout Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Ontario. He received a RBC Youth Excellence Scholarship in 2006 as a member of Festival Dance at the Banff Centre, and performed with Northern Plains Ballet before joining Festival Ballet Providence for three seasons under Mihailo Djuric. Nathan spent several summers with Ballet Montana and, before coming to Ballet Idaho, danced with Ballet San Antonio. In 2012, Nathan had his Ballet Idaho choreographic debut with a new ballet Timepiece, which reviewer Dana Oland from Idaho Statesman called “a fun character ballet with a sci-fi twist.” He has also choreographed works on Anchorage Ballet, Ballet Montana, and the Boise Dance Co-op. This is Nathan’s seventh season with Ballet Idaho.

Sarah Powell earned her BA in Dance from Chapman University, after receiving a high level of instruction from Ayako School of Ballet and performing with Peninsula Youth Ballet for five years. Her professional performing experience includes Anaheim Ballet, Disneyland Resort, the Glory of Christmas at the Crystal Cathedral, Norwegian Cruise Lines, and the Boise Dance Co-op (where she got to dance with her now husband). She was thrilled to be part of Ballet Idaho’s The Sleeping Beauty production in April 2016. This is Sarah’s sixth year teaching at Ballet Idaho Academy, where she enjoys teaching creative movement, pre-ballet, youth ballet, ballet, tap, and ballet themed summer camps. Sarah also rehearses Ballet Idaho Academy children for The Nutcracker, and is involved in Ballet Idaho’s Learning Through Dance outreach program, where she teaches dance to third graders in their schools. This year she will be directing the Youth Ensemble.

Carlene Raibley trained at Northern California Dance Conservatory where she focused on Modern and Contemporary styles under the instruction of Jen Bradford and Theodore Constant. Her interest in exploring the dance world and culture took her to London Contemporary Dance School (LCDS) where she graduated with a Bachelor of Arts First Class Honours degree. While at LCDS she studied under dancers and choreographers from Scottish Dance Theatre, Sydney Dance Company, Punchdrunk, Batsheva Dance Company, DV8 Physical Theatre, Gravity and Levity, the Merce Cunningham Dance Company, Richard Alston Dance, Rubberband Dance, and Van Huynh Company. During her time living aboard, Carlene also worked at Disneyland Paris as a Parade Dancer and Performer. She enjoyed bringing magic to life for three seasons with Disney. Since then Carlene has worked at Northern California Dance Conservatory as a Ballet instructor and choreographer. Currently she loves exploring many social partnering styles including Contact Improvisation, Swing, Salsa, Bachata, and Blues dancing in her free time while expanding her own choreographic work. She is very excited about joining Ballet Idaho Academy as a faculty member in our Children’s Division as well as in our outreach program, Learning Through Dance. Carlene will also be dancing with Project Flux.

Born in Rochester, New York, Lydia studied with the late Eric Coffman in Boise. She graduated with an AA from Miami’s NWSA, where she focused on classical ballet and modern techniques and performed as a soloist in Michael Utoff’s Ballet, Canyon Pass. Lydia continued her studies to pursue a BFA at ASU where she danced the reconstruction of José Limón’s Missa Brevis, Mazurkas, and El Dances for Isadora. She left to study at the San Francisco Conservatory of Dance under the direction of Summer Lee Rhatigan. At SFCD she danced parts in Robert Moses’ The Supplicant, Netherland Dance Theatre’s Fallen Angels, as well as contemporary works with the Foundry’s Alex Ketley and Christian Burns. She is a Ballet Idaho Academy faculty member and outreach instructor.

Jessica grew up in Jackson, New Jersey. She studied dance with the Princeton Ballet School and the Academy of Dance Arts, where she successfully passed the Royal Academy of Dance major examinations and performed as a pre-professional dancer with Company of Dance Arts. She has attended summer intensive workshops at the Kirov Ballet, the Washington School of Ballet, and Complexions Contemporary Ballet. Jessica has been with Ballet Idaho for seven seasons, performing leads such as the Sugar Plum Fairy, Snow Queen, and Dew Drop Fairy in The Nutcracker and Tall Girl in Rubies. She has performed with Nevada Ballet Theatre, Anchorage Classical Ballet as the lead in La Bayadère, Project Flux, and Boise Dance Co-op. Aside from performing, Jessica teaches at the Ballet Idaho Academy, Ice World, and throughout New Jersey. She is a certified yoga instructor and lead actress of locally produced Boise film, Almosting It.