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A San Francisco Bay Area Native, Meagan Ahern first began her dance training at Menlo Park Academy of Dance and the dance department of the Ruth Asawa School of the Arts. She then continued her training at The Conservatory of Dance at Purchase College SUNY as a Composition Concentration. She graduated with a BFA from SUNY Purchase CoD in May 2019. Meagan is also a graduate in the Licentiate Royal Academy of Dance program in London, trained as a certified ballet teacher under the Royal Academy of Dance Syllabus. Since 2014, she has been a substitute teacher for several schools around the Bay Area, including Alonzo King Lines Dance Center, Menlo Park Academy of Dance, Ayako’s School of Ballet, and Jazz Camp West. She has also been a teacher’s assistant for San Francisco Ballet School, Alonzo King Lines Dance Center, and Menlo Park Academy of Dance. Meagan has been on faculty at Eglevsky Ballet since 2020 and was the founding teacher for Eglevsky Ballet’s Jump Start! Outreach Program. Meagan is now the Principal of the Lower School and Childrens Division at Eglevsky Ballet.
Distinguished by her energetic and creative approach, Christy Ahn imparts her students with the energy and inspiration to achieve their best potential. Her dedication to dance and teaching dance has been a powerful tool for her achievements.
Ms. Ahn holds a Master of Arts in dance from York University and is a graduate from Canada’s National Ballet School Teacher Training Program, both in Toronto, Canada. She is accredited by the Royal Academy of Dance (RAD RTS) and the Imperial Society of Dance (AISTD) in national dance. She has successfully achieved high levels in RAD (Advanced II) which gives her Associate Status (ARAD), Cecchetti (Advanced I) and National Dance (Advanced II). Ms. Ahn received her early dance training with the Vaganova method in Seoul, Korea. Having a knowledge of the various ballet teaching methods(Vaganova, RAD and Cecchetti) enables her to create a solid technique class for her students. She obtained her Pilates Mat-Work Certification from Power Pliates in NYC and continues developing her skills as a teacher. In 2009 she attended the American Ballet Theatre National Teachers Training Curriculum Program and got Certified in Primary through level 3.
Ms. Ahn is a highly qualified, well-rounded, and experienced teacher. Specializing in teaching ballet technique, pointe work, variations, repertoire and conditioning/Pilates/stretching to both male and female students of all ages and levels. She has been teaching in various dance schools in Korea, Canada, and USA since 1993 and is passionate about her career. She continues to pass on her knowledge, to choreograph for dance competitions and to prepare students for dance exams.
Janice Barringer received her early training in her native Florida before moving to New York to pursue a dance career As a performer for twenty years, she was principal dancer with Baltimore City Ballet, the Maryland Ballet, Ballet Theatre of Annapolis and performed with New York Dance Theater. Later, she and her partner, Edward Stewart, appeared as guest artists in companies around the country and at Kennedy Center. During her career Janice was spotlighted in a Public Television special, Dance in America, and was in performances honoring two U.S. Presidents, was a spokesperson and lead dancer in a Kymberly Clark commercial and danced with The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra in educational concerts.
Barringer has served on the faculty of the American Dance Center, Ballet Hispanico, Harkness House, Steps on Broadway, and is currently teaching classes at Eglevsky Ballet School. She is a professor of dance at Pace University in New York.
In 1990 the First Edition of The Pointe Book (about pointe shoes and pointe training and written by Janice) was published by Princeton Book Company. Since then, she has written the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th Editions as well as co-authored a book, En Pointe, with Thalia Mara about pointe shoes and the International Ballet Competition in Jackson, Mississippi. She has also written approximately 50 articles and 9 cover stories for Dancer, Dance, Dance Teacher, Dance Spirit, and Pointe magazines.
