Glimmer Then Gone: Constellations of the Past Performers

Katina Kumar was born and raised in Reading, Pennsylvania, where she began her training with Berks Ballet Theatre. She remained a company performer with them through her senior year in high school, receiving lead roles in the conservatory’s classical and contemporary performances; and, she was awarded scholarships of excellence in contemporary and classical performance at Regional Dance America. After graduating Valedictorian of her high school class, Katina went on to receive her B.F.A. in Dance Performance from Adelphi University in New York. At Adelphi, Katina trained closely under Frank Augustyn in classical ballet and many styles of modern. Katina was privileged to perform in a variety of repertoire including, solos from "La Esmeralda," "Napoli," and "Don Quixote," Martha Graham repertoire, original choreography of Adelheid B. Strelick, William Briscoe, and many more! Throughout her collegiate years, Katina danced professionally with companies such as Eglevsky Ballet and was a principal guest artist with American Theater Dance Workshop and Glen Cove Ballet. In 2017, upon graduating summa cum laude, Katina became a founding company artist with Magnum Opus located in Madison, Wisconsin. While dancing with the company, Katina trained to become a licensed Progressing Ballet Technique instructor and in the Leap ‘n’ Learn curriculum. During Summer 2018, she became certified in Adaptive Dance through Boston Ballet. As a teacher of over 11 years and having experience working with the special needs, elderly and infirmed, as well as underprivileged communities, Katina’s priority is to inspire and encourage each and every one of her students. Katina was named Director of Ballet at HappyFeet Dance School and Performance located in Plano, Texas, where she teaches ballet, pointe, variations, lyrical, contemporary, and more to students of all ages from toddler through adult. Katina has choreographed and directed several full length ballets with HappyFeet, including her premieres of "Alice in Wonderland" and "The Wizard of Oz". She also does private coaching and choreography along with yoga, barre, and Pilates. While in Texas, Katina has had the wonderful opportunity to guest as a soloist with HappyFeet Dance School, Festival Ballet of North Texas, and Toby’s School of Dance. Formerly, she was a founding company member of Ballet North Texas and a company member with imPULSE dance project, 6 O’Clock Dance Theatre, and performed as a professional artist with Zion Dance Project. In 2024, Katina received the esteemed Director of Ballet Company position at McKinney Dance Studio. Katina Kumar is humbled to be founder, owner, Artistic Director, Co-Executive Director as well as company dancer of Ballet Papillon based out of DFW Texas. By beginning her own nonprofit professional ballet company, Katina is able to share her passion for the art of movement, the beauty of expression, and the gift of community and compassion with her dancers, staff, and audience members alike!

Alexis (Lexi) Davidson is from Dallas, TX, where she graduated from Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts. While at Booker T., Alexis studied at the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater for an 8-week program where she also had the opportunity to take classes at Steps on Broadway. Alexis went on to continue her training at the University of Oklahoma where, as a Modern Dance major, she performed in works by, but not limited to, Merce Cunningham, Tommie-Waheed Evans, and Gus Solomons Jr. After receiving her Bachelors in Political Science with a Minor in History, she moved to London to explore foreign politics and other styles of dance. While in London, she trained with Motionhouse, a contemporary circus (acrobatic) company. After a year abroad, she returned home to shift her focus to align with her newfound performance interests of classical and neoclassical works.

Alexis Wood comes from Atlanta, Georgia, where she began ballet training, age 3, at Atlanta Dance Theatre. At 12, her family moved to Boston where she began working with Boston Ballet School. At 15, she discovered a desire to pursue ballet at the professional level and a wish to share her passion with others. She began auditioning for schools before finding herself at the Joffrey Ballet Trainee program in New York. While there, she was able to perform several corps de ballet and soloist roles from both existing rep, "Paquita" and "Raymonda" among them, and newly choreographed works. Upon graduation, she found herself in Naples, Italy, with HumanBodies where she worked to refine her contemporary skills. She recently finished taking time at Arrais Ballet in her hometown of Boston, under the direction of Paulo Arrais, after recovering from an injury. She is beyond thrilled to begin her professional career with Ballet Papillon!

