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Stay up to date with everything Sierra Nevada Ballet (SNB) is doing. Subscribe to join our mailing list and receive our latest blog posts, upcoming events, class schedule, and more.
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.
He performed internationally for the Tasmanian Classical Ballet and later joined the Sacramento Ballet where he was featured in many of the company’s most iconic repertoire, including The Nutcracker, Carmina Burana, Romeo & Juliet, Dracula, The Great Gatsby, Twyla Tharp’s, Nine Sinatra Songs, Trey McIntyre’s, Second Before The Ground, Lila York’s Celts and George Balanchine’s, Theme and Variations, Serenade, Western Symphony and Who Cares.
During his tenure with the Sacramento Ballet, Alexander continued to perform with Sierra Nevada Ballet, performing lead roles in many classic ballets such as Swan Lake and Midsummer Nights Dream. A talented choreographer, Biber has choreographed numerous works for Sierra Nevada Ballet, the Capital Dance Project, and Sacramento Ballet. He joined the SNB staff as Ballet Master and teacher in 2020 and continues to teach and choreograph as well as act as the SNB Company photographer. Recently Alexander choreographed Heart Beat to Heart Beat Eye to Eye (The Reno Song) as a part of the empty stage event in Reno.
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.
Prior to her work with SNB, Jennifer served as the Program Director for the non-profit organization AppleSeeds and served as a court-appointed special advocate (CASA) for the District Court of Douglas County, Nev. She holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Nevada, Reno in Human Development and Family Studies.
Additionally, Jennifer utilizes her talents in sewing to design and create costumes for SNB productions and serves as a costume assistant and dresser during SNB performances.
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.
In 1997, she received her BFA in Jazz Dance from the University of the Arts, with an emphasis on both jazz and modern dance in Philadelphia. There she studied with some of the foremost jazz and modern dance instructors in the country, including Roni Koresh of the Koresh Dance Company, Beth Hirschhua, Pat Thomas, Wayne St. David, Doug Elkins, and more. Jennifer elected to remain in Philadelphia and became a member of the Paradigm Dance Company and also Next Step Dance Company.
In 2003, Jennifer moved back to Reno, to open and direct, In Motion Studio of Dance and Black Rock Dance Company. In 2013, after 10 years of owning In Motion, Jennifer decided to step away from directing and owning a dance studio in order to spend more time with her two young daughters. From 2013-14, Jennifer was co-owner of the Twilight Dance Convention project, bringing leading dance instructors to teach master classes nationwide, educating dancers in all areas of dance. In 2014, Jennifer was asked to guest teach in beautiful Doolin, Ireland. Jennifer teaches Modern Dance on staff at Sierra Nevada Academy and continues to share her knowledge at select classes in the Reno community. This will be Jen’s fifth year choreographing for SNB.
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.
Sara performed in ballets such as Sleeping Beauty, The Nutcracker, SNB’s Peanutcracker (2019), Dancing By The River-Still Dancing (2020), Brew Brats and Ballet (2021), Dancing On the Plaza (2021), and has been featured in the Peasant Pas De Trois from SNB’s 2021 production of Giselle and various works by choreographers such as George Balanchine, Oliver Adams, Rosine Bena, Jennifer August, and Alexander Biber. Sara lives in Reno with her husband and four children. Besides her work with SNB, Sara is a talented photographer and owns her own business, Sara Weir Photography.
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.
Bertero has been featured in ballets such as Barbara Land’s, One of A Kind, Oliver Adams’, Ricochet, Alex Biber’s, Come Along, as an ugly sister in Cinderella, a lead fairy in Sleeping Beauty, and as a soloist in SNB’s 2021 production of Giselle. Carlee was trained as a ballet teacher through the SNB Teacher training program and has been teaching on staff at the Sierra Nevada Ballet Academy for nine years. She has designed the SNB Academy Summer and Holiday Dance Camps for young students and the SNB Preparatory Company Program (for young students). She has been a staff member of the Doral Academy of Northern Nevada as part of the SNB/Doral Dance program for the past four years is a college graduate with a Major in Integrated Education and a master’s in Childhood Education.
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.
Mr. Rubio has choreographed several works for SNB including the audience favorite, Prelude. In addition to performing as a ballet dancer, he is a concert pianist, composer, choreographer; visual artist; has illustrated several books on ballet and exhibits his sculpture artwork throughout the U.S. and teaches ballet and guest performs with dance companies throughout the U.S. Domingo is a Master Guest teacher for SNB.
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.”
