Serenade by George Balanchine

Serenade is a milestone to Balanchine, so as it is in the dance history. It was the first ballet George Balanchine choreographed in America. Serenade has come to be considered the signature piece of the New York City Ballet and is one of Balanchine’s most widely performed works. The intention of the work was to show the ballet students how dancing on stage differs from class work. Balanchine embraced the conditions and incidents in the class into the choreography. Balanchine was never content for ballets to stay in the past and kept revising Serenade to keep it modern throughout his whole choreographic career.

======================================================================

THE CREATIVE TEAM

Ballet Master

Mohamed Noor Sarman

Having joined SDT in 1988 and appointed ballet master in 2009, Mohamed Noor danced important roles in various productions like Vicente Nebrada’s Gemini (Pas de Deux), Anthony Then’s Schumann Impressions, Helen Lai’s Exits and Entrances and David Lichine’s Graduation Ball amongst many other works.

In 1996, his choreographic work, Living Greens, represented Singapore in the 8th ASEAN Dance Festival and was later performed in the Philippines (1998) and in Australia (1999). He is also a recipient of the National Arts Council’s Young Artist Award for his contribution to dance in 1995. In 2005, he performed in Marie-Claude Pietragalla’s Les Noces, and played the role of the prophet in Rite of Spring. Mohamed Noor is also the choreographer for Stand Up For Singapore, a contribution to the National Day Parade in 2007, which was also performed in Ballet Under The Stars as a tribute to the nation’s birthday.

Mohamed Noor has also been involved in several dance education programmes with schools such as the Ministry of Education’s National Student Leaders Dance Camp in November 2006. In April 2008, he conducted an intermediate ballet workshop for the Putrajaya Arts Festival in Kuala Lumpur and choreographed a well-received dance segment for six of the participating students. In June 2008, he was also a member of the inaugural ProviDANCE choreographic camp co-organised by SDT and NUS Centre for The Arts.

Senior Artists

Chihiro Uchida

Chihiro began her dance training at Classical Ballet Academy S.O.U. in Japan. In 2001, she won the Idemitsu Kousan Scholarship at the 8th Asian Pacific International Ballet Competition in Tokyo, and was later accepted into The Australian Ballet School.

Upon graduation, she joined SDT in July 2005 and performed in many SDT productions including Boi Sakti’s Reminiscing the Moon, La Sylphide, Coppélia, Legacy of Goh Choo San, Swan Lake and Giselle – In the Park. She has also taken on principal roles in Jeffrey Tan’s The Nutcracker and Sometimes I think I Remember, Graham Lustig’s Cinderella, Kuik Swee Boon’s Pellucid, Jorma Elo’s Glow-Stop, David Dawson’s A Million Kisses to My Skin, Goh Choo San’s Unknown Territory, George Balanchine’s Concerto Barocco as the Second Violin, Edmund Stripe’s Piano Concerto No.2, Opus 102, Goh Choo San’s Double Contrasts and Janek Schergen’s The Nutcracker.

Chihiro danced the title role in Giselle, Princess Aurora in Sleeping Beauty, Juliet in Romeo & Juliet and as Odette/Odile in SDT’s 2012 production of Swan Lake.

Rosa Park

Rosa Park started her dance training at Sunwha Arts School and obtained a B.A. Degree in Dance from Ewha Womans University, as well as a Master’s Degree in Dance from Sejong University of Korea. While in university, she was offered to dance for the Korean National Ballet Company (KNBC) in 2002 and made her debut as a professional dancer in Yuri Grigrovich’s The Nutcracker, in which she danced as Marie.

As a soloist, she participated in a number of renowned dance pieces such as Balanchine’s Symphony C , Swan Lake (Pas de Trois, Cygnets, Neapolitan, Princesses), Giselle (Friends Pas de Deux, Lead Wili), Rudolf Nureyev’s Sleeping Beauty (Fairy of Tenderness, Pas de Cinq-Emerald), Le Corsaire (Odalisques), Don Quixote (Two Friends, Cupid), La Fille mal gardée (Eight Friends), Jean-Christophe Maillot’s Dove La Luna, and Gala Pas de Deux (The Flame of Paris, Don Quixote, Le Corsaire, Sleeping Beauty). She was guesting with Royal Swedish Ballet as a soloist in Swan Lake, and with Korean Ballet Theatre, dancing the principal roles in Raymonda and Mongyudowond.

