Hubbard Street Dance Chicago

Pablo Piantino
Mendoza, Argentina
Piantino began dancing at the age of 14. His training includes private seminars with Hector Zaraspe and studies at both the Colón Theatre School and The Juilliard School where he received his BFA. Having danced with both the Colón Theatre Ballet Company and The Juilliard School Dance Ensemble, Piantino joined the San Francisco Ballet in 1999 and then became and HSDC company member in August of 2005.

Alejandro Piris-Niño
Madrid, Spain
Niño began his ballet studies at the age of ten when he joined the Victor Ullate School of Dance on scholarship, later becoming a company member in 1995. While with the Victor Ullate Company, Alejandro performed all over Europe as well as at many major events in Spain. In 1999, Piris-Niño moved to New York to dance with ABT II and was promoted to American Ballet Theatre’s main company in 2000. Piris-Niño joined Hubbard Street Dance Chicago in August of 2008. He would like to thank his brothers and sisters for being unconditionally helpful and supportive.

Christian Broomhall
Columbus, OH
Broomhall received classical training from Ballet Met Columbus under the direction of David Nixon and Yoko Ichino. From 1999 to 2001 he danced professionally with the Ballet Met Columbus. He then performed with the Northern Ballet Theatre until 2005, when he returned to dance with Ballet Met Columbus until 2008. Broomhall joined Hubbard Street Dance Chicago in August of 2008. He would like to thank his parents for always being supportive in his endeavors.

Alejandro Cerrudo
Madrid, Spain
Originally from Madrid, Spain, Alejandro Cerrudo received his training at the Real Conservatorio Professional de Danza de Madrid and in 1998 joined the Victor Ullate Company where he danced for one year. From 1999 to 2002, Cerrudo danced with the Stuttgart Ballet and in 2002 he joined Nederlands Dans Theater (NDT) II under the direction of Gerald Tibbs. Cerrudo danced with NDT II for three years before becoming a Hubbard Street Dance Chicago (HSDC) member in August 2005. In 2008, he was named an HSDC choreographic fellow and created three works for the company: Lickety-Split in 2006, Extremely Close, commissioned by the Joyce Theater in New York in 2008, and Off Screen, premiered by the main company in 2009. Now, in his new role as resident choreographer – a position created specially for him – Cerrudo has been commissioned to create a new work for Hubbard Street’s annual collaboration with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, set to the music of Mason Bates, premiering in April 2010. He will also debut a new work for Hubbard Street 2 later this year.

Autumn Eckman
Atlanta, GA
Eckman received her classical training from the late Tom Pazik of the Atlanta Ballet and from the Houston Ballet Academy under Clara Cravey and Steve Brulee. She has performed with the Cangelosi Dance Project, Giordano Jazz Dance Chicago, as a principal dancer for State Street Ballet and Luna Negra Dance Theater. Eckman joined HSDC in August 2007.

Meredith Dincolo
Indianapolis, IN
Dincolo began dancing at age 7 in Indianapolis before moving to Michigan to study under Iacob Lascu. She graduated from University of Notre Dame in 1993 and moved to Chicago to pursue dance. In 1996, after completing numerous independent projects, Dincolo joined Hubbard Street Dance Chicago where she spent four years under the direction of Lou Conte. In 2000, she joined Lyon Opera Ballet and performed works by Forsythe, Duato, Marin, Jasperse, Saarinen, Boivin, and Prejlocaj. Dincolo joined Nationaltheater Mannheim in 2003 before her return to HSDC in November 2004.

Brian Enos
Cotati, CA
Enos began his dance training at age 14 and has studied with the Houston Ballet Academy, Maria Vegh, the Santa Rosa Junior College and Sara Stuber. At age 18, he joined the Houston Ballet where he performed works by Trey McIntyre, David Parsons, Lila York, Ben Stevenson, Dominic Walsh, Priscilla Nathan-Murphy, James Kudelka and Fredrick Ashton. Enos performed with the Houston Ballet for two years before joining HSDC in July 2002. He was commissioned to create work for Houston Ballet in fall 2005, departing HSDC in August and rejoining the company in January 2006.

Kellie Epperheimer
Los Osos, CA
Epperheimer began her dance training in 1988 with the Academy of Dance and Civic Ballet of San Luis Obispo. She has participated in summer programs with the Joffrey Ballet and The Juilliard School. In 2002, she had the opportunity to tour Russia with the Deyo Dancers. Epperheimer joined Hubbard Street 2 in January 2005 before becoming an apprentice with the main company in December 2006.

Penny Saunders
West Palm Beach, FL
Saunders received her formal dance training at, and graduated from, The Harid Conservatory in Boca Raton. She also participated in summer programs with the School of American Ballet and Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet. While furthering her training under Elisabeth Carroll, she joined The American Repertory Ballet in New Jersey. Saunders has also danced with Ballet Arizona, toured extensively with MOMIX, and was a member of Cedar Lake Ensemble in New York before joining HSDC in November 2004.