He dances all over the U.S. and Europe and receives standing ovations and rave reviews wherever he performs. He has done numerous TV appearances (including Mr. Rodgers Neighborhood) and stared in the German film, Two in Tails. He is one of the few tap artists to perform Morton Gould’s Concerto for Tap Dancer and Orchestra throughout the U.S. and Europe.
Weber has performed with SNB since 2001. Sam is the first tap dancer to receive the “Bessie” award for outstanding performance. He appears regularly with Sierra Nevada Ballet and the Jazz Tap Ensemble and guest performs as a master tap dancer throughout the U.S. and Europe. Sam is a Master Guest teacher for SNB.
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.
She moved to Nevada in 2006. Gina met Rosine Bena when her daughter, Lily, began to study ballet and immediately became attracted to the arts educational outreach that SNB does. Gina volunteered to help coordinate the outreach program in the public schools in Carson City, Nev., and soon after joined the SNB Board in 2013. Gina now officially acts as the SNB Educational Outreach Coordinator for Carson City.
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.
Steve met Rosine Bena ( then Artistic Director of the Reno Ballet, Perspectives Dance Theater, and Peninsula Ballet Theater School) in 1998 and began to watch performances that Bena produced in the SF Bay area. He fell in love with the art form of ballet and in 2000, Steve and Rosine (together with a group of devoted ballet lovers) began to assemble a board with the help of ballet master teacher/artistic director, Anne Bena.
Instead of reestablishing The Reno Ballet, the Board elected to start Sierra Nevada Ballet as the professional Ballet company for all of northern Nevada.
Through Steve’s excellent production experience, amazing management skills, never-ending hard work, determination, expert leadership, and devotion to the arts and to arts education, Sierra Nevada Ballet has become part of the cultural identity of northern Nevada. Steve was a founding Board member for the Doral Academy of northern Nevada and was instrumental in establishing the SNB/Doral Academy Ballet program.
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.
Cathy is experienced in working with nonprofits as an arts business consultant. Mercer met Rosine Bena in 2015 when her daughter, Abby, began to study ballet at SNBA. Cathy joined the SNB Board and volunteered to help coordinate the educational outreach program in Reno. Her natural gift for arts management led her to take on more responsibility at SNB and now Cathy acts as both Educational Outreach Coordinator for Reno and SNB Managing Director.
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.
Ms. Bena-Weber has performed acting, singing, and dancing featured roles in over 30 theater productions in the East and West coasts including the SF Bay Area and New York City. A gifted choreographer, she has choreographed several works for the professional ballet company, Sierra Nevada Ballet, and others. Bena-Weber is a Magna cum Laude graduate of San Francisco State University; attended Columbia University Masters Program in Drama and has a Masters of Fine Art from Goddard University and has studied acting at the Linkleter Center in New York City. She has taught at Mary Mount College and guest teaches all levels of ballet and related dance classes and acting (without words) throughout the U.S.
She has performed leading acting roles with Nevada Shakespeare Company and in several NY productions and she presently stars in the NY award-winning one-woman performance art piece, Fancifool which opened its touring schedule in June of 2015 in San Francisco at Z Space and continues to tour the US. Ananda has been featured as a Principal dancer with the Sierra Nevada Ballet company since 2001. In addition to SNB, Ananda has performed as a featured member of the Jazz Tap Ensemble.
Rosine Bena (Founder and Artistic Director/Master Teacher)
Former professional ballerina, Rosine Bena, graced stages in performances worldwide for 28 years and received critical acclaim as a “Prima” for dancing principal roles in ballets such as Giselle, Swan Lake, The Nutcracker, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Romeo & Juliet, Coppelia, La Fille Mal Gardee, and many contemporary works by choreographers such as John Cranko, Jiri Kylian, and many others. She danced opposite Patrick DuPond of the Paris Opera in the award-winning movie, She Dances Alone. Bena was the first American to be taken into the world-famous Stuttgart Ballet under the directorship of John Cranko. Bena also danced with The Washington Ballet, and Peninsula Ballet Theatre. Rosine has studied the Mensendieck System of Functional Exercises with the late physical therapist, Michael Keropian, in San Francisco and is a presenting member of the International Association of Dance Medicine and Science.
Bena is the former director of Peninsula Ballet Theatre School in California (internationally known for its fine ballet training), former Arts Education Specialist for the Arts Council of San Mateo County, and the founder of the Kollage Community School for the Arts Dance Program (Kollage serves 8,000 students in the San Francisco Bay area). Rosine has choreographed over 60 professional productions including 12 full story ballets and numerous community theater events and her choreography has been favorably compared to the work of choreographers such as George Balanchine, John Cranko, Kurt Joos, and Michael Smuin. Ms. Bena founded the Reno Ballet with Raphael Barkley in 1995 and 1996 and then founded and has been the Artistic Director of Sierra Nevada Ballet, the professional ballet company for northern Nevada since 2001. Bena is also the founding director of Sierra Nevada Ballet Academy (started in 2012). In addition to her duties with Sierra Nevada Ballet, Bena is the Ballet Consultant for Western Nevada Performing Arts Center in Carson City. She has been the recipient of numerous arts awards; Awards from Congress and the California State Legislature for her work in the arts and recognized at the Kennedy Center and the White House by the Clintons as a Washington School of Ballet graduate, and recognized in Who’s Who in America in the category of Outstanding Americans.
