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Meet the artists of Eglevsky Ballet, the only professional ballet company on Long Island.
eglevsky ballet
Abigail Concannon was born in East Islip, New York, and began her dance training at the age of two at Lori’s School of Dance. She danced competitively until the age of thirteen when she joined the Eglevsky Ballet, to focus full-time on ballet training. In 2015, she was accepted into the School of American Ballet, in New York City, for the fall term. Abby spent her summers training with the Boston Ballet, Miami City Ballet, and Oregon Ballet Theatre. In 2019, she graduated from the School of American Ballet and joined Oregon Ballet Theatre’s Second Company. Abby joined OBT as a Company Artist for the 2021-2022 season. Later joining the Nevada Ballet Theatre for the 2022-2023 season. She returns now to Eglevsky Ballet for this season as a Company Artist.
Samantha Watson has been dancing her whole life. Originally from New Hampshire, she studied at the Brattleboro School of Dance in Brattleboro, Vermont for 13 years. She attended various summer programs including The Rock School for Dance Education, Next Generation Ballet and more. She graduated Magna Cum Laude from the University of Hartford’s Hartt School in May, 2019, where she received her BFA in Dance Pedagogy. Ms. Watson danced with the New York State Ballet from 2019-2021, where she performed soloist and corps roles. From 2021-2023 she performed with Newport Contemporary Ballet, where she danced varied reparatory from choreographers such as Amy Hall Garner, Yoshito Sakuraba, Juan Rodriguez and others. She is thrilled to be dancing with Eglevsky Ballet for the 2023-24 season!
Mari Takayama was born in Japan. She came to the US in 2021. She was dancing with American Repertory Ballet as a Trainee, where she got the main character Clara in the Nutcracker. She danced with Connecticut Ballet, CityDance NY and Neville Dance Theatre as a professional. Before Mari came to the US, she graduated from the ballet course at Senzoku Gakuen College of Music in Japan with two scholarships. While in college, she organized and choreographed ballet, musical and contemporary performances. Mari participated in various intensives such as American Ballet Theatre, Miami City Ballet, American Academy of Ballet in NY, Kirov Academy of Ballet in Washington, D.C., and Bolshoi Ballet Academy, etc. Her ballet repertories are Sugar Plum Fairy, Clara and Dew Drop Fairy of The Nutcracker, Flames of Paris, Lucy Westenra of Dracula, Paquita, Kitri of Don Quixote, Giselle, etc. Recently she became an ABT certificated teacher. This is Miss Takayama’s second season with Eglevsky Ballet.
Elisabeth Shim is a Long Island native and alumni of Eglevsky Ballet School. She attended summer programs at American Ballet Theatre in New York and Boston Ballet. She obtained a Bachelor of Science in Ballet from Indiana University’s Jacob School of Music. She danced under the direction of Kyra Nichols, Michael Vernon, Carla Korbes, Sarah Wroth, Sasha Janes, and Christian Claessens. During her 3 years there, she was featured in Donizetti Variations by George Balanchine, and Pas de Sept(A Folktale) by August Bournonville. Additionally, she was a Premier Young Artist Award recipient, Marina Svetlova Award recipient, a part of the Hutton Honors College and a Founders Scholar. She obtained an outside field in Entrepreneurship and Small Business Management, with a minor in Marketing from the Kelley School of Business. During her professional endeavors, she danced to choreographed works by Gabrielle Lamb, Kevin Jenkins, and Amy Hall Garner.”
Omar Rodriguez was born in Mexico and started his professional dance studies in Mexico City’s National Dance School for Classical and Contemporary Dance where he graduated from in 2018, he completed his apprenticeship at Mexico’s National Dance Company to then join Virginia National Ballet. Afterwards he moved to New York City to dance with New York Dance Project, while guesting with Brooklyn Ballet for productions of The Nutcracker staged at King’s Theater. Omar has also worked as an independent dancer performing with Neville Dance Theatre and Sheep Meadow Dance, this is his second season dancing for Eglevsky Ballet.
