Jake Nowicki is a native of Long island, where he began ballet class at American Ballet Studio at age three. Later training included Boston Ballet’s Summer Intensive Program and the New York State Summer School of the Arts in Saratoga.

Most recently, Jake was an apprentice with Ballet Fleming in Philadelphia. When he’s not in the studio or on stage, his interests include psychology foreign affairs, video games, the novels of Stephen King and the TV show, “Lost.”

Molly Rooney, a native of Upper Dublin, Pennsylvania, fell in love with ballet at the age of three.  She trained under Nadia Pavlenko and Maxim Ponomarenko at Dance Elite and under Lisa Collins Vidnovik at Metropolitan Ballet, before spending a year at the Nutmeg Conservatory of the Arts in Torrington, Connecticut.  Most recently, she was a dance major at Point Park University in Pittsburgh.  Molly loves the outdoors and spends her free time hiking, camping, and biking.

Hannah Epstein a Wilmington native, began her dance studies when she was two and a half.  She trained first with Victor Wesley and then at First State Ballet Theatre, where she performed in numerous productions.  In addition to dancing in FSBT’s professional company, Hannah is a full-time sophomore at the University of Delaware.  She loves to read classic literature and to cook.

Robert Grenfell has headed FSBT as president and pro bono executive director since the company’s founding in November, 1999. Following a 39-year career at Verizon Telecommunications, where he was director-Employee/Executive Communication for Verizon’s 33,000-employee nationwide Network Operations business unit, he became principal in 2003 of Stoneybrook Group, a training, communication and design firm with projects in the mid-Atlantic and the Lowcountry of South Carolina. Under his leadership, FSBT was invited to relocate to the Grand Opera House in 2003 and raised the funds to build state-of-the-art studios. He also led FSBT’s emergence as Delaware’s profesional ballet company, expanded the company’s performing venues to major theaters in each of Delaware’s three counties and developed significant collaborations with SPARX, OperaDelaware, the Delaware Symphony Orchestra and the Wilmington Children’s Chorus. Mr. Grenfell has been a familiar figure on Delaware stages for more than three decades and has performed frequently in featured roles as an actor, dancer, singer and choreographer with numerous Delaware performing arts companies including OperaDelaware, Russian Ballet Theatre and FSBT. Wilmington Mayor James Baker presented him with the Wilmingtonian Award for outstanding contributions to the quality of life in Wilmington at FSBT’s 2006 Arabesque festival.

Mary Kate Reynolds grew up in Greenville, South Carolina where she began studying ballet at age three, and at age fourteen, she began training with Carolina Ballet Theatre under Hernan Justo and Anita Pacylowski. She completed her high school education online so that she could rehearse with the company during the day and do school work at night. She was a trainee with Carolina Ballet Theatre for three years. Mary Kate received additional training during summers spent in Florida under Magaly Suarez and at American Ballet Theater’s summer intensive in New York City. Her other ballet achievements include competing in the Youth America Grand Prix Regional competition, where she placed in the top twelve in 2008 and won third in Contemporary and second in Classical and received a scholarship to the Bolshoi Ballet summer intensive in 2009. One of her most treasured experiences was working with choreographer Alonzo King, rehearsing and performing his Pas de Deux from Map. Mary Kate enjoys the arts in general, and, when she’s not dancing, she likes to read.

Caili Quan grew up on Guam and began her dance training with John Grensback and Bettina Sanzotta at BodyArts. When she was sixteen, she moved to New York City to study with Darla Hoover at Ballet Academy East and then to Richmond, where she was a trainee with the Richmond Ballet. Two years later, she relocated to Charlotte to become an apprentice for the North Carolina Dance Theatre under Jean-Pierre Bonnefoux and Patricia McBride. Her favorite ballet is Balanchine’s “Serenade”, the music of which brings her to tears whenever she hears it. In addition to ballet, Caili loves hip-hop and takes classes in New York whenever she can.

Andrea Olazagasti grew up here in Wilmington, where she studied at the Delaware Dance Company and attended Cab Calloway High School before finishing her schooling at the Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet in Carlisle.  She participated in Louisville Ballet’s summer intensive for two years and spent one year there as a trainee before moving to Providence, Rhode Island to dance with Festival Ballet.  Andrea is thrilled to be back in her hometown.  She also teaches ballet in The School of First State Ballet Theatre.