Daniella Cavaleri grew up as a child dancing competitively in the New York area and has gone on to perform, teach and choreograph for the last 30 years. After graduating High School, she completed her freshman year at SUNY Purchase Conservatory of Dance and then went onto dance with the Morgan Scott Ballet Company (formerly Joffrey II), her first of many professional jobs. Daniella continued her education by receiving a full scholarship to STEPS on Broadway and furthered her dance education at Broadway Dance Center, Peridance Capezio Center, and other various choreography/teaching workshops. Mrs. Cavaleri has been lucky enough to work and study in many various areas of the entertainment industry. Credits for performance include: (Resident Choreographer) INDIA Franco Dragone Entertainment (Germany), America’s Got Talent (dancer), Radio City Christmas Spectacular NYC (ensemble/swing), Fosse (International /National Tour), Rolling Stones Tour, Mia Michaels R.A.W., Notario Dance Company (Assistant Choreographer), Morgan Scott Ballet (formerly Joffrey II), and Broadway Dances (DRA). Industrials/Media include America’s Got Talent, Usher, Walmart, Viacom, SONY, PBS EGG, Moulin Rouge, Mitisui Cruise Lines, Broadway’s Nothin Like a Dame, and for over 8 years ran the NYC Dance Teacher Summit Fashion Show. When not performing she judges for regional and national competitions, as well as teaches and choreographs for various studios in the tri state area. Her students have been seen performing in: West Side Story Film (2021), Carousel (NYC), Cats (NYC), Hello Dolly (NYC), Newsies (NYC), So You Think You Can Dance, Radio City Christmas Spectacular (NYC and Tour) , The Grinch (NYC and Tour), White Christmas (NYC and Tour), Billy Elliot, Mary Poppins, Bye Bye Birdie, 101 Dalmatians, Annie (Tour) and many dance companies all over the world.
Kristen Collins Lee is a co-founder of Downstage Dance, a teacher, choreographer, and certified yoga instructor with a B.A. in Dance Performance from Hofstra University. Kristen’s choreography has been presented at Hofstra University, The Art House (NJ), Sullivan Hall, Frank Sinatra School of the Arts, Movement Research, Heckscher Park, Peridance, and various colleges and festivals. Most recently, Kristen returned to Hofstra University to set original choreography for Issac Rathbone’s 100 Years in 500 Days under the direction of Cindy Rosenthal for the university’s Artistic Expressions of the Great War conference. Kristen serves on the faculty of the Eglevsky Ballet School as a Modern Technique teacher and helped direct and implement their successful Educational Outreach Program under the direction of Laszlo Berdo. She has also been a guest teacher at the American College Dance Festival, Birch Theater Residency, and various dance and yoga studios on Long Island. Kristen is President of the board of the Hofstra Dance Alumni Association and is an Adjunct Professor of Dance at Nassau Community College. Kristen is currently pursuing her M.F.A in Dance at Montclair State University.
Abigail Conannon hails from New York and began her dance training at the age of two, winning the 2013 National Junior Championship first-place award for Rising-star Solos. She trained at Eglevsky Ballet and studied at the School of American Ballet in New York City for its summer and fall terms. Concannon attended summer programs at Boston Ballet, Miami City Ballet, and Oregon Ballet Theatre. She was awarded the Trudy Stamm Scholarship in 2017 and the Virginia B. Toulmin Foundation Scholarship in 2018. In 2019, she graduated from the School of American Ballet and joined Oregon Ballet Theatre’s Second Company, where she performed in George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker and Christopher Stowell’s The Sleeping Beauty. She was promoted to Company Artist in 2021. She joined Nevada Ballet Theatre in 2022 and joins Eglevsky Ballet’s professional company for the 2023-2024 Season.
Michigan native James Felton II began his early movement career at Sandra Brewer’s Dance Connection before later training with Flint Youth Ballet under the direction of Karen Mills-Jennings. James began teaching, choreographing, and coaching for SBDC’s competitive companies while in his studies with FYB, frequently participating in workshops with The Balanchine Trust, Collage Dance Collective, Complexions Contemporary Ballet, Eisenhower Dance Detroit, Grand Rapids Ballet, and more. James graduated from Western Michigan University in the Spring of 2021, earning his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Dance Performance and Choreography, and in 2019 received his Level 1 Sub Junior – Adv. Certification in Progressing Ballet Technique ™. In his teaching, James aims to reach individuals in the room where they are physically, mentally, and emotionally with the goal to facilitate proprioceptive awareness, self-reflection, and celebration of movement practice through the use of imagery, relative concepts, silliness, and a pinch of “tough love”. James looks forward to sharing his passion in the studios and on stage in his first season with Eglevsky Ballet as Company Artist and Faculty.
Born in Moscow, Russia, Ms. Kozlova was trained at the prestigious Bolshoi Ballet School. She was invited to join the Bolshoi Ballet Company in 1973 and was promoted to Principal Dancer in 1975. She danced all of the major classical roles with the company. In 1979 she defected to the United States while on tour with the Bolshoi. As a student, she had already performed in Western Europe and the U.S. and remained intrigued by what she saw. Her quest for artistic freedom and growth led her to seek a career that would offer new roles by Western contemporary choreographers while still preserving her classical background. She was immediately in demand as a guest artist internationally.
