Run by founding artistic director Katie Puder, the organization is unique in bringing

together musicians and dancers to create new and exciting productions that are truly

collaborative efforts. In its subscription series, the 13-member ensemble of dancers

presents a diverse repertoire of classical and contemporary works from local

choreographers, as well as renowned choreographers such as George Balanchine and

Christopher Wheeldon.

Since its founding in 2012, ACB has commissioned over 50 world premiere ballets,

including four full-length works, all from female or minority choreographers. ACB broke

ground in 2015 with the Women's Choreography Project, which commissions new works

every year by female choreographers - a rarity in the dance industry.

Over the last decade of performances, ACB has collaborated with many other Dallas area

arts organizations, including the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Fort Worth Symphony

Orchestra, Verdigris Ensemble, Fine Arts Chamber Players, Bruce Wood Dance, and

Dallas Black Dance Theater.

ACB commits its resources to pushing the limits of interdisciplinary arts collaboration,

finding new ways to achieve equity in the dance field, and ensuring that free dance

education is a part of the Dallas landscape for years to come. Through First Steps, ACB

teaches dance to over 100 children for free each week.

Hailed as Dallas’ “shining star,” nationally renowned Bruce Wood Dance Dallas has blazed a path with creative, engaging, and cutting-edge dance performances since its inception in 2010.  Led by Artistic Director and Resident Choreographer Joy Bollinger, Bruce Wood Dance continues the legacy of founder Bruce Wood—producing world-class dance for stage and screen by internationally celebrated choreographers including Bruce Wood, Lar Lubovitch, Twyla Tharp, Norbert De La Cruz III, and Yin Yue, among others.  As part of its mission, Bruce Wood Dance provides opportunities to the community through free family-friendly events, low-cost master classes, and free dance outreach partnerships in area schools and social-service nonprofits.

Pegasus Contemporary Ballet (PCB) is Dallas’s only professional dance company exclusively dedicated to contemporary ballet. Our programming ranges from immersive, up-close performances in intimate spaces to large-scale productions on the city’s premier stages. Known for innovation, collaboration, and excellence in its craft, PCB frequently partners with live musicians and interdisciplinary artists to create dynamic, engaging performances that reimagine ballet for today’s audiences.

Performances take place throughout Dallas, including intimate gallery and black box shows, original productions at the historic Kalita Humphreys Theater, and our signature production, Synergy, at the Mood Performance Hall—where dancers share the stage with local musical acts.

Founded in 2021, PCB has celebrated sold-out audiences, 16 grant awards, and coverage from major news outlets, including The Dallas Morning News, Thrillist, Dallas Observer, NBC5DFW, Good Morning Texas, and more.

Bombshell Dance Project is a contemporary dance theater company founded by Emily Bernet and Taylor Rodman in their hometown of Dallas, Texas. The company is driven by collaboration and committed to redefining the audience experience through fresh formats and familiar stories that bring you closer to dance.

Katie Puder is the founder of Avant Chamber Ballet and serves as its Artistic Director and primary choreographer. She has created over 30 ballets with ACB and collaborated and choreographed with Rapides Symphony Orchestra, International Music Festival in San Antonio, American Baroque Opera Company, Orchestra of New Spain, Abilene Ballet Theater, Verdigris Ensemble and many more.

She started dance with Wichita Falls Ballet Theater and moved to Fort Worth to continue training where she studied with Maria Terezia Balogh and Paul Mejia. She was a member of Metropolitan Classical Ballet for six years and danced in classics such as Raymonda, La Bayadere, Paquita, Don Quixote, and Spartacus as well as a dozen Balanchine ballets including Agon, Four Temperaments and Bugaku. In 2007, she moved to Athens, Greece and studied ballet and contemporary dance at D.A.N.C.C.E.

