EMILY BOYKIN began her training at Hansen's dance studio in Oconomowoc Wisconsin, where she studied ballet and tap. After moving to Austin she has received training and instruction at Tapestry, Cafe Dance, The Dance Center, Blue Lapis Light, and now Ballet East. She is currently working on earning her B.A. in dance. Miss Boykin is thankful for having the opportunity to work with a variety of choreographers including Deidre Strand, Allison Orr, Sharon Marroquin, Francisco Gella, Toni Bravo, and of course Melissa Villarreal. Emily has performed in various competitions and performances throughout Texas as well as New York.

LESLIE CASTILLO was raised in Laredo, Texas. She began her dancing career at the age of 14, at United High School. As a dance team member she had practice in many styles such as Jazz, Contemporary, and Modern. Receiving many recognitions, she decided to pursue a career in dance.  Yet, it wasn’t till her senior year that she started proper and formal training with Nudo Piedi Contemporary Dance Company. After being with the company for three seasons she decided to furthermore her passion and recently moved to Austin late summer 2011.  As a result, she now joins Ballet East Dance Company where she embarks on a new journey.

JUAN P. FLORES was raised in Laredo, Texas. He began his dancing career at age 17, at the Vidal M. Trevino Fine Arts School.  Mary Ellen Leyendecker and Cheryl Kirkpatrick are the two teachers that influenced his dance training, which consisted of, ballet, jazz, tap, Celtic, hip-hop, lyrical and belly dance.  He performed numerous times with the Dance Expressions Dance Studio and with the Laredo Ballet Theatre.  He played various roles in the Nutcracker every year.  J.P. moved to Austin 4 years ago in search of better dance opportunities.  As a result, he joined Ballet East, where he has had the opportunity to work with acclaimed choreographers from all over.  In the summer of 2010 he received a scholarship to the Ailey School in NYC, where he is currently training.  This summer he taught master classes in Laredo and Austin to both Nudo Piedi Contemporary Dance Company and Ballet East Dance Company. He plans to rejoin Ballet East in May 2012, to continue the legacy which Mr. Rodolfo Mendez has created, as Ms. Melissa Villarreal's Assistant to the company and as a resident choreographer.

JESSICA GABY grew up in Miami, FL where she began her dance training at the age of 4.  Since then she has studied tap, ballet, jazz, modern, and dance for musical theater.  Jessica worked as a choreographer for QuantUM Productions, Miami Stage Company, and Miami Children's Theater, and has danced with several companies including RainDance Productions in Miami and Uprise! in Austin.  Jessica received her B.A. in Psychology from the University of Miami in 2005, but since then has chosen to pursue her love of the arts.  She currently works as a preschool teacher at Open Door East.  Jessica feels incredibly fortunate to have found such a talented, beautiful, loving family of dancers to work with.

MINDY GUERRA is originally from Pharr, Texas where she began her training at Pointe and Plie School of dance at the age of 4. She practiced different styles of dance including ballet, jazz, flamenco and belly dance. Later, she was named captain of her high school drill team where she led the team to much recognition. She then decided to continue to study and perform various dance styles such as jazz, contemporary and modern. Attending Texas State University in San Marcos, Texas, Mindy was a Texas State Strutter for 2 years until moving to Austin where she performed with the Austin Community College Dance Department under the direction of Darla Johnson and the Dance Austin Studio under the direction of Chi Chi Randolph.  Additionally, Mindy has received extensive training in burlesque jazz, hip-hop, and contemporary jazz, at the Debbie Reynolds Dance Studio and Millennium Dance Complex in North Hollywood, California.  She has also trained and at The EDGE Performing Arts Center in Hollywood, California.  When she is not on the dance floor, Mindy can be found pursuing her other passion - teaching her Bilingual Pre-Kindergarten classroom in Kyle, Texas. Mindy is elated to be back in Texas and performing with the Ballet East Company in Austin!

NICOLE JENSEN is originally from Anderson, Indiana.   She graduated in three years with High Honors & her B.F.A. in dance from UT. She received her teaching certificate from Texas State University. Nicole was the dance teacher and director at the McCallum High School Fine Arts Academy for four years, and is currently in her 5th year of teaching and directing dance at Small Middle School.  Her performance experience includes numerous principal ballet roles with Anderson Young Ballet Theatre, and contemporary works with UT, Metamorphosis & Ballet East. Nicole has been very fortunate to study with choreographers such as Regina Larkin, Trinette Singleton, Lyn Wiltshire, Yacov Sharir, and Bill Evans.  Nicole is trained in Latin and Ballroom dance, and has had the opportunity to compete and train in London, Italy and the west coast. She has also danced for the San Antonio Spurs and enjoyed being a part of a championship year.

SADE' M. JONES is currently a psychology M.A. candidate at the University of Texas at Austin. A native of Brooklyn, NY, she received most of her training in different NYC dance classes including Alvin Ailey and Broadway Dance Center. As an undergraduate of William Smith College, she minored in Dance and Social Justice. During this time, she performed works of Afro-Caribbean dancer and choreographer Chris Walker and represented her school at ACDFA. During her junior and senior years, Sadé went to Minneapolis to join the Ananya Dance Theatre becoming part of their touring cast. With 13 years of dance training, Sadé's fierce-ness emerges when she uses dance to communicate the social agenda of her people. This is Ms. Jones' third season with Ballet East.

