2009 Jury Panel
Donna Morgan
A native of West Palm Beach, Donna received her formal dance training from Marie Hale and Lynda Swiadon, and later danced on scholarships from the Harkness Ballet, Chicago Ballet School, Lou Conte Dance Studio and Houston Ballet Academy. As a professional dancer, Ms. Morgan was a soloist with the Louisville and Milwaukee Ballet, where she danced exciting leading roles in Cinderella, Swan Lake, Nutcracker and Giselle, to name a few. Having an extensive repertoire in musical theatre, she has appeared in dozens of productions at Milwaukee's Melody Top, A Chorus Line on national tour and at Chicago's Candlelight Theatre and as a featured dancer with the Steppin' Out Revue in the M. V. Royal Odyssey. Upon returning to the area, Donna has appeared in Mame and Sugar Babies at the Jupiter Theatre, Ballet Florida's Romeo and Juliet and Nutcracker and on Burt Reynold's T.V. series B.L Stryker. Ms. Morgan has choreographed over 20 productions for The Palm Beach Opera and is currently in her eleventh season as Principal of the Academy of Ballet Florida.
Brittany Larrimer
Ms. Larrimer graduated from the The Joffrey Ballet School, where she trained under full scholarship. Throughout her two seasons with AjkunBT Brittany also earned several credits toward completion of a Bachelor Degree in Dance Education with Teacher's Certificate at the University of Dance and Theater of Italy and thru AjkunBT's Arts in Education programs supported by the New York State Public School System, the Westchester County BOCES and the Lincoln Center Foundation. Brittany performed with The Joffrey Ensemble and the Texas Ballet Theatre for two seasons, while appearing as a guest artist with the Repertory Dance Theatre and the Gainesville Ballet. Brittany joined The Ajkun Ballet Theatre season in the year 2007. As a guest artist she extensively performed with AjkunBT's Partners in Dance all over the United States of America, Europe and Australia. Brittany's repertory includes The Sleeping Beauty, Nutcracker, Romeo & Juliet, Paquita, Diana & Acteon, Don Quixote, Raymonda , Walpurgis Night, Spartacus and Chiara Ajkun's Karien, The Amazon, Mozart Epilogue of The Genius and Carmen. Brittany was appointed Honorary Member of the primary Westchester County's Performing and Visual Arts Education Program by Dr. Domenic Guastaferro, District Supervisor for the Arts (2008).
Paulina Lei Zhu
Paulina Lei Zhu, a graduate of the Shanghai Dance Academy, is a Chinese born American. Ms. Zhu was once the youngest lead dancer at The Shanghai Dance Theatre and at the age of 17, was awarded the second prize at the national professional dance competition "Taoli Cup". Paulina's dance credentials include: principal dancer for the Shanghai Dance Theatre, America South Ballet Company and the Hong Kong Dance Company. Ms. Zhu was awarded for her performance as lead dancer in "Liang Zhu Legend" at the 1998 CCTV Spring Festival and for her performance in "Sailing" at the Hall of the People Banquet in honor of the 50th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China. She has also been the lead in the original production of "Er Quan Yin Yu" and the Chinese original production of "Ma Le Fang Tian Fang Bian", which was given the Golden Award. She has also performed as lead in "Giselle", "The Nutcracker", "The Soldier's Story" and "Sleeping Beauty", to name a few. Ms. Zhu's artistic management credentials include the founding of the Royal Ballet Academy. Ms. Zhu was also Director of China National Travel Service Group's Entertainment Department. She has also produced and directed many classical ballets
Additional Teaching Staff
Olivier Munoz
Mr. Munoz trained at the Conservatoire National De Lyon, France , International Dance Center Roselia Hightower, Cannes , France and is a Certified Professor of Dance from the French Government.He was a Principal dancer performing many major roles in companies including English National Ballet, Northern Ballet Theatre and Cleveland San Jose Ballet.As a guest artist he performed with Theatro alla Scala, Milan , Arena di Verona, Italy , Tokyo Ballet, and The Bolshoi Ballet Russia .He has coached gold medal dancers in major international ballet competitions.Mr. Munoz was the artistic director of Ballet Arkansas and has taught at the Maryland Youth Ballet in Bethesda , MD.He has won many awards including Outstanding Teacher YAGP, and a Silver Medal in 1981 at the Prix de Lausanne.
Brooklyn Mack
Brooklyn began his training at twelve with Pavlovich Dance School. He was awarded full scholarship at Kirov Academy of Ballet. After graduating, Brooklyn apprenticed with Joffrey Ballet. Then he joined American Ballet Theatre's Studio Company. He received the Encouragement Prize at the 2005 International Ballet Competition in Helsinki, and won the silver medal at the 2006 International Ballet Competition in Jackson, MS. Brooklyn has danced principal roles at Ballet Clasico de Camara in Venezuela, Sapporo City Ballet in Japan, Cape Town Ballet in South Africa and National Ballet of Caracas. In 2007 he was a recipient of the prestigious Princess Grace Award. Brooklyn is in his third season dancing for Orlando Ballet.
Dawhone Perry
Dawhone was born in Rochester, NY and raised in Miami, Florida. Mr. Perry began his training at the Miami Conservatory where he remained for six years under Ruth Wiesen, Nancy Raffa and Thomas Armor. He Graduated from New World School of the Arts, and the Thomas Armor Youth Ballet program in 1997. He also attended the Dance Theatre of Harlem's Dancing through barriers" program for three summers. In 1997 Dawhone attended the Pacific Northwest Ballet in Seattle Washington. Dawhone has performed leading roles such as Puck in "A Mid Summer Night Dream", Russian, Chinese, and Spanish in "The Nutcracker", and Jester in "Swan Lake". Mr. Perry has taught ballet, modern, lyrical, jazz, and choreography classes for various schools and prestigious companies in New York, Atlanta, Miami, Boston, and Orlando. Dawhone has also judged for many competitions. In 1999, United Arts awarded Mr. Perry the prestigious role of Teacher of the Year. Dawhone enjoys volunteering his time to inner city programs, such as Rock Lake elementary, Eccleston elementary, Grand Avenue elementary, and Florence Litthcut's Inner-City Touring Dance Company in Miami. He has been invited for two years to a choreographer's workshop for Britney Spears. Mr. Perry's versatility enables him to teach a wide range of dance disciplines and styles.
Chiaki Yasukawa
Chiaki began her training in Osaka, Japan, and attended the Academy of Dance Classic Princess Grace of Monaco. Later she trained at the School of American Ballet and Joffrey Ballet on full scholarship. Chiaki won a bronze medal in Italy at the International Competition, was a finalist in the Korea International Competition and a semi-finalist in the USA International Ballet Competition in Jackson, MS. Chiaki has performed numerous repertoire such as Odette and Odile in Swan Lake, Aurora in The Sleeping Beauty, Twyla Tharp's In the Upper Room and George Balanchine's Who Cares, among others. Chiaki is in her eleventh season dancing for Orlando Ballet.