Rosa joined SDT in 2009 and has performed in many of SDT’s production including George Balanchine’s Concerto Barocco, Serenade, Allegro Brillante and Goh Choo San’s Unknown Territory. She danced the title role in Giselle, Odette/Odile in Swan Lake (2009 and 2012), Princess Aurora in Sleeping Beauty and Juliet in Romeo & Juliet. Rosa has also performed in other SDT productions such as Masterpiece in Motion, Peter & Blue’s Forest Adventure, Ballet Under The Stars, Passages and danced the role of the Sugar Plum Fairy and the Snow Queen in The Nutcracker.

Chen Peng

Trained at the Beijing Dance Institute, Peng joined SDT in 2005 and has participated in many SDT productions including Legacy of Goh Choo San and Ballet Under The Stars. He danced the principal roles in Raymonda, Coppélia, Swan Lake, Graham Lustig’s Evening and Cinderella, David Dawson’s A Million Kisses to My Skin, Jorma Elo’s Glow-Stop, Goh Choo San’s Unknown Territory, Edmund Stripe’s Piano Concerto No. 2, Opus 102 and Val Caniporali’s Lambarena. Peng danced Prince Siegfried in Swan Lake (2009 and 2012), Prince Florimund in Sleeping Beauty, Albrecht in Giselle as well as Romeo in Romeo & Juliet. Chen Peng has also performed in Peter & Blue’s Forest Adventure, Masterpiece in Motion and Passages.

First Artists

Heidi Zolker

Born and raised in Melbourne, Heidi was trained in the RAD syllabus and later graduated with a full-time diploma in dance from the National Theatre in Melbourne under Beverly Jane Fry. She went to New York to spend time with Ajkun Ballet Theatre before joining State Street Ballet in California. Heidi later joined City Ballet of San Diego and then moved to Sacramento Ballet, with whom she toured to China. Heidi’s career highlights include performing the title role in The Firebird, Princess Florine in Sleeping Beauty, and the Sugar Plum Fairy in The Nutcracker. She has also had the opportunity to perform principal/soloist roles in Twyla Tharp’s Nine Sinatra Songs (Forget Domani), Trey McIntyre’s Second Before the Ground, and in various Balanchine ballets including Stars and Stripes Forever (Liberty Bell), Tarantella, Serenade, and Concerto Barocco.

Heidi has performed in many productions with SDT since joining as a full-time dancer and was involved in Romeo & Juliet, Peter & Blue’s Forest Adventure, Masterpiece in Motion, Ballet Under The Stars and Passages. Following her role as the Sugar Plum Fairy in The Nutcracker, Heidi was promoted to First Artist in January 2012. Recently, Heidi was also involved in Swan Lake, performing the Pas de Trois and the role of the Big Swan.

Chen Wei

Trained at the Beijing Dance Institute in China, Wei danced with the Tianjing Ballet Company for a year before joining SDT in November 2002. Having performed in most of SDT’s repertoire, his career highlights include Petal Miller-Ashmole’s The Red Shoes, Sakiko Oshima’s Le Festin d’Immortalité, David Lichine’s Graduation Ball, Jiří Kylián’s Stamping Ground, Stanton Welch’s Madame Butterfly, Graham Lustig’s Cinderella, Jean-Paul Comelin’s The Sleeping Beauty , Marie-Claude Pietragalla’s Les Noces and Rite of Spring.

He performed the role of Hilarion in SDT’s Giselle in 2008 and 2010, and appeared in many other productions such as The Legacy of Goh Choo San, Swan Lake, Glow-Stop, FireFives: A Mixed Bill and Sometimes I Think I Remember in ReDoubled. Some of the recent productions Chen Wei has performed the role of Snow King in The Nutcracker and the evil sorcerer, Rothbart, in the 2012 season opening, Swan Lake. Wei was promoted to First Artist in January 2012.

Kenya Nakamura

Kenya trained at the Kirov Academy of Ballet in Washington DC from 2002 to 2006 on a full scholarship. He continued his training in 2006 at John Cranko Ballet School Academy. The following year, he undertook a professional training programme at Ellison Ballet in New York. In 2002, Kenya won the third prize at the Youth America Grand Prix and in 2004, won the third prize at the International Competition in Vienna. He was also awarded the Award of Encouragement at the World Ballet Competition in 2007.

Since joining SDT as a full-time dancer in February 2011, Kenya has appeared in many performances which include Sleeping Beauty, Romeo & Juliet, Masterpiece in Motion and Passages. In December 2011, Kenya was given the opportunity to perform the lead role of the Cavalier in The Nutcracker and was promoted to First Artist. Kenya also played the lead role of Prince Siegfried in SDT’s 2012 production of Swan Lake.