Ms. Kozlova made her Broadway debut in the leading role for the revival of On Your Toes, learning the part from its original creators, George Abbott and George Balanchine. Her performance led Balanchine to invite her in 1983 to join New York City Ballet as Principal Dancer. She accepted and performed with the company until 1995, dancing the classics along with the leading roles in works by Balanchine, Jerome Robbins, Peter Martins, Eliot Feld, Richard Tanner and more. On Balanchine’s suggestion she also worked closely with Alexandra Danilova while she was a teacher at the School of American Ballet, restaging and rehearsing Swan Lake for the school.
The list of Ms. Kozlova’s guest appearances with major international ballet companies is impressive, including Spoleto, La Scala, Florence Opera House, English National Ballet, Paris Opera, Basel Ballet, Australia, Ballet de Santiago (Chile), Teatro Colon (Buenos Aires) and Hong Kong, to name a few. She also appeared in ballet galas in Africa, Greece, England, India, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Don des Etoiles in Canada, Taiwan, South Korea and Japan. Her performances on video include the Pavlova Special (CBS), La Fille Mal Gardée (Philips Video, Germany), and Spartacus (VEAR Productions, Argentina).
Valentina Kozlova has appeared on television, including talk shows and entertainment programs around the world. Following Glasnost, she made a triumphant return to Moscow in 1991, with NBC News covering her performances at the Kremlin Palace. She returned to Moscow in 1992 to perform again as a guest artist after she formed The Daring Project, a ballet company dedicated to creating new works. Ms. Kozlova also danced on Broadway in A Christmas Carol with Tony Randall and Ben Vereen.
In 2009, Ms. Kozlova presented One Magical Performance: The Legacy Gala at The Joyce Theater in New York in celebration of the thirtieth anniversary of her defection. Principal dancers from New York City Ballet and American Ballet Theater were guest artists, performing at the spectacular event alongside students from her school.
Ms. Kozlova sponsored her first international ballet competition in 2010. Since then, the Valentina Kozlova International Ballet Competition has awarded prizes which help young dancers to achieve their professional goals and assist them in getting company contracts. To date 56 company contracts and 13 trainee positions, over 240 scholarships, 14 choreographer commissions and awards, and numerous financial and other prizes have been bestowed on competitors. In 2017 VKIBC became a member of the International Federation Ballet Competitions. VKIBC competitions have been held in Europe and North and South America. Sadly, the competition in 2020 was canceled due to the pandemic. It would have marked the 10th year of the competition and the 40th year of Ms. Kozlova’s defection to the United States. VKIBC resumed in 2021 with the world’s first ever online edition live, by time zones.
The Valentina Kozlova Dance Foundation (VKDF) not only hosts the Valentina Kozlova International Ballet Competition (VKIBC), but also has sponsored many ballet performances and galas around the world. It also has brought dancers and companies to the United States to perform, such as: K Arts Dance Company from South Korea, several VKIBC Semi Finals in Sao Paulo, Brazil, St. Petersburg, Russia, and Mexico City, Mexico.
Devin Richey was born in Michigan and hails from the small town of Milford – growing up amongst the trees, lakes, snow, and potholes. He found his love of movement after accidentally finding himself in an all-boys’ hip hop class as a kid. Today, Devin is a New York City based performer, choreographer, educator, director, and musician having earned a BFA in Commercial Dance from Pace University, with dual concentrations in Choreography and Pedagogy. His strength lies in his versatility, having trained extensively in ballet, hip hop, jazz, contemporary, musical theatre, tap, and more. Alongside these, he is also a NASM-certified personal trainer, founder of Human’s Playground, and guest movement coach for the Olympic training program at the International Skating Academy.
Brittany Larrimer grew up in Dallas, TX and performed with the Ft. Worth Dallas Ballet (now Texas Ballet Theatre) under the direction of Paul Mejia and Benjamin Houk before relocating to New York City to train on full scholarship at the Joffrey Ballet School; later joining the Joffrey Ensemble. Ms. Larrimer’s professional performing experience includes an extensive range of classical and contemporary repertory as a principal dancer across the United States, Europe, and Australia. Throughout her career Brittany has performed works by Alberto Alonso, Chiara and Leonard Ajkun, Gerald Arpino, Winthrop Corey, Maurice Brandon Curry, Nacho Duato, Robert Joffrey, and Trinette Singleton in addition to leading roles in traditional favorites including La Bayadère, Don Quixote, La Fille Mal Gardée, Flower Festival in Genzano, The Nutcracker, Paquita, Raymonda, Romeo & Juliet, The Sleeping Beauty, Spartacus, Swan Lake, and Walpurgis Night. As a principal guest artist Ms. Larrimer has performed for the Cyprus Dance Association, Dancers Responding to Aids, Dance Chicago, and Università di Danza e Teatro. Brittany was honored to perform excerpts of Robert Joffrey’s Gamelan, reconstructed by original cast member Trinette Singleton in cooperation with The Gerald Arpino Foundation, for its first revival since 1968.
