Ballet Faculty

François Perron is a graduate of the Paris Opera Ballet School where he studied under the direction of Claude Bessy. Before moving to the United States, François danced with La Scala in Milan, where Maurice Béjart invited him to Brussels as part of Les Ballets Du XXe Siecle. François has had principal contracts with the Northern Ballet Theatre of England and Ballet Du Nord.

He is one of a very few dancers to have danced with all three major ballet companies in New York City. When first arriving to the United States, François joined the Joffrey Ballet in New York City, where he danced principal roles. He then danced with the New York City Ballet for six years and briefly with American Ballet Theatre.

François has appeared with numerous companies worldwide as a guest artist and served as Ballet Master for New York Theatre Ballet as well as for Florence, Italy’s Maggio Danza. In 1997, François accepted a full faculty position at Studio Maestro (now Manhattan Youth Ballet) and from 2001- 2011 was Managing Artistic Director of the school and youth company. He is regularly invited to guest teacher at major dance schools including Miami City Ballet, Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet, American Ballet Theatre’s Studio Company and the upper level at the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School at American Ballet Theatre. Perron is regularly on the faculty of American Ballet Theatre’s Young Dancer Summer Workshop and is a faculty member of The Juilliard School. François was the ballet coach of the boys of the Tony Award Winner Broadway show Billy Elliott for its entire run. He also teaches open class at Peridance Capezio Center, and his class is part of the Certificate Program at Peridance Capezio Center.

François’ students have been accepted to the Paris Opera Ballet School and as company members at American Ballet Theatre, San Francisco Ballet, Nederland Dans Theatre, North Carolina Dance Theatre, Sarasota Ballet, Carolina Ballet and Orlando Ballet.

Additionally, François Perron is an ABT® Certified Teacher, who has successfully completed the ABT® Teacher Training Intensive in Primary through Level 7 and Partnering of the ABT® National Training Curriculum.

Hilary began her training at age 8 and was dancing professionally with the Indianapolis Ballet Theater by age 14. She spent her summers training at The Chautauqua School of Dance, The Washington School of Ballet, The Rock School of The Pennsylvania Ballet, The Joffrey Ballet School and The School of American Ballet before joining the Metropolitan Opera Ballet in New York City. As a student at SAB, Hilary appeared in Christopher Wheeldon’s Le Voyage and participated in the New York City Ballet Education Department’s Lecture Demonstration program, performing Peter Martin’s Eight Easy Pieces, Balanchine’s The Nutcracker, Cortege Hongrois and Puss n’ Boots for local area school children under the direction of Suki Schorer. Hilary danced principal roles in Swan Lake and The Nutcracker, under the tutelage of New York City Ballet principal dancers Patricia McBride and Jean-Pierre Bonnefoux, and performed in Petipa’s Giselle and Balanchine’s Serenade, Western Symphony, La Source and Four Temperaments.

Hilary is an ABT® Certified Teacher, who has successfully completed the ABT® Teacher Training Intensive in Pre-Primary through Level 5 of the ABT® National Training Curriculum. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Literature and Writing from Columbia University where she graduated cum laude and lives in Montclair, NJ with her husband and three children.

A native of Brooklyn, NY, Lenore Pavlakos Morales trained with Vicky Simegiatos and continued her training at Nubert Ballet School. She was awarded a trainee scholarship to study at Harkness House for Ballet Arts. She is a graduate of The Juilliard School where she received her BFA Degree in Dance. Ms. Pavlakos Morales performed with Maryland Ballet and Eugene Ballet before joining Dance Theatre of Harlem in 1993, where she danced as a soloist and principal dancer. She additionally served as assistant rehearsal director and master teacher. While with DTH, Ms. Morales toured Europe, Asia, South America, Canada, The United Kingdom, and the United States, performing ballets by noted choreographers such as George Balanchine, Glen Tetly, John Taras, and Michael Smuin, to name a few. Ms. Pavlakos Morales is a guest teacher with “Tremaine Conventions,” teaching ballet classes to hundreds of children throughout the United States. She has performed on TV for the 2000 Kennedy Center Honors Awards and has been seen in various magazines such as Oprah, Mademoiselle, Pointe, and Dance, as well as the Italian magazine Io Donna. She formerly was the Ballet Mistress and Rehearsal Director of Staten Island Ballet and currently is the Ballet Mistress of NJDTE and a guest artist with Morales Dance.

