Danceartists Ballet Academy Faculty

Director Danceartists Ballet Academy.

Joanna is a Master Classical Ballet Teacher with over 30 years teaching experience. As a dancer, Joanna performed with renowned ballet companies including Ballet Europe and worked alongside esteemed directors and dancers including Bolshoi Ballet's Yuri Grigorovich and Prima Ballerina Absolute Natalia Besmetnova.

Joanna is a registered teacher of the Royal Academy of Dance and completed all the RAD Examinations and was awarded the Solo Seal at age 15. She is an invited member of the International Dance Council, Paris and a member and guest speaker of IADMS The International Association for Dance Medicine & Science. Joanna gained her Vaganova Teacher training qualifications from Mischa Slavensky and Peggy Willis-Arnio. She has been arranging international pre-professional ballet student audition tours to many of the world's leading international and national ballet company schools since 1996. As Vice President of the Society of Dance Art Joanna arranged some of the largest Master Series of Dance classes for teachers and students from all over the country. Joanna is the Children's Rehearsal Director for the Nutcracker!Magical Christmas Ballet at the Wang Theatre Boston each year. Students are invited from across Massachusetts to experience this brilliant performance opportunity. Her choreography has won numerous awards, including the prestigious International Fred Astaire Choreographic Competition Gold Medal. Joanna is an education consultant to the University of New South Wales coaching Teachers on the use abstract thought in choreographic processes. Students who have been trained by Joanna have performed in many dance companies around the world including American Ballet Theatre, The Royal Ballet Company, Hamburg Ballet, Australian Ballet, Gyor Ballet Company, Hybrid Movement Company, Antigravity, Cirque du Soleil to name just a few. Danceartists Ballet Academy's training program is designed by our Director Joanna Duncan to build confident young dancer's of pristine technique and exceptional artistic quality.

Joanna Duncan RTS ARAD Solo Seal

Francoise Voranger -

Francoise is a renowned Virtuoso Performance Artist, the Founding Director and Creator of NYC Hybrid Movement Company, Owner Hybrid Movement Creative Lab, Animator, Creative Show Director. Creator of the Movement as Metaphor Aerial Acrobatic Training Program and Executive Director of Hybridity.org.

Francoise is an invited member of the International Dance Council, CID, Paris. She trained on full scholarship at the Royal Ballet Upper School London UK and holds the distinguished honor of performing in the Gala of the Stars of Benois de la Danse at Bolshoi Theatre Moscow, Russia.

Françoise has performed with The Royal Ballet, London, The Australian Ballet Company, Hamburg BalletCompany, Ballet NY, Anti Gravity, the Royal Gala London, Cirque du Soleil, among many others.

Françoise is an Elizabeth Streb EACP STREB Awardee, her choreographic works are renowned for their ability to touch the heart, to search or reveal and have been performed at NYC City Center, NYC Lincoln Center, Bolshoi Ballet Theater Moscow, NYC SummerStage, New Victory Theater New 42nd Street, NYC Maker Fair, Marcus Garvey Theatre, Burning Man and Marquette, Amsterdam Film Festival, to name a few. She has choreographed, Directed and performed in productions including Hybrid Movement Company's Nowhere-Now Here 1 - 7 / Fluid of Dusk / Clara's Dream / Blue Moon / Never Ending Story Little Cinema Immersive winner of Best In NYC, Eudaemonia Lincoln Center and Burning Man, Schedule 40, Broadway NYC, Winner of 3 Editors choice Awards, Black Rock Orchestra Burning Man, and many more in her busy international performance schedule.

.www.instagram.com/francoisenvoranger www.hybridmovementcompany.com

Physics of Contemporary Dance Movement

Rick’s early training years began with tap dancing, eventually branching out into professional studies of classical ballet, jazz, hip-hop, and contemporary dance (training with teachers like David Howard, Finis Jhung, Christine Busch, Bruce Marks, Laura Young and Geri Houlihan). He also trained in other disciplines (trumpet, physics, and later on, guitar studies and various studies in business).

