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 DEBORAH
RAYBURN - Artistic Director
Mrs. Rayburn began her dance training with Houston's Rogulio
Rodriguez and continued her training with Houston's Margo Marshall, and
the Houston Ballet Academy. She performed with the ballet companies City
Ballet of Houston, Houston Dance Theater, Allegro Ballet, the Repertory
Dancers, and as a Guest performer. Mrs. Rayburn earned her degree
in dance and later was invited to study with Ballet Austin. She
continues to take classes, study and perform locally. Mrs. Rayburn has
taught dance in the Houston area for the past twenty five years and is the director
of the Academy of Ballet & Dance Arts and Woodlands Dance Academy. Mrs.
Rayburn has studied and has been influenced by noted dance artists such
as Natalia Krasavska, Fredric Franklin, John Mangus, Eugene Slavin,
Christine Nadal, Rohni Maler, Pavel Fomin, Elvira Kokorina, and Ann
Marie Holmes through master classes and workshops. She is also the
founding director and currently a board member of Festival Ballet where
she works with young dancers setting classical ballets and original
choreographic works. Mrs. Rayburn has recently staged for Festival
Ballet the ballet's "Les Sylphides," "Paquita," and "Cinderella." She
annually stages "The Nutcracker" for Festival Ballet which includes
students from her school and dancers from the greater Houston area. Mrs.
Rayburn also administers dance programs in public and private schools,
and from 2005 to 2007 served as the ballet instructor of the Houston
Community College Fine Arts Dance Department. Recently nominated to the
publication "Marquis Who's Who in education" Mrs. Rayburn continues to
inspire dancers and share her love of the art form of dance.
 Tiffany
Nirider - Jazz, Modern, Master Classes, Workshops
Tiffany Nirider is a native of Lafayette, LA, where she
taught ballet, tap, jazz and acrobatics for six years. She graduated
summa cum laude with a B.A. in Mass Communication from the University of
Louisiana at Lafayette (UL) in 1996. While in Lafayette, Tiffany
choreographed for the UL Show Choir, Lafayettes Junior Miss Scholarship
Program, Krewe of Karencro Mardi Gras Association, and for local high
school dance and cheerleading teams. Tiffany comes to us from Fort
Lauderdale, FL, where she performed professionally for three years with
Dancesation! Entertainment throughout Florida and in California. While
in Fort Lauderdale, Tiffany also worked as Marketing Coordinator for
ArtServe, a non-profit arts service organization providing assistance to
emerging artists and cultural groups throughout South Florida. Tiffany
is pursuing a Master of Fine Arts degree in Dance at SHSU where she is a
graduate teaching assistant. During her time at SHSU, she has performed
as a soloist in Bill Evans Velorio, To Have and To Hold by
Shapiro & Smith, The Nutcracker and Cinderella by Dana
Nicolay, Cheval by Dr. Cindy Gratz, Triskelion by Mark
Haase, From One by Jonathan Charles. She is a member of the Kista
Tucker Dance Company. Upon graduation, Tiffany intends to continue
teaching while working towards becoming a registered dance therapist.
Guest Artists
 Ilya Kozadayev -
Guest
Artist, Workshops, Master Classes
(Ilya Kozadayev appears courtesy of
Houston Ballet)
Born in St.
Petersburg, Russia, Ilya Kozadayev began training at the Vaganova Ballet
Academy when he was ten years old. After immigrating to the United
States, he trained at the School of American Ballet in New York, the
Academy of Colorado Ballet in Denver, Colorado, and the John Cranko
Ballet School in Stuttgart, Germany. He has danced with Pittsburgh
Ballet Theatre, Boston Ballet, as well as with Colorado Ballet as a
soloist and Columbia Classical Ballet as a principal. Mr. Kozadayev was
a silver medal winner of the New York International Ballet Competition
in June 2000. His repertoire includes numerous roles, such as the Prince
in The Nutcracker; the Jester in Swan Lake and Cinderella; the Bluebird
in The Sleeping Beauty; the lead in James Walas’ Carmina Burana;
Jonathan Harker in Michael Pink’s Dracula; Peasant Pas de deux in
Giselle; Alain in La Fille mal gardée; and the Mandarin in The
Miraculous Mandarin. Mr. Kozadayev has also had solos in William
Forsythe’s Love Songs and In the middle, somewhat elevated; He has
danced Pink Couple in Juri Kylian’s Forgotten Land; Ranfield in Ben
Stevenson’s Dracula; The Victim in Christopher Bruce’s Swan Song and
roles in George Balanchine’s Stars and Stripes, Who Cares, and Allegro
Brillante. Mr. Kozadayev has also performed in Christopher Bruce’s
Rooster, Sergeant Early’s Dream and Hush. Mr. Kozadayev has performed
numerous featured roles in Stanton Welch’s ballets such as Goro in Madam
Butterfly, Buttons and Florinda in Cinderella. He has performed in
Stanton Welch’s Clear, Velocity, Maninyas, Divergence, Nosotros,
Brigade, Tutu, Tales of Texas, Falling, Swan Lake, Blindness, Four
Seasons and Red Earth. Ilya Kozadayev has performed at the Auyama Ballet
Festival in Tokyo and Osaka, Japan, and at the Tanzstiftung Birgit Keil
in Stuttgart, Germany. Mr. Kozadayev joined Houston Ballet in July
2003. In 2004, Mr. Kozadayev was promoted to soloist. Before joining
Houston Ballet Mr. Kozadayev was a member of Colorado Ballet, Columbia
Classical Ballet, Pittsburgh Ballet Theater, and Boston Ballet. |