Faculty | Joffrey Ballet School | The Official Ballet School in New York City

Aydan Cohen

Avery Cather — Wed, 22 Jul 2026 13:49:29 +0000

Lisanna Vazquez

Avery Cather — Wed, 22 Jul 2026 13:21:50 +0000

Lisanna Paloma Vazquez is an internationally acclaimed aerialist, circus artist, and educator whose career has taken her to 27 countries, performing for more than three million audience members worldwide. She has appeared in productions with Cirque du Soleil (KÀ and TORUK – The First Flight), Meat Loaf, the San Diego Symphony Orchestra, and Germany’s renowned Flic Flac Festival.

A former NCAA Division I scholarship gymnast, Lisanna holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Graphic Design and is a Certified Personal Trainer and Fitness Nutrition Specialist through the National Academy of Sports Medicine.

She is the Director and Head Coach of Vazquez Integral Arts (ViA) in Las Vegas, where she is dedicated to preserving the artistry and heritage of circus while inspiring the next generation of performers through technical excellence, creativity, and compassionate coaching.

Tilly Evans-Krueger

Avery Cather — Fri, 10 Jul 2026 15:17:19 +0000

Chita Rivera Award Winning Artist, Associate Choreographer and Original cast member of the Tony Award winning hit musical “The Outsiders.” Movement Director of the Tony Nominated play “John Proctor is the Villain.”

Sean Stewart

Avery Cather — Fri, 03 Jul 2026 19:37:31 +0000

Mason Margut

Avery Cather — Fri, 03 Jul 2026 19:31:43 +0000

Mark Galinovsky

Avery Cather — Fri, 03 Jul 2026 19:28:32 +0000

Kyla Zollitsch

Rudy Widjaja — Thu, 02 Jul 2026 16:23:48 +0000

Kyla Cummins Zollitsch earned her Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance from Portland State University. Kyla toured extensively throughout the Pacific Northwest and accompanied at Portland State University, Reed College and Lewis and Clark College. At age 13, she began accompanying ballet with the Alaska Dance Theatre. Kyla has accompanied for the Oregon Ballet Theatre, Milwaukee Ballet, Atlanta Ballet and currently, Kennesaw State University Dance Department. Kyla plays for guest ballet companies including but not limited to Alvin Ailey, Lines Ballet and American Ballet. She also played for the Universal Ballet Competition, Youth America Grand Prix, American College Dance Association SE Conference and the Regional Dance Association SE.

Kyla has played with the Rome Symphony, Jacksonville State, National American Brass Band Championships and is also an accompanist at Berry College. Kyla owns a piano studio in Rome, GA. Her students have won many local competitions, festivals and the Rome Symphony concerto competition. She also chairs many local competitions and events for the Rome Music Teacher’s Association. Kyla resides in beautiful Calhoun, GA with her husband Matt and two dogs Xena and Denali.

Ashley Carter

Avery Cather — Thu, 02 Jul 2026 15:44:40 +0000

Ashley Carter is a NYC-based dancer/teacher/choreographer on faculty at Ballet Academy East, and Ballet Hispanico; and previously for Ellison Ballet in New York. She also has taught at Peridance, Broadway Dance Center, Steps on Broadway, Barnard in New York City; also the Barcelona Jazz Dance Festival, Lines Dance Center in San Francisco, University of Hawaii, West Hawaii Dance Theatre, Bender Performing Arts in Phoenix, Wayne Ballet in Philadelphia, The Dance Foundation in Birmingham, and others.

