Instructors
Pollyana Ribeiro
Artistic Director
Pollyana Ribeiro
Artistic Director
Originally from Rio de Janeiro Brazil, Pollyana Ribeiro began her dance training at the age of three with Hortencia Mollo. She also studied with Tatiana Leskova at the Municipal Theatre in Rio de Janeiro. After winning three consecutive gold medals at the festival de Joenville, she was awarded a scholarship to the Harid Conservatory in Boca Raton, Florida. In July 1992, Ribeiro won the gold medal at the International competition in Helsinki, Finland. At age 16, she began her professional career with the Boston Ballet and later was promoted to principal dancer there. She was a strong fixture at the Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre School from 2005-2014. In 2014 Ribeiro joined the prestigious San Francisco Ballet School. During her time with San Francisco Ballet, Ribeiro was featured in the February 2016 issue of Dance Studio Life, where she was recognized as one of the “fresh voices that enrich the offerings at the San Francisco Ballet School.” The Brazilian Consulate has awarded Ribeiro a trophy in honor of her excellence in the arts. Ribeiro’s Repertoire includes many lead roles in works by Nureyev, MacMillan, Cranko, Balanchine, Sir Fredrick Ashton, Forsythe, Nacho Duato, Tywla Tharp, Rudy Van Dantzig, Peter Martin, Christopher Wheeldon, Jerome Robbins, Maina Gielgud, Stanton Welch, Daniel Pelzig, Paul Taylor. She has performed principal roles in such classical ballets as: La Bayadere, Giselle, Le Corsaire, Don Quixote, Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty, The Nutcracker, Coppelia, Van Dantzig’s Romeo and Juliet, Cranko’s Taming of the Shrew and Onegin; MacMillan’s Winter Dreams; Ashton’s La Fille mal Gardee; and Welch’s Madame Butterfly. Ribeiro’s Neoclassical Repertoire includes such ballets; Balanchine’s Danses Concertantes, Capriccio for Piano and Orchestra, Who Cares?, Serenade, Divertimento No. 15, Theme and Variations, and Ballo della Regina; Tharp’s Brief Fling, Waterbaby Bagatelles, and In the Upper Room; Duato’s Without Words and Jardi Tancat; Kylian’s Falling Angels; Robbin’s Interplay; Forsythe In the Middle Somewhat Elevated; Taylor’s Company B; and Wheeldon’s The Four Seasons and Corbantic Ecstasies. Ribeiro’s reputation in the world of dance has afforded her international acclaim and recognition. She has graced the international stages of Spain, France, Japan, Korea, Buddapest, Prague, Montreal, Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo, and Brazilia. She has had the pleasure of working with such director’s as Bruce Marks, Anna Marie Holmes, Miko Nissenen, Terrence Orr, Dennis Marshal, Marjorie Grundvig, Helgi Tomasson and Patrick Armand.
Robert Moore
Artistic Director
Robert Moore
Artistic Director
A native of Indiana, Robert began his dance training at the age of ten with the White River Ballet School in Noblesville, IN. Moore continued his training, receiving a full scholarship to the Harid Conservatory in Boca Raton, Florida. Upon graduation in 1996, Moore started his professional career with the Boston Ballet. After nine successful years with Boston Ballet as a company member and summer intensive instructor, he joined the Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre in 2006 as a soloist where he was the first American to dance the lead role in John Neumeier’s ballet “Street Car Named Desire.” Known for his expertise in partnering, Moore was a popular faculty member with the Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre School. In 2014 he accepted a principal position with the Smuin Ballet Company in San Francisco, CA where he furthered his contemporary element in ballet. Moore’s Repertoire includes many lead roles in works by Balanchine, Cranko, Kylian, Neumeier, MacMillan, Christopher Wheeldon, Val Caniparoli, Mark Morris, Twyla Tharp, Paul Taylor, Helen Picket, and Ben Stevenson. He has performed in such classical ballets as The Nutcracker, Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty, Les Corsair, Don Quixote, Copellia, Gisselle, Cinderella and Romeo and Juliet. In 2004 Robert, was invited to dance the lead role in John Cranko’s, Onegin, with the Teatro Municipal in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. His Neoclassical ballet repertoire includes such ballets as Balanchine’s Theme and Variations, Serenade, and Agon; Taylor’s Company B; Tharp’s Upper Room; Whelldon’s Firebird, and Four Seasons; and Caniparoli’s Lady of the Camellias and Tutto Eccetto il Lavandino; and Kylian’s Return to a Strange Land. Moore has had the pleasure of working with such director’s as: Bruce Marks, Anna Maire Holmes, Miko Nissenen, Richard Cragun, Terrence Orr, and Celia Fushille.
