Faculty
Our highly qualified and internationally recognized faculty have been chosen to provide the best possible dance training available.
They understand the importance of the development of both youth and dancers.
Noriko Zaragoza
Ballet Mistress & Assistant to the Artistic Directors
Born in Kanagawa, Japan, Noriko started her training at the Sasaki Mika Ballet Academy under the direction of Mika Sasaki and Mikio Ikehata.
Noriko has trained at the Christine Walsh Dance Center (now called The Australian Conservatoire of Ballet) in Melbourne, Australia under the direction of Christine Walsh. In her training Noriko has performed many notable principle/soloist roles.
Noriko has won numerous competitions in Japan and Australia such as: 3rd prize in All Japan Ballet Competition, 3rd prize in Itabashi Ballet Competition, and Finalist in the “Award to Honorable of the Ballet Teacher’s Workshop (VIC) Scholarships.”
Noriko joined the San Diego Ballet in 2004 under the direction of Robin Morgan and Javier Velasco. Since then she has performed many original pieces with the artistic direction of Mr. Velasco.
In 2017, Noriko retired from performing on stage, and from 2017 to 2020 served as the Assistant to the Directors at San Diego Ballet. In 2020 Noriko joined the Southern California Ballet family by accepting the position of Ballet Mistress & Assistant to Artistic Directors.
Wendy Cormier, MFA Ballet
Mrs. Cormier earned her MFA in Ballet with a specialty in Character dance from The University of Utah where she trained with Yurek Lazowsky, William Christenson, Mattlyn Gavers and others. She danced with the College University Ballet Ensemble, Ballet West and was a featured soloist for the character dance ensemble. Upon completion of her degree, Wendy returned home to dance with Honolulu City Ballet and was also cast in many television programs, including Magnum P.I.
In 1986, she moved to San Diego and worked extensively within the Poway Unified school district developing innovative dance programs for children; produced and directed children's variety shows; and received the California State PTA Honorary Service and Continuing Service Awards. Mrs. Cormier has been teaching at Southern California Ballet since 2001, is a certified Cecchetti teacher and adjunct professor in the Dance Department at Palomar College teaching both lecture and studio classes.
Marlie Couto
Marlie Couto is a freelance dance artist and educator, often based in California. Marlie has had the pleasure of working closely with and performing works by Summer Lee Rhatigan, Christian Burns, Marissa Brown, Bobbi Jene Smith, Tom Weinberger, David Harvey, Lauren Simpson, Hope Mohr, Margaret Jenkins, Alex Ketley, Courtney Mazeika, and Margot Gelber. She is a collaborator with Room to Room Project, burnsWORK, and Lone King Projects. Marlie has danced, performed, and taught in San Diego, Los Angeles, San Francisco Bay Area, New York, Boston, Austin, Seattle, Salt Lake City, Victoria BC, Montreal, Berlin, Luzern, and Rotterdam. Her infinite curiosity about the human body and its capacities has led her to become a certified Functional Range Conditioning Mobility Specialist. Applying FRC concepts, and through mentorship with The Fitness Alchemists, Marlie’s physical research practices have continued to explore the resilience of bodies through movement, sensation, and communication with the nervous system.
Kerri DeNies
Kerri DeNies received her ballet training with Connecticut Concert Ballet & joined the faculty there at age 16. Ms. DeNies taught at several ballet schools on the east coast before moving to San Diego in 2007. She continued as a ballet instructor at California Ballet and San Diego Civic Youth Ballet, where for several years she also served as the Registrar and Ballet Mistress. Ms. DeNies has taught classical ballet to all levels (Age 4 to Adult Students), and has choreographed for many of their ballets.
She has also been involved in an Outreach Program for San Diego public schools. For the past seven years, Ms. DeNies has worked at developing and implementing a classical ballet program for children with unique physical needs. It is a dream she has had ever since she was a child who overcame a hip disease that prevented her from dancing. She believes everyone should have the opportunity to express themselves through the art of ballet. Ms. DeNies has a 5 year old son and 2 dogs at home that keep her very busy. She also has a position with LA SEO Services as an Outreach Specialist. She is an advocate in the ALD, Rare Disease Community. Ms. DeNies is very excited to have the opportunity to teach for Southern California Ballet and strives to have a positive impact on many more students!
