California Nutcracker Ballet
Santa Clara Ballet The Nutcracker
PERMANENTLY CLOSED
Santa Clara Ballet Company, now in its 46th year, spotlights acclaimed professionals alongside company soloists and pre-professional students from the Santa Clara Ballet School. Joining the production are dancers from several schools in the South Bay.
The annual production of Benjamin Reyes' full-length, traditional version of the ballet is a holiday favorite.
Artist Director Josepha Villanueva-Reyes
Villanueva started her training in the Philippines with Roberta and Ricardo Cassell (a student of Vincenzo Celli).
She was formerly a member of the San Francisco Ballet Company and the San Francisco Opera Ballet. Previous to that, she performed as a principal dancer with the San Francisco Ballet Celeste for four years. She taught at the San Francisco Conservatory of Ballet and Theatre Arts as well as San Jose City College. Her teaching experience is enriched with classes from well known Russian teachers and distinguished teachers in New York City. She has also received a Certificate for taking part in the International Vaganova Conference/Demonstration in St. Petersburg, Russia, featuring the entire 8-year system which included Classical Dance, Character, History Dance & Variations. She has taken classes in New York with Valentina Pereyslavic, Leon Danelien, Frederic Franklin, David Howard, Jurgen Schneider, and master classes with Sergeyev, Dudinskay, Golovkina, Kirsten Ralov, and Dina Bjorn.
Her performing experience includes multiple principal roles from the classical repertory. Villanueva holds a degree in Music and has studied post-graduate in Early Childhood Education and Dance Education at both SF State University and San Jose State University. She holds a Lifetime Credential to teach Dance in Community Colleges. She co-founded Santa Clara Ballet with husband Benjamin Reyes in 1973.