Use this space to introduce yourself and share your professional history.Maya Vought was invited to join Ballet Melange as a trainee in the programs’ premier year studying under Elizabeth Shipiatsky’s direction. Maya attended summer programs, many on scholarship, including American Ballet Theatre in New York City, Miami City Ballet, and Boston Ballet. She was a finalist in the Kyiv Grand Prix in Ukraine where she obtained a company offer in Europe before the pandemic in 2020. She performed numerous principal roles in Ballet Melange’s full-length productions including Giselle, Gulnara and Sugarplum Fairy. Maya joined Ballet Ariel in Denver, Colorado for their 2022/2023 season as a company soloist.

Ballet Melange
Trainee Program Alumni

AVALON KIRBY

Avalon Kirby started dancing at age five and began her pre-professional training with Elizabeth Shipiatsky at the age of 11. In her time at Classical Ballet Academy and Ballet Melange she received numerous awards at local, regional and international competitions. She was a finalist and received regional recognition of 2nd place Classical and 8th place Contemporary at 2023 ADCIBC Raleigh. She was a prize winner and selected to be in the final round of the Grand Prix Kyiv International Ballet Festival in 2020, 2019 and 2018. Avalon received first place in the Pas de Deux category at YAGP Denver in 2020 and placed in the top 12 or higher as a soloist many years. Avalon joined Ballet Melange in 2018 dancing favorite roles: Giselle in Giselle, Big Masha/Sugarplum Fairy in The Nutcracker, Radish in Cipollino and Madora in Le Corsaire.

While pursuing her professional career, Avalon became a certified Vaganova instructor teaching ballet, pointe, choreographing and staging classical and neoclassical works, and ballet competition coaching. Avalon also teaches contemporary dance and choreographed contemporary work for CBA performances and competition soloists.

Unable to join the Ukrainian National Ballet due to the pandemic, Avalon continued training with the Ballet Melange faculty and developing her students at CBA. She also performed in freelance work with the Maureen Breeze Dance Theatre and Zikr Dance Ensemble. Avalon joined the Richmond Ballet for the 2023/2024 season and hopes to return home to guest teach for Elizabeth Shipiatsky when off-contract.

MAYA VOUGHT

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Maya Vought was invited to join Ballet Melange as a trainee in the programs’ premier year studying under Elizabeth Shipiatsky’s direction. Maya attended summer programs, many on scholarship, including American Ballet Theatre in New York City, Miami City Ballet, and Boston Ballet. She was a finalist in the Kyiv Grand Prix in Ukraine where she obtained a company offer in Europe before the pandemic in 2020. She performed numerous principal roles in Ballet Melange’s full-length productions including Giselle, Gulnara and Sugarplum Fairy. Maya joined Ballet Ariel in Denver, Colorado for their 2022/2023 season as a company soloist.

KATIE GRACE SHAMBUREK

Katie began studying with Elizabeth Shipiatsky at age ten. Over the years, she received many awards and placements at Denver Ballet Guild and YAGP before studying abroad at the prestigious Vaganova Academy in Saint Petersburg, Russia her last two years of high school. She returned to Denver and entered the Ballet Melange Trainee program dancing soloist and principal classical roles and studying contemporary work. Katie also became a certified Vaganova instructor under Elizabeth Shipiatsky’s tutelage. Katie joined the National Ballet of Ukraine in 2019.

LILIANA WATSON

Liana Watson started dancing at the age of six at a local studio in Dover, Delaware. She instantly fell in love with ballet and trained for several years with the hopes of becoming a professional dancer. She joined Classical Ballet Academy under the training of Elizabeth Shipiatsky. Liliana felt like she had progressed more during her first few months with Elizabeth than she had in several years and joined Ballet Mélange in its inaugural year in 2018 excited the training and mentorship of the staff and the curriculum. She stayed with the program for three years and graduated in the spring of 2021 after receiving a contract with Klaipėda State Music Theatre. During her time in the program Liliana not only grew in her artistry and technique, she had the opportunity to perform several soloist and principal roles in classical and contemporary works and she saw a huge turnaround in her audition results. She also was on staff for the school and had the privilege to teach the younger students while she was a part of Ballet Mélange. Liliana returned to the US and joined Virginia National Ballet for their 2022/2023.

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ANAKA WEISS-JONES

Anaka began dancing in the Boulder area at age 8, most notably under Jayne Persch, Artistic Director of Briah Danse. In 2018, she joined the inaugural year of Ballet Melange and spent three years training under the excellent instruction of Elizabeth Shipiatsky, Sergii Sydorski, Maureen Breeze and the rest of the faculty. She competed in the International Ballet Competition in Kyiv, Ukraine, in 2020, where she was presented with multiple Special Judges' Awards. In addition to her classical training, Anaka was able to pursue her love for contemporary ballet by training and/or performing with several contemporary companies, including Alonzo King LINES Ballet, Briah Danse, Cleo Parker Robinson Dance Theater, Complexions Contemporary Ballet, and the Maureen Breeze Dance Theater. Anaka joined the Klaipėda State Music Theater in Lithuania as a company dancer in 2021

While studying under Elizabeth Shipiatsky, Beatriz received prestigious awards at Denver Ballet Guild and YAGP. At YAGP New York in 2015 she was awarded a scholarship to the English National Ballet School in London. She was selected for Prix de Lusianne her final year at ENBS where she was offered a contract for the following year at the Dutch National Junior Company. She performed many soloist and principal roles and toured with the main company. After just one year in the Junior Company, she was promoted to the main company, Dutch National Ballet in 2020.

