Our Faculty
Marcello Angelini, Artistic Director
Marcello Angelini has served as Tulsa Ballet Artistic Director since 1995, following a distinguished career as a principal dancer and guest artist with some of the most renowned troupes in the world. After five years at the ballet school of the Teatro San Carlo, Mr. Angelini went on to study with his father, at the Angelini owned ballet school Harmony, in Naples, where he eventually graduated. He was then awarded a government scholarship, one of the two available each year, to spend a year in the former Soviet Union, at the Kiev Academy, where he completed his studies.
His professional career as a dancer began in 1979 at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino where he obtained the status of soloist in 1981. He was a principal dancer with Deutsche Oper Berlin, England's Northern Ballet Theater, Ballet West in Salt Lake City, Les Grands Ballet Canadiens in Montreal, and the Cincinnati Ballet.
As a guest principal dancer, he has performed with the ballet companies of some of the most prestigious opera houses in Italy such as San Carlo Opera House, Rome Opera House, the Arena of Verona and the Teatro Massimo in Palermo. He also has performed as principal guest artist with the Basler Ballet in Switzerland, English National Ballet and the Scottish Ballet in the United Kingdom, Ballet Arizona in the USA and Santiago's Teatro Municipal in Chile. He has performed leading roles in most of the classical repertoire, including Giselle, The Sleeping Beauty, Romeo and Juliet, Swan Lake, Taming of the Shrew, and numerous productions of Cinderella, including that of the late Rudolf Nureyev. His contemporary leading roles include Death in Death and the Maiden and the valet in Birgit Cullberg's Miss Julie. He also has been featured in ballets by Hans Van Manen, Niels Cristie, John Butler, John Cranko, Kenneth McMillan and most of the George Balanchine repertoire.
He has received numerous awards, both as a dancer and for his achievements as Tulsa Ballet's Artistic Director. With his wife, Daniela Buson, he was awarded the Golden Rose for the most promising Italian dancer, and the "Leonide Massine Positano Prize" for excellence in the field. Together the couple also won the first government-sponsored international competition, held in Rome, Italy, and broadcast nationally. In 2002, Marcello received the Governor's Arts Award for his contributions to the arts in Oklahoma. Under his leadership Tulsa Ballet was also awarded the Harwelden Award for Non-Profit Organization of the Year.
SARKIS KALTAKCHIAN – Ballet Instructor
Sarkis has been teaching for Tulsa Ballet Center for Dance Education
for the past two years. He joined Tulsa Ballet in 2002 from
North Carolina Dance Theatre. Since then, he has risen to
the rank of Demi-Soloist. He studied at the Choreographic
Institute of Yerevan, Armenia, where he later danced with
the Armenian National Ballet and Opera Theatre. As a soloist
and principal dancer, Sarkis has also danced with the Classical
Ballet of Costa Rica, Les Ballets Classiques de Montreal,
the Banff Festival of the Arts, Ottawa Ballet and Hartford
Ballet. His repertory is vast and he has also worked as a
dancer and choreographer with the Chautauqua Ballet Company.
LIUDMILA POLONSKAYA – Ballet Instructor
Born in Russia in the region of Crimeia, she joined the Vaganova Ballet Academy School in St. Peterburg in 1967 at the age of ten. She graduated there under the orientation of the maitre Natalia Dydinskaya in 1974. She then became first ballerina of the Maly Opera Theater in St. Petersburg, where she interpreted the leading roles of the classic repertoire such as Swan Lake, Gisele, Le Corsaire, Paquita, Raymonda, La Bayadere, Don Quixote, Romeo and Juliet, Sleeping Beauty and The Nutcraker. During this period she had the opportunity to travel the company to France, England, Italy, Germany, Spain, Portugal, Switzerland, Japan, Italy and Holland. She graduated in Ballet Pedagogy at the Vaganova Academy Ballet in St. Petersburg, Russia in 1995, winning the diploma of Choreographer, Teacher of classical ballet, Character and Historical Dance. She was then hired as a classical ballet teacher during her five years (1995-2000) in the Vaganova Academy of Ballet and was invited to teach in ballet schools from Australia, Japan, Korea and Brazil. In 2000 she was invited to give classical ballet lessons and choreograph for the Maria Olenewa Dance School of Municipal Theater in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. In this same year she organized a workshop promoted by School Maria Olenewa. In 2004 and 2005 she was invited to teach pointe technique for the 1st and 2nd Season of the Russia Ballet in Sao Paulo. She was also invited as maitre by the Black Swan Company. Her students have been awarded important prizes in national and international competitions such as the Grand Prix de Lausanne and Youth America Grand Prix. And they can be found dancing professionally for Royal Ballet, Munique Ballet Theather, Canada's Royal Winnipeg Ballet and with scholarships in Canada’s National Ballet School and The Harid Conservatory.
MELANIE NASSER – Ballet Instructor
Ms. Nasser is a faculty member of Tulsa Ballet Center for Dance Education. She was a member of Tulsa Ballet for eight seasons and eventually retired as Principal Dancer. She also has danced with Albany Berkshire Ballet and Heinz Poll's Ohio Ballet. She has performed roles in Miss Julie, Don Quixote, La Sylphide, Anna Karenina, Gaite Parisienne, Rodeo, and Paquita in addition to roles in various contemporary works by such choreographers as Nacho Duato, Val Canaparoli, Laura Dean, Bill T. Jones and Lynn Taylor Corbett. Her hometown is The Woodlands, Texas; however she now resides in Tulsa with her husband, Christopher Jean-Richard and their son, Michael.
Tulsa Ballet Center for Dance Education draws its Faculty from around the globe, offering students the chance to study with the world's best dance artists. Guest Instructors for the 2004-2005 School Year will include:
Susan
Frei, Ballet Mistress
Susan joined Tulsa Ballet in 1987 and became Ballet Mistress in 1993. As a dancer, she has performed leading roles in Footage, Yes, Virginia, Another Piano Ballet, Filling Station, Con Amore, and The Nutcracker. She was a principal dancer with Colorado Ballet and also has danced with the Tennessee Dance Theatre and Tampa Ballet. She has staged numerous productions for Tulsa Ballet, including The Nutcracker, Zingara, Con Amore, Rhythmetron, and Grand Tarantella. Her dance training includes the Colorado Ballet with Fernand Nault and William Thompson and the American School of Ballet (Joffrey Ballet) with Basil Thompson and Meredith Baylis. Her training as a teacher includes work with the David Howard Workshops.
Daniela
Buson, Ballet Mistress
Daniela first danced as a soloist with Teatro Comunale in Florence, Italy, and has performed as a principal dancer with England's Northern Ballet, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Ballet West, Les Grands Ballet Canadiens and Cincinnati Ballet. This is her sixth season with Tulsa Ballet. She has appeared as a guest artist with English National Ballet, Basler Ballet, Ballet Arizona and Teatro Massimo di Palermo. She has danced principal roles in Giselle, Swan Lake, La Sylphides, Romeo and Juliet, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Taming of the Shrew, Anna Karenina and Lady of the Camellias. Her modern roles include Birgit Cullberg's Miss Julie, Niels Christie's Before Nightfall, James Kudelka's Desir, and Nacho Duato's Na Floresta and Rassemblement. She also has performed Balanchine's Agon, The Four Temperaments, Concerto Barocco and Symphony in C. In 1982, she and her husband, Marcello Angelini, won first prize at Rome's International Competition for Pas de Deux. They also were awarded the "Leonide Massine Positano Prize" in 1989. Offstage, she and Mr. Angelini are the parents of twin boys, Valentino and Alessandro.