VISION

Pegasus Contemporary Ballet aspires to be a national leader in its field; contributing world-class performances to the cultural landscape in Dallas and beyond. As innovators and artists, we will continue the legacy of ballet, expressing it as a meaningful and living art form.

MISSON

Pegasus Contemporary Ballet’s mission is to use the classical foundation of ballet to express contemporary perspectives, engage diverse audiences, and enrich the human experience. We use contemporary ballet to create innovative performances, interdisciplinary collaborations, and exciting new works.

In addition to performances and collaborations, our education and outreach programs will provide inspiring opportunities for artistic exploration and expression across a broad spectrum of participants. We cherish opportunities to strengthen our community through partnerships, classes, and events that touch lives with contemporary ballet.

OUR DANCERS

OUR DANCERS

LACY BRENT

Lacy Brent was born in Dallas, TX, and began training in dance at the age of three. She received her training from Ozsoy School of Ballet under Ceyhun Ozsoy, and The Dallas Conservatory under Jaqueline Porter. She is a graduate of Booker T. Washington HS for The Performing and Visual Arts, a former apprentice with Ballet Dallas, and a member of Beckles Dancing Company. She has received the Winor Family Scholarship from Dance Council of North Texas Scholarship. Lacy’s repertoire includes Serenade by George Balanchine, Happy Little Things by Aszure Barton, Tower by Andy Noble, Antillas Afrocubana by La Mora Perez, and works by Nicholas Van Young.

KIERA MAYS

Born and raised in Birmingham, Alabama, Kiera Mays studied at the Alabama Ballet School, graduating with Distinction in the Royal Academy of Dance syllabus. Throughout her youth, she spent her summers training at Boston Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, Complexions Contemporary Ballet, and Texas Ballet Theatre summer intensives. Kiera moved to Dallas to further her academic and dance education at Southern Methodist University where she studied Graham, Balanchine, and Fosse techniques. Kiera graduated Magna Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance Performance, a Bachelor of Arts in English, and a minor in Musical Theatre. During her time in college, Kiera performed at the Winspear Opera House in Dwight Rhoden’s Stellar Matter, as well as multiple works at the Bob Hope Theatre, including a principal role in Carter Alexander’s Luisant and soloist in Cherylyn Lavignon’s Seize en Jeu. Kiera is ecstatic to begin her professional career as a founding dancer with Pegasus Contemporary Ballet.

AIA MCINNES

Aia K. McInnes is from Portland, OR where she attended ACMA Performing Arts High School.
She continued her studies in Pittsburgh, PA at the Conservatory of Performing Arts at Point
Park University. She recently graduated and received her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance and
Business Management Minor. During this time, she was given opportunities to perform works by
distinguished choreographers such as Christopher Wheeldon, Dan Karasik, Jessica Lang, and
George Balanchine.
Her multicultural upbringing has empowered a need to show that art can give a voice to those
who can’t always articulate something with words. Aia is honored and grateful to begin her
professional career as a dancer with Pegasus Contemporary Ballet.

NATALIE PANAYI

Natalie Panayi was born and raised in Melbourne, Australia. She trained at The Australian Ballet School (ABS) under the direction of Marylin Rowe AM OBE and Lisa Pavane. During her time at ABS, she received a secondent with Sydney Dance Company in 2018, trained in flamenco dance, and received her Advanced Diploma of Dance – Elite Performance. Natalie danced with San Diego Ballet for the 2019/20 season, and has also danced with The Australian Ballet, and the National Institute of Circus Arts. Notable performances include ‘Gorilla’ by Lucas Jervies performed at the Sydney Opera House, ‘The Call’ by Simon Dow, Greg Horseman’s La Sylphide, Balanchine’s Serenade, and the Autumn Arts Festival in Fuji City, Japan. Natalie is very excited to be joining Pegasus contemporary ballet for its second season.

