Faculty
LIBBY BULLINGER
Libby is a choreographer and dance educator from Boston, MA. She is a graduate of the Young Dancers Program at JMBT where she performed as a member of YouthWorks and in many seasons of The Nutcracker. In 2022 she graduated from Mercyhurst University with a BFA in Dance and a BA in Dance Education. In college Libby choreographed over 15 works for stage and film, served as choreographer-in-residence for the Erie Contemporary Ballet, presented work at the American Collegiate Dance Association festival, and completed choreography and dancer wellness internships at Deos Contemporary Ballet. Libby is thrilled to return to Boston and the JMBT community to help bring the joy of dance to a new generation of students!
PATRICIA CHIANG
Patricia was born in Columbus, OH and raised in Concord, MA. She is a graduate of José Mateo Ballet Theatre’s Young Dancers Program, where she danced with their pre-professional performance group, YouthWorks. She has also trained with Boston Ballet, Atlanta Ballet, and the Nutmeg Conservatory.
Upon graduation from the Young Dancers Program, Patricia joined José Mateo Ballet Theatre’s Company as an Apprentice in 2010 and became a Company Member in 2011, where she performed until 2018. She joined the School’s Faculty in 2013, where she has taught regularly since and also served as the Children’s Nutcracker Cast Coordinator for several years. In addition to teaching in the School, Patricia currently serves on the Staff at JMBT as the Associate Director of Marketing and Production.
MAGDALENA GYFTOPOULOS
Magdalena Gyftopoulos received her dance training at the Boston Ballet School with Anne-Marie Holmes, Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre, and José Mateo Ballet Theatre Young Dancer’s Program as a scholarship student.
Magdalena joined the company at José Mateo Ballet Theatre in 2006, and is a member of the teaching faculty.
In addition, Magdalena has worked with various other dance companies in the Boston area including Mariah Steele’s QuickSilver Dance, Tony Williams’ BalletRox, and Contrapose Dance where she has had the opportunity to work with choreographers David Parker, Sydney Skybetter, and Gianni Di Marco.
BETTINA INDACO
Bettina Indaco was raised in Holland and trained at The Royal Conservatoire in The Hague. She studied with teachers Linda Goss, Wim Vreeken, Sulamith Messerer, and Sonia Matcholli and was featured in a ballet documentary about the prestigious Conservatoire, Stap voor Stap.
After graduating and receiving her degree with high honors dancing the lead in Les Sylphides, she joined The Dutch National Ballet in Amsterdam and performed in Europe and Asia. She has performed in traditional ballets such as The Sleeping Beauty, Swan Lake, Giselle, Cinderella, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and The Nutcracker in which her leading roles included Snow Queen and Dewdrop. She performed in contemporary ballets by Balanchine, such as Concerto Barroco, Serenade, Diamonds, Symphony in C, and The Four Temperaments. She has also performed in many ballets of Rudi van Danzig, Hans van Maanen, and Jiri Kylian.
In 1990, Bettina Indaco joined Ballet Theatre of Boston as a soloist and danced in Boston and throughout Massachusetts in ballets by Jose Mateo. Indaco has taught at Ballet Theatre of Boston since 1996.
In addition to teaching, Indaco holds master’s degrees in Dutch, English and Spanish.
ARTHUR LEETH
Arthur Leeth attended Butler University before moving to New York to study at the School of American Ballet and the school of American Ballet Theatre on scholarship. In 1976 he joined Boston Ballet where he danced for 13 years before becoming a ballet master for the company. In 1993 he became the music librarian and the personnel manager. Arthur has performed and taught in the Dominican Republic many times and has been a master teacher at Burklyn Ballet Theatre since 1980.
JOSÉ MATEO
Cuban-born José Mateo is the Founder and Artistic Director of José Mateo Ballet Theatre. For over 30 years, he has lead the José Mateo Ballet Theatre’s Young Dancers Program, a ballet school that offers an innovative model for a high-quality academy with a humanistic approach to ballet training that fosters diversity and inclusion.
In 2017, Mr. Mateo was the recipient of the Massachusetts Cultural Council’s 2017/18 Commonwealth Award for Achievement – the state’s highest honor in the arts, sciences and humanities.
Mr. Mateo continues to teach in the Young Dancers Program, working with our most advanced students and the YouthWorks preprofessional dancers.
HILLARY NIKYEMA
Originally from the west coast, Hillary moved to Boston in 2015. Like many young children, Hillary fell in love with ballet at five years old, and continued her education through high school. In addition to a rigorous ballet education, Hillary received training in Modern, Contemporary, and Jazz dance.
Growing up she participated in many ballet and musical theatre performances. During her senior year of high school, she was awarded the prestigious Sterling Scholar Award for dance. After high school, she continued her ballet studies at the University of Utah.
Hillary has continued her passion for ballet through teaching classes as well as working as an Administrator at the Boston Ballet School where she also worked in the Children’s Theatre Program.
