Vitacca Ballet launches based in Houston and The Woodlands, Texas

THE WOODLANDS, TX -- Vitacca Ballet is excited to share dynamic contemporary ballet performances that combine beauty and athleticism under Artistic Director Kelly Ann Vitacca. In pursuit of growth and support for the local arts community, Vitacca Ballet seeks to nurture appreciative, diverse audiences by contributing entertaining, thought-provoking dance works to Houston and The Woodlands, Texas arts scenes.

2020 brought many artists home to Houston. In our efforts to keep dancers employed, Ms. Vitacca began project-based work. This experience laid the framework for the launch of Vitacca Ballet.

Vitacca Ballet is proud to be a fiscally sponsored project through Fractured Atlas. This allows tax-deductible donations to be made toward Vitacca Ballet’s vision and artistic growth.

Vitacca Ballet’s professional company 2021-2022 season roster includes:

Maddie Medina is from Houston, Texas where she trained at Vitacca Dance Project from 2015–2017. Medina then trained at The Juilliard School working with renowned choreographers such as Ohad Naharin, Andrea Miller, and Brian Arias. There, she also performed repertoire by Bill T. Jones and Trisha Brown. She has worked professionally with Brett Ishida in new works titled longing floats around you and dream of black. She graduated from The Juilliard School with a bachelor’s degree of Fine Arts.

Melanie Ridley grew up in Houston, Texas where she trained at Kennedy Dance Theatre from 2014 to 2019. She was inspired to pursue ballet after being educated by former prima ballerina Milena Leben. She then trained at Vitacca Vocational School for Dance from 2019 to 2021 under Artistic Director Kelly Ann Vitacca and ballet masters Tina Kay Bohnstedt, Fara Sciulli-Bowen, and Stephen Hanna.

Coltin Snyder grew up in Tooele, Utah. He began his dance training at age seven. He then attended The Salt Lake School for the Performing Arts. After graduating, he attended the University of Arizona (UA) graduating in 2021 with a BFA in Dance and a BSBA in Accounting. During his time at UA Snyder trained under professionals such as Amy Ernst, Autumn Eckman, Sam Watson, Melissa Lowe, and other esteemed faculty. He has performed in works by Martha Graham, Frank Chavez, Paul Taylor, Larry Keigwin, David Parsons. While at UA, he also completed the Fletcher Pilates Foundational Program. In addition to his classical training, he trained for five years in breakdancing under Arik Jack and the world renowned Bboy Potter.

International Guest Artist Khen Kurulkar is a native of Israel. He studied in the Maslool Professional Dance Program, Thelma Yellin High School of the Arts Afternoon Professional Training, and the Hamisgeret Professional Dance Program. His performance repertoire includes works by notable choreographers Elie Lazar, Marius Petipa, George Balanchine, Benjamin Harkarvy, Goyo Monterro, Roy Assaf, Barak Marshall, Ohad Naharin, and Ji?í Kylián. In 2018, Kurulkar was named the Ministry of Culture and Sport/IDF Excellent Dancer. In 2016 and 2017 he advanced his training at the American Academy of Ballet in New York.

Guest Performing Artist Manish Chuahan was born and raised in Mumbai. He is self-taught in the urban street dance known as b-boying. His athletic and gymnastic skills allowed him to compete in popular reality TV shows like India’s Got Talent and Dance India Dance, where he greatly impressed judges and was awarded the coveted prize called ‘Taqdeer Ki Topi’ or ‘Hat of Destiny’. Chauhan studied ballet at the Danceworx School in Mumbai under the Israeli-American teacher, Yehuda Ma’or. He completed his training at the Oregon Ballet Theater School in Portland and at the Kibbutz Contemporary Dance Company in Israel. In 2020, Chauhan played the leading role in the Netflix film, Yeh Ballet, a fictionalized version of his life about his struggle to pursue a dance career despite his family’s wishes. He has appeared in Elle and Pointe Magazine and in advertisements for Nickelodeon and Torani Menswear. He is currently an apprentice with the Peridance Contemporary Dance Company in New York City.

Guest Performing Artist Dwayne Cook began dancing at the age of three at Houston Ballet Academy and J.C. Sanderson Elementary for the Performing Arts. He continued his training at Lamar Fleming Middle School Fine Arts Academy and was accepted into HSPVA. He joined Exclamation Dance Co. in 2006. Cook has also trained at the Ailey School, School of American Ballet, Dance Theatre of Harlem, Complexions, and received an apprenticeship for Complexions Contemporary Ballet. Cook is a graduate of the University of Oklahoma, where he received his degree in Modern Dance Performance. Cook’s professional credits also include being a company member with Philadanco and MetDance. Cook has performed in the Broadway productions of Kinky Boots and The Wiz. He has worked with notable choreographers such as: Troy Powell, Earl Mosley, Christopher Huggins, Derrick Minter, Austin Hartel, Nathan Trice, Arthur Mitchell, Dudley Williams, Matthew Rushing, and Robert Battle. His commercial credits in BEYONCE, Chris Brown, Jazmine Sullivan, and Deborah Cox. Cook was also a top 30 semifinalist on season 9&10 of SYTYCD on Fox.

Guest Performing Artist Sean Aaron Carmon is from Beaumont, TX, Sean graduated from the Ailey/Fordham BFA Program in Dance and performed with the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater for seven years. He has performed on Broadway in 2010’s La Cage aux Folles, The Phantom of The Opera and, most recently, Disney’s The Lion King. He has appeared as a guest artist with notable companies such as the Cape Dance Company in South Africa and Joshua Beamish/MOVEthecompany in Vancouver. Mr. Carmon is a nationally recognized and award-winning teacher and choreographer and is currently on faculty with HEAT Convention and Competition, among other institutions.

Vitacca Ballet Pro 2021-2022 season roster includes Madison Acevedo and Clare McKee.

The 2021-2022 season will include work by choreographers Tina Kay Bohnstedt, Andrea Dawn Shelley, and Garrett Smith.

To learn more about Vitacca Ballet’s 2021-2022 company and choreographers, please visit vitaccaballet.org/about.

The 2021-2022 season programming lineup includes:

Premiere on April 23, 2022 at 7pm
Charles Bender Performing Arts Center (611 Higgins Street Humble, TX 77338)

Dance Soiree on May 14, 2022 at 7pm and May 15, 2022 at 2pm
Charles Bender Performing Arts Center (611 Higgins Street Humble, TX 77338)

For more information on Vitacca Ballet, visit www.VitaccaBallet.org.