As we welcome a new year I find myself reflecting on 2021. While that was a year of great challenges due to Covid and a year with some loss for the ballet world and for me personally with the death of dancer/ choreographer John Paul Comelin and Premier Danseur Extraordinaire and former director of the Paris Opera Patrick Dupond, it has also been a year of discovery, knowledge and joy.
We had a lot to be grateful for in 2021. The SNB company and Academy managed to survive through the hard work and dedication of our board, staff, dancers and students and the support of our City, State and Federal government.
In 2021 Alexander Biber was hired on staff at SNB and that has been a blessing for all of us. Alex has been a part of SNB in some capacity for 19 of its almost 21 years.
I remember the first day that I met Alex. I was head of ballet at Gina Kaskie Davis’s Western Nevada Performing Arts Center in Carson City. Alex came to watch a ballet class with his friend who was a student of mine. I went home that night and told my husband: “I met a ballet dancer today. He does not know that he is a ballet dancer but I do. All I have to do is get him to take a ballet class and he will realize it.” But that was not so easy. Alex was an actor and a singer and had little interest in studying dance, especially ballet.
Alex comes from a theatrical background. His mother is the extraordinary actress and Bruka Theater director Mary Bennett who adores her son: “There is a magic to Alexander that has always been constantly at work in his heart and soul.”
That magic started at a very young age according to Mary: “When he was very young he came into my room holding up his hands in a beautiful gesture saying: “look Mom it’s a gate to Alexander land.” Mary explains: “Alex is building and rebuilding empires, experiments, and universes in his imagination and trying always to make new sense of them to make the world a better place.”
Once he began studying ballet, Biber discovered (as I predicted) that he was a ballet dancer in his heart and soul, and he progressed very quickly showing an aptitude for both performance and choreography.
Alexander started at SNB as an Apprentice and through the years was raised to corps de ballet, then demi-soloist, soloist and then principal. After graduating from high school, Alexander was taken into the Sacramento Ballet company and continued dancing professionally and creating choreography with both SNB and Sac Ballet for the next seven years, and he became a founding member of the Capital Dance Project.
SNB Associate Artistic Director and principal dancer, Ananda Bena-Weber, has danced with Biber through the years: “I have always loved dancing with Alex because he is extremely strong and a very skilled partner. He makes me feel secure, safe, and light! (which is a big thing for me because I have always been considered large for a ballet dancer!) Alex is a wonderful actor and so willing to dive deep into a role and really connect around a character. He will go to deep places with you without hesitation or ego. It is really wonderful to work with someone like that.”
The 2020 Covid experience affected many. Organizations changed and lives changed. Alexander Biber’s was one of them: “I decided that I would like to share my love of ballet with the next generation of dancers.”
Mary Bennett explains: “Alexander is a creator and a teacher. It is his beautiful, inquisitive, caring heart that truly inspires.”
Biber has been an inspiration and part of our SNB family almost from the start, and we are so very fortunate to have him now as part of our SNB staff as a teacher, ballet master and choreographer. Alex explains: “SNB is my family, and it is an honor to bring to others some of the amazing things I have learned through the years.”
The SNB company dancers and the Academy students (from the adults to the little ones in the Boys Ballet class) adore Alex. For me, personally, he is now and has (from the first day we met) always been a treasure.
Mary Bennett says it best for all:” We are so grateful for this time that has brought Alexander closer to us, so we can continue to get to know his magic and the amazing man he has become.”
To learn more about Alexander Biber, SNB and the SNB Academy, visit www.sierranevadaballet.org or call 775-360-8663
Alexander Cain Biber (Principal Dancer/ Ballet Master/ Choreographer in Residence/Teacher) grew up in a performing arts family and has loved theater and performing from an early age. He began his ballet training, at the age of 14, with Rosine Bena at Western Nevada Performing Arts Center – studying ballet, jazz, tap, and musical theater. In 2003, Alexander became an apprentice with Sierra Nevada Ballet and was promoted to the first company in 2006, to soloist in 2008, and to Principal in 2012.
Jennifer Lightfoot-Johnson (Grant Writer and Development Consultant) comes to SNB with 16 years of experience, both professionally and as a volunteer, in grant writing and working in the nonprofit sector.
Jennifer Boyle August (Guest Teacher/Choreographer) discovered her love of dance in Reno, Nev. During her time at Reno High School, Jennifer took a Modern class at TMCC, with instruction in Graham, Luigi, and Horton dance technique. While Jennifer was educated in other areas of dance, she felt these styles spoke to her more than anything else. After graduating from Reno High School, she moved to Boston to study dance with Joan Palladino at Dean College where she received her Associate’s Degree in Dance. She was then hand-selected by Judith Jamison to study at Alvin Ailey Summer Dance Intensive program in New York City.
