Introducing our 2022/23 Dancer Roster:
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Danielle Archuleta
Company Member ​

Danielle Archuleta is originally from Littleton, Colorado. She received her early training at Belliston Academy of Ballet and went on to attend summer intensive programs at Pacific Northwest Ballet, Boston Ballet, Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet, and Miami City Ballet, where she continued her training in their pre-professional program under the direction of Lordes Lopez and Arantxa Ochoa. In Miami, she had the opportunity to perform Balanchine's Western Symphony and Valse Fantaisie and a principal role in Ballabile (from Napoli). Upon graduating from Miami City Ballet, she joined City Ballet of San Diego, as a company dancer, where she performed in Balanchine's The Four Temperaments, Serenade, and danced the role of Clara in Elizabeth Wistrich's The Nutcracker. In 2019, Danielle accepted a position with Ballet Austin II where she performed in several productions, including Stephen Mills' The Nutcracker and Joshua Manculich's Menagerie. This will be Danielle’s third season dancing with Zikr Dance Ensemble.



Kindly sponsored for the 22-23 season by Charles Smith.


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Jennie Begley Teller
Company Member 

Jennie Begley Teller was born in Manila, Philippines and later moved to Colorado where she began her ballet training at the age of two at Metropolitan Academy of Dance and then later at the International Ballet School. When she was 16 she received her first professional roles in David Taylor Dance Theatre's The Nutcracker where she danced 8 different roles. Jennie was a featured dancer on the hit television show "So You Think You Can Dance" and then made her move to New York City when she received a contract with the world-renowned Complexions Contemporary Ballet. She danced on some of the most famous stages around the world including venues in Russia, Latvia and Israel. With Complexions, she was part of music videos that included Niall Rodgers and Jill Scott. During her 2nd season with the company she was asked to go to South Africa to be the guest artist at the Artscape opera house in Cape Town and was also invited to teach and coach students all over South Africa. She lived in Africa for half a year then returned to New York to dance with Complexions. This is Ms. Begley’s fourth appearance with Zikr Dance Ensemble.
 
 

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Vincent Chavez
Company Member

Vincent Chavez was born and raised in Albuquerque, New Mexico where he grew up competing on the local Rodeo circuit. Once he chose ballet over broncos, he received his formal dance education and training from the Dance Theater Southwest (Albuquerque), Ballet Hispanico (New York), Academy of Nevada Ballet Theatre (Las Vegas) and Alonzo King LINES Ballet Training Program (San Francisco). As a result of his strict training and creative educational experiences, Vincent was chosen to perform with leading dance companies including Robert Moses’ Kin, Oakland Ballet Company, Nevada Ballet Theatre and New Mexico Ballet Company. His artistry has earned him the opportunity to work with several renowned choreographers; Robert Moses, Graham Lustig, Michael Lowe, James Canfield, Garrett+Moulton, Gregory Dawson, Christopher Huggins, Molissa Fenley, Val Caniparoli and Amy Seiwert. In addition to his notable dance career, Vincent works independently as a San Francisco Bay Area Dance Artist, teaching, choreographing, collaborating, and performing throughout the United States. In recent years, he has been commissioned to choreograph works highlighting his strong sense of family for Oakland Ballet Company, Silicon Valley Dance Festival and Festival of Latin American Contemporary Choreographers. This is Vince’s second appearance with Zikr Dance Ensemble.


Kindly sponsored for the 22-23 season by Troy Edelen.












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Nicole Ciapponi
​​Company Member

