COMPANY ARTIST

Audrey is a dancer from Eagle Rock, California that has trained with Peninsula School of Performing Arts as well as Leigh Purtill Ballet. She attended the Los Angeles Ballet Summer Intensive this year, and is a freshman at Pasadena City College with a major in Dance. She is currently a dancer with the Leigh Purtill Ballet Company.

COMPANY ARTIST

Makenna is delighted to be connecting back to her roots in ballet and perform in this time classic story. Since the age of 3 Makenna has been training in a multitude of styles of dance, she graduated from The American Musical and Dramatic Academy, has worked on musicals as a choreographer, and is now back in LA to continue her journey in the performing arts. In her free time Makenna loves to write, paint, and camp. She would like to thank her parents for their endless love and support, her dance teachers, and the beautiful people who came here today to support her work!

COMPANY ARTIST

Odette Finn, from Claremont CA, received her ballet training from Inland Pacific Ballet.  She has performed a variety of roles in productions including, Giselle, Coppelia, The Sleeping Beauty, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Cinderella, and the Nutcracker. She has danced with Santa Barbara City College Dance Company during their 2022-2024 seasons, under the direction of Tracy Kofford. Odette is currently continuing her training with Santa Barbara Festival Ballet, and State Street Ballet. She is grateful and thrilled to be in the timeless tale of the Little Women this year.

PRINCIPAL COMPANY ARTIST

Christopher graduated from Haverford College with a B.A. in Dance. He received a grant to train at the Bolshoi Ballet Academy in Moscow, Russia. After graduation, he danced with Nashville Ballet for two years in their second company, performing in ballets such as Swan Lake, Peter Pan, and Nashville's Nutcracker. Christopher is a company member with Anaheim Ballet. Apart from dance, he just received his Masters in Divinity from The King's University, where a portion of his studies were completed at Oxford University in England.

COMPANY ARTIST

Isabella is an LA-based dancer from San Jose, California. She began her ballet training at New Ballet (previously Ballet San Jose) and danced in their Studio Company. Following her training in San Jose, she studied at UC Irvine, earning her B.F.A. in Dance Performance and B.A. in English. At UC Irvine, she performed both classical and contemporary repertory, working closely with professors Vitor Luiz, Tong Wang, and Molly Lynch, among many others. 

Since graduating, Isabella has performed with several dance companies and organizations including Hollywood Ballet, SoCal Ballet Scene, ChoCoLA, and of course, Little Women Ballet. She is also a performer at Universal Studios Hollywood.

COMPANY ARTIST

Jiyeon Han is a Los Angeles–based dancer with a strong foundation in classical ballet, trained in the Vaganova method. She was a company member of Gwangju City Ballet in Korea for 10 years, where she performed a wide range of soloist and corps de ballet roles in full-length classical and contemporary productions.

After moving to the United States, she continues her work as a freelance dancer in Los Angeles and is currently performing with Little Women Ballet.

She is passionate about expressive storytelling through movement and is excited to be part of the Little Women Ballet.

PRINCIPAL CHARACTER ARTIST

Alberto has been dancing and teaching for over 20 years in various studios, school programs and high schools across southern California. He has worked with competition groups and set choreography for many stage performances. Alberto has attended and performed for many college dance programs as a student and guest performer these include Orange Coast College, Cerritos College, El Camino College and Los Angeles Trade Tech. While attending college Alberto was furthering his dance education at various professional studios in the Los Angeles area that include; Edge Performing Arts Center, Debbie Reynolds Dance Studio, Moro Landis Dance Studio (also known as Millennium Dance Complex) and Pasadena Civic Ballet. Alberto has worked with Black Eyed Peas, Redfoo and Weezer and has performed on stage alongside The Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl, National Folkloric Ballet of Spain at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion and California Philharmonic just to name a few. Alberto continues to further his dance education in hopes to motivate and bring new methods of dance training to his students.

PRINCIPAL CHARACTER ARTIST

Riley has been preforming for 12 years. She started her journey at PCB at age 5, has been there ever since. She is a part of the Senior Company, and has showcased her skill in many ballets including performing the role of a Toe Tapping Tuxedo Fish in The Little Mermaid. In addition to dance, she is heavily involved with Musical Theatre. She attends CSArt’s Musical Theatre conservatory, and has been in over 20 musicals and plays. Some including playing: Feste in Twelfth Night, Jewell Estes in Floyd Collins, Bert in Mary Poppins, and Schwartzy in The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. Little Women Ballet has been such a special experience, and she gives thanks to everyone who is a part of the production, especially Emma who brought this beautiful and inspiring piece to life.