Claudia Dyson-Hightower
Claudia credits her artistic energy to her six major mentors: Johnson, Vivian Valade, Day Power, Eileen Figliolino, Louis McKay and Bill Heiden. She's continually performing, choreographing and teaching both nationally and internationally, and taking dance class herself. (Heaven forbid if she ever became a Dance Droid Stiffo.) She is certified in her profession and teaches ages 3-73. Her students can be seen on Broadway, on TV and in the movies.
Veronica Giolitto
Veronica Giolitto began dancing at the age of three, and spent ten years training at Southern California Ballet. She joined the company in 2020 and began co-teaching her first ballet class in 2023. She now teaches Ballet Prep, Level 1, Level 2, and a ballet class at the Rancho Bernardo Branch Library for kids ages 2-6. Some of Veronica’s favorite roles she performed include Clara and Spanish in The Nutcracker, and Helga in Cinderella. She is currently enrolled at Palomar College as a Dance Major, and has choreographed and performed in the Palomar College Winter Dance. Veronica plans to transfer to a university to continue developing her love for dance and choreography.
Tonah Gomez
Tonatiuh Gómez was born in Mexico City and originally trained as a gymnast before pursuing his true passion, ballet.
When Gomez was 19 years old he suffered a serious ankle injury in a gymnastics workout, which left him out of any physical activity for about two and a half years. Gomez’s first training began with teachers Sergei Sokolov and Raudel Rascón, before entering The Classical Dance Special Plan for Males with the Superior School of Music and Dance of Monterrey where he began his professional training with Alejandro Jáuregui and Roberto Machado. A year later he was accepted at The Rock School for Dance Education in Philadelphia, under the direction of Bojan and Stephanie Spassoff.
Tonatiuh has had the opportunity to train, learn and prepare alongside dance stars such as Ángel Corella, Jaime Vargas, Alberto Méndez, José Manuel Carreño, Viengsay Valdés, Isaac and Esteban Hernández, Manuel Vignoulle, Duncan Cooper, Telmo Moreira, Jody Anderson, Beckanne Sisk, Justin Allen, Natalya Lushina, Marcelo Gomes, Tomoha Terada, Sterling Baca, Luciano Perotto, José Hurtado, among others.
He was semifinalist of the Intramuros Contest 2017 and was invited to compete in the Varna International Ballet Competition. In 2018 Tonatiuh joined San Diego Ballet where he is currently a Principal Dancer.
Ian Isles, BFA Dance
Ian is a native of San Diego and is an instructor of Dance, Pilates, and Movement for Non-Dancers. He finished his training in Pilates from the Body Arts Science International headquarters under the direct instruction of Rael Isacowitz. Ian holds a degree in Dance from UCLA’s Department of World Arts & Cultures, is finishing certification in Laban Movement Analysis and Bartenieff Fundamentals under the instruction of Peggy Hackney, and is also and avid practitioner of Ohad Naharin’s movement language, Gaga. He was blessed to have had the opportunities to work with such artists as Vic Marks, David Rousseve, Jesse Zaritt, Maria Gillespie’s Oni Dance, Alexx Makes Dances, Los Angeles Movement Arts, and IN/EX Dance Project. Ian’s own work has been presented at UCLA, San Diego Dance Theater, and the Hollywood Fringe Festival.
Trystan Merrick
Trystan Merrick studied ballet under the tutelage of Ahita Ardalan, formerly of the Paris Opera Ballet. Having toured internationally performing in 18 countries on five continents, Trystan had the unique opportunity to grow their appreciation and knowledge of the international dance community. They have performed the works of Twyla Tharp, Robert Cohen, James Canfield, Peter Anostos, Septime Webre, Merce Cunningham and George Balanchine in addition to most of the full length classical ballets. Trystan started their professional career with Nevada Ballet Theater in 2007, and has since danced as a principal artist for San Diego Ballet, San Diego Dance Theater, Malashock Dance, Owen Cox Dance, Concept Zero, City Ballet of San Diego, Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo, and The California Ballet. Trystan has presented choreographic work for DISCO RIOT, San Diego Dance Theater, and The California Ballet.
