Dawnell Dryja Black retired from dancing after 16 seasons on stage with Grand Rapids Ballet. Previously dancing with Cincinnati Ballet, Tulsa Ballet, Dayton Ballet and Metropolitan Ballet Theatre of Detroit, Ms. Dryja Blackenjoyed a long, rewarding career with a repertoire spanning the classics to contemporary masterpieces, including Swan Lake, Giselle, Coppelia, Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, Paquita, Dracula, Peter Pan, Aladdin, Firebird, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Jack The Ripper, Red Angels, Fingerprints, Black and White, Sync, Jewels, Allegro Brilliante, Who Cares, Serenade, Four Temperaments, Divertimento No. 15, Slaughter on Tenth Avenue, Concerto Barocco, Nine Sinatra Songs, Where the Wild Things Are, Celts, Rapture, Il Distratto, Con Amore, The Sofa, This Is Not A Raincoat and The Gift of the Magi, among others.  Having the opportunity to work with esteemed choreographers and teachers from around the world such as Lila York, Nils Christe, Fredrick Franklin, Suzanne Farrell, Kirk Peterson, Val Caniporoli, Peter Boal, Septime Webre, Raymond Lukens, Mario Radakovsky and Stanton Welch helped shape her artistry.  Having new roles crafted for her and mastering the classics were Ms. Dryja Black’s happy place as a dancer.  Performing live in concert with Bela Fleck and the Flecktones and the John Jorgenson Quintet were outstanding stage experiences.

For the past eight years Ms. Dryja Black has been the Artistic Coordinator and Rehearsal Director at Grand Rapids Ballet where she has the privilege of working with and staging works for many of the incredible choreographers of our time including Alejandro Cerrudo, Trey McIntyre, Penny Saunders, Val Caniporoli, Christopher Stowell, Dani Rowe, Devon Carney, Adam Hougland, Amy Seiwert, Nicolas Blanc, Edwaard Liang, Katarzyna Skarpetowska to name a few.

Additionally, Ms. Dryja Black took over as the owner and Artistic Director of Academy of Dance Arts in Comstock Park, Michigan in 2012 and enjoys fostering an environment where students can grow in all the different disciplines of dance, as well as staging and creating new works. Ms Dryja Black is the president of Great Lakes Regional Dance Masters Chapter 46 and the Cecchetti Council of America. She is an ABT® Certified Teacher, who has successfully completed the ABT® Teacher Training Intensive in Pre-Primary through Level 7 of the ABT® National Training Curriculum and is a certified Progressing Ballet Technique teacher.

Robert started dancing in Pennsylvania with the Allegheny Ballet Company, trained at Houston Ballet, and then joined Ballet West as a trainee. Now, he performs with Nevada Ballet Theatre, taking on lead roles like Prince Charming in Cinderella, Siegfried in Ben Stevenson’s "Swan Lake" and Scarecrow in Septime Webre’s "Wizard of Oz."  Besides dancing, Robert is studying business at Penn State World Campus. He used his love for ballet and business skills to create BalletScout, a website helping dancers find auditions, training, and jobs.  He aims to help connect dancers of all ages, levels, and abilities to opportunities that fuel their passion.

Ms. Goss began dancing at Bohaty’s School of Dance in Michigan and was also a member of the Children’s Ballet Theatre of Michigan. She later became a member of the senior trainee division of the Grand Rapids Ballet through high school, working under Laura Schwenk-Berman and Gordon Pierce-Schmidt. As a student she was accepted into Pacific Northwest, Boston Ballet, and Joffrey Midwest summer intensives on full scholarship. After four years in Grand Rapids, Ericka was accepted into Atlanta Ballet’s Pre-Professional Division on full scholarship.  Promoted to the company as a Fellowship dancer, she danced as a Fellowship for two years under Sharon Story and John McFall. In the summer of 2011 she  attended the LINES Ballet Summer Intensive in San Francisco under full scholarship.  After 3 seasons with The Atlanta Ballet, Ericka was hired into the Saint Louis Ballet in St. Louis, MO.  She danced with SLB for 7 seasons performing soloist roles and had the opportunity to work with choreographers such as Christopher D'Amboise, Emery LeCrone, Twyla Tharp repeteur Matthew Dibble, Francis Patrelle, Kevin Jenkins,  Pam Tanowitz, Gregory Dolbashian, and Michael Uthoff. She danced roles in Balanchine's Western Symphony, Serenade, and was a tall girl in Who Cares? as well as performing soloist roles in Gen Horiuchi's The Nutcracker, Cinderella, Swan Lake, Don Quixote, and Giselle. She is also a founding member of Deos Contemporary Ballet in Grand Rapids, MI.

