Covenant Ballet Theate of Brooklyn, Inc. & CBTB Dance Academy

ARTISTIC DIRECTOR
Marla A. Hirokawa

BOARD OF DIRECTORS
André Setyon, President
Pasquale Santoro, Treasurer
Lucie Santoro, Secretary
Geovanni Esté, Member
Lawrence Lam, Advisor

HONORARY BOARD
Marty Markowitz
Brooklyn Borough President
Mike Nelson
Councilman

MARLA A. HIROKAWA trained and performed professionally in Hawaii, California and New York. She received her BA in dance (Cum Laude) at the University of California, Irvine and founded Covenant Dance Studio in 1987. She is currently CBTB and CBTB Academy’s artistic director. She has taught at Broadway Dance Center, the Brooklyn Academy for the Performing Arts, and she is the ballet and modern dance instructor at Kingsborough Community College. She was a Teaching Artist for the New York City Ballet Education Department and currently creates and directs all CBTB’s educational programs.

REBECCAH HOPE BRANN has studied with Ms. Marla since she was six years old! She received her Certificate of Dance from the Alvin Ailey School and is currently a free lance dancer. Rebeccah is also the founder of the HopeDanceNYC project, which will be returning to the West Coast for their second annual summer workshop series this summer. Rebeccah continues to work as a personal trainer and fitness instructor in the NYC area. Rebeccah was a member of Covenant Dance Theatre since 1998 and became a Principal of CBTB in 2001.

ALLISON JAY-BABER is originally from Lakeland, Florida. She trained with Florida Dance Theatre and the Harrison Performing Arts School, and spent summers on full scholarship at The Joffrey Ballet School and Hartford Ballet School. She has danced professionally with Hartford Ballet, Smuin Ballets, and Ballet Met where she had the opportunity to dance many featured roles. Allison recently finished touring with the Broadway show Movin’ Out. Allison joined CBTB in 2007.

KRISTIN LICATA received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the Fordham University/Alvin Ailey program. She has taught dance at the Cornerstone Learning Center, NY School of the Arts, NJ and in Oregon as part of a residency with Hope DanceNYC. Kristin has been an instructor with the academy since 2008 and a principal dancer with CBTB since 2009.

JOSE RIVERA trained at the Gallman’s Newark Dance Theater School and graduated from the Julliard School and the School of American Ballet. He also studied at the Dance Theater of Harlem and performed professionally in Germany. In the US, he performed with small companies in the New York City area, then with the Ballethnic Dance Company in Atlanta, Georgia for eleven seasons. He has danced with other US companies and most recently with Connecticut Ballet Theatre. Mr. Jose also teaches in the New York City and Westchester areas. He is a principal with CBTB since 2009.

MATTHEW WESTERBY trained at the Laban Centre, London. He has taught in a variety of professional and community settings, and to all ages and abilities. His teaching credits include Laban, Random Dance Company, Smallpetitklein, the Scottish School of Contemporary Dance, Stagecoach Theatre Arts (all UK), for Silesian Dance Theatre (Poland), and since moving to New York, for Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company and for CBTB's Dance Academy and AIE programs. Matthew has been a principal dancer with CBTB since 2005.

LAURA ASSANTE trained at Covenant Dance Studio and is currently a BFA ballet major at Marymount College. She attended the American Ballet Theatre summer program and the Joffrey Ballet School. She has performed and taught for the Hope NYC dance company workshops in Oregon, performed with Neville Dance Theatre and is a soloist with CBTB.

SHEILA LEDGIN received her training from Covenant Dance Studio and from the Ballet Center of Brooklyn, began teaching at Covenant Dance Studio since 1995. She was a dance instructor at the Marine Park Summer Day Camp, and Kids-N-Shape. She also works for the Chinese-American Planning Counsel After-School Program. She is presently an Educational Assistant at P.S. 153.

MANDY SAU-YI CHAN received her BFA in dance (First Class Honors) at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts. She was awarded a two year scholarship from the Hong Kong Jockey Club Music and Dance Fund to pursue her graduate studies in New York and in 2002, received her MFA in Dance from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts. Miss Mandy has choreographed for and danced with different companies and choreographers throughout NYC. She is a certified Pilates teacher through Physicalmind Institute at Movements Afoot, has taught Pilates at Kingsborough Community College, and is a certified Yoga teacher at OM Yoga Center NYC and a certified Holistic Health Counselor at Institute for Integrative Nutrition. She is a principal dancer with CBTB.

BRENDA R. NEVILLE received her BA (Cum Laude) in Dance Pedagogy at Butler University in Indiana. She trained at Milwaukee Ballet School, the Ailey School, American Ballet Theatre School, and others. She has spent the last 15 yrs. performing, choreographing and teaching ballet and ethnic dance in over 18 different countries with various companies. She was a principal dancer with CBTB and also Founder/Director of Neville Dance Theatre.

EMILY SANTORO began dancing at the age of 4, and trained at Covenant Dance Studio from age 10 to 18. She attended Adelphi University's dance program before training at the Alvin Ailey School's dance certificate program. She is currently studying to be an early childhood education teacher, and is thrilled to be an official member of the staff of CBTB Dance Academy teaching Pre-Ballet and a CBTB soloist.

JOSEPH TUDISCO is a CBTB principal dancer who studied dance at SUNY Purchase and received his BA in Arts from the Empire SUNY College. He received full scholarships to the Alvin Ailey American Dance Center, Martha Graham Contemporary Dance School, and David Howard Ballet School. He has also taught at the Kingsborough Community College Dance Club and Danceworks; and has choreographed on students at St. Edmunds Preparatory School and Brooklyn Tech High School.

LEAH LOVE SOSA started dancing at Covenant Dance Studio at the age of 4. She is a CBTB company member and has enjoyed the privilege of participating in many CBTB productions, including The Orphan Train and Nisei. Leah is blessed to be a mom of three boys and is excited to be able to teach the academy's Creative Movement class.

MILA GRINBERG owes most of her training to the gifted teachers of CBTB. In 2007 she graduated Magna Cum Laude from Point Park University with a BA in Dance. She has traveled and performed with Hope Dance NYC during their summer workshops in Oregon. Miss Mila is honored to be a teacher and company soloist of Covenant Ballet Theatre of Brooklyn.

NANAKO KITAGAWA is originally from Japan where she received her early training. She also trained at prestigious ballet schools in Canada, France and Austria. She has performed for the USA Ballet Company, Connecticut Ballet, Long Island Ballet Company and the Atlantic Ballet Company. She has also taught at the Artscure Center in NY and at the USA Ballet Academy in Illinois. Miss Nanako joined the CBTB Academy in 2009.