Master class WEEk
August 17-21, 2026
About the Program
This one-week intensive (August 17-21 for 2026) provides the serious student with insight and inspiration from former and current professional dancers. Master classes are an excellent way to make breakthroughs in your understanding of the art form, to grow both technically and artistically, and to approach fall ballet with confidence.
Three enrollment options are available: Morning Program, Full-Day Program, and Master Class Trio (flexible three morning program for advanced students aged 14+).
Click here to register now!
For questions, email us at Master Class Week.
Schedule
Morning Program:
8:45 am Check-in
9:00-9:30 am Yoga or Stretch
9:30-11:00 am Ballet Technique
11:15 am-12:15 pm Pointe/Mens Class/Workshops
Afternoon (Full Day Students):
12:15-12:45 Lunch Break
12:45-2:00 pm Repertoire
2:00-3:00 pm Coaching (Pirouette Class, Arabesque, Battu Class, Proper Use of Turnout, Port de Bras, etc.)
3:15-4:30 pm Student Choreography
Placement will be determined by the faculty on the first day of classes. Specific schedules will be determined by level placement.
Eligibility
We accept students aged 11* to 18 with at least three years of ballet training.
*Age 11 for Half Day program or Full Day program with the Director’s permission.
Tuition - In Person
Morning Program $450
Full Day $700 Master Class Trio $270. Choose any three mornings. Open to students age 14+
Note: Tuition prices include a $50 non-refundable deposit.
Sibling discount: $25 off the tuition of the second child.
Discount: $25 off Full-day tuition paid by April 17
Dress Code
Girls: Black leotard (any style), pink tights, pink ballet slippers and skirt (any color) for Pointe. Ladies who are on pointe should bring pointe shoes each day.
Boys: White close fitting tee-shirt or leotard, black tights with dance belt, and white or black shoes with white or black socks.
ALL: Warm ups may be worn for morning yoga/stretch, but must be removed before technique class unless a student has an injury.
Guest and Resident Faculty
Adriana Suarez began her dance career in New York City, where she performed as a guest artist following her training at School of American Ballet. She was quickly spotted by Bruce Marks and invited to join the Boston Ballet in 1989. She became a principal ballerina in 1994 and has performed the lead role in a wide range of classical ballets, such as Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty, Le Corsaire, Giselle, Romeo and Juliet, and The Nutcracker. Her contemporary repertoire includes the leading role in numerous works by George Balanchine, including Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux, Terpsichore in Apollo, and Serenade.
Suarez has had the pleasure of working closely with such renowned choreographers as Bill T. Jones, Mark Morris, William Forsythe, and Nacho Duato. She has performed the roles of Tatiana in John Cranko’s Onegin and Kate in The Taming of the Shrew and has created roles for Christopher Wheeldon’s Firebird and Twyla Tharp’s Waterbaby Bagatelles. She has appeared as a guest artist in South America and Asia. In 1997, she took a leave of absence to join Oper Leipzig Ballett in Germany as a principal ballerina.
Ms. Suarez is currently an associate professor of Dance at the Boston Conservatory at Berklee College. Her teaching experience includes Boston Ballet, Alvin Ailey School and Company, Harvard University, Ballet Hispanico, Brookline Ballet School, University of South Carolina, Green Street Studios, Festival Ballet of Rhode Island, and Regional Dance America.
Adriana Suarez
Nahia recently finished training in her second year of the Professional Formation program at L’École Supérieure de Ballet du Quebec in Montreal under the instruction of José Manuel Carreño and Muriel Valtat. While at ESBQ, she was awarded the Best Musicality mention at the annual Prix Ludmilla for her performance in George Balanchine’s Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux Female Variation. Before coming to Montreal, she began her classical ballet training in 2011 at Acton School of Ballet, where she joined the Pre-Professional Program in 2020. She was also a member of the Commonwealth Ballet Company starting in 2020. Throughout her time there, she performed main roles in The Nutcracker, as well as in other original productions and mixed repertoire bills. Since graduating, she has received Guest Artist contracts to perform as the Sugar Plum Fairy in the Grand Pas de Deux of Commonwealth Ballet Company’s The Nutcracker 2024 and 2025 productions. She has participated in summer intensive programs at L’École Supérieure de Ballet du Quebec, Chautauqua Institution, Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre, Carolina Ballet, Arrais Ballet, Acton School of Ballet, Integrarte, and Igor Yebra Escuela de Danza y Coreografía. Nahia also has worked as a ballet teacher; since graduating high school, she was a Guest Teacher in Acton School of Ballet’s Summer Intensive and led the Classical Stories Program for younger children. While in her senior year of high school, she taught Pre-Ballet at ASB, and before that, she worked for many years as an assistant ballet teacher.