Ericka is PBT and Pointe Safe certified and has been teaching for 16 years, both with Atlanta Ballet and Saint Louis Ballet School, as well as at the Belleville School of Ballet, Academy of Performing Arts, and Turning Pointe School of Dance. 

Andrew Kaczmarek, Assistant Director of Michigan Ballet Theatre, trained with Cornelia Sampson at the Rochester School of Dance and was a principal dancer of Michigan Ballet Theatre, Rochester School of Dance’s resident ballet company. Andrew has been featured in soloist and principal roles in MBT’s Nutcracker, Sleeping Beauty, Coppélia and contemporary works choreographed by Michael Hicks and Deborah Dawn. Andrew was asked to participate with National City’s Stars of Ballet and Broadway with Meg Paul and Ron DeJesus and in 2008 was awarded 3rd place at Youth America Grand Prix Semi-finals in Chicago, Illinois performing Nutcracker Snow Pas de Deux. He later studied on full scholarship with American Ballet Theatre, Boston Ballet, Gelsey Kirkland Academy of Classical Ballet, Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre and School of American Ballet. Andrew was accepted into Boston Ballet in 2009 as a trainee. In 2010, he joined GKA in New York City as a studio company member. Andrew guested with Cincinnati Ballet and finished his career dancing with Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre. Andrew teaches ballet, variations, pas de deux and men’s class.

Tatiana Kalistratova grew up in Michigan and received her early ballet training here before being accepted to the famed Vaganova Academy of Russian Ballet in St. Petersburg, Russia.

There, she studied for 2 years with legendary teachers such as; Marina Vasilieva, Anastasia Vasilieva, Zhanna Ayupova, Yulia Makhalina, Vadim Desnitsky, and Alexander Stepin. She graduated with honors and was among the few foreigners to be given the honor to dance soloist roles at the Mariinsky Theater. Ms. Olson has a vast knowledge of classical repertoire and has rehearsed and performed soloist roles from ballets such as Swan Lake, The Nutcracker, Sleeping Beauty, Corsaire, Giselle, Carmen, La Bayadere, Don Quixote, Paquita. Mrs. Kalistratova also extensively studied character dance under the famed Russian character dancer Irina Gensler. Together they rehearsed a large character repertoire from many famous ballets and operas. Ms. Olson is a prize winner of the international ballet competition Youth American Grand Prix and has participated in numerous international ballet festivals and masterclasses to further her education. She has also received additional education with world renowned ballet stars from The Royal Ballet, Het National Ballet, Bolshoi Theater, American Ballet Theater and Mariinsky Theater. After her dancing career, Ms. Tatiana started teaching and has since brought students to some of the most famous schools and programs in the world. Under her instruction, students have gone on to be accepted to schools such as;

Joffrey Ballet School, Ellison Ballet School, Bolshoi Ballet Academy, Russian Masters Ballet Program, Colorado Ballet Academy, and Atlanta Ballet. Her students have also won prizes at numerous international ballet competitions such as World Ballet Art Competition, ADC|IBC, and World Ballet Competition. Ms. Tatiana has a firm approach to the classroom and gives the closest curriculum to Vaganova Academy as she is the only teacher in Michigan to have graduated from the prestigious school.

Camille Kellems is currently a Company Artist with Nevada Ballet Theatre under direction of Roy Kaiser. She graduated from Indiana University with a Bachelor of Science in Ballet Performance and an Outside Field in Arts Management in May 2019, working closely with Kyra Nichols, Carla Körbes, Michael Vernon and Sarah Wroth. She was born and raised in Newport Beach, California, and primarily trained at the Maple Conservatory of Dance. Some career highlights have been performing Wendy in Trey McIntyre's Peter Pan, the Second Violin in George Balanchine’s Concerto Barocco, as well as the principal woman in Jerome Robbins’s Spring.

Camille is currently the marketing manager and a ballet advisor for BalletScout. She enjoys connecting with the dance world in this way- trying to help dancers of all ages find their path.

Joseph Morrissey is the Director of Dance at Interlochen Center for the Arts. He formerly served as Director of Artistic Planning and Touring for The Hong Kong Ballet. Morrissey has danced with the Bavarian State Ballet in Munich, Germany and Boston Ballet in USA. Performed repertoire includes the late 19th century classical ballets by Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov along with works by choreographers including George Balanchine, John Cranko, Mikhail Fokine, Maina Gielgud, Terrence Kohler, Jiri Kylian, Graeme Murphy, John Neumeier, Martin Schlapfer, and Lila York. 

