Guest Artists
INTERNATIONAL BALLET
International Ballet is proud to showcase professional talent alongside the work of our pre-professional developing Artists.
Swan Lake
May 25 & 26, 2024
Peace Concert Hall - 300 E. Broad Street, Greenville
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Katherine Barkman (Odette/Odile) is currently a soloist with the San Francisco Ballet. Previous to her current appointment, Katherine spent four seasons dancing principal roles with The Washington Ballet and three years as principal dancer of Ballet Manila. She joined The Washington Ballet in October 2018, soon after winning consecutive Silver Medals from two of the world’s most prestigious ballet Olympiads -- the XI USA International Ballet Competition in Jackson, Mississippi, and the XXVIII Varna International Ballet Competition in Bulgaria. Originally from Bucks County, Pennsylvania, she moved to the Philippines in 2015 to begin her professional career as a principal dancer with Ballet Manila, one of the most eminent classical ballet companies in Asia. At 18, she was the youngest artist to assume this position with the company. Since then, Barkman has debuted in the classical roles of Odette/Odile in Swan Lake, Kitri in Don Quixote, Giselle in Giselle, Aurora in The Sleeping Beauty, Juliet in Romeo and Juliet, Nikiya in La Bayadere, Medora in Le Corsaire, as well as the Sugar Plum Fairy and the Snow Queen in The Nutcracker. She has also performed the principal lead in popular masterpieces such as Grand Pas Classique, The Dying Swan, Paquita, Raymonda, Esmeralda, Diana & Actaeon, Satanella, Balanchine’s Tarantella and Allegro Brilliante, as well as Sir Frederick Ashton’s Birthday Offering and Meditation on Thais. She has performed in the world premiere of contemporary choreographies by Jessica Lang (Beethoven Serenade, Joplin Medley), Simon Hoy (The Distance Between), Dana Genshaft (Shadowlands, Orpheus, Un Sospiro), John Heginbotham (Racecar), and Annabelle Lopez Ochoa (Delusional Beauty). Her major awards from international competitions include: Grand Prix Cup, 2015 Asian Grand Prix (Hong Kong); Gold Medal, Senior Women’s Classical Division, 2015 Valentina Kozlova International Ballet Competition (New Orleans, USA); and Gold Medal, Senior Women’s Classical Division, 2015 TANZOLYMP Festival (Berlin, Germany). As an international guest principal, Barkman has performed in festivals, galas, and full-length productions in Russia, Latvia, Australia, Canada, Spain, Mexico Argentina, Paraguay, Costa Rica, Hong Kong, the Philippines, and in major cities across the United States.
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Esteban Hernandez (Prince Seigfried) is a Principal Dancer with the San Francisco Ballet. Originally from Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico, Esteban started his ballet training in his backyard with his father, Hector Hernandez. At age 13 he received a scholarship to study at The Rock School for Dance Education in Philadelphia, PA, where he trained for three years. In his time at The Rock School, Esteban participated in competitions in Russia, Cuba, Germany and the USA, winning gold medals and the Grand Prix. Esteban finished his ballet training at The Royal Ballet School in London, where he was the first Mexican student to attend the school. Esteban joined the Corps de Ballet of the San Francisco Ballet in 2013, was promoted to Soloist in 2017 and became a Principal Dancer in 2019.
His repertory includes works by Helgi Tomasson, George Balanchine, August Bournoville, John Cranko, William Forsythe, Hans Van Manen, John Neumeier, Mark Morris, Myles Thatcher, Yuri Possokhov, Dwight Rhoden, Stanton Welch, Justin Peck, Alexei Ratmansky, Jerome Robbins, Liam Scarlett and Christopher Wheeldon.
Esteban received the Latino Spirit Award from the California Latino Legislative Caucus for achievements in the performing arts and was named one of the 100 most influential people in Mexico by “Quien” Magazine.