She was selected to perform the role of the Bull/Destiny in Sonia-Calero Alonso’s restaging of Alberto Alonso’s Carmen Suite for performances in 2019, which marked the first time the ballet had been performed in the United States with a live orchestra since 1974.
Ms. Larrimer has been teaching throughout the tri-state area for fifteen years and has taught master classes in Europe, Australia, Canada and throughout the United States in addition to serving as an adjudicator for various ballet competitions including the American Dance Competition, Pancyprian Ballet Competition and National College of Dance.
Pamela Alviar-Marquette is a Colombian native living in Queens, New York. Her early dance training began with the Landrum School of Dance. At the age of eight she was selected to study classical ballet at Eliot Feld’s prestigious School Ballet Tech. She continued her studies and love of dance at Purchase College where she graduated with a BFA in dance. Through the years she has continued to train and teach in the styles of Ballet, Modern, Contemporary, Jazz and Lyrical.
She has danced professionally with Lexington Ballet, The Kevin Wynn Collection, and Eliot Feld’s Ballet Tech. Mrs. Alviar-Marquette has had the wonderful pleasure of performing in works by George Balanchine, Eliot Feld, Bill T. Jones, and Sir Kenneth MacMillian.
She has also worked with choreographers such as Francesca Harper, Betti-Jane Sills, Troy Powell, Kevin Wynn, Luis Dominguez, and Caridad Martinez. Her Repertoire includes The Nutcracker, Meshugana, Apple Pie, Patootie, Endsong, Half Time, and Behold the Man (choreographed by Eliot Feld), The Four Temperaments (choreographed by George Balanchine), D-Man in the Waters (choreographed by Bill T. Jones), and Concerto Pas de Deux (choreographed by Sir Kenneth MacMillian). Mrs. Alviar-Marquette has been a guest artist in Mexico City, Mexico for the Competition Interdanza and for Sawnee Ballet’s The Nutcracker in Cumming, Georgia.
Pamela has collaborated with Yon Burke and Evelyn Wheeler where they presented their work at the Mahaiwe Theater. She has taught numerous dance workshops with dance organizations like MPower Dance Workshops, Danzamerica and Sheertalent that have taken her across the US as well as internationally. She has appeared on the hit TV show Dance Moms on Lifetime as a guest judge and has been featured in Dance Magazine and Dance Teacher Magazine. Mrs. Alviar-Marquette has also appeared in Lise Friedman’s instructional book First Lessons in Ballet.
Having trained in numerous styles of dance, as an educator, Shana Goldberger has kept her primary focus on classical ballet and instilling proper technique in her students.
She began her professional ballet training at Eglevsky Ballet and continued at the Seiskaya Ballet. While there, Shana performed features roles in The Nutcracker, Paquita, and other ballets. During this time, Shana was one of sixty students selected to attend the NY State Summer School of the Arts. There she studied with Damien Woetzel, Ashley Bouder, Daniel Ulbricht, Jenifer Ringer, and others. Shana graduated high school early to accept a full scholarship to the trainee program at Joffrey Ballet School.
Shana Goldberger is a Summa Cum Laude graduate of Adelphi University with a BFA in Dance. While there, she created many roles in ballets by Christopher Fleming, Frank Augustyn, Leda Meredith, Orion Duckstein, Jacques Cesbron, David Parsons, Jennifer Kreichman, and Maurice Brandon Curry.
Previously, Shana has been on faculty at USDAN Center for the Creative and Performing Arts. She is also the founder and director of the Massapequa Tabernacle Praise and Worship Team that has traveled internationally and won awards at the Staten Island Gospel Festival three consecutive years. Most recently, Shana has successfully completed her training in the ABT National Training Curriculum and is a certified teacher in Primary through Level Three.
Brian began his training at Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet in the state of his birth. His professional career as a dancer was largely spent with New York City Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, and William Forsythe’s Ballet Frankfurt. As a choreographer, he has created work for ABT, ABT Studio Company, Washington Ballet, Pacific Northwest Ballet, Colorado Ballet, Sacramento Ballet, and other regional dance companies. The recipient of several grants and fellowships, he has been produced by the Guggenheim Museum’s Works & Process. Reeder has been a guest teacher at colleges, universities, and conservatories including Julliard, Goucher, and Emory, and at numerous national dance academies. He has also served as the coordinating director for Dance Bermuda, adjunct guest director for Vassar Repertory Dance Theatre, resident choreographer for both Manhattan Youth Ballet and BalletNext, and rehearsal director for Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet.
