Atlanta Ballet 2 Dancers

Meet the Atlanta Ballet 2 Dancers

Claire Buchi is thrilled to be returning for her second season with Atlanta Ballet 2. Originally from Manhattan Beach, California, Claire began her ballet training at the Redondo School of Dance and Music and Peninsula School of Performing Arts. At age 16, she was accepted to the San Francisco Ballet School under the direction of Patrick Armand and graduated in 2023. While a student in San Francisco, Claire was selected to perform alongside the San Francisco Ballet in Corps roles in Helgi Tomasson’s Giselle and Nutcracker. She also organized and performed in choreographic collaboration projects with musicians and composers of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. During her first season in Atlanta, Claire performed with the company in Sandpaper Ballet, Coco Chanel, The Nutcracker, La Sylphide, and in Atlanta Ballet 2's Cinderella. As a choreographer, she also created a new neoclassical work, Rosetta, for the second company. Claire has enjoyed attending summer programs with the Paris Opera Ballet and Royal Ballet, among others.

Daniel Gray joins Atlanta Ballet 2 via the Atlanta Ballet Centre for Dance Education's Academy. A 17-year-old from Atlanta, Georgia, Gray began dancing at age eight. At age 12, he joined the Academy and performed as Fritz in the 2018 premiere of The Nutcracker by Yuri Possokhov. Gray has attended summer programs with Sarasota Ballet, Atlanta Ballet, Houston Ballet, Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre, and American Ballet Theatre in NYC on full scholarships. He is looking forward to his first season with Atlanta Ballet 2.

Sayaka Iwase was born and raised in Kumamoto, Japan, and started training at Yuriko Ballet Studio under Yuriko Tanoue. She continued training at The HARID Conservatory under Svetlana Osiyeva, Meelis Pakri, Alexey Kulpin, and Victoria Schneider. This is her first season with Atlanta Ballet 2.

Camille Margaret Jackson was born in Lithonia, Georgia, in 2006. She grew up with Atlanta Ballet; her training in the Centre for Dance Education started when she was four, and she moved to the Academy program at the age of eleven. As a student, she danced in numerous school shows, as well as full-length works with Atlanta Ballet and Atlanta Ballet 2. As a choreographer, she had the opportunity to create her own works for the annual Spring Concert. Jackson has worked with new and former ballet masters, and the former artistic director of Atlanta Ballet, John McFall. In the Academy program, she worked with Yuri Possokhov for the premiere of The Nutcracker in 2018. She has participated in summer programs at Royal Ballet White Lodge and Covent Garden (receiving a direct invitation into the Covent Garden Summer Program) and Pittsburgh Ballet Theater, where she also choreographed a short piece for the end-of-summer demonstration titled Rococo. Jackson was offered a full merit scholarship into Pittsburgh Ballet Theaters Professional Training Division (Level 8) but decided to stay on her path with Atlanta Ballet. During the 23|24 season, her repertoire included Corps de Ballet Roles in Johan Kobborg’s La Sylphide, Yuri Possokhovs The Nutcracker, Annabelle Lopez Ochoa’s Coco Chanel: The Life of a Fashion Icon, and Mark Morris’ Sandpaper Ballet. In March 2024, Jackson danced the roles of The Evil Stepmother and Stepsister in the premiere of Bruce Wells’ Cinderella. She is grateful to start her second season with Atlanta Ballet 2.

Stacey Johnson, from Entre Rios, Argentina, began her training in the Ballet Infanto Juvenil, Escuela de Musica, Danza y Teatro Prof. Constancio Carminio. In 2020, she joined the National School of Dance SODRE in Uruguay. At age 16, she was accepted to the Canada’s National Ballet School, from which she graduated in 2023 under the direction of Mavis Stains. This past year, Johnson trained at the Company Life Program, a program from Canada’s National Ballet School, where she had the chance to work with The National Ballet of Canada and performed Corps roles such as Snowflakes and Flowers in The Nutcracker by James Kudelka, and in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Suite en Blanc, and Don Quixote by Carlos Acosta. While she is back in Argentina, she trains at her home studio, Estudio de Arte Carla Tista in Parana, Entre Rios. This is her first season with Atlanta Ballet 2.

Isabella Kessler has family roots in Nicaragua, Puerto Rico and Canada but grew up in Houston, Texas and began her ballet training under ballet mistress Milena Leben, principal ballerina from Croatia. Youth America Grand Prix (YAGP) awarded Kessler a scholarship to the Bolshoi Ballet summer program in New York where she was then offered a spot to train at the Bolshoi Ballet academy in Russia. Rather than move to Russia, she went on to train in the Houston Ballet Academy Professional Division where she had the opportunity to be a part of many performances such as Stanton Welch’s Sylvia, The Nutcracker, and was chosen to play key roles in the performance of PlumShuga the Rise of Lauren Anderson. Story of her life. Kessler’s passion for ballet and performing drives her artistry. She is so thankful and excited to be continue her second season as a member of Atlanta Ballet 2 after a successful year of learning and memorable opportunities such as performing the role of young Marie in The Nutcracker, the lead role of Cinderella, and performing alongside Atlanta Ballet dancers in productions of La Sylphide and Coco Chanel: The Life of a Fashion Icon.

