Faculty

Artur Sultanov, Artistic Director/Primary Instructor

Mr. Sultanov was born and raised in St. Petersburg, Russia. He trained at Vaganova Ballet Academy and at age 17, joined the Kirov ballet where he danced a classical repertoire. Artur has also performed with Eifman Ballet as a Soloist. In 2000 he moved to San Francisco to join Alonzo King’s Lines Ballet. There, he worked closely with Mr. King on creating original contemporary ballets. In 2003 Artur joined Oregon Ballet Theatre. His principal roles at OBT include the Prince in Swan Lake, Ivan in Firebird, and the Cavalier in the Nutcracker, among others. Artur was a guest artist with Trey McIntyre Project, Complexions Contemporary Ballet and California Ballet Company where he performed the role of Romeo in their version of Romeo and Juliet. He has been featured on OPB as an emerging artist in Portland (http://www.opb.org/programs/artbeat/segments/view/200). Mr. Sultanov has worked and performed with a tribe of pigmies from Central Africa in the project called “People of the Forest”. He has appeared at numerous festivals such as the Jacobs Pillow Dance Festival, the Chicago Dancing Festival and Fall For Arts- the most prestigious festival of contemporary dance in New York City. Mr. Sultanov has performed on the stages of the Metropolitan Opera House, Kennedy Center, Bolshoi Ballet Theatre, and the Mariisnky Theatre in his native city of St. Petersburg. In addition to being an accomplished dancer, Mr. Sultanov has also taught extensively throughout his professional career. In the past eight years, Mr. Sultanov has taught and choreographed for the school of Oregon Ballet Theatre and Lines Contemporary Ballet School of San Francisco. His vast experience also includes holding master workshops in the Portland Metro Area, Seaside, OR, Vancouver and Tacoma, Washington. Artur Sultanov is excited to be a part of the Portland dance community and is looking forward to inspiring a new generation of dancers.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Vanessa Thiessen, Ballet Instructor

Vanessa Thiessen is originally from Portland, OR. She trained at the School of Oregon Ballet Theatre, with James Canfield, and continued on to dance for Oregon Ballet Theatre from 1995-2003. At OBT she danced leading roles in Gissele and Romeo and Juliet. After moving to San Francisco in 2003, she danced with Smuin Ballet, ODC Dance, Amy Seiwert’s Imagery, Opera Parallele and Tanya Bello’s Project b. In 2010, she began teaching for ODC Dance, which lead to teaching ODC master classes across the US and in Indonesia, Burma, Thailand and China. For the past 5 years, she has also been teaching ODC repertory class at San Francisco State University. After moving back to Portland this year, Vanessa now splits her time between San Francisco and Portland dancing. teaching and choreographing. Currently in SF, she dances with Post:Ballet, teaches at ODC/School and is a creative collaborator for Choreographer KT Nelson. Currently in Portland, she dances with Skinner/Kirk Dance Ensemble and teaches ballet, jazz and modern classes for BodyVox. Vanessa is thrilled to be joining the faculty at Sultanov Russian Ballet Academy.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Tracy Julias, Ballet Instructor

Tracy Julias’ distinguished career in ballet spanned more than a decade and included tenures with the Joffrey Ballet, Oregon Ballet Theatre, Nashville Ballet, Pittsburgh Ballet and others. She performed and has been recognized for many notable roles and performances including George Balanchine’s Square Dance, Coppelia, Giselle as well as the role of Sugar Plum Fairy in numerous Nutcracker productions.
In 1993, Tracy moved on to Oregon Ballet Theatre where she danced lead roles in the noted Canfield production of the Nutcracker, Swanhilda in Coppelia, and Giselle. She also worked with Carol Armitage, Jamie Hampton and John Selya among many others. Following a brief tenure of freelancing in San Francisco, Tracy was asked to join the Joffrey Ballet. There Tracy became immediately immersed in many wonderful roles from Antony Tudor “Lilac Garden” to Biancca in Taming of the Shrew. She also performed Sugar Plum and Square Dance along with Mr. Joffrey’s Birthday Variations and Gerald Arpino’s Footnotes for RJ.
Tracy concluded her career as a dancer while at Joffrey having realized many of her dreams and goals as well as having the honour to perform and work with numerous inspiring, talented and incredible artists, legends choreographers and directors as well as the countless many who have made their mark in ballet over many years.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Clairen Kearney, Pre & Beginning Ballet Instructor

