Graduates of BCB’s Ballet Certificate Program have gone on to professional careers in dance companies and schools throughout the country.  Some of our graduates, though not working professionally in the dance field, continue to pursue their passion both in school and out.  

We love it when they come back and visit us!

• 

• 

Elise Drew León is originally from Oxford, CT.  She received her early training with the Brass City Ballet School before graduating from the Ailey/Fordham BFA Program in Dance.  Her performance credits include Barkin/Selissen Project, Camille A. Brown and Dancers, Luna Negra Dance Theater, Pajarillo Pinta’o, the Santa Fe Opera, Seán Curran Company and TAKE Dance Company, as well as works by choreographers Hope Boykin and Brynt Beitman.  Elise has been a member of the Limón Dance Company since 2010 and has performed throughout The United States, Asia, Europe and South America.  

As a member of the Limón Dance Company, Elise received a 2014 Princess Grace Dance Honorarium and was designated the 2015 Puerto Rican Day Parade’s Rising Star in the Performing Arts.  Elise is on faculty at Peridance Capezio Center as well as The Ailey School, where she also serves as their Summer Housing Coordinator.  In 2014, she was selected as a Performer In Transition Fellow for the BAM/DeVos Institute of Arts Management as well as a John R. Munger Research Fellow through Dance/USA.  

---

• 

• 

Eleanor Barisser graduated from The Taft School and BCB in 2008.  She earned her BA in Dance and French from Barnard College.  She has performed with the Barnard Project at New York Live Arts where she worked with choreographers such as Ori Fllomin, Kyle Abraham, Sidra Bell, Emery LeCrone, David Parker, and Karla Wolfangle.  She has recently appeared with The Bang Group in Nut/Cracked and was a selected choreographer in the West End Theater production of Soaking WET in New York City. She currently guest teaches at BCB and has choreographed two works for the BCB Company.

---

• 

• 

Sasha Biagiarelli grew up in Waterbury, Connecticut dancing at Brass City Ballet, under the direction of Elizabeth Barisser, Christine Harris, Joan Kunsch, and Penelope Gates Nyfenger. At Brass City Ballet, Sasha performed soloist and principal roles in The Nutcracker, Cinderella, and The Fantastic Toy Shoppe. Sasha completed her BS in Dance Administration at Butler University. At Butler, she trained with teachers and choreographers such as Derek Reid, Patrick Hinson, Marek Cholewa, Susan McGuire, Cynthia Pratt, Michelle Jarvis, and Stephan Laurent, among others. In 2017, Sasha was invited to Brass City Ballet to dance the Sugar Plum Fairy in The Nutcracker and the Waltz Variation in Les Sylphides. Sasha has danced with Butler Ballet as a Russian soloist and Chinese demi-soloist in The Nutcracker, a Hungarian demi-soloist in Swan Lake, a demi-soloist in Cynthia Pratt’s Catching Shadows, and the corps de ballet in Giselle and The Sleeping Beauty. Sasha spent her summers training under Marek Cholewa and Rosanna Ruffo, and performed soloist and demi-soloist roles in excerpts from The Little Humpbacked Horse, Paquita, La Bayadere, and Les Sylphides. During the summer of 2016, she traveled to Eastern Europe where she had the opportunity to train and perform at ballet schools in Poland, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic. Sasha is passionate about using dance and art to connect with the community and has taught dance at various studios and community centers in Connecticut and Indianapolis. Sasha has worked as an administrative intern with Terpsicorps Theatre of Dance in Asheville, North Carolina, and with Artsplace in Cheshire, Connecticut. Sasha is currently a professional dancer with the Ekklesia Contemporary Ballet.

---

• 

• 

Dina Lasso grew up in Middlebury, CT,  where she began dancing with Brass City Ballet at the age of 10.  Having the desire to dance professionally, Dina attended the Greater Hartford Academy of the Arts for high school, where she furthered her dance studies along with her training as a BCB Company Member. Throughout high school and into college Dina studied at several renowned schools for extra summer studies, including: Central Pennsylvania Ballet, Dance Theatre of Harlem, American Dance Festival, and Barcelona Summer Dance. 

After leaving BCB for college, Dina was one of 12 students to be accepted into the dance program at the California Institute of the Arts where she would earn her BFA in Dance along with a double minor in Social Sciences and Math. The school, founded by Walt Disney, was profoundly impactful to her career, as she began to study contemporary dance. During her time at CalArts, Dina created two evening-length contemporary works of her own while performing in several MFA student and faculty showcases. She also had the pleasure of helping create and perform work with Bessie Award winner, Julie Bour. Since graduating Dina has performed throughout Southern California with the contemporary dance companies DanceAegis and Static Practice, while also creating and presenting her own work in different venues throughout LA. While actively performing Dina began teaching full time and has done so ever since. Dina continues to study on her own time, taking courses in Biology, Anatomy, and Kinesiology to further her knowledge of the body in movement. You can see her in class as she’s a full time faculty member, and on stage where she continues to dance.

---

• 

• 

Alexandra Koulouris will be graduating from Stonehill College in May 2022 with a bachelor’s degree in English and Mediated Communications as well as a dance minor. She is a member of Lambda Epsilon Sigma, Sigma Tau Delta, Lambda Pi Eta, the honors societies for all Stonehill College students, International English students, and Communications students, respectively. Alexandra is currently the scheduling manager, a choreographer, and a dancer for Stonehill’s Stoneworks Dance Company, which she has been a member of since August 2018. From 2005 to 2018, Alexandra danced at Brass City Ballet and became a principal dancer in BCB’s company while in high school. She had the honor of performing The Snow Queen, Sugar Plum Fairy, Sleepy the Dwarf, The Dove, Paquita, Spanish Hot Chocolate, and Winter Fairy while at BCB. Throughout college, Alexandra has continued to study modern, jazz, and ballet while also expanding her interests to contemporary and tap. She has experience as both a ballet and jazz teacher and is currently leading a children’s dance program for the local community through the Ames Free Library in Easton, Massachusetts. Dance has always been one of Alexandra’s passions, so she plans to be a dance teacher and choreographer while she attends law school, which she is set to begin in August 2022. 

---

BCB Students have been accepted to the following prestigious conservatories and dance programs: