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Ben Faustino

Hip-Hop

Ben Faustino has become known in the community for his raw and “cool” take on choreography. Born and raised in Manila, Philippines, he started dancing prior to moving to the United States in Boca Raton, Florida; Ben now resides in Los Angeles. During his time in Florida, his interest in the dance community grew as he gained exposure to freestyle, choreography, and local award television shows. Within years of in class training he began to find and develop his own style and became a wellknown advanced choreographer. During the time Ben resided in Florida he was invited to teach regularly throughout South Florida. In addition, he was granted opportunities to not only teach advanced workshops within the communities of Tampa and Orlando but to his community in Manila. Being an instructor at U4ria Dance Studio led open doors for him into the hip-hop competing dance community. While not only instructing but also directing and leading the team formally known as U4ria Company, Ben was able to compete at world-wide competitions such as World Of Dance, Hip Hop Internationals, and Prelude South. Inspired by his own accomplishments, Ben sought out into the dance industry. Since then he has worked for artists such as Pee Wee, Chino y Nacho, Abraham Mateo, Ciara, Sony, and Daryela & Timbaland and worked in the world of television on LA VOZ KIDS, PREMIOS LO NUESTRO AWARDS, PREMIOS JUVENTUD AWARDS, MTV MAKING THE BAND, and MTV SWEET SIXTEEN. He was also brought on as a choreographer with pop artist Jake Miller, choreographing and dancing in the music video “Collide.” His success within south Florida motivated him to move to Los Angeles and pursue his career in choreography and dance.

Not too long after arriving in Los Angeles, Ben began competing with a worldwide known competitive adult dance team, GRV. This led him to major competitions within California such as Vibe Dance Competition, Bridge Dance Competition, and Body Rock Hip Hop Dance Competition held in San Diego. He spent most of his time learning and growing as a dancer and choreographer under the instruction of community and industry choreographers all throughout California. Ben is now one of the few head choreographers for not only GRV but also their junior competitive team, GRaVy Babies, leading them into future dance competitions.

While continuing to travel and teach dance classes, Ben is noticeably found within social media/internet videos and workshops. You can also find Ben in recent music videos including artists such as Jmiah and Great Good Fine OK

Kristen Pinard "KP"

Jazz and Acro

Miss Kristen (KP) is from Jacksonville, FL and has been dancing for 20+ years. She is trained in a variety of styles including: Ballet, Pointe, Jazz, Tap, Contemporary, Hip Hop, Musical Theater, Modern, West African, Pom, and many more! At a young age she performed in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, and was featured in ads for Disney Parks and Entertainment. She went to Douglas Anderson School of the Arts, where her main focus was dance. She was also a Tremaine Dance Convention Company Assistant, and traveled on tour with them across the country for many years.

Kristen continued her dance journey at Florida State University as a member of the Nationally Ranked FSU Golden Girls Dance Team. Over three years, she performed at home football, basketball, and volleyball games. Notable accomplishments during her tenure include being selected to travel with the Men’s Basketball team during March Madness and securing a 3rd-place finish at UDA Nationals her junior year.

Kristen then transitioned her talents to South Florida, becoming a Miami Dolphins Cheerleader for four years, two of which she served as captain. During her Dolphins career, Kristen had the privilege of performing for military troops overseas in Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi, and Hawaii with Armed Forces Entertainment and ProTour Productions. Among her other career highlights are performances in the Formula 1 Grand Prix with Bella Dose, Will I Am, and LL Cool J, as well as an appearance in the Super Bowl LIV Halftime show featuring Jennifer Lopez and Shakira. Kristen recently retired from the Dolphins, concluding a significant chapter in her dance career. She is now a full time Marketing Director for SFL Hospitality Group and Dance Instructor / Choreographer here in South Florida!

Christie Sciturro

Ballet

Christie Sciturro was born in Sterling Heights, Michigan. She received her dance training at Juliana’s Academy of Dance, The Rock School and Miami City Ballet School. She attended summer intensives at Pacific Northwest Ballet,American Ballet Theatre(New York), and The Rock School of the Pennsylvania Ballet. She was awarded the Youth American Grand Prix in 2004/05 in the Chicago, Illinois competition.
Christie joined Miami City Ballet School in 2005, became a student apprentice in 2006, company apprentice in 2007 and was promoted to member of the corps de ballet in 2008.

