Welcome to Ballet British Columbia

Dancers' Biographies

BBC dancers are renowned for their strong classical training and artistic maturity, qualities which are essential to the type of work and the creative process of the company. The talent and technical skill consistently demonstrated by BBC's dancers has contributed to its international reputation for artistic excellence and has fostered prestigious performing opportunities at international dance festivals such as Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival in Massachusetts, United We Dance in San Francisco, Banff Arts Festival and the Canada Dance Festival.

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Marianne Bauer-Grobbelaar

Born in Johannesburg, South Africa Marianne studied at the National School of the Arts under Bernice Lloyd, Sonje Mayo, Joyce Myroff, Vivienne Lorraine and Colleen Theys. She joined PACT Ballet in 1996, and Cape Town City Ballet in October 1997. She was promoted to Principal dancer in 2002. She has danced various classical and neo-classical roles. These include Juliet in Romeo and Juliet, Sugar Plum Fairy in The Nutcracker, Aurora in The Sleeping Beauty, Anna in Anna Karenina, Carmen in Carmen, Giselle in Giselle, Cinderella in Cinderella, Odette-Odile in Swan Lake and Camille in Camille. She received an FNB Vita Award in 2002 and has been awarded the Balletomanes Favorite Female Dancer in 2003, 2005 and 2007.
She enjoys being creative and spending time outdoors. This is her second season with Ballet BC.

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Brad Brannen

Brad Brannen was born and raised in Vancouver where he received professional training at Pacific DanceArts under Li Yaming as well as at the Virginia School of the Arts. Brad has attended numerous summer programs including Boston Ballet, Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre and the Banff Center For the Arts. He danced with The Royal Winnipeg Ballet for two years and as a guest at Ballet Jorgen. Brad joined ballet BC to challenge his versatility due to the varied style of dance the company offers. When not dancing you can find Brad behind the bar serving up the freshest cocktails.

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Léon Feizo-Gas

Born in Ottawa ,Ontario, Léon began his professional ballet training at the age of 12 under the mentorship ofCelia Franca. He spent his formative years as a young dancer at the National Ballet School, The School of Dance in Ottawa, and The Royal Winnipeg Ballet School. Léon is a graduate of The National Ballet School’s Intensive Dance Program. His favourite choreographers include Jiri Kylian, and John Alleyne. This is Léon’s fourth season with Ballet BC.

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Alexis Fletcher

Born in Vancouver, BC and raised in the Comox Valley, Alexis received her early training on Vancouver Island. She then moved back to Vancouver to attend Arts Umbrella's Professional Training Program in Dance. Alexis has also been a member of Arts Umbrella's student company and has attended The Professional Project in Montreal, Quebec. Upon graduating from Arts Umbrella in 2005, Alexis joined Ballet BC. She has had the opportunity to perform works by choreographers such as John Alleyne, Jiri Kylian, Crystal Pite, Simone Orlando, Paul Taylor, and Martha Graham, among others. Alexis is thrilled to be in her fourth season with Ballet BC.

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Maggie Forgeron

Maggie graduated from the National Ballet School in 2001 with a personal achievement award. She then began her professional career with the National Ballet of Canada, where she danced for two years. In 2002-2003 she participated in the Professional Dance Project at the Banff Centre. Maggie has also danced with the Veronica Tennant Dance Project, DNA Theatre, the Anna Pavlova Dance Project and taught at the York School of Dance. This is Maggie’s third year with Ballet BC.

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James Gnam

Born in Calgary, AB and raised in Victoria, BC, James received his training at the National Ballet School of Canada in Toronto. Prior to joining Ballet British Columbia in 2004, James danced with Les Grands Ballets Canadiens de Montreal and JoeINK. Since then, he has had the opportunity to perform in works created by Jiri Kylian, Twyla Tharp and Nicolo Fonte; as well as creating roles with choreographers such as
Crystal Pite, John Alleyne and Simone Orlando. As a teacher, James has set repertoire for Ballet BC’s Summer Dance Intensive and has been invited to teach professional contemporary classes for CADA/BC.
As a choreographer James’ has created work for Ballet BC’s Mentor Program as well as Arts Umbrella’s Dance Company. He collaborates extensively with his wife Natalie LeFebvre-Gnam: the body of work they have created together has been presented at Dancing on The Edge, The Vancouver International Dance Festival, Dances for a Small Stage, ROMP! A festival of independent dance as well as the Dance All Stars program at the 2006 Chutzpah! Festival. This is his fifth season with Ballet BC.

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Jones Henry

Jones grew up in Yellowknife, N.W.T. After studying at the Royal Winnipeg Ballet School, Jones performed with the Banff Festival Ballet before being asked to join Ballet BC. Jones has enjoyed the opportunity to dance an incredibly varied repertoire - from featured roles in all of John Alleyne’s works, to ballets by Kylian, Kudelka, Dumais, Tharp, and Forsythe, among others. Jones is intrigued at the season’s opportunities this repertoire has to offer, allowing him to continue to grow as an artist. This is Jone’s tenth season with Ballet BC.

