Ericka Goss, MBA Artistic Director:

Ms. Goss began dancing at Bohaty’s School of Dance in Michigan and was also a member of the Children’s Ballet Theatre of Michigan. She later became a member of the senior trainee division of the Grand Rapids Ballet through high school, working under Laura Schwenk-Berman and Gordon Pierce-Schmidt. Accepted into Pacific Northwest, Boston Ballet, and Joffrey Midwest summer intensives, she attended Joffrey on full scholarship. After four years in Grand Rapids, Ericka was accepted into Atlanta Ballet’s Pre-Professional Division on full scholarship. Promoted to the company as a Fellowship dancer, she danced as a Fellowship for two years under Sharon Story and John McFall. In the summer of 2011 she attended the LINES Ballet Summer Intensive in San Francisco under full scholarship. After 3 seasons with The Atlanta Ballet, Ericka was hired into the Saint Louis Ballet in St. Louis, MO. She danced with SLB for 7 seasons performing soloist roles and had the opportunity to work with choreographers such as Christopher D'Amboise, Emery LeCrone, Twyla Tharp repeteur Matthew Dibble, Francis Patrelle, Kevin Jenkins, Pam Tanowitz, Gregory Dolbashian, and Michael Uthoff. She danced roles in Balanchine's Western Symphony, Serenade, and was a tall girl in Who Cares? as well as performing soloist roles in Gen Horiuchi's The Nutcracker, Cinderella, Swan Lake, Don Quixote, and Giselle. She is also a founding member of Deos Contemporary Ballet in Grand Rapids, MI.

Ericka is PBT and Pointe Safe certified and has been teaching for 16 years, both with Atlanta Ballet and Saint Louis Ballet School, as well as at the Belleville School of Ballet, Academy of Performing Arts, and Turning Pointe School of Dance.

Grace Sinke, Recreational Division Coordinator, Pre-Professional and Recreational Division Ballet Instructor:

Ms. Sinke started her training here in Michigan. She has trained and performed with The Grand Rapids Ballet School under Patricia Barker, Turning Pointe School of Dance under Debra Burr, and Complexions Contemporary Ballet under Desmond Richardson and Dwight Roden. She continued her training with The Mercyhurst Dancers under C. Noelle Partusch. She has appeared with The Mercyhurst Dancers, Deos Contemporary Ballet and SoMar Dance works. She has performed classical works including The Nutcracker, Sleeping Beauty, Swan Lake, and Giselle, and has appeared in over 20 contemporary dance works. Grace attended Mercyhurst University on both academic and dance scholarships and graduated with a B.F.A. in dance and a minor in Psychology. She has experience teaching ballet, jazz, contemporary, and creative movement from Mercyhurst University and Turning Pointe School of Dance.

Leah Slavens Haggard, Advanced Level Pre-Professional Division Instructor:

Ms. Haggard began her ballet training at the Ballet Center of Houston under the direction of Victoria Vittum and continued at the Pacific Northwest Ballet School as a Professional Division student. Leah went on to dance professionally with The Grand Rapids Ballet, Utah Regional Ballet, and The Suzanne Farrell Ballet where she has performed in Swan Lake, Snow White, Giselle, Sleeping Beauty, and The Nutcracker and George Balanchine's Walpurgisnacht, Stars and Stripes, Gounod Symphony, Danses Concertantes, and Serenade among many other ballets and original works. Most recently as a freelance performer, she has been able to perform with Ballet Memphis, Aspen Santa Fe Ballet, Houston Repertoire Ballet, and Indiana Ballet Theater. She is currently performing with Deos Contemporary Ballet. Leah is also a certified holistic nutrition health coach who works with dancers and students on dancer nutrition and wellness education and is currently pursuing a Master's degree in Human Nutrition.