Professional Dance Roles

Corps de Ballet Roles
George Balanchine’s “Symphony in C”, “Symphony in 3”, “Western Symphony”, “Who Cares?”, “Divertimento 15”, “Serenade”, “La Sonnambula”, “Square Dance”, “Piano Concerto 2”, “Jewels”, “Theme and Variations”, “Faust”, “The Nutcracker”, “A Midsummer’s Night Dream”, “The Four Temperaments”, “La Valse”, and “Bourre Fantasque”

Classical Corps de Ballet Roles
Romeo and Juliet, Don Quixote, Coppelia, Swan Lake, Giselle

George Balanchine Soloist and Principal Roles
A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Hippolyta)
Episodes (“5 pieces pas de duex)
Slaughter on Tenth Avenue (Strip Tease Girl)
George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker®(Arabian)
Rubies (Tall Girl solo)

Paul Taylor
Company B, Piazzolla Caldera and Mercuric Tidings

Twyla Tharp
“Baker’s Dozen” and “The Golden Section”

Jerome Robin’s
West Side Story Suite and The Concert(The Wife)

Soloist and Principal Classical Repertoire
Don Quixote, Marius Petipa and Alexander Gorsky (Queen of the Dryads)
Giselle, Jean Coralli and Jules Perrot (Myrtha)
Swan Lake, Alexei Ratmansky(Big Swans)

Dana Williams

Ballet Artistic Director; Ballet Instructor

Dana’s earliest studies of Classical Ballet were at the Irene Folkine School of Classical Ballet and the Magda Auñon School of Classical Ballet.  She trained in 1982 and 1983 at the Houston Ballet Summer Intensive and the Washington Ballet in 1985. She has also received scholarships and acceptances to the following: The San Francisco Ballet, The Boston Ballet, The Pittsburgh Ballet, The Milwaukee Ballet, The Pennsylvania Ballet, and The Miami City Ballet School’s Summer Dance Intensive under the direction of Edward Villella. Dana co-directed The Ft. Lauderdale Ballet Classique alongside Magda Aunon for over a decade.  She started dance programs at prestigious schools such as The University School of Nova, Summit Private Montessori Schools, Ft. Lauderdale Christian School, and Abundant Life Christian Academy. She taught Ballet for one year at Calvary Christian Academy in 2003. Dana founded Ballet Elite in 2001 and sold it to Ms. Natalie Brum-Frazier in 2019. She is presently Artistic Director of the Nutcracker and instructs our intermediate and advanced ballet students at Ballet Elite. She is loved and respected by all of her students and staff.

Jen Enser

Pre-Ballet

Born and raised in Lima, Peru; Jen Enser fostered a love for the arts from an early age. In preparatory school, she was involved in fine arts clubs, from Method Acting, Dance and Staging, to Musical Theatre. Moving to South Florida to pursue a degree in Marketing from University of Miami, Jen settled down and started a family. As of 2016, her involvement in the ministry outreach Parkridge Dance has given her experience in teaching ballet to children from preschool age to fifth grade. At Ballet Elite, her two daughters found a dance home; and in 2021 Jen joined the faculty as a Pre-Ballet instructor. Firmly believing every child should experience dance at some point in their formative years; Miss Jen’s classes focus on creative movement, familiarity with ballet glossary and a love for dancing.

Kim Tran

Ballet

In 2000, Kim took her first ballet class at Abundant Life Christian Academy before continuing her training at Ballet Elite Dance Studio in 2001. Since the age of four years old, she was trained in Classical Ballet under the guidance of Dana Williams. At the age of eleven years old, Kim placed second place in the contemporary dance division of the 2004 American Dance Competition. At the age of fourteen years old, Kim began to branch out of her comfort zone by exploring other styles of dance such as Hip-Hop and Contemporary Dance under the guidance of Natalie Brum-Frazier. She has also participated in a variety of other dance competitions and conventions including Intrigue and the American Dance Awards.

In 2012, Kim became an instructor at Ballet Elite Dance Studio to educate young dancers in styles that she has acquired throughout the years at our studio. While attending Florida Atlantic University to complete her Bachelor of Science in Biological Sciences, Kim has also continued her education as a fellow student of FAU’s Department of Theatre & Dance. Under the instructions of Clarence Brooks, an Associate Professor and Director of Dance at the University, Kim participated in Dance We Dance performances and became a member of FAU’s Repertory Dance Theatre Ensemble since 2016. Aside from dancing, Kim is currently completing her thesis in endometriosis research to fulfill her degree in a Master of Science for Biological Sciences. Despite her goals to become an aspiring physician, Kim dedicates time to the studio to satisfy her first passion, which is performing and educating others in Dance.

