Mark Erickson - Studio Director 

Mr. Erickson has divided his time between dance and acting since arriving in California from British Columbia, Canada.  Some of his dance credits include lead roles in Giselle, Sleeping Beauty, The Nutcracker, Don Quixote, and a finalist in the International Ballet Competition.  He has taught Master Classes in Canada for the Canadian School of Ballet, for Lines Dance Company in San Francisco and at countless summer dance programs in the United States.  Some of Marks work in television and film include, a supporting role opposite Mel Gibson in The River, with Rod Steiger in American Gothic, a guest appearance on Amazing Stories, and In Living Color, and he co-starred in Star Trek-Deep Space Nine.  After completing an 8 year run in Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera, in both Los Angeles and San Francisco productions, Mr. Erickson opened The Ballet Studio to train dancers. 

Dana Nelson - Ballet

Miss Dana began her training with Teresa Wells, formerly of Kansas City Ballet and has trained with the California Ballet, San Diego Ballet and Boston Ballet. She began dancing professionally at the age of 16, and has performed soloist and principle roles with Ballet Theatre of Boston, California Ballet, Mirábilé Ballet Company, San Diego Ballet, Spindle City Ballet, Pax Fiat and Island Moving Company-Providence. Dana has training in Pilates, Dance Medicine, Dance Kinesiology and  Conditioning for Dancers. She has been teaching for over 20 years, and has taught for Boston Ballet, Ballet Theatre of Boston, California Ballet, San Diego Ballet and San Diego Dance Centre. Miss Nelson is pleased to be an integral part of teaching and setting ballets at The Ballet Studio here in the Temecula area.

TIFFANY KOEPKE - Ballet

Tiffany Koepke is a native of Milwaukee, Wisconsin and began her ballet training at The Milwaukee Ballet. As a student she received the Schlomer Lichner scholarship for most outstanding and promising dancer. At the age of fourteen, Ms. Koepke was the first student to dance the lead role as Clara in the Milwaukee Ballet’s production of The Nutcracker. She also played many roles with the company such as Sleeping Beauty and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Ms. Koepke attended Milwaukee High School of the Arts as a dance major and was given the incredible opportunity to dance in Edinburgh, Scotland at the Fringe Festival.

Ms. Koepke later moved to California and joined The California Ballet Company in San Diego. Her leading roles included four cygnets in Swan Lake, Dewdrop and Snow Queen in The Nutcracker, and “Snow White” in Snow White. Other ballets included Spanish Serenade, Sleeping Beauty, Paquita, and Romeo and Juliet.

Ms. Koepke made her first musical debut in Chorus Line when she played the role of “Val”. She has been in various productions with The Ballet Studio such as the annual Nutcracker as “Marie”, in two years of Ballet Rocks, and the production of Sleeping Beauty as the lilac fairy. Presently she enjoys being an instructor at The Ballet Studio and performing in Temecula.

Quincy Jacinto - Ballet                                                                              Quincy was born in Manila, Philippines, began his training at the age of 8 under the tutelage of his father, noted teacher and choreographer Eli Jacinto, with the Theatrical Ensemble and Artistic Movement.  On Quincy, the elder Jacinto choreographed roles that gained acclaim from the local dance audience, including Puga (Struggle) and the lead fisherman in Philippine Ballet Theatre's Magdaragat (Seafarer).  He was then accepted to the Harid Conservatory in Boca Raton, Florida, under a dance and academic scholarship in 1992. From 1990, he would dance as a guest artist with the Philippine Ballet Theatre, always performing principal roles, and was engaged as principal in 1999. He toured nationally and internationally with the company performing leading roles, such as Romeo in Romeo and Juliet, Basilio in Don Quixote, Pinkerton in Madame Butterfly and Hilarion in Giselle. Quincy was a runner up to the 2003 Best Male Dancer Award, presented by the Beverly Hills Outlook, A Biweekly Review of the Arts and Culture in Southern California. The Ballet Studio welcomes Quincy to our staff!

 

 

 

 

NATALIA MORALES-BYLES - Jazz / MPAC

A graduate from Cal State Fullerton with a B.A in dance and a Masters in Education with an emphasis in dance  and Higher Education from CSUN, Natalia is well versed in Teaching, Choreographing and Performing. Natalia has performed in various shows such as MTV 2003 Movie Awards, The Super Bowl, and the Lakers Fiesta Party just to name a few. She has choreographed for many rising rap artists here in the U.S. and pop artist from Europe. Natalia teaches Ballet, Jazz, Turns & Leaps, Hip-Hop and Pilates, as well as strength and conditioning for dancers. She has taught at many professional studios such as The Athletic Garage in Pasadena, Millennium in North Hollywood, Glendale Community College and most recently has been hired as an Associate Faculty Member at Mt. San Jacinto Community College. Natalia is also the Co-Founder and Artistic Director of Mystique Entertainment.

 

 
Amber Geary - Tots / Pre-Ballet
 
Amber Geary started dancing at the age of two at her mother’s dance studio “And All That Jazz” in San Diego, California. She is a trained competitive dancer, award winning choreographer and has been chosen to dance in television commercials.  She graduated from Humboldt State University where she earned her bachelors in Psychology and was involved with the modern dance company.  While she attended HSU she had the privilege to be the instructor and head coach for the college cheerleading and song team. She truly enjoys teaching dance and loves to share her knowledge of tap, jazz and ballet with her students at The Ballet Studio
 
 
 
  

Rachyl Pines - Pre-Ballet

 
Rachyl began dancing at the age of two and a half. Since training under Mr. Erickson at The Ballet Studio for the past 4 years she has been excepted to and attended major ballet companies summer training programs including; American Ballet Theater, Joffery Ballet New York, Washington Ballet School, and Milwaukee Ballet.  Rachyl has had the opportunity to dance soloist roles in The Ballet Studio productions of "Ballet Rocks", the Blue Bird Pas de Deux from the ballet Sleeping Beauty, Spanish and Arabian in the Nutcracker and is currently in rehearsals for Les Sylphide. This summer Rachyl  attended the Boston Ballet Summer Dance Program.

 

Samantha Hallburn - Guest Faculty/Ballet

Samantha began dancing at the age of 6.  At 11 she began training under the direction of Kathryn Scarano who has trained dancers such as Darci Kistler of New York City Ballet, Kelly Lamoureux, of National Ballet of Canada now Associate Director/Principal Dancer with Inland Pacific Ballet. Samantha has spent most of her career as a freelance dancer across the US and guest performer for several ballet companies including Lines Ballet, Lake Arrowhead Classical Ballet Company and California Ballet of San Diego. In 1997 Samantha trained under the direction of Alonzo King, Artistic Director of Lines Ballet Company in San Francisco. Samantha has also been accepted into other ballet companies training programs such as Joffrey Ballet, and Milwaukee Ballet  and Hartford Ballet. Since that time she has continued to perform and teach locally in Southern California. Her choreography has won several awards and received acclaim at both the regional and national levels. Currently Samantha is a guest faculty member of The Ballet Studio under the direction of Mark Erickson.