Nathaniel Remez (von Rothbart) was born in Washington DC and trained at the Maryland Youth Ballet and the San Francisco Ballet School. He joined the San Francisco Ballet as an apprentice in 2016 and was subsequently promoted to Corps de Ballet in 2017. Nathaniel has danced soloist and principal roles in a number of Helgi Tomasson's classical full lengths such as von Rothbart in Swan Lake, Hilarion in Giselle, Snow King in The Nutcracker, and Tybalt in Romeo and Juliet. Nathaniel also performed The Poet in John Neumeier's The Little Mermaid. He has also created roles in new ballets from choreographers such as Yuri Possokhov, Cathy Marston, and Dani Rowe and has danced many existing works by choreographers such as Justin Peck, William Forsythe, Alexi Ratmansky, George Balanchine, and Jerome Robbins.
Katherine Barkman, Esteban Hernández and Nathaniel Remez appear through the courtesy of
San Francisco Ballet, Tamara Rojo, Artistic Director
December 8-10, 2023
Peace Concert Hall - 300 E. Broad St., Greenville
The Nutcracker
Principal Guest Artist Ekaterina Nechayeva began her formal training at the International Ballet Academy in Greenville, South Carolina. Ekaterina has trained under many of IBA’s faculty, starting with Lena Foster and then continuing to train with Vlada Kysselova, Hennadii Bespechnyi, Irina Ushakova, and Victoria Yanchuk. While training at IBA, she placed Top 12 at the YAGP regionals in Atlanta, Georgia and Tampa, Florida. In 2014 Ekaterina started studying in Perm, Russia, at the Perm State Choreographic College (Perm Ballet School) where she graduated with a diploma with honors and danced Swanilda in the full-length ballet Coppelia. From 2017-2021 Ekaterina worked as a soloist at the Moscow State Academic Theatre of Classical Ballet of Kasatkina and Vasilev where she danced in ballets such as The Nutcracker (Marie), Cinderella (Cinderella), Swan Lake (Pas de trois, Little swans), Don Quixote (Cupid), Romeo and Juliet (Nelly the Maid), Sleeping Beauty (Princess Florine, Fairies, Little Red Riding Hood, White Cat), Giselle (Peasant Pas de Deux), Creation of the World, Rite of Spring, and others. In May 2019 Ekaterina placed second at the World Ballet Competition in Orlando, Florida. As of September 2021 Ekaterina is a soloist with the Chelyabinsk Opera and Ballet Theatre where she has danced lead roles in The Nutcracker, Carmina Burana, Anyuta, and others ballets. Ekaterina has toured all over the world including Europe, Morocco, Thailand, Taiwan, Japan, China, and Turkey. She has also participated in gala performances where she has danced pas de deuxs such as Carnival of Venice.
Principal Guest Artist Brooklyn Mack of Elgin, South Carolina is an International Principal Guest Artist, currently dancing with English National Ballet. He began his dance training at age 12 with the Pavlovich Dance School under Radenko Pavlovich and Milena Leben before receiving a scholarship to study at the Kirov Academy of Ballet. While at the Kirov he trained primarily under the auspices of Anatoli Kucheruk and Vladimir Djouloukhadze. After graduating from Kirov, Mr. Mack then apprenticed with the Joffrey Ballet of Chicago and later joined American Ballet Theatre’s Studio Company. Mr. Mack spent three seasons as a principal dancer with Orlando Ballet before becoming principal dancer of The Washington Ballet where he danced for 9 seasons. Mr. Mack has danced a wide array of choreography, spanning many different styles between classical, neoclassical, contemporary, abstract, and modern works throughout his career.
Some of his notable awards include the Senior Silver Medal at the 2006 Jackson International Ballet Competition in Mississippi; the 2007 Princess Grace Fellowship Award; The Senior Silver Medal at the 2009 Helsinki IBC; the Marius Liepa Prize at the 2011 Boston IBC; the Silver Medal at the 2011 Korean International Dance Competition; the Gold Medal at the 2012 Boston International Ballet Competition; winner of the 2012 Istanbul Grand Prix; and the gold medal at the 2012 International Ballet Competition in Varna, Bulgaria.