Timothy Coleman

Timothy was born in North Queensland, Australia, and began his dance training in the RAD syllabus with Ann Roberts School of Dancing in Townsville. He later moved to Newcastle to train full-time with Marie Walton-Mahon Dance Academy.

He was given the opportunity to work with Ajkun Ballet Theatre for a short period, and later returned as a guest artist. From there, he joined City Ballet of San Diego, and then moved on to Sacramento Ballet, with whom he toured to China. Tim has performed many soloist and principal roles, and has particularly enjoyed performing in Sleeping Beauty (Bluebird), The Nutcracker (Cavalier), The Firebird (Prince Ivan), and Balanchine’s Tarantella, Stars and Stripes Forever (El Capitan), and Apollo (title role). He has also had the pleasure of performing soloist parts in Twyla Tharp’s Nine Sinatra Songs (Softly) and Trey McIntyre’s Second Before the Ground.

With SDT, Timothy has appeared in numerous performances and has danced in Romeo & Juliet, Peter & Blue’s Forest Adventure, Masterpiece in Motion, Ballet Under The Stars, Passages, took on the principal role as the Cavalier in The Nutcracker and performed the Pas De Trois in Swan Lake. Early this year, Timothy was promoted to First Artist.

Artists

Akira Nakahama
Akira began her professional dance training with the Royal Winnipeg Ballet School, which she attended from 2004 to 2009. When she graduated in 2009, Akira joined The Washington School of Ballet. While she was there, she performed in various productions including The Nutcracker, The Great Gatsby, Push Comes to Shove and The Four Temperaments. Akira joined SDT in October 2010 as an apprentice and has appeared in all of SDT’s Season 2011 performances as well as Season 2012 opening performance, Swan Lake. Akira has recently been promoted to the rank of Artist as of April 2012.

Alison Carroll

Alison was born in Gibraltar and started dancing at the age of four. She moved to Singapore when she was six and commenced training at the Singapore Ballet Academy. While she was with the academy, she had the opportunity to perform in SDT’s productions of Sleeping Beauty and The Nutcracker.

In 2005, she was chosen to perform in Anthony Dowell’s Swan Lake with the Royal Ballet in Singapore. In 2007, she received the National Arts Council – Shell Scholarship to study at the New Zealand School of Dance. There, Alison performed in Natalie Weirs’ Jabula and had the opportunity of working with guest teachers such as Matz Skoog, Christopher Hampson, Anna-Marie Holmes, Sherrilyn Kennedy, Stuart Cassidy and Janek Schergen. Her graduation piece was dancing Pas de Quatre.

Since joining SDT as a full-time dancer in January 2010, Alison has performed in many productions including classical works such as Sleeping Beauty, Romeo & Juliet, The Nutcracker, Swan Lake as well as Masterpiece in Motion, Passages and Ballet Under The Stars.

Amy Bale

Born in Sydney, Australia, Amy began her dance training with Janece Graham and graduated from the New Zealand School of Dance (NZSD) in 2008. While she was with NZSD, she performed in Le Corsaire (Pas de Deux) and George Balanchine’s Theme and Variations. Amy has also had the opportunity to work with several guest teachers including Victoria Simon, Anna-Marie Holmes and Frank Andersen. In 2008, Amy was selected to participate in an exchange programme with the Royal Winnipeg Ballet School in Canada.  There, she performed the role of Mercedes in Don Quixote. At the end of the year, she performed with the Royal New Zealand Ballet.

Amy joined SDT in September 2009 and has since performed in productions such as Sleeping Beauty, Romeo & Juliet, Peter & Blue’s Forest Adventure, Masterpiece in Motion, Ballet Under The Stars, Passages, The Nutcracker and Swan Lake (Pas de Quatre).

Ayami Miyata

Ayami Miyata is born in Shiga, Japan. She started ballet at the age of six at Jun Ballet Gakuen in Shiga.

In 2006, she participated in the 5th Japan Grand Prix and won a scholarship from Academie de Danse Classique Princesse Grace in Monaco, and trained under Mrs. Marika Besobrasova (Director) and Mr. Roland Vogel for three years. During her training, she did many performances in Monaco, France and Italy. She has had the opportunity to dance in Jiří Kylián’s Symphony in D and George Balanchine’s Donizetti Variations and Paquita.

