Alumni

KYB Alumni

Piper Armstrong

Piper Armstrong has been training at Kravenko since the age of 7. Her training enabled her to attend Joffrey Ballet in Chicago's summer intensive, as well as American Ballet Theatre's summer intensive in New York City. She plans on continuing her ballet training as a trainee with Ballet West in Salt Lake City. She would like to Mrs. Alison and Mrs. K for being the best dance teachers she could've ever asked for, and for teacher her everything she know about ballet .

Erika Carpenter

Erika Carpenter has returned to Las Vegas to perform with Jubilee on the Las Vegas Strip while studying pre-med at the University of Nevada Las Vegas. Erika has lived in New York City and studied under the artistic direction of Stuart Loungway as an apprentice corps de ballet member for his company Terra Firma Ballet. Erika began her dance training at KDA at the age of 2 and has since completed her Royal Academy of Dance Graded Examinations levels Primary-Advanced with high distinctions. Erika was promoted to principle dancer of the Kravenko Youth Ballet at the age of 16 and continues to be a guest artist and teacher with the company. As she continues to train under the mentorship of Alison Kravenko-Johnson she is also a student at Steps On Broadway where she studies with Willy Burmann, Nancy Bielski, Pamela Probisco, Elena Kunikova and at Capezio Peridance with Stuart Loungway.

Daniel Cooke

Daniel Cooke is currently in his second season with Ballet Memphis. He began his dance studies in Las Vegas at the age of 13 under the direction of Garold Gardner. Mr. Gardner generously handed Daniel over the mentorship and extensive ballet training of Alison Kravenko-Johnson. After a summer on scholarship at Alonzo King Lines Ballet in San Francisco the Kravenko's submitted him as a scholarship student and he was accepted into a private boarding conservatory at the Walnut Hill School of the Arts in Natick, MA. Daniel spent two more summers as a full-scholarship student first at Pacific Northwest Ballet in Seattle and later at San Francisco Ballet. After graduating from Walnut Hill he was asked to join the school at San Francisco Ballet and was invited to live in the coveted Jackson House. San Francisco Ballet granted him professional experiences in ballets such as SFB's Nutcracker, Romeo & Juliet and George Balanchine's Western Symphony. Mr. Cooke is looking forward to the upcoming season at Ballet Memphis and the growth that is to come in his future. He will remain a guest artist and teacher for at KYB and will always come home for Christmas.

Torrey Cole

Torrey Cole is a co-founder of our non-profit contemporary dance project, PROJECT PRALUDIUM, which invites guest teachers and choreographers to set new contemporary work on the Kravenko Dance Academy pre-professional students. She is a native of Las Vegas, NV, and began her training with us at the age of two. Torrey was a student at the Kravenko Dance Academy and a copany member of the Kravenko Youth Ballet for 16 years. She attended the Las Vegas of Performing Arts High school, and made her way from Las Vegas to attend the Conservatory of Dance at Purchase College in New York. Torrey received her B. F.A. in Dance Performance from Purchase College under the mentor of Richard Cook, and composition teacher, Kazuko Hirabayashi. Torrey has been an original member the Alonzo King LINES Ballet Ensemble in San Francisco, and has attended the Northwest Professional Dance Project: Launch Program In Portland, Oregon. While living in New York City, Torrey has traveled and performed with Ami Goodheart's, Haute Couture Production Company, SOTU Productions, and has worked as the showroom model for fashion designers, Jeffery Monteiro and, Cynthia Rowley. Torrey has recently trained in theatre at the T. Schreiber Acting Conservatory on Scholarship, and began dancing with a ballroom dance company, "Ballroom Dancing For Tough Guys" in New York City. Torrey has taught ballet in Westchester County, NY and Queens, NY, and now gives back to her home studio, as contemporary program director and teacher at Kravenko Dance Academy. Torrey is on a mission to create choreography for film and media artists.