Mr. Mack has also been featured on ABC, NBC, NPR, Ebony Magazine, listed in theGrio’s Top 100 (2014), and was named as a top “25 [dancers] to watch” by Dance Magazine (2012).
Mr. Mack is highly in demand as a guest Principal dancer the world over. In 2016, Mr. Mack made his debut on three of the world's greatest stages; at Covent Garden's largest theatre; the London Coliseum, The historic Bolshoi in Moscow, as well as the illustrious and historic Paris Opera ballet's Palais Garnier stage. In 2017, Mr. Mack debuted in the Republic of Georgia at the Tbilisi Opera House. In 2018, Mr. Mack made his debut in the role of Solor during his debut on the Ukrainian National Opera's stage with the Ukrainian National Ballet in La Bayadere. In June of 2019 Mr. Mack made his debut on the Metropolitan Opera House Stage at Lincoln Center, NYC as a Principal Guest Artist with American Ballet Theatre. Most recently, Mr Mack was Principal Guest Artist with English National Ballet for half of their 2019-2020 season, dancing various works in their repertoire including Ben in Wheeldon's Cinderella, Prince in Wayne Eagling's Nutcracker, William Forsythe's Playlist, exceprts of Coppelia and Etudes, as well as reprising his leading roles in Le Corsaire.
Mr. Mack became the Interim Artistic Director of Columbia Classical Ballet November 11, 2021.
Guest Artist Denys Simon was born in Zaporozhye, Ukraine. He attended the Kiev Municipal Ukrainian Academy of Dance, where he graduated in 2010. He worked for the Dnepropetrovsk State Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre then became a soloist at the Russian Classical Ballet Theatre under the direction of Vladimir Troschenko. In 2012 he joined the Imperial Russian Ballet Company. Mr. Simon is a graduate of International Ballet's exchange program with the Kiev Ukranian Academy of Dance. Denys has performed several times as a celebrated featured guest artist in International Ballet productions. He is known for his Russian Trepak in The Nutcracker, Gopak, and show stopping appearances in other folk dances. This year we are delighted to have Denys as the International Ballet Professional Artist in Residence.
Guest Artist Tevfik Bayram Vatansever, born in Williamsburg, Virginia, began his dance training at the age of fifteen with the Hilton Head Dance Theatre, under the direction of John and Karena Brock-Carlyle. He finalized his pre-professional training by invitation of Stanislav Issaev at the South Carolina Governor's School for the Arts and Humanities.
Tevfik’s passion and ability for dance was further honed by dance masters from American Ballet Theatre, New York City Ballet, Nashville Ballet, Royal Danish Ballet, Moscow Classical Ballet, Istanbul State Ballet and Opera, and Perm Opera and Ballet Theatre. Notable roles; Rumplestiltskin in Michael and Olga Wise's original production, performed at Charleston’s Piccolo Spoletto Festival, Peter Pan in Lazlo Berdo's original production Peter Pan the Ballet, Genie in Hernan Justo’s Arabian Nights, with the Carolina Ballet Theatre, Emeralds in Balanchine's Jewels under the direction of Stacy Calvert, at the University of South Carolina.
In conjunction with his ballet career, Tevfik Vatansever obtained a degree in business economics, a directive study in cultural industries, and a masters in international business from the University of South Carolina’s Darla Moore School of Business. He also earned a masters in international management from Koç University in Istanbul, Turkey. Vatansever is currently serving as Director of Dance for the Turkish-American Art Society of New York.
When not on stage, Tevfik serves as a freelance guest teacher for universities, pre-professional schools, and regional dance companies in the United States, as well as internationally with Yoko Kasai Ballet Studio in Fujinomiya, Japan.