PRINCIPAL COMPANY ARTIST

Ludmila Malakhov is a professional dancer, choreographer, and ballet instructor based in Los Angeles. She has performed with Festival Ballet Albuquerque in productions including The Nutcracker, Dracula, Firebird, as well as Peter and the Wolf. She currently performs with Little Women Ballet in Los Angeles, an organization focused on amplifying women's stories through dance, for which she is also the ballet mistress and serves as a production advisor. She has taught and set choreography for various organizations, including Pasadena Civic Ballet and East Mountain Dance's production of Cinderella. Ludmila is deeply passionate about working with the next generations of dancers in finding their joy and artistry through dance, having the privilege of teaching students for over 11 years. Additionally, she received her Doctorate degree in Physical Therapy at the University of Southern California, and now works with dancers on achieving their movement and performance goals.

PRINCIPAL COMPANY ARTIST

Sophia Moritz is a Los Angeles–based dancer with training across a range of styles, including ballet, contemporary, modern, and Bollywood. She discovered her love for dance at a young age, and that passion has continued to grow throughout her artistic journey.

Sophia earned her Bachelor’s degree from Skidmore College, where she double majored in Neuroscience and Dance, and completed her Master’s in Psychology at Pepperdine University. Her work reflects a deep interest in the intersection of the arts and sciences, exploring how movement and the mind inform and enrich one another.

As a performer, she has danced works by renowned choreographers including Martha Graham, Ohad Naharin, and Pascal Rioult, among others. In addition to her artistic pursuits, Sophia serves as the Curriculum Coordinator at the USC Kaufman School of Dance. She is thrilled to be part of Little Women Ballet and is passionate about sharing the joy of movement and dance with others.

PRINCIPAL COMPANY ARTIST

Jill Oates, originally from Winters, California, is a graduate from UC Irvine with a B.F.A. in Dance Performance and a B.S. in Biological Sciences. She originally trained with Vacaville Ballet School, The Sacramento Ballet, and Deane Dance Center before her college education. Jill was the inaugural recipient of the ASTAIREAWARDS Excellence in Dance Scholarship at UC Irvine and had the chance to perform pieces by accomplished choreographers: Tong Wang, Molly Lynch, Diane Diefenderfer, and Dante Puleio.

Jill danced as a company member with Central West Ballet Company for 5 years, ending as a soloist in 2023. She joined Little Women Ballet Company in Spring 2024 and recently joined New Classics Ballet Theatre for their inaugural season in 2026.

COMPANY ARTIST

Gabriella Padilla graduated from the University of California, Irvine in the Spring of 2025 with a B.F.A. in Dance Performance and a B.F.A. in Choreography. She was the co-chair of the Department’s Community Student Advising Committee, and worked with the AEA Consulting Firm as an undergraduate representative on their Strategic Planning Committee. During her time at UCI she worked closely with Lar Lubovitch, Vitor Luiz, Molly Lynch, Diane Diefenderfer, Tong Wang, and more. In winter of 2024, she was a featured dancer in George Balanchine’s Serenade staged by Zippora Karz for UCI’s Dance Visions. She also danced in Lar Lubovitch’s Coltrane’ s My Favorite Things, & Marimba for Dance Visions 2024 and 2025 respectively. Gabriella had the privilege of staging two of her own contemporary ballet works, Razor’s Edge & In the Mourning, for two different UCI Dance mainstage productions. Gabriella is currently pursuing a career as a professional contemporary ballet dancer and choreographer in Southern California, and is so excited to be a part of the Little Women Ballet family.

PRINCIPAL COMPANY ARTIST

Born in Baltimore, MD, Hanna Peddicord is now a Los Angeles-based freelance dance artist and performer. Throughout her youth, she trained in a variety of styles, but she is most influenced by contemporary and ballet technique. In 2021, she received her Bachelors of Fine Arts in Dance from Florida State University under the direction of Ilana Goldman, Anjali Austin, Gwen Welliver and Jawole Willow Jo Zollar. Hanna had the pleasure of joining Royal Flux as a company member in 2022, but has also worked with Will Johnston, Haley Kostas, Dasha Terotova, Geometry Dance Company, and Soulescape the Company. Most recently, she performed a collaborative evening length work at Stomping Ground LA titled “here, there.” Outside of performing she is a certified fitness guide with KINRGY, where she continues to indulge in movement as a form of exploration of the self and the world. Hanna is honored to join the Little Women Ballet family and is eager to play as an artist through this immersive experience!

COMPANY ARTIST

Ellen Relac was trained in Balanchine and ABT Technique at Ballet Études in Norwalk, Connecticut. She originated the role of Sallie in LWB's full length Little Women in 2024. She is a Magna Cum Laude graduate of UCLA and launched her own company, Gold Standard Tutors, in 2024.

Ellen is also a writer/actor/producer, with favorite credits include acting in Copy Credit No Pay (2025) and the world premieres of stage plays Queen Bee (2024) and I Totally Would've Had a Threesome With You (June 2026) and producing MY TYPE (SBIFF 2026) and Lemon (featuring Maggie Lawson). She is drawn to telling complex, message-driven stories that resonate with contemporary audiences.