Nicole Ciapponi was born in Vancouver, British Columbia. She trained with Goh Ballet, Pacific Northwest Ballet School, and San Francisco Ballet School prior to joining the San Francisco Ballet in 2010 and the Joffrey Ballet in 2015. Ciapponi has danced featured roles in Helgi Tomasson’s Giselle,The Nutcracker, and 7 for Eight ; Tomasson/Yuri Possokhov’s Don Quixote; George Balanchine’s Coppélia, Scotch Symphony, Symphony in C, and Theme and Variations; Rudolf Nureyev’s Raymonda; Christopher Wheeldon’s Cinderella; and Renato Zanella’s Underskin. Her repertory also includes Helgi Tomasson’s Romeo & Juliet, Swan Lake, and Trio; Balanchine's Divertimento No. 15, The Four Temperaments, Serenade, and Stravinsky Violin Concerto; John Cranko’s Onegin; John Neumeier’s The Little Mermaid; Michel Fokine’s Pétrouchka; William Forsythe’s Artifact Suite and The Vertiginous Thrill of Exactitude; Edwaard Liang’s Symphonic Dances; Alexei Ratmansky’s Le Carnaval des Animaux; Jerome Robbins’s Glass Pieces; and Christopher Wheeldon’s Number Nine and Ghosts. Since joining the Joffrey Ballet Ciapponi has performed numerous featured roles such as Robert Joffrey and Gerald Arpino’s The Nutcracker; Justin Peck’s Year of the Rabbit , Increases and Times are Racing; Jiri Kylian’s Forgotten Land; Christopher Wheeldon’s Fools Paradise and Swan Lake; Myles Thatchers Body of Your Dreams; Annabelle Lopez’s Mammatus; Nicholas Blanc Rond-ez Vous, Beyond The Shore and Under the Trees Voices;  George Balanchine’s Tarentella; Wayne Mcgregor’s Infra, Christopher Pastor’s Romeo and Juliet ; Jerome Robbin’s Interplay, Glass Pieces, and Giselle, and originated roles in Christopher Wheeldon’s The Nutcracker ; Yuri Possokov’s Anna Karenina and Myles Thatcher’s Passengers. As a guest artist, Ciapponi danced the Flames of Paris Pas de Deux at The Arts of Classical Ballet School in 2012; the Pas de Deux from Le Corsaire with Tiit Helimets and Company on tour in Estonia and in the Vancouver Junior Professional Division Showcase in 2011; and she performed in the International Ballet Festival in Miami, Florida, in 2009. She was among the top 12 finalists at Youth America Grand Prix in 2009 and received the Silver Medal and the Sandra Faire & Ivan Fecan award for theatricality at the Genée International Ballet Competition in 2008. This is Nicole’s first season with Zikr Dance Ensemble.

Marco Clemente
​Company Member

Marco Clemente began his dance training at the Ruth Page School of Dance under the directorship of Larry Long and Dolores Lipinski-Long. After his graduation he went on to dance with Dayton Ballet, Minnesota Ballet, and Ballet Nebraska. In addition to company work, he has also performed as a guest artist with Visceral Dance Chicago, South Chicago Dance Theatre, and Chicago Repertory Ballet. This will be his first appearance with Zikr Dance Ensemble. 

Sam Crouch
Company Member

Sam Crouch is a Michigan Native now residing in Chicago, Illinois. In 2016, he graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Dance from Western Michigan University. While in school, he had the pleasure of performing Ohad Naharin’s Excerpts from Minus 16, Gerald Arpino’s “Viva Vivaldi,” Antony Tudor’s “Continuo,” and Lew Christensen’s “Con Amore,” also working with renowned guest artists and choreographers such as Eddy Ocampo, James Gregg, as well as WMU faculty members. After making his move to Chicago, Sam has had the privilege to dance with The Queens Ball: A Bridgerton Experience, Lyric Opera Of Chicago, Dance In The Parks, South Chicago Dance Theater, Aerial Dance Chicago, Hot Crowd, Momenta Dance Company, and Grit dance. He has also traveled to work with Quixotic Fusion (MO), The Lyric Opera of Kansas City (MO) and Wellspring Cori Terry and Dancers (MI). Over the past few years he has also put his choreography hat on and created work for Momenta and Hot Crowd. Sam is very excited to be back working with Zikr Dance Ensemble for his 5th season. 

