2021 FESTIVAL MOSAIC FACULTY SIBYLLE ACATOS-DADEY, ballet in person Ms. Acatos-Dadey began her formal ballet training in her native Switzerland. She furthered her studies at the Academie de Danse Rosella Hightower in Cannes, France and the John Cranko Schule in Stuttgart, Germany. Ms. Acatos was a prize winner of the prestigious competition, the Prix de Lausanne, and enjoyed a career that spanned over 22 years. Chosen by George Balanchine, she began her professional career at the Grand Theatre de Genéve under the Artistic Direction of George Balanchine, with Director, Patricia Neary. With that company and later the Zurich Ballet, Ms. Acatos worked directly with Mr. Balanchine and as a soloist she danced roles in over 20 ballets by him. She also danced in the works of Jerome Robbins, Jiri Kylian, William Forsythe, Hans van Manen, Robert North and in classical ballets such as Giselle, Sleeping Beauty, Don Quixote, Le Coq D‘or and Cinderella. Ms. Acatos later joined Ballet Arizona as a principal dancer. Since her retirement from the stage, Ms. Acatos has dedicated her time to the teaching and training of future dancers. As a faculty member of the Arizona Ballet School under the direction of Kee-Juan Han she trained levels from Beginner 1 through Advanced. In 2003, she opened a school with her husband, now Scottsdale School of Ballet. Ms. Acatos is proud that some of her students are now dancing professionally. DEBRA AUSTIN, ballet via zoom Debra Austin received a scholarship to the School of American Ballet when she was 12 years old. Four years later, she was the first African-American female dancer to join the New York City Ballet. Ms. Austin danced many principal roles with New York City Ballet in works choreographed by Balanchine, including Symphony in C, Divertimento #15, and Ballo della Regina, in which Balanchine created a solo for her. She also danced lead roles for Jerome Robbins in The Four Seasons, Interplay, and Chansons Madécasses, which he created on her. She later joined the Zurich Ballet in Switzerland, where she danced principal roles (many with Rudolf Nureyev) in works by all of the major choreographers, including Myrtha in Heinz Spoerli’s Giselle. While there, she toured throughout Europe. In 1982 she returned to the US and was promoted to the rank of principal dancer at Pennsylvania Ballet, making her the first African-American female principal dancer of a major American ballet company. She currently serves as the ballet mistress for the Carolina Ballet. JENNIFER BACKHAUS, modern/contemporary via zoom Jennifer Backhaus, Founder and Artistic Director of Backhausdance, was featured in “OC Metro’s” 40 Under 40 and recently honored by Chapman University with the 2017 Distinguished Alumni Award as well as Alumni of the Year (2007) for her artistic leadership of Backhausdance. Jennifer’s works 1 have been commissioned and produced by Los Angeles Ballet, McCallum Theatre, Segerstrom Center for the Arts, and TDC of the Bay Area, among a long list of others. Many of Jennifer’s works have been honored with awards, and her piece Disintegration was presented at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. Currently a full-time dance faculty member at Chapman University, Jennifer is also a teaching artist for the Segerstrom Center for the Arts Education Programs. She holds a BFA in Communications and Dance from Chapman University, and an MFA in Choreography from Hollins University. MARIN BOIERU, mens’ class via zoom Marin Boieru serves as Ballet Master at Carolina Ballet. He studied ballet in his native Romania and then later at the Kirov Ballet in Russia. He won the gold medal at the International Ballet Competition-Varna and the silver at the International Ballet Competition-Moscow. Praised by The New York Times for his “heart-stopping ability,” he performed as a principal dancer in the United States at Miami City Ballet and Pennsylvania Ballet and in Europe at Maurice Béjart’s Ballet of the 20th Century (Switzerland), Roland Petit’s Ballet National de Marseille (France), and Opera of Bucharest (Romania). He has toured nationally and internationally with Stars of American Ballet partnering Susan Jaffe, Alexandra Ferri, and Leslie Brown. His television appearances include starring roles in La Sylphide on PBS, in The Magic Flute on French television and in Giselle on TVR in Romania. SUSAN BROOKER, ballet via zoom Susan Brooker is Director of the Preparatory Dance Program at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, member of the Artistic Board of Examiners and Instructors for the ABT, National Training Curriculum, ABT Summer Program Faculty and guest teacher at the JKO School at ABT. Ms. Brooker is a Fellow and Major Examiner of Cecchetti USA, holds the Enrico Cecchetti Diploma specialising in ballet pedagogy and curriculum development. She has taught in schools in the USA, Europe, Canada and Japan. Former teacher and then director of the Scuola di Danza Hamlyn di De Vita, Lukens, Florence, Italy, Ms. Brooker was Director of the School of Dance Connecticut, and 1st Chair of the Dance Department of the Community Division of the Hartt School. From 2008 - 2014 she was Director