ELENA OLSHIN

Elena, a native of Rockville, Maryland, began dancing at the age of four. She received her early
training at the American Dance Institute where she studied with founder Pamela Bjerknes,
school director Erin Mahoney-Du, and artistic director Runqiao Du. She attended summer
intensives at the Kirov Academy of Ballet, The Bolshoi Ballet, The Rock School, and Ballet
West. Elena was selected to participate in the Kennedy Center Masterclass Series for two years
and also competed at the Youth American Grand Prix semi-finals and New York City Finals, as
well as a soloist at the Tanzolymp Dance Festival in Berlin, Germany. After graduating from the
Akhmedova Ballet Academy where she completed her last four years of training, Elena moved
to Delaware to join First State Ballet Theatre. She danced there for four seasons and performed
roles such as Cupid in Don Quixote, Canary Fairy in The Sleeping Beauty, Ocean and Pearls
Pas de Trois, and Pas De Deux from Flames of Paris, as well as working with Viktor Plotnikov
on his premieres of Romeo and Juliet and Dracula. In 2021 Elena became a Resident Teaching
Artist at the Wilmington Ballet, and had the pleasure of performing roles such as Dewdrop and
Snow Queen in The Nutcracker, Waltz from Les Sylphide, Pas de Trois from Swan Lake, and
The Dying Swan. Elena joined Bowen McCauley Dance Company for the 2021/22 season, and
had the honor of performing Exuberant Fanfare and Insistent Music by Lucy Bowen McCauley
at the Kennedy Center Eisenhower stage for the company’s 25th Anniversary Performance.
Elena is very excited for her first season at Pegasus Contemporary Ballet!

XAVIER MACK
(GUEST ARTIST)

Xavier Mack is from Washington, D.C. He received his Bachelor of Arts in Modern Language & Linguistics from the University of Maryland-Baltimore County (UMBC). Before dance, Xavier trained in gymnastics and received regional and national awards. He began his dance training at Divine Dance Institute, in Capitol Heights, Maryland. Xavier received summer intensive scholarships from Dance Theatre of Harlem and Dallas Black Dance Theatre. Mack has performed works by Talley Beatty, Darrell Grand Moultrie, Dianne McIntyre, and Matthew Rushing. Xavier joined Dallas Black Dance Theatre in 2017.

DANNY TRAN
(GUEST ARTIST)

Danny Tran started his Classical ballet training in 2016 at 17 years old at Los Gatos Ballet. He has since attended summer intensives, including San Francisco Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, and Ballet West. Danny was invited to join Oklahoma City Ballet Studio Company in 2019/2020 and was offered an apprenticeship in 2020/2021.

Works that Danny has performed include:
Nutcracker: Russian, Spanish, Nutcracker Prince, Soldier Doll, Rat King, Corsaire Grand Pas de Deux, Diana y Acteon Pas de Deux, Coppelia Grand Pas de Deux, Nutcracker Grand Pas de Deux, Sleeping Beauty Grand Pas de Deux, Bluebird Pas de Deux, Alice in Wonderland (White Rabbit), Cinderella (Jester), Don Quixote (Basilio solo), Napoli Pas de Six Variation, Robert Mills: Firebird as The Prince and Monster, Vicente Nebrada: Percussions for Six Men, La Luna, Doble Corchea, Raul Salamanca’s: Bittersweet, Modular by Design. Kristin D’Addarios: Push and Pull, An Ounce of Surrender. Carrie Ruth Trumbo’s: Whistling in the Dark.

Danny also performed in Robert Mills productions of The Nutcracker, Romeo and Juliet, Little Mermaid, and Michael Pink’s Dracula

CHASEN GREENWOOD
(GUEST ARTIST)

Dancer, singer, actor and choreographer, Chasen is bicoastal, primarily residing in Los Angeles. During his time in LA, Chasen has had the opportunity to work with artists such as Lady Gaga’s choreographer Richy Jackson, and Director Neal Brennan on an Xbox Super Bowl commercial. Chasen has been featured in Dancer Magazine as “one to watch” and his choreography won “Best Young Choreographer” at Regional America Southwest. He began his career performing with Leann Rimes, and in the musical Casper (national tour), and trained in ballet on full scholarship with Pacific Northwest Ballet, Joffrey Ballet, Houston Ballet, and Ballet Austin. Chasen performed in the West Coast premiere and the East Coast cast of “Newsies,” and he has toured nationwide as a soloist with State Street Ballet. His most recent projects include work with The National Geographic with director Roger Fishman and as choreographer for “En Avant” produced by Neutrogena studios and director Sarah Jean Williams.

LAUREN LEB
(GUEST ARTIST)

A native of Colleyville, Texas, Lauren Leb began her training at the Marina Almayeva School of Classical Ballet. After receiving top honors in several competitions, including First Place in the Senior Division YAGP Houston (2016), she continued her training at the HARID Conservatory. Leb attended Texas Ballet Theater’s Summer Intensive on a full scholarship she received during the 2019 ADC/IBC competition. She then joined TBT’s Studio Training Company for the 2019-2020 season. Leb joined Texas Ballet Theater as a Trainee in 2020.

