Faculty

Mads Eriksen grew up in Copenhagen Denmark, where he attended The Royal Danish Ballet School training under Niels Balle and Adam Luders. After his graduation in 2002, he joined The Royal Danish Ballet, where he danced numerous soloist roles including: Pas de six and Tarantella in August Bourneville's Napoli, 2nd movement in George Balanchine's Symphony in C, Officer in Alexei Ratmansky's Anna Karenina, Metacomet in Jose Limons The Unsung, Brabantino in Louise Midjords Othello, Handwerker in John Neumeiers A midsummer night's dream, Les Gentilles L'hommes by Peter Martins, Etudes by Harald Lander and Polacca by Anna Laerkesen and 2nd Piano Concert by Georges Balanchine. Mr. Eriksen has been lucky enough to originate roles in works by renowed choreographers such as John Neumeier, Alexei Ratmansky, Yuan Yuan Wang, Jorma Uotinen, Jo Stroemgren. From 2007-2009 Mr. Eriksen danced with Ballet San Jose, performing in roles such as: Baron von Rothbart in Dennis Nahat's Swan Lake, Theme and Variations, The Four Temperaments and Serenade by George Balanchine.

Mads Eriksen was a founding member of the touring group: Made in Denmark a group of young dancers from The Royal Danish Ballet. He performed at prestigious dance festivals including: Jacobs Pillow Dance and Nerja Dance Festival in Spain. His repertoire with Made in Denmark includes Le Corsaire pas de trois by Marius Petipa and Jockey Dance and Napoli by August Bournonville.

Mr. Eriksen began teaching at Ballet San Jose School in 2008 and was promoted to Senior Faculty in 2012 and Principal Faculty in 2014. In 2016 Mr. Eriksen was named Principal of The New Ballet School in San Jose, where he taught and choreographed for all levels.

Mads Eriksen is an ABT® Certified Teacher, who has successfully completed the ABT® Teacher Training Intensive in Pre-Primary through Level 7 of the ABT® National Training Curriculum. Since 2015 Mr. Eriksen has been a National Training Curriculum Fellow, successfully presenting students for exams from level 1 to level 7. Mads Eriksen is also certified in Progressing Ballet Technique. Mr. Eriksen is a sought-after guest teacher. Teaching at various schools such as, American Ballet Theatre's JKO, The Royal Danish Ballet School, The University of Utah, Regional Dance America's National Festival, Ballet West Academy and Long Beach Ballet.
Mads is proud to serve on The American Ballet Theatre's National Training Curriculum's Board of Examiners and as an Adjudicator for Regional Dance America.

Mads Eriksen has created several neoclassical ballets most notably:

• Bachnias Brasilieres, Ballet San Jose School 2012
• Lark, Ballet San Jose School 2013
• Concerto No. 4, Ballet San Jose School 2013
• Concerto Grosso, Silicon Valley Ballet School 2014
• Influx, Spector Dance 2014
• Salute to Bournonville, Silicon Valley Ballet School 2014
• Serenade for Strings, Silicon Valley Ballet School 2015
• Desdemona, The New Ballet Studio Company 2016
• Canzoneta, Sacramento Ballet Youth Ensemble 2016
• Day Dream, The New Ballet Studio Company 2016
• Glasnost, Boise Ballet Academy 2019
• Bach Cello Suite, The New Ballet Studio Company 2020
• Flood Lights, Boise Ballet Academy 2020

Born and raised in San Jose, CA, she received her training from Diane Cypher and Robert Kelley with the Santa Cruz Ballet Theatre, prior to joining the Silicon Valley Ballet (previously Ballet San Jose) School in 2004. She joined Silicon Valley Ballet as a trainee in 2006, was promoted to apprentice in 2007 and became a part of the Corps de Ballet from 2009-2016. She was on The New Ballet School faculty from 2016-2018 and is an ABT® Certified Teacher, who has successfully completed the ABT® Teacher Training Intensive in Pre-Primary through Level 7 of the ABT® National Training Curriculum.