of the BalletMet Dance Academy, Columbus, OH. Students of Ms. Brooker have won prestigious international dance competitions including the Prix de Lausanne and are dancing with companies in the Untied States, South America & Europe. NATALIE DESCH Natalie Desch, a BFA graduate of the Juilliard School and an MFA graduate of the University of Washington, performed for five seasons with the Limón Dance Company and eleven seasons with Doug Varone and Dancers in NYC. She additionally danced in various productions at the Metropolitan Opera and other regional opera companies (Minnesota Opera, Opera Colorado, Palm Beach Opera, Longleaf Opera (NC), Lincoln Center Institute (NYC). Jennifer Dunning of the New York Times wrote of her, she is “…one of those wonderful movers who can simultaneously and clearly communicate both the wide sweep and the fine detail of a choreographed sequence.” From 2005- 2012 she taught at Hunter College (City University of New York) and has also been a visiting faculty member at Weber State University (UT), University of North Carolina School of the Arts, and the 2 Beijing Dance Academy. She additionally has taught for the following summer festivals: Doug Varone and Dancers, the Limón Dance Company, UNCSA, Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet, the Bates Dance Festival, Ririe-Woodbury, and the Canadian Contemporary Dance Theater, among others. Natalie has restaged the works of José Limón, Doug Varone, Jirí Kylián, and Daniel Charon on performing groups around the world, and her choreography has been presented at venues throughout the US. In 2014 Natalie relocated to Salt Lake City, UT, and began teaching at Ballet West Academy, Westminster College, Utah Valley University, and Salt Lake Community College. Natalie joined the University of Utah’s School of Dance as an Assistant Professor in the fall of 2019. AUTUMN ECKMAN, modern/contemporary via zoom and in person Autumn Eckman (MFA, University of Iowa) received her classical ballet training from Tom Pazik, Susan Banks Bebee in Atlanta, GA and graduated from the Houston Ballet Academy. In her performance career, Autumn had the privilege to dance with Giordano Dance Chicago where she also served as Assistant Artistic Director, Resident Choreographer and Director Giordano II; Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, Luna Negra Dance Theatre, Lucky Plush Productions, Ron De Jesus Dance, State Street Ballet and The Cambrians. Her choreographic commissions include original works for State Street Ballet, DanceWorks Chicago, Kit Modus, Big Muddy Dance Co., Wylliams- Henry Dance Company, Missouri Contemporary Ballet, Washington & Lee University, Stephens College, Western Michigan University, Grand Valley State University, University of Wisconsin- Stevens Point and the University of Missouri- Kansas City. Her choreography has been presented at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Bates Dance Festival, Women In Dance Leadership Conference, Performática (Mexico), Solo Duo Dance Festival, Detroit Dance City Festival, Charlotte Dance Festival, Blackbox International Theatre & Dance Festival (Bulgaria), Houston Dance Gallery Festival, Men In Dance Festival, the McCallum Choreography Competition and with JUNTOS Collective (Guatemala) where she served as the outreach choreographer in the summer of 2019. Autumn taught as Instructor of Dance at Northern Illinois University (2009-2015) and is currently an Assistant Professor of Dance at the University of Arizona. She teaches nationally for schools including the Vitacca Vocational School for Dance (Houston), Jacqueline's School of Ballet (Utah), State Street Ballet Summer Intensive and Gustafson Dance, Open Doors Dance Festival and the Bates Dance Festival. LAUREN EDSON, contemporary in person Originally from Boise, Idaho, Edson received her training at Idaho Dance Theatre, The University of North Carolina School of the Arts and The Juilliard School, under the direction of the late Benjamin Harkarvy. She danced with the acclaimed Trey McIntyre Project for several years and was featured in many of his works. Throughout her career she's had the honor of performing the creations of Pina Bausch, Maguy Marin, Angelin Preljocaj, Robert Battle, Johannes Wieland, and Alex Ketley, among others. In 2015, she founded LED--an award-winning arts organization that weaves signature contemporary choreography, original musical compositions, and elements of film into thought- provoking narratives and inspiring stories that are redefining the boundaries of performing arts. They were named by Dance Magazine as “25 to watch” for 2020 and described as “a feat of pyrotechnics.” As a choreographer, she has received many fellowships and awards for her creations. She was recently awarded the prestigious 2019 Washington Award for excellence in 3 choreography and is the recipient of the ICA Performing Arts Fellowship. Described by the Seattle Times as a “choreographer of the first rank,” she is the winner of Northwest Dance Project’s The Pretty Creative’s International Choreography Competition and the recipient of the Grand Prize at the Dance Under the Stars Choreography Competition.