Guest Artists
INTERNATIONAL BALLET
International Ballet is proud to showcase professional talent alongside the work of our pre-professional developing Artists.
From Ballet to Broadway!
Sponsored by Charles Wofford & Nancy Thomas
with additional support from the Greenville Metropolitan Arts Council
Principal Dancer Cara Marie Gary began her formal ballet training at International Ballet Academy in Greer, South Carolina, under Vlada Kysselova and Hennadii Bespechnyi. She received a Diploma of Laureate at the VI Serge Lifar International Ballet Competition in 2006. Ms. Gary was a top twelve finalist in the Youth America Grand Prix (YAGP) National Finals in 2008 and 2009, won the overall Grand Prix Award in the 2009 YAGP regional semi-finals and competed in the IX USA International Ballet Competition held in 2010.Ms. Gary danced with American Ballet Theatre’s ABT II (2010) and was an apprentice with Orlando Ballet (2011). Her repertoire included roles in The Sleeping Beauty, Stars and Stripes pas de deux, Flames of Pa ris pas de deux, Continuo, Vivace Motifs, Pavlovsk, and Ballo Per Sei. She has also performed the title role in The Nutcracker, La Sylphide, Don Quixote, Paquita, Coppélia, and Giselle. As a member of Joffrey Ballet from 2012-2021, Ms. Gary danced many classical and contemporary roles, including Anna Karenina (Kitty), The Nutcracker (Marie and Sugar Plum Fairy), La Bayadère (Shade and Gamzatti’s Sister), Swan Lake (Pas de trois and Little Swans), Giselle (Peasant Pas de deux and Zulma), Romeo & Juliet (Juliet’s friend), Cinderella (Spring Fairy) and roles in Vespertine, The Four Temperaments, Fool’s Paradise, Orphée et Eurydice, Forgotten Land, Sylvia, Mammatus, Glass Pieces, Interplay, Tulle, Son of Chamber Symphony, Othello, Le Sacre du Printemps, Age of Innocence, Allegro Brillante, Continuum, In Creases, and Incantations. Ms. Gary graduated Summa Cum Laude from North Greenville University in May 2014 with a B.A. in Business Administration. In that same year, Joffrey’s ballet master, Nicolas Blanc, choreographed Rendez-vous on Ms. Gary and former Joffrey dancer Aaron Smyth for their participation in the X USA IBC, which received the Best Choreography Award.
To honor her mother’s legacy, the Gary family and International Ballet founded the Cassandra Gary Memorial Scholarship in 2015, which supports the training of pre-professional students.
Principal Dancer Edson Barbosa was raised in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and began his training in ballet, jazz, and tap at age 10 at Grupo Cultural de Dança, Ilha, with Patricia Marques. He was voted Best Male Dancer at the Festival de Danca de Joinville in 2012 — the largest dance competition by number of dancers, as documented by Guinness World Records. He received a full scholarship to study at the Miami City Ballet, Stuttgart Ballet, Washington Ballet, The Harid Conservatory, and Princess Grace Academy. He was also a Top 12 finalist at the Youth American Grand Prix in New York in 2010 and 2012, Top 6 finalist at the Beijing International Ballet Invitational for Dance Schools in China, and performed at the Opening Ceremony as a guest artist at the Danzamerica in Argentina. Barbosa was a prize winner at the prestigious Prix de Lausanne in Switzerland, where he was voted the best male dancer of the 40th edition in 2012, receiving a scholarship to be a trainee at the San Francisco Ballet School under the direction of Patrick Armand. While in the school he worked in contemporary workshops with Antoine Vereecken and Wayne McGregor, performed lead roles in ballets choreographed by renowned artists in the dance world, such as Christopher Wheeldon, Val Caniparoli, Myles Thatcher, Parrish Maynard, and the main company's director, Helgi Tomasson. Barbosa has had the opportunity to work in the main company's productions of Ramyonda, Giselle, The Nutcracker, and Romeo & Juliet, as well as Serge Lifar's Suite en Blanc, John Cranko's Onegin, Christopher Wheeldon's Cinderella, and Yuri Possokhov's Firebird. As a member of the Joffrey Ballet, Barbosa has performed Balanchine’s Prodigal Son; Possokhov’s RaKu and The Miraculous Mandarin; Tudor’s Lilac Garden; Wheeldon’s Swan Lake, Fool’s Paradise, and The Nutcracker; Robert Joffrey’s The Nutcracker; Ekman’s Tulle, Episode 31, and Joy; Caniparoli’s Incantations; Welch’s Son of Chamber Symphony; Peck’s In Creases and Year of the Rabbit; Lopez Ochoa’s Mammatus; Neumeier’s Sylvia; Thatcher’s Body of your Dreams; Ashton’s Cinderella; Arpino’s Round of Angels; as well as The Red Boy in Welch’s Maninyas, Young Couple in Blanc’s Evenfall, The Dude in Kudelka’s The Man in Black, Spanish Solo in Arpino’s Viva Vivaldi, the White Pas de Deux in Kylián’s Forgotten Land, Tybalt in Pastor’s Romeo & Juliet, and Solo in McGregor’s Infra. He also originated the Man Duet role in Page’s Tipping Point.