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Lev Vladimirovich Assaouliak graduated from Perm State Choreographic Institute and embarked on a twenty-year career as an international soloist.  He was a laureate at the Varna International Ballet Competition and holds the title Honored Artist of the Russian Republic.  As a teacher and ballet master, Mr. Assaouliak has worked with major ballet companies across the former U.S.S.R.  He was ballet master of the prestigious Russian State Theatre of Classical Ballet, which performs in the Palace of Congresses within the walls of the Kremlin in Moscow.  Vasiliev and Kasathikina, legendary dancers of the Bolshoi Ballet, headed the company.  In 1996, Mr. Assaouliak became ballet master of the Russian Ballet Theater of Delaware and is currently Assistant Artistic Director of the First State Ballet Theatre.

Kristina Kambalov was born in Evansville, Indiana and, at the age of nine, began studying ballet with Jean Allenby. She continued her studies at North Carolina School of the Arts and at the Joffrey Ballet School and danced with Ballet Theatre Pennsylvania and Russian Ballet Theater of Delaware.

In 1999, Ms. Kambalov co-founded First State Ballet Theatre. Under her direction, the School of First State Ballet Theatre has built an extraordinary record of achievement. Students of the school have attended and received scholarships to some of the most prestigious ballet schools in the world and have been accepted to compete in Prix de Lausanne, World Ballet Competition, American Ballet Competition, and Youth American Grand Prix. Students of the school have gone on to dance with Festival Ballet of Rhode Island, Alabama Ballet, Los Angeles Ballet, Richmond Ballet, Tulsa Ballet and First State Ballet Theatre. In 2007, FSBT students were invited to perform at the 50th Anniversary Gala di Danza in Italy’s Spoleto Festival dei Du Mondi.

In 2006, Ms. Kambalov received the Wilmingtonian Award for outstanding contributions to the quality of life in Wilmington.

Ms. Kambalov’s philosophy is to teach every student as though he or she has the potential to be a professional dancer. She says, “I know they won’t all end up dancing professionally, but what they learn from their dance training—discipline, team work, confidence, the joy of attaining goals—will carry over to whatever they choose to do in life.”

Katharine Nace grew up in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, where she began taking ballet at age three. She studied at the Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet under Marcia Weary for thirteen years before leaving to attend SUNY Purchase, where she received Martha Graham training. Eventually, Katharine transferred to Virginia Commonwealth University, where Richmond Ballet’s ballet master Jerri Kumery oversaw her senior project. Katharine was a trainee with Richmond Ballet from 2006 to 2009 and performed four musicals with Theatre West Virginia in the summer of 2009. When she’s not dancing, she loves to write poetry and to listen to classic rock and heavy metal.

Alex Buckner's early interest in musical theater led him to study dance, and he became serious about ballet at age twelve. A native of Las Vegas, he studied at the Las Vegas Academy of the Performing Arts and graduated from the Virginia School of the Arts in Lynchburg. He danced under Stoner Winslet at Richmond Ballet from 2005 to 2009, as a trainee and an apprentice. Since joining FSBT in 2010, Alex has choreographed several contemporary pieces for the company. This season he will choreograph “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” FSBT’s contribution to Delaware’s “The Year of the Bard” festival. In his spare time he plays drums and video games.

Pasha Kambalov was born in Russia. He began studying ballet at age eight at the Perm State Choreographic School, and, at age thirteen, he continued his studies at the world-renowned Vaganova School in St. Petersburg. At just sixteen-years old, he danced the role of the Prince in the full-length Nutracker with famed ballerina Larissa Lezhnina to a sold-out show at the legendary Mariinsky Theatre. Upon graduating, Mr. Kambalov danced with the Donetsk Opera and Ballet Theater in the Ukraine, National Ballet of Komi in Russia, New Jersey Ballet, Ballet Theater Pennsylvania, and Russian Ballet Theater of Delaware.

He has performed leading roles in nearly all of the great classical ballets, including Don Quixote, Giselle, Sleeping Beauty, Spartacus, Swan Lake, and Romeo and Juliet, as well as in the works of such contemporary choreographers as Robert La Fosse, Leslie Brown, Gerald Arpino, and Daniel Baudendistel. Mr. Kambalov also performed as a guest artist with “Stars of the American Ballet,” Ballet Teatro Municipal de San Juan, National Ballet of New Jersey, and many other companies.

In 1999, he co-founded First State Ballet Theatre for which he directed acclaimed performances of many classical and contemporary ballets, and in 2004, he founded Arabesque, Wilmington’s international ballet festival. He received the Wilmingtonian Award for outstanding contributions to the quality of life in Wilmington in 2006, and, in that same year, was recognized for his teaching by the National Foundation for Advancement in Arts.

