Faculty

Karen Kamilos was born and raised in Sacramento and began her dance training with Pennie Davies. She trained locally with Bobbi Bader, Sue Geller, Cliff Klein, and Carol Pompei. Ms. Kamilos graduated with honors from San Jose State University with a B.A. and M.A. in Theatre Arts/Dance. Ms. Kamilos has studied and performed works by Mina Garman, Greg LIzenberry, Claire Whistler, Kay Clark, Duncan MacFarland, Bill Evans, and Cliff Keuter. She has performed with regional modern companies in the San Francisco/Bay Area. Ms. Kamilos has forty years of teaching experience, including developing special programs. She has taught all ages ranging from pre-school to pre-professional students as well as at the college level and older adults. Ms. Kamilos has received teacher training in adaptive dance from Axis Dance Company and Boston Ballet School’s Adaptive Dance Program. Ms. Kamilos has a passion for teaching dance and is delighted to be an integral part of school faculty at Sacramento Ballet.

Sacramento born choreographer, Rachel Angulo,  began dancing at the young age of two with her mother; a Tap Instructor in the Orangevale area. Rachel furthered her training from multiple professional dancers such as Bernard Brown, Philip Flickinger, Heidi McLean, Nahn Ho, and Samuel Fulk within African, Contemporary, Modern, Tap, Jazz and Ballet aesthetics. Rachel is honored to have trained and performed for many well-known choreographers of the time such as Nolan T’sani, Li Chiao Ping, Tiffany Rea-Fisher, Valerie Gnassounou, and Bahiya Movement’s Afia and Nafi Thompson. Rachel received her BA in Dance from Sacramento State in 2020 and plans on going back to school in the near future. Since graduation, Rachel has continued working in the dance field and occasionally showcases her own works under the company name Anguloarts.

Bio coming soon

Cynthia Booth is a Sacramento State University alumni who received a BA in Dance and a BS in Psychology. As a student she attended four American College Dance Association conferences where she participated in a variety of classes and performed each year.  Booth received training in aerial dance and unarmed stage combat at CSU Summer Arts 2014. In 2015 she attended and interned at the American Dance Festival at Duke University. She graduated in 2016 as the honor student for the Department of Theatre and Dance. Her movement is mostly influenced by training in Dunham and Horton technique, improvisation, and floorwork. Booth judges colorguard movement for the Northern California Band Association and dances with Lorelei Bayne Dance Projects and Impulse Anima. She is a principal dancer in bbMoves, a social justice dance theatre company. Booth started teaching and choreographing for the School of Sacramento Ballet in 2020. She stands on the shoulders of her teachers and mentors; Lorelei Bayne, Marcus Mills, Bernard Brown, Nolan T’Sani, Nicole Manker, Melisa Cervantes, Philip Flickinger, and Dr. Linda Goodrich.

Joseph was born and raised in Dallas, Texas, and began taking hip-hop lessons at seven years old. Eventually, he took jazz and ballet lessons at the Ballet Academy Of Texas directed by Lisa Slagle at the time. At age twelve, Joseph then joined their pre-professional company, The Ballet Ensemble Of Texas, currently run by Thom Clower. In his junior year, he was accepted to BalletMet’s trainee program on full scholarship and he decided to move to Columbus, Ohio to take the next step in his training there for 2021-2022 season and was give the opportunity to perform as the lead in the fourth movement of George Balanchine’s “Western Symphony” Joseph is now at Sacramento Ballet as a second company member.

Jenny grew up in Roseville and trained under Barbara Crockett and The Cunninghams before finishing her training as a Professional Division student at Pacific Northwest Ballet. Jenny supplemented her training with summers at San Francisco Ballet, Bolshoi at Vail and Pacific Northwest Ballet.  Jenny danced with Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre before returning to Sacramento to dance again with Sacramento Ballet .  Jenny overcame two career ending injuries which shortened her professional career but led her to attend St. Mary’s LEAP program, earning her Bachelor of Performing Arts. While at St. Mary’s Jenny began teaching and fell in love with teaching as much as she loved dancing.  Upon graduating she started a career in Marketing and Account Management which moved her to San Diego and NY where she continued to teach at Academy of Performing Arts (San Diego) and Brooklyn Ballet (NY).  In 2012 Jenny returned to Sacramento where she happily lives with her husband, two boys James and Andrew and Bella, their loveable golden retriever.  Jenny is currently training to earn her comprehensive pilates certification through Balanced Body.

