Special Guests

Erin Rivera-Brennand

Sugar Plum Fairy

Originally from Santa Fe, New Mexico, Erin graduated high school from North Carolina School of the Arts where she trained with acclaimed teachers Melissa Hayden, Warren Conover and Guiyla Pandi, among many others. Her training continued with American Ballet Theater, Pennsylvania Ballet, Boston Ballet, and Dallas Metropolitan Ballet.

Erin began her professional career with Texas Ballet Theater (formerly Fort Worth Dallas Ballet), where she danced for eight seasons performing soloist and principal roles under the artistic directorships of Paul Mejia, Benjamin Houk, Bruce Simpson, and Ben Stevenson. Erin has also been a guest artist with Bruce Wood Dance Company and the Ohio Ballet, originating a role in Jeffrey Hughes contemporary ballet Faith. Most recently, Erin was an inaugural member of Los Angeles Ballet, under the directorship of Colleen Neary and Thordal Christensen, where she performed for two seasons dancing principal and soloist roles for the company. She will be returning as a guest artist in 2010.

A few of Erin’s highlights with Texas Ballet Theater include the Strip Tease Girl in Slaughter on Tenth Avenue (Balanchine), a Russian Girl in Serenade (Balanchine), 2nd Theme and Melancholic in The Four Temperaments (Balanchine), Snow Queen and Clara in The Nutcracker (Stevenson), Dreams by Steven Mills, a Nude Couple in Kent Stowell's Carmina Burana, Angel in Rapture (Lila York), Spring Fairy in Cinderella (Stevenson), the American Lady in Peer Gynt (Stevenson), Four Little Swans and Act I Pas de Trois in Swan Lake, as well as the Peasant Pas de Quatre in Act I of Giselle. Erin also toured with the company to New York City to perform at the Joyce Theater in 2001 where she was a featured performer dancing Stanton Welch’s Fingerprints and Kevin O’Day’s Principia. Erin’s repertoire also includes soloist roles in several Balanchine Ballets including Donizetti Variations, Allegro Brillliante, Who Cares?, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Stravinsky’s Violin Concerto and Theme & Variations, The Nutcracker (Stevenson, Simpson, Houk), Lilac Garden (Tudor), Romeo & Juliet (Jones), Paquita, Coppelia (Houk and Stevenson), and Dracula (Stevenson).

While dancing with the Los Angeles Ballet, Erin further expanded her repertoire dancing principal roles in the 1st Pas de Trois in Agon (Balanchine), Napoli Tarantella (Bournenville), Calliope and Polymnia in Apollo (Balanchine), Arabian Pas de Deux and Columbine in Neary & Christenson’s The Nutcracker, as well as originating a principal role in the world premiere of Lost in Transition created by Melissa Barak for the company. During this time Erin was a guest artist with the Westside Ballet dancing Princess Aurora in their production of The Sleeping Beauty, and Meditations Pas de Deux.

Currently, Erin spends her time as a guest artist traveling throughout the United States and is a certified GYROTONIC® trainer.

Seth Belliston

Cavalier

Trained at the Belliston Academy of Ballet and the School of American Ballet, Seth Belliston is an award-winning artist. He has received the very prestigious Princess Grace Award for Excellence, as well as the Mae L. Wien Award. Mr. Belliston was a Principal Artist with the Pacific Northwest Ballet for many years and continues to appear as an international guest artist.

When in London, the BBC filmed Mr. Belliston’s performance of Puck in George Balanchine’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, which has been aired on PBS. Film credits include Universal Pictures The Producer’s with Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick and I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry with Adam Sandler.

Seth has an expanded repertoire of Balanchine’s greatest ballets including, Theme and Variations, Who Cares?, Stars & Stripes, Agon, The Four Temperaments, and Western Symphony. His contemporary work includes ballets by renowned choreographers such as Forsythe, van Dantzig, Taylor, Duato, and Martins. He was an original cast member in one of Jerome Robbins later works, 2 & 3 Part Inventions. Musical theater credits include A Christmas Carol, Mame, La Cage aux Folles, Hans Christian Andersen, On the Town, Camelot, Applause!, Never Gonna Dance, On Your Toes, The Sound of Music, and L’il Abner.