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Name:  Clay Murray

Company Position:  Company Artist

Joined Ballet RI:  Joined Ballet Ri in 2022 as Company Member

Hometown: Hattiesburg, MS

Training/Education: South Mississippi Ballet Theatre, Houston Ballet Academy, Pacific Northwest Ballet

Favorite Quote:  “I won’t break, I’ll just bend, and I’ll sway.” -Kacey Musgraves

Favorite Role or Ballet & Why:

There are so many amazing roles I’ve gotten to do in my career. A few favorites have been Bluebird in “Sleeping Beauty”, Sugarplum Cavalier in “The Nutcracker”, Iago in “Moore’s Pavane”, First Pas De Deux in Yury Yanowsky’s “Death and the Maiden”,Jester in Yury Yanowsky’s “Cinderella”, and Azure Barton’s “Les Chambres Des Jacques.”

Accomplishment you are most proud of:  Overcoming a major knee surgery and coming back to ballet.

Fun Fact about yourself:  I love going to concerts and the gym.

Follow Clay on Instagram @claymurray

 

 

Name: AJ Maio

Company Position: Company

Joined Ballet RI:  Joined Ballet RI in 2022 as an apprentice. Promoted to Company in 2023.

Hometown: Barrington, RI

Training/Education: School of Ballet RI, University of Utah BFA

Favorite Quote: “You’re braver than you believe, and stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.” A.A. Milne

Favorite Role or Ballet & Why: Being the Nutcracker in Ballet RI’s production because getting to dance the Trepak dance is so much fun.

Accomplishment you are most proud of:  Graduating from the University of Utah with my Ballet BFA degree.

Fun Fact about yourself:  I love Ukrainian folk dancing and teach character dance at the School of Ballet RI.

Follow AJ on Instagram @a.m_j08

 

 

Name: Ashley Griffin

Company Position: Company Artist

Joined Ballet RI: Joined as a Company dancer in 2023.

Hometown: Florence, SC

Training/Education: Ashley joined Boston Ballet School’s Pre-Professional Program on full scholarship at the age of 16. Then, she joined Orlando Ballet as Trainee on full scholarship, and was promoted to Orlando Ballet Second Company after one season. She has also attended programs at the School of American Ballet, Houston Ballet, Exploring Ballet with Suzanne Farrell at the Kennedy Center, Chautauqua Institution, CPYB, Charlotte Ballet, Boston Ballet, Orlando Ballet, Philadelphia Ballet, and the “ART of” intensives supported by William Forsythe in Zurich, Switzerland and Madrid, Spain. In 2020, Ashley joined Dayton Ballet as a company dancer, where she received opportunities to perform in principle roles such as the Sugar Plum Fairy in the The Nutcracker, the pas de deux girl in Gerald Arpino’s Light Rain, and Daisy Buchanan in The Great Gatsby. She has also spent two summers participating in a choreographic collaboration with Dayton Dance Initiative. Currently, she is a graduate student at New York University and has previously completed a B.A. from Northeastern University with Summa Cum Laude honors and Boston Ballet’s Adaptive Dance Teacher Certification. During her first season with Ballet RI, some of her favorite performances have included the Fascinatin’ Rhythm and Man I Love girl in George Balanchine’s Who Cares, the Sugar Plum Fairy and Dew Drop Fairy in The Nutcracker, Desdemona in Jose Limon’s Moor’s Pavane, and the Winter Fairy in Yury Yanowsky’s Cinderella.

 Favorite Quote: “When you know what you hope for most and hold it like a light within you, you can make things happen, almost like magic.”

Favorite Role or Ballet & Why: My dream role is Juliet from Romeo and Juliet because it a profound story of love that is powerful and timeless. There is an incredible emotional contrast to artistically relish in, and the music is simply magnificent. My other favorite role will always be the Sugar Plum Fairy. It’s an absolute classic, and I’m so grateful to have performed it in two professional companies.

Accomplishment you are most proud of: Dancing professionally at three professional companies while earning two college degrees.

Fun Fact about yourself: One of my favorite hobbies is photographing new places and experiences around the world.

Follow Ashley on Instagram @__ashleygriffin__

 

Name:   Tara McCally
Company Position:  Company member
Joined Ballet RI:  2021
Hometown: Houston, Texas
Training/Education: Feijoo Ballet School under Nelson Madrigal, Lorna and Lorena Feijoo
Favorite Quote: “The best is yet to come” -frank Sinatra
Favorite Role or Ballet & Why:  It is impossible to narrow down all the roles if been lucky to perform and choose just one favorite, so two roles I hold close to my heart are “Jackie” in Yury Yanowsky’s “Jackie” and “solo woman” in Katarzyna Kozielska’s “Ode”. Both roles challenged me emotionally, physically and truly made me a better dancer.
Accomplishment you are most proud of:   Though I am so proud of all of my achievements in ballet, I am most proud of the family I’ve made on the east coast!
Fun Fact about yourself:  I’m related to Alexander Hamilton and John Wilkes booth

Follow Tara on Instagram @Tara.mccally

Name: Anna Lisa Wilkins
Company Position:  Company Dancer
Joined Ballet RI:  2020
Hometown: East Longmeadow, MA
Training/Education: Indiana University Jacobs School of Music (Go Hoosiers!)
 Favorite Quote: Have courage and be kind. Beauty will save the world.
Favorite Role or Ballet & Why:  Emilia from José Limón’s Moor’s Pavane. To tell such a dramatic and powerful story through subtlety and detail was an incredible artistic challenge, and one I hope to revisit one day. (Also, the costume was FABULOUS!)