Sarah Stein was featured in many roles at Silicon Valley Ballet (previously known as Ballet San Jose) including a Stomper in Twyla Tharp's In the Upper Room, the Pas de Trois in Sir Frederick Ashton's Les Rendezvous, demi-soloist in George Balanchine's Theme and Variations, a Flower Girl in Wes Chapman's staging of Don Quixote, the Summer Fairy in Ben Stevenson's Cinderella, and a cygnet in Dennis Nahat's Swan Lake. Her other repertoire has included Jorma Elo's Glow-Stop, Ohad Naharin's Minus 16, Dwight Rhoden's Evermore, Paul Taylor's Piazzolla Caldera, Merce Cunningham's Duets, Roland Petit's Carmen, Antony Tudor's Jardin Aux Lilas, and George Balanchine's The Four Temperaments, Serenade, Square Dance, Who Cares?, and Allegro Brillante. Ms. Stein has performed with Made in Denmark alongside dancers of the Royal Danish Ballet in the summer of 2008 and appeared as a guest artist with the Sacramento Ballet in their performances of Serenade during the company's 2011/2012 season.

Ms. Stein is also a certified teacher in GYROTONIC® Method. Having used the GYROTONIC® method herself since 2011 with trainer Catharine Grow, she has earned her GYROTONIC® certification in 2014 so she could share her knowledge with dancers and non-dancers alike. Ms. Stein taught The GYROTINIC® Method to inspire greater knowledge of the body at Urban Body San Jose. She is also certified to teach GYROTONIC® as a Musical Journey, which is the musical portion of the GYROTONIC® Expansion System. In 2020 Sarah Stein became a Certified Instructor in Progressing Ballet Technique

Rachel Winter, from Gilroy, California, has trained in classical ballet for eleven years. She started at Morgan Hill Dance Center, before joining Silicon Valley Ballet School (formerly known as Ballet San Jose School) in 2012. In 2016, Rachel joined The New Ballet's Studio Company and remained there for two seasons, dancing roles such as Odette in Swan Lake, The Rattle Snake (Arabian) in The Nutcracker and Puss in Boots in Sleeping Beauty. She attended summer intensives including those of Ballet San Jose, San Francisco Ballet, Kirov Academy of Ballet, Washington D.C., and Tulsa Ballet. Ms. Winter moved to Boise, Idaho in the fall of 2018, continuing her training at Boise Ballet Academy, receiving the opportunity to perform in Ballet Idaho's production of Edward Liang's Cinderella, and earning her certification in Progressing Ballet Technique. She is also currently a full- time student at Boise State University studying psychology

Elizabeth was born in La Grande, Oregon. Beginning dance at a young age under the instruction of her mother, she later moved on to receive the majority of her dance training in California with Lawrence and Sarma Rosenberg at the Anaheim Ballet School, supplemented by private coaching with Nancy Raffa, Stanley Holden, Alexander Greschenko, and Jillana. Elizabeth won third place in Youth America Grand Prix competitions and competed in the New York City finals, after which she was invited to perform in the Young Medalists Gala at the Miami International Dance Festival.
Prior to joining Ballet Idaho, Elizabeth was a member of the Anaheim Ballet company while also teaching at Anaheim Ballet School. In 2010, she joined Ballet Idaho and was promoted to Principal dancer in 2016. Recent notable roles include Cinderella in Edwaard Liang's Cinderella, Princess Aurora in The Sleeping Beauty, Wendy in Peter Pan, Odette in Swan Lake, and principal roles in George Balanchine's Agon, Allegro Brillante, Valse Fantasie, and Concerto Barocco. Elizabeth originated several roles choreographed by Peter Anastos and has performed works by Twyla Tharp, Craig Davidson, Penny Saunders, Ricardo Amarante, Dana Genshaft, Anne Mueller, and Daniel Ojeda. She is also a dance apparel designer and owner of Barreto Dancewear. Her designs are worn by professional dancers worldwide.