Ms. Brikké is a senior full time faculty member at LaGuardia High School in NYC since 1998. She teaches ballet technique, pointe, dance history and Pilates. She regularly choreographs for the senior showcase and concert as well as photographs dancers for the school’s brochure and concert posters. A native of France, Ms. Brikké studied ballet with remarkable teachers such as Rosella Hightower at the Centre International de Danse in Cannes, France, Marika Besobrasova at the Academie de Danse Princesse Grace in Monaco, Terri Charlesworth at the Graduate School of Dance in Perth, Australia, and Anne-Marie Sandrini from the Ballet de l’Opéra de Paris in Paris, France. Ms. Brikké performed in a wide variety of repertory ballets with the schools she attended as well as a freelance dancer and actress in Europe, Kenya and the United States.

Ms. Brikké received the Diplôme d’Etat de Professeur de Danse Classique from the French Ministry of Culture in Paris in 1993 . She is an American Ballet Theatre Certified Teacher who has successfully completed the ABT® Teacher Training Intensive in Pre-Primary through Level 7 & Partnering of the ABT® National Training Curriculum. She periodically assists ABT examiners and NTC founders Franco De Vita and Raymond Lukens during teacher examinations.

Ms. Brikké began teaching dance in 1989 in Nairobi, Kenya, where she taught the children of the expatriate community as well as founded a dance ensemble for young talented Kenyans. Back in Paris, she taught, choreographed and coordinated dance programs at the Conservatoire des Arts in Le Mée. In 1994, Ms Brikké moved to New York where she joined the faculty of the Neubert Ballet Institute at Carnegie Hall and then the faculty of LaGuardia High School in 1998. Ms. Brikké has taught for several summer programs including Paul Taylor American Modern Dance Summer Intensive in New York City, New Jersey Ballet Company, Westchester Ballet Center and Belvoir Terrace in Lenox, Massachussetts.

An avid learner and reader, Ms. Brikké regularly attends professional workshops on an array of topics pertaining to dance, teaching and wellbeing.

Born in Guadalajara, México, Mercedes Pablos trained with Alexander and Violette Zybine.

Throughout her career, Ms. Pablos has performed with companies such as: Chicago City Ballet under the direction of Maria Tallchief; the National Ballet of Mexico; Ohio Ballet, directed by Heinz Poll, with whom she toured in Central and South America; Feld Ballet and Charleston Civic Ballet.  In 1989 she joined Ballet Hispanico and was on the faculty of the Ballet Hispanico School for twelve years and served as School Director.  She has been guest teacher at the Dance Department of Indiana University, Sarah Lawrence College, and the New Jersey Dance Theatre Ensemble.

She received her MFA from Purchase College, SUNY, earning the MFA award and has served as a jury member for International Dance Competitions in Nyon, Switzerland and México City. She has been Teacher in Residence at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts in Singapore, where she taught and choreographed a piece for the graduation ceremony.   She had the honor to participate in the first Dance Series at the White House under the Obama administration. From 2012 to 2014 she was a panelist for the National Endowment for the Arts.   Mercedes currently teaches at the Conservatory of Dance at SUNY Purchase College, the Department of Dance at Hunter College, and The Ailey School in New York City.

Born in New York City, Catherine Hurlin began her dance training at Scarsdale Ballet Studio and Westchester Dance Academy.  At the 2007 Youth America Grand Prix New York City Finals she was awarded the Hope Award.  The following year she received a full scholarship to the American Ballet Theatre Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School under the direction of Franco De Vita.  She was awarded the first Angelina Ballerina Stars of Tomorrow Scholarship in 2010 and was a Northern Trust Scholar in 2011.  She attended ABT’s Summer Intensive as a National Training Scholar in 2010, 2011 and 2012.

