Company.

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Founder/Artistic Director

Rose Hutchins

Image: Karielle Silk Photography

Rose Hutchins holds an MFA in Dance from the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee, where she led an academic study to develop and test a somatic-based contemporary ballet technique curriculum designed to prepare today's ballet dancers more fully for the demands of contemporary ballet choreography. This research culminated with a choreographic work titled Essence which Hutchins completed remotely due to the COVID-19 pandemic. NEW STAGE, a documentary about dance artists in lockdown, featured excerpts of this piece along with Hutchins' reflections on the experience. Other notable achievements include Hutchins' work Embark, which was performed at Regional Dance America/Pacific, and her award-winning choreography Degas. Hutchins also published "Sociopolitical Influences on the Creation of the Ballet Giselle" in The Journal of the Utah Academy of Sciences, Arts & Letters, receiving the distinction of "best paper" in the arts division.

BALLET BLOOM PROJECT
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ARTISTS 20–21

Max Auger

Image: Max Auger

Max Auger graduated with a BA in Dance Performance from The University of New Hampshire in 2014 where he studied under the direction of Larry Robertson, Susan Endrizzi and Gay Nardone. During college, Max was lucky enough to study on full scholarship over the summers with Jose Mateo Ballet Theatre which has distinctly informed both his movement and choreography. Since graduating, Max has gone on to act and dance professionally in both film and stage in Boston (Contrapose Dance, The Bang Group), Chicago (Cotton, the Company) and extensively throughout New Hampshire (Ballet Misha, Tributary Dance, New Hampshire Dance Collaborative and The Palace Theatre). While in New Hampshire, Max also produced the short film Run (2015), which was accepted into the New Hampshire Film Festival. Max recently relocated to Portland, Maine and is just starting to find the small, but vibrant, dance community while working closely with Kelsie Steil. In his free time, Max photographs dancers.

Rebecca Bass

Image: Jocelyn Miyara

​Rebecca Bass holds a degree in Dance and Economics from Barnard College of Columbia University. As a student at Barnard, she co-founded and served as artistic director of Columbia University Ballet Ensemble. Her training in classical ballet includes summer intensives at the School of American Ballet and the North Carolina School of the Arts.

Emily Brunick

Image: Joy Michelle

Emily Brunick graduated from the University of Vermont with a B.S. in Exercise and Movement Science. While completing her degree, she also spent the four years as a dancer and choreographer for UVM’s Orchesis Dance Company.  Following her undergraduate program, she began teaching ballet and contemporary classes in Burlington, VT for South End Studios and Nova Dance Collective. She has had the pleasure to perform in a variety of professional shows including Lake Street Dive’s New Year’s Eve concert at the Wang Theatre in Boston, Paula Higa’s original showing of In/Voluntary Motion in Burlington’s Black Box Theatre and Michael Figueroa’s piece “This is why we can’t have nice things” at Portland’s SPACE gallery. Currently, Emily lives in Portland working as a Licensed Massage Therapist all while seeking out opportunities to explore movement in new ways.

Jacqui DeFrança

Image: Michael Ellis

​Originally from West Boylston, Massachusetts, Jacqui DeFrança is a graduate from Loyola Marymount University Los Angeles where she received a B.A. in Dance. She has had the pleasure of performing at venues such as: Ailey Citigroup Theater, St. Mark's Church, Joe's Pub, Milk Studios, Dixon Place, Lightbox, and SPACE Gallery. Jacqui has also danced at various showcases including: ACDF, Western Arts Alliance Annual Conference, Reverb Dance Festival, APAP, and CFDA/Vogue presentation. As well as stage, she has experience with TV and Film, dancing in Video Music Awards performance with Rihanna, Oh Land's music video Renaissance Girls and acting and dancing in the short films Out of Zinc and Big Breakin'. Learning under artistic director Mike Esperanza, Jacqui was a member of BARE Dance Company from 2008-2016. She also has worked with New York City based, Flying Under The Radar (FUTR) with artistic director Marlon Taylor-Wiles since 2014. Currently she resides in Biddeford, Maine where she and her husband run their own ice cream shop. She feels the best part about being an artist is the freedom in not doing just one thing.