Born in Aurora, Colorado, Blanca moved to California and fell in love with ballet when she began dancing at age 5. At age 10, while living in Guadalajara, México, she started her professional dance career at EMB with Héctor Hernández and trained under Lucia Sato, Byron and Yoko Van Reijsen. She also studied contemporary, music, and theater. With Doris Topete Dance Academy, she learned different repertoire like "Paquita", "Sleeping Beauty", "Swan Lake", "Bayaderé" and 'Emerald". Blanca also performed "Moncayo’s Huapango", a Mexican masterpiece. With Balanz Ballet Academy, under Guadalupe Leyva, Blanca attended various competitions winning silver medals, becoming a finalist, and receiving scholarships to Chicago and New York. Additionally, she has danced in all Guadalajara theaters, including Degollado Theater, PALCCO and Diana Theater while performing in Nutcracker season, "Christmas in Tutu", "Coppélia", "The Four Seasons Of Vivaldi", "Cinderella", "Phantom of the Opera" and Candlelight concerts. t levels and dances in productions including Phantom of the Opera, Candlelight concerts. Now, as an artist with Ballet Papillon, she teaches around the DFW area and has joined Festival Ballet of NCT and also dances with Dallas Folklorico.

Haley began her dance training at Murphy Dance Studio in Albany, Georgia. While there, she was also a member of Ballet Theatre South, performing lead roles such as “Alice” in Alice in Wonderland, “Clara” in The Nutcracker, and “Jasmine” in Arabian Nights. She spent her summers attending the Joffrey Ballet School on full scholarship, Atlanta Ballet, and the Governor’s Honors Dance Program. After high school graduation, Haley moved to Plano, Texas, to join the Joffrey Ballet School as a Ballet Trainee where she currently resides as Student Body President and an ambassador of the school. Haley has had the privilege of performing several classical and neoclassical works including excerpts from Gisele, Raymonda, La Bayadere, Le Corsaire, Coppelia, and as “Arabian” and “Dewdrop” in The Nutcracker. In 2022 and 2023, she performed as a Guest Artist with Ballet Theatre South as the “Sugar Plum Fairy” in The Nutcracker. Upon graduation from the Joffrey Ballet School, Haley will hold a Ballet Certification, Haley is so excited to make the shift from student to professional by joining Ballet Papillon this season!

Originally from Encinitas, California, Natalia Pinpin began dancing at her hometown YMCA at age six, and through high school she furthered her studies at a local ballet studio. She proceeded to train in ballet, modern, and jazz at the University of California, Irvine under faculty including Tong Wang, Diane Diefenderfer, Molly Lynch, and Dr. S. Ama Wray, ultimately receiving her B.A. in Dance and B.S. in Computer Science. Upon graduating, she began a career in the tech industry. At that time, she reconnected with her hometown dance community and had the opportunity to dance with contemporary company LITVAKdance under Artistic Director Sadie Weinberg. Most recently, she has spent time in the Training Ground program with the Alonzo King LINES Ballet. Natalia enters her full-time professional dance career as she joins Ballet Papillon for her first season.

Growing up in Fort Worth, Texas, Rachael started dancing at 3 years old at a local studio and by the age of 5 she began more serious training at Marina Almayeva’s School of Classical Ballet in Colleyville, Texas. After studying Vaganova for 7 years, she studied the Balanchine Technique privately with Dorian Heijny. She attended Burklyn Ballet’s Summer Intensives in Johnson, Vermont, where she performed pieces choreographed by Thom Clower, Joanne Whitehill, as well as several student-choreographed pieces. Rachael started dancing with Ballet North Texas in 2018 where she was invited to join the Trainee Program from 2019-2020. The 2022-2023 season with Ballet North Texas was her first full season as a company member. During her time at Ballet North Texas, she performed various roles with the company including 'Spring Fairy' in "Cinderella", 'Canary' in "Sleeping Beauty", 'Chinese Tea' and 'Candy Cane' in the "Nutcracker", and in pieces choreographed by Nicolina Lawson.

Stephanie Eggers is from Kildeer, IL, and grew up training at Barrington Dance Academy as well as attending summer programs with Chicago Repertory Ballet, Ballet West, and Kaatsbaan Extreme Ballet. Stephanie graduated from the University of Oklahoma (OU) in 2022 with a BFA in Ballet Performance, BS in Biology with Honors, and a Minor in Psychology. While at OU, she performed in works including Falling Angels by Jiří Kylián, in Sleeping Beauty’s “Pas de Trois”, Near Light by Tommie-Waheed Evans, Viva Vivaldi by Gerald Arpino, Signature by Price Suddarth, the “Doll” role in Willam Christensen's The Nutcracker, and I Rise by Amy Hall Garner. She danced as a soloist in Ballet Vermont’s Farm to Ballet Project in 2021 and as a principal in 2022. Stephanie then danced with Ballet Quad Cities for two seasons and performed with Terpsicorps Theatre of Dance in Heather Maloy’s world premiere of her ballet Cleopatra. She has also been a guest artist with The Movement Academy as well as Denton Ballet Academy and performed in the 2025 Seeds Concert with Agora Artists.