Few young ballet dancers get to share the stage with international stars like Daniil Simkin and Iana Salenko. That opportunity is even less likely for students who don’t live in dance hubs like New York City or San Francisco. But for a lucky group of 15- to 19-year-old dancers from Arizona, a brand-new gala has given them that chance.
On Saturday, March 22, at Phoenix’s Orpheum Theatre, 25 current and former students from 11 regional ballet schools will perform in the first-ever Arizona Grand Gala of Stars. They’ll open each act, dancing Vicente Nebrada’s Doble Corchea (Double Clef) and the world premiere of The Unfolding Path, by choreographer and native Arizonan Myles Lavalleé. In addition to Simkin and Salenko, the rest of the program will feature New York City Ballet’s Joseph Gordon and Indiana Woodward, Compañía Nacional de Danza artistic director Joaquín De Luz, Miami City Ballet’s Dawn Atkins Hilty and Stanislav Olshanskyi, Les Grands Ballets Canadiens’ Rachele Buriassi and Esnel Ramos, former Staatsballett Berlin principal (and husband to Salenko) Marian Walter, and flamenco artist Patricia Donn.
The gala’s founder, Paola Hartley, has been teaching ballet throughout the greater Phoenix area for years. She noticed that despite Arizona’s abundance of strong training programs, its audiences lacked familiarity with global ballet talent; to Hartley, direct exposure to the stars is a crucial source of education for audiences—and inspiration for students. She recalls getting to perform alongside Carlos Acosta and Lauren Anderson during her first gala as a 19-year-old apprentice with Chile’s Ballet de Santiago: “You don’t forget those things as a young dancer,” she says. “You get inspired; you want to keep going and to be like them.”
But in order for a gala to be possible by state standards, Hartley needed a reason beyond providing inspiration. She decided to celebrate dance education in Arizona, imagining a program showcasing the top students from studios across the state.
In 2023, Hartley founded the Hartley Dance Project, of which she is co-executive director, to serve as the production branch for the gala she envisioned. She called upon impresario and longtime friend Paul Seaquist, who joined as artistic director and reached out to guest artists and helped organize their repertoire. The third member of the production team, co-executive director Robbin Holley Elowe, offered the studios at her school in Mesa, Studio R, for a rehearsal space. They held auditions to determine the cast of students last September.
The logistics of running a consistent rehearsal schedule for dancers spread throughout the state have proved challenging—but not impossible, thanks to a few intensive workshopping weekends and virtual rehearsal options for students who live too far away to commute every week. “There’ve definitely been a lot of long rehearsal days, but I actually love those,” says 17-year-old Studio R student Bella Randall. “It’s fun to just be at the studio forever and feel like I live there.”
Vicente Nebrada’s Doble Corchea, the students’ neoclassical selection, includes two large ensemble sections and a series of pas de deux. Each of the 13 couples represents an instrument of the orchestra, Hartley explains. Randall, who hopes to pursue a professional career in ballet, likes how the piece showcases “both the individual talent of the dancers, but also the unity of us all dancing together,” she says.
Avery Khoundara, who is 15 and trains at Tempe Dance Academy, has especially enjoyed working on Myles Lavalleé’s new contemporary piece. “I love being choreographed on,” says Khoundara. “Not everybody gets that experience until they’re a professional.” As the gala draws closer, he’s felt his anticipation increase at the thought of seeing the guest artists in person. “I literally can’t put it into words,” he says. “Just to be able to know that these stars will be watching me from the wings…It’s super-warming in my heart.”
Randall has also enjoyed getting to know her fellow gala dancers over the weeks. “At first, I only knew the girls from my own studio, but now I know pretty much everyone,” she says. “I’ve seen them at competitions or auditions, but now I’m able to connect with them as friends.”
For both Randall and Khoundara, the opportunity to perform in this gala has boosted their confidence and deepened their love for dance. Khoundara is already looking forward to the next chance he’ll have to be a part of the gala, which Hartley hopes to make an annual event.
“The people in Arizona deserve to see the beautiful artists coming from here, like David Hallberg, Joseph Gordon, Maya Schonbrun,” says Hartley. “What I want is to celebrate the next artists before they become big, so audiences can say they saw them, and look where they are now!”
The studios involved in the 2025 Arizona Grand Gala of Stars are:
- Arizona Youth Ballet
- ARKA Ballet Academy
- CanDance Studios
- Club Dance
- Grand Canyon University
- Master Ballet Academy
- Premier Ballet Conservatory
- The School of Ballet Arizona
- Studio R Ballet
- Tempe Dance Academy
- Yen-Li Chen Ballet School
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