Jacob Lainchbury is from London, England. He began his ballet training under the direction of Drusilla Duffill before joining the Royal Ballet School, aged eleven. During this time, he performed with the Royal Ballet company in Sir Peter Wright’s Nutcracker, Carlos Acosta’s Don Quixote and Christopher Wheeldon’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland as well as dancing many roles in school productions, such as August Bournonville’s Napoli and John Neumeier’s Yondering. In 2022, Lainchbury joined Canada’s National Ballet School, working with the National Ballet Company in James Kudelka’s Nutcracker, and performing principal roles in the Company Life Programme from Swan Lake, Giselle and Onegin. He also was part of the creative process and undertook lead roles in the Assemblée Internationale 2023 and Fall for Dance North, an international dance festival in Toronto. Lainchbury joined Atlanta Ballet 2 for the 23|24 season.

Emily McAllister was born in New Jersey and began dancing at the age of three. At age thirteen, she was awarded a full scholarship to continue her ballet studies at the Rock School for Dance’s professional ballet training program in Philadelphia. While training under the direction of Bojan and Stephanie Spassoff, and later under Peter Stark, McAllister danced in The Sleeping Beauty, Giselle, Don Quixote, The Nutcracker, and Les Corsaire. She was featured annually in the Philadelphia Fringe Arts Festival from 2018 until 2020. In 2023, she performed as the Sugar Plum Fairy in a Philadelphia Orchestra Concert at the Kimmel Center. McAllister has received summer training scholarships at the School of American Ballet, San Francisco Ballet, American Ballet Theater, and Tulsa Ballet where she was cast in various roles, including in The Sleeping Beauty and Paquita. She received numerous medals and was a finalist at the Youth America Grand Prix and was featured in Dance Teacher Magazine. In August of 2023, McAllister joined Orlando Ballet’s Second Company where she performed corps de ballet roles in Jorden Morris’s The Nutcracker, Christopher Stowell’s The Sleeping Beauty, and Kenneth Tindall’s Casanova. She is looking forward to her first season with Atlanta Ballet 2.

Ashley McKoy is 18 years old, and this is her second season with Atlanta Ballet 2. Originally from Springfield, New Jersey, at 13 she joined the Dance Theater of Harlem School for two years. Ashley has attended summer intensives at Atlanta Ballet and San Francisco Ballet, and when she was 16 years old, was invited into Atlanta Ballet's Academy and spent two years in Academy VI. Ashley has performed in Yuri Possokhov's The Nutcracker and Don Quixote, and in Bruce Wells' Snow White and Beauty and the Beast.

Avery Nelson, originally from Seattle, Washington, joins Atlanta Ballet 2 from the Atlanta Ballet Centre for Dance Education Academy VI. She began her ballet training with Sally Tierney and was accepted to The Washington School of Ballet’s (TWSB) Professional Training Division under the tutelage of Xiomara Reyes, Rinat Imaev, and Artistic Director Julie Kent. While with TWSB, Nelson was selected to perform alongside The Washington Ballet in Corps roles, including “Swans” in Julie Kent’s and Victor Barbee’s staging of Swan Lake at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and in “Snowflakes” and “Waltz of the Flowers” in Septime Webre’s The Nutcracker. She received the Award of Excellence from the Cecchetti Council of America and holds certifications in grades I-VI. Nelson has spent her summers training with American Ballet Theater, The Washington School of Ballet, The Rock School, and Atlanta Ballet. She is looking forward to her first season as an Atlanta Ballet 2 member.

Leo O’Reilly Okuno, originally from Huntington, West Virginia, began his ballet training with Huntington Ballet Theatre and American Academy Ballet in West Virginia before training with the Sarasota Cuban Ballet School in 2020. After winning best Pas De Duex at the National Ballet Competition in 2022, O’Reilly Okuno was invited to the Conservatorio Internacional de Danca Annarella Sanchez where he stayed for two years and danced in full-length productions such as Maina Gielgud’s Don Quixote, Graduation Ball with Venus Villa, and Le Corsaire with Alexander Santana. This is his first season with Atlanta Ballet 2.

Dyhan Pierre, a native of Belo Horizonte, Brazil, started dancing at the age of five in Aglomerado da Serra, where he spent his childhood. Pierre received a scholarship to study contemporary dance at the Escola do Grupo Corpo, home of the internationally acclaimed dance company, Grupo Corpo. He excelled in the Intensive Dance Courses under the artistic direction of Reynaldo Muñiz, where he performed in classics such as La Fille Mal Gardee, Giselle, Coppelia, and Swan Lake. Pierre had the privilege of learning from renowned instructors, including Bethania Nascimento F Gomes from the Harlem School, Reynaldo Muniz, Ana Maria Campos, Amilcar Moret, Dadyer Aguilera, Danielle Pavam, Regina Amaral, Tindaro Silvano, Fernando Maciel, Leonora Lima, Leydi Escobar, Olivia Muniz, Olga Dolganova, Jose Antônio Ramos, Wladimir Rybyakov, Miriam Tomich, Renata Araújo, Everson Botelho, Elias Bouza, Thales Buzelin, Cecília Kerche, Nora Esteves, and Sergio Yannelli. He has also participated in competitions such as the Youth America Grand Prix (YAGP) 2021, the Passo de Arte, Arte Minas, Ateliê da Dança, and Grand Prix Brazil. Pierre spent a year as an understudy with Grupo Corpo, under the direction of Paulo Pederneiras and choreographer Rodrigo Pederneiras, before joining Atlanta Ballet 2 for the 23|24 season.