MOLLY COOK
(GUEST ARTIST)

Molly Cook trained at the American Dance Center in Overland Park, Kansas before joining Oklahoma City Ballet’s Studio Company in 2017 after attending the Oklahoma City Ballet Summer Intensive. She was promoted to Apprentice in 2019, and later promoted to Corps de Ballet in 2020.

During her four seasons with Oklahoma City Ballet, Cook performed in Robert Mills’ Swan Lake, The Nutcracker, and Romeo and Juliet, in addition to Septime Webre’s ALICE (in wonderland), August Bournonville’s La Sylphide, and Michael Pink’s Dracula. She was also featured in Jiří Kylián’s Petite Mort and George Balanchine’s The Four Temperaments. She is currently freelancing out of Kansas City, alongside performing with Störling Dance Theater in Olathe, Kansas.

MATTHEW ROBERTS
(GUEST ARTIST)

Matthew Roberts is an Ohioan who, at the age of 10, discovered he was bilingual and his real native language was dance. After studying at an institute, he moved to New York looking to become more fluent and graduated from Marymount Manhattan College in 2013 with a BFA in Dance and Concentration in Choreography. There he performed works by Lar Lubovitch, Robert Battle, Jessica Lang, and Shen Wei. He has dance with Lustig Dance Theatre, Oakland Ballet Company, Awakening Movement, Molissa Fenley, Tami Stronach Dance, Neos Dance Threatre, Bruce Wood Dance, and Zion Dance Project. He enjoys teaching ballet, jazz, tap, contemporary and hip-hop, but his love for storytelling, choreography and sharing the human experience are what fuel his passion to create.

SETH YORK
(GUEST ARTIST)

Seth York was born and raised in Kansas City, Missouri where he began dancing at the age of 7. He received the majority of his training at Dramatic Truth School of the Arts where he studied ballet, Graham, jazz, contemporary, and completed his high school training at American Ballet Theatre. He is currently in his fifth season as a company member with Bruce Wood Dance and has performed works choreographed by Bruce Wood, Lar Lubovich, Joy Bollinger, Brian Arias, Omar Roman DeJesus, and more. Before joining BWD, Seth studied with Ad Deum Dance Company under the direction of Randall Flinn performing the work of Steve Rooks, Durell Comedy, Roxane D’orleans Juste, and Randall Flinn. He also has worked alongside companies such as Ballet Frontier, Open Sky Arts Collective, Ballet Brazos, Störling Dance Theatre, and Lawrence Dance Theatre.

ARTISTIC LEADERSHIP

ARTISTIC LEADERSHIP

DIANA CROWDER
ARTISTIC DIRECTOR AND FOUNDER

Diana is a graduate of Canada’s National Ballet School, where she was accepted to attend at the age of 13 under the direction of Mavis Staines. While at the National Ballet School, Diana trained with teachers including Eva Draw, Glenn Gilmour and Sean Amyot, and had the opportunity to work with repetitors such as Lindsay Fischer and Sorella England.

Diana had the special opportunity to participate in the first ever Assemblée Internationale, an event during which The National Ballet School hosted an international choreographic festival. The week-long event consisted of classes, rehearsals and performances, including student choreographed works that were performed by a cast of students from each of the 13 partner schools from across the globe, including institutions such as the Royal Ballet School, San Francisco Ballet School, Paris Opera Ballet School, and the Australian Ballet School. In the culminating student choreography showcase, Diana performed a female solo role in a work created by a student from the Royal Winnipeg Ballet School, dancing with a partner from the Royal Ballet School in London.

At 18, Diana started her professional career with Tulsa Ballet II where she performed in works with the company including Marcello Angelini’s Swan Lake, Twyla Tharp’s Push Comes To Shove and Ronald Hynd’s The Merry Widow. In Tulsa Ballet II, Diana performed the pas de deux from the Fourth Theme of George Balanchine’s The Four Temperaments as well as excerpts of Ma Cong’s Folia and Bloodrush. She also had the opportunity to premiere the role of Lead Gypsy Dancer, choreographed by Ma Cong for Tulsa Opera’s production of La Traviata.

Following her time at Tulsa Ballet, Diana joined Texas Ballet Theater where she danced in the company for five seasons. While at TBT, she performed several classical ballet’s such as Ben Stevenson’s Swan Lake, The Sleeping Beauty, Romeo and Juliet, The Nutcracker and Peer Gynt. She also performed many neo-classical and contemporary works such as Christopher Wheeldon’s DGV, Sir Kenneth MacMillan’s Gloria, George Balanchine’s Serenade, Rubies, and Theme And Variations, Glen Tetley’s Voluntaries and Ohad Naharin’s Minus 16, as well as world premiere works by Garrett Smith and Jonathan Watkins.

