Amelia is excited to join Ballet Papillon as the Resident Stage Manager. After graduating summa cum laude and holding her BA in French along with Minor Concentrations in both English and Geology, Amelia found her way to The Last Frontier and into the world of the performing arts. For nearly 20 seasons Amelia has enjoyed being behind-the-scenes, as opposed to on the stage, as a contracted, theatrical artist in several backstage production roles across the performance realms of opera, dance, musical theatre, traditional plays, burlesque, and circus. Additionally, Amelia has explored opportunities in singular-venue front of house roles; facilitated guest services roles for one of the top arenas in the world; and, functioned within the customer service role of event staff team member for a central box office supporting a multi-venue performing arts facility’s patrons and resident companies alike. While working performance production contracts, Amelia spent a decade operationally supporting and ultimately relocating into an IT development team in the Lower 48 that deployed and maintained a scanning solution application for a multi-national supply chain logistics conglomerate. In her role as the project’s Sr. Business Application Analyst, Amelia was responsible for its oversight from initial conceptual discussions through to final, iterative global production releases which, at the time, were across 18 locations in nine countries on four continents. In wanting to pursue her passion for the performing arts on a full-time basis, Amelia elected to return to her alma mater and now holds her MA with a Theatre Concentration and Arts Administration & Arts Management Emphasis from Louisiana Tech University. Favorite production credits include: [LA Tech Univ] co-director/co-choreographer for "Vela Réveillez" and poet-playwright of "Transgressions"; [Dallas, TX] production stage manager for Tuzer Ballet’s "Nutcracker" (2022), stage manager and uncredited associate lighting designer for the Dallas College, Mountain View production of "Godspell," projection operator for Leos Ensemble’s "Ten Arguments," and stage manager for IMPRINT Theatreworks’ "Puffs"; [Colorado Springs, CO] stage manager for two The Millibo Art Theatre "Circus of the Night" sessions; light board operator for "Noises Off!" and fly rail operator/deck crew for "Gypsy" with the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center Theatre Company; [Anchorage, AK] individual show stage manager for multiple TBA Theatre/Three Wise Moose’s "Alaska Overnighters" installments and six memorable seasons with the Anchorage Opera.

Aubrie Meeks is a 2023 High School graduate from Grand Prairie Fine Arts Academy. In her time there, she developed a passion for Lighting Design and designed many shows for her school including Chicago: The Musical, Plaza Suite, as well as several dance shows. Additionally, Aubrie has been on the lighting crew for the Grand Prairie Arts Council as a Co-Designer, Board Operator, and Spotlight Operator. She is excited to work with Ballet Papillon and design their inaugural season.

Denise is thrilled to be working with Ballet Papillon in their inaugural season. With a Bachelor’s in Music and in Theatre, Denise enjoys being on the stage as well as working behind the scenes to do what she can to help others shine their brightest. She does have a history in ballet having taken a class when she was 5 years old and gave a stunning performance to the song, Good Ship Lollipop. Denise has done sound design for various productions in North Carolina, Connecticut, and DFW including Ballet Papillon’s “Unbroken”.

Mrs. Lee is a Native Texan. She graduated from Southern Methodist University with a BFA in Dance Performance as well as a BA in English Literature. During her time at SMU, she was honored to choreograph for SMU’s Brown Bag show; perform in SMU’s Main Stage shows; as well as receive a merit award for academic excellence. Mrs. Lee has taught for over 10 years within the DFW area in the art of ballet as well as directed ballet programs. She has also directed her own contemporary ballet company – working with DFW professionals and aspiring artists – as well as created three original contemporary ballets for professional artists. Mrs. Lee has also danced two years professionally with Contemporary Ballet Dallas (more recently known as Ballet Dallas), as well as seven years with Festival Ballet of North Central Texas. Mrs. Lee is married to her beloved Steve and has four young children. Some of her other interests outside of dance include studying theology, dance kinesiology, government, blogging, as well as pursuing a Master’s Degree in Political Science.

Akiko Locascio is from Japan, where she received training from Chieko Sasa and Yoshiko Sasa at Sasa Ballet Company as well as Yoko Tsukamoto and Hideo Fukagawa at Yoko Tsukamoto Ballet Theater. She learned Cecchetti Method and contemporary techniques. Akiko become a finalist at many classic ballet competitions. In 2007, she was awarded a scholarship to Oregon Ballet Theater’s summer program. In 2012, she studied under Jan Broeckx and Roland Vogel at Munich International Ballet School in Germany where she trained Balanchine Method and Barre au Sol. After Akiko graduated from Kinjo University, she joined NBA Ballet Company. Akiko moved to the USA in 2019 and has continued her career in Los Angels, Cincinnati, and Dallas.

