Ballet

Jae Man Joo Started Classical Ballet training In South Korea, where he was born and raised. He has a near 20 years of experiences as a Classical Ballet Instructor, 10 years as Ballet Master for Complexions Contemporary Ballet, and 8 years as Associate Artistic Director for the company. 

Kurt Froman has made a name for himself as “The Ballet Bootcamp Guy” (-New York Times) for his work coaching celebrity actors in major motion pictures. He coached Natalie Portman, Mila Kunis, and Vincent Cassel in Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan (Associate Choreographer), and was personally thanked in Natalie Portman’s Oscar Acceptance Speech for their work together.

Christina Dooling began her dance education at the age of three under the direction of Isobel Johnson, Kim Johnson-Spolitino, and Sandra Moore (Stewart-Johnson Dance Academy.) Christina was given the opportunity to train and compete nationally, working with choreographers such as Mia Michaels and Tyce Diorio. In 2003 she was accepted to New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. There she studied with dance legends such as Gus Solomons, Jr., Kathy Grant, Deborah Jowitt, and Linda Tarnay.

Kelby Brown received his professional training from the School of American Ballet, (the official school of the New York City Ballet). Kelby has performed with Los Angeles Ballet, Pacific NW Ballet, Pennsylvania Ballet, State Ballet of Missouri and Ballet Chicago. His other credits include the Metropolitan Opera in Lincoln Center, Cirque du Soleil, Los Angeles Opera and Celine Dion’s Las Vegas Spectacular, “A New Day”.

Jim Nowakowski began his formal ballet training at the Timothy M. Draper Center for Dance Education Rochester, New York. He performed as a Rochester City Ballet company member in 2002 in productions of the Nutcracker, Cinderella, and Firebird.

Erica Ratkovicz (she/her) is an alumna company member of The Rochester City Ballet. She began her principal training at an early age with The Timothy Draper Center for Dance Education. As a young dancer, Erica attended several intensive programs including CPYB and The Joffrey Ballet New York. She has performed numerous soloist and corps de ballet roles along with Joffrey Ensemble, Boston Ballet, Hartford Ballet, and Pittsburgh Ballet.

Josh Kolberg (he/him) received professional training from the director of the Royal New Zealand Ballet, renowned Patricia Barker. While at Royal Danish Ballet School in København he studied under Nikolaj Hübbe and Henning Albrechtsen. Most recently Joshua performed for two seasons with the Connecticut Ballet Company where he danced demi soloist and corps de ballet roles. In 2015, Josh traveled the country in the U.S. National tour of Seven Brides for Seven Brothers.