Company

Name:  Stephen Gunter

Company Position:  Company Artist

Joined Ballet RI:  Joined Ballet RI in 2023 as an Apprentice. Promoted to Company in 2024.

Hometown: Winston-Salem, NC

Training/Education: Stephen completed his undergraduate and high school training at UNCSA from 2016-2022 and received BFA in ballet performance and pedagogy. He also attended summer intensives at the Bolshoi Ballet Academy, Ellison Ballet and Pittsburgh Ballet Theater.

Favorite Quote: “Would you like an adventure now, or would you like to have your tea first?” ~Peter Pan

Favorite Role or Ballet & Why:

Stephen’s favorite role is Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet. He enjoys leaning into his goofy, lighthearted nature while helping portray such a strong story with gorgeous music that is always a hit with audiences. All the sword fighting doesn’t hurt either.

Accomplishment you are most proud of:  Performing in YAGP’s 20th Anniversairy International Dance School Festival, in the cast of Ilya Kozadayev’s Dream(s)pace.

Fun Fact about yourself:  Stephen has worked with the Board of the Angels Race, a nonprofit dedicated to empowering educators and students alike. They offer grants to elementary school teachers, scholarships for high school seniors, and support various youth programs within North Carolina and Virginia.

Follow Stephen on Instagram @sgunter_dance

 

 

 

Yanowsky won First Prize at the Prix de Lausanne and the Silver medal at the Varna and U.S. International Ballet Competitions. He trained with Carmen Delgado de Robles, Anatol Yanowsky, and the Ballet Nacional de Cuba.

Yury’s passion for choreography began early in his dancing career and over the past decade he has had the opportunity to showcase his work around the world. He has been commissioned to create new works for Boston Ballet, Boston Ballet 2, Bundes Jugend Ballet, Jacobs Pillow Gala, Atlanta Ballet, Tulsa Ballet, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Kansas City Ballet, Portland Ballet, and Festival Ballet Providence. In 2015, he was awarded the Choreographic Prize at the prestigious Erik Bruhn Competition and his ballet Smoke and Mirrors for Boston Ballet was named “Best in Dance for 2016” by The Arts Fuse and hailed as a “visual and choreographic masterpiece”. In 2018 he founded Dance YaNOWsky, a small touring company dedicated to his vision. Yanowsky is focused on creating new works that are relevant and reflective of todays society, oftentimes using unique collaborations to enhance his works.
Yanowsky has served as Movement Consultant for American Repertory Theatre and as Movement Director for The Boston Lyric Opera. He is a frequent teacher at Boston Ballet, Boston Arts Academy, and Centro Coreographico Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. When not choreographing, Yury remains on the Dance Faculty at Harvard University.

@yuryyanowsky
Yuryyanowsky.com

Name: Nia Grace Lessard

Company Position: Apprentice

Joined Ballet RI:  Joined Ballet RI as a Junior Apprentice in 2023. Promoted to Apprentice in 2025.

Hometown: Framingham, MA

Training/Education: Pacific Northwest Ballet Professional Division

Favorite Quote: “It’s finished, it’s done. You can’t take loved away” -Nona the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

Favorite Role or Ballet & Why:

I like to create a character for every ballet I perform, to make it extra fun and to add intention to the movement. My favorite is when I was in the corps de ballet for Swan Lake, I would imagine I was a lost princess dreaming of returning home. I would love to perform a role like Tatiana from Onegin, where the character is already written and I could really delve into her emotions on stage.

Accomplishment you are most proud of: I am most proud of who I am as an artist, in my authenticity, curiosity and love that I bring to the studio every day. I celebrate each tiny accomplishment, as they are all part of my growth to being the best dancer I can be.

Fun Fact about yourself: I collect vintage media! I have cassette tapes, 8-tracks, vinyl records, and about 75 VHS tapes that I watch on my VCR TV. I still have a recording of Mikhail Baryshnikov and Gelsey Kirkland in The Nutcracker that I watched as a kid!

Follow Nia on Instagram @niagracelessard

Name:  Garret McNally 

Company Position:  Company Dancer 

Joined Ballet RI:  2023 

Hometown: New Orleans, LA

Training/Education: Studied for High School & Ballet at University of North Carolina School of the Arts/ studied and achieved a bachelor’s in history at the University of New Orleans 

Favorite Quote:  “Why be mediocre when you can be drop dead gorgeous” -Susan Jaffe 

Favorite Role or Ballet & Why: Favorite ballet is Romeo and Juliet. The tragedy of the Shakespeare’s story and Sergei Prokofiev’s sensational music composition makes for my favorite ballet out there! 

Accomplishment you are most proud of: Graduating from college with a bachelors! 

Fun Fact about yourself:   I was a background dancer in the Netflix original “Tall Girl 2” as well as TNT’s “Claws”

Follow Garret on instagram @gsmcnally 

 

Christopher Anderson trained as a student under the tutelage of Marika Besabrasova at the Academie de Danse de Princess Grace. He also trained at North Carolina School of the Arts and finished his training at San Francisco Ballet School, under the guidance of Richard Cammack and Anatole Vilzak. He joined San Francisco Ballet where he had an illustrious 16-year career as a Soloist, working with and performing works by William Forsythe, David Bintley, Jiri Kylian, George Balanchine, and Mark Morris to name a few. Christopher went on to dance as an International Guest Artist before finishing his dance career as a Principal Dancer with Alberta Ballet. After retiring, he continued his lifelong journey with ballet as a full-time faculty member of Boston Ballet School for 16 years, honing and developing his pedagogical skills before joining the Ballet RI team. At Ballet RI Christopher continues to share his passion for Ballet as an Artistic Coach, Director of SDI and as Principal of the Core Division of the School of Ballet RI.

