Sam Griffin

Originally from Chicago, Illinois, Sam discovered his passion for dance at Ballet Chicago, under the direction of Dan Duell and Patricia Blair. He has performed with the Ballet Chicago Studio Company, the Chicago Festival Ballet, Salt Creek Ballet, and Odyssey Opera. Sam’s theater credits include performing regionally as Henry in the Marriott Theatre’s Newsies, as well as a swing in A Chorus Line at the Boston Conservatory, where he studies musical theater.

Rosario Guillen

Rosario hails from Pharr, Texas where he trained under the direction of Nadia Valdez. It is there where he began his extensive training in Ballet, Jazz, Flamenco, Modern and Contemporary dance styles. To further his training, Rosario left his home town and attended various elite intensives and workships with a myriad of companies such as Nashville Ballet, NYC Beginnings Workshop, TAMUCC (acting intensive) and Joffrey Elite Ecole. Rosario also has had the opportunity to portray several roles with theaters across Texas and Massachusetts. In the dance field, Rosario has worked with highly acclaimed teachers and choreographers for instance Diane Orio, Yuri Yanowksy and Ben Cameron. Commonwealth Ballet premiered his new ballet, Portraiture, in May 2018. Rosario is currently a Senior at the Boston Conservatory at Berklee.

Rosario will perform the roles of Snow King and Neopolitan in Commonwealth Ballet’s 2019 production of The Nutcracker.

Lindsay Moncrieff

Lindsay is the owner and Artistic Director of the Acton School of Ballet where she studied for 12 years before attending Butler University where she received a B.S. in Dance Arts Administration. While at Butler she performed soloist and principal roles including Sugar Plum Fairy in The Nutcracker, Aurora in The Sleeping Beauty, as well as in George Balanchine's Walpurgisnacht Ballet and Nacho Duato's Por Vos Muero. She received four different performance awards during her time at Butler in addition to the Eileen Poston Dance Scholarship. Lindsay also had the opportunity to study and perform internationally at the Polish National Ballet School in Warsaw, Poland and at the Rimsky-Korsakov Music Conservatory in St. Petersburg, Russia. Upon graduation, Lindsay joined Colorado Ballet where she performed several Corps de Ballet roles and worked with world-renowned choreographer Steven Mills on Light, The Holocaust and Humanity Project, as well as Glen Tetley's Rite of Spring and George Balanchine's Theme and Variations. Lindsay has worked in development and fundraising for several prominent dance organizations including American Dance Festival in Durham, NC, Charlotte Ballet, and more recently was the Assistant Director of Donor Relations at Walnut Hill School for the Arts. Lindsay was a member of Commonwealth Ballet Company from 2003 - 2008 and returned as a Guest Artist in the role of Sugar Plum Fairy for several seasons. She served as Commonwealth Ballet's Regiseusse for four years and is now a member of the Company's Board of Directors.

Lindsay will perform the role of Sugar Plum Fairy in Commonwealth Ballet’s 2018 production of The Nutcracker.

Christopher Phillips

Originally from the sandy shores of Cape Cod, Christopher John Phillips is filled with joy to join Commonwealth Ballet Company's production of the Nutcracker. Christopher has graduated from SUNY: Purchase with a BFA in Performance and Choreography and has fortunately trained with some of the best teachers in the world which include Jacqueline Akhmedova, Ilya Kuznetsov, Misha Tchoupakov, Peter Pawlyshyn, and Sueann Townsend. Chris is currently a company member of City Ballet of Boston and has guested for companies such as Vacanti Ballets, North Atlantic Dance Theater, International Ballet Company, Pioneer Valley Ballet, Amherst Ballet, and the Cape Cod Dance Festival.

Christopher will perform the roles of Harlequin and Arabian in Commonwealth Ballet’s 2018 production of The Nutcracker.

Brandon Ragland

Born and raised in Birmingham, Alabama, Brandon received his early training from Jacqueline Crenshaw Lockhart and continued his dance training at the Alabama School of Fine Arts. In 2007, he graduated from Butler University with a B.S. in Dance-Arts Administration. Since joining the Louisville Ballet in 2010, he has had the opportunity to perform leading roles in classical and neoclassical works such as, Andre Prokovsky’s The Three Musketeers; Val Caniparoli’s The Brown-Forman Nutcracker, Lamberena, Lady of the Camellias, and Spaghetti Western, Robert Curran’s Coppelia, Serge Lifar’s Suite en Blanc, George Balanchine’s Square Dance, Kammermusik #2, and Western Symphony. Other works include Bruce Simpson’s Swan Lake, La Slyphide, Ma Cong’s Tethered Pulse, and works by Adam Hougland, Lucas Jervies, and Alun Jones. Before joining Louisville Ballet, Brandon spent 3 seasons with the Alabama Ballet, where he performed works by George Balanchine, Roger Van Fleteren, Christopher Bruce, and Twyla Tharp. As an aspiring choreographer, he has created works for Louisville Ballet, Louisville Ballet Youth Ensemble, Alabama Ballet, Alabama Ballet School, AROVA Contemporary Ballet, Ballet Arkansas, Next Generation Ballet, J. Lockhart Performing Arts Institute, and Sedona Chamber Ballet.

Brandon appears courtesy of Louisville Ballet, and will perform the role of Cavalier in Commonwealth
Ballet's 2019 production of The Nutcracker (November 29 - December 1 only).

Gregory Tyndall

Gregory was born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia where he began his formal dance training at the age of fourteen. Tyndall was accepted into the Cobb County Centre for Performing Arts at Pebblebrook High School where his instructor, Denis Reeves, encouraged him to broaden his horizons in classical, contemporary and modern dance. Tyndall then began to train with various different schools acrouss the country, including The Atlanta Ballet, The Kirov Academy in Washington, D.C., The Rock School for Dance Education, Nashville Ballet, and The Cincinnati Ballet. In 2009, Gregory was accepted in the prestigious Indiana University Jacobs School of Music Ballet Theatre where he would spend the next four years performing various repertoire by choreographers such as George Balanchine, Dwight Rhoden, Paul Taylor, Twyla Tharp and Joshua Bergasse. Tyndall has spent the last five years dancing professionally with The Sant Louis Ballet under the direction of New York City Ballet legend Gen Horiuchi. During his tenure with the company Tundall has performed principal roles such as Prince Desire in The Sleeping Beauty, Sugar Plum Fairy Cavalier in The Nutcracker, and the lonesoe cowboy in GEorge Balanchine's Western Symphony. Gregory is currently dancing his first season with Island Moving Company in Newport, RI. 

Gregory Tyndall appears courtesy of Island Moving Company and will perform the Cavalier in Commonwealth Ballet’s 2019 production of The Nutcracker (December 20-22 only).

Selah Smart

Selah Smart from Boxborough first appeared in CBC’s Nutcracker as a Party Boy. He studied ballet at Acton School of Ballet before turning his attention to Shaolin Kung Fu. He earned his black belt under Narcyz and Eva Latecki at Chinese Martial Arts in Acton where he is an assistant instructor. Selah is currently studying at Middlesex Community College and working as an office manager for an IT company

Selah will perform the role of Mouse King in Commonwealth Ballet’s 2018 production of The Nutcracker.