Hurlin’s repertoire with ABT Studio Company included Flames of Paris, George Balanchine’s Tarantella, the Dying Swan in Alexei Ratmansky’s Le Carnaval des Animaux, Raymond Luken’s Verdi and Paul Taylor’s Airs.  As a student, she performed with American Ballet Theatre at the Metropolitan Opera House in Mozartiana, The Sleeping Beauty and Le Corsaire. Hurlin created the role of Young Clara in Alexei Ratmansky’s The Nutcracker.

Rosemary Sabovick-Bleich was born in New Jersey and trained with Gertrude Weinberg and Alfredo Corvino as a member of the NJDTE. At the age of seventeen, she performed for the first time professionally with the New Jersey Ballet Company. She then toured internationally with the Pavlova Celebration, dancing lead roles in the “Fairy Doll” and “Giselle”. Upon returning to New Jersey Ballet, she rose to be their leading principal ballerina for over 15 years. Ms. Sabovick-Bleich has toured Taiwan and Moscow with the Stars of American Ballet Theatre and Bermuda with NJBC. She is known for her versatility and technical brilliance in such roles as Sylvia Pas de Deux, DeMille’s “Cowgirl” in Rodeo and the Sugar Plum Fairy. She has worked with many noted choreographers including, Vicente Nebrada, Norbert Vesak, Edward Villella and Robert North. She is currently on faculty for NJDTE as well as a faculty member with New Jersey School of Ballet and New Jersey Ballet Company.

Jessica Batten trained with New Jersey Dance Theater Ensemble under Nancy Turano and graduated cum Laude in 2005 from SUNY Purchase with a BFA in Dance. Ms. Batten has danced professionally with: NJDTE, Cedar Lake II, Connecticut Ballet, Bradley Shelver Contemporary Dance Theater, Ballet Hispanico of NY, and most currently at the Metropolitan Opera and with Nimbus Dance Works, among many other companies and choreographers.

Ms. Batten was invited to perform in Cali, Colombia in the Fifth Annual International Dance Festival 2011, representing the USA with Earl Mosely’s Diversity of Dance and has traveled the world performing and teaching. She has also performed with the Kirov Ballet at the Metropolitan Opera House in NYC. And in 2008, she appeared on the AMICI Television show in Rome, Italy as a Guest Profesionista. Additionally she has appeared in film and several more recent TV credits, such as Law & Order: Criminal Intent.

Ms. Batten enjoys teaching and choreographing in addition to her performance career, and is on faculty at The Joffrey Ballet School, NJ Dance Theater Ensemble, Columbus Pre-School, and The School of Nimbus Dance Works, and she has taught at Amherst College the last two summers.

Peter Brandenhoff is a Danish ballet teacher and former ballet dancer currently based in New York City.

As the third generation of his family at the Royal Danish Ballet, he chose to pursue a career abroad after his graduation and went on to dance with Boston Ballet II, Hamburg Ballet and San Francisco Ballet. In his 15 years with SFB he rose to the rank of soloist with a wide repertoire of lead and supporting roles spanning from the romantic classics of Petipa, Bournonville and the modern classics of Balanchine, Robbins, Taylor, MacMillan, Forsythe to the avant-garde modern of Redha. He created works with Mark Morris, Christopher Wheeldon, Alexei Ratmansky, Yuri Possokhov, James Kudelka, Helgi Thomasson, Val Caniparoli, and was critically acclaimed for his character portrayals.

As a guest he performed with Royal Winnipeg Ballet, Les Ballets Grandiva, South African Ballet Theatre, San Francisco Opera and numerous tours with the Soloists of the Royal Danish Ballet. In 2004 he helped initiate an outreach collaboration between SFB and South African Ballet Theatre, which steered him towards teaching. In 2008 he became ballet master of the boys program at Ballet San Jose School, quadrupling the enrollment in the first year. He has taught and staged Bournonville at the schools of San Francisco Ballet; Oregon Ballet Theater; Ballet San Jose; Peridance; Ballet Academy East, as well as company classes at Royal Danish Ballet; Ballet San Jose, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater.