Musical Guest Siri Howard is a Broadway actress, recording artist, and concert performer. Broadway: Les Misérables; The Sound of Music. National Tours: The Phantom of the Opera, Parade, Les Misérables, and The Sound of Music starring Richard Chamberlain. Locally, Siri recently appeared as Portia in Something Rotten at the Greenville Theatre. Other theatre: Sweeney Todd starring Emma Thompson, Live from Lincoln Center with the NY Philharmonic; The Music Man (Marian)- IRNE Nomination, North Shore Music Theatre; She Loves Me (Amalia), South Pacific (Nellie), and Oklahoma! (Laurey), Gulf Coast Symphony; Fiddler on the Roof (Hodel), Maine State Music Theatre; A Little Night Music 25th Anniversary Production (Fredrika), w/ the Philadelphia Orchestra; Les Misérables (Cosette), Maltz Jupiter Theatre, Maine State Music Theatre, and North Shore Music Theatre; Best Little Whorehouse…(Angel), The Rev Theatre. Siri has appeared as a soloist with the following Symphony Orchestras: Omaha, New Jersey, Steamboat Springs, Florida, and Nashville. She holds degrees in vocal performance from the University of Maryland College Park, and the Aaron Copland School of Music at Queens College. Siri teaches voice and gives master classes around the USA. She is married to director Max Quinlan and is proudest of her role as mother to their 2 children, Jack & Sofie.
Guest Choreographer Carissa Kubitz toured Europe with a youth ballet company, filmed for an Apple iPod commercial & was on the dance team for the NBA Cleveland Cavaliers (during Lebron James’ second season)! She lived in Los Angeles to further her dance training and has also studied extensively in New York City. She moved to Greenville from Atlanta where she had been teaching and choreographing for competitive & pre-professional dancer for 10 years. Her students have placed in overalls at national competitions and can be seen dancing in movies, commercials, music videos and for professional sports teams. She is excited to work with the dancers of International Ballet.
Musical Guest Max Quinlan is proud to be serving as the Producing Artistic Director for Greenville Theatre. Max has been a Broadway Resident Director, Broadway Performer, Jeff Award-Winning Chicago Actor, Casting Associate, Acting Teacher, and Director. In the coming weeks, he will direct Greenville Theatre’s productions of The Play That Goes Wrong. In recent months, he has directed Mamma Mia!, Elf: The Musical and The Producers. Max served as the Resident Director for the 2014-2016 Broadway revival of Les Misérables, the National Tour of The Phantom of the Opera from 2017-2020, and as the Associate Director for the World Premiere of Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Unmasked at Paper Mill Playhouse. Directing highlights include: Cabaret, She Loves Me, Songs for A New World, Show Boat, Company, Next to Normal, Ragtime, Detroit, and the short film, Sammy’s Fedora. Performance highlights include Broadway (Les Misérables Revival; Original Broadway Cast), National Tours (Evita; Che, Les Misérables 25th Anniversary Tour; Marius, Ragtime; The Little Boy), Regional Theatre highlights (The Light in the Piazza; Fabrizio – Jeff Award-Winner, Jesus Christ Superstar; Jesus – BWW Award Winner/ Jeff Award Nomination, Joseph…Dreamcoat; Joseph, Ragtime; Younger Brother, My Fair Lady; Freddy). In addition to theatre performances Max has been a guest concert soloist with the Chicago, Omaha, Utah, Indianapolis, Florida, and Cincinnati Symphony Orchestras. Max worked for the Broadway Casting company Stewart/Whitley and serves as guest faculty at Universities and acting studios throughout the country. He earned his BFA in Musical Theatre from the University of Cincinnati-College Conservatory of Music (CCM). Max is the proud husband to Broadway actress Siri Howard and father to their son, Jack and daughter, Sofie.
Musical Guest Meghan Reimers is a classically trained pianist working as a professional musician and piano teacher in the greater Greenville area. She’s also an MFA playwright and professor at a local university, but music is her passion. She’s excited to be performing with such talented artists in International Ballet's From Ballet to Broadway!