The first thing you’ll notice walking into Sarasota Cuban Ballet’s auditorium is the guys.
The company has four male dancers.
Artistic Director Ariel Serrano is featuring them during this weekend’s “Classic + Contemporary” program in a neoclassical piece called “Canto Vital” which Ballet National de Cuba premiered in 1973.
“It talks about the human element and the relationship with nature, represented by the fish in the water, by a bird in the air, by, I call it, I know it's not a beast, but it's the wilderness and how they interact in a way and point,” Serrano said. “It’s very earthy, very strong, especially for men and the character they bring and how they coexist.”
Male ballet dancers are a rarity. Apprentice Isabella Serrano – no relation to Ariel - said having four in any company is a luxury.
“I’ve never been anywhere where they can put something onstage that [is] all men, so having an all-men piece is amazing,” she said.
This coterie of strong male dancers gives Sarasota Cuban Ballet’s female artists the rare opportunity to learn and perfect partnering skills.
“A lot of people don’t get to develop that skill unless they are like crème de la crème because of the lack of men,” she added. “So only the very, very, very best women get put with whatever man there is. So having many good men allows for all the girls to learn and get better at partnering.”
“When I am dancing with the girl, I'm entirely there to let her shine and make her jumps bigger, make her balance longer,” noted Leo Okuno. It is his first season as lead artist with the company.
“I'm there to support [my female dance partner],” Okuno explained. “Of course, when I'm onstage, I give my 100% to show myself to the audience. But when I'm dancing with the girl — it, of course, depends on what choreography you're doing — but the point is 99% of the time to show the girl and show her in the best light you possibly can.”
In “Classic + Contemporary,” Sarasota Cuban Ballet is contrasting the power of nature and its male dancers with the elegance of its ballerinas with the romantic all-female "Grand Pas de Quatre."
“It was done for the four most famous ballerinas,” noted Artistic Director Ariel Serrano. “It had all the elements of classical ballet – adagio, petit allegro, turn, balance. They float through the air. There was a dynamic between the four ballerinas in there. It was very exciting.”
Serrano is referring to Marie Taglioni, Carlotta Grisi, Lucile Grahn and the flirtatious Italian ballet star Fanny Cerrito.
The characters based on this fabulous foursome are described by SCB Leading Artist Shannon McNiven.
“One is a little older, a little snobbier, per se,” McNiven observed. “And then you have one that's younger. So, each of those girls is really flavoring each of their characters so that they're not all the same. It's distinctive people dancing together, which is also reflective of us, right? We're people dancing, not just dancers executing steps.”
A common thread runs through all six dances included in this weekend’s "Classic + Contemporary" program.
“Storytelling is a big part of where we're at in the process right now — making sure we're really telling those stories, not just doing some steps or some movements,” McNiven pointed out. “I think that goes a long way in bringing the audience into what it is that we're doing.”
The Cuban technique also brings the audience into their performances, notes Isabella Serrano.
“Cubans tend to do more tricks and more expansive things,” Serrano said. “They’re not aggressive, but strong. Even the women are very strong dancers. And even though we have these tricks and things, it's very technical still. But we just always push that limit with bigger jumps, tricks, do as many turns as you can. And people like that.”
Okuna thinks that audiences will also appreciate the diversity that’s built into the structure of "Classic + Contemporary."
“Contemporary has freer movement,” he noted. “It's based more on feeling. There is, of course, technique to contemporary dance, but there's more of an element of feeling, more of an element of driven by emotion, as all dance is, but prominently more in contemporary. Whereas neoclassical is a mix between ballet and that contemporary, so still that same kind of contemporary feeling-driven movement, but still maintaining more of a ballet technique. Then classical ballet, of course, is what we all know and love with its clean, very directed technique.”
"Classical + Contemporary" is onstage in the Sarasota Cuban Ballet auditorium Sept. 25-27.
Tickets are available at www.srqcubanballet.org.
MORE INFORMATION:
The Sarasota Cuban Ballet has added seven new dancers to its Studio Company and promoted two others for the 2026–2027 season.