Asako was born in Tokyo, Japan, but moved often in her early years living in Germany, France, Japan and Brazil. At age 8, she took her first ballet lessons in Paris with a former member of the Paris Opera. Upon return to Japan, she studied at the Matsuyama Ballet in Tokyo, and was selected to join the junior company which gave her the opportunity to perform along professional dancers in classical ballets such as Don Quixote, Nutcracker, Coppelia and others. When the family moved to Sao Paulo, Brazil, Asako attended to two ballet schools, both of which used Royal Academy of Dance (RAD) curriculum. Within three years she completed all RAD exams. She finished her ballet studies at the Academie de Danse Classique Princesse Grace in Monaco, and was coached by Marika Besobrasova, the founder of the ballet school. In 1989, Asako received her first contract the with Stadttheater Giessen in Germany, under William Anthony, where she was given several soloist roles. The following year, she moved to Ballett Oper Leipzig, under choreographer Uwe Scholtz. She danced many of his works including Die Schopfung (The Creation), Coppelia, Nutcracker, Beethoven 7th Symphony as well as with other choreographers such as Juri Vamos. After several years of dancing, she eventually came back to Tokyo, Japan to restart college and finish her degree. She earned her Bachelor of Arts at Jochi/ Sophia University in Tokyo, majoring in Political Science and International Relations. She worked as a consultant for fashion items imported from France to Japan. Although she had never considered teaching ballet when she was a dancer, starting 2008 several opportunities came up to teach in local ballet schools and private coaching in NYC, while she lived there with her family. Moving to Dallas in 2010 created more opportunities to teach, and she found her passion in the “art of teaching". She is a certified teacher for the American Ballet Theatre National Training Curriculum (ABTNTC). She taught at Dallas Ballet Center for 5 years before moving to the Hathaway Academy of Ballet, where she teaches students ages 10 to 18. She also privately coaches students, several of which have become professional dancers in ballet companies. Starting in the 2021-22 season, she has added the role of company instructor at the Dallas Black Dance Company.

Rebecca Peyrot was born and raised in Fort Worth, Texas. She began her training at the age of 8 at Ballet Academy of Texas under Victoria Fedine. Throughout high school she continued her training under Les Jordan lll at North Central School of Ballet and the affiliated company, North Central Civic Ballet, and had the opportunity to perform several original works by Les Jordan in the Regional Dance America Dance Festival. She furthered her training as an apprentice with Oklahoma Festival Ballet, the resident ballet company of the University of Oklahoma, where she trained as a Ballet Pedagogy major under Mary Margaret Holt. After a year at OU, Rebecca left to dance professionally with Ballet Magnificat for 8 years. While dancing with Ballet Magnificat she had many opportunities to teach for the company and the trainees as well as to teach workshops all over the world. She was also the Assistant Rehearsal Director for the company in her last year with the company. Rebecca then returned to the Dallas/Fort Worth area where, after taking a couple years off, she has had the opportunity to freelance with Ballet Dallas as well as become a founding member of Ballet North Texas. After 3 years dancing with BNT, Rebecca retired from dancing in order to accompany her husband to Italy. She has now returned to DFW once again and is excited to teach for Ballet Papillon in their inaugural season.

Maria Alfonsina Treneman was born in Argentina where she trained as a Ballet dancer with the “Instituto de Danzas Jairo Benitez”. At 17, she was invited to study in Brazil at the “Escola de Dancas Maria Olenewa”. She trained under the direction of Dennis Gray, Sergio Lobato, Jorge Teixeira, Luis Carlos Nogueira, Emilio Martins, Tatiana Helene Leskova, and Maria Angelica Fiorani, Brazil. Later, she became a professional dancer at the “Companhia de Ballet da Cidade de Niterói” and the “Companhia Brasileira de Ballet” among others. Since 1996, she is also a trained Ballet teacher and has worked as such for Brazil’s “Petite Dance Escola de Ballet;, Tuzer Dance Center in Richardson, Texas; and, the Texas Ballet Theater School. From 2019-2023, she was part of the Master Faculty team for Joffrey Ballet School. Additionally, Mrs. Treneman works as an international Guest Ballet Master in the UK, Italy, Portugal, Mexico, Peru, Argentina, and Brazil. This year she joined the Guest Master Teachers at Dallas Black Ballet Company, and she is excited and eager to be a new faculty member at KJ Dance.

Linda Brown needs no introduction in the Dallas area. She has been a beloved ballet instructor for many years, having touched the lives of hundreds of dancers in and around Dallas. Before moving to Dallas, she was the Dance Director at Camp Pendleton for over 350 students. Also while in California, she choreographed at the Performing Arts Center for Children and was an integral part of fusing the dance and theatre divisions together through many performances. Locally, along with teaching at Tuzer Ballet for the past 30 years, Linda teaches at several schools and frequently coaches advanced dancers for the Youth America Grand Prix Competition. Linda brings her wonderful style of teaching, rich experience and added depth to our company classes.