Pennsylvania Regional Ballet has been privileged to host many guest artists as choreographers and master teachers with the aid of grants from the PA Council on the Arts. These professionals bring the love of their art to students who aspire to be professional dancers in the future. Works choreographed by these professionals have gained recognition at Regional and National Festivals, as well as entertaining audiences in Central Pennsylvania. These professionals include Michael Barriskill, Richard Cook, Jana Fugate, Luis Fuente, Kiyon Gaines, Jeffrey Gribler, Melinda Howe, Alexander Kaschock, Kirsten Kaschock, Patricia Kinney, John Magnus, Francis Patrelle, Jonathan Phelps, Victoria Silva, Trinette Singleton, Danielle Smith Guillermo, Patricia Sorrell, Anton Wilson, Kristen Weiser and Deborah Wingert.

Choreographer Biographies

Kassandra Taylor

Kassandra Taylor graduated cum laude with a BFA in Dance from Point Park University, where she attended on an academic, community service, and dance scholarship--achieving the Dean's List every semester during her four years.

At graduation, she was awarded "Most Outstanding Dance Senior", "Most Outstanding Senior", and tapped for Who's Who at Point Park University.

Two of her works have been performed at the (regional and national) American College Dance Festival, and five of her works have been selected for the Southeastern Regional Dance America (RDA)--three for gala credit, one performing credit, one emerging credit. She also received the National Choreographic Recognition Award at the 2007 National RDA Conference. Her most recent piece "Conversion" was chosen for the 2010 RDA Festival, receiving gala credit; after this, Ms. Taylor was awarded the National Commissioning Award for Project Tier for the third time. She also received the 2010 Choreography Connection Award from Craft of Choreography and set the piece "Roads" on the 2010 Winston-Salem Festival Ballet.

Spending 2007-8 in the trainee ensemble for Alonzo King's LINES Contemporary Ballet, she has also studied with Boston Ballet, Broadway Theater Project, Craft of Choreography, and the North Carolina School of the Arts. She has also choreographed and traveled for works performed across the United States and in Austria, Germany, and Italy.

Ms. Taylor resides in Winston Salem, North Carolina, dancing professionally as a founding company member of the Winston-Salem Festival Ballet and teaching and choreographing for the High Point Ballet and Winston-Salem Festival Dance Center. She may be contacted for new projects.

Kristen Weiser

Kristen Weiser is originally from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. She grew up dancing with the Pennsylvania Regional Ballet, under the direction of Sandra Carlino. After high school, Kristen moved to New York City to attend The Juilliard School. In 2004 she graduated with a BFA, and immediately joined Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet. She danced for Cedar Lake for 5 years. In 2005 she received the Josephine Schwartz choreographic award for her work "Uakti," set on the Pennsylvania Regional Ballet. In 2008 she received the National Choreographic Award for another work, also set on the Pennsylvania Regional Ballet. After finishing with Cedar Lake in the summer of 2009, Kristen was invited to go to Belgium to do a choreographic workshop with Sidi Larbi, a choreographer who worked with Cedar Lake. She guested with Cedar Lake in October for their season at the Joyce in New York, before coming to CPAC to teach.

Victoria Silva

Victoria Silva received her training at the Cumberland Dance Company (now Pennsylvania Regional Ballet), Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet, Boston Ballet, Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre School, and as a scholarship student at the Alvin Ailey American Dance Center. She has performed professionally with small companies in the New York area as well as with the Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre. She has been part of the faculty for the Astoria Dance Center, Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet, Greater York Youth Ballet, Harrisburg Dance Conservatory, Steps on Broadway, and is currently school director and rehearsal coach at Pennsylvania Regional Ballet. She choreographed the ballet, Peter & the Wolf for the Harrisburg Symphony's Crayon Concert Series.  Victoria was awarded the Monticello Award for best emerging choreography for her work Linear Momentum in 2005 and attended the RDA Craft of Choreography Conference in 2004 & 2005.  Most recently she has been awarded the Project Tier Award for her work Impulse at the 2011 RDA/NE Festival. Her work has been shown in both the US and abroad.