In 2012 she founded Avant Chamber Ballet and has developed it into a professional company known for exciting new commissions and live music as well as the industry-leading Women’s Choreography Project. Under her leadership, ACB has garnered national attention as an example of a modern ballet company that reflects the future of the art form.

Paul Mejia, born in Lima, Peru, joined the School of American Ballet in 1958, where he first appeared as the "Little Prince" in the New York City Ballet's production of The Nutcracker. While a student, he was invited by George Balanchine to attend his seminars on teaching and on choreography and to study music with the acclaimed Russian piano teacher Kiriena Siloti. At age fourteen, Paul Mejia choreographed his first ballets, which were performed by dancers from the School of American Ballet. 

Mr. Mejia joined the New York City Ballet as a professional dancer in 1964. During the next five years, he danced principal roles in many Balanchine ballets, including A Midsummer Nights Dream, The Nutcracker, Agon and Symphony in C. In 1972, Paul Mejia joined Maurice Bejart's Ballet of the Twentieth Century where he danced many principal roles through Europe. He created two ballets for ballerina Suzanne Farrell and himself, which were presented in Belgium and in Monte Carlo. 

In 1977, Mr. Mejia staged a season of ballet in Guatemala, were he created four new ballets including Romeo and Juliet, the first of his Shakespearean ballet series. Additionally a ballet was created in Cuba for American Ballet Theater's ballerina Eleanor D'Antuono. During this time period, Mr. Mejia directed "Stars of the American Ballet" through its United States tour. 

Paul Mejia joined the Chicago City Ballet as co-artistic director with Maria Tallchief. During the next seven years, Mejia created fifteen new ballets, including his full-length Cinderella. First created for ballerina Suzanne Farrell, this audience favorite toured nationally and internationally in New York City, Japan and Taiwan to great acclaim. His ballet Eight by Adler, set to music by Richard Adler, was later filmed for PBS and won an Emmy Award for Suzanne Farrell. 

From 1987 to 1998, Paul Mejia was the artistic director of the Fort Worth Dallas Ballet. During these ten years, Mejia added thirty-two of his own works to the company's repertoire, including sixteen world premieres. The extensive repertoire also included thirty-five Balanchine ballets, with Mejia staging of Prodigal Son, Firebird, and Bugaku, making Fort Worth Dallas Ballet one of the world's premier Balanchine companies.

Dedicated to the artistic vision and philosophy of George Balanchine, Mejia has choreographed works in the neoclassical style, as well as dramatic story ballets such as Swan Lake, Cinderella, The Nutcracker, Sleeping Beauty, and Romeo and Juliet. Mejia's Webern Pieces, performed with ballerina Maria Terezia Balogh and Dallas Cowboy football star Herschel Walker, garnered national media attention. Under Mejia's direction, Fort Worth Dallas Ballet enjoyed the distinction of not only artistic excellence, but also financial excellence by producing on-budget and finishing with a yearly surplus. 

In addition to ballet, Paul Mejia has choreographed several operas for Chicago Lyric Opera, Dallas Opera, Fort Worth Opera and San Antonio Festival, as well as for musical, theater and fashion. In 1984, he was selected by Esquire Magazine as one of the "Outstanding Americans under 40".

Paul Mejia is currently a guest teacher and lecturer throughout the United States.

Kamilya Akhmetova was born in Pavlodar, Kazakhstan. She started playing the piano when she was 7 in the Pavlodar music school (teacher Nataliya Yerissova). In 2010 she won third prize in the 44th Republican Festival-Competition of Young Musicians and was invited to the Republican kazakh specialized music school named after Akhmet Zhubanov in Almaty to continue her education (teacher Gulnara Zhakeyeva). At the age of 18 Kamilya made her debut with the State Academic Symphony Orchestra of the Republic of Kazakhstan playing Beethoven’s Concerto No. 3 in C minor. In 2014 she finished the school with honors and entered the Kazakh National University of Arts in Nur-Sultan (Astana) to study piano in the class of Professor Sara Assabayeva. There she also began elective organ lessons in the class of Assistant Professor Saltanat Abilkhanova.