BETTY ANN PLATT
Betty Ann has a vast array of dance, teaching and choreography credits. Her extensive career ranges from the San Francisco Opera Ballet to Broadway, National Touring Companies, international dance concerts, TV and film. Recently, she moved from Seattle where she taught credit dance classes at Bellevue College. As Chair of Dance she doubled the size of the department and added ballet to the curriculum. Additionally, Betty Ann directed and choreographed for the dance ensemble class, The Eastside Moving Company, which performed works by noteworthy local and national choreographers such as Anne Reinking and Mandy Moore. Betty Ann is delighted to join the faculty of José Mateo Ballet Theatre.
MICHAEL PONTIUS
Coming soon
MARIA ROGLER
Maria began dancing at 4 years old in Dedham, Massachusetts, studying ballet with Renae Macciolli Mcleod and Letitia Guerrero, as well as at the International Ballet Academy of Norwell. She participated in multiple summer intensives at Festival Ballet Providence as well as international ballet competitions in Bari, Italy and Atlanta, Georgia.
After high school, she was offered a post-graduate position with the Festival Ballet Providence Company, where she trained through 2020 and 2021. In the fall of 2021, she became a trainee with Festival Ballet Providence and continues to dance in their company. She is excited to join José Mateo Ballet Theatre as a member of the faculty, and is delighted to share her ballet knowledge with the next generation of dancers.
ELIZABETH ROOKEY
Elizabeth was born and raised in Framingham, MA. She received her early training at the Walnut Hill Community Dance Academy and went on to join the Walnut Hill High School in 2012. After graduating, she joined Ballet Austin for the 2016-17 season as a part of the Butler Fellowship Program. In 2021, Elizabeth graduated from the Hartt School with a BFA in Dance Performance and a concentration in Ballet Pedagogy. While at the university, Elizabeth trained extensively in ballet, Graham, Limon, contemporary and composition, and had the privilege to perform a myriad of works, including the lead in Martha Graham’s Chronicle, a solo from George Balanchine’s Valse-Fantasie, Fascinatin’ Rhythm from Balanchine’s Who Cares?, Primavera in Jose Limon’s Dances for Isadora, and Lar Lubovitch’s Something About Night.
ANGELA SCHATZ
Angela was born in the United States and grew up in Israel. She danced ballet, modern, Israeli and International Folk Dance throughout high school and received her Israeli Dance teaching certification in 12th grade. At a young age Angela began performing in Israeli Dance festivals and then began choreographing dances herself. After serving in the Israeli army, she lived in New York City for two years, where she studied jazz, tap and ballet before returning to Israel.
In 1992, Angela moved back to the United States with her husband and four children. They made their home in Massachusetts, which she studied Creative Dance and received her B.S. from Lesley University.
In 1995 when her youngest child went to preschool, Angela started teaching Creative Dance and continues to this day. From 2001 to 2017 Angela taught young children at José Mateo Ballet Theatre. In the summer of 2021, Angela returned to JMBT to teach Creative Dance I, Creative Dance II, Pre Ballet I, and Pre Ballet II and will continue teaching these classes in the fall of 2021.
PAYTON THOMPSON
Payton is a B.A. candidate in Theater, Dance, Media and Economics at Harvard University. She is a member of the Harvard Ballet Company and has guested for José Mateo Ballet Theatre. While she has trained in numerous styles of dance including lyrical, hip-hop, modern, musical theatre and jazz, her heart has always belonged to the ballet/contemporary ballet world. At age 13, Payton began training at International Ballet Academy where she performed many lead roles in ballets such as The Nutcracker, Sleeping Beauty, Dracula, Les Sylphides, and Odalisque. Following high school graduation, she was offered a trainee contract with Ballet West and spent the 2020-2021 season dancing with the company. While at Ballet West, she had the opportunity to perform soloist roles in Swan Lake, Pamela Robinson Harris’s Cinderella, and multiple contemporary ballets choreographed by Francisco Gella. Payton has also spent summers training on scholarship with Pacific Northwest Ballet School, Ballet West, Joffrey Ballet, Complexions Contemporary Ballet, and Francisco Gella’s Pre-professional Dancer Institute.
HELENA VALVUR
Helena grew up in the East San Francisco Bay Area. She started dancing at the age of 3 at the California Academy of Performing Arts, and began teaching there in 2012.
After high school, she studied at Mount Holyoke College, where she performed with choreographers such as Kinsun Chan, Ranjanaa Devi, and Margaret Wiss. She graduated in 2018 with a B.A. in Dance and Astronomy.
Post-graduation, she has continued to teach and take dance classes both at home in California and in New York, where she lived for a year before moving back to Massachusetts, where she is excited to join the José Mateo Ballet Theater faculty.
MARYKATE WALSH
MaryKate grew up in central Massachusetts and began her dance training at Betty Gundersen Studio of Dance. In 2014, she moved to New York City to further her training at Marymount Manhattan College, under the direction of Katie Langan. Working part time at dance studios while in college, MaryKate discovered her love for teaching and decided to study dance pedagogy. She received a B.A. in Dance with a concentration in Teaching Dance Arts in 2018. Throughout her eight years living in NYC, MaryKