2025 CRB Dancers: Nathaniel Urie

Born and raised in Seattle, Nathaniel fell in love with performing at the age of 10 in a local production of Gone With the Breeze. Inspired by that unabashed feeling of self-expression, he continued performing in musicals, as well as exploring eclectic hobbies from piano to karate. At 16, Nathaniel joined Olympic Ballet School. Under the instruction of Mara Vinson and Oleg Gorbulev, what started as a way to improve his dancing for musical theatre quickly grew into a devotion to ballet itself. 

Nathaniel was accepted in 2021 into the University of Arizona School of Dance. There, he was featured in Light Rain by Gerald Aripino, as well as other works by Sarah Lisette Chiesa and Sam Watson. He also presented two original choreographic pieces at the Stevie Eller Dance Theatre, igniting his passion for artistic creation in addition to performance. 

In addition to performance and choreography, Nathaniel expanded his training at intensives with the José Limón Dance Company and American Ballet Theatre, and in 2024 became a trainee with Ballet de Barcelona. Nathaniel recently graduated magna cum laude from the University of Arizona in 2025 with dual degrees in Marketing and Dance. Now in Chicago, he is thrilled to make his professional debut with Chicago Repertory Ballet and to start this new chapter in his artistic journey

2025 CRB Dancers: P.J. Spagnoletti

PJ began ballet training at the age of 16, following a background as a competitive gymnast. He studied primarily at Princeton Dance and Theater in New Jersey, under the direction of Risa Kaplowitz, and affiliated with the American Ballet Theatre National Training Curriculum. After 3 years of training, he joined The Sarasota Ballet as a trainee, where he performed excerpts from “Magnificat” at the Sarasota Opera House in 2021.

Following some injuries, he shifted his focus to academics, earning a degree in Marketing from The College of New Jersey’s School of Business. During his time in college, he explored choreography, presenting work at Flair Dance Festival and Roxey Ballet Company’s River Dance Festival in 2024. His piece “Extraterrestrial” was awarded Best Choreography at Flair Dance Company’s 5th Anniversary Festival this past summer. He has also performed as a featured guest artist, performing principal roles with Princeton Youth Ballet in 2023 and 2024.

Career highlights include performing works choreographed by Ricardo Graziano, Arcadian Broad, Martin Douglas, Matt Williams, Risa Kaplowitz & Joey Vélas. He is thrilled to return to professional dance and to fulfill his dream of performing at a professional level. He looks forward to exploring the city of Chicago and performing on stage once again.

2025 CRB Dancer: Rachel Schmidt

Rachel Schmidt was born and raised in Santa Cruz, CA and received her early dance training from Robert Kelley and Diane Cypher of Santa Cruz Ballet Theatre. After graduating from Butler University with a degree in Dance she joined the Alonzo King LINES Ballet training program and danced as a company member of dawsondanceSF in San Francisco, CA. She later joined Brooklyn Ballet and Visions Contemporary Ballet in New York, NY and performed at the Guggenheim Museum during Dance Lab NY’s Alchemy Lab Cycle. She has performed in works by Alonzo King, Maurya Kerr, Sidra Bell, Gregory Dawson, Wade Schaaf, Brian Enos, Mike Tyus and Kia Smith. She is currently in her fourth season with Chicago Repertory Ballet.

2025 CRB Dancers: Sarah Price

Originally from Elgin, Illinois, Sarah began her artistic journey in theater, where she spent much of her youth. She initially took ballet classes to improve her stage presence and secure better roles but soon fell in love with the elegance and discipline of ballet, which quickly became her passion. Sarah received extensive training under Kaleigh Schock Tyton, who played a pivotal role in her development as a dancer. She further honed her skills by attending the prestigious Ellison Ballet Summer Intensive on a partial scholarship in 2021 and 2022. Following her training, Sarah was offered a position in Nevada Ballet Theatre’s Second Company. During her time in Las Vegas, Sarah performed in numerous Corps de Ballet roles, including Dracula’s Brides Corps in Dracula, Snow and Flowers Corps in James Canfield’s The Nutcracker (2022 and 2023), Corps and Aspirin Ladies in George Balanchine’s Serenade, and Peasant, Czardas, and Swan Corps in Ben Stevenson’s Swan Lake. Among all the ballets she has participated in, her favorite experience was performing as a Munchkin in Septime Webre’s The Wizard of Oz. She is excited to be back in Chicago and excited to begin her first season with CRB!

2025 CRB Dancers: Skyler Newcom

Skyler Newcom embarked on his journey through dance in his hometown of Lawrenceville, GA under the guidance of Jeff Boss and Jamie Wardrop. After many years in the competition circuits of the southeast, he has fostered extensive training in ballet, tap, Musical Theater, jazz, modern, and hip-hop. In 2015, Skyler accepted a scholarship to continue his training at the University Of Arizona School Of Dance. Skyler had the privilege of performing works by Autumn Eckman, Nacho Duato, Jessica Lang, George Balanchine, Michael Williams, Sam Watson, James Clouser, Tamara Dyke-Compton, and Amy Ernst amongst many others. Since graduating with a B.F.A. in dance and the Creative Achievement award in May of 2019, Skyler has moved to Chicago and has been performing with Giordano Dance Chicago as a Main Company Member alongside his freelance opportunities through the community. As he steps into Chicago Repertory Ballet, His goal is to enlighten and inspire audiences by evoking real world issues/emotion through movement. He aims to grow and mature as an artist, performer, and role model as steps into this new balletic chapter of his life. “Higher than the Heavens”.