In August 2015, during the 5th European Organ Academy Leipzig in Leipzig, Germany, she attended masterclasses of professors James David Christie (U.S.), Lorenzo Ghielmi (Italy) and Stefan Engels (Germany/U.S.). In 2016 she received a Diploma award in the Third Siberian International Chopin Piano Competition in Tomsk, Russia, and became a stipendiary of the First President Foundation of the Republic of Kazakhstan. In her last year of study, she passed the selection of academic mobility program and for one semester studied at the Benedetto Marcello Conservatory (Conservatorio di musica Benedetto Marcello Venezia), Venice, Italy (piano professors: Gabriele Vianello, Daniela Donaudi, Muriel Chemin; organ professor: Roberto Padoin). After earning her bachelor’s degree in piano performance with honors in 2018 she became a teacher at school and college at Kazakh National University of Arts.

Kamilya won a Diploma award at the 20th Open Festival-Competition of Organ Music Gatchina-St. Petersburg in St. Petersburg, Russia (2019) and at the Second International Competition for Young Composers and Organists “Baikal Toccata” in Irkutsk, Russia (2019). She currently is a master’s degree student at Southern Methodist University in the studio of Stefan Engels.

Originally from Charlotte, North Carolina, Caroline Atwell received much of her formal training at Charlotte Ballet under the direction of Patricia McBride, Jean Pierre Bonnefoux, Mark Diamond, and Kathryn Moriarty, and attended various Summer Intensives at the Chautauqua Institution, San Francisco Ballet, and Houston Ballet. Continuing her training as a Ballet Major at Indiana University in 2014, she had the opportunity to train under Violette Verdy, Michael Vernon, and Shawn Stevens. While at Indiana she performed in numerous ballets including George Balanchine's Serenade, Raymonda Variations (5thVariation), Swan Lake & Emeralds, the world premiere of Saudade by Sasha Janes, and as ‘The Harp’ in Jerome Robbins’ Fanfare among others. Caroline graduated with distinction in 2018 with a Bachelor of Science in Ballet and Business and a Minor in Spanish. In May of 2017, she spent a Summer Season as a Company Artist with American Contemporary Ballet under the direction of Lincoln Jones. That fall, Caroline joined Nevada Ballet Theatre while finishing her University studies from afar. In her time at NBT, Caroline had the pleasure of performing in various ballets including Balanchine’s Serenade, Western Symphony, and Raymonda Variations, Lew Christensen’s Beauty and the Beast, and Christopher Wheeldon’s Carousel. A few of her favorite roles include ‘Big Swans’ in Ben Stevenson’s Swan Lake, the Pas De Trois in Ben Stevenson’s Dracula, and ‘Phlegmatic’ in George Balanchine’s Four Temperaments. In the Fall of 2018 Caroline debuted her choreography at the Mystére Theatre for NBT’s annual collaboration with Cirque du Soleil. She premiered another work for the collaboration in the Fall of 2019.

This is Caroline’s third season with Avant Chamber Ballet.

Ellie Bush is from Dallas, Texas and started serious ballet training at Ballet Academy of Texas as a member of Ballet Ensemble of Texas under the direction of Lisa Slagle and Thom Clower. She attended Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts and spent her summers at Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet. She continued her education at the University of Oklahoma, where she received her BFA in Ballet Performance with a minor in General Business. While at OU, she had the opportunity to perform in George Balanchine’s Serenade, Penny Saunders’ Deux Amours, Ryan Nye’s Beauty in Chaos, as well as other works by Michael Bearden and Mary Margaret Holt. She joined Avant Chamber Ballet as a trainee this past season and is excited to join the company as an apprentice! 