Nahia Sáenz de Viguera Washa
Christiana Cecere is a native of Massachusetts where she trained for fifteen years at The Conservatory at Northeast School of Ballet under the tutelage of her mother, Denise Cecere (director), and grandmother, Sandra McNaught (founder).
In addition to training with Northeast School of Ballet’s renowned faculty, including her coach, Jean-Pierre Bonnefoux, Christiana received additional summer training at The School of American Ballet, The Paris Opera Ballet School, and The Chautauqua Dance Institute.
Upon graduation from the Northeast School of Ballet, Cecere accepted a contract with The Arles Youth Ballet Company in France under the direction of Norton Fantinel and Karina Moreira. In 2024, Christiana was invited to further her training at English National Ballet School’s Professional Programme under the direction of Vivian Durante. There she had the privilege to perform in English National Ballet’s Swan Lake and mixed bill at Sadler wells Theater in London.
In 2025, Christiana returned to the US for an apprentice position with Florida Ballet, under the direction of Roberto Forleo. She has been offered a company contract for the 2025-2026 season.
Christiana has had the privilege to perform in a wide range of repertoire in her formative years.Principal and soloist roles in classical ballets include Giselle, Swan Lake, The Nutcracker, Romeo and Juliet, and Cinderella. She has performed ballets by George Balanchine including, Who Cares, Raymonda Variations, and Walpurgisnacht Ballet., as well neoclassical and contemporary ballets choreographed by several renowned choreographers.
Christiana MARIE Cecere
Ashly Isaacs Powell danced with New York City Ballet for ten years, retiring as a soloist in 2019. Her repertoire includes works by George Balanchine, Jerome Robbins, Peter Martins, Justin Peck, Christopher Wheeldon, and Alexei Ratmansky, among many others. Of Balanchine's works, Powell featured in Serenade, Symphony in C, Apollo, Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux, The Four Temperaments, and Agon, about which the New York Times noted her “cool, eager brilliance” as “a source of happy astonishment.” In Peck’s The Times Are Racing, Powell was the first female dancer cast in a gender-neutral role in New York City Ballet’s history. There, “she was all thrilling, silky power,” the New York Times wrote, “slyly displaying how distinctly a woman can do a man’s job.”
Originally from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Powell began dancing under the instruction of her father, Michael Isaacs, before training with Magda Auñon at Fort Lauderdale Ballet Classique. She attended summer courses at Miami City Ballet and the School of American Ballet, the latter where she enrolled as a full-time student in 2006 and received the Mae L. Wien Award for Outstanding Promise. Ashly became an apprentice with New York City Ballet in 2009 and joined the company as a member of the corps de ballet in 2010, earning promotion to soloist in 2015. That same year, she received the Janice Levin Dancer Award, given annually to a promising member of New York City Ballet's corps de ballet.
Powell holds a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Fordham University and a Master of Fine Arts in Experimental Animation from California Institute of the Arts. She lives in Harvard, Massachusetts, with her husband, Russ, and their four children.
Ashly Isaacs Powell
Cheryl Madeux, a Connecticut native, received her training at the Nutmeg Conservatory for the Arts under the direction of Sharon Dante and Donna Bonasera. She has enjoyed a long professional career, dancing with such venerable companies as the Joffrey Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, and principal dancer with the Hartford Ballet under the direction of Kirk Peterson. Madeux performed extensively throughout the United States and Europe and has been coached by such ballet luminaries as Igor Youskevitch and Eleanor D’Antuono. Among her early accomplishments, Madeux was awarded first place in the National Society of Arts and Letters Ballet Competition at the age of 15, as well as a finalist at the III International Ballet Competition in Paris and the Prix de Lausanne in Switzerland. She was later recognized by the White House Commissions Program for excellence in academics and dance and was awarded a Level One Presidential Scholar in the Arts.
