Serenella Sol is a Calgary-based dancer, choreographer and the Artistic Director of Ballet Bodies YYC. Sol started dancing ballet at the age of three in Maracaibo, Venezuela. In 2007, she moved to Canada, where she studied ballet and contemporary dance in Vancouver and Calgary. She holds a BA in Political Science and a Minor in Dance from the University of Calgary. Serenella participated in numerous summer intensives worldwide, including Spain, USA, Salzburg, The Netherlands and France. She danced for La Caravan Company (2011), Jeunesse Company (2012) and W&M Physical Theatre (2013-2019). Serenella has presented her choreographic work at the Alberta Dance Festival (Dancers’ Studio West), Fluid Festival, and Montage and produced/choreographed her show Coming of Age in 2016. Serenella has been actively exploring contemporary dance alongside other art forms including, photography, theatre and film, engaging with diverse collaborators. Early this year, she danced and acted for Sublimity, a theatrical/dance piece directed and choreographed by Mike Czuba and Melissa Tuplin. In 2022, she received two grants from the Canada Council for the Arts and the Calgary Arts Development, which allowed her to look back at her journey as an immigrant, artist and woman. This intimate exploration resulted in a short film, SALOPICA, which she co-directed with Callum McCormack; it was showcased this year at CIFF and WildDogs International Screendance Festival, among other festivals. In 2021, Serenella founded Ballet Bodies YYC, a non-profit organization focused on making ballet more accessible, inclusive and positive not only for its participating dancers, teachers and choreographers but also for the diverse audiences throughout Alberta.

Melanie began her ballet training in Albuquerque, NM. She spent summers training at The Pacific Northwest Ballet school, and The School of American Ballet. And later moved to train full time at the San Francisco Ballet School where she was awarded the Robert Kirby Memorial scholarship for outstanding achievement in dance. Her professional dance career spanned over 17 years where she danced with The San Francisco Ballet as a member of the corps de ballet, Alonzo King’s Lines Ballet as a principal dancer, and with The Alberta Ballet where she danced both soloist and principal roles. She also danced as a guest artist with Ballet BC and The San Jose Dance Theater, and performed at The Miami International Dance Festival in 2002. Melanie has worked with choreographers such as Chistopher Wheeldon, David Bentley, William Forsyth, Alonzo King, Jorma Elo, and Jean Grand-Maitre amongst others. Her choreographic experience includes ballets for The Wright Studio,The Company Show, and Ballet Bodies YYC.

A teacher for over 25 years, Cinzia owned and operated Dance Explosions Inc. in Calgary, Alberta, for 20 years. After earning her Bachelor of Commerce degree at the University of Calgary, she studied at the Royal Academy of Dance headquarters in London, UK where she obtained her RAD Teaching Diploma. Cinzia is devoted to the craft of choreography, completing countless pieces at every age level. She takes great pride in serving as a mentor to many aspiring dance educators through the RAD CBTS program, as well as adjudicating nationally each year in Alberta, BC, Ontario and Quebec. Having choreographed locally for the U of C’s Dance Montage and Dancer’s Studio West she looks forward to sharing her artistry through Ballet Bodies YYC and embracing their mandate of “Every Body is a Ballet Body.”

Jared Tobias Herring is a multi-disciplinary artist exploring storytelling through dance, film, narrative and music. He trained in contemporary and jazz during a minor at the UofC while studying an English major.

He has worked closely with W&M, Michelle Moss, Jason Galeos, Davida Monk, and Taryn Javier--artists he considers strong mentors. Jared trained in house dance abroad in New York and Seoul, Korea and has taught house dance in Calgary for four years. He actively explores dance in film; in 2022, he collaborated with N.A.P.P.Y Dance Collective, directed a screen dance in France and worked as an actor/dancer, composer and 1st and 2nd camera for several projects.

Most recently, Jared collaborated with Michelle Moss and Kevin Fraser for a live-work presented in Toronto during Dance Immersion & IABD conference.

Currently, Jared is developing a solo work which involves multiple media forms and live performances.

Hailing from Saskatoon, Graham trained at Canada’s National Ballet School, The Martha Graham School, The School of the London Contemporary Dance Theatre and the School of the Toronto Dance Theatre. He performed with the Toronto Dance Theatre for 15 years, working with Canada’s leading choreographers and becoming well-known as a dancer possessed of a certain sensuality and exotic masculinity. He was a featured performer in The Four Horsemen Project, a work of movement and sound poetry which played to critical acclaim and won six Dora awards. Graham was for three years a full-time faculty professor at Kobe Women’s University in Japan. He currently resides in Calgary and is the director for contemporary training at the School of the Alberta Ballet and continues to choreograph and perform. Notable choreographic achievements include, “Songs sung on mountaintops” performed at the Nishinomiya Arts centre in Osaka Japan, “Mad World” at the Fluid Festival, Calgary Alberta, and works shown at the Dance in Canada Festival, Ottawa Ontario and the Toronto Fringe Festival of Dance. His dedication to his students at the Alberta Ballet School has led to many creations, most recently “Pandemic Diaries”, performed at the Southern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium in Calgary Alberta.