Morrissey has twice been invited to choreograph for the Stuttgart Ballet’s Noverre Society, and was later selected to choreograph for the New York Choreographic Institute, an affiliate of The New York City Ballet where he created work for students at the School of American Ballet together with an original score commissioned by students at The Juilliard School. He has also choreographed for the Inside/Out series at The School of Ballet at Jacob’s Pillow, a program of which he is a two-time alumnus, and was invited to choreograph for Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet’s 2017 ChoreoPlan. Morrissey’s work was also shown at the 2015 Beijing International Ballet Competition; Ballet Philippines 50th anniversary gala; and in Italy at the Festival Ballet d’Adriactico and with Roberto Bolle and Stars from American Ballet Theatre.

Morrissey was a selected participant in the 2015 Dance/USA Institute for Leadership Training, a platform pairing emerging and notable leaders in the dance field sponsored by the American Express and Andrew W. Mellon Foundations. Holding a Master of Arts in Performing Arts Administration from New York University, Morrissey previously earned his Bachelor of Science in Classical Ballet from The Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University and was a recipient of the Kenneth C. Whitener Award for Ballet Excellence and the Jacobs School of Music Dean’s Award. He is a four-year graduate of The Harid Conservatory in Boca Raton, Florida—where he received distinguished achievement awards in dance, music, and leadership. He further trained at summer programs including The Royal Ballet School in London, England and The Houston Ballet Academy in Houston, Texas.

Morrissey completed the Preservation and Development of the Vaganova Methodology training seminar at the Vaganova Ballet Academy in St. Petersburg, Russia and has instructed classical ballet classes at the Warsaw State Ballet School and Wroclaw State Opera Ballet in Poland; American Ballet Theatre Studio Company; Australian Conservatory of Ballet in Melbourne, Australia; and the Senior Men’s class at English National Ballet School in London, England. He is profiled in the January / February 2020 issue of Dance Teacher Magazine and currently serves on the jury for the Youth America Grand Prix nationwide and in Paris, France; the International Baltic Ballet Competition in Riga, Latvia; and the Japan Grand Prix in Tokyo. He has been featured in 2022 on the Apple Podcast 5,6,7 eight subtitled “It’s a Privilege to Lead” along with Shine your Light for Dancers in 2023. 

At Interlochen, Morrissey has staged new productions of The Nutcracker and Romeo and Juliet featuring all-new original choreography. He has also staged performances of Swan Lake and Sleeping Beauty. Several of these productions have been broadcast by Detroit Public Television and been featured on the PBS app. In addition, two of Morrissey’s students at Arts Academy have won first place in the Youth America Grand Prix.

In February 2021, Morrissey opened the doors to Interlochen’s brand new, award-winning dance center, having found and partnered with the Boston-based Flansburgh Architects on the project. He was invited to deliver the 2021 NYU Performing Arts Administration graduates’ Commencement Address and honored to receive the NYU Performing Arts Administration program’s Distinguished Alumni Award at its 50th anniversary celebration.

Meg Paul has dedicated over forty years to the performing arts, demonstrating a broad spectrum of skills and a commitment to excellence. With a background in classical and contemporary ballet, she has contributed to the fields of performance, choreography, and teaching. Her experience encompasses directing, program development, and community engagement, reflecting her passion for nurturing artistic talent.

Throughout her career, Meg has worked alongside historic dance pioneers and performed renowned works from distinguished choreographers, including Gerald Arpino, Robert Joffrey, Twyla Tharp, and Dwight Rhoden, as well as masterworks by Petipa, Ashton, Nijinsky, Massine, Balanchine, Forsythe, and Alonzo King. As a principal dancer with The Joffrey Ballet and Complexions Contemporary Ballet, Meg holds extensive national and international touring credits. Additionally, she served as Dance Captain and full swing for Twyla Tharp’s Tony-winning Broadway musical, Movin’; Out, performing leading roles during its run.

Meg’s contributions to the arts have been recognized with several awards, including The Princess Grace Award, the International Dance Competition of the Americas, the Detroit Renaissance Hero Award, the Sue Nine Endowment for Faculty Achievement Award, Wayne State University’s College of Fine, Performing, and Communication Arts Teaching Award, and The Copperfoot Award.

As a co-founder of World Arts Inc., a NYC-based performing arts agency, Meg helped promote national and international companies, including Nacho Duato’s Compania Nacional De Danza, Les Ballets De Monte Carlo, Complexions Contemporary Ballet, Les Grand Ballets Canadian, Dance Cuba, Les Ballets Africains, Washington Ballet, The Joffrey Ballet, and more.