Jessica Tong
Binghamton, NY
Tong received a full scholarship to the Ballet Department at the University of Utah and became a member of Utah Ballet as a junior in high school. She attended summer programs at American Ballet Theatre, San Francisco Ballet, Kaatsbaan and Lou Conte Dance Studio, among others. Jessica danced with BalletMet in Columbus, Ohio, Eliot Feld’s Ballet Tech in NYC and Hubbard Street 2 before joining the main company as an apprentice in January 2007.

Robyn Mineko Williams
Lombard, IL
Williams began dancing at age five under the direction of Yvonne Brown Collodi with whom she toured Germany, Switzerland and Austria. She continued studying dance at the Lou Conte Dance Studio where she was on full scholarship from 1993 to 1995. Williams danced with River North Chicago Dance Company for four years before becoming an apprentice with HSDC in June 2000 and a full company member in September 2001.

Jason Hortin
Olympia, WA
Hortin graduated from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas with a B.F.A. in dance under the direction of Louis Kavouras and has danced with Moving People Dance Theatre, the Erick Hawkins Dance Company and River North Dance Chicago. Hortin joined HSDC as a Hubbard Street Dance Center Apprentice in August 2007 and was promoted into the main company in July 2008.

Tiffany Vann
Jacksonville, FL
Vann received her dance training from the Juilliard School and also completed summer studies with the Kirov Academy, the Harid Conservatory, Boston Ballet, Bates Dance Festival, Perry Mansfield and the Ballet Divertimento Professional Project. Since receiving her B.F.A., Vann has performed with Ballet Memphis and Dayton Contemporary Dance Company 2. Vann joined HS2 in June 2006 and was promoted to Hubbard Street Dance Center Apprentice in June 2007.

Laura Halm
Baltimore, MD
Halm began her dance training at age four and has studied at Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet, Boston Ballet School, San Francisco Ballet School and the Baltimore School for the Arts. She received her B.F.A. in dance from The Juilliard School in May 2002 where she performed works by José Limón, Ohad Naharin and Robert Battle. She also had the privilege of performing with El Ballet Moderno y Folklorico de Guatemala as a guest artist before joining Hubbard Street 2 in January 2004. Halm became an apprentice with Hubbard Street Dance Chicago in August 2006.

Ana Lopez
A Coruña, Spain
Lopez began her formal training at Conservatorio de Danza Disputacion de A Coruña. Upon graduating Isaac Diaz Pardo high school, she continued her training at Centro Internacional de Danza Carmen Roche. Lopez danced with Joven Ballet Carmen Roche, Compañía Nacional de Danza 2 and Ballet Theater Munich before joining HSDC in January 2008.

Kevin Shannon
Baltimore, MD
Shannon began his formal dancing under the guidance of Lester Holmes. He graduated from The Baltimore School for the Arts, receiving additional summer training at the School of American Ballet, Miami City Ballet, Paul Taylor and David Parsons. He received his B.F.A. in 2007 from the Juilliard School, where he performed works by Susan Marshall, Mark Morris, William Forsythe and Jirí Kylián. He has toured nationally with The Juilliard School Ensemble and performed in the nationally-broadcast special “Live From Lincoln Center, The Juilliard School: Celebrating 100 Years.” He is a co-founder of BØRDERLINE DANCE CIRCLE—a troupe under the choreographic direction of Michelle Mola—for which he danced professionally and developed concepts since 2005. Shannon joined HSDC in November 2007.

Benjamin Wardell
Memphis, TN
Wardell began dancing at age ten. After completing his training at Classical Ballet Memphis School, under the tutelage of Pat Gillespie, he danced with Cincinnati Ballet for five seasons, achieving the rank of soloist. In 2006, Ben moved to San Francisco to join Alonzo King’s Lines Ballet, where he was given the opportunity to explore mind-opening philosophies and physicalities of movement while traveling extensively through the United States and Europe. In addition to being a dancer, Ben is a photographer and writer. A large part of his artistic interest is to combine multiple disciplines through methods that allow each art form to augment the capabilities of the others. He joined HSDC in January 2008.

Jacqueline Burnett
Pocatello, ID
Jacqueline received her classical ballet training in Pocatello, Idaho from Romanian Ballet Master Marius Zirra, with additional summer training at Ballet Idaho, Brindusa-Moore Ballet Academy, Universal (Kirov) Ballet Academy, the Juilliard School and the San Francisco Conservatory of Dance. She received a B.F.A. in Dance Performance from The Ailey School/Fordham University joint program in New York City in May, 2009, graduating magna cum laude and with departmental honors. Jacqueline joined HSDC as a Center Apprentice in January, 2008, while concurrently completing her B.F.A. degree, and became a member of the main company in August, 2009.