Rhodes Elliott is originally from Florence, South Carolina. Rhodes retired in 2018 as a Demi-Soloist with the Houston Ballet, after having been with the company for 11 years. He received his early dance training and pre-professional experience with UNCSA, as well as The School of Dance Arts and South Carolina Dance Theater under the tutelage of the esteemed Susan Rowe. He attended several summer programs throughout his training, including North Carolina Dance Theater, Houston Ballet, and the University of North Carolina School of the Arts. While dancing with the Houston Ballet, Rhodes enjoyed performing many works, including those by Stanton Welch, Jiri Kylian, Christopher Bruce, Sir Kenneth MacMillan, Sir Frederick Ashton, Ben Stevenson, Twyla Tharp, George Balanchine, and Christopher Wheeldon. After retiring from The Houston Ballet, Rhodes was the Assistant Ballet Director at Texas Academy of Dance Arts in The Woodlands, Texas. In 2021, Rhodes joined Texas Ballet Theater School (TBTS) as a Studio Training Company Instructor, as well as the Professional Training Division Instructor at TBTS Dallas. In November of 2022, Rhodes became an instructor with the Sacramento Ballet.

Samuel Alden Fulk is a professional ballet dancer living in Sacramento. He is experienced in a wide range of dance styles and methodologies, with a focus on classical ballet, modern, and contemporary dance. Born and raised in California, he grew up performing in dance, musical theatre and dramatic productions, later joining the pre-professional company Santa Cruz Ballet Theatre, directed by Robert Kelley and Diane Cypher.

Samuel then went on to perform professionally with Utah Regional Ballet for six seasons under the direction of Jacqueline Colledge.  During this time, he also attended Utah Valley University, from which he graduated with honors in 2014 with a BFA in Dance.  While in Utah, Samuel also taught at Academy of Ballet directed by Lynne Thompson, and served as the Director of their second company Ballet Utah II North.

Since relocating to Sacramento in 2016, Samuel has become a highly sought after dance instructor in the region.  In January of 2018 he became a professor of dance at CSU Sacramento, where he teaches upper division ballet.  Samuel regularly teaches master classes and private lessons in classical and contemporary ballet, pas de deux, modern dance and broadway jazz.  Samuel choreographs works on dancers with varying levels of experience, from beginning to professional.  Samuel performs as a guest artist for professional and pre-professional companies. He is proud to have been a company member for three seasons with Sacramento Contemporary Dance Theatre, a company which partners with organizations to produce impactful work about important causes such as sign language integration, confronting cancer, and human trafficking.

Agata Grzelak began her training in multiple disciplines including ballet, pointe, modern, jazz, and character under the artistic direction of Ayako Takahashi and faculty which included Michael Lowe, Maria LeMance, Audie Atienza, and Mariko Takahashi. In 2010, she quickly immersed herself in the Sacramento State Dance program and began training under noteworthy faculty members such as Nolan T’Sani, Lisa Ross, Randee Pauve, Lorelei Bayne, Dr. Linda Goodrich, Philip Flickinger, and Ed Brazo. Agata has performed in numerous works on and off campus in venues such as CSUS University Theatre, Crocker Art Museum, and ODC Theatre for guest artists. In spring 2013, Agata was the very first recipient of the new Department of Theatre and Dance Joseph Allen Long Scholarship, recognizing excellence in Dance. In fall 2014, she graduated with her Bachelors of Arts in Dance. Agata is currently teaching dance at St. Francis High School.

Local to Sacramento, California, Alexa has been a part of the world of ballet since the age of 4. Starting at Pamela Hayes Classical Ballet Training in El Dorado Hills, she learned the foundational techniques from those who studied and danced at London’s Royal Ballet.

Alexa then moved on to Deane Dance Center where she trained under Barbara Crockett (founder of the Sacramento Ballet), Allison Deane, and Jorge Esquivel. She participated in Regional Dance America and attended summer courses at the University of Utah and San Francisco Ballet.

She then joined Sacramento Ballet’s Trainee program at its inception in 2019, being given the opportunity to perform a variety of roles ranging from contemporary movement to classical ballets such as Swan Lake, Napoli, La Bayadere and Giselle. She was an apprentice at Sacramento Ballet for two years,

She has switched to teaching ballet at School of Sacramento Ballet and is thrilled to pass on her knowledge to the students.