As an educator, Madeux has been a guest teacher and coach for many ballet institutions across New England. In 2005, she became ballet director at Franklin School for the Performing Arts and assisted in developing their conservatory ballet program, as well as choreographing and directing many of their full-length ballet productions. In 2009, she successfully completed her certification in the ABT National Training Curriculum for Primary through Level 7 & Partnering and was later appointed to the prestigious Board of Examiners for the curriculum. In addition, she became a summer faculty member for the ABT Young Dancer Program and ABT summer intensives, as well as an assistant instructor for the NTC teacher certifications. Madeux currently continues her work with FSPA and ABT, and resides in Wrentham, MA with her husband and two children.
Cheryl Madeux
Lorraine Chapman danced professionally with Eliot Feld Ballets/NY and Ballet British Columbia as well as for several Boston-based choreographers including Amy Spencer, Richard Colton, Diane Arvanites, José Mateo, and Marcus Schulkind. As a choreographer she has received several grants and has created works for numerous venues. She officially formed LCTC in 2002 (www.lorrainechapman.org) and her awards include three NEST grants from NEFA, a Live Arts Boston Grant and a Brother Thomas Fellowship from The Boston Foundation as well as being featured in Dance Magazine as one of "25 To Watch". She received her training at the Royal Winnipeg Ballet School and L'Ecole Superieure De Danse Du Quebec as well as from Boston veterans Frances Kotelly and Samuel Kurkjian. She teaches at the Northeast School of Ballet, Urbanity Dance, and Ballet Arts Centre of Winchester where she is the co-director of their Emersion program.
Lorraine Chapman
Gianni Di Marco is a graduate of the Royal Winnipeg Ballet School. He has studied with the National Ballet of Cuba and the National Ballet of Canada.
He began his dance career with the Royal Winnipeg Ballet, where he was promoted to first soloist. He has also performed with Les Grands Ballets Canadiens de Montreal, Opera Leipzig Ballet, Boston Ballet, Festival Ballet Providence, and Tony Williams Dance Company. His roles include Romeo and Mercutio in Rudi van Dantzig’s Romeo and Juliet and pas des deux in Petipa’s Don Quixote, as well as works by Balanchine, Nacho Duato, J. Kylián, Hans van Manen, Cranko, Danny Pelzig, and others.
Mr. DiMarco has choreographed more than 50 original works, including works for Boston Conservatory, Boston Baroque, Boston Ballet, Festival Ballet Rhode Island and others.
Mr. DiMarco is currently a professor of dance at Boston Conservatory at Berklee College. In addition to Boston Conservatory, he has taught at Boston Ballet Center for Dance Education, Harvard University, University of South Carolina, and Walnut Hill School for the Arts. He was the principal of Citydance, a Boston Public Schools outreach program. He co-founded Adaptive Dance and Step by Step!, programs for children with Down syndrome and autism.
Gianni Di Marco
Director
Kathryn came to Acton School of Ballet from Walnut Hill School where she served as Director of the Community Dance Academy for 14 years. She was also the Founder and Director of Walnut Hill’s popular Youth Summer Dance Program. She was a member of the faculties of Pittsburgh Youth Ballet and the American Academy of Ballet in Buffalo, NY, and spent five summers on the faculty of Chautauqua Institution. Ms. Stark received her dance training at North Carolina School of the Arts, Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre School, and as a child in Pittsburgh with Jean Gedeon and Eduard Caton. She danced professionally with Ballet Met in Columbus, OH and was a principal dancer of Southern Ballet Theatre (now Orlando Ballet) where she performed roles including “Lisette” in La Fille Mal Gardee and lead roles in Balanchine’s Valse Fantasie and Allegro Brilliante.