PRINCIPAL COMPANY ARTIST

Jacob is a Los Angeles native. He studied under Glen Edgerton at Colburn Dance Institute while attending Los Angeles County High School for the Arts. Furthering his education, Jacob studied Choreography at the Laban Conservatoire in London. Since dancing with various companies between London and Los Angeles, Jacob now focuses on helping the dance community expand and find talented artist to provide assistance in performance growth. He is one of four co-founders of ChoCoLA. Welcome Jacob!

PRINCIPAL COMPANY ARTIST

From New Mexico, Anna Lee Rohovec graduated from the University of Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music with a BFA in Ballet and a Spanish minor. Anna Lee danced the role of Giselle in UC’s mainstage production of “Giselle” alongside Cincinnati Ballet’s company member Jace Pauly as Albrecht. At UC, Rohovec also performed soloist roles in Les Sylphides staged by Deirdre Carberry and En Tournee choreographed by Qi Jaing. She worked with several guest artists including Amy Seiwert and Jennie Creer-King and choreographed for the Student

Choreographer’s Showcases. After graduating from UC in 2022, Rohovec spent the 2022-2023 season as a trainee with State Street Ballet. As of June 2023, Rohovec has been dancing as a company member with Brockus Red Dance Company in Los Angeles. She is thrilled to be Jo March in Little Women Ballet!

COMPANY ARTIST

PRINCIPAL COMPANY ARTIST

Claire Simmons, Pacific Grove, California native, holds a Bachelors of Fine Arts in Dance Performance from the University of California, Irvine. She began her training with Carol Richmond at Carmel Academy of Performing Arts and spent summers with Backhausdance, American Academy of Ballet, UCLA, and Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet. Claire continued her dance journey at UC Irvine, where she worked with Lar Lubovitch, Molly Lynch, and Dr. Lisa Naugle. In college, she earned the Chancellor’s Award of Distinction and Cloud Hsueh Scholarship, co-directed the campus organization Bare Bones Dance Theater, and performed in Rome, Italy, with her fellow classmates and Italian students. Since moving to Los Angeles in 2023, she has danced with Universal Studios Hollywood (M3GAN at Halloween Horror Nights), Lume Dance Collective, SCOPIXDance Collective, and Spector Dance. She is delighted to join the Little Women Ballet family.

PRINCIPAL COMPANY ARTIST

Catie Faye Smith was raised in the San Francisco Bay area. She studied R.A.D., Vaganova, Graham, Horton and various neoclassical/contemporary styles, eventually graduating as valedictorian from Ruth Asawa School of the Arts. She went on to study with Gelsey Kirkland in New York and Svetlana Sidorova at Perm Ballet School in Russia. She has been a company member in City Ballet of San Diego, California Ballet, Ken Dance Company, and Los Angeles Choreographers and Dancers. She was featured as Lizette in the world premiere of the immersive theater show Crimson Cabaret. In 2017, Catie began acting in film, and her production company Stray Souls Entertainment earned recognition at the Underground Film Festival for their inaugural short film. She is also the co-founder of two artistic ensembles: Your Own Content Group, a film collaborative, and T.A.C.T. Dance Company. She currently trains at Warner Loughlin studios, and is a teaching assistant at the BGB school. Catie graduated summa cum laude from UC Berkeley in 2020.

COMPANY ARTIST

Dj Smith has been performing around the SoCal area for the last decade. He has performed as a dancer and stunt performer at Disneyland, Universal Studios, and Knotts Berry Farm. Theatre company’s worked with include 3d-theatricals, McCoy Rigby Entertainment, Anaheim Ballet, and Theatre Royale Tours.

PRINCIPAL COMPANY ARTIST

Rebekah Tkach is a Southern California native and alumna of Pasadena Civic Ballet where she trained and performed for over 10 years. She has training in various styles including classical ballet, contemporary, character, and modern dance. During the summers of 2020, 2021, and 2022 she trained and performed with Ballet Magnificat at their summer intensive. In 2023 she attended Anaheim Ballet's summer intensive and especially enjoyed performing in their summer production of Les Sylphides. Rebekah is currently studying psychology at Biola University and is excited to continue her journey with Little Women Ballet!

PRINCIPAL COMPANY ARTIST

Kassandra Vogel recently graduated from the University of California, Irvine as a triple major earning B.F.A. degrees in Choreography and Performance, and a B.A. in Psychological Sciences. She has been dancing since the age of three, receiving diverse training in various styles such as ballet, jazz, modern, contemporary, flamenco and hip hop at California Ballet School in San Diego. Before graduating highschool, she danced as a trainee with the California Ballet Company during their 2019-2020 season under the artistic direction of Jared Nelson. At UC Irvine she honed her skills as both a performer and a choreographer, studying under esteemed faculty members Lar Lubovitch, Diane Diefenderfer, Vitor Luiz, Tong Wang, Molly Lynch, and more. Since graduating in June of 2024, Kassandra has been pursuing her passion as a freelance dancer in the Los Angeles and Orange County area.