Sofia Johnson, formerly with Alabama Ballet, Gian Narayassamy, formerly with Washington Ballet, and Leo Okuno, formerly with Atlanta Ballet, were appointed lead artists. They join returning lead artists Brian Guerrero, Katherine Lane and Evelyn Lyman.
Shannon McNiven, formerly with Orlando Ballet, also joined the Studio Company as artist along with Addison Josey, who was promoted to artist.
Three new dancers are now Studio Company apprentices: Gianna Gallardo, Orlando Ballet School; Shelby Hillis, Ballet Spartanburg; and Isabella Serrano, Tania Vergara Dance Theater. They join returning apprentice Melanie Epuri.
In addition, guest artists Jhostin Jiménez, a Dance Open America Grand Prix first place winner and best choreographer awardee, and Harold Mendez, a Sarasota Cuban Ballet alumnus formerly with State Street Ballet, will be appearing with the 12 members of the Sarasota Cuban Ballet Studio Company this season.
The Sarasota Cuban Ballet Studio Company began as a pilot program in 2022 to provide a bridge between the school and the performance side of the Sarasota Cuban Ballet and transitioned to a professional company in 2025. The Sarasota Cuban Ballet Studio Company has many facets — preparing strong and confident young dancers for professional careers and providing community education and outreach throughout the area — but performance opportunities are the major focus.
The Studio Company’s 36-week season opens with "Classical+ Contemporary." It features the classics “Grand Pas de Quatre” and “Le Corsaire Suite,” plus “Canto Vital” by legendary Cuban choreographer Azari Plisetski and “Fractales” by resident choreographer Tania Vergara.
“Corsaire’ is a ballet about pirates and slavery,” noted Okuno. “In that particular one, I am a slave and so is my female counterpart. It's definitely a story about hardship, but it's a story about the love that these two enslaved people have. It's definitely a complex ballet, but that's why many people love it.”
Dancer Bios
Brian Guerrero
This season marks Brian Guerrero’s third season as a lead artist with the Sarasota Cuban Ballet Studio Company. He began his training at the Sarasota Cuban Ballet School in 2012. Guerrero participated in YAGP and was awarded third place in Classical and first place in the pas de deux category.
He continued his study of dance and graduated from the Sarasota Cuban Ballet School in 2020. During his time there he had the opportunity to perform roles such as the Cavalier in “The Nutcracker” and the lead in “Grand Pas Classique.”
Guerrero has performed in numerous dance festivals in Cuba and the Festival Internacional de Ballet de Costa Rica and performed with the Youth Ballet Company Panama.
In 2021 joined the Minnesota Ballet as a company member and in 2024 he joined the Sarasota Cuban Ballet Studio Company.
Sofia Johnson
This is Sofia Johnson’s first season as lead artist with the Sarasota Cuban Ballet Studio Company.
She was raised in Palmetto, Florida, and began dancing at Diane Partington’s Studio of Classical Ballet. After graduating from high school, Sofia was accepted into the University of North Carolina School of the Arts under the direction of Susan Jaffe, where she pursued a bachelor of fine arts degree in classical ballet.
After graduating she joined the Alabama Ballet in 2023, where she danced a diverse repertoire such as George Balanchine’s “Serenade” and Twyla Tharp’s “Sinatra Songs.” Johnson is excited to be back dancing in Sarasota.
Katherine Lane
This season marks Katherine Lane’s second season as lead artist with the Sarasota Cuban Ballet Studio Company.
She began her ballet training in Cary, North Carolina, at Campaneria Ballet School. As a youth, she was invited to perform roles in several ballets with Carolina Ballet.
Lane has participated in multiple competitions including WBC, UBC, and YAGP finals, where she won several awards in classical, contemporary, and pas de deux including repeated first place and best overall choreographer.