Photo by Tony Nguyen

Shirin Keyani-Rose is a native of Iran. She received her early training at the Conservatory for the Performing Arts in Tehran, under the direction of Bijan Kalantari. Upon moving to United States, she continued her training with Tamara Kinsell at Santa Barbara Ballet. As a young dancer she received scholarships to North Carolina School of the Arts, Pennsylvania Ballet and San Francisco Ballet school. Shirin joined Alonzo King LINES Ballet Company in 1989. She later served as Director of the Summer Program and Discovery Project Outreach at LINES Ballet school. She is currently a certified GYROTONIC® trainer at EPY Pilates studio.

Katie Kilbourn starting dancing at the age of four and trained all over Sacramento before moving to the East Coast where she earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Jazz Dance Performance at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia. After relocating to New York City, Katie had the opportunity to dance with several companies including Balasole, J/D Dansfolk, and IKADA before she co-founded Borne Dance Company with Kianna Moye in 2015 and became Borne’s Artistic Director. Katie’s work with Borne Dance Company has been performed at the Alvin Ailey Citigroup Theater, Bellevue Hospital, BAAD!, The Producer’s Club, and Anita’s Way. Through Borne, Katie has had the opportunity to work with and collaborate with Renoly Santiago, The Theater Development Fund, Frank Sinatra School of the Arts, Project Heal, Natomas Charter Performing and Fine Arts Academy and the National Eating Disorders Association. Alongside choreographing with her company, Katie’s other passion is teaching dance to students of all ages and backgrounds. She has been a teacher for over seven years and has had the privilege to teach all ages and levels. She loves helping her students develop and expand their artistic expression and she believes art is a necessary tool in everybody’s life.

Born in Portland, OR, Wyatt McConville-McCoy began his ballet training at Oregon Ballet Theatre. In 2017 he joined Boston Ballet II, under the tutelage of Peter Stark, where he performed Harlequinade in Boston Ballet’s At Home Series and alongside the main company in Jerome Robbin’s West Side Story. Two years later he joined Atlanta Ballet II where he had the privilege of performing in ballets such as La Bayadere and in featured roles of The Nutcracker while on tour to the Kennedy Center. Wyatt joined Sacramento Ballet in 2021 where he has graced the stage in roles such Gnome in The Nutcracker, the Men’s Trio in Val Caniparoli’s Tutto Eccetto il Lavandino, and the featured pas de deux in Isaac Bates-Vineza’s Rumor as well as in Jennifer Archibald’s Soar.

Photo by Tony Nguyen

Born and raised in Houston, TX, Julia Payne began her ballet training at Payne Academy of Ballet. After graduating high school, Julia attended the University of Oklahoma where she continued her training in the School of Dance under the direction of Michael Bearden. In 2019, she joined Texas Ballet Theater’s Studio Training Company where she performed in many works including Ben Stevenson’s The Nutcracker and The Sleeping Beauty. Julia joined Sacramento Ballet in 2021 as a trainee and joined the main company this season as an Apprentice. Primarily teaching ballet, Julia also teaches a wide range of styles including jazz, tap, lyrical, and contemporary, as well as stretch and conditioning. She has had the pleasure of teaching all ages during the summer programs at School of Sacramento Ballet, including Young Dancers Workshops and the Junior and Senior Summer Intensives. This is Julia’s third year teaching for School of Sacramento Ballet.

Hailey Rozzano-Keefe, originally from Daly City, California,  began her dance training at the Westlake School for the Performing Arts, under the instruction of Cristina Fargas, Malu Rivera-Peoples, Irene Liu, Adam Sage, and Zherlin Ndudi. She was trained in various styles such as Ballet, Modern/Contemporary, Jazz, Tap, Hip Hop, and Polynesian/Hula. While being versatilely trained, Hailey has always kept a main focus in Ballet/contemporary. Hailey joined Sacramento Ballet’s trainee program in their 2022/23 season and is now an SB2 member in the second company. Since joining Sacramento Ballet, Hailey has danced in company productions such as Nicole Haskins, Julia Feldman, & Colby Damon’s The Nutcracker, and Anthony Krutzkamps Swan Lake.