Veronica Druchniak

Image: Liv Powell

Veronica Druchniak is a former principal dancer with Maine State Ballet. She is a proud member of the Equity Membership Candidate Program, and has performed with several local theatre companies. She has spent the past two years traveling the world and doing what she loves as a production dancer aboard the Queen Mary 2. Onboard, she premiered a new contemporary work, Adagio, to international acclaim. Now back in Maine due to the pandemic, Veronica has found her place teaching at Studio for the Living Arts and Encore Dance Company, and performing with Ballet Bloom Project and Safe Haven Ballet in New Hampshire. Veronica holds a BA in Mathematics with a minor in Physics from the University of Southern Maine. 

Rachel Epling

Image: Alexander Watson

Rachel completed her BFA in Dance and BA in Biological Anthropology at the University of California, Santa Barbara in 2017— discovering an enriching, complementary interplay between the two. While attending UCSB, she had the opportunity to perform works by Anna Halprin, Yvonne Rainer, José Limón, Andrea Miller, and Jacqulyn Buglisi, along with many other wonderful choreographers. Rachel was a member of the UCSB touring dance company, and has performed in England, Greece, Cyprus, Italy, and NYC. Following graduation Rachel had the pleasure of teaching and performing professionally in the San Francisco Bay Area. Rachel performed her own work at SF Movement Arts Festival 2019, with Caroline Liviakis Dance Company, and with Mogli's Movers Artist Collective. She appeared as a soloist in the CLDC film "Better Than You Doin You" which has been shown in film festivals world-wide. She moved to Maine in the summer of 2020, by way of Brooklyn, New York, where she is enjoying teaching at Dance Moves Maine, and exploring with her dogs.

Hannah Haines

Image: Lydia Huibregtse

Hannah Haines is a dancer, teacher, and choreographer based in southern Maine. She received her early training at Jose Mateo Ballet Theater and The Brookline Ballet. Hannah graduated from Skidmore College in 2019 with a BA in Anthropology and Dance. While at Skidmore she had the opportunity to perform works by faculty and guest artists, as well as repertory by Isadora Duncan, Ohad Naharin, and Paul Taylor. She has continued to study and perform early modern dance as an Apprentice with Lori Belilove and the Isadora Duncan Dance Company. Hannah has presented her own choreography at The Frances Tang Teaching Museum, American Dance Festival’s Movies by Movers Festival, and at Engine Gallery. She currently teaches ballet and contemporary dance at Dance Studio of Maine South.

Elly Lovin

Image: Alison Lamb

Elly Lovin grew up studying classical ballet and pointe with Robert Thomas and Miyoko Kato of the Joffrey Ballet and earned a BFA in Dance from the University of Iowa with a focus in ballet, modern dance and performance. She has been a Registered Yoga Instructor since 2008 and has developed and taught yoga and creative movement programs in public and private schools in Taipei, Chicago and New York City. Elly now lives in Portland with her husband and son, where she teaches for The Portland Ballet, Casco Bay Movers, and Waynflete Schools. As a Maine Arts Commission Teaching Artist, she holds creative dance residencies for school children around Maine, and is twice a recipient of the MAC Dance Ed Grant (2018, 2020). Elly feels most alive at the beach or in a room of laughing, moving children, resonating with the sentiment of Isadora Duncan: “I do not teach children. I bring them joy.”

