News

News of Note: What You May Have Missed in August 2019

August 31, 2019

Here are the latest promotions, appointments and transfers, plus notable awards and accomplishments from the last month.

Comings & Goings

At The Royal Ballet, Anna Rose O’Sullivan and Luca Acri have been promoted to first soloist, Romany Pajdak, Isabella Gasparini, Tomas Mock and David Yudes to soloist. Gary Avis and Samantha Raine have been appointed senior ballet master and mistress, respectively.

Luke Schaufuss
has joined Sarasota Ballet as a principal.

Taryn Kaschock Russell
has been appointed director of Harkness Dance Center at 92Y.

Brian McSween
has been appointed artistic director of Chattanooga Ballet.

Rory Hohenstein
and Veronika Part have been appointed ballet masters at Atlanta Ballet.

Christine Chen
has been appointed executive director at STREB.

Luca Sbrizzi
will retire from Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre this season. His final performance will be in October.


Maggie Small and Fernando Sabino will retire from Richmond Ballet this season. Small’s final performance will be in September, Sabino’s in May.

A white woman with dark brown hair smiles at the camera as she rests one hand on a wooden ballet barre. She is wearing bright blue slacks, a pale blue button down, and her hair is loose around her shoulders.
Viviana Durante

Chris McAndrew, Courtesy The Corner Shop PR

Viviana Durante
has been appointed director of dance at English National Ballet School for 2019–20.

Awards & Honors

2019 Princess Grace Awards for dance went to Jared Brown (The Juilliard School), Mia J. Chong (ODC/Dance), Stanley Glover (BalletX), Roman Mejia (New York City Ballet) and Byron Tittle (Dorrance Dance). Choreography fellowships went to Rena Butler (Hubbard Street Dance Chicago) and Randy Reyes (CounterPulse). Tommie-Waheed Evans (Lula Washington Dance Theatre) received an honoraria. Kyle Abraham received a special project grant, Raja Feather Kelly a works in progress residency award and Camille A. Brown a choreography mentorship co-commission award.

Ahead of the October 14 awards ceremony, the NY Dance and Performance Awards (the “Bessies”) have announced that Joan Myers Brown will receive the 2019 Bessie Award for Lifetime Achievement in Dance, Louis Mofsie the 2019 Bessie Award for Outstanding Service to the Field of Dance.

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