Luisa Aulicino Pimenta, from São Paulo, Brazil, started dancing at three years old. At age 12, she received a scholarship at the Youth America Grand Prix to join the John Cranko Schule, where she studied from 2017 to 2019. In 2020, Pimenta moved to Goiânia, Goiás, Brazil, to continue her studies at Escola do Futuro em Artes Basileu França. After graduating in 2021, she joined the Cia Jovem Basileu França. This is her first season with Atlanta Ballet 2.

Ícaro Queiros is from Goiânia, Brazil and started his studies in classical ballet and modern and contemporary dance and participated in several choreographic processes, at Núcleo de Artes Cênicas Sebastian, under the artistic direction of Sacha Svetloff. He continued his training through a scholarship at the Cisne Negro Ballet Studio, and then as a student in training and a dancer in the semi professional group at Estúdio Movimento em Foco. Queiros has performed in various productions, including Don Quixote and Nutcracker with Estudio de Ballet Cisne Negro, and Swan Lake, Romeo and Juliet and The Pharoah’s Daughter with Teatro Escola Basileu França. This is Queiros' second season with Atlanta Ballet 2, having joined from Cia Jovem Basileu França.

Gianni Salazar is from Bradenton, Florida and began dancing at the age of eleven, originally focusing on Jazz, Tap, Hip-Hop, Ballroom, Modern, and Contemporary dance at Manatee School for the Arts in Palmetto, Florida, before switching his focus to ballet at the age of 15. After attending the 2022 Sarasota Ballet summer intensive, Salazar accepted a scholarship for a trainee position at the Sarasota Ballet’s Margaret Barbieri Conservatory under education director Christopher Hird. He maintained his scholarship throughout both the 22|23 and 23|24 seasons, competing and winning awards and scholarships through prestigious international ballet competitions. Salazar performed roles such as the Nutcracker Prince in Risa Kaplowitz’s Nutcracker with the Sarasota Ballet School, performed new works such as Icicles by Maria Konrad, and Luminosity choreographed by Lindsay Fischer alongside the Sarasota Ballet’s Studio Company. He also worked with the Sarasota Ballet Company, learning corps roles in Sir Fredrick Asthon’s Sinfonietta and Dante Sonata, as well as George Balanchine’s Theme and Variations and is currently a student at the University of South Florida working towards a Business degree. This is his first season with Atlanta Ballet 2.

Júlio Santos was born in Araruama, Rio de Janeiro, and was introduced to ballet at the age of seven, after having learned acrobatic dance through gymnastics. Santos’ commenced his ballet training following an audition to the Bolshoi Theater School in Brazil at age eight. Upon graduation in 2023, Santos joined the Bolshoi Brazil Junior Company, and competed in the Youth America Grand Prix Finals in Tampa, Florida. He then joined the American Ballet Theatre Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School, where he trained until May 2024. Santos is looking forward to his first season with Atlanta Ballet 2.

Eliza Soto was born in Glendale, California and began her formal ballet training at the Marat Daukeyev School of Classical Ballet. After relocating to Dallas, Texas, she studied at the Classical Training Program under the direction of Ashley Ellis and George Birkadze. At the Classical Training Program, Soto had the opportunity to perform in multiple full-length ballets, where she danced lead roles such as Gamzatti, Giselle, and Sugarplum Fairy. Soto competed at Youth America Grand Prix, where she was awarded first place in the Classical Category and competed as a Finalist in 2022 and 2023. The Youngarts Foundation also named Soto a "Finalist with Distinction," and she performed at Youngarts Week in Miami, Florida. There, she was awarded a scholarship from the foundation based on her performance and dedication to the arts. This is Soto's first season with Atlanta Ballet 2.

Emanuel Talongo is from Rosario, Argentina. He began his training at the age of 5. Then he joined the Koi Ballet in his hometown at the age of 12 to continue is training. He attended many ballet competitions earning scholarships for summer intensives and schools. In 2019, he attended the Houston Ballet Summer Intensive and got a scholarship for the full year. He attended their year-round program for three years. During his time at the Houston Ballet Academy, he had the opportunity to perform some works by Houston Ballet Director and Choreographer Stanton Welch A.M, as well as various performances throughout the year-round professional division.

Rachel Zinman grew up in Montreal, Quebec, training and competing in gymnastics provincially until age 11. Having relocated to Toronto, Ontario, she joined Canada’s National Ballet School where she trained for seven years and completed a year of their Company life program after graduating. She is looking forward to her second season with Atlanta Ballet 2.

Atlanta Ballet 2 photos by Kim Kenney.