Cindy Sheppard Sofranko, Pre-Professional Division Ballet Instructor:

Cindy started her ballet training at Long Beach Ballet in southern California and attended summer sessions at the Houston Ballet Academy and the School of the Pennsylvania Ballet. Her professional career began with New York Theatre Ballet where she had the opportunity to learn and work closely with ballet master Sallie Wilson, one of America’s finest dramatic ballerinas.  In 2004, Cindy was invited by Ms. Wilson to be a guest artist with Teatro Filarmonico in Verona, Italy to dance the role of Caroline in Antony Tudor’s Jardin Aux Lilas.

Her professional career continued with the Oakland Ballet, Diablo Ballet and finally nine seasons with Ballet San Jose under the direction of Dennis Nahat and later Jose Manuel Carreno. Throughout her career she has danced classical and contemporary works including works by Dennis Nahat, George Balanchine, Antony Tudor, Jerome Robbins, Twyla Tharp, Paul Taylor, Ben Stevenson, Donald McKayle, Jose Limon, Eugene Loring, Alicia Alonso, Leonide Massine, Bronislava Nijinska, Roland Petit, Val Caniparoli, Robert Garland, Donald Mahler, Julia Adam, Amy Seiwert, Yuri Zukhov, Nicolo Fonte, Dwight Rhoden, Trey McIntyre and Ohad Naharin. Some of her favorite experiences on stage have been in Tudor’s Jardin Aux Lilas,  the Spanish Princess in Nahat’s Swan Lake, the Bomb Squad in Tharp’s In the Upper Room, the solo woman in Taylor’s Piazzolla Caldera and the Girl with the Red Purse in Robbins’ Fancy Free. 

Cindy currently teaches in the trainee program at the Grand Rapids Ballet. She’s comprehensively certified in Pilates and is a Senior Pilates instructor at Pilates in East in East Grand Rapids. Cindy is on the advisory board of San Francisco based contemporary company SFDanceworks. 

Rowan Allegra, Pre-Professional Ballet Instructor

Rowan Allegra is a third generation ballet dancer and was raised in the Bay Area. She began her ballet training with her parents, Andre Reyes and Cynthia Drayer, former principals with San Francisco Ballet. She went on to train at renowned institutions including Boston Ballet School, Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre School, and the San Francisco Conservatory of Dance. Rowan has been dancing professionally since the age of 18 and has worked at Texas Ballet Theater, Indianapolis Ballet, and currently at Grand Rapids Ballet. Rowan has been passionate about the art of teaching ballet since a young age and has experience teaching all levels of dance, from pre-ballet to pre-professional to adult beginner. She has taught various levels at Tulsa Ballet, Sacramento Ballet, Indianapolis Ballet to name a few. Rowan is so happy to be at Michigan Ballet Academy spreading her love of the discipline and beauty of ballet! 

Allison Haan, Pre-Professional Division Ballet Instructor

Ms. Haan began her formal dance training at Turning Pointe School of Dance, under the direction of Lara and Rick Faucher. She continued her education at Butler University and graduated cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts in Dance Pedagogy, with Departmental High Honors. During Allison’s time at Butler, she gained invaluable teaching expertise and training in a range of styles. She performed both corps and principal roles in full length ballets and original works, including Fairy Godmother in Cinderella and Snow Queen in The Nutcracker. Allison has attended intensives at New Chamber Ballet, Grand Rapids Ballet, and Indiana University. She was an apprentice with Terpsicorps Theatre of Dance in the summer of 2017.

After graduating from Butler University, Allison danced with Louisville Ballet for three seasons. She was featured as Myrtha in Giselle and as a soloist in Andrea Schermoly’s Rite of Spring and Tim Harbor’s Odyssey. She performed various roles in Val Caniparoli’s The Nutcracker, George Balanchine’s Serenade, Ronald Hynd’s The Merry Widow, and Alun Jones and Helen Starr’s Cinderella.

Allison currently performs year-round with Deos Contemporary Ballet and teaches the pre-professional division at MBA. She has been teaching for over 10 years at schools and companies across Michigan, Indiana, and Kentucky. Allison cultivates a nurturing classroom atmosphere where students can express their creativity, while also maintaining high standards of training and emphasis on safe body alignment. Allison is certified in Healthy Dance Practice through Safe in Dance International.