Name:  Alexandria Melina Troianos

Company Position:  Company Dancer

Joined Ballet RI:  2023

Hometown: Pittsburgh, Pa

Training/Education: Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre School for 7 years and Elite Dance by Damian also for 7 years.

 Favorite Quote: “Everything happens for a reason.”

Favorite Role or Ballet & Why:  I loved every role I have performed. I can’t pick a favorite just yet.

Accomplishment you are most proud of:  Performing the role of Cinderella in Yury Yanowsky’s world premiere of Cinderella.

Fun Fact about yourself:  I started dancing in commercial dance competitions when I was 6 and at age 14 I decided to focus on ballet.

Follow Alexandria on Instagram @lexi_troianos

 

A native of Venezuela, Ms. Guerrero received her early training at the Keyla Ermecheo Ballet School in Caracas. She has performed with numerous companies including Ballet Nuevo Mundo de Caracas, Metropolitan Ballet of Caracas, Minnesota Dance Theatre, Michigan Ballet, Charleston Ballet Theatre, Jose Mateo’s Ballet Theatre and Cadence Dance Project.

She has created leading roles in ballets in Gianni Dimarco’s El Amor Brujo, Schéhérazade and Azucar, Plotnikov’s Carmen, The Widow’s Broom,Loof and Let Dime and Coma, De Bouteiller’s Romeo and Juliet and FBP’s 2006 premiere of Don Quixote. Other leading roles include Balanchine’s Allegro Brillante, Rubies, Tschaikovsky Pas de Deux, Tarantella, Who Cares?, Pelzig’s The Princess and the Pea, Swan Lake and Eldar Aliev’s A Thousand and One Nights. Ms. Guerrero also participated in the 2004 Venezuela Del Mundo Gala and was recognized for representing Venezuela internationally with high standards and “projection, dignity and beauty.” In addition Providence Mayor David Cicilline awarded a Citizens Citation for her “exceptional and wholehearted devotion for the art of dance.”

After her retirement from the stage in May 2012, she transitioned into her new role as Ballet Mistress with the Company, and as a faculty member with School of Ballet RI where she continues to pass on her knowledge to a new generation of dancers.

Name: Brian Gomez

Company Position:  Company Dancer

Joined Ballet RI:  September, 2023

Hometown: La Habana, Cuba

Training/Education: National Ballet School of Cuba “ENA”

 Favorite Quote: “Without sacrifice there is no victory.”

Favorite Role or Ballet & Why:   Solor from “Le Bayadere”. Dancing “Solor” was a dream for me, and I would love to be able to do it again.

Accomplishment you are most proud of:  To have been promoted to the position of Principal Dancer at the age of 18.

Fun Fact about yourself:  If I hadn’t been a dancer, I would have liked to be a soccer player.

Follow Brian on Instagram @briangomez_24

 

Audrey Lukacz, Company Dancer
Joined Ballet RI:  2020 

Hometown: Portsmouth, NH 

Training/Education: Portsmouth School of Ballet, BA in Dance Pedagogy from Butler University 

Favorite Quote: “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” – Maya Angelou  

Favorite Role or Ballet & Why: I think it’s hard to pick just one favorite since there are just so many beautiful ballets out there. I think if I had to choose, I would say Romeo and Juliet and Onegin to watch. But my favorite role I’ve done so far has been Carabosse in the Sleeping Beauty. There is just something so fun and so powerful about getting to play a role that is so far from reality. Something comes over you on stage and it’s a feeling like nothing else.  

Accomplishment you are most proud of: I am most proud of receiving my bachelor’s degree from Butler University in 3.5 years and getting my first professional contract with Ballet RI.  

Fun Fact about yourself: I do wheel thrown pottery and thrift avidly! I also can pogo stick with no hands.  

Follow Audrey on Instagram @audreylukacz  

 

Name: Katherine Bickford Vigly

Company Position:  Company Artist

Joined Ballet RI:  In 2015 as a trainee. Promoted to Apprentice in 2017 and Company in 2019.

Hometown: Miami, FL / Fryeburg, ME

Training/Education: Dance Empire, Portland School of Ballet, Canada’s National Ballet School, B.S. in Ecology and Environmental Science from the University of Maine

 Favorite Quote:

“You must have chaos within you to give birth to a dancing star.” – Friedrich Nietzsche

But also:

“I hate quotations.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

Favorite Role or Ballet & Why:  

Yikes, it is very hard to choose… and it is always changing. My most recent favorite was dancing the solo girl in Katarzyna Kozielska’s ‘Ode’. It was a role that I felt I could keep dancing forever because I felt so present and myself in it. My mind never wanted to wander; I was fully able to enjoy getting lost in the moment while dancing it.

 Accomplishment you are most proud of:  Making a career as a professional dancer.

Fun Fact about yourself:  I like learning about insects and how they shape our world. Bombus perplexus is my favorite.

Follow Katherine on Instagram @kjjbickford