After graduating in 2009, Ayami joined the Northern Ballet in the UK. Some of the repertoire she was involved in includes Dracula, Christmas Carol, Wuthering Heights, Dangerous Liaisons, Peter Pan, 40^th Anniversary Gala of Northern Ballet, Romeo & Juliet, The Nutcracker, Swan Lake and Giselle by David Nixon.

Ayami was with Ballet Ireland from August to December 2011 before joining SDT in January 2012 where she performed the Pas de Trois in the recent production of Swan Lake.

May Yen Cheah

At the age of 15, May Yen performed in Perth City Ballet’s production of Giselle, directed by Diana Waldron. She danced the title role in Cinderella with Ballet Enchante. May then completed her professional dance training at The Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA) where she gained further recognition through awards such as the Finley Award, Dame Peggy van Praag Award, and the Leinster Dance Scholarship.

May Yen has travelled around Europe as a featured adagio performer on the British cruise ship, Saga Ruby, and has toured the UK extensively with West Side Story, as part of the lead Pas de Deux couple in the ballet. She later joined an Israeli company for seven months as a soloist in Chanoch Rozen’s Wow Love before returning to Australia to join the Australian production of West Side Story. She later worked for Melbourne-based choreographer, Adrian Ricks, for his season of Release, and shortly after with Kim Vincs, Associate Professor in Dance and Motion Capture at Deakin University, for her season of Choreotopography.

May Yen joined SDT in August 2011 and has since participated in Passages, The Nutcracker and Swan Lake.

Elaine Heng
Born in Singapore, Elaine trained at the Singapore Ballet Academy from the age of six. As a student, she had the opportunity to perform in many of SDT’s productions such as The Nutcracker, The Red Shoes, Coppélia, The Legacy of Goh Choo San, as well as in the Royal Ballet’s Swan Lake when they toured to Singapore in 2005.

In 2007, she received the Singapore’s National Art Council Arts Bursary to further her training at the Central School of Ballet, London, where she had the opportunity to work with guest teachers such as Matz Skoog, Aurora Bosch, Darshan Singh-Buller and Christopher Bruce. In her graduate year, she was part of Ballet Central, the school’s touring company that year, dancing Sir Peter Wright’s Giselle (Peasant Pas De Six) and Swan Lake (Pas De Trois).

Elaine joined SDT in January 2011 as an apprentice and was promoted in May 2011. Elaine has since been involved in many SDT productions including Sleeping Beauty, Romeo & Juliet, Peter & Blue’s Forest Adventure, Masterpiece in Motion, Ballet Under The Stars and Passages. In December 2011, Elaine was given the opportunity to perform one of the lead roles in The Nutcracker as the Dewdrop followed by playing the role of the Big Swan in Swan Lake in March 2012.

Iori Araya

Iori started dancing at Takahashi Hiromi Ballet studio and later won the scholarship at the Asian Pacific International Ballet Competition to train at The Australian Ballet School. While she was at the school, she performed with The Dancers Company of The Australian Ballet in Les Sylphides, Graduation Ball, Leigh Rewel’s The Nutcracker - The Gift of a Dream and Tim Harbour’s Songs of Light. She also performed the lead role in George Balanchine’s Divertimento No. 15 and Don Quixote (Act 3 Pas de Deux).

Upon her graduation in 2009, she joined SDT in March 2010 as an apprentice and was promoted the following year. She has performed in numerous productions including classical works such as Sleeping Beauty and Romeo & Juliet. Other productions include Peter & Blue’s Forest Adventure, Masterpiece in Motion, Ballet Under The Stars, Passages, The Nutcracker and Swan Lake.

Li Jie
Li Jie started her ballet training at the Shanghai Dance School in 2000 and graduated in 2007. During her training, she participated in the Tao Li Cup Dance Competition in 2006 and in the ballet competition Prix de Lausanne in 2007. In 2008, she joined the Hong Kong Ballet as a full-time dancer. During her time there, she performed in Coppélia, Swan Lake, Giselle and The Nutcracker.

Li Jie joined SDT in May 2011 as a full-time dancer and has since performed in Ballet Under The Stars, Passages, The Nutcracker where she danced the role of the Shepherdess and SDT’s 2012 production of Swan Lake.

