The Joffrey Ballet Welcomes Four New Dancers to the Company
The Mary B. Galvin Artistic Director Ashley Wheater MBE is pleased to announce the addition of four dancers to the Joffrey roster for the 2024-25 season: Tenley Connors (Hutchinson, Kansas), Guillem Cabrera Espinach (Catalonia, Spain), Amanda Illuminati (Monterrey, Mexico), and Scott Reed (Marietta, Georgia).
"I am pleased to welcome new dancers Tenley, Guillem, Amanda, and Scott to the Joffrey," says The Mary B. Galvin Artistic Director Ashley Wheater MBE. "With Guillem and Amanda coming directly from training at the Grainger Academy of The Joffrey Ballet—this year's expansion of the Company reinforces the strength of the Academy in cultivating the next generation of talent and creating a pipeline from our training programs to professional dance opportunities."
Wheater adds, "Opening our 69th season with the U.S. premiere of Cathy Marston's Atonement, followed by an ambitious year that embodies the Joffrey's maverick spirit, we look forward to the diversity of experience and dedication this new cohort will bring. With their undeniable talents, I am confident that Tenley, Guillem, Amanda, and Scott will be valuable to the Company in our pursuit of world-class artistry and storytelling."
Tenley Connors
Originally from Hutchinson, Kansas, Connors began her ballet training at age five with the Patel Conservatory Youth Ballet under the direction of Philip Neal. She continued her studies with Philip Neal as a trainee with Next Generation Ballet, performing featured roles in Next Generation Ballet's productions of The Nutcracker, Don Quixote, Giselle, and Swan Lake. Connors then joined Boston Ballet School's Professional Division at Walnut Hill under the direction of Mikko Nissinen and Miranda Weese, where she performed soloist and demi-soloist roles in excerpts from Petipa's Copellia and Le Corsaire, as presented in Boston Ballet's Next Generation, and with the Boston Ballet Company in Mikko Nissinen's The Nutcracker.
With an interest in choreography, Connors was selected to set her piece, The Descent (music by Inon Zur), on fellow Professional Division students in Boston Ballet School's 2023 Student Choreographic. After attending the summer course at the San Francisco Ballet School, Connors was offered an invitation to join the highest level of the school to complete her training. While there, she was featured in new choreographic works by San Francisco Ballet Company members, performed with the San Francisco Ballet Company in Helgi Tomasson's The Nutcracker and Swan Lake, and performed as a demi-soloist in a student production of George Balanchine's Symphony in C.
As co-choreographer, Connors set Internal Echoes (music by Ezio Bosso) on fellow San Francisco Ballet School students and presented the original work at the school's 2024 Spring Festival. Connors has also attended summer courses with the School of American Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, Bolshoi Ballet Academy, Boston Ballet School, and San Francisco Ballet School.
Guillem Cabrera Espinach
Guillem Cabrera Espinach was born in the small town of Manresa in Catalonia, Spain. He began taking ballet lessons at the age of three at Escola de Ballet Olga Roig, a local ballet school, joining their vocational training program.
Espinach then joined The Royal Ballet School in 2015 and graduated in 2023. In his first year at the school, Espinach performed the role of William Frankenstein in the original production of Liam Scarlett's Frankenstein. Espinach also performed with The Royal Ballet Company in productions including The Nutcracker, Cinderella, and Sleeping Beauty. At the same time, Espinach obtained a Bachelor of Arts in Classical Ballet and Dance Performance, graduating with First Class Honors.
Additionally, Espinach choreographed an original work performed by The Royal Ballet School students, received a choreographic prize, and received an artistic prize for improvement and endeavor in the 2023 graduating class. After Espinach graduated from Royal Ballet School, he joined the Grainger Academy of The Joffrey Ballet’s Studio Company before being promoted to Company Artist for the 2024-2025 season.
Amanda Illuminati
Amanda Illuminati was born in Monterrey, Mexico, and trained at La Escuela Superior de Musica y Danza de Monterrey for eight years. During that time, she graduated from the English National Ballet Summer Intensive in 2019 and attended the Grainger Academy of The Joffrey Ballet’s Summer Intensive in 2021 before joining as an Academy Ballet Trainee.
Illuminati trained for two years in the Joffrey Academy's Ballet Trainee program and one year in the Academy's Studio Company, where she performed world premieres as part of the Academy's Winning Works program, including The Return Studies II by Houston Thomas and Warmer by Kameron Saunders. She also performed various roles in productions, including Coppelia, La Bayadere, Napoli, Gerald Arpino's Kettentanz, as Kitri from Don Quixote, and in Christopher Wheeldon's The Nutcracker with Joffrey Company in 2022 and 2023.
Scott Reed
Scott Reed was born in Marietta, Georgia, and began ballet training at age 12 at the Georgia Metropolitan Dance Theatre. He danced numerous roles there, including Solor from La Bayadere, Arabian in The Nutcracker, and many additional works choreographed by Tom Pazik. In 2019, Reed joined Cincinnati Ballet's Professional Training Division. During his training, he performed in Victoria Morgan's The Nutcracker and King Arthur's Camelot, Pamela Robinson's Snow White, and George Balanchine's Valse Fantaisie. Reed then joined the Cincinnati Ballet's Second Company for their 2022-2023 Season before being promoted to Apprentice the following year.