Aliyha Crawford

Aliyha Crawford is a former Kravenko Youth Ballet dancer and is currently Junior dance major at Howard University, in Washington, DC. Aliyha has studied at the Ailey School, the Las Vegas Academy of the Performing Arts, and the West Las Vegas Arts Center under the direction of Stephan Reynolds and Dr. Marcia Robinson. During her freshman year at the University she was one of two freshman selected to perform in their spring production of "Hamdan: Through the Gate of Tears"; which was an evening-length ballet commissioned by the Smithsonian Museum of African Art. Currently, she is the assistant to Maverick Lemons and is training under the tutelage of Royce Zackery, Patricia Thomas, Bernard Gaddis, and Kathy Smith. Upon graduation, she has hopes of joining a professional dance company while also working in theater administration.

Alex Buckner

Alex Buckner’s early interest in musical theater led him to study dance, and he became serious about ballet at Kravenko Ballet Academy age twelve. A native of Las Vegas, he studied at the Las Vegas Academy of the Performing Arts and graduated from the Virginia School of the Arts in Lynchburg. He danced under Stoner Winslet at Richmond Ballet from 2005 to 2009, as a trainee and an apprentice. Since joining FSBT in 2010, Alex has choreographed several pieces for the company including A Midsummer Night’s Dream,Irene, and Cinderella. in 2013, Buckner was awarded the Emerging Artist Fellowship by Delaware Division of the Arts.

Mallory Fabian

Mallory Fabian, originally from Las Vegas, moved to Valencia, CA after graduating from the Las Vegas Academy of Performing Arts ('12) with a concentration in dance. Mallory began formal ballet and contemporary training at Kravenko Dance Academy at the age of 15. Now, Mallory is a rising senior at the California Institute of the Arts, only steps away from attaining a BFA in Dance & Choreography. While attending Calarts, Mallory has studied with Andre Tyson, Rebecca Lemme, Andrea Gise, Kira Blazek, and has danced in several student-produced works. Mallory has also been featured in films by Mavra Peponis & Sinah Ober, MFA students in the film/directing program at Cal arts. Her choreography has been showcased in Sharon Disney Lund dance concerts as well as in dance films, which she produced herself. Mallory greatly appreciates the Kravenko family and the teachers at the Las Vegas Academy, who sparked her love and passion for choreographing. After graduating at Calarts, Mallory plans to move to Israel for 6 months, then return to Los Angeles to pursue a career in dance, choreography, and dance for camera.

“Special thanks to Kravenko for giving me the discipline that I still have today, I would not be as successful and motivated without your love and support.”

Jana Taylor

Jana Taylor received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Dance with an emphasis in Ballet from Brigham Young University, with minors in French and Art History. While attending BYU, she performed and toured with the university’s Ballet Showcase and Theatre Ballet companies, dancing in classical ballet productions including Snow Queen and Coppelia, as well as serving as Theatre Ballet President. Jana received a grant from the Office of Research and Creative Activities to choreograph a contemporary ballet piece, for which choreography she later received the Phi Eta Sigma Outstanding Performing Arts Award. She also published an article in the BYU Dance Journal on the fusion of styles in contemporary dance. Prior to college, she began her dance training at Kravenko Ballet Academy at the age of 2, studying the Royal Academy of Dancing ballet technique and in many other dance styles: modern, jazz, lyrical, tap, character, and swing. Since moving to Orange County, Jana has performed at the Disneyland Resort, dancing numerous roles in several parades including Disney’s Electrical Parade, Celebrate! A Street Party, and A Christmas Fantasy Parade. She is currently performing with ENCORE Dance Company, a modern dance company based in Huntington Beach. Jana is passionate about performing, choreographing, and especially teaching, as she has been teaching many styles of dance to all ages for over 10 years.

Michael Szanyi

Michael is a former Kraveenko Youth Ballet dancer and is currently a doctoral student in Education and Applied Research Methods at Claremont Graduate University. He teaches Modern at Pomona College and is the Dance Programmer at The Webb Schools of California. He has danced with the Pennington Dance Group and Laurie Cameron and Company. He has worked with Inland Pacific Ballet throughout his entire education at the Claremont Colleges. One of his most memorable performances was dancing as the Nutcracker Prince with Shelby Whallon as Clara. Michael is incredibly excited to once again be performing with the Inland Pacific Ballet.