Madeleine Halbauer
Born in Sweden, Madeleine studied ballet at the Royal Swedish Ballet School and the English National Ballet School, where she got the privilege to work with Josephine Jewkes, Margaret Mercier, Cynthia Harvey, Anya Evans, Larissa Bamber, Anthony Dawson, Christopher Hampson etc. She joined SDT as an apprentice in January 2010. She was promoted in September 2010 and has danced in the company’s production of Swan Lake (2009 and 2012), Romeo & Juliet, Giselle, Sleeping Beauty, Fearful Symmetries, Nameless, Serenade, The Nutcracker as well as Concerto Barocco. Other productions include Masterpiece in Motion, Ballet Under The Stars and Passages.

Nanase Tanaka

Nanase was trained at Elmhurst School for Dance in the United Kingdom and graduated with a National Diploma in Professional Dance in 2009. During her time in England, she danced in MacMillan’s Elite Syncopations as the Calliope Rag and Don Quixote (Act 3 Pas de Deux). She was also involved in Birmingham Royal Ballet’s 2008/2009 autumn season and performed in David Bintley’s Beauty and the Beast, MacMillian’s Concerto and Firebird.

Nanase joined SDT as an apprentice in 2010 and was promoted the same year. She has since performed in many productions which include classical pieces like Sleeping Beauty, Romeo & Juliet, Peter & Blue’s Forest Adventure, Masterpiece in Motion, Passages, as well as SDT’s largest outdoor performance Ballet Under The Star. Nanase was also involved in the closing performance for SDT’s 2011 season, The Nutcracker (Spanish) and performed the Pas de Trois in the opening performance for SDT’s 2012 season, Swan Lake.

Nonoko Tanaka

Nonoko was trained at The Hammond School in England from 2003 to 2004, followed by the Dutch National Ballet Academy in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. In 2006, she joined the Cannes Jeune Ballet, under the direction of Monique Loudières. While she was with Cannes Jeune Ballet, she danced in several renowned choreographers’ works, such as Jiří Kylián’s Black Bird, Les Heures Florissantes by Hervé Koubi, Dov’è la luna by Jean-Cristophe Maillot, Celebration by Luis Damas and Chassé croisés by Marc Ribaud.

Nonoko joined SDT as a full-time dancer in September 2009 and has performed in many full-length ballets such as Swan Lake, Giselle, Sleeping Beauty and Romeo & Juliet. Other productions she has appeared in are Peter & Blue’s Forest Adventure, Masterpiece in Motion and Ballet Under The Stars. In December 2011, Nonoko also danced several roles in The Nutcracker including the role of the Shepherdess and most recently, performed in SDT’s 2012 production of Swan Lake (Pas de Quatre).

Tomoko Takahashi

In 2002, Tomoko Takahashi joined the Aoi Tori Ballet School and continued her training at The Goh Ballet School, a year later. She joined the Hungarian Dance Art Academy in 2005 and graduated in 2007.

She then joined the Columbia Classical Ballet in 2007, where she performed in various productions such as Black Bird and Symphony in D by Jiří Kylián, Serenade and Sylvia by George Balanchine, Exception to the Corollary by Rick McCullough, as well as in Esmeralda and Diana & Actaeon by Agrippina Vaganova.

She won the third prize at The Second All Japan Ballet Union Competition in 2002 and at the Japan Grand Prix, and the second prize at the Educational Ballet Competition in 2008.

Since joining SDT in February 2011, Tomoko has performed in all of that season’s performances including Romeo & Juliet, Masterpiece in Motion, Ballet Under The Stars, Passages, danced the role of the Snow Queen and Dewdrop in The Nutcracker and was involved in Swan Lake performing the Pas de Trois and the role of the Big Swan.

Xu Lei Ting

Lei Ting was a student at the Xun Yan Ballet School in Liaoning, China, before she furthered her dance training at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts in Singapore. During her studies in Singapore, she participated in SDT’s productions of The Nutcracker in 2008 and Swan Lake in 2009, and later joined the company in 2010 as an apprentice. Lei Ting was promoted the following year in 2011 and has danced in all SDT’s full length works since. She has also danced in Ballet Under The Stars, Peter & Blue’s Forest Adventure, Masterpiece in Motion, Passages, The Nutcracker and Swan Lake.

Etienne Ferrère

At a young age, Etienne started dancing in Oyonnax, France. He joined the Paris Opera Ballet School in 2003, where he worked with choreographers such as José Martinez and John Neumeier. During his time at the school, he performed in classical pieces such as La Somnambule by George Balanchine and Concerto en Ré by Claude Bessy as well as in contemporary works like Yondering by John Neumeier and Symphony in 3 Movements by Nils Christe.

He also toured with Paris Opera Ballet School all over Europe, Japan and the USA. Upon graduation, Etienne joined the Paris Opera Ballet Company in 2009 and performed in the classical ballets Cinderella and Raymonda.