Upon retiring from the stage he completed a BFA with honors from St. Mary’s College in California, and spearheaded a Fellowship program in Arts Administration at CalPerformances at UCBerkeley, California.

Peter Brandenhoff is a faculty member at the Ailey School in New York City, where he teaches in the Professional and Junior divisions. He also teaches his own pre-professional training program for students ages 7-14 in New York City.

Alexandra Dalli (BFA, NCPT) is originally from Cranford, New Jersey. She began her dance training at the age of three at the Westfield School of Dance and continued at the New Jersey Dance Theatre Ensemble while participating in Cranford High School’s Dance Academy. At NJDTE, Dalli performed works by Sidra Bell, Adam Barruch, Bradley Shelver, and Nancy Turano. Over the years, she has studied at several summer and winter intensive programs including American Ballet Theater’s Collegiate Summer Intensive, Pre-Movement Invention Project, Joffrey Ballet School’s summer intensive, and 10 Hairy Legs winter and summer intensives. She graduated cum laude in 2018 from Rutgers University, Mason Gross School of the Arts with a BFA in Dance. At Rutgers she was fortunate enough to perform works by Brian Brooks, Chien-Ying Wang, and Keith Thompson. During her time at Rutgers she completed the Polestar Pilates 450-hour Teacher Training Program and had the opportunity to complete an internship at Polestar Pilates España in Madrid, Spain. She was certified through the Pilates Method Alliance in 2017. Currently, Alexandra assists Polestar Pilates’ NYC Comprehensive Teacher Training as a Mentor-in-Training, teaches group and private Pilates to all ages, and is excited for another year as a faculty member teaching ballet at NJDTE.

Shannon Perez began studying dance at a young age in Parlin, New Jersey. She studied at Boston
Ballet School, Dance Stop Dance Education Center, and New Jersey Dance Theatre Ensemble.
Shannon holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree in Contemporary Dance from The Boston
Conservatory, where she worked with an incredible array of artists, and also began to
choreograph.
Shannon has had the opportunity to perform works by Aaron Atkins, Parren Ballard, Al
Blackstone, Jean Emile, Larry Keigwin, Jose Limon, Andrea Miller, Alwin Nikolai, Daniel
Pelzig, Stephen Pier, Katarzyna Skarpetowska, Paul Taylor, Twyla Tharp, and Robert Moses, for
whom she served as rehearsal director. She furthered her teaching experience at the Boston
Ballet School and Concord Academy alongside Richard Colton.
Shannon joined Ballet Inc. in April, 2014 and continues to perform in New York City. She
continues to teach and choreograph throughout New Jersey.

Alexandra Butman is a graduate of Morris County School of Technology as a dance major in the Academy for Visual and Performing Arts. There, she was an honors student and a part of the National Honors Society for Dance Arts. In 2019 she was awarded the New Jersey Governor’s Award in Arts Education for Artistic Excellence and Leadership in Dance. During her studies at MCST, she was given the opportunity to co-choreograph two pieces entitled Reviving Memories and Farewell on her peers.
Outside of school, Alexandra studied at New Jersey Dance Theatre Ensemble, a pre-professional school under the direction of Nancy Turano. During her time at NJDTE, she performed signature works by world renown artists like Loni Landon, Nancy Turano, Kate Skarpetowska, Jean Emile, Tim Stickney and Robert Garland.
She had the opportunity to spend the summer of 2018 and 2019 with the Ecole Supérieure De Ballet Du Québec in Montreal, Canada, under a full scholarship. In addition to studying more traditional styles of dance, Alexandra also studied character dance with Riverdance Soloist Andrij Cybyk and rhythmic gymnastics under Russian master of sport Natalia Ejova. She recently completed a contract Missouri Contemporary Ballet and will be dancing with Alabama Ballet later this year.