Clairen Kearney is native to the Portland Oregon area. She started her ballet training at the age of six under Janis Waddle at Joy of Praise Dance Studio. At age 11 she continued ballet at On Your Toes Studios in Clackamas under Kelsey Neumann. Then at 13 she started training under Jacquie Kunzman at the Clackamas Youth Ballet and joined the company at age 14. It was at CYB where she began to train for teaching. She performed lead roles in CYB’s productions, such as Snow Queen in the Nutcracker and Laurie in Oklahoma. Teaching is a joy for her and this last year Clairen became owner and director of On Your Toes Studios. Besides teaching at the Sultanov Russian Ballet Academy she continues her own training under Artur Sultanov.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Alicia Cutaia, Contemporary Instructor

Alicia Cutaia earned her BFA with honors from Point Park University with a double major in Classical Ballet and Jazz. Her previous training included scholarships at Hubbard Street Dance, North Carolina Dance Theater, and River North Dance Company. She has worked with and performed pieces by many renowned choreographers, including Lauren Edson, Jamey Hampton, Ron De Jesus, Gina Patterson, Lar Lubovitch, Louis Falco, Michael Foley, Keisha Lalama-White, Joel Hall, Lou Conte, Daniel Gwirtzman, Lynn Taylor-Corbett, Daniel Ezralow, Choo-San Goh, Alan Hineline, Harrison McEldowney, Kevin O’Day, Frances Patrelle, David Storey, Margo Sappington, Christian Holder and Bianca Sapetto. Ms. Cutaia previously worked as Rehearsal Director, Costume Manager and Dancer with Eisenhower Dance, Dancer with Hubbard Street Dance and Giordano Jazz Dance Chicago.vShe also enjoys teaching and setting choreography nationally. Her choreography has been showcased at many choreographic festivals such as the Jazz Dance World Congress “Leo’s Choreography Competitive Event”, the “Maggie Allesee New Choreography Award”, “Michigan Youth Arts Festival”, “Dance Chicago”, Harvest Contemporary Dance Festival, Kaleidoscope Dance Festival, Midwest Rad Festival and the “NSAL Mid-Michigan Chapter.” Her work “Impact” was recently set on Eisenhower Dance. Her choreography for competition studios have won many National awards. Some of Ms. Cutaia’s teaching credits include the Lou Conte Dance Studio, Oakland University, American Ballet Theatre, Dance Theater of Harlem and the Eisenhower Center for Dance. A number of Ms. Cutaia’s students have been accepted on scholarship to many prestigious summer and college dance programs.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Alyssa Mitchel, Ballet Instructor

Alyssa recently relocated to Portland from San Francisco to begin her apprenticeship with Polaris Dance Theatre. She previously trained in the career-bound classical ballet and contemporary program at Marin Dance Theatre under the direction of Margaret Swarthout. Alyssa’s professional dance experience includes performances in San Francisco with Soulskin Dance and in the Garrett+Moulton 2015 production of The Luminous Edge.

As a teacher, Alyssa has taught contemporary dance, core strength and private lessons at Marin Dance Theater in addition to teaching private lessons and guest-teaching ballet classes for the teen company at Star Dance Studio in San Francisco. She has also taught adult classes in contemporary dance in Novato, California. Alyssa’s work with children includes ample classroom experience; she was a Liberal Studies/Teacher Preparation major and mathematics minor at the Dominican University of California, where she graduated summa cum laude this past May. While at Dominican, she worked as an assistant teacher in five different elementary school classrooms (ranging from kindergarten to fifth grade) throughout Marin County.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Cait Powers, Ballet Instructor

Cait Powers began her ballet training at the age of three with creative movement classes and later trained in Royal Academy of Dance. Cait made the transition to Oregon Ballet Theatre School studying under the direction of Haydee Gutierrez. At the age of fifteen, Cait was invited to dance with Oregon Ballet Theatre under the direction James Canfield. Cait danced in classical ballets including Coppelia, Swan Lake, Romeo and Juliet, Giselle, and The Nutcracker and toured with Oregon Ballet Theatre to open the Nutcracker season in Anchorage, Alaska. Later, Cait began a career in contemporary dance and was founding member of Bound Dance Company under the direction of Alexandruos Ballard. Cait performed in many contemporary pieces with Bound Dance Company including Sideshow which aired in an hour long documentary on OPB. Cait has since moved on to teaching in around the Portland Metro area and has taught at University level as adjunct faculty. She continues to work as a freelance artist on dance projects and choreography.