Etienne joined SDT in November 2010 and has danced in Sleeping Beauty, Romeo & Juliet, Peter & Blue’s Forest Adventure, Masterpiece in Motion, Ballet Under The Stars, Passages and The Nutcracker where he danced the role of the Shepherd.

Kensuke Yorozu
At the age of five, Kensuke began studying ballet in the USA and continued his training at Mie Hatanaka Ballet Studio in Japan. In 2006, he joined the summer programme of San Francisco Ballet School on a full scholarship, and later went to The Washington School of Ballet, also on full scholarship. There, he was trained by Kee-Juan Han, Carlos Valcarcel and Rudolf Kharatian.

Kensuke also danced with The Washington Ballet Studio Company from 2008 to 2010 under Artistic Director, Septime Webre. He performed in various productions such as The Nutcracker by Septime Webre, Don Quixote and La Sylphide by August Bournonville, Celts by Lila York and held leading roles in George Balanchine’s Who Cares. He was a finalist at The World Ballet Competition in Orlando 2010. In October that same year, Kensuke joined SDT as a full-time dancer and has performed in Sleeping Beauty, Romeo & Juliet, Peter & Blue’s Forest Adventure, Masterpiece in Motion, Ballet Under The Stars as well as in The Nutcracker. Most recently, Kensuke was given the opportunity to play the role of Rothbart in SDT’s production of Swan Lake.

Robin Lawrence Kent

Robin got his dance training in England at Elmhurst School for Dance and The Royal Ballet Upper School. During his training, he was selected to perform in Birmingham Royal Ballet’s Romeo & Juliet and The Nutcracker. He also performed in The Royal Ballet’s La Valse, Swan Lake and Cinderella. In July 2011, Robin received a Diploma and graduated from The Royal Ballet School. Highlights from his graduation performance include dancing in Sir Frederick Ashton’s Monotones II and John Cranko’s Opus 1.

Robin joined SDT in August 2011 and has since appeared in Passages, The Nutcracker where he danced the role of the Shepherd, as well as the recent production of Swan Lake.

Ryo Suzuki

Ryo started his dance training at Le Couree de Ballet Iwaki studio at the age of four. He participated in the Japan Grand Prix in 2008 and was awarded a scholarship with the Houston Ballet Academy, where he trained for a year and then joined the Houston Ballet Studio Company.

During the two years at the Houston Ballet Studio Company, he performed in numerous productions such as Stanton Welch’s Marie, Ben Stevenson’s The Nutcracker, George Balanchine’s Jewels and Kenneth MacMillan’s Manon. Ryo was also the only academy student who performed a solo from Stanton Welch’s Brigade in Dancing for Hope, a fund-raising performance for the Japan Relief Fund.

He joined SDT in September 2011.

Shaw Coleman

Born in Perth, Australia, Shaw started dancing at the age of seven.  When he was 14, he began to train with Perth City Ballet, dancing lead roles in A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Romeo & Juliet.  In late 2004, Shaw began studying at the Australian National Theatre Ballet School.  Whilst there, he danced the roles of Don José in Carmen, Prince Siegfried in Swan Lake Act III, The Golden Slave in Scheherazade and Prince Albrecht in Giselle.  In December 2006, Shaw received his Diploma of Arts (Classical Dance), as well as the award for the most outstanding student in his year.

Shaw started working at Ballet Ireland in early 2007.  There he danced the role of Dr Falke in Die Fledermaus, The Ballet, touring Ireland and the UK. In August 2007, he moved to Germany to dance as a guest soloist in Sleeping Beauty with Landestheater Detmold.  For the next three and a half years, Shaw played an integral part of Ballet Hagen in Germany, dancing soloist roles in most of their ballet productions, as well as performing in operas, operettas and musicals. Shaw now resides in Singapore after joining SDT in August 2011. He performed in SDT’s productions of Passages, The Nutcracker and was recently involved in Swan Lake.

Tatsuro Kannan

Tatsuro was trained at the Tokyo Ballet School before obtaining a scholarship to further his studies at the English National Ballet School from 2004 to 2006. As a student, he danced the soloist roles in Symphony In D by Jiří Kylián and in Allegro Brillante by George Balanchine. Upon graduation, he joined The Tokyo Ballet, where he danced from 2007 to 2009. There, he performed in various productions such as Swan Lake, Don Quixote, La Sylphide, Giselle, Theme and Variations by George Balanchine, The Dream by Sir Frederick Ashton and The Rite of Spring by Maurice Bejart.