Diana went on to pursue a varied and artistically fulfilling freelance career, dancing professionally for the National Choreographic Initiative in Irvine CA, Dances Patrelle in NYC, ARC Dance in Seattle, Ishida Dance in Austin, Dallas Neo-Classical Ballet, and Ballet Dallas under the direction of Carter Alexander, as well as several guest performances, projects, and ballet teaching throughout the Dallas area. Through these experiences, Diana had the opportunity to create and perform soloist and principal roles in world premiere works by Carter Alexander, Hailey von Schlehenried, Bruce McCormick, Durante Verzola, Kevin Jenkins, Silas Farley, and Alex Ketley.

Over the course of her career, Diana fell in love with using ballet technique as a tool for creativity, expression and progress. She is passionate about putting Dallas on the map as a place for world class contemporary ballet to flourish. With a love for coaching, she is currently the ballet director at the DASH Academy in Plano TX, and accepts private lesson students throughout the metroplex. Diana calls Dallas home and lives in the city with her husband Jonathan.

CAROLYN RUTH TRUMBO
RESIDENT CHOREOGRAPHER AND ARTISTIC ASSOCIATE

Carrie Ruth was born in Orlando, FL and received her formal training at the Orlando Ballet School, under the direction of Peter Stark. While with the school, she had the unique opportunity of performing Richard Cook’s Dance of the Hours at the New York City Center for YAGP’s gala, “Stars of Today Meet the Stars of Tomorrow”.

In 2008, she was offered a traineeship with Charlotte Ballet, where she studied with Patricia McBride and Mark Diamond. The following year she joined Tulsa Ballet’s second company, where she spent two seasons before being promoted to the main company in 2011.

While with Tulsa Ballet, Carrie Ruth performed repertoire by renowned choreographers such as Twyla Tharp, Ronald Hynd, George Balanchine, Ben Stevenson, Edward Liang, and John Cranko. She then joined Ballet Des Moines in its’ inaugural season, where she performed soloist roles in a variety of classical and contemporary works, most notably Within The Bodies and Angeli, both by Ma Cong. She also danced with American Contemporary Ballet in Los Angeles for their 2014 summer season. In 2016, Carrie Ruth returned to Oklahoma where she danced with Oklahoma City Ballet for five seasons. She currently dances with Ballet Frontier of Texas.

Some of her favorite performance opportunities include Septime Webre’s Alice (in Wonderland), Agnes DeMille’s Rodeo, First Theme in Balanchine’s The Four Temperaments, Holiday Wife and Bride in Michael Pink’s Dracula, Russian demi-soloist in Balanchine’s Serenade, Ryan Jolicoeur-Nye’s Separation, and Lilac Fairy in Chung-Lin Tseng’s Sleeping Beauty. She also had two original works of her own, You See What You Look For and Whistling in the Dark, featured in Oklahoma City Ballet’s Future Voices.

In addition to working as a freelance choreographer, Carrie Ruth has also recently served as both dancer and ballet master for Osage Ballet’s production, WahZhaZhe. She is thrilled to join Pegasus Contemporary Ballet in its inaugural season as both a choreographer and Artistic Advisor.

OUR VALUES

DIVERSITY STATEMENT

Diversity makes us stronger and more thoughtful artists, creators, presenters, and custodians of our artform. Discrimination and injustice are not tolerated in our workplace or in the artistic process of our work.

Promoting a space for a multitude of diverse voices to create and engage with art, particularly in the field of ballet, is at the core of what we value. This includes all skin colors, ethnicities, religions, cultural backgrounds, sexual orientations, and gender identities. We expect our community to hold us to these values and encourage open dialogue about how we can continue to listen, evolve, support, and engage with BIPOC and LGBTQ+ artists, audiences, and communities.

ARTIST COMMITMENT

We affirm our commitment to treat our artists with respect and integrity. We believe that a profession in the arts deserves an environment of creativity, encouragement, honesty, and authenticity. We encourage all who work with the company to embrace these values without fear of consequence or vulnerability. We believe that this ethos creates higher quality artistic output and performances.

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

PATRICIA
BALDWIN

PATRICIA
BALDWIN

KERRI
DI BENEDETTO

KERRI
DI BENEDETTO

JULIA
FIEDLING

JULIA
FIEDLING

STEVEN
PETERS

STEVEN
PETERS

WHY PEGASUS?
WHY PEGASUS?

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