2011-2012 Guest Artists

Anna Liceica

Ms. Liceica began training in her native Bucharest, Romania at the National Ballet School. She later studied with Yvonne Mounsey at the Westside School of Ballet in Los Angeles, and at the School of American Ballet in New York City, where she received the Mae L. Wein Award for Outstanding Promise. A prize winner at the Romanian National Ballet Competition, the Third Nureyev International Ballet Competition, and Maya Plisetskaya International Ballet Competition, Anna was a member of the New York City Ballet from 1993-1996, before joining the American Ballet Theater in 1996.

Anna rose to Soloist with American Ballet Theater in August 2000. Her roles with the Company include the first Shade variation in La Bayadère, the Winter Fairy in Cinderella, an Odalisque in Le Corsaire, a Flower Girl in Don Quixote, the Russian Ballerina in Gala Performance, Moyna and Peasant Pas de Deux in Giselle, the Snow Queen in The Nutcracker, Silver in The Sleeping Beauty, the pas de trois in Swan Lake, the fourth movement principal in Symphony in C, the second ballerina in Balanchine’s Ballet Imperial, Jiri Kylian’s Sinfonietta, and the Venetian Carnival Pas de Deux from Satanella, among many others. She also created a leading role in Mark Morris’ Gong. She has also appeared as a guest artist with companies throughout the United States, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Russia, Germany, Spain, Italy, France, Romania and Hungary dancing leads in classical ballets such as Swan Lake, Don Quixote, The Sleeping Beauty and The Nutcracker, as well as being a guest artist for Youth America Grand Prix’s. Her partners include Damian Woetzel, Ethan Stiefel, Marcelo Gomes, Gennadi Saveliev, Sascha Radetsky, Bejamin Millepied, Sebastien Marcovici, and Vitali Krauchenka.

Most recently, Ms Liceica has been performing as a guest artist with the Deutsche Opera in Berlin, the Romanian National Opera and The Staten Island Ballet. Besides performing as a guest artist, Ms. Liceica has been on the jury panel and a master teacher for Youth America Grand Prix’s regional semi-finals since 2007. Anna performed the role of the Sugar Plum Fairy in Commonwealth Ballet’s 2011 production of The Nutcracker.

Vitali Krauchenka

Vitali Krauchenka (Cavalier, Acton) was born in Minsk in the Republic of Byelorussia. Vitali trained, from the age of six, at the Byelorussian Choreographic School and performed with the Byelorussian Academic Theatre of Opera and Ballet. After graduation, he joined the National Ballet Theatre of Belarus and then moved to Riga, Latvia where he danced with the Latvian National Opera. Vitali has also danced in Canada with Atlantic Ballet Theatre and Ballet Jorgen of Canada. His repertory with those companies included roles in Swan Lake, The Sleeping Beauty, Le Corsaire, Romeo and Juliet, and other classical and modern ballets such as Carmen, Le Sacre du Printemps, 3x, Ben Jorgan’s Petrouchka, Boris Eifman’s Tchaikovsky and Kchistof Pastor’s Carmen.

Vitali joined American Ballet Theatre as a member of the corps de ballet in April 2004. His roles with the Company include the Rajah in La Bayadère, the Father in Fall River Legend, the Duke of Courland in Giselle, The Man She Must Marry in Jardin aux Lilas, the Father in Prodigal Son, the Lead Spanish Dancer in Raymonda, Lord Montague in Romeo and Juliet, Gallison, the Russian Prince in The Sleeping Beauty as well as Von Rothbart and the Spanish Dance in Swan Lake.

Vitali has toured extensively, performing in Russia, Poland, Latvia, Estonia. This is Vitali’s seventh season as Cavalier with Commonwealth Ballet.

Michael Johnson

Michael Johnson (Snow King) grew up in Richmond, Virginia and studied dance at Richmond Ballet. He further studied at Butler University’s dance department, earning a degree in Arts Administration with a Concentration in Dance. Michael was a member of Boston Ballet from 1996 to 2006, performing many soloist and principal roles. Michael danced the classics with world-renowned dancers including Carlos Acosta and Sarah Lamb of the Royal Ballet, and performed pieces by choreographers such as Rudi Van Dansig, Bruce Marks, Nacho Duato, Mark Morris and Christopher Wheeldon. He has studying salsa and ballroom and performed Jazz and Jive in Los Angeles. Michael helped develop Boston Ballet’s outreach program called CitiDance thus spreading the opportunity and education of dance throughout all of Boston. He is currently Professor of Dance at Butler University in Indianapolis. This was Michael’s 4th year as the Snow King in The Nutcracker.