Erik Debono
​Company Member

Erik Debono was born and raised in San Francisco. He has trained with Alonzo King LINES Ballet, Joffrey Ballet School, American Ballet Theatre, and studied for a semester abroad at London Contemporary Dance School (LCDS.) Upon earning his BFA at Adelphi University, he has performed works for Lar Lubovitch, Frank Augustyn, Earl Mosley, Manuel Vignoulle, Orion Duckstein, and Adelheid B. Strelick. While choreographing his own works and full length program, he also produced original music scores for commissioned choreographies. Over the years he has joined dawsondancesf, Oakland Ballet, Parsons Dance, AXIS Dance, Post Ballet, and SFDanceworks, among other companies. During his seasons with dawsondancesf, he was nominated for two Isadora Duncan Dance Awards for Outstanding Achievement in Ensemble Performance. Published under the stage name “Clyde Dimension,” he independently creates electronic music ranging from pop, hiphop, and experimental dance score, while also producing and mixing for other artists. His recent project “All That We Hold” was composed for Audrey Thao Berger and Noah Wang’s dance performance presented with APICC for the 24th annual United States of Asian America Festival, and a portion of this project's music was presented with Catherine Caruncho's film "(fun)ction" for the Dance on Camera Festival at the Lincoln Center. This project along with the rest of his published music is available for play on all streaming services. This is Erik’s first season with Zikr Dance Ensemble.

Brandon Penn
​Company Member

Brandon Penn was born and raised in Richmond, VA. At the age of 10 Brandon Penn began his dance training at the Pine Camp Cultural Arts Center where he studied with Annette Holt, Rodney Williams and Willie Hinton learning a variety of styles. He later enrolled into the School of Richmond Ballet where he studied under Igor Antanov, Malcolm Burn, and more. After spending three years at the Richmond Ballet Mr. Penn was accepted as a trainee of the company while completing his senior year. After graduating, Brandon spent one year at the State University of New York (SUNY) at Purchase College Conservatory for Dance, studying under Larry Clark, Taryn Russell, Ted Kivitt and others. After spending a year at SUNY, Penn was offered a position with Atlanta Ballet 2.  After two years there, Brandon was offered a company position with the Columbia City Ballet. Later, after much experience and repertory under his belt, Brandon accepted a principal contract with the Fort Wayne Ballet where he just finished his second season.  Since, he has taken upon a freelance career and guested along the east coast and further. He would like to immensely thank his family for all of their love, support and words of wisdom. This is Brandon’s second season with Zikr Dance Ensemble.

 

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Fabiana Santiago
​Company Member

Fabiana Santiago began her training at the Judith Svalander School of Ballet in Crystal Lake, Illinois. After graduating, she was awarded a talent scholarship to attend Butler University where she received her Bachelor’s degree in Dance Performance in the spring of 2010. She has spent summers training at various intensives such as the Boston Ballet Summer Intensive (2010), Ajkun Ballet Theater in New York (2017), the
Alonzo King Lines Summer Program in San Francisco (2018), Post:ballet's Summer Workshop in Berkeley,CA (2021 and 2022), and the Bolshoi Ballet Summer Program in New York, City (2012 and 2013) of which resulted in a full two week scholarship to attend the academy in Moscow, Russia spring of 2013 as well as an invitation to return spring of 2014. There she completed her sophomore year performing lead character roles on the new and historical stages of the Bolshoi Theater in "La Fille Mal Gardee" as well as a Spanish duet, “Sombra", from the ballet "La Cachucha”- rehearsed and coached by Svetlana Ivanova. In the fall of 2017, she began her career with Menlowe Ballet dancing soloist and ensemble roles in "It's a Wonderful Nutcracker," (2017-2019) "Lady with the Lamp"(spring of 2018) and "Triptych," (spring of 2019) where she co-choreographed a section of Micheal Lowe's, "Kimono Wednesdays." Fabiana is also a professional freelance dancer and guest artist for various companies and independent choreographers throughout the bay Area as well as for Sierra Nevada ballet artistic director Rosine Bena. This is Fabiana’s first season with Zikr Dance Ensemble.