Additional Alumni of
Artistic Director
Elizabeth Shipiatsky

NICOLE MOYER

Nicole Moyer, born in Boulder, Colorado trained at Boulder Ballet, Colorado Ballet, and completed her Colorado training with Elizabeth Shipiatsky at Classical Ballet Academy. She began training with San Francisco Ballet School in 2018. She was named a San Francisco Ballet Apprentice in 2021.

Photo Credit: Francisco Estevez Photography

CHARLOTTE LANNING

Charlotte began her training at the age of 10 at the Washington School of Ballet under the direction of Mary Day. She then furthered her studies with Michael Bjerknes of the American Dance Institute and Dawei Zhang of the Shanghai Ballet. In 2011 she attended a summer program with Colorado Ballet and started to work with Elizabeth Shipiatsky, focusing on the details and transitions that make ballet an art. She continued to train with Elizabeth and study at the Classical Ballet of Colorado while working with the Colorado Ballet. She then went on to dance with the Victor Ullate Ballet of Madrid, Ballet Spartanburg, and American Contemporary Ballet in Los Angeles before joining Teatrul de Balet Sibiu in 2016 dancing many soloist roles such as, Paquita (Petipa), Pas de deux Corzi (Gardner), Pas de deux Freedom (Babuska), Big Swans in Swan Lake (Petipa), and dancing the Pas de Deux from La Sylphide (Taglioni) in the European Dance Gala.

MAGGIE MELMAN

Maggie Mehlman graduated from the CBA program in 2015. As a Boettcher Scholar, she attended Colorado College receiving her degree in Mathematics. She also danced and choreographed in the Colorado College Department of Dance & Theater. Maggie currently works in New York City doing data analytics and underwriting for PURE Risk Management and dances whenever she has the opportunity.

MICHELLE KOPPL

Michelle Koppl is a movement and film artist living and working in Washington DC. After completing her ballet studies under Elizabeth Shipiatsky in 2014, she attended Virginia Commonwealth University with the VCU Undergraduate Scholarship and the Carpenter Foundation Scholarship. Michelle was honored to also spend time overseas through the University of South Florida’s Dance in Paris program. She received her BFA in Dance and Choreography, graduating with the Bobby Chandler Award in honor of Chris Burnside in 2018. Michelle's creative work includes pieces for the stage, as well as site-specific and multimedia performances. To see her choreographic and film works, go to https://www.michellekoppl.com/.

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BRIDGID INNERST

BEATRIZ KUPURUS

SYDNEY MCCALL

Sydney McCall began her training with Elizabeth Shipiatsky and went on to Texas Christian University with a dance scholarship. While earning her BFA in Ballet, she performed lead roles in Giselle, Paquita, Don Quixote, Antony Tudor's Dark Elegies, and George Blanchine's Valse Fantaisie. She now dances with Wonderbound in Denver, CO.

Shania has been a company dancer with Sacramento Ballet since completing her training with Elizabeth Shipiatsky in 2014. She has performed numerous corps de ballet, soloist, and principal roles in Sacraments Ballet's repertoire.

Shania is also a dancer with the contemporary company Amy Seiwert’s Imagery, with whom she has performed at the ODC Theater and the Cowell Theater in San Francisco, the Joyce Theater in NYC, and at Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival. She is a founding member of the summer company Capital Dance Project, where she is currently dancing, directing and choreographing digital series dance films. Also an emerging choreographer: Shania has presented 6 original works for Capital Dance Project and has had the privilege to choreograph 5 pieces for Sacramento Ballet’s Beer and Ballet program. Beyond the stage, Shania enjoys teaching ballet at local dance studios as well as pursuing other artistic endeavors such as creating original music compositions, graphic design, and painting.

SHANIA RASMUSSEN

MADELINE ROBERTS

Madeline grew up studying under Elizabeth Shipiatsky for nearly a decade. During that time, she was able to study abroad in Moscow, Russia while attending the Bolshoi Ballet Academy through their Summer Intensive Program. After graduation from CBA, she received a degree in Political Science and Strategic Communications with an emphasis in Public Relations from the University of Colorado- Boulder. Madeline has a background in public relations and marketing with the Washington Ballet in DC. She currently serves as the Operations Coordinator for a Member of Congress and sits on the Board of Directors for Ballet Melange.

SIMON GNAGY