He joined SDT as a full-time dancer in July 2009 and has since danced in numerous productions including Lambarena, Swan Lake, Nameless, Sleeping Beauty, Romeo & Juliet, Peter & Blue’s Forest Adventure, Masterpiece in Motion, Ballet Under The Stars, Passages, The Nutcracker and Swan Lake.

Zhao Jun
A graduate from the Beijing Dance Academy and the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts (HKAPA), Jun participated in the HKAPA’s 4 Colours Dance Season, Tormented Tangos choreographed by Paul Boyd, Swan Lake (Act 1, Waltz) choreographed by Yuri Ng, A Touch of Class choreographed by Rashna Homji and Ko Chun Kwai, Le Villi choreographed by Graeme Collins and directed by Bastien Tai.

Zhao Jun has also danced with the Stuttgart Ballet in Romeo & Juliet by John Cranko. Other productions include Raymonda, The Nutcracker, La Bayadère, Paquita and Carmen at the Beijing Dance Academy. Zhao Jun joined SDT in August 2005, and has had the opportunity to perform in numerous productions including Jeffrey Tan’s The Nutcracker, Coppèlia, Impressions, Legacy of Goh Choo San, Swan Lake, Giselle - In the Park, Continuum, Sleeping Beauty, Romeo & Juliet, Peter & Blue’s Forest Adventure, Masterpiece in Motion, Ballet Under The Stars, Passages and The Nutcracker (Spanish). He also appeared in the recent production of Swan Lake performing the Pas De Trois.

Zou Long
In 2001, Zou Long joined the Guang Zhou Art School and later attained a Teaching Certificate from Beijing Dance Academy. With Guangzhou Ballet, Zou Long had an early stage and touring experience in China, performing Sake and Napoli. He also won the first prize at CSTD International Dance Competition in Perth, Australia. He later joined the Central School of Ballet (London) for a year in 2007, under the guidance of William Glassman, Sara Matthews, Carole Gable and Bruce Sansom. The same year, Long participated in Prix de Lausanne, Switzerland, where he danced as a Semi-Finalist with the variation from Le Corsaire and the contemporary variation Yondering by John Neumeier.

Long is the first Chinese student in Central School of Ballet’s history to be awarded a full scholarship from HSBC. With Ballet Central National, he toured the UK. His repertoires include Bluebird Pas de Deux from Sleeping Beauty, Neapolitan from Swan Lake, Capriol Suite and Silver Light on Water.

Upon joining Ballets Trockadero, Long had the opportunity to perform various leading roles in classical and contemporary works including Swan Lake, Paquita, La Vivandiere, Raymonda’s Wedding, and Walpurgisnacht. Long has also worked with celebrated Master Teachers including David Howard, Gelsey Kirkland, Irina Kolpakova, Nina Osypian, Vlad Semenov & Whihelm Burmann.

Long joined SDT in January 2012 and did his first performance with SDT in Swan Lake.

Apprentices

Chua Bi Ru
Born in Singapore, Bi Ru began her training under Natalie Clarke and Cheah Mei Sing at the Singapore Ballet Academy, directed by Mdm Goh Soo Khim, and was a scholarship recipient of the school. As a student, she had the opportunity to perform in many of Singapore Dance Theatre’s productions such as The Nutcracker, Sleeping Beauty, Coppélia and La Sylphide. In 2007, Bi Ru was on an exchange programme with The Washington School of Ballet and performed Septime Webre’s production of The Nutcracker with The Washington Ballet.

In 2009, she began her training with the New Zealand School of Dance (NZSD). During her time at NZSD, she performed Carnival in Venice and Antony Tudor’s Continuo, and got to work with several guest teachers such as Matz Skoog, Sherrilyn Kennedy, Pablo Aharonian and Sir Martin James. She danced in Bournonville’s Napoli and Paul Taylor’s Company B for her graduation. Bi Ru joined SDT as an apprentice in January 2012 and was involved in the recent production of Swan Lake.

Lisha Chin
Born in Singapore, Lisha moved to the UK at the age of five. She trained at the Hammond School, the Royal Ballet School, and finally at Central School of Ballet where she completed her BA (Hons) in Professional Dance and Performance.  During her training, she had the opportunities to perform with the English National Ballet in Coppélia and the Royal Ballet in The Nutcracker as well as work with choreographers such as Christopher Bruce, Christopher Hampson, Darshan Singh Buller and Christopher Marney.

