Toronto Program

Canada’s Ballet Jörgen Artistic Staff
Artistic Director & CEO Bengt Jörgen
Company Dancers Saniya Abilmajineva, Anna Benko°, Erik Bruendl°, Junior Gaspar Caballero˘,
Kenny Chung˘, Hannah Mae Cruddas˘, Daniel Da Silva, Akari Fujiwara˘, Elizabeth Gagnon˘^,
Taylor Gill˘, Gustavo Hernandez˘, Adrián Ramírez Juárez˘, Annelie Liliemark,
Heather Lumsden-Ruegg~˘,Momoka Matsui˘, Kelsey Miller°, Leandro Prado, Ayva Rossouw-
Holland~˘^, Hiroto Saito, Márcio Teixeira °, Isaac Wright+
Ballet Master Hiroto Saito
Principal Ballet Coach Svea Eklof
Stage Direction Heinar Pillar
Artistic Working Group Daniel Da Silva,Taylor Gill, Hiroto Saito
Footwear Assistant Annelie Liliemark
Mentorship Student Kimberly Dyer~
+ Appears Courtesy of Canadian Actors’ Equity Association
° RBC Foundation Apprentice Dancer
˘ Past RBC Foundation Apprentice Dancer
^ Sponsored by Pivot Sports Medicine and Orthopaedics through the Sponsor-a-Dancer Program
~ George Brown Dance Graduate
Canada’s Ballet Jörgen Staff
General Manager Stephen Word
Director of Touring Cameron Smillie
Education Manager Clea Iveson
Production Manager Cindy Smith
Business Services Audrey Kwan & Aleksandra Maslennikova
Program Manager, George Brown Dance Derek Sangster
Dance Program Coordinator Kia Kotsanis
Education Coordinators Victoria Campbell & Elise Tigges
Marketing Services Dana Ginsberg & Samira Mahfuz
Bookkeeper Irene Lockrey
Stage Manager Martine Beland+
Technical Director Christopher Axford
Lighting Director Adam Jules
Wardrobe Supervisor Chelsea Conn
Hamilton & Kitchener Coordinator Allyson Wenzowski
Ottawa Coordinator Kita Szpak
Saskatoon Coordinator Jim Hodges
+ Appears Courtesy of Canadian Actors’ Equity Association
Board of Directors
Chair Mara L. Nickerson
Vice-Chair Rob D. Brouwer
Past Chair David Aylward
Chair, Finance & Audit Committee Heather Baker
Directors Salvatore Badali, George Bothwell, Jane Cooke-Lauder, Kevin Goldthorp,
Daisy Heungˆ (Director in training), Elaine M. Todres, Helene Vukovich, David Windross
Special Advisor to the Artistic Director & CEO Alden Hadwen
Atlantic Advisory Board Janice Flemming, Leila Kovacevic, Eddy Ng, candice prior
Honorary Trustees Steven Carter, Richard W. Dodds, William B. Harris, Buchanan Henderson,
Corey Keeble
Co-Founders Bengt Jörgen & Susan Bodie
ˆ Girls On Boards, G(irls)20 Programs
Canada’s Ballet Jörgen Company Dancers
Saniya Abilmajineva
Tashkent City,
Uzbekistan Republic
Company Member
since 2009
Saniya graduated from the
Choreography College in
Moscow in 2007. From
2007-2008, she performed
as a first soloist with the Natalia Satz Theatre
(formally known as the Children’s Musical Theatre).
Saniya is the recipient of many awards and is
a two-time medallist at the International Ballet
Competition in Berlin, winning silver in 2005 and
gold in 2006. In 2007, she received a diploma
from both the International Ballet Competition
in New York and the International Ballet Competition
in Shanghai. In 2009, she was a semifinalist
at the International Ballet Competition
at Moscow’s Bolshoi Theatre.
In 2013 Saniya had the opportunity to dance
Giselle as a guest artist with the International
School of Ballet. Saniya joined Canada’s Ballet
Jörgen as a company dancer in 2009.
Saniya’s roles with CBJ include the title roles in
Anastasia, Romeo & Juliet, and Cinderella, Lady
Birch in The Nutcracker: A Canadian Tradition, and
Aurora in Sleeping Beauty. Saniya was part of the
creation of many roles in CBJ’s 25th anniversary
production of Swan Lake and toured Canada
performing the acclaimed principal role of
Odette/Odile.
Junior Gaspar Caballero
Asuncion, Paraguay
Company Member
since 2015
Junior is a graduate of
Canada’s National Ballet
School, where he studied
on a full scholarship
awarded to him due to
his extraordinary talent. Junior has won awards
at several prestigious national and international
ballet competitions, including the Gold Medal
in classical ballet and Best Dancer at the XIII
National Ballet Competition in Paraguay, the
Gold Medal at the XVII International Dance
Competition in Argentina and finalist at the
2012 Prix de Lausanne.
Junior joined the CBJ Junior company in 2014, and
was promoted to company dancer the next year.
Junior’s roles with CBJ include Carabosse’s
Minion in Sleeping Beauty, title role, Lumberjack
and Raccoon in The Nutcracker: A Canadian
Tradition, and Jester in Swan Lake.
Kenny Chung Seoul,
South Korea
Company Member
since 2017
Kenny graduated from
Kay-won High School of
Arts in Korea, and completed
third grade ballet
at Sejong University’s
Department of Dance.
In 2013, Kenny won the Korea Dance Teacher
Association Gold Medal and in 2012 Gold Medal
with The Korea Professional Ballet Association.
In 2014, Kenny danced with the Korean Ballet
Theatre in New Jersey and with the Seoul
Dance Festival.
Kenny was a CBJ Junior Company Member in
2015 and an RBC Apprentice last season.
Hannah Mae Cruddas
Dartmouth, Nova Scotia
Company Member
since 2013
Hannah Mae began her
dance training with the
Maritime Conservatory of
Performing Arts School
of Dance and the Leica
Hardy School of Dance. In 2009, she joined
Canada’s National Ballet School in Toronto.
Hannah Mae was honoured to be the youngest
recipient of the Society of Russian Ballet’s Nesta
Toumine Memorial Award and at 14, was a semifinalist
in the Genée International Ballet Competition.
She was also privileged to be the recipient
of the Jan Wicha Memorial Cup and Nova Scotia
Talent Trust’s Lieutenant Governor’s Award for
Excellence in the Arts. At home, she danced the
title role in Alice (Dearborn), the Ragdoll Queen
in The Nutcracker (Hardy), and worked with
Kennet Oberly and Otar Beridze. Her Toronto
repertoire credits include Peggy Baker’s 5 Views
of a Temple Garden, Petipa’s La Bayadere and
Paquita, and Nacho Duato’s Jardi Tancat.
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