Accomplishment you are most proud of: Having the opportunity to work for an organization as both a dancer and an administrative manager. I’m living my dream while also gaining experience that will help me develop and impact live performance art from both sides of the stage.

Fun Fact about yourself: Everyone in my family was born on the 13^th or 31^st – completely by chance.

Follow Anna Lisa on Instagram @annalisa.wilx

Name: Nina Yoshida-Webster

Company Position: Company Artist

Joined Ballet RI:  Joined Ballet RI in 2021 as a Company Artist.

Hometown: Madison, NJ

Training/Education: Gelsey Kirkland Academy of Classical Ballet, B.A. in Dance Performance, St. Mary’s College of California’s LEAP (Liberal Education for Arts Professionals) program.

Favorite Quote: “The dance goes on forever. So shall I. So shall we.” ~ Gelsey Kirkland

Favorite Role or Ballet & Why: 

It’s so hard to pick just one since they are all so different! I loved the acting and technical challenges in performing Aurora in Sleeping Beauty. The challenges this role presented forced me to grow into Aurora’s character in the process. I also got to work on footwork and musical playfulness when I performed the Jumping Girl in George Balanchine’s Who Cares? Last but not least, my hands-down favorite acting role, which had some pretty challenging dancing in it too, was the younger stepsister in Cinderella. It was my first experience playing with comedy on stage. Getting to hear the audience’s laughter and reactions in real time was one of the most rewarding performance experiences I’ve had!

Accomplishment you are most proud of: 

Graduating from St. Mary’s College all while planning my wedding and dancing full-time with Ballet RI!

Fun Fact about yourself: 

I have walked every single block in Manhattan with my now husband, Kincade. I also love to garden, as well as sew and knit my own clothes and dancewear!

Follow Nina on Instagram @ninaballerina98

Name:   Heather Nichols 

Company Position:   Company Artist   

Joined Ballet RI:   Joined Ballet RI in 2022 as a company member 

Hometown: Richmond, VA 

Training/Education: West End Academy of Dance, School of Richmond Ballet, Richmond Ballet Trainee, B.S in Dance Pedagogy from Butler University     

Favorite Quote: “Music melts all the separate parts of our bodies together” Anaïs Nin 

Favorite Role or Ballet & Why:   

I was absolutely thrilled to explore and perform ‘Stairway to Paradise’ and ‘The Who Care’s Pas De Deux’ in George Balanchine’s “Who Cares”. This role tested me mentally, my perseverance, technicality, maturity, stylistically, and my stamina in so many ways. It allowed me to explore dynamic, expansive dancing to my end range, while being extremely specific and clear with the musicality. It was challenging and fun! 

Accomplishment you are most proud of:  Since I began dancing with professional companies in 2009, I have had four ankle surgeries. I am most proud of my perseverance in returning to the studio and the stage each time, stronger, more vibrant, and with a renewed understanding, not only for my love of dance, but also the incredible things that my body can overcome. Injury though my career has taught me a lot, and persevering through them both physically and mentally has been something that I am proud of inside and outside of the dance realm.  

Fun Fact about yourself:   

As an emerging choreographer, I have created works including “Meraki” for Kansas City Ballet (2022), “Eau D’Effervescence” (2023) and “Genesis” (2024) for BalletRI, and “Versipellis” (2024) for Moving Arts Co. My work “Meraki” was restaged for Pointe Works’ inaugural season in San Diego, CA in the summer of 2024, and will be performed again in New York, NY in March of 2025! 

  

Follow Heather on Instagram @heathercnichols AND @h.nichols.choreography 

 

Name:  Emma Guertin
Company Position:  Company Dancer
Joined Ballet RI:  2022
Hometown: Oakville, Ontario, Canada
Training/Education: Oakville school of ballet, Orlando Ballet, Atlanta Ballet
Favorite Quote: “You didn’t come this far, just to come this far”  

Favorite Role or Ballet & Why: “ When Love” by Helen picket because I discovered a new confidence in my dancing I hadn’t felt before.
Accomplishment you are most proud of:   Got over my fear of choreographing/improv & choreographed my first piece for Up Close on Hope last season.
Fun Fact about yourself:  I speak French Canadien, ride horses, play golf, model, sing, take heel classes!

Follow Emma on Instagram @Emmaguertin