Lisha performed with SDT in The Nutcracker in December 2011 as a guest artist and officially joined SDT as an apprentice in April 2012.

Marina Yatsushiro
Marina started her ballet training at Mie Haranaka Ballet Studio and Ballet Studio Mine in Japan. She then furthered her dance training at the Royal Ballet School at White Lodge and attended the Colorado Ballet Academy summer school. In 2010, Marina graduated from Elmhurst School for Dance with a National Diploma in Professional Dance. During her training at the Elmhurst School for Dance, Marina performed in various productions including A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Swan Lake and Coppélia. In 2003, she won the first prize at the Japan Grand Prix and the following year, she was 2^nd runner-up at the Saitama Dance Competition.

Marina joined SDT in October 2010 as an apprentice and has since danced in classical pieces such as Sleeping Beauty and Romeo & Juliet. Other performances include Peter & Blue’s Forest Adventure, Masterpiece in Motion, Ballet Under The Stars, Passages and Swan Lake.

Sun Hong Lei
Hong Lei commenced her training at The Shenyang Conservatory of Music and Dance School in China and graduated in 2006. A year later, she furthered her studies for a Diploma in Dance with the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, in Singapore, under a scholarship awarded by Singapore’s Ministry Of Education. While she was with the academy, she was involved in numerous productions such as Don Quixote, Coppélia and La Bayadère. In between, she was also recruited in some of SDT’s productions, such as The Nutcracker, Giselle and Serenade. Hong Lei joined SDT in March 2011 as an apprentice and has performed in Romeo & Juliet, Peter & Blue’s Forest Adventure, Ballet Under The Stars and most recently, Swan Lake.

Jason Carter
Jason was born in 1991 and grew up in Gladstone, Queensland, Australia.  He started dancing at the age of five and was coached by Sandra Pincham at the Gladstone Academy of Performing Arts.  Jason was accepted into the New Zealand School of Dance for the classical course in 2008 and started his training at the school in 2009. 

Jason has appeared in a range of performances by the school including Company B by Paul Taylor, Napoli, Evening Songs and Continuo. He graduated at the end of 2011, and joined SDT in January 2012. Jason first performed with SDT in its Season 2012 opening performance, Swan Lake.

Extra

Jessica Larbig
Jessica studied modern theatre dance at the Theaterschool in Amsterdam and spent a year as an exchange student at the Frankfurt Ballet Academy. 

She was an apprentice with Dance Works Rotterdam under artistic director, Ton Simons, in her last year of studying and after obtaining her bachelor’s degree in dance, became a full company member. At Dance Works Rotterdam, Jessica danced in several pieces by Ton Simons and a wide range of guest choreographers such as Steven Petronio, Sjoerd Vreugdenhil, Rafael Bonachela and Lucy Guerin. She also had a chance to present some of her own work at the annual dancers’ workshop at Dance Works.

In 2011, Jessica performed in SDT’s Romeo & Juliet, Ballet under the Stars, The Nutcracker and Swan Lake as a guest performer.

==============================================================

SINGAPORE DANCE THEATRE – THE COMPANY

The Singapore Dance Theatre (SDT) was founded in 1988 with seven dancers by Goh Soo Khim and the late Anthony Then. Since then, SDT has developed into Singapore’s premier professional dance company comprising 34 dancers. In the course of each year, the Company performs five to six seasons, including the widely popular Ballet Under The Stars at the Fort Canning Park.

The Company’s repertoire ranges from classical to contemporary ballet, from renowned choreographers like Goh Choo San, George Balanchine, Nacho Duato, Jiri Kylian, Stanton Welch, Marie-Claude Pietragalla, Xing Liang, Mauricio Wainrot, Val Caniparoli, Graham Lustig, David Dawson, Jorma Elo, Edmund Stripe, Adrian Burnett, Edwaard Liang and Nils Christe.

In 2009, Janek Schergen took over the post of Artistic Director of SDT. Under his leadership, the Company has made new achievements in the international and Singapore dance arena. Janek is also the Artistic Director of the Choo-San Goh & H. Robert Magee Foundation which oversees the licensing and production of Choo San Goh’s ballets and the annual Choo San Goh Awards for Choreography.

SDT also actively reaches out to the public to create greater awareness of dance through outreach to schools with its Arts Education Programme, Dance Appreciation Series (jointly presented with Esplanade Co.), and One @ The Ballet, an initiative to help the public gain a better understanding of the different aspect of dance.