Linda Kasak

Acro Instructor

Linda earned a bachelor’s degree in Dance Education from Dance Educators of America in New York City, NY. She then went on to co-own and operate Kasak’s School of Dance in Massachusetts for more than 30 years. Linda taught both children and adult classes there, as well as choreographed and co-directed the end of the year performances.
Ms. Kasak worked as a character performer for Walt Disney World for 7 years and also traveled with the 20th Anniversary Travel Trade Tour “Disney’s Surprise Party”. The characters Linda played during this time include Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Winnie the Pooh, and Roger Rabbit.

Locally, Linda taught Tap, Jazz, and Acro to children and adults for 14 years. In addition, she choreographed competition routines and annual recital dances. Ballet Elite is excited to have Linda Kasak join our staff. Her vast knowledge and experience, as well as her passion for dance and love for her students are evident in all of her classes.

Lisa List

Ballet Instructor

Lisa was formally trained in Classical Ballet at Magda Aunon’s School of Ballet for 13 years along with Dana Williams. She’s performed the Nutcracker 15 times in parts ranging from “Fritz” to “Dew Drop” to “Mother Goose”. She also has performed variations of Coppelia, Paquita, Giselle and Swan Lake with Magda at S.E.R.B.A. ,achieving Gala performance status through Fort Lauderdale Ballet Classique. She received multiple scholarships from Pennsylvania Ballet and attended summer intensives at the University of South Florida and Alabama Ballet in Montgomery. At the age of 14 she began her desired career of teaching ballet and continued for 8 years with Magda. She continued her ventures at Kelly’s School of Dance and DancingPlus for another 4 years. Lisa has also taught Swing, Zumba, Latin and Ballroom dancing. After a short hiatus to start her family, she has returned to her true passion for teaching ballet and is looking forward to growing with the Ballet Elite Family.

Maria (Malu) Quintal

Hip-Hop

Malu moved to the United States when she was 9 years old. In an attempt to make new friends in what seemed like a new world, her teachers insisted she audition for the school play. Because she was so shy for any speaking role, she was casted as a background dancer. Malu unexpectedly grew to love this craft and has been dancing ever since. After graduating high school she threw herself into any dance audition she could go to. At 18, she was on So You Think You Can Dance in the Vegas rounds and at 19 she became a dancer for the NBA’s Miami HEAT. At 20, she was performing on live television for the Latin Awards. Since then she has professionally danced alongside artists including Pitbull, Sean Paul, Katy Perry, Daddy Yankee, Karol G, Anuel, Robin Thicke, J Balvin, Maluma, Luis Fonsi, Ozuna, and more. Throughout her career Malu has worked in several areas of the dance commercial industry. She has been featured as a dancer in the movie Step Up 4, appeared in numerous music videos, and has performed live concert shows on world tours. Lately, she enjoys expanding her abilities as a choreographer and has been grateful to have choreographed for large organizations such as the NBA’s Miami Heat and MLB’s Miami Marlins to name a few. Her latest projects involve choreographing music videos for several Latin artists and leading a team of professional dancers on her latest world tour. In addition to this Malu enjoys training young promising dancers and has been teaching classes, school teams, competition teams, and low income programs for 11 years. Not only does she love performing on stage or dancing on camera but Malu also thrives on working behind the scenes: creating, growing, and sharing her knowledge in the dance industry with hungry talent. Her favorite style to teach is commercial/stage dance and Malu’s teaching method highlights on clean visuals, musical dynamics and textured movement.

Melanie Martel

Modern & Contemporary Ballet

Mélanie is originally from France. She trained in France at the Conservatory of Valence and at the Ecole de danse Olivier Coste in Ballet, Modern Jazz and Contemporary. She came to Miami and attended New World School of the Arts, graduating Summa Cum Laude in 2014. While at New World, she performed works from Peter London, Gerard Ebitz, Ana Sokolow, José Limon, Martha Graham, Merce Cunningham and Darshan Singh Buller. Some of the works were performed at the Joyce Theatre (NYC), the Alvin Ailey Theatre and in Puerto Rico for the Festival Internacional de Baile (2013).