In 2008, Ms. Bena was the recipient of the Nevada Arts Council Fellowship for Artistic Excellence and the Sierra Arts Foundation Fellowship for artistic merit and was invited by American Ballet Theater Artistic Director, Kevin McKenzie, to be part of an ABT retreat for preparing a national ballet curriculum for the USA. In 2009, Rosine became one of the first master teachers in the USA to be fully certified in the ABT national ballet curriculum for all 8 levels and acts as an ambassador for the curriculum. She joined the teaching staff of American Ballet Theatre teaching at two of their five national ballet intensive summer workshops in 2010. As an alumni member, Bena was invited to attend the 50th Celebration of the Stuttgart Ballet and traveled to Germany in February of 2011 to be part of the grand festivities.
Rosine was honored to be elected to be the Adjudicator for the Southwest Region for Regional Dance America’s National Festival in Montreal and to teach on their staff in 2012; act as Adjudicator for the Pacific Region in 2013 and teach on the RDA staff for the Southwest Region in 2014 and for the National RDA in 2020. Bena writes a monthly column on dance for the Reno Gazette-Journal and continues to direct Sierra Nevada Ballet and choreograph, guest teach, and lecture on dance throughout the U.S. and Europe.
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.
Sophia has performed in several musical theatre productions for 3 Sisters Productions and in the production of the Sound of Music, and Annie directed by Janet Lazarus Sierra School of Performing Arts. Sophia started to focus on ballet when she came to Sierra Nevada Ballet Academy in 2019 and auditioned for SNB’s Holiday Production of Peanutcracker. She was chosen to perform the lead children’s role of “Clara” in the 2019 production. Sophia was invited to join the SNB Trainee program in 2021 and to perform in SNB’s 2021 production of Giselle.
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.
Erin was invited into the SNB Trainee program in 2016, promoted to Apprentice in 2018 and to first year company in 2019. She has since performed in many productions with Sierra Nevada Ballet including Sleeping Beauty, Midsummer Night’s Dream, Peanutcracker: the Story in a Nutshell, Brew Brats and Ballet and SNB’s 2021 production of Giselle.
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.
When Maya’s family was, transferred to Reno, Maya began studying at the Conservatory of Movement and performed in two seasons of the Nutcracker and in Coppelia with A.V.A. Ballet.” In 2018, she began her tutelage under Rosine Bena at the Sierra Nevada Ballet Academy, where she was invited to perform in two seasons of Peanutcracker as well as Twelfth Night.-A Ballet Noir. Maya was invited to be part of the SNB Trainee program in 2021 and perform in SNB’s 2021 production of Giselle.
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.
Olivia additionally trained at many different summer programs including Miami City Ballet, The School of American Ballet, Pacific Northwest Ballet, Pittsburgh Ballet Theater and Grand Rapids Ballet. She has recently graduated from Point Park University, where she received a BFA Dance Major, with a concentration in ballet, and a Business Management Minor. She has performed such roles as the “Black Swan” in Swan Lake, The Principle Couple in Christopher Wheeldon’s, The American, and “The Women in White” in Martha Graham’s Diversion of Angels. 2021 marks Olivia’s first appearance with Sierra Nevada Ballet as a demi soloist. Olivia has been featured in the Peasant Pas De Trois and attendant to Myrtha in SNB’s production of Giselle.
Jessie Clauson (Trainee) was born in the SF Bay area and started studying dance at age 3 at Soaring Spirits and later continued studying at the Menlo Academy of Dance and the Academy of American Ballet.
She moved to NV in 2016 and started studying ballet at SNBA in 2018. She has performed in the Peanutcracker – The Story in A Nutshell in 2018 and 2019 and in Giselle in 2021. Jessie was invited to join the Trainee program in 2021.
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.
Heather graduated Cum Laude from the University of Houston with a BFA in Dance in 2019. She began training with Kibbutz Contemporary Dance Company in North Israel and later returned to Houston to work with Ad Deum II for the 2019-2020 season. Heather moved to Nevada in March 2021 and she is excited to be a trainee with Sierra Nevada Ballet.