Born on Cape Cod, Massachusetts, Madeline Colesano began her dance training at Atlantic Coast Academy of Dance under the direction of Tanya and Coby Vincent. Madeline performed featured roles such as Swanhilda in Coppelia and Alice in Alice in Wonderland, as well as earning recognition from ballet competitions such as YAGP, Connecticut Classic, and the National Ballet Competition. She continued on her training at Ballet Rhode Island, formerly Festival Ballet Providence as a trainee under Kathleen Breen Combes and Yury Yanowsky. Madeline studied ballet at the University of Utah where she had the opportunity to perform roles such as Princess Florine in Sleeping Beauty as well as contemporary works by Susan Haag and Bashaun Williams. She joined Avant Chamber Ballet this past season as a trainee and is excited to join the company for the upcoming season as an apprentice!

Shania Cook

Shania Cook is an accomplished ballet artist with over a decade of elite training and stage experience. She has studied at some of the nation’s most respected institutions, including Colorado Ballet, A&A Ballet, Chicago Ballet Conservatory, and Faubourg School of Ballet. While attending Colorado Ballet Conservatory, Shania trained 25–30 hours per week and performed monthly with Colorado Ballet at the Ellie Caulkins Opera House—appearing in professional productions such as The Nutcracker (Snow Scene) as part of her conservatory scholarship. Her depth as a performer has earned her the title of Clara in The Nutcracker with three distinguished companies: Chicago Ballet Conservatory, A&A Ballet, and Twin City Ballet. She has enhanced her classical foundation through intensives with the Bolshoi Ballet Academy, A&A Ballet, and others. She is a decorated Youth America Grand Prix competitor, earning 1st Place in Classical and Top 12 in Contemporary at the 2023 Semi-Finals. Recognized for her musicality, emotional depth, and professionalism, Shania is thrilled to be furthering her artistic journey with Avant Chamber Ballet.

Kelly Gleason, a Dallas/Fort Worth native, began her early training at Next Step Dance before joining Chamberlain Ballet under the direction of Kathy Chamberlain, Lisa Hess, and Tim Fox. In addition to her year-round training, she spent summers studying at San Francisco Ballet School, Ballet West Academy, American Ballet Theatre School, and Ellison Ballet.

She went on to earn a Bachelor of Science in Ballet with an Outside Field in Business from the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, where she trained under Sarah Wroth, Michael Vernon, Kyra Nichols, Carla Körbes, Sasha Janes, and Christian Claessens.During her time at IU, Kelly performed principal and soloist roles in Justin Peck’s Heatscape, Lauren Lovette’s Le Jeune, Dwight Rhoden’s Ballad Unto, Ken Ossola’s Silence, and several original works by Professor Sasha Janes. She also appeared in productions by George Balanchine, Jean-Pierre Bonnefoux, Marius Petipa, August Bournonville, Durante Verzola, and Michael Vernon.

Kelly is excited to return to her hometown and begin her professional career with Avant Chamber Ballet as an apprentice this season.

Originally from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Sophia Irene Davis began her training with The Rock School of Dance Education before joining Pennsylvania Ballet (now Philadelphia Ballet) in the reopening of their school in 2012 under the direction of Roy Kaiser and Kyra Nichols. While at Pennsylvania ballet Sophia attended summer intensives including The School of American Ballet and Miami City Ballet. In 2016, Ms. Davis joined the Pre-Professional II division with Miami City Ballet under the direction of Lourdes Lopez and Arantxa Ochoa in 2015 -2019 and performed George Balanchine's Raymonda Variations (5th variation) and Serenade in the school productions.  Continuing her training and education, Ms. Davis earned a Bachelor of Science in Ballet Performance and Outside Field in Kinesiology from Indiana University (IU), Jacobs School of Music. While at IU, Ms. Davis received training from Sarah Wroth, Kyra Nichols, Sasha Janes, Michael Vernon, and Christian Claessens. During her time with IU Ballet Theater, she had the opportunity to perform in several pieces including George Balanchine ballets: Valse Fantaisie,Serenade, and Donizetti Variations. Ms. Davis also had the privilege to perform in three World Premiere ballets including Jupiter Number 5 by Gianna Reisen, 19 by Sasha Janes, and Autumnsongs by Christian Claessens. Some of her favorite memories on stage include Justin Peck's Heatscape and Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov’s Swan Lake.  