As Director of Dance at the Music Hall Center for the Performing Arts, she curated and directed the National City Stars of Ballet and Broadway, which engaged local performers and pre-professionals to train and perform with ballet and Broadway professionals. For her work on National City Stars of Ballet and Broadway, Paul was honored as a recipient of the Detroit Renaissance Hero Award by the Detroit Free Press. During her tenure, she also curated, directed, and produced Music Hall’s annual 313 Choreography Expo, highlighting Detroit’s creative impact with other major cities.

From 2010 to 2022, Meg held various leadership roles at Wayne State University’s Maggie Allesee Department of Theatre and Dance, including Associate Professor of Teaching, Recruitment Coordinator, and Director of Dance.

Meg was Associate Artistic Director and Rehearsal Director with Complexions Contemporary Ballet and Academy Director. Meg serves as a board member of the Gerald Arpino Foundation and is a master teacher and adjudicator for the Universal Ballet Competition and National Dance Honors.

In 2025, Meg was appointed Dean of the Joffrey Ballet School. She is honored to uphold Robert Joffrey and Gerald Arpino’s legacy and the school’s mission of innovation and inclusivity. She looks forward to collaborating with the Joffrey Ballet School team to foster the next generation of artists.

At the age of four, Jennifer began her dance training at the Rochester School of Dance and, by 12, was accepted into Michigan Ballet Theatre under the direction of Cornelia Sampson. During her six-year tenure, she performed numerous soloist roles in full-length ballets including Sleeping Beauty, Le Corsaire, Paquita, and The Nutcracker. Jennifer furthered her training at summer intensives with American Ballet Theatre, Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre, and North Carolina Dance Theatre.

Her professional career continued with North Carolina Dance Theatre, where she worked closely with Artistic Director Jean-Pierre Bonnefoux, Patricia McBride, Jerri Kumery, and Mark Diamond. She performed original works by Diamond, including Beauty and the Beast and The Little Mermaid, as well as excerpts from George Balanchine’s Who Cares? and Serenade. In recognition of her artistry, Jean-Pierre Bonnefoux created new choreography for his rendition of The Nutcracker inspired by Jennifer’s performance.

Since 2008, Jennifer has been on faculty at the Rochester School of Dance. She is a certified teacher with American Ballet Theatre’s National Training Curriculum and has served as Director of Michigan Ballet Theatre since 2019. Under her leadership, students have placed at prestigious competitions including YAGP, WBAC, and ADC/IDC, earned scholarships to elite summer intensives and year-round programs, and secured contracts with professional ballet companies. In addition, her original choreographic works have been featured at YAGP and local competitions, receiving multiple top honors and overall awards.

Through her teaching, coaching, and choreography, she empowers her students to achieve technical excellence, develop their unique artistry, and grow into confident, resilient individuals prepared to succeed both on stage and beyond.

Andi is a Chilean Choreographer, Dance Educator, Performer, and Sociologist. She got her BA degree in Sociology at UC of Chile, the same place where she founded Kazé Dance, a Contemporary dance company where she was the Artistic Director and Choreographer for eight years. In 2017, Andi relocated to the San Francisco Bay Area, California, and obtained her MFA in Dance and Choreography from Mills College. There, she also had the opportunity to perform for choreographers such as Joe Landini and Molissa Fenley and showed her work with her Dance Company “A Pulso Dance Project" at many festivals around the State. During her years in the Bay, Andi also worked as a faculty member at the Bay Area Ballet Conservatory, Shawl Anderson Dance Center, and as a Teaching Artist at Alonzo King Lines Ballet Dance Center. In 2023, she relocated to New York to keep her studies and joined the Master’s degree “Teaching Dance in the Profession: ABT Ballet Pedagogy” at New York University while working as a Teaching Artist for ABT and as an assistant at the ABT JKO School. During her time in NYC, she also did an internship at Peridance Contemporary Dance Company with Igal Perry as an administrative assistant and worked as a Contemporary faculty member for Maria Kowroski’s New Jersey Ballet Summer Intensive. In 2024, she moved to Michigan and currently works as a lecturer for the University of Michigan Dance Department, as a Visitor Assistant Professor of Dance at Western Michigan University, as a Contemporary Faculty member at Grand Rapids Ballet, as a choreographer for Eastern Michigan University and as a Ballet and Modern faculty member for Fenton Ballet Theater.

Samantha Shelton received her professional training from the Joffrey Ballet in New York and in Michigan with Rose Marie Floyd. She also studied in London with Anita Young (Royal Ballet) and at the Cecchetti International program in England. Most recently, she was appointed to the American Ballet Theatre Board of Examiners which involves traveling to various schools across the nation to examine for the ABT NTC and teach master classes.