While navigating their performance career Trystan prioritized developing experience as a teacher, choreographer, and artistic leader over the past 17 years. They believe being able to relate and empathize with the intersectionality in our dance community can bring us to a future with more opportunities for all.
Veronika Part
Veronika Part was born in St. Petersburg, started in gymnastics at age 4 and continued for six years. In 1988, at age 10, her mother sent her to audition for Vaganova Academy of Russian Ballet. She was accepted and started training at the academy. She graduated in 1996, under the class of Inna Zubkovskaya.
In 1996, at age 18, Part joined the Kirov Ballet (now Mariinsky Ballet), and became a soloist in 1998. At age 20, she made her debut as Odette/Odile in Swan Lake and the title role in Raymonda. She was also the winner of the BALTIKA Prize in 1999.
Part first performed in New York City in 1999 with the Mariinsky cast as the Lilac Fairy in The Sleeping Beauty and caught the attention of American Ballet Theatre director Kevin McKenzie. When she returned three years later in the role of Odette/Odile in Swan Lake, McKenzie invited her to join as a soloist with the company, which she accepted. She made her debut with ABT during its Japan tour.
Part was promoted to the rank of principal dancer in 2009 and danced many lead roles of the company's repertoire, including works by McKenzie, Frederick Ashton, George Balanchine and Alexei Ratmansky. She had created roles for the latter, including Natalia in his On the Dnieper and Lilac Fairy in his version of The Sleeping Beauty.
In 2017, Part retired from ABT and later became a ballet master at Atlanta Ballet. She now teaches in Southern California and has sat on the jury at Youth America Grand Prix.
Andrea Rose
Andrea Rose trained in classical ballet, jazz, modern and character at BMDC for eleven years. She received the California Arts Scholarship to train at CalArts in Valencia in 2003 and 2004 and was a member of the Varsity Tour de Force Dance Team at Rancho Bernardo High School. She was awarded Palomar College's Dancer of the Year in 2009 where she was a featured dancer and choreographer in various performances. Andrea is graduating from CSU San Marcos with a degree in Medical Anthropology and intends to obtain a graduate degree in Food Studies. She is currently a member of CSUSM's highly ranked competition dance team and performs as a guest artist with Axxiom Dance Collective.
Katie White
Katie White was born and raised in San Diego. Her passion for dance and music led her to perform with Lyric Opera San Diego before motiving to Seattle and subsequently graduating from the University of Washington with a Bachelor of Arts in Dance, with an emphasis in pedagogy. While completing her degree, Katie studied at Pacific Northwest Ballet. After graduation, Katie moved to Israel to work with Kibbutz Contemporary Dance Company. Upon her return to San Diego, Katie became a certified Pilates instructor and a certified Progressing Ballet Technique instructor. She enjoys teaching creative dance movement, classical ballet technique, ballet conditioning, and Pilates to all ages and levels.
Lauren Worley
Lauren Worley began her dance training at Southern California Ballet, continued on to the BalletMet Columbus’s pre-professional training program, and received her BFA in Contemporary Dance Performance with emphasis in Ballet from The Boston Conservatory at Berklee. She also had the privilege of attending the intensives of Jacob’s Pillow contemporary program, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, Alonzo King LINES ballet, Alvin Ailey, and Juilliard. Her professional career includes Gregory Dawson’s dawsondancesf performing around the San Francisco area, commercial dance jobs in the NYC area, and an appearance in the Warner Bro’s motion picture “In The Heights.” Lauren is so grateful to have returned to her home studio here in SD to inspire new generations to the love of movement!
Leah Zabezhinsky
Leah Zabezhinsky danced at Southern California Ballet from the age of 5, performing in such roles as the Cheshire Cat, Cinderella’s Stepsister, Flower Lead, and the Snow Queen.
Leah completed the Cecchetti Teaching Certification I in 2019, and has been teaching since then while enjoying every second of it. She attended the Cecchetti Summer Workshop in 2016, applied and was accepted to CSSSA in 2017, and then did intensives at Southern California Ballet in 2018 and 2020.
Leah is currently studying at UCSD as a major in Biochemistry and minor in Science Education.
She is continuing her love of ballet as Secretary and dancer for the student-run ballet company at UCSD, Aequora.