She can be seen working alongside artists such as Ricky Martin, NeYo, Lady Sovereign, Nicki Minaj, Cam’ron and Mila Kunis, for companies like Pilobolus, Daniel Gwirtzman, Germaul Barnes/Viewsic Expressions, Ruddur Dance; for brands like Netflix, Nike, Athleta, Nokia, Pixar, Microsoft, Heineken, Yahoo, Ameriprise, Columbia Sportswear, the Rachel Ray Show and Lush Cosmetics. She was invited to Madrid to teach at the Association of Dance Professionals and choreograph for Spanish recording artist Nuria Elosegui. Ashley performed in Sia’s music video “Soon We Will Be Found”, in Central Park Summerstage, in a Boost Mobile commercial, danced in a feature film with Justin Timberlake, and is credited with choreographing independent feature film “The Ride of Tom and Valkyrie”. Ashley was featured in the original dance film “Here We Go Again” (dir. Nathan Cohen), feature film “Has Anyone Else Lost Their Body” (IMDB 2025), performed many seasons of Nutcrackers, danced in “The Barber of Seville” with the Amore Opera, and worked on a production of “Peter Pan” for Broadway Asia. Ashley has toured multiple seasons with the dance/circus company Caroline Calouche & Co; in 2022 she performed in the acclaimed movie/musical “The Confession” for Blue Gate Musicals [imdb 2023], and also joined the Hawaii cast of the touring full-length contemporary ballet “The Queen of Nöri” (2022); and co-choreographed “Planets” (2023), and “Vivaldi” (2024).

Her choreography has been featured in the YAGP finals multiple years, including Grand Prix finishes.

Ashley has choreographed many full-length shows for the company DoubleTake Dance () that she co-directs with Vanessa Martínez de Baños.

Brad Beakes

Avery Cather — Thu, 02 Jul 2026 15:32:37 +0000

Brad Beakes is a New York City based dance artist originally from Glendora, California. He received his B.A. in dance from California State University, Fullerton, and later studied at the Ailey School. In his performance career, he has been honored to dance with the Limón Dance Company (2016-2017), Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company (2011-2016), and Nikolais Dance Theatre (2011-2018), among other collaborators. Brad joined Doug Varone and Dancers as a company dancer in 2017 and has since served as education director and currently as staging and licensing manager.

He has performed in original roles by Doug Varone, Netta Yerulshalmy, Daniel Charon, Jonah Bokaer, Joanna Kotze, Johannes Weiland, Charlotte Boye-Christensen, and Adam Barruch, as well as in works by Alwin Nikolais, José Limón, Murray Louis, Kate Weare, Bill T. Jones, John Jasperse, Larry Keigwin, and Ann Carlson, among others. Brad has had the distinct honor of reconstructing dances by José Limón, Kate Weare, and Doug Varone.

Beakes teaches for the Limón Institute, A.I.M by Kyle Abraham, the Metropolitan Opera, and recently as an adjunct professor at Purchase College Conservatory of Dance, Barnard College, and Mason Gross School of the Arts. His choreographic commissions include original works for WGRUV contemporary ballet company (South Africa), Limón Launch professional training program (NYC), and California State University, Fullerton. His award winning duet work with Thryn Saxon has been presented at DUMBO Dance Festival, Arts on Site, The Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM), and as choreographers-in-residence at the Atlantic Center for the Arts.

Alessandra Ferrari-Wong

Avery Cather — Tue, 30 Jun 2026 14:15:43 +0000

Alessandra Ferrari-Wong is a dancer and artist from Westwood, New Jersey. She has been a Company Dancer and Instructor with Chattanooga Ballet since 2021. Her repertoire includes principal roles in neoclassical and contemporary works by Gerald Arpino, Robert Joffrey, Dwight Rhoden, and Silas Farley, as well as in classical ballets such as The Nutcracker, Sleeping Beauty, and Cinderella. She has also performed in world-premieres by My’Kal Stromile, Ingrid Silva, Autumn Eckman, and Brian McSween. Alessandra holds a B.F.A. in Studio Art from the Sam Fox School of Design and Visual Arts at Washington University in St. Louis. Beyond dance, she currently serves as Chattanooga Ballet’s Social Media Manager and is a freelance Graphic Designer and Photographer.