Erina Tanaka
Company Member 

Erina Tanaka began her training in New York, with Logrea Dance Academy and Westchesier Ballet Company. She continued her training with SLK Ballet, under the direction of Sara Knight. While training with SLK Ballet, Erina was selected for an exchange program with the English
National Ballet School in London in the spring of 2015 and 2016. She also spent summers training at American Ballet Theatre, Bolshoi Ballet, and Cincinnati Ballet. Erina started her professional career as an apprentice with Eugene Ballet where she performed classical roles such as Spanish and Arabian in The Nutcracker as well as Cygnets in Swan Lake. She was also featured in contemporary work by Suzanne Haag, Val Caniparoli, Stephen Mills, and Gerald Arpino. Erina joined Canada's Ballet Jorgen in 2019 as a company dancer where she was featured as the Sugar Plum Fairy in The Nutcracker, Josie Pye in Bengt Jorgen's production of Anne of Green Gables - The Ballet, and performed original works by Hanna Kiel, Mafa Makhubalo, and Bengt Jorgen. Erina returned to the United States last fall where she has performed as a quest artist with Boulder Ballet as well as numerous other schools and companies across the United States. This will be Erina's second season with Zikr Dance Ensemble.




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Paulina Teran
Company Member 

Paulina Teran was born in Laguna Hills, California, where she started taking dance classes as a toddler. Later, when she moved to Colorado, she started training in ballet more seriously at International Ballet School with Mark and Sandra Carlson and Slava Mesropov. While training there, she performed many principal and soloist roles with the school. In 2017, Paulina moved to Paris and trained at L’Atelier d’Art Chorégraphique with Clairemarie Osta and Nicolas Le Riche. Soon after, Paulina received her first contract with the Estonian National Ballet, where she performed full-length classical ballets including Sleeping Beauty, Swan Lake, and Giselle. In 2018, Paulina moved to Germany to dance with Leipziger Ballett. In her time there, she was able to expand her knowledge and experience in contemporary dance. She performed in many classical and contemporary works including Uwe Scholz’s Symphony No. 7; Stanton Welch’s Tu Tu; Mario Schroder’s Magnificat, Schwanensee, Geshöpfe, Sacre; Jean-Philippe Dury’s Der Nussknacker; and Martin Harriague’s America. She also participated in Intershop, where she performed pieces choreographed by fellow company members at Leipziger Ballett. Paulina is now back in Colorado, keeping dance present in her life while studying Computer Science, and dancing her third season with Zikr Dance Ensemble 

Anaka Weiss-Jones
Company Member

Anaka Weiss-Jones began dancing in the Boulder area at age 8, most notably under Jayne Persch, Artistic Director of Briah Danse. In 2018, she joined in the inaugural year of Ballet Melange and spent three years training under the excellent instruction of Elizabeth Shipiatsky, Sergii Sydorskyi, Maureen Breeze and the rest of the faculty. In addition to Anaka’s classical training, she nurtured her love of contemporary ballet and modern dance by attending summer intensives at and/or performing with several contemporary companies, including Alonzo King LINES Ballet, Ballet X, Briah Danse, Cleo Parker Robinson Dance Theater, Complexions Contemporary Ballet, and the Maureen Breeze Dance Theater. Her professional career started after competing in the International Ballet Competition in Kyiv, Ukraine, in 2020, where she was presented with multiple Special Judges' Awards and asked to join thev Klaipėda State Music Theater in Lithuania as a company dancer and where she danced with KVMT for the 2021-2022 season. In the summer of 2022, Anaka performed with Connecticut Ballet during their summer season, and was especially interested to perform in a piece which fused the Classical Indian Dance form Kuchipudi with classical ballet. She is very excited to work with David Taylor and the Zikr Dance Ensemble this fall and plans to pursue freelance projects and performance opportunities in the Greater Denver and New York City areas this season.

​Zikr Dance Ensemble Apprentice Company

​Olivia Fertig

Olivia Fertig is a Colorado native and has been dancing since age three, primarily in the Boulder area. She has recently graduated from the University of Colorado Boulder with a BA in Dance and minors in Creative Writing and Space. While at CU she has performed in shows such as Open Space (in works by Nathan Bala and Sarah Heller), The Current (in works by Erika Randall and Helanius Wilkins), Fresh, and West Side Story. Olivia has also trained with Jayne Persch for many years and has performed alongside her company, Briah Danse. During summers, Olivia has participated in dance intensives at New York Dance Project, Joffrey Ballet School, and San Francisco Conservatory of Dance. She is so excited to be working with Zikr Dance Ensemble.

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