She has set classical repertoire and choreographed for the American Ballet Theatre Summer Intensives in Tampa, at the University of South Florida; Austin, at the University of Texas-Austin; Tuscaloosa, at the University of Alabama; and Detroit, at the Detroit Opera House. She has also choreographed for YAGP, university, and college programs through out the USA and Taiwan. She has been invited to guest teach at Houston Ballet and Duke University, as part of the partnership between the ABT Studio Company and Duke University. 

For the past twenty years, she has been on the ballet faculty for American Ballet Theatre Summer Intensive, formerly directed by Melissa Allen Bowman and currently directed by Kate Lydon, setting ABT repertoire and choreographing new ballets for the final performances. She has also traveled the country as an adjudicator for the ABT National Audition Tour, selecting dancers for training programs in New York, Texas, California,Florida and Alabama. Samantha taught at the ABT programs at the University of South Florida, directed by Julie Bravata, University of Alabama, directed by Carla Stallings; University of Texas-Austin, directed by Wes Chapman, and the Detroit Opera House/Wayne State University, directed by Alaine Haubert. 

She has choreographed and taught for the professional ballet programs at Houston Ballet, Walnut Hill School in Boston, Ballet Tennessee, Missouri Contemporary Ballet, Duke University, and Interlochen Arts Academy and taught company class for Complexions, Ballet Hispanico and Grand Rapids Ballet. Samantha received her first professional offer at 17, and has performed extensively in both classical and contemporary ballets. Classical roles include the Grand Pas from Nutcracker, Sleeping Beauty, Don Quixote, Giselle and Raymonda. In her guest artist performances, she has partnered with Craig Salstein (of ABT), Arch Higgins (New York City Ballet) and Christopher Stowell (San Francisco Ballet) among many others. 

Samantha holds an M.F.A in Dance from the University of Michigan, where she was awarded a Rackham Thesis grant, and a B.A. in Political Science also from the University of Michigan. She has also done graduate work at New York University in Performing Arts Administration with internships in development, PR and marketing at Carnegie Hall and the Orchestra of St. Luke’s.

For six years, she served on the University of Michigan’s School of Music, Theatre & Dance Alumni Society Board of Governors and in May 2012 spent three weeks in Taiwan, teaching and presenting a piece of choreography for Tainan

University. She has also held professorships at several colleges and universities, including Wayne State University, Alma College, Grand Valley State University and most recently as an associate professor at Belhaven University in Jackson, MS. She is certified through the American Ballet Theatre National Curriculum Training Program and in has co-taught the ABT NTC with Harriet Clark, at the Detroit Opera House.

Originally from Brooklyn, NY, Nirvan Singh attended Western Michigan University on a full ride academic scholarship as a Medallion Scholar. He graduated in 2021 with the privilege of performing in works created by choreographers Seyong Kim, Paul Taylor, Aszure Barton, and George Balanchine.

Following graduation, Mr. Singh danced as a guest artist with Wellspring Cori/Terry & Dancers as well as performing for three seasons with Eisenhower Dance Detroit. Throughout Eisenhower's three seasons, Nirvan has had the opportunity to perform and tour in works by choreographers Norbert De La Cruz III, Maleek Washington, Tess Voelker, WeWolf (Rauf “Rubberlegz” Yasit & James Gregg), Yoshito Sakuraba, Joshua Peugh, Stephanie Pizzo, and Laurie Eisenhower.

Nirvan is also a dance instructor at many studios in the Metro Detroit area. His scope of teaching has included spaces such as festivals, competitions, and university settings across the US. In addition to teaching and performing, he enjoys choreographing for projects when the opportunity is available. Nirvan’s work has been showcased at Western Michigan University, Boll Theatre, Detroit School of Arts, NewDANCEFest, and various Youth America Grand Prix competitions. Nirvan has been a part of Michigan Ballet Festival faculty in the past and is beyond excited to return and work with all of the dancers!

Caitlin Sloan, founder & CEO of The Brainy Ballerina, is a Dance Educator and Career Mentor based in Madison, WI. She received her Bachelor of Arts in Dance from Grand Valley State University and Graduate Certificate in Nonprofit Management from the University of Missouri.

Caitlin danced professionally with companies including Ballet Tucson and Mareck Dance (formerly Missouri Contemporary Ballet). She served as Director of The School of Missouri Contemporary Ballet and on faculty of Central Indiana Academy of Dance and the School of Madison Ballet. In 2019, Caitlin founded The Brainy Ballerina, a virtual resource providing support and guidance for aspiring ballet dancers. Through 1-1 career mentorship, workshops and digital resources, dancers gain the skills necessary to build a smart and sustainable career in the dance industry.