Company Dancers MELISSA HESLEP received her training at the School of Orlando City Ballet for 13 years under the direction of Beatrix Aldana and spent her summers training with teachers including Luba Gulyaeva, Mark Spivak, Valeria Sinyavakaya, and Veronica Aldana. She performed with the student company until 2001, and upon graduation was accepted into the 2002 Youth America Grand Prix finals in NYC. In Orlando, she has performed with Russian Ballet under the direction of Vadim Fedotov and has spent the last five seasons with Central Florida Ballet under the direction of Vasile Petrutiu. She has also had the opportunity to travel as a guest artist for many venues in the United States. Her repertoire includes classics such as The Sleeping Beauty, Giselle, and The Nutcracker, and contemporary works. This is Melissa’s fourth season with Boulder Ballet. RADOSLAW KOKOSZKA, a native of Wodzislaw Sl., Poland, began his early ballet training as a boarding student at the Ludomir Rozycki State Ballet School in Bytom, Poland. At age 13, he moved to the United States with his family, settling in Hamtramck, MI. He received numerous talent scholarships and trained at a number of prestigious professional schools including the Harid Conservatory (FLA), Boston Ballet (MA), Kirov Academy (Washington, DC) and the renowned School of American Ballet (NYC), from which he graduated. Mr. Kokoszka was a choreographer for the New York Choreographic Institute before dancing professionally with Carolina Ballet, New York’s emerging Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet, and the Suzanne Farrell Ballet, where he had the great honor of performing George Balanchine’s Don Quixote for the annual acclaimed Edinburgh Dance Festival in Scotland (2006). Kokoszka has served as Co-Director of Ballet Renaissance, a Detroit based nonprofit organization committed to educating and inspiring community through dance, since June of 2006. He is an instructor for Studio West’s Ballet Master’s Program in both Loveland and Ft. Collins and for Ballet Renaissance in Estes Park. This is Radoslaw’s first season with Boulder Ballet. JUSTIN MCMILLAN was first introduced to ballet at age eight by his mother, Joanna, who brought him and his brothers along to her ballet classes. His brothers didn’t stick with it, but Justin did. He danced alongside his mother for many years with Mary Knight at the Mendocino Ballet in Ukiah, CA, attending summer sessions at San Francisco Ballet School, Marin Ballet, and the School of American Ballet. He completed his training at Dance Theatre Seven in Fairfax, CA, with David Roxander and Jody White. During the last 19 years Justin has danced professionally with San Francisco Ballet, Tulsa Ballet, and, most recently, Richmond Ballet, dancing principal roles during their home season and on tour, including appearances at The Joyce Theatre in New York City. Justin has danced ballets from a multitude of diverse choreographers including George Balanchine, Nacho Duato, Val Caniparoli, and Helgi Tomasson. His favorite roles include Tybalt in Malcolm Burn’s Romeo and Juliet, one of the leads in John Butler’s Carmina Burana, and the Snow King and Sugar Plum Cavalier in multiple productions of The Nutcracker. Justin has appeared as a guest artist with Boulder Ballet, and this is his first season as a company member. EMILY SPEED is originally from Argyle, Texas and began her professional training under Marina Almayeva. Emily won first and third place in the classical division at the 2007 and 2008 Youth America Grand Prix Regional competitions, first place for her duet in 2008 and competed from 2004 to 2008 in the YAGP Finals in New York. In 2006, she was a Finalist at the World Ballet Competition in Orlando, Florida. Emily was one of a hundred participants worldwide who qualified and competed in the 2010 Varna International Ballet Boulder Ballet | Boulder Philharmonic Orchestra 2013-2014 Nutcracker
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