She participated (among others) in The Henny Jurriëns Foundation summer intensive in Amsterdam where she had the opportunity to learn and perform Jiří Kylián’s repertory and explore movement in a William Forsythe’s Improvisational Technologies workshop. This workshop offered her a whole new perspective on dance and improvisation and she continued studying more of that technique, such as Gaga in Europe, New York and Miami. Mélanie has worked with The Tattooed Ballerina, Godoy/Pradera Projects, National Water Dance Projects, CoreDance Atlanta, Miami Contemporary Dance company, and The Dancers’ Space. Currently, she is a dance artist with national and international touring company iMEE (Infinite Movement Ever Evolving).

Mélanie was invited to teach for the Dancer’s Space in West Palm Beach and as part of the Contemporary Sunday at Thomas Armour Conservatory in Miami and is teaching in Broward and Miami-Dade County.

Melissa McFarland

Ballet Instructor

Melissa began her dance training at Fort Lauderdale Ballet Classique under the direction of Magda Anuon and Dana Williams. Melissa then joined the academy of Ballet Florida at the age of ten and became a member of their pre professional division. While there she studied ballet under the direction of Francia Kulchar, Ruth Petronovic and Claudia Cravey. During her time with Ballet Florida Melissa had the privilege of performing with the company in such ballets as The Nutcracker, Sleeping Beauty, Lady of the Camellias and Romeo and Juliet. Melissa has also attended summer intensives at the Rock School, Ballet Florida, Boston Ballet and Houston Ballet. After leaving Ballet Florida in 1998 at the age of 17, Melissa returned to dance with Dana Williams and has been performing, teaching and Choreographing with Ballet Elite since the doors opened.

Michelle Chaviano

Ballet

Michelle Chaviano began her training under Magaly Suarez at The Art of Classical Ballet at the age of 9. She attended numerous prestigious summer intensives that included American Ballet Theatre and Carreno Summer Intensive. At the Carreno summer intensive, she had the opportunity to perform lead roles alongside Julie Kent, Jose Manuel Carreno, and many others. With the Florida Classical Ballet, she performed lead roles in The Nutcracker, Le Corsaire, and Majisimo.

At the age of seventeen, she moved to England and joined English National Ballet School on full scholarship. She performed the lead role of Swanhilda in the production of Coppelia with the second company of English National Ballet and Snowflakes in English National Ballet’s The Nutcracker. Upon her graduation from English National Ballet School, Michelle received an Honors Baccalaureate in Fine Arts and moved to Romania to join Teatrul de Balet Sibiu in Romania.

Michelle was also a semi-finalist at the 2017 China International Ballet and Choreography Competition. She is currently continuing her dance training in Florida and is a Certified Ballet Teacher and Certified Gyrotonic ® and PBT Instructor.

Mika Santo

Contemporary & Leaps and Turns

Mika Santo is a 23 year old Florida native who has always had huge aspirations to become a successful choreographer. By choreographing an opening number for Pulse: On Tour for their Vegas nationals at age 19 and co-choreographing a music video alongside Robert Davis for KEVVO & Becky G at age 22, she is well on her path to following her dreams. In addition to creating a name for herself in the South Florida scene, Mika also obtained her BFA in dance at New World School of the Arts in 2021. In her time at New World, she has performed works by Ohad Naharin, Jennifer Archibald, and Jeffery Smith. She has also trained under Peter London, Lara Murphy, Adele Meyers, Jeffery Smith and Rebecca Cannan.

Mika has 18 years of dance experience, including her eclectic competitive/concert/commercial dance background. Growing up, she has had the privilege to receive many titles, scholarships, and awards in her competition dance career. In 2016, she was awarded a 20,000 dollar scholarship to attend AMDA college. Mika has also dabbled in commercial work. She was chosen by Matt Steffanina, who is a well-known LA choreographer, to be apart of his concept video. She has also appeared in a video choreographed by Jake Kodish in 2017.

Her passion for dance and teaching reflects in her choreographic works. She has won numerous choreography awards in her 5 years of choreographing and teaching. Her quest to bridge the gaps between all three of her worlds has made her become a competition stand-out and well sought-after. She has been teaching for Ballet Elite’s contemporary company for the past two years, and the Junior/Intermediate company starting this season. She has an incredible amount of love and care for her students, and is excited to continue her journey in mentoring them to become their best selves.

