GUEST ARTISTS & INSTRUCTORS

MINA WILLIS
Guest Instructor Musical Theater

Mina is currently a Senior at Point Park University pursuing a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Modern Dance and a Minor in English. While attending PPU, she has trained with the amazing faculty such as Garfield Lemonius, Jason McDole, Rocker Verastique, and Kiesha Lalama, as well as guest artists like Martha Nichols and Yin Yue. She has performed in many works including multiple Student Choreography Projects and Faculty/Guest Choreographer Showcases, allowing her to work with choreographers like Penny Saunders and Danny Herman. Mina’s additional training includes summer intensives with Hubbard Street, American Ballet Theatre, and Ballet Austin. Mina was a competitive dancer in San Antonio since age 7 in ballet, jazz, tap, contemporary, modern and hip hop. She has been a member of Celebrity Dance Competition’s Junior and Senior Crew, assisting the instructors and performing on their cruises for the Nationals at Sea. Mina loves teaching and has been fortunate to be able to return to San Antonio in the summers to continue working with wonderful studios such as Quenedit Ballet School, Trilogy Dance Center, and Cibolo City Ballet.

GISELLE FOX
Instructor – Ballet

Giselle Fox was born in Havana, Cuba, where she trained as a dancer at the National Ballet School of Cuba, (ENBC) “Fernando Alonso” from 1995-2002, graduating as a dancer and teacher of classical ballet. The basic artistic training teachers she had were: Ramona de Saa (ENBC Director); Martha Iris Fernandez (Assistant Director ENBC); the recently deceased master Fernando Alonso, creator with the Prima Ballerina Absolute Alicia Alonso of Cuban Ballet School and Technique. As soon as Giselle graduated in 2002, she joined one of the most recognized and prestigious ballet companies in the world, the National Ballet of Cuba, under the direction of Alicia Alonso. As part of the company, she participated in many International Ballet Festival, in Cuba, Latin America and around the world. Giselle danced most of the extensive classical and contemporary repertoire of the company as corps de ballet, soloist and principal roles, sharing the stage with many world-renowned dancers, among which are: Carlos Acosta, better known as Carlos Junior; Viengsay Valdes, Paloma Herrera, Alina Cojocaru, Julio Bocca, Angel Corella, Agnes Letestu, among others. Also participated in various workshops and master classes of stars like Azari Plisetski, Jewels of the Ballet of Cuba Josefina Mendez, Loipa Araujo, Aurora Bosch and Mikhail Baryshnikov among others. In 2007 she joined the Ballet de Monterrey, under the direction of Luis Serrano, where she played most of the classical and contemporary repertoire such as Giselle, Swan Lake, Nutcracker, Don Quixote and La Bayadere ballets, among others. Simultaneously the company of tango, Noctango, integrates main stage tango dancer and lounge. Throughout her career Giselle has also worked as a choreographer and teacher. Her choreographies include: Tinker Bell Ballet (classical piece in 2 acts), Nocturno (neoclassical style of tango), Just for Today (pas de deux of Argentine tango stage) etc. She begins her work as a teacher in her native Cuba, and extends to Mexico, mainly in Monterrey and the United States. Her students have participated in numerous editions of the International Meeting of Ballet Academy, the only event of its kind in the world that takes place every year in Habana, Cuba. In 2013 she moved with her husband and 3 year old daughter to San Antonio, to join as Ballet Mistress Ballet Latino San Antonio (BLSA), and Ballet San Antonio Academy, since then, she has also collaborated with International Dance Studios as Quenedit Dance School, Bravo Ballet School, San Antonio Ballet School, Trilogy Dance Center and also prepared her students for various international dance competitions like The Youth America Grand Prix where her students have been positioned in the top twelve.

SAVANNAH MICHALEK
Instructor Ballet & Jazz

Savannah Michalek, a San Antonio, TX native, grew up training at American Dance Company, RPM Youth Tap Ensemble, and Quenedit Ballet School. Savannah also trained with the Tremaine Performance Company, Tremaine Dance Conventions Pre-Professional dance company, as a Company Member for four years. Recently, Savannah was a featured dancer with TEXAS! The Outdoor Musical seasons 52nd & 53rd at the Pioneer Amphitheater in the Palo Duro Canyon. Savannah graduated in 2019 from Oklahoma City University at the Ann Lacy School of Dance and Entertainment, earning her B.S. in Arts Management. At the Ann Lacy School, Savannah trained in ballet, pointe, tap, jazz, and partnering and was a member of the American Spirit Dance Company. With the ASDC, Savannah performed in many different choreographic styles, such as precision, Rockette-inspired dances, contemporary, ballet, rhythm tap, and jazz. Savannah also obtained her Moving Light Board Certification and held numerous technical positions such as Static Light Board Operator Assistant, Director’s Assistant to Jo Rowan, Sound Board Operator, and Assistant Company Manager. Upon graduating from OCU, Savannah was the Development Intern at the Tobin Center and taught Musical Theatre and Jazz at QBS’s summer intensive. In the Fall of 2019, Savannah moved to Dublin, Ireland to earn her M.A. in Cultural Policy and Arts Management from the University College Dublin. As part of her program, Savannah interned for John Scott, Founder, and Director of Irish Modern Dance Theatre. Savannah is now back in San Antonio, teaching jazz, tap, and hip-hop at QBS, and plans to pursue her professional dance and arts management career. She has found a passion for teaching her students and helping them grow into technical and expressive dancers.

ABIGAIL DAVIS
Guest Instructor – Contemporary

Abigail Davis was born in San Antonio, Texas where she began her ballet training at the age of four. By thirteen she found her way to Quenedit Ballet School where she had wonderful learning opportunities including competing in YAGP, performing lead roles with QDT such as Queen of the Dryads in Don Quixote and Sugar Plum Fairy in The Nutcracker, and was invited to travel with a group of students to Havana, Cuba to spend a week training at the national ballet school. In 2017, after thirteen years of training almost exclusively in ballet, she decided to expand her repertoire by accepting an invitation to The Ailey School Summer Intensive in New York. At the end of the summer, she was invited to audition for the Junior Division year-round program where she was awarded a scholarship to stay in New York for training while assisting with young ballet classes on the weekend. After her initial year at Ailey, Abigail was awarded two more annual scholarships for the Professional Division. During her time at the school, she was able to learn about the Horton and Graham modern dance techniques from world renowned masters such as Ana Marie Forsythe and Milton Myers. She also participated in many amazing opportunities with the school such as marketing photoshoots for the Junior Division program, an online commercial for the school, the filming of a new tv series soon to be released on Netflix and performing an excerpt of Mr. Ailey’s most famous ballet ‘Revelations’ for The Ailey School’s 50th anniversary during the 93rd annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in 2019. During her three years living in Manhattan, Abigail took open classes that allowed her to train under many amazing teachers she would come to consider mentors. These include Caridad Martínez and Graciela Lebow Kozak who Abigail met as ballet teachers at The Ailey School and now virtually demonstrates for during their regular online open classes and masterclasses. She was also introduced to Lloyd Culbreath, a member of the Verdon/Fosse Legacy LLC, who has trained her in musical theater and Fosse rep after they met at an open class done through the legacy. Her television and film credits include The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, HBO’s The Plot Against America, NBC’s Manifest, Los Leones (Que León 2), (Netflix) Inventing Anna, and (Netflix 2021) Hit & Run.

CAROLINA JIMENEZ
Instructor – Pre-Ballet & Jazz

Bio coming soon!

GABRIELLE LUGO
Guest Instructor – Ballet

Bio coming soon!

YANIA NOYOLA
Guest Instructor – Ballet

Bio coming soon!