She danced professionally in Orlando for four years before joining The Sarasota Cuban Ballet. Her repertoire performed includes “Don Quixote,” “Giselle,” “The Nutcracker,” Swanhilda in “Coppelia,” “Sleeping Beauty,” “Paquita,” “La Bayadere,” “Cinderella,” “Majisimo,” “Muñecos,” “Les Sylphides,” “Walpurgisnacht,” “Flames of Paris,” and many contemporary works.
Evelyn Lyman
This season marks Evelyn Lyman’s fifth season as lead artist with the Sarasota Cuban Ballet Studio Company.
She began her classical ballet training at age 10, attending the Colorado Ballet Academy, and throughout her academic career trained at multiple schools including Master Ballet Academy, Ballet West, San Francisco Ballet School, the Ballet Clinic, and Orlando Ballet.
Lyman has participated in and received awards and scholarships from multiple competitions including WBC and YAGP. Her repertoire performed includes “Don Quixote,” “Giselle,” “The Nutcracker,” “Coppelia,” “Sylvia,” “Paquita,” “La Bayadere,” “Swan Lake,” “Spartacus,” “Snow White,” “Majisimo,” “Tarde en la Siesta,” Balanchine’s “Walpurgisnacht,” and many contemporary works.
Gian Narayassamy
This is Gian Narayassamy’s first season as lead artist with the Sarasota Cuban Ballet Studio Company.
Originally from French Caribbean Guadeloupe, he began his dance training at Léna Blue Dance School doing modern and jazz techniques before joining Karukera Ballet School, where he trained for two years and began his classical ballet training at 16. He continued his training at the Alvin Ailey School in New York on scholarship for two years, followed by The Washington Ballet, where he received a two-year scholarship and completed his studies. Narayassamy also attended the Complexions Contemporary Ballet Summer Intensive three times on scholarship. His training in modern, jazz, contemporary, and classical ballet has shaped him into a versatile artist with a strong passion for movement and performance.
Leo Okuno
This is Leo Okuno’s his first season as lead artist with the Sarasota Cuban Ballet Studio Company.
“It's a tremendous opportunity for me as a dancer, especially when I'm starting my career,” said Okuno about joining the company. “It is very important for me to be able to get opportunities to dance and to be on stage, and more importantly, to get that practice and training in every single day … and exercise the skills that I've been developing my whole life.”
He grew up in Huntington, West Virginia, and began his training there with Huntington Dance Theatre at the age of 10.
While he played basketball, soccer and several other sports, he ultimately followed his sisters into ballet.
“I found that ballet was mentally and physically challenging at the same time,” Okuno said. “So, that really drove me to pursue ballet as a career.”
After training under Rob Royce and Erin McStevens in Huntington, Okuno trained with American Academy Ballet in Charleston, West Virginia under Kim Pauley for two years.
In 2020 he trained with Ariel Serrano at Sarasota Cuban Ballet for another two years. After winning Best Classical Pas De Duex in the National Ballet Competition, Okuno was given the opportunity to train with Conservatorio Internactiona de danca Annarella Sanchez in Leria, Portugal. There he danced in full-length productions, including Maina Gielgud’s “Don Quixote” and “Le Corsaire” with Alexander Santana.
After training for two years there under Alexander Santana, he worked with Atlanta Ballet 2 for two years. There he gained experience working in professional full-length productions through his work in Atlanta Ballet’s “Giselle,” Yuri Posokhov’s “The Nutcracker,” and many more.
Jhostin Jiménez
This season marks Jhostin Jiménez’s second year as a guest artist with the Sarasota Cuban Ballet Studio Company.
He began his ballet training in Toluca, Mexico, at Sokolov Instituto de Arte Escénicas. He performed roles in several ballets with Cultur Arte in the Teatro Morelos including “Swan Lake,” “The Nutcracker,” “Don Quixote,” and several others.
Jiménez was invited to perform “Bolero” with Elisa Carrillo in Oaxaca. He has participated in multiple competitions including WBC and Dance Open America Grand Prix where he won several awards and scholarships including first place pas de deux and best overall choreographer. His repertoire performed includes “Don Quixote,” “Giselle,” “The Nutcracker,” “Sleeping Beauty,” “Paquita,” “Muñecos,” “Flames of Paris,” “Adams Pas de Deux,” and many contemporary works.