Courtney Renee Cochran is a NYC based professional dancer, teacher, and choreographer. She has performed with Brooklyn Ballet, The Black Iris Project, Collage Dance Collective, Columbia City Ballet, Dance Theatre of Harlem, among others, and has taught at institutions such as Limon Dance, Mark Morris Dance Group, DTH, and American Ballet Theatre. Courtney was nominated for Dance Lab New York’s residency in collaboration with The Joyce Theatre where her work was featured at Works & Process at the Guggenheim. Her piece, “from cage of teeth and jaw, commissioned by Works & Process, was awarded “Best Solo Performance” by Earl Mosley’s Dance is Activism Film Festival. Courtney is in her second season with Eglevsky Ballet.
Gillian Dash is originally from Central Pennsylvania where she began her dance training at age 3. As a student she had the opportunity to travel to the Bolshoi Ballet Academy in Moscow, Russia. Gillian graduated from Butler University where she studied dance performance and history. After graduating she spent a year working in New Orleans where she had the chance to take part in several original contemporary ballet premieres. She currently resides in New York and is excited for the 2023/24 season with Eglevsky Ballet.
Rose Engel danced at the New England Academy of Dance in New Canaan, Connecticut under the direction of Ginna Ortiz, Ted Thomas, Frances Ortiz, and Christina Fagundes Turner. She studied there through her high school career and joined the company in 2015. She is a current student at the University of Cincinnati, College-Conservatory of Music earning her BFA in Ballet. There, she trained under the esteemed faculty Shauna Steele, Deirdre Carberry, Jiang Qi, Tricia Sundbeck, Isabele Elefson, Gema Diaz, Shane Ohmer, and Molly Perez. Her professional training includes attending the programs ABT, Bolshoi, University of Utah in Korea, Gelsey Kirkland Academy, CPYB, Cincinnati Ballet and at PMDS in Paris, France. Rose’s notable performances include The Nutcracker, Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty, Giselle, Serenade, and Death and the Maiden. She graduated with a BFA and this is her first season with Eglevsky Ballet.
James Felton II received his initial dance training under Sandra Brewer and later at the Flint School of Performing Arts under Karen Mills-Jennings before receiving his BFA in Dance Performance and Choreography from Western Michigan University in 2021. Upon graduation, James regularly appeared as guest artist throughout the midwest and eventualy with Ballet Theatre Company (West Hartford, CT) in the 2021-2022 season before relocating to join the full company in 2022-2023. James has also appeared as a guest artist with City Ballet of Boston, Dimensional Dance, Playhouse On Park, Flint Institute of Music, Seyong Kim, and others. James is a passionate pedagogue, serving on Faculty in Eglevsky Ballet’s Boy’s Dance Program.
Natalie Folts Born in Syracuse, New York, Natalie began ballet classes at 6 years old, primarily with Ballet and Dance of Upstate New York (currently known as Syracuse City Ballet). After relocating to Seattle in 2013, she was invited to join the Pacific Northwest Ballet School, where she trained under the direction of retired New York City Ballet principal dancer, Peter Boal. During her years at PNB School, she’s performed a number of roles in company productions, as well as attended numerous world-renowned summer programs with Houston Ballet, Boston Ballet, American Ballet Theatre and Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre.
Upon graduation from high school in 2017, Natalie was accepted into trainee programs at Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre & BalletMet before deciding to continue her education at Cazenovia College, where she received a B.S. in Psychology with a minor in pre-law. Natalie is thrilled to begin her debut season with Eglevsky Ballet and is looking forward to the year ahead!
Joshua Lamar began his training at the age of 8 years old in Los Angeles, CA under the tutelage of Otis Sallid & Kyme Sallid. Joshua’s training ranges from Tap, Ballet, African, Contemporary, & Modern. He has worked with world renowned professional instructors and choreographers including Debbie Allen, Tanisha Scott, Darrell Grand Moultrie, Kevin Iega Jeff, Judith Jamison, Alonzo King, Robert Garland, Andrea Long-Naidu, Michael Sheridan, Karen Brown, and many others. Credits: Guest Teaching Artist at Boston Conservatory, Guest Artist at Madison Ballet, Season 2 & 3 of Legendary (HBO Max) Deeply Rooted Dance Theatre(Chicago), West Side Story (Lyric Opera) American In Paris (Ogunquit Playhouse) Ballet Soloist (Holland America Cruises), Collage Dance Collective, Dance Theatre Of Harlem (2nd Company). Joshua is thrilled to have the opportunity to dance with Eglevsky Ballet this season.