2025 CRB Dancers: Miriam-Rose LeDuc

​​Miriam-Rose is a multi-passionate creative focused on ballet, music, and business. After earning her bachelor’s degree in Performing Arts and Business from Indiana University, she launched her dance career in Chicago. Ms. LeDuc has performed numerous featured roles with Chicago Repertory Ballet, including Lady Macbeth in Wade Schaaf’s Macbeth, The Chieftess in The Rite of Spring, and Winter from The Four Seasons.  She’s grateful to have danced in additional works by Shannon Alvis, Taylor Mitchell, Mariana Oliviera, and Ryan Jolicoeur-Nye.
Ms. LeDuc made her choreographic debut with the creation of Morning Song in 2017 and has since produced works for Chicago Repertory Ballet and Project 606. When she's not pursuing art, she supports purpose-driven entrepreneurs through marketing and operations services and enjoys time with her husband and busy toddler.

2025 CRB Dancers: Jackson Lee

Born and raised in Brazil, Jackson began his ballet training at the age of sixteen.
In 2015, he was accepted into the training program at The Joffrey Academy of Dance in Chicago, where he refined his technique and had the opportunity to perform with The Joffrey Ballet Company.

He later joined New Jersey Ballet, where he not only performed but also choreographed his first ballet. During his time in New Jersey, he contributed to the production of a commercial that went on to win a New York State Emmy.

Since then, Jackson’s choreography has been featured in fashion and runway shows throughout Chicago. As a guest artist, he has performed with Chicago Repertory Ballet and Visceral Dance Chicago. His additional collaborations include the annual Dance Divas benefit supporting the health and wellness of the local dance community, as well as projects with C5 Productions, a company that has produced work for major brands such as Kraft Heinz.

2025 CRB Dancers: Rosario Guillen

Rosario Guillen hails from Pharr, Texas where he trained under the direction of Nadia Valdez. His extensive training and dedication has granted him the opportunity to graduate from The Boston Conservatory at Berklee, the nation’s top institution for contemporary dance. Some of his theatrical presentations include: Bernardo–West Side Story, Greg-A Chorus Line, and Rudolpho-Matilda. In regards to film, Rosario recently performed as a principal dancer for Sony pictures’ production of "Little Women”. Mr. Guillen has worked with various artists in the field of dance such as Jennifer Archibald, Yury Yanowsky and Monica Bill Barnes. He is a former soloist with San Jose Dance Theatre, Giordano Dance Chicago and a current dancer with Chicago Repertory ballet.

2025 CRB Dancers: Molly Gemerchak

Molly began her training at Illinois Ballet Theater under the direction of Susan Snider. At 16, she left Iowa to attend boarding school, first at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts under Dean Ethan Stiefel, and later at Interlochen Arts Academy under Director Cameron Basden. She went on to earn her BFA in Dance from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music under the direction of Jiang Qi.

During her senior year, Gemerchak completed a co-op in Boston, dancing with BoSoma Dance Company (Katherine Hooper), City Ballet Boston (Tony Williams), and SunDanceX (David Sun). After graduating, she continued performing while cultivating her passion for teaching, joining the faculty at Boston College and Tony Williams Dance Center.

In 2018, Gemerchak returned to the Midwest, performing with Joel Hall Dancers (Jacki Sinclair) and Esoteric Dance Project (Brenna and Christopher Tucker). She joined Chicago Repertory Ballet in 2019 as an apprentice and was promoted to company artist in 2021.

Career highlights include touring Spring Waters, guesting with the Schaumburg Dance Ensemble, choreographing a 14 minute ballet (Effacé, 2024), teaching for North West Ballet Academy and Logan Square Pilates, and performing works by Kevin Jenkins, Lindsey Leduc, Gino DiMarco, Mariana Oliveira, Mike Tyus, Brian Enos, Taylor Mitchell, Braeden Barnes, and Wade Schaaf.

2025 CRB Dancers: Tessa Castellano

Born in Atlanta, Tessa started dancing at the age of two, and at nine began training with The Atlanta Ballet. During high school she studied the RAD syllabus and passed all vocational exams with the highest honor of Distinction, qualifying her for the Adeline Genée International Ballet Competition (now Margot Fonteyn) where she was a semi-finalist. In 2015 Tessa launched her professional career with The Georgia Ballet and quickly progressed to principal roles by 2018. She then joined Eugene Ballet in Oregon and toured the Pacific Northwest performing corps de ballet and demi-soloist roles in The Nutcracker and Swan Lake, as well as in original productions by Artistic Director Toni Pimble and Resident Choreographer Suzanne Haag. Tessa possesses a decade of teaching experience in various styles, and in 2021 moved to South Carolina to become Gracefully Fierce Dance Company’s Ballet and Pointe Director, in addition to choreographing award winning competition pieces. With a recent move to Chicago in the fall of 2024, Tessa is currently an instructor at All About Dance, and is excited for her first season with Chicago Repertory Ballet.