Addison Josey
Addison Josey is entering as artist in her second season with the Sarasota Cuban Ballet Studio Company.
She began training at Diane Partington Studio of Classical Ballet in 2021 and graduated in 2024. She performed roles such as Aurora in “Sleeping Beauty,” Sugar Plum in “The Nutcracker,” and Swanhilda in “Coppelia” while at Diane Partington’s Studio. Josey joined the Sarasota Cuban Ballet Studio in 2025 as an apprentice and was promoted to artist in 2026.
Gianna Gallardo
This is Gianna Gallardo’s first season as an apprentice with the Sarasota Cuban Ballet Studio Company.
She is originally from Yauco, Puerto Rico, and has been dancing since the age of 5. She started her training at Centro Danza Puerto Rico, then joined the pre-professional program at United Ballet Theater and eventually was invited to join the Academy Program at Orlando Ballet School from which she graduated.
Shelby Hillis
This is Shelby Hillis’ first season as an apprentice with the Sarasota Cuban Ballet Studio Company.
She was born and raised in Greenville, South Carolina, and began dancing at the age of 3. She became serious about ballet before joining the South Carolina Governors School for the Arts and Humanities. After three years of school with an intense dance schedule and a focus on ballet, she was pushed to grow and improve to new limits. Hillis graduated in 2025 and joined the Company of Ballet Spartanburg as a trainee dancer where she danced for one season. She then decided to move to Florida to join the apprenticeship program in Sarasota and is very excited for the 26/27 season and another year of pursuing her dream.
Isabella Serrano
This is Isabella Serrano’s first season as an apprentice with the Sarasota Cuban Ballet Studio Company.
She began her ballet training at Marion Ballet Theatre in Ocala, continued through Orlando Ballet School’s academy program, and then joined The Sarasota Ballet’s Margaret Barbieri Conservatory as a trainee.
After leaving Sarasota, Isabella sought to broaden her education in contemporary dance, spending a year attending workshops, festivals, intensives and master classes, as well as performing and touring in independent projects. During this time, she also began developing her choreographic voice, presenting work at performing arts high schools and works-in-progress presentations. She later joined Tania Vergara Dance Theater, where she is now in her second season as a company dancer.
As an aspiring choreographer, Serrano continues to create and present her own work alongside her performance career. She is excited to return to classical ballet this season with the Sarasota Cuban Ballet Studio Company.
“Having been away from ballet for a while has made me a different person,” Serrano shared. “I show up better now. Maybe my technique isn't as amazing as it was when I was 17 or 18. But my artistry has grown so much. And my confidence and my enjoyment of being here all day is so much more than it used to be.”
She has also discovered that her skill set and preferences coincide more closely with the Cuban style of ballet.
“This is my first experience learning about the Cuban style,” Serrano noted. “It's been very eye-opening. I really like it. It really works with each individual body and cares less about body type and more about how you use your body to make a feeling. Musicality is everything.”
In "Pas de Quatre," Serrano uses her body to convey a flirty, carefree persona.
“The characters of that ballet originate from the original ladies that did the ballet,” Serrano observed. “They were all very famous, like Marie Taglioni and Carlotta Grisi, who were the original rock stars of ballet. They all kind of did their own thing. So, even though [the Pas de Quatre] is a group dance, it's almost like four soloists or four principals are doing solos together. They're all supposed to have a very particular sense about them.”
The dancers have been studying the ballerinas on which their “Pas de Quatre” characters are based, as well as dancers who later portrayed them.
“My character is based on Fanny Cerrito,” said Serrano. As a ballet dancer, Cerrito was known for the brilliance, strength, and vivacity of her dancing. She was also one of few women in the 19th century to be recognized for her talent as a choreographer.