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Delphine Leroux

Delphine Leroux was born in Montreal, Quebec. She trained l'École supérieure de ballet contemporain de Montréal where she trained in classical ballet, contemporary dance and contact improvisation. She attended professional programs for two summers at the Banff Centre for the Arts. Since 2005 she has danced professionally with Ballet Kelowna. Delphine has won numerous awards and scholarships. She joined Ballet BC after seeing them perform in Vernon in spring 2006 and working with Simone Orlando in summer 2006.

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Melissa Morrissey

Melissa Morrissey was born in Concord, New Hampshire and trained on scholarship at Boston Ballet School, School of American Ballet, and graduated from the National Ballet School in Toronto. She danced with the National Ballet of Canada for four years and with Dance Theatre of Harlem from 2000-2004. She has also performed with Fugate/Bahiri Ballet NY, Metropolitan Opera, Dances Patrelle, Chamber Dance Project, Eliot Feld's Ballet Tech, BalletMet and as a guest artist in the Balanchine/Ashton Gala with the Birmingham Royal Ballet. She would like to thank her husband Christopher, her parents, and Lynne and Marc, for always being there for her.

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Racheal Prince

Raised in Wasaga Beach Ontario, Racheal received her training at Quinte Ballet School, under the direction of Brian Scott. Ms. Prince also trained with Murray and Nancy Kilgour where she graduated from the School of Alberta Ballet's Pre Professional program. After receiving the prestigious Ali Pourfarrokh scholarship she was accepted into the Alberta Ballet Company in 2003. In her five years with the company
her performance high lights include, a Soloist role in Balanchine's, Who Cares? as well as Sabrina Matthews, losing ground. Racheal can also be seen in the CBC TV special The Secret of the Nutcracker as well as the Joni Mitchell ballet The Fiddle and the Drum.

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Simone Orlando

Born in Vancouver, BC, Simone has been praised for her mature and sensitive ideas, vision, musicality, and delineation of movement and space. She has been dancing professionally since 1989, first with the National Ballet of Canada, then with Desrosiers Dance Theatre, two summers with The Banff Centre’s Professional Dance Program, and since 1996 with Ballet BC where she recently danced the lead role of Blanche
Dubois in John Alleyne’s new full-length ballet, A Streetcar Named Desire. In June 2006, Simone choreographed the role of the Princess in the Turning Point Ensemble’s production of Igor Stravinsky’s The Soldier’s Tale. She has created works for Ballet Kelowna, Ballet BC’s Mentor Program, Arts Umbrella, and Chimère, a dance film supported by Bravo! FACT. Simone is guest teacher and repetiteur for Ballet BC, its Mentor program, and the Summer Dance Intensive, as well as a guest choreographer at the Flora Pigeau Dance Academy. Simone was the inaugural recipient of the Performing Arts Commission at the 2004 Vancouver Arts Awards, she has received two research grants from the BC Arts Council, and was recently awarded the prestigious 2006 Clifford E. Lee Choreography award in which she choreographed the
work, Winter Journey. This is Simone’s twelth season with Ballet BC.

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Donald Sales

Born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Donald studied at the June Runyon School of Ballet and the School of Dance Theater of Harlem in New York, and has danced professionally with Dance Theatre of Harlem. A few of his favourite chorographers include James Kudelka, Bob Fosse, Jiri Kylian, Nacho Duato, and Crystal Pite. A choreographer himself, Donald has created several pieces on Tulsa Dance Theater. His latest work was performed at the performance platform Pulse this past June along with a new work he created for the Ballet BC Mentors later that same month. Donald also has his eyes set on music production, having produced for a few local artists in Vancouver, and continues to add more artistic accomplishments to his resume. This is Donald’s fifth season with Ballet BC.

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Shannon Smith

Born in Woden Valley, Australian Capital Territory, Shannon Smith spent his first 16-years on 100 acres of farmland in Tullymorgan, northern New South Wales. He studied at the Australian Ballet School and joined the Royal New Zealand Ballet in 1999 and the West Australian Ballet in 2004. With his strong allegro work, the fleet-footed dancer has appeared in a number of special performances of Bournonville's Flower Festival. During his time with the Royal New Zealand Ballet, Shannon worked with acclaimed choreographers Matz Skoog, Fiona Tonkin, Charles Mudry, and Ou Lu. Some of his performance highlights include Graeme Murphy's The Protecting Veil, Seven Deadly Sins by Michael Parmenter, Swan Lake pas de trios, Milagrous by Havier Defutos, and Frenzy by Mark Baldwin. Shannon also danced a solo role in Micheal Pink's Dracula, the lead role in Mark Morris's Drink to me only with thine eyes, and the role of Benvolio in Christopher Hampson's Romeo & Juliet. This is Shannon's second season with Ballet BC.

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Makaila Wallace

A Canadian born in Vallejo, California, Makaila qualified for the Irish Step Dancing World Championships before pursuing ballet professionally. She then studied at the Colorado Ballet School, the Bolshoi Ballet summer school, and the Royal Winnipeg Ballet School. Her favourite choreographers include van Danzig, Forsythe, Dumais and Kylain. She danced with the Royal Swedish Ballet and the Royal Winnipeg Ballet before joining Ballet B.C. She enjoys spending her free time in Squamish camping. This is Makaila’s fifth season with Ballet BC.