Lauren Fiddes, a Dallas native, began her dance training at Top Hat Dance Center. She later shifted her focus to classical ballet under the guidance of Tim Fox, continuing her studies at Chamberlain Ballet School with both Fox and Kathy Chamberlain. Lauren has attended several summer intensives, including the Royal Danish Ballet, San Francisco Ballet, Ballet West, CPYB, BalletX, and Complexions Contemporary Ballet.

Lauren attended Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts. During this time, she had the opportunity to perform works by renowned repetiteurs and choreographers, including Serenade by George Balanchine (staged by Leslie Peck) and original works by Sidra Bell, Meghan Lou, and Elizabeth Gillaspy.  While at Booker T, Lauren was selected as one of the initial trainees for Avant Chamber Ballet.  As a Trainee with Avant Chamber Ballet, she performed featured roles such as Spanish and Mirliton in The Nutcracker, and danced in the corps of Romeo & Juliet. She was also honored as the 2021 Classical Soloist of the Year by Regional Dance America Southwest.

Lauren joined the Alonzo King LINES Ballet trainee program in San Francisco, in 2021. There, she trained under Brett Conway, Sandra Chin, Maurya Kerr, Gregory Dawson, and Kara Wilkes. Her time at LINES included performing multiple new works by choreographers such as Moscelyne ParkHarrison, Keelan Whitmore, Carmen Rozenstraten, Gregory Dawson, and others. During her time at LINES, Lauren was also able to expand her choreography skills by creating two, new original works.

In 2023, Lauren was personally invited by Nacho Duato to join the inaugural trainee program for his newly formed company, Compañía Nacho Duato in Madrid, Spain. She was promoted to Company Artist after her first season, embarking on a national tour performing Duato’s signature works: Jardi Tancat, Duende, Na Floresta, Gnawa and originating a role in Duato’s latest creation, Cantus, which had its World Premiere in November 2024. Lauren was also a guest artist at the Russian Masters Ballet Gala in Alicante, Spain, performing Jardi Tancat. 

Lauren is thrilled to return home to Dallas and begin her first season as an Apprentice with Avant Chamber Ballet.

Ruiko Jacobs, an Eastern North Carolina native, received her early classical ballet training at the Greenville Civic Ballet under the direction of Kim Saad. She also trained privately with the late Kennet Oberly in the Bournonville school. She left home her senior year to attend the high school program at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts (UNCSA). Upon graduation, she continued on to their college program, where she pursued her B.F.A. in Ballet on the Susan Jaffe Endowed Scholarship and graduated in three years in May 2023. Ruiko’s performance highlights at UNCSA included the Dark Angel in George Balanchine’s Serenade, Swan Lake Pas de Trois, a soloist in Napoli Act III, and Kitri in Don Quixote Act I. She also originated the role of Dewdrop in Ilya Kozadayev’s new production of The Nutcracker. In 2021, Ruiko represented UNCSA in the YAGP competition, where she placed Top 12 in the Senior Division and advanced to the Finals held in Tampa, FL.

Following graduation from UNCSA, Ruiko danced with Ballet Tucson as an Apprentice for one season. In Tucson, she performed in Eternal Love, a world premiere by Chieko Imada, and made her professional choreographic debut with Chamber Concerto in the Footprints at the Fox Choreographic Concert. She is excited to dance with Avant Chamber Ballet as an Apprentice this season.