AMY MENDEZ Native to Houston, Texas, raised in Bainbridge Island Washington. In 2000, Amy attended UT, studying for her Bachelor of Arts in Theatre and Dance, graduating with honors and gaining her SBEC teacher certification in dance.  Her instructors have included, Andrea Beckham, Lyn Elam, Bill Piner, Yacov Sharir, and Holly Williams.  She has performed with UT Dance Department, S.T.E.E.L Dance Company, Roustabouts, Millennium Entertainment, Tropical productions and Explosion Dance Company.   She was a founding member of Jazz Ballet Company of Austin since September 2004, and was featured in “Jazz and Tango,” “Nutcracker,” and “Can You Hear Me Now?” Mrs. Mendez has taught dance in Austin for over 10 years, training all ages in ballet, jazz, modern, tap, salsa, drill team, theater and gymnastics. In 2007 Mrs. Mendez directed the Junior Jazz Ballet Company of Austin. She was the Dance Director at Reagan High School for 3 years and now teaches dance at East Side Memorial High School.

ANANDA MAYI MOSS, LCSW, LCCA, made her stage debut as a "noodle" in her first jazz dance recital at 6 years of age. At the Cambridge School of Weston and Sarah Lawrence College in Brownville, New York, she studied choreography, ballet, modern dance, butoh, and contact improvisation and had the opportunity to tour her works throughout the New England area as well as the Netherlands and Brussels. Since moving to Texas, she first worked with Renee Morris Larson before joining Ballet East Dance Company as a performer in 1998. Ananda has choreographed over 25 original pieces including a full-length multi-media production “Lillian begets” which debuted in New York in 1994. As well as being a loyal company member, Ananda has choreographed eight (8) of those original pieces for Ballet East Dance Company.  Ananda Mayi Moss approaches choreography from a Jungian perspective, honoring the interconnectedness of audience, performer, and choreography by tapping into the participants "collective unconscious". Her works provoke and challenge, aiming to upset conventional norms with an invitation to indulge in the rebelliously creative. Ananda is the Managing Director of the Multi-Genre Performance Group UpRise! Productions, weaving a diverse blend of artistic genres deeply rooted in a framework of social justice and political action. UpRise! transcends the confines of difference through a multidisciplinary arts group that aims to create social change through performance and empowerment education.  UpRise! Productions won Frontera Fest’s Short Fringe “Best of Fest” in 2006 for the piece Power is Yours: Take It Or Leave It, a B.Iden Payne Outstanding Script Award in 2007/2008 for Zell Miller III’s script of “Radio Silence: A Word Opera”, also nominated for ACOT’s David Mark Cohen New Play Award in 2009. Ananda is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker currently holding a Master's degree from the UT Social Work, as well as being a and Licensed Child Care Administrator since 1999. She currently works as the Director of Performance Quality Improvement at Southwest Key Programs’ National Headquarters’ office in Austin TX, as well as being the Texas Chapter Health and Human Services Representative for MusiCares, the non profit arm of the Grammy Foundation since 2005.

ELIZABETH PALMER is dancing in her 8th season with Ballet East. She has had the privilege to work with many talented individuals including Melissa Villarreal, Dixon Mena, Max Luna III, Regina Larkin, Gina Patterson, Sharon Marroquin, Amberlee Cantrell and Francisco Gella. Elizabeth began dancing as a child and enjoyed living all over the country as part of a military family. She danced with the Colorado Ballet Company and the Tulsa Ballet Theater in their productions of the Nutcracker. She began her formal training in high school when she studied at the Kansas City Ballet School. She danced alongside the company in Swan Lake and the Nutcracker under the artistic direction of William Whitener. She received her BFA in Dance Performance with a minor in cultural anthropology from Missouri State University, and her choreography was selected for the American College Dance Festival in 2004. 

JONTHAN REJINO joins Ballet East for his fifth season this year. He comes from Olton Texas, where he began dance at West Texas A&M University under Neil Hess and then Under Edward Truitt. Jonathan has performed in Texas the Musical Drama and Lone Star Rising. He has danced with Lone Star Ballet in several roles in their annual performance of Nutcracker and was fortunate to travel to Russia to perform at the Open Look Modern Dance Festival in St. Petersburg.

HAILLEY SCHWARTZ is a graduate from the High School of Performing Arts in Manhattan and recently graduated from Towson University with a BFA in Dance Performance. She was an active member of the Towson University Dance Company for the 4 years she attended Towson. She performed in works by choreographers such as Chris Elam, Balanchine, Vincent Thomas, Dion Wilson, Carlos Dannan and more. She recently moved to Austin to pursue her dance career and is excited to celebrate her 4th season with Ballet East Dance Theatre.

CHELSEA SPALDING began her training at Maryse Gobel’s School of Dance in Nacogdoches, TX where she studied classical ballet.  During that time, she had the opportunity to dance ad-hoc with the Dallas/Ft. Worth Ballet Company. In college, Chelsea explored new forms of dance through Swarthmore College’s Rhythm N Motion Dance Company where she performed dances of the African diaspora.  Chelsea has attended many workshops including but not limited to workshops hosted by the L.A. Laker Girls and New York City Rockettes.  She is thrilled to join Ballet East for her first season with the company.