Atlanta Ballet Artistic Director Gennadi Nedvigin has today announced new 2024|2025 dancers for Atlanta Ballet. Joining Atlanta Ballet are eight talented individuals from a variety of backgrounds, with a number of dancers advancing from Atlanta Ballet 2 (AB2) to the Company.

“We’ve brought together a cohesive group of individuals with versatile styles from completely different parts of the world, and they are committed to creating something extraordinary here on the prestigious Atlanta Ballet stage,” explained Nedvigin.

“Introducing new dancers into our company – and especially for the demanding upcoming season – means finding those performers with the keen ability to demonstrate a unity of execution, in both steps and artistry,” added Sharon Story, dean of Atlanta Ballet Centre for Dance Education, which is now one of the largest dance schools in the nation.

Today’s announcement of new 2024|2025 performers follows a year-long process of cultivating and finding the types of dancers suited to the demands of performing on the Atlanta Ballet stage. The Atlanta Ballet’s history of promoting dancers from Atlanta Ballet 2 to the company attracts a wide array of young talent to the program.

Recruiting for this year’s company involved visits to domestic locations ranging from New York City to San Francisco, from Toronto to Tampa and beyond, plus competitions around the world in countries such as Argentina, Brazil, and Japan. To discover top talent for the season ahead, Nedvigin, Story and their teams have monitored the year-round work and progress of dancers in the Atlanta Ballet Centre for Dance Education. Additionally, they viewed nearly 2,000 submitted video auditions of performers showcasing their skills via classical and contemporary variations.

The team at Atlanta Ballet is excited to work with promising new dancers this season who will join returning artists.