Olivia Mann was born and raised in Dallas, Texas where she grew up dancing at Dallas Metropolitan Ballet, Dallas Ballet Center, as well as her high school, Booker T. Washington for the Performing and Visual Arts. While in Dallas, Olivia trained under the direction of Ann and Bill Atkinson, Judy and Brent Klophenstein, Catherine Lewellen, and Emily Hunter. From the age of thirteen, Olivia has attended various summer intensives including Miami City Ballet, The School of American Ballet, Pacific Northwest Ballet, Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre’s “Company Experience”, and Grand Rapids Ballet. Olivia recently graduated from Point Park University, where she received a BFA Dance Major, with a concentration in ballet, and a Business Management Minor. While at Point Park she performed in numerous ballets including Christopher Wheeldon’s, The American, Edwaard Liang’s Art of War, and Adam Hougland’s Cold Virtues. Olivia spent this past summer dancing professionally with the Sierra Nevada Ballet in their performance of Giselle. This is Olivia's second season with ACB.

Mackenzie Oborny, originally from Detroit, Michigan began her ballet training at Valentina’s School of Ballet under the direction of Valentina Barsukova. Along with her daily classes, she built her solid classical background and technique through her participation in several summer programs: The Kirov Academy (Washington DC), Bolshoi Ballet (NYC), A&A Ballet (Chicago), and Ballet West (Salt Lake City).

Following Ballet West’s 2017 SI, she joined the Company as a trainee for 3 seasons.  Mackenzie was hired into Ballet West II in 2020. Highlights of her professional career include performing as the 4th  Movement Principal in Balanchine’s Western Symphony, 1 st Variation Soloist in Swan Lake Pas de Trois, Spring Fairy and Fairy Godmother in Pam Robinson’s Cinderella.  She also performed with Ballet West in several full-length productions, including Michael Smuin’s Romeo and Juliet, Adam Sklute’s Giselle, William Christensen’s The Nutcracker, Sir Frederick Ashton’s Cinderella, and Jerome Robins’; Glass Pieces.

This is her fourth season with Avant.

Kaylee Skelton is from Littleton, Colorado, where she started her serious ballet training at Belliston Academy of Ballet, under the direction of Jeannine Belliston. Ms. Skelton attended summer courses at Pacific Northwest Ballet, School of American Ballet, and Boston Ballet. She then continued her training on scholarship in the Professional Division with Pacific Northwest Ballet, where she had the opportunity to perform in ballets with the company, such as Kent Stowell’s "The Nutcracker", "Swan Lake", and "Cinderella", as well as world premiere pieces set by PNB’s company members. She also danced as a company member with Nevada Ballet Theatre in Las Vegas, collaborating with Cirque du Soleil and performing roles such as “Big Swans” and “Spring Fairy” in James Canfield’s "Swan Lake" and "The Nutcracker". Kaylee then joined City Ballet of San Diego, where she danced in the company for 3 years. There she had the opportunity to dance many roles, including ballets by George Balanchine, such as “Tall Girl” in Rubies, “Choleric” in The Four Temperaments, and “Solo Girl” in La Source. Before joining Avant Chamber Ballet this season, she spent last year as a Principal Dancer with Reformation Dance Company under the direction of Kathleen Vreeland. This is her fifth season with Avant Chamber Ballet.

Jessica Zavala is from Mount Pleasant, Texas and started her ballet journey at the age of 13 at Tyler Junior College under the direction of Shurrell Wiebe. At age 14 she was awarded a scholarship to the Joffrey Ballet School Texas where she trained for two years under the
direction of Thelma Flores. She continued her training at The Dallas Conservatory Classical Training Program under the direction of George Birkadze where she performed several ballet programs, competed at the YAGP and Washington DC Grand Prix receiving top 12 in classical/contemporary ballet where she was awarded a scholarship to Next Generation Ballet summer intensive. She was a trainee for one year with the Avant Chamber Ballet and before joining the company. She continues her education with Collin College to achieve a dance degree and is currently a dance teacher at McKinney Dance Studio..