The Scottsdale Ballet Foundation sponsors the guest faculty for the Scottsdale School of Ballet’s Summer Intensive. We welcome the following guest instructors this summer:

Christine Spizzo  June 4-8 ~ Former ABT soloist, owner and co-founder of Studio Elevé
Natalia Magnicaballi June 11-15 ~ Principal dancer with Ballet Arizona
Roman Zavarov  June 18-22 ~ Principal dancer with Ballet Arizona

Scottsdale School of Ballet 2018 Summer Intensive is for young ballet beginners through Pre-Professional. Intensive offers Ballet, Pointe, Classical Variations, Flamenco, Contemporary, Jazz Dance, Stretch and Strengthening classes. Our guests will offer insightful and inspirational training to the Advanced and Intermediate level students. Live accompaniment with Amanda Hidalgo.

Natalia Magnicaballi was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina and has been a principal dancer with The Suzanne Farrell Ballet since its conception in 1999 and with Ballet Arizona since 2002. A graduate of Teatro Colón, she became a principal dancer at the age of 19 with Julio Bocca’s Ballet Argentino. In Europe she joined the Italian company Aterballetto under Mauro Bigonzetti’s direction. Her repertoire includes the lead roles in the most beloved classic ballets such as Swan Lake, Romeo & Juliet, The Nutcracker, Midsummer Night’s Dream, Raymonda, Paquita, La Sylphide, Don Quixote, Coppélia, and Giselle, as well as the leads in Balanchine’s Tzigane, Don Quixote, Apollo, Divertimento No. 15, Duo Concertant, Slaughter on Tenth Avenue, Agon, La Valse, Serenade, La Sonnambula, Allegro Brillante, Ballade, Four Temperaments, Who Cares?, Clarinade, Bugaku, Meditation, Episodes, “Emeralds”, “Rubies” and “Diamonds” from Jewels, Lebeslieder Walzer, Prodigal Son, Monumentum Pro Gesualdo, Movements for Piano and Orchestra, Variations for Orchestra, Intermezzo from Brahms-Schoenberg Quartet, Stravinsky Violin Concerto, Mozartiana, Swan Lake and Robbins’s Afternoon of a Faun and In the Night.

Natalia has premiered works by Jirí Kylián, Roland Petit, Maurice Bejart, Mauro Bigonzetti, Dwight Rhoden, Paul Mejia, Ib Andersen, Oscar Araiz, Mauricio Wainrot, Ana María Stekelman, Alberto Méndez, Christopher Wheeldon and Alexei Ratmansky.

She has toured and performed in the main houses and arena theatres around five continents including the Paris Opera Garnier and the Mariinsky Theatre.
Natalia has been featured as one of Dance Magazine’s “25 to Watch” and named the “Best Dancer of the State of Arizona” by The Arizona Republic.

Christine Spizzo trained at the San Francisco Ballet School, the NC School of the Arts (now UNCSA), and the School of American Ballet in New York. Upon graduation, she joined the National Ballet of Washington (DC), and the Ballet Repertory Company (NY), ultimately joining American Ballet Theatre in 1975. A soloist with ABT, Spizzo appeared in numerous Live Lincoln Center and Dance in America telecasts, as well as the Herbert Ross films “The Turning Point” and “Dancers,” and in Baryshnikov’s “Nutcracker” and “Don Quixote” video films. Spizzo was a Principal dancer with Ballet Arizona from 1988-1990, and with the Nureyev & Friends North American tour in 1990. She performed in the Broadway company of “Phantom of the Opera” from 1990-2000. Also during that time, Spizzo was an adjunct professor at both NYU and SUNY/Purchase. In 1996, she served as Artistic Coordinator of ABT’s inaugural Summer Intensive Program, and has remained a principal teacher in all subsequent ABT Summer Intensives (NYC, NC, Austin,TX). Christine has been a Guest Teacher and stager of classical repertoire at various schools throughout North Carolina, and in New York, New Mexico, Arizona, Connecticut, California, and Puerto Rico.

In 2000, Spizzo joined the dance faculty at UNCSA, where she worked for 10 years, receiving the Excellence in Teaching Award in 2006. She taught in the School of the Arts’ Preparatory Dance Program for several years, and is now an adjunct professor of dance at UNCSA. She is also on faculty at the Dancers’ Edge dance studio in Kernersville. Spizzo is the owner and co-founder, along with Mark McCullough, of Studio Elevé.

Roman Zavarov entered the Bolshoi Ballet Academy at age 10, and was performing with the Bolshoi Company by age 13. He completed his pre-professional training at the schools of Pennsylvania Ballet and Boston Ballet, joining Boston Ballet II in 2004. The following season he became a member of American Ballet Theatre’s Studio Company, and joined Boston Ballet for the 2005–06 season. In 2006 Roman studied on scholarship at The University of the Arts in Philadelphia furthering his training in performance, modern dance and dramatic arts. Since joining Ballet Arizona in 2007, Roman has danced principal roles in Ib Andersen’s The Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella and The Nutcracker, and the title roles in Balanchine’s Prodigal Son and Apollo. Roman’s soloist work includes roles in Swan Lake, Giselle, Andersen’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Romeo and Juliet, Don Quixote, and La Bayadere, also Balanchine’s La Sonnambula, The Four Temperaments, and La Valse. Roman originated a role in Andersen’s Diversions which was performed at the Kennedy Center in D.C. Photo by Ron Brewer Images.