Nancie Woods Artistic Director

Caroline Frankil Warren, Executive Director

Guests Teachers Announced for BalletNova Summer Intensive Workshops

Including Connor Walsh, Houston Ballet; choreographer Ja’Malik; Mary Beth Hansohn, Metropolitan Opera Ballet

Falls Church, VA:

BalletNova Center for Dance welcomes nationally recognized guest teachers for the 2016 Summer Ballet Intensive: Connor Walsh (Principal, Houston Ballet); Ja’Malik (award winning choreographer); Mary Beth Hansohn (Metropolitan Opera Ballet); and Florian Rouillier (Washington DC area master teacher).

The Ballet Intensive Study session runs from July 5 –August 5, and is a rigorous program designed to prepare intermediate and advanced dance students through a challenging curriculum ranging from classical ballet to modern, hip hop and contemporary classes. The Summer Studio Company goes from August 8 –19, and immerses serious young ballet students in the rigor and daily life of a professional dancer, working on both technique and choreography.

Guest Faculty:

Connor Walsh (7/18 –22), Principal Dancer, Houston Ballet. A Fairfax, Virginia native, Mr. Walsh became a Principal Dancer with the prestigious Houston Ballet at the early age of 21, after winning awards such as the Rudolph Nureyev Foundation Scholarship and the Gold Award from the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts. Mr. Walsh has traveled all over the world as a guest artist, and is well-known for his classical roles (Albrecht in Giselle, the Prince in Swan Lake, The Sleeping Beauty, and The Nutcracker; Basilio in Don Quxiote, and Colas in Sir Frederick Ashton's La Fille mal Gardee) as well as more contemporary works by Christopher Bruce, Jiri Kylian, and Glen Tetley.

Ja' Malik(8/8 –12)is an award-winning choreographer based in New York and a former member of Cleveland Ballet, Oakland Ballet, North Carolina Dance Theatre, City Dance Ensemble, and Ballet Hispanico. Mr. Malik was the 2016 ABT Project PliéScholarship Recipient and also received the 2016 CUNY Dance Initiative Residency. He has created works for the North Carolina Dance Theater 2, Oakland Ballet, CityDance Ensemble of Washington D.C, and Columbia Ballet. Students from BalletNova’s Summer Studio Company Intensive will have the opportunity to have Mr. Malik create an original piece for them.

Mary Beth Hansohn(8/1 –5)received her professional training at The Arlington Center for Dance in Arlington, VA (now BalletNova) and with Peter Stark, at The Maryland Youth Ballet. She became a member of the Ohio Ballet at 18 and has since performed with Dayton Ballet, Cincinnati Ballet, The Cleveland Opera, D.C. Contemporary Dance Festival, Neglia Ballet Artists. Currently a dancer with the Metropolitan Opera Ballet, roles she has performed include title role in Giselle, “Gertrude”in Hamlet, Le Corsaire pas de deux, “Russian Girl”in Serenade, the pas de trois from George Balanchine’s Agon, “Myrtha”in Giselle, and Unnatural Selection, a pas de deux choreographed and danced with her husband, James Graber. Ms. Hansohn currently teaches Ballet and Ballet Sculpt at the Broadway Dance Center in NYC.

Florian Rouiller(7/18)is a dance teacher, choreographer, and performer who has worked extensively across three continents. He performed with the Stuttgart Ballet in productions such as Sleeping Beauty and Giselle, danced with Merce Cunningham Dance Company, Ohio Ballet, Joffrey Ballet of Chicago, Milwaukee Ballet, Ballet Chicago, Ballet International EldarAliev, Ballet Metropolitano de Caracas and Ballet Contemporanea de Caracas in Venezuela. Mr. Rouillier received an MFA in Dance from the University of Maryland, and has taught at the Kirov Academy in Washington DC as well as the Baltimore School of the Arts, UMBC, Ballet Royale Institute of Maryland and Coppin State University.

Both programs take place at BalletNova’s spacious 20,800 square foot studio facility at 3443 Carlin Springs Road, Falls Church, VA.

Ballet Intensive Study: July 5 - August 5, 10:00 am-4:30 pm; Ages 12-18 (placement by audition). Tuition: $1,850 (or $400 per week).

Summer Studio Company: August 8-19, 10:00 am-4:30 pm; Ages 13-18 (placement by audition). Tuition: $800.

For more information, go to email , or call 703-778-3008.

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BalletNova Center for Dance, founded in 1981, isdedicated to educating and mentoring dancers in a positive, nurturing environment and preserving the traditions of classical ballet through quality dance productions and education.Formerly Arlington Center for Dance/The Center Dance Company, the organization moved to a beautiful six-studio 20,800 square foot state-of-the-art facility in 2008, and offers classes in ballet, modern, tap, jazz, and hip hop for children, teens and adult dancers. The award-winning pre-professional ballet program is recognized as one of the best in the Metro Washington DC area, and BalletNova also has an extensive Adult Dance Division with classes in several levels of Ballet, Contemporary, Tap, Jazz and Theater Dance. The new Fredgren Studio Theatre, a 150-seat black box theatre designed for dance, opened in September 2014.

BalletNova is a 501 (c) 3 non-profit organization supported in part by the Arts Council of Fairfax County, Arlington County through the Arlington Cultural Affairs Division of Arlington Economic Development, the Arlington Commission for the Arts, the Virginia Commission for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts.

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BalletNova Center for Dance. Phone: 703-778-3008. Fax: 703-778-3016. . Website:

Studio: 3443 Carlin Springs Road, Falls Church, Virginia 22041. Mailing: P.O. Box 5587, Arlington, VA 22205.

Board of Directors. Naomi Pizarro, President; Brian Gradle, Vice President; Mohit Chopra, Treasurer;

Shannon MacGregor, Secretary; Directors: Ann-Marie Bolton; Jay Cohen, Rebecca Holderness, Jennifer Walcott; Constance Walsh, Faculty Liaison