After an extensive career in dance and acting that includes performances with Ballet Austin, Boston Ballet and Delta Festival Ballet, as well as three years of work in film and television in Los Angeles doing hip-hop, jazz, and ballet (with choreographers like Twyla Tharp, Joe Layton, and with film directors like Mark Rydell, and James Brooks).
Rick joined La La La Human Steps in Montreal in 1993, with whom he danced and toured the world for 8 years. Rick is also a composer, a dance and acrobatic choreographer, and judges dance competitions, and teaches various workshops around the globe.

For the last 16 years he has been a talent scout specializing in dance at Cirque du Soleil. Rick’s contributions to the casting department have extended to drawing up new operational and business strategies, as well as creative, innovative, internal, and external strategies.

Rick also works closely with International Performing Arts & Theatre (I-PATH) through leading dance education in the 21st Century. He is a member of Phoenix Associates in the UK, an organization that offers opportunities and masterclasses to students aged from 6 right through to professional dancers. In 2016, he joined the creative team of the Cirque du Soleil Big Top touring show Volta as an acrobatic choreographer. In 2018, he started up the online choreography market Choreography Online with two partners, which had its official public launch in September, 2019. Rick joined Danceartists Faculty in 2020.

www.ricktjia.com

Rick Tjia -

Nikki Ortiz

Nikki began exploring movement through dance, rhythmic gymnastics and yoga. In 2015 Nikki won the USA National Yoga Asana championship under the mentorship of Jared McCann. She has been a performance collaborator with Hybrid Movement Company since 2018 choreographing, performing and working on scenic design, Nikki works as contortionist and hair suspension artist. She believes yoga is a powerful tool for human evolution. Her teaching integrates elements for various yoga traditions and is centered around alignment, precision and form; often emphasizing backbending and flexibility training to help students proper technique to access their body's natural range of motion while developing a healthy approach towards flexibility.

Pearl graduated from the 4 year Trainee Program at Joffrey Ballet School NYC in 2024 and is an Honors Alumni of Danceartists Ballet Academy where she trained in the Royal Academy of Dance curriculum under Joanna Duncan. Pearl has trained in Aerial Arts coached by Francoise Voranger since the age of 13. After gaining high Distinction for the RAD Advanced 2 and Repertoire 4 Variations Exams, Pearl was selected as a semi finalist for the Genee, now Fonteyn, International Ballet Competition in 2019 at the Canadian National Ballet and in 2020 she was awarded the prestigious Darcy Bussell International Travel Award. Pearl performs with the Joffrey Concert Group, Hybrid Movement Company, Big Apple Circus, Little Cinema and as a guest Artist with Danceartists Ballet Company. Pearl has performed at the Joyce Theater, NYC Lincoln Center, Toyota Oakdale Theatre, Brooklyn Museum Basquiat The David Bowie Festival to name just a few. Her training background includes Classical Ballet and Pointe, Partnering, Graham, Horton and Hybrid Genre Contemporary Dance, Jazz and Aerial Arts. Pearl is also a 200 hr certified Yoga Instructor and loves sharing this practice with others. Pearl is a graduate of the Joffrey Ballet Trainee Program and holds a BFA in Dance.

Pearl Madnick

Rowen is a Danceartists Ballet Academy Alumni graduating with Honors in 2020. Rowen began her training with Joanna Duncan at age 5 training in the Royal Academy of Dance curriculum gaining high Distinctions in her Advanced 1 and Repertoire 4 Variation Exams. Rowen also trained in the Vaganova Ballet Program in levels 7 and 8. Rowen was Massachusetts Level 8 Artistic Gymnastic State Champion and since age 7 has trained in Aerial Arts and hand balancing under the coaching of Francoise Voranger. Rowen is an apprentice Aerial and Dance performer with Hybrid Movement Company with performance credits including Never Ending Story Immersive, Fool of Potential, Eudaemonia, Jazz at Lincoln Center, Fluid of Dusk, Schedule 40 Broadway, Career Transitions for Dancers, The Actors Fund, IC Center Threads, Clara's Dream Hanover Theatre USA first Aerial Youth Nutcracker, among many other productions. Rowen is in her final year studying Chemical Engineering at Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art. She was invited to participate in the National Science Foundation funded REM program at ASU in 2024 where she researched polysulfone membranes.