View the 2004 To the Pointe interview with Michael Johnson.

Maleek Mahkail Washington

Maleek Mahkail Washington (Harlequin, Arabian, Neapolitan - Acton) was born in the Bronx, New York, and his introduction to dance began at age seven at the Broadway Dance Center. At the age 9, he took up studies at the Harlem School of the Arts. After four years, Maleek was than accepted to Fiorello Laguardia for The Performing Arts where he received training in Graham, Ballet, Horton, Musical Theater, and Hip Hop. After graduation, Maleek attended The Boston Conservatory on full scholarship while performing with the Commonwealth Ballet and Complexions.

Maleek attended Jacob’s Pillow for two consecutive years and has collaborated with Rod Rogers Dance Company. This summer he studied at the Spring Board Danse program in Montreal where he had the pleasure to work with Ballet Jazz Montreal, Company Flak, Rubberbandance, and Sylvaln Emard Danse. Presently, Maleek is in his third season with City Dance Ensemble of Washington DC, a touring repertory company performing works by Paul Taylor, Larry Keigwin, Kate Weare and Alex Noreal that has traveled to Israel, Bahrain, Chile, and Russia. In addition, he has interacted with choreographers such as Azure Barton, Helen Pickett, Michael Utoff, Milton Meyers, Yuriko Takata, and Tim Rushton of the Danish Dance Theater. Maleek dedicates his life of dance to his late Grandmother Duella Smith, his mother, Bianca Smith and his family. He thanks them all for their love and support.

Lindsay Moncrieff

Well-known to audiences of Commonwealth Ballet since 2003, Ms. Moncreiff returns to dance as the Sugar Plum Fairy in The Nutcracker for the Weston performances. A former resident of Acton, Lindsay has appeared in many leading roles, including the Sugar Plum Fairy, Dew Drop Fairy, Snow Queen, Arabian soloist and Columbine Doll in The Nutcracker and Lilias in The Secret Garden. She is currently a senior pursuing her B.S. in Dance-Arts-Administration with a Marketing minor at Butler University in Indianapolis, where she is a member of the Butler Ballet. While at Butler, she has performed a variety of roles including Aurora in The Sleeping Beauty, Sugar Plum Fairy and Snow Princess in The Nutcracker, the principal role in Derek Reid’s contemporary premiere work Age of Innocence, and in George Balanchine’s Walpurgisnacht Ballet. She also had the opportunity to train and perform internationally at the polish National Ballet School in Warsaw, Poland and at the Rimsky-Korsakov Music Conservatory in St. Petersburg, Russia.

Sean P. Sessions

Performing as the Cavalier for Commonwealth Ballet’s Weston performances of The Nutcracker, Sean hails from Baltimore, Maryland where he began his dance training under the direction of Dona Pidel. He is currently a senior at Butler University pursuing his BFA in Dance-Performance and studies under Marek Cholewa, Derek Reid and Tong Wang, among others. While at Butler Sean has performed a variety of soloist and principal roles including the Nutcracker Prince and Snow King in Butler Ballet’s The Nutcracker, Solor in La Bayadere, and the lead in Derek Reid’s contemporary premiere work Age of Innocence. In 2011 he received a performance award from the Dance department for his roles as Snow King and Solor. Sean participated in an international tour this past summer where he trained and performed at the Polish National Ballet School in Warsaw, Poland and the Rimsky-Korsakov Music Conservatory in St. Petersburg, Russia.

Brett Sjoblom

Brett Sjoblom (Harlequin, Arabian, Neapolitan - Weston) is originally from Columbia, MO and is currently a senior dance major at The Boston Conservatory. Before attending the Conservatory, Brett trained at The Virginia School of the Arts under the direction of Martha Faesi, Tyrone Brooks, and Adam Sage. While at the Conservatory, Brett has had the opportunity to perform the works of Viktor Platnikov, Jose Limon, Alwin Nikolais, David Lichine and Trey Mcintrye.

Cameron Allen

Cameron Allen (Peter/Nutcracker) grew up in Buffalo, NY and started taking dance classes at the age of seven at Lorraine Goddard School of Dance and the American Academy of Ballet. He is now continuing his dance education at The Boston Conservatory.