Erica Maillet

Erica pursued her pre-professional ballet training at the Massachusetts Academy of Ballet, in Holyoke, MA. She also attended summer programs at the American Academy of Ballet, Massachusetts Academy of Ballet, and Ballet Hartford. In 2015 she began her professional career with Mystic Ballet, in Mystic, CT where she performed works by Sergei Vanaev, and Lauren Edson. She has since then performed with Dimensional Dance, in Hartford, CT, and Ballet Hartford, in Hartford, CT. During her time at Ballet Hartford, she performed works by Silas Farley, Michelle Thompson Ulrich, Calvin Bittner, Caleb Mitchell, and Elizabeth McMillan, as well as classical roles in Romeo and Juliet and Les Sylphides. She has toured with the company to New York City to perform at the Alvin Ailey CitiGroup Theater, Actors Fund Theater, Gelsey Kirkland Arts Center, and Times Square. In 2019, she was a Co-Founder and Company Artist with the New England Ballet Collective, where she performed at Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, in Hartford, CT, Ballet Hispanico, in New York City, and The Academy of Music, in Northampton, MA. She also loves to teach and has taught at various schools in Connecticut for the last 7 years. Erica is currently a Freelance Dancer in New York City.

Juliet Mazzola

Image: EricaMariePhotography

Juliet Mazzola is originally from Bennington, Vermont, where she began her ballet training at the Berkshire Dance Theater. She has spent summers studying at the Boston Ballet School, Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet, The Joffrey Ballet School, Colorado Ballet, BalletX, Arch Contemporary Ballet, and The Workshop Series. She also studied as a Trainee at the Joffrey Ballet School her senior year of high school. In 2018, Juliet graduated from The Conservatory of Dance at SUNY Purchase College with a BFA in Dance and a Concentration in Ballet. While studying at Purchase she spent a semester abroad at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts. She has performed many works by various renowned artists including George Balanchine, Gerald Arpino, Silas Farley, Stephen Pier, Michelle Thompson Ulerich, Bettijane Sills, Iratxe Ansa and Taryn Russell. Juliet began her professional career in 2018 as a Company Artist with Ballet Hartford. For the 2019 season Juliet and seven other professional dancers co-founded and co-directed their own company, New England Ballet Collective, where she was Company Artist and President. Juliet is currently working as a Freelance Dancer in New England.

Hannah Ranco

Image: Adam Ranco

Hannah Ranco is a current student at Dean College earning her BFA in dance studies with a concentration in choreography. Her work has been featured at Starlight Theatre with the Dance Complex’s Tiny and Short series as well as at Third Life with Kelley Donovan. At Dean, her work was chosen for multiple stage performances as well as to attend the American College Dance Association Conference in Vermont. Hannah has also worked on multiple video sets and concerts with artists such as Sydney the Singer, C-DOT, Flo Rida, and Talons of Spring. When Hannah is not dancing or choreographing, she enjoys teaching at local studios and enjoying the outdoors! 

Brooke Sowerby

Image: Janet Davis courtesy of Maine State Ballet

Brooke Sowerby is a former dancer with Maine State Ballet. She became an apprentice in 2015 and rose to the rank of soloist for her final two years with the company before moving on to college. Brooke attends Hobart and William Smith Colleges in Geneva, NY. She will graduate in Spring 2022 with a B.A. in Environmental Studies and Dance Performance. While at college, Brooke has had the pleasure of dancing for faculty and student-led projects, expanding her movement vocabulary beyond ballet, and utilizing somatic education to deepen her understanding of dance and the body. Currently she is on her way to finish her final year in college, and intends to pursue a path in performing arts to continue doing what she loves. 

Kelsie Steil

Image: Dustin Newhouse

Kelsie Steil graduated from Plymouth State University with a Bachelors in Adventure Education and a Minor in Dance in May, 2018. There she received the 2018 Contemporary Dance Ensemble award for her achievements in choreography. Her latest work is an ongoing duet danced between herself and dancer Max Auger called IMMORTAL!. The work had its most recent showing in FAB15 in February, 2020 and is funded in part by New England Foundation for the Arts’ New England Dance Fund, with generous support from the Aliad Fund at the Boston Foundation. In November 2019 she presented her piece Cast in Maine Moves IV. Kelsie has had the joy of living, dancing and teaching locally and internationally. One of her most major projects was a three-part film series based in Lithuania, which can be viewed on her website. In the midst of making dance works, she works as a Pilates and Dance instructor while spending as much time in nature as possible.