Ms. Samuelson received her training from Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet in Carlisle, PA where she studied for 15 years. Upon graduating in 2006, she continued studying at Pacific Northwest Ballet School as a professional division student for one year where she performed with the company, dancing roles in Kent Stowell’s The Nutcracker and Swan Lake. Her professional career began at Pennsylvania Ballet as a member of their second company and then led to a 10 year career with Pacific Northwest Ballet. She danced featured roles in the classics such as George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Coppelia, Kent Stowell’s The Nutcracker, Swan Lake, and Cinderella, and Ronald Hynd’s The Sleeping Beauty. She was also featured in William Forsythe’s New Suite and The Vertiginious Thrill of Exactitude, David Dawson’s A Million Kisses to my Skin, and Jiri Kylian’s Petite Mort. Ms. Samuelson retired from PNB in 2018 and in February, 2019 she began teaching at Pacific  Northwest Ballet School in addition to other local ballet studios. Ms. Samuelson is currently  studying Exercise Science at Sacramento State and plans to attend Physical Therapy school next fall.

Genevieve Szaly Eidem was born and raised in Anchorage, Alaska. She began her classical training at Anchorage Classical Ballet Academy under Farah Zoetmulder.

While training in Alaska, Genevieve enjoyed dancing in roles including Aurora-A Tale of the Northern Lights with Anchorage Ballet, The Nutcracker with Oregon Ballet Theatre and with Eugene Ballet. She performed in Quq Yucq, an Alaskan Swan Lake, choreographed by Gilmer Duran of Eugene Ballet and danced the leading role in Into the Jungle choreographed by Niki Maple with ADT Company II. In 2013 Genevieve accepted a position in the Ballet 5:8 trainee program. She spent two years dancing with Ballet 5:8, and enjoyed touring and performing classical and original works including soloist roles with the company and school.

Leaving the stage due to injury, Genevieve discovered her love and passion for teaching and choreography. She has taught various dance styles and has choreographed for studios in Alaska, Illinois, California, and Kyiv, Ukraine. To continue her education she traveled to Lyon, France in 2019 to earn her Progressing Ballet Technique teaching certificate under Callie Sant.

In 2019 Genevieve joined the faculty at Sacramento Ballet and has enjoyed teaching a wide variety of classes and skill levels. One of her favorite roles at SSB is teaching older adults Falls Prevention Through Movement! She is thrilled to be entering her fourth year at SSB!

Sally Torres-Gil – Sally majored in dance at the University of Utah where she studied ballet, contemporary, tap, musical theater, choreography, music theory and acting. She trained at the Academy of Classical Ballet (ACB) under Karen Morell, former soloist with the Dutch National Ballet. She received instructor’s certification in the Vaganova Syllabus through ACB as well as through John White of the Pennsylvania Academy of Ballet. Sally is also certified in Progressing Ballet Technique. Sally has been dancing and training her whole life. She owned and operated her own dance studio for 12 successfulyears before devoting her full attention to raising her daughter (who is now in college). Sally has been teaching ballet for over 20 years. Her performing career includes musical theater, music videos, traveling companies, and cruise ships in the U.S. and abroad. Sally has an excellent reputation workingwith students from beginner levels to the more advanced levels and strives to develop their skills and passion for dance while keeping her students motivated to perform their best.

Isabella Velasquez grew up training in Orange County at the Maple Conservatory. At 17 she joined The Washington Ballet in DC as a trainee, and continued training at Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre’s graduate program for two years after. Isabella joined Sacramento Ballet in 2014 where she has had the opportunity to perform many lead roles including Kitri in Don Quixote, Act 1, Sugar Plum in The Nutcracker, the lead in George Balanchine’s Allegro Brillante, Donizetti Variations and Tarantella, and Ophelia in Stephen Mills’ Hamlet. Outside of Sacramento, Isabella has danced with The National Choreographers Initiative, Amy Seiwert’s Imagery, Capital Dance Project, and Ballet Project OC. Isabella has also choreographed multiple works for Sacramento Ballet, Capital Dance Project, and Ballet Project OC. Isabella has been a teacher with the Sacramento Ballet School for 4 years and has taught in the Sacramento area for 7 years. She teaches a wide variety of classes from technique, to pointe, variations, contemporary, and coaching. Isabella strives to share the technical and artistic tips she has learned as a professional dancer with her students, to better prepare them for a career in the arts. When not working Isabella loves to spend time with her two wiener dogs Luigi and Leonardo!

Kenzie began dancing in Fort Worth, Texas at the Texas Ballet Theater School and joined the TBT Studio Company in 2019. She has trained with schools such as, American Ballet Theater, Joffrey Ballet School, Dance Theater of Harlem, and Miami City Ballet. In 2021 she moved to New York to dance at Marymount Manhattan College before moving to Sacramento to join Sacramento Ballet’s 2nd Company as a trainee. In 2023 she was promoted to be a member of Sacramento Ballet II and is entering her second year teaching for the School of Sacramento Ballet.