Jessica Hendricks Gomillion
Instructor
Jessica Hendricks Gomillion
Instructor
Jessica (Hendricks) Gomillion, a native of Noblesville, began dancing at the age of 3 with White River Ballet. She continued her training at Jordan Academy of Dance at Butler University. Upon graduation from Noblesville she received a full scholarship to study ballet at Butler University. She graduated Cum Laude with at B.F.A. in Ballet Performance in 2003. She then danced with Ballet Magnificat! in Jackson, Mississippi. In 2005 she began her full-time teaching career at Belhaven University. While in Mississippi, she attended teacher training workshops at the USA International Ballet Competition. She has since taught at Anderson University, Butler University, Jordan Academy of Dance, Performerʼs Edge, Ballet Magnificat!, and Central Indiana Academy of Dance. Jessiʼs teaching career spans over 13 years. During which time she has taught ballet, pointe, variations, improvisation, period dance, conditioning for dancers, pedagogy, and ballet terminology. Jessiʼs choreography has been performed by the Boze Lyric Theatre, Central Indiana Dance Ensemble, Jordan Dance Ensemble, and by dance majors of Anderson and Belhaven University. Jessi has served as Interim Dance Coordinator of the Dance Department and Director of Fall Into Dance (Anderson University), Director of the Summer Intensive and choreographer for Jordan Dance Ensemble (Jordan Academy of Dance at Butler University), Head of the Trainees (Ballet Magnificat!), coach for dancers involved in Youth America Grand Prix, and Apprentice Company Director (Central Indiana Dance Ensemble). Jessi has had the opportunity of working with Bo and Stephanie Spassoff, Nan Giordano, Finis Jhung, Michelle Jarvis, Derek Reid, Cynthia Newland, Laura Byram, Laura Morton, Stephen Wynne, Shannon Jenkins, Casey Clark, Suzann Delay, and Larry Attaway. Jessi is married and has four daughters and lives in Noblesville.
Jessica Smith
Instructor
Jessica Smith
Instructor
Jessica has been dancing since the age of five beginning at various studios and regional companies in upstate New York as well as New York City. She had the opportunity as a child to train classically in Fosse Jazz with Ricci Adan and Balanchine ballet technique both with her original instructor, Jana Fugate, as well as with many members of NYCB through the New York State Summer School of the Arts program in Saratoga. Other instructors from her childhood professional education included: Denise Limoli (ABT), Miryam Moutillet (Les Grands Ballets Canadiens) and Debra Fernandez. Later, Jessica trained with her coach Chiara Lomellini-Ajkun in both Vaganova and French school ballet techniques. Her experience with many techniques led to scholarship opportunities at many summer programs including: CPYB, NYSSA, ABT, Boston Ballet, and Kaatsbaan International Dance Center. Jessica elected to continue her professional dance education as a merit scholarship student at Butler University where she graduated Cum Laude with high dance department honors and a BFA in Dance Performance in 2005. At Butler, she had the honor of studying under Norman Walker, Rochelle Zide-Booth, Marek Cholewa, Rosanna Ruffo, Cynthia Pratt, Michelle Jarvis, Stephan Laurent and Kenny Sheppard in ballet, modern, jazz, musical theater, flamenco, folk/world dance and music programs for dancers. Jessica began her tenure as a beginning/intermediate ballet instructor and rehearsal assistant in 1999 under Darlene Myers with the Northeast Ballet in Schenectady, NY while still attending high school. She also served as a rehearsal assistant and junior company instructor for the Ajkun Ballet’s first two seasons (2003 and 2004) of their annual Performing in New York summer series that welcomes international youth dancers. Jessica is very excited to share her knowledge and passion for dance with the youngest members of the next generation of dancers at En Pointe Indiana Ballet!