Kaelie Mann
Boston Conservatory
Kaelie Mann is a junior attending The Boston Conservatory, Dance Division working towards a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance (Class of 2014). Kaelie began her training with Classical Ballet Academy’s founder, Maria Lazar, then continued her training under Dmitri Kulev Classical Ballet Academy with Dmitri and Jennifer Kulev. Throughout Kaelie’s career with DKCBA, she had been awarded many featured solos, including Titania, Sugar Plum Fairy, Rosebud, and Swanilda. Throughout her training with DKCBA, Kaelie participated in numerous ballet/contemporary competitions, both national and internationally, placing in the top 12 in the Youth American Grand Prix many times, thus being invited to compete in the YAGP New York Finals. In addition to attending and teaching classes at Dmitri Kulev ballet’s summer intensives, Kaelie has attended summer intensives across the country, including the Bolshoi Ballet Academy in New York, Ballet West, Washington School of Ballet, and the Kirov Academy. At Boston Conservatory, Kaelie has performed in Spring Works 2011 (Psalm) and in Trey McIntyre’s Blue Until June Suite.
Sam Zaldivar
Royal Ballet School, London
DKCBA Alumnus, Sam Zaldivar, studied under Dmitri and Jennifer, from the start of his serious ballet training at the age of 9. Over his years at DKCBA, Sam was recognized as a soloist by the Youth America Grand Prix (YAGP) Scholarship Competition with Junior Division Grand Prix awards at YAGP Regional Competitions in 2009 and 2010, Junior Division Silver Medalist at the 2009 YAGP Finals in New York City and Junior Division Grand Prix at the NYC Finals in March of 2010. He was also named Honorable Mention in his Freshman Year, at the 2010 Los Angeles Music Center Spotlight Awards for high school aged students, and followed this accomplishment by winning top prize in the 2011 edition of Spotlight Awards.
Sam has performed by invitation at International Ballet Festivals in Miami and Anaheim, California and in Irvine, California’s Protégé and Stars festival, as well as New York City’s 2009 Pestov Gala, 2010’s YAGP Stars of Today Meet the Stars of Tomorrow Gala, and in May of 2010 Sam performed as the only non-professional soloist in the Peter Pestov Gala sponsored by the Bilateral Obama-Medvedev Presidential Commission Cultural Cooperation Program, in Moscow, Russia. In the early months of 2011, Sam toured the East Coast in a YAGP-sponsored Stars of Tomorrow gala tour.
He has been awarded scholarships to study with some of the most prestigious youth ballet programs, such as Bolshoi Ballet, American Ballet Theater, Canadian National Ballet, Pacific Northwest Ballet, San Francisco Ballet and John Crancko’s Stuttgart School of Ballet. In March of 2011, Sam was awarded a full scholarship and is continuing his studies at The Royal Ballet School in London.
Mara Jacobucci
Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music
Mara Jacobucci is a 2013 graduate of Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music. As a part of the Indiana University Ballet Theater and Hutton Honors College, and a recipient of an IU Prestige Scholarship, she received a BS in Ballet with an Outside Field in Spanish, as well as a certificate in Arts Administration. Growing up in Laguna Niguel, California, Mara began attending ballet classes at the age of three at Classical Ballet Academy with Maria Lazar. After stopping ballet for several years, she began more serious ballet training at the age of ten and continued taking classes at the new Dmitri Kulev Classical Ballet Academy with Dmitri and Jennifer Kulev. Under the instruction and coaching of Dmitri and Jennifer, Mara participated in the Youth American Grand Prix from 2007 to 2010. In 2010, she won third place at the Los Angeles Semi-Finals, earning a spot in the New York Finals. She has attended summer intensives across the country, including the Saratoga Summer Dance Intensive with Roberto Munoz and Melinda Roy, The Washington School of Ballet, and the Pacific Northwest Ballet. Since becoming a member of IUBT, Mara has performed in Joshua Bergasse’s Baker Dances, Michael Vernon’s the Nutcracker, and George Balanchine’s Who Cares?, Paul Taylor’s Company B, and was featured in Dwight Rhoden’s Dear Frédéric. Mara will be featured in the IU summer Musical Theater production of Swing.
Kaitlyn Snyder
California State University, Long Beach
Kaitlyn Snyder is a junior year at California State University, Long Beach. She is working towards a Bachelors Degree in Dance with a minor in Journalism. Kaitlyn grew up as a Southern Orange County local, and began dancing at the age of 3 under Classical Ballet Academy founder, Maria Lazar. Kaitlyn then continued her ballet training under Dmitri and Jennifer Kulev. She performed in Midsummer Night’s Dream, Paquita, Stars and Stripes, and many more under the direction of Dmitri and Jennifer Kulev. While dancing at DKCBA, Kaitlyn’s love of ballet grew along with her interest in modern dance. She studied modern technique under former DKCBA teacher William Lu, and current teacher L.J. Tashiro-Naffarette. Kaitlyn has attended many DKCBA summer intensives along with local modern company Backhausdance summer intensive. As a CSULB dance student, Kaitlyn recently performed a modern trio, The Pull and Prod, choreographed by a fellow dance major, along with taking ballet and modern dance classes daily. Kaitlyn currently runs a blog about arts on campus and hopes to dance professionally or work for a nonprofit organization that promotes arts awareness and education.
Kaitlin Herndon
Texas Christian University
Kaitlin Herndon is a senior working towards a BFA in ballet at Texas Christian University’s School for Classical and Contemporary Dance (Class of 2014). A recipient of TCU’s Dean’s Scholarship, she is also working towards a minor in Movement Science. Kaitlin began studying ballet at the age of ten under Maria Lazar, and continued her training with Dmitri and Jennifer Kulev at Dmitri Kulev Classical Ballet Academy. During this time, Kaitlin performed corps and solo roles in DKCBA’s yearly production of The Nutcracker, as well as works such as A Midsummer Nights Dream, Paqita, Firebird, and Cinderella. Kaitlin has also performed in pieces by L.J. Tashiro Nafarette and world-renowned choreographer Viktor Kabanaiev, and has attended many of DKCBA’s summer intensives. Since coming to TCU, she has continued to study dance with the TCU SCCD faculty. While at TCU, Kaitlin has performed in Terrence Orr’s Swan Lake, George Balanchine’s Serenade staged by Michelle Gifford, and Armando Luna’s Four Elements, as well as works by Li-Chou Cheng, Elizabeth Gillaspy and Susan Jaffe. She has also danced in several senior choreography works, and performed with TCU SCCD at the American College Dance Festival (ACDF) the past two years. Kaitlin is currently serving on the executive board of TCU’s Chi Tau Epsilon Dance Honors Society, and hopes to put her dance training to use in the professional world after graduation.
Chenoa Rangel
Dawson Wallace Dance Project, Denver
Chenoa Rangel began studying dance at Classical Ballet Academy in Aliso Viejo, CA under the direction of Maria Lazar and later Dmitri and Jennifer Kulev. She spent a summer in Saratoga, NY studying with Melinda Roy and Roberto Munoz as well. Chenoa then went on to attend Pacific Northwest Ballet School on scholarship, was a guest in the Apprentice Program with Dresden Semperoper Ballet and Palucca Schule Dresden, and recently graduated from the Training Program at Alonzo King LINES Ballet School. She has performed works by Kent Stowell, Bruce Wells, Sonia Dawkins, Kara Davis, Yannis Adoniou, Maurya Kerr, and Keelan Whitmore. She is currently in her first season with Dawson Wallace Dance Project a Denver based contemporary ballet company where she has performed works by James Wallace, Gregory Dawson, and David Taylor.