Sara Weir (Demi Soloist) was born in Provo, Utah, and started ballet at age three. She trained in dance with Trisha Wilstead at Rocky Mountain Dance and then trained with Brittany Squires and Heather Gray at Jaquiline’s School of Ballet. She performed professionally with Showcase and Theater Ballet at Brigham Young University, Utah Regional Ballet, and Sacramento Ballet.
Carlee Bertero (Soloist/ Teacher) was born in northern Nevada and began studying dance at an early age at Fascinating Rhythm School of Performing Arts in Reno. Carlee was invited to join the Sierra Nevada Ballet Apprentice program in 2012; was raised to the first company in 2013; to featured corps member in 2016, to Demi-Soloist in 2017, and to Soloist in 2021. She has performed in many SNB story ballets such as Peanutcracker-The Story In A Nutshell, Giselle, Swan Lake, Coppelia, Romeo and Juliet, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty-A Fairy’s Tale, A Midsummer Nights Dream- A Steam Punk Ballet, and Twelfth Night-A Ballet Noir. She has performed as a featured dancer with SNB annually in Dancing By The River as part of Reno’s Artown Festival and in SNB’s annual Brew Brats and Ballet in Reno and Carson City.
Domingo Rubio (Second Permanent Guest Artist/Guest Teacher) is SNB’s second Permanent Guest Artist as of May 2005. He has danced professionally for some 30 years. Domingo has danced with the Joffrey Ballet and Ballet Hispanico and was featured in the Robert Altman film, The Company. Rubio danced the role of Maxfield Parrish in SNB’s, A Painter’s Love Story and is a featured artist in SNB’s Dancing By the River and annual ballet classics.
Sam Weber (First Permanent Guest Artist/ Guest Teacher) is SNB’s first Permanent Guest Artist and is a founding member of the Company. He was one of the first permanent guest artists of The Reno Ballet under the direction of Rosine Bena. Weber danced with the Joffery Ballet, San Francisco Ballet, Sacramento Ballet, Peninsula Ballet Theatre, and The Jazz Tap Ensemble. Besides being a fine ballet dancer, Weber is considered one of the greatest tap dancers in the world. He is known as “the fastest feet in tap.”
Gina Nelson (SNB Company Coordinator for Carson City and SNB Board Member) is originally from Napa Valley, Calif., and a long-time supporter of the arts and arts education. Gina worked as a crisis prevention specialist in a day treatment elementary school and was a counselor/teacher in a non-public school for at-risk boys.
Steven M. Porter (SNB Board President/SNB CEO) is a long-time devotee of the arts. Originally from the East Coast, Steve was raised with love and devotion to all the arts.
Cathy Mercer (SNB Company Coordinator for Reno/Managing Director/Board Member) grew up in Carson City and is a former dancer with a long-time devotion to the art form.
Ananda Bena-Weber (Associate Director, Dance Artist/ Ballerina/Principal/Teacher) is a principal dancer and NY award-winning artist and the Associate Director of the Sierra Nevada Ballet and a founding member. She has danced professionally as a soloist with the Reno Ballet when it was formed in 1994/95 and 1996. She danced with Perspectives Dance Theatre and Fascinating Rhythm Productions. She has appeared as a featured soloist with Sam Weber performing in Morton Gould’s “Concerto for Tap Dancer and Orchestra” throughout the SF Bay Area. She has appeared in principal roles in several original dance works such as Take Me To The River and Blue Rondo, and classics such as Les Sylphides, Romeo and Juliet, and Paquita.
Rosine Bena (Founder and Artistic Director/Master Teacher)
Sophia Riella (Trainee) was born in Truckee, Calif. She started ballet at the age of two with Sherrie Petersen, Sierra Ballet School and continued there for six years while also studying Irish and Scottish Dance with Lindsey Marccaci in Lake Tahoe and at Truckee Dance Factory doing competition dance. She has also studied classical music, composing, and piano with Elaine Courtney and has studied voice with Stephanie McMoy.
Erin Garman (First Year Company) began dancing at the age of 12 at Scene Stealers Theatre Arts where she trained in jazz, tap, lyrical, musical theatre, and ballet. She later began training with Fascinating Rhythm School of Performing Arts where she continued training in many styles and at Sierra Nevada Ballet Academy where she first met Rosine Bena, and started getting more serious about ballet, also dancing with Spiral Ballet.
Maya Macias (Trainee) was born in Houston, Texas into a military family. While her family was stationed in Memphis, Tennessee, at age two and a half years old, Maya began studying dance at the Children’s Ballet Theater because she wanted to go to “ballerina school. “ Maya continued her ballet training at Space Coast Ballet and when she was six years old, she began performing with Space Coast Ballet in the Nutcracker.
Olivia Mann (SNB Summer Demi Soloist) began studying at the age of four at Dallas Metropolitan Ballet, and the Dallas Ballet Center and later trained at Booker T. Washington for the Performing and Visual Arts.
Heather Rodriguez (Trainee) started dancing at nine years old in Corpus Christi, Texas. She continued studying Ballet, Contemporary, and Jazz throughout her childhood with Corpus Christi Concert Ballet.