McKenna Hoek, Pre-Professional Division and Recreational Division Ballet Instructor

Ms. Hoek began her training here in Michigan. Her first ten years of dance training were spent dancing competitively in tap, jazz and ballet. She finished her training at Turning Pointe School of Dance under the direction of Debra Burr. She then attended Mercyhurst University where she earned B.A’s in both elementary education and dance performance under the direction of C. Noelle Partusch. Post graduation she had the opportunity to accept a two-year contract at the Louisville Ballet under the direction of Robert Curran, Mikelle Bruzina, and Harold Uwe Kern. During her time there she had the opportunity to be a part of many classic and contemporary productions such as Giselle, The Nutcracker, A Midsummer Night’s Dream and works by renowned choreographers such as Ching Ching Wong. She is excited to be back in the area and teaching at Michigan Ballet Academy. 

Nigel Tau, Contemporary Instructor:

Mr. Tau began dancing at age 10 with The Academy of Dance in his home town of Savannah, Georgia. In 2013, he became a trainee with Next Generation Ballet, and performed in the school’s own productions as well as with Opera Tampa and the Florida Orchestra. He went on to train with BalletMet on a full scholarship, where he performed and rehearsed alongside the company in shows such as The Great Gatsby and The Nutcracker. Since he started working with Grand Rapids Ballet in 2015, he has been a part of tours to Kalamazoo, St. Louis, and Seattle, and performed in pieces such as Paul Taylor’s Company B, Annabelle Lopez Ochoa’s Dangerous Liaisons, and Penny Saunders’ The Happy Price and Other Wilde Tales. In his time with Grand Rapids Ballet he has also had the privilege of working with choreographers such as Brian Enos, Jennifer Archibald, Dani Rowe, and Bruce Wells, among others. His first work, Errant Thoughts, debuted on Grand Rapids Ballet in 2019.

Darrell Haggard, Pre-Professional Pas De Deux Class, Boys Class:

Mr. Haggard began his dance training in Oakhurst California at the Velocity Dance Studio at age nine. At age seventeen he began training on scholarship at the Los Angeles Ballet Academy and later at the Washington Ballet School. He performed lead roles in The Nutcracker, Coppelia, Alice In Wonderland, and other ballets. He also had a lead role in Memoria with Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. As a company member at the Grand Rapids Ballet, Mr. Haggard had original works choreographed on him, including Olivier Weavers The Sofa and Annabelle Lopez-Ocha’s Dangerous Liaisons.

Aliya Van Tuinen, Recreational Division Ballet Instructor

Ms. Van Tuinen graduated from Western Michigan University in the spring of 2023 and was on the dance team and was a captain her senior year. She has also trained at Michigan Ballet Academy, Grand Rapids Ballet, Turning Pointe School of Dance, Zeeland Dance and at summer intensives at American Ballet Theater - Alabama, Bossov Ballet, Orlando Ballet, and Joffrey's Contemporary and Jazz Intensive. She has also danced professionally with Deos Ballet Contemporary Company for two seasons. She has attended numerous NFL and MBA clinics, including Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders, Miami Dolphins Cheerleaders, Arizona Cardinals Cheerleaders, Colts Cheerleaders, Bengals Cheerleaders and Chicago Luvabulls.  

She was a dance teacher assistant for two years when she was in high school and then she was given the opportunity to teach at Ballet Kalamazoo for four years when she was in college. She has choreographed numerous dances for Ballet Kalamazoo, Western Michigan University Dance Team, and Zeeland Dance. 

Besides being a dance teacher, she is also a pediatric dental hygienist at Pediatrics Dental Specialist of West Michigan.

Grace Hendrian, School Administrator:

Ms. Hendrian received her Associates of Arts Degree from Grand Rapids Community College. Grace has many years of experience in the hospitality and service industry.