Mr. Kambalov is honored to bring the power and beauty of professional ballet to the rich cultural life of the state of Delaware and of the Mid-Atlantic region.

Andrew Delaney is a native of Texas. He was introduced to ballet at the age of three, when he saw Houston Ballet’s Nutcracker in Jones Hall and decided that was what he wanted to do. He began classes at the Woodlands Dance Academy a few months later. Since moving to Delaware with his family, he has studied at FSBT and performed in productions of Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty, Coppelia, and Don Quixote. When he is not dancing he enjoys mountain biking, playing soccer with his friends, and listening to all kinds of music.

Leonid Goykhman was born in Chisinau, Moldova, where mandatory ballet training begins in kindergarten.  When he was six, his family moved to Philadelphia, and a year later, Leonid began studying with Denis Gronostaisky and Anastasia Babayeva at the Academy of International Ballet in Media, Pennsylvania.  He attended Philadelphia’s University of the Arts on a full dance scholarship and received his B.A. in Dance Education in May 2010.  In 2007, he took first place at the Youth America Grand Prix Regionals for his Classical Variation and was also named Best Male Dancer at the Youth Dance Festival of New Jersey.  Most recently, he competed in the 2012 Boston International Ballet Competition. When he is not dancing, Leonid loves attending live arts performances of all types.

Emily Shenaut grew up in Davis, California and was inspired to be a dancer when she saw a performance of “Nutcracker” at age six.  Emily began her studies in Sacramento, under Stuart Carroll and Sharon Newton and she attended summer intensives at Boston Ballet and Richmond Ballet, where she performed as a company trainee from 2006 to 2008. Last season, Emily thrilled audiences as “Giselle” in the Delaware premiere of that work. She graduates from the University of Delaware in 2012 with a bachelor’s degree in psychology. In her spare time, she reads, draws, paints and writes.

Justin J. Estelle Estelle is from Clarendon, a small farming town in Vermont, where he began studying ballet at the age of three.  He went on to study at the National Ballet School of Canada and completed the American Ballet Theater’s summer intensive programs in both Detroit and New York City.  Justin won first and second prizes in the Grand Prix Chicago and participated in Richmond Ballet’s trainee program in 2007. Most recently he competed in the 2011 and 2012 Boston International Ballet Competitions. Justin’s riveting performances include Jesus in Viktor Plotnikov’s “Everlasting Arms” and the “Balloon Pas de Deux” in “Nonsense in the Sense of Innocence,” also by Plotnikov. He is also an aspiring singer.

Jake Allison grew up in Muscatine, Iowa, population 30,000. At the age of sixteen, after being introduced to dance by Bruce Brown, Jake gave up football to study ballet. He continued his training with Mary Price Boday at Oklahoma City University, before coming to First State Ballet Theatre in early 2007. Jake loves Charles Dickens, the History Channel, and is a devoted Iowa Hawkeyes football fan. Jake was thrilling as the Matador Espada in FSBT’s 2008 performance of Don Quixote.

Pasha Kambalov was born in Russia. He began studying ballet at age eight at the Perm State Choreographic School, and, at age thirteen, he continued his studies at the world-renowned Vaganova School in St. Petersburg. At just sixteen-years old, he danced the role of the Prince in the full-length Nutracker with famed ballerina Larissa Lezhnina to a sold-out show at the legendary Mariinsky Theatre. Upon graduating, Mr. Kambalov danced with the Donetsk Opera and Ballet Theater in the Ukraine, National Ballet of Komi in Russia, New Jersey Ballet, Ballet Theater Pennsylvania, and Russian Ballet Theater of Delaware.

He has performed leading roles in nearly all of the great classical ballets, including Don Quixote, Giselle, Sleeping Beauty, Spartacus, Swan Lake, and Romeo and Juliet, as well as in the works of such contemporary choreographers as Robert La Fosse, Leslie Brown, Gerald Arpino, and Daniel Baudendistel. Mr. Kambalov also performed as a guest artist with “Stars of the American Ballet,” Ballet Teatro Municipal de San Juan, National Ballet of New Jersey, and many other companies.

In 1999, he co-founded First State Ballet Theatre for which he directed acclaimed performances of many classical and contemporary ballets, and in 2004, he founded Arabesque, Wilmington’s international ballet festival. He received the Wilmingtonian Award for outstanding contributions to the quality of life in Wilmington in 2006, and, in that same year, was recognized for his teaching by the National Foundation for Advancement in Arts.

Mr. Kambalov is honored to bring the power and beauty of professional ballet to the rich cultural life of the state of Delaware and of the Mid-Atlantic region.