When Cerrito danced in the "Pas de Quatre" with Marie Taglioni, Carlotta Grisi and Lucile Grahn in 1845, she became the focal point of a fair degree of intrigue. As the least well-known dancer, Grahn agreed to dance first, while Taglioni had been offered the privilege of dancing in coveted last position, by unanimous consent. However neither Grisi nor Cerrito would agree to dance before the other. It required great diplomacy on the part of Benjamin Lumley, the opera manager, to arrange the order of the middle two solos, and when he proclaimed that Grisi should go before Cerrito because Cerrito was older, Cerrito was reluctant to claim her "prize."
“I think that it's very satisfying when a group of people can do something really well,” Serrano commented. “I had this teacher who would always say that it's great to be a soloist. In principle, everybody wants to do that. But nobody on stage can do with one person what seven dancers can do on stage or what 20 dancers can do on stage. It's just a different emotion that's brought up. And so, you should be just as privileged to be a part of that because it's just a different thing. It's not a lesser thing.”
Shannon McNiven
This is Shannon McNiven’s first season with Sarasota Cuban Ballet Studio Company.
“I love the challenge of ballet and the feeling of working toward something, and the beauty and the struggle of it as well,” McNiven said.
Previously with Orlando Ballet for two seasons, she joins the company as an artist.
“What makes Sarasota Cuban Ballet unique is the amount of detail and attention that each person is receiving,” said McNiven. “It's a very collaborative process in terms of putting together the ballets. When you're in a larger company with a lot more people, it's much more impersonal. You're really just kind of a name on a page. I find that not to be the case here. It feels like a family and each person is valued. And the artistic staff are really trying to help each and every person bring the best that they can to the work and to the ballets so we can put on great performances for the community.”
Like Isabella Serrano, McNiven is excited by the prospects afforded by having five strong male dancers in the company.
“Having four guys enables us to do pas de deux and different things and have more characters on our stage,” she observed. “Pair that with the women, whose dedication and technique is really strong as well. So I think that's just such a great pairing. I can't wait to see what we're able to do with that as the season progresses.”
Beyond "Classical + Contemporary," McNiven is looking forward to the company’s performances of “Dracula” and “The Nutcracker.”
“I read the book [by Bram Stoker] a couple of years ago,” said McNiven. “And I love ‘The Nutcracker’ for the nostalgia that I feel. I've done it almost every year since I was 8 years old, so it brings back a lot of memories for me and it's a great place to spend Christmas time rehearsing those ballets. You're hearing that music that's so famous. It's so beautiful, and what a great way to give back to the community and enjoy the holiday season.”
But for now McNiven is focusing on "Classical + Contemporary."
“What makes this program really great, in my opinion, is the diversity of repertoire that we're showcasing,” she remarked. “We have a romantic piece. We have classical ballet as represented in our ‘Corsair’ suite. We have contemporary piece. The boys have a piece. So I think there's just something for everyone in this production.”
About The Sarasota Cuban Ballet
The Sarasota Cuban Ballet is a premier destination for Cuban training in the United States with two major components — an award-winning school and the Sarasota Cuban Ballet Studio Company. The Sarasota Cuban Ballet’s mission is to celebrate and sustain the cultural legacy of the Cuban Ballet tradition, sharing its uniqueness through performance, education, and community outreach.
Now entering its 15th year, the Sarasota Cuban Ballet is the only U.S. training center where Dr. Ramona de Saa, Director and Professor at the National Ballet School of Cuba, adapted the Cuban method ballet curriculum created by founder Fernando Alonso specifically for the Sarasota school. Dancers from the Sarasota Cuban Ballet have joined The Royal Ballet, Birmingham Royal Ballet, Hamburg Ballet, Miami City Ballet, Houston Ballet, the Dance Theatre of Harlem, Washington Ballet, San Francisco Ballet, Boston Ballet, and many other national and international professional companies.
Support for WGCU’s arts & culture reporting comes from the Estate of Myra Janco Daniels, the Charles M. and Joan R. Taylor Foundation, and Naomi Bloom in loving memory of her husband, Ron Wallace.