New Atlanta Ballet Company Members

• Santiago Bedoya was promoted after three years with Atlanta Ballet 2, most recently having performed Gaston in Beauty and the Beast by choreographer Bruce Wells, in AB2. He hails from Medellín, Colombia where he trained at Andrea Wolff Ballet followed by Idyllwild Arts Academy in Los Angeles, participating in summer intensive programs at Miami City Ballet and Houston Ballet. At the latter, he performed works by Artistic Director and Choreographer Stanton Welch A.M.
• Khulan Burenjargal was born in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, and studied at the Mongolian State Conservatory. She has danced major roles such as Odile in Swan Lake and The Queen of Dryads in Don Quixote, among other classical and national repertoire pieces at the Mongolian State Academic Theatre of Opera and Ballet. As a soloist at The National Buryatia Academic Theatre of Opera and Ballet, she performed iconic roles such as the title character of Giselle, Nikiya in La Bayadere and Niriti in Talisman. In Buryatia, Russia, she worked with the legendary Andris Liepa. Her awards include the gold medal of the Mongolian International Ballet Competition, the Mongolian Grand Prix, the silver medal of the Korea International Ballet Competition and the bronze medal of the World Ballet Grand Prix.
• Gianna Horton-Sibble, born in Hornell, New York, began pursuing her ballet career in 2012 in Carlisle, Pennsylvania under the training of Marcia Dale Weary. There she performed many roles which include Juliet in Alan Hineline’s Romeo and Juliet, Waltz Girl in Balanchine’s Serenade, Balanchine’s The Nutcracker, Sleeping Beauty, and more. She was accepted into the School of American Ballet and performed Valse Fantasie, Chaconne, Four Temperaments and Raymonda Variations. She also studied under former San Francisco Ballet principals Davit Karapetyan and Vanessa Zahorian at Pennsylvania Ballet Academy. During her time there, she performed Le Corsaire and competed in the Youth America Grand Prix Finals. This is her first year with Atlanta Ballet as a company dancer, following two seasons with Atlanta Ballet 2.
• Mayu Nakayama hails from Tochigi, Japan, and began her ballet training at Osozawa Ballet Studio. She moved to the U.S. after receiving a full scholarship from the HARID Conservatory at the Japan Grand Prix. There she danced leading roles, such as Sugarplum in Nutcracker, until her graduation with a Fred Lieberman Award for Excellence in recognition of outstanding academic achievement, exceptional artistic accomplishment, and exemplary student leadership. In 2022, Nakayama joined Atlanta Ballet 2 and performed the enchantress in Beauty and the Beast. She also performed with Atlanta Ballet in Serenade, Yuri Possokhov's The Nutcracker, Don Quixote, La Sylphide, Sandpaper Ballet, and Annabelle Lopez Ochoa’s Coco Chanel: The Life of a Fashion Icon. She also danced the roles of Cinderella and Fairy Godmother in AB2’s Cinderella by Bruce Wells.
• Sophie Poulain began dancing in her hometown of Halifax, Nova Scotia, with training at Canada's National Ballet School and The Art of Classical Ballet in Florida under the direction and guidance of Magaly Suarez. She competed in two years of the Youth America Grand Prix NYC Finals and spent two years achieving a BA with the Dutch National Ballet Academy in Amsterdam and danced with the corps de ballet of the Dutch National Ballet in Wayne Eagling and Toer van Schayk's The Nutcracker, and in Rachel Beaujean and Ricardo Bustamante's Giselle. She received the Youth Grand Prix Award in Canada and was also awarded Top 12 in the contemporary dance category at the International Finals. She has danced with Alberta Ballet, The Art of Classical Ballet and Tulsa Ballet II and has worked with choreographers such as Derek Dean (Strictly Gershwin) and Yury Yanowsky (The Sun Sleeps).
• Paxton Speight hails from York County, Virginia, where he began pursuing musical theater at Centerstage Academy, studied at Eastern Virginia School of the Performing Arts with Ron Boucher and began classical ballet training at International Ballet Academy in Cary, North Carolina, under the direction of Nadia Pavlenko. He competed in Youth America Grand Prix and American Dance Championships Youth International Ballet Competition, where he accepted a position at Atlanta Ballet 2 and danced the lead roles of Beast in Beauty and the Beast and Prince in Cinderella, both choreographed by Bruce Wells.
• Emanuel Tavares began studying dance in his hometown of Fortaleza, Ceará, Brazil, at the Instituto de Dança Goretti Quintela. He has been celebrated at many dance festivals and has received national and international scholarships, including the Valentina Kozlova International Ballet Competition in New York and IBStage in Barcelona. He became a professional dancer with Especial Academia de Ballet in São Paulo, Brazil, where he performed principal roles such as Siegfried in Swan Lake, Solor in La Bayadère, Ali in Le Corsaire, and Jean de Brienne in Raymonda. He joined the Virginia National Ballet as a soloist and principal dancer. Tavares joined Cleveland Ballet, where he performed Nutcracker Prince in The Nutcracker, Lysander in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, George Balanchine’s Serenade, principal soloist in Ilia Zhivoy’s Symphony of Life and the Raven and Lilac Fairy Cavalier in Robert Weiss’ Sleeping Beauty. He has also been a guest artist and performed in Urushima Taro & By George with Ballet Hawaii in Honolulu. And performed Prince Desiré in Sleeping Beauty with Toledo Ballet. He is also a Jacob’s Pillow alumni from the Contemporary Ballet summer program, where he has performed works by acclaimed choreographers Annabelle Lopez Ochoa and Silas Farley.
• Nicholas Yurkevich was born in San Francisco and started his career in folk dancing before committing to classical ballet training. He progressed through every level of the San Francisco Ballet School on a merit-based scholarship. Performing with the company from a young age, Yurkevich was inspired by San Francisco Ballet's principals, Pascal Molat and Gennadi Nedvigin. While at San Francisco Ballet, Yurkevich performed in many ballets, including Swan Lake, Romeo and Juliet, Giselle, Cinderella, Don Quixote, Frankenstein, Sleeping Beauty, Flames of Paris, and The Nutcracker. As part of the school's showcase, Yurkevich danced principal roles in George Balanchine's Symphony in C and Paquita. Through his training and performing opportunities, Yurkevich developed into a charismatic and technical dancer.

Find out more about the 2024|2025 Company dancers.

Atlanta Ballet’s 2024|2025 performance season will begin with Fall Into Rhythm, an ambitious mixed bill featuring the works of three celebrated choreographers on the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre stage. Offered September 13-15, 2024, Fall Into Rhythm includes Elemental Brubeck with choreography by Lar Lubovitch, Tu Tu by Stanton Welch and Harmony of Opposite Tensions, a world premiere by Kiyon C. Ross commissioned to exclusively for Atlanta Ballet.