Natalie Brum-Frazier

Owner/Artistic Director; Contemporary

Natalie has been an instructor and choreographer for the past 15 years in South Florida. She trained and performed as a Ballet dancer under the instruction of Dana Williams at Ballet Elite Dance Studio in Margate, FL from 1998-2006. During that time she also studied Lyrical, Contemporary, and Modern. She later began her Hip-Hop training in Miami in 2007 and performed with the crew “Epidemik.” Natalie joined the “World Models” agency where she auditioned as a commercial dancer from 2010-2012, while also attending Florida Atlantic University. Her passion for teaching soon exceeded her desire to become a professional working dancer. Over the last 15 years, Natalie’s focus has been growing Ballet Elite Dance Studio to be a diverse and well rounded training facility for dancers novice to pre-professional. Natalie became owner of Ballet Elite Dance Studio in 2019 and has shifted her role but remains a contemporary instructor at the studio as well as a competition coach and Artistic Director. She pushes her dancers to think differently, dance differently, and form their own personal stories throughout her classes. Natalie’s classes incorporate self-exploration and artistry through improv at a young age. Her students develop the tools to communicate freely through dance and, in turn, build their own unique language. Her dancers have entered many improv competitions where they have received first place and several scholarships to further their training and education. Natalie is also a contemporary coach to some of the Elite soloists at the studio. Her choreography has won top placements at several highly competitive venues such Youth America Grand Prix and Universal Ballet Competition where her dancers have received first place as well as the Miami International Ballet Competition where her choreography was chosen to perform at the closing gala of Canaan Dance International in Hong Kong. Natalie owes her tremendous love of teaching to her students, who inspire her, drive her, and define her as an instructor and a director.

Natalie Gonzalez

Lyrical, Contemporary & Leaps and Turns

Natalie began dancing in 2014 at Ballet Elite Dance Studio. She has trained in all styles of dance with a focus on Ballet, Contemporary, and Hip Hop. Natalie has competed in various dance competitions and has received several awards, top placement and scholarships throughout her time as a competitive dancer

In 2015, Natalie became an assistant to Mrs. Natalie Brum-Frazier where she began her teacher training. She was promoted to “Assistant to the Director” in 2017 and worked as the rehearsal assistant to the Elite competitive teams at the studio. Her choreography has won top placement and awards at prestigious competitions such as The American Dance Competition, Universal Ballet Competition, and Youth American Grand Prix, where her piece received first place and was invited to the YAGP finals in 2018. In 2019 she started her own competitive team and now coach’s our Mini Elite and Junior-intermediate teams.

Natalie loves what she does and is happy to share her love for dance. She wants to show her students that with enough determination, anything is possible. She is so excited to be teaching Lyrical, Contemporary, Hip Hop, and Leaps and Turns this season!

Sarah Hill

Hip-Hop

Sarah joined Ballet Elite Dance Studio when she was 7 years old and began training under Dana Williams and Natalie Brum Frazier.

She has trained in ballet, hip-hop, contemporary/lyrical, tap and jazz. As a teen she was accepted into the Boston Ballet Summer Program and also studied under Magda Aunon at the Magda Aunon School of Ballet, dancing in Fort Lauderdale Ballet Classique’s annual Nutcracker performances. She danced the lead role of Clara and also as Fritz.

As Sarah’s love for dance developed she began to turn her focus to more commercial styles and fell in love with Hip-Hop. She trained for ten years under director Natalie Brum Frazier when she was then given an opportunity to assist and then begin teaching her own classes. Sarah’s fun spirit and energy is loved by her student’s and her classes are choreography based with an emphasis on musicality and performance. Sarah teaches several levels at the studio and is also a coach for our competitive Hip-Hop teams.

Sarah is currently working on her Bachelor’s degree for Secondary Education in Mathematics at FAU and hopes to continue to teach dance as well as work in Secondary Education.

Sarah loves working with the students and is ecstatic to be teaching and continuing helping her students grow!!

Ale Dugarte

Ballet/Pointe

Bio coming soon!

Rachel Abelenda

Team Rehearsal Coach

Bio coming soon!

Mifa Ko

Ballet/Pointe/Répertoire

Bio coming soon!

Cheyenne Kellar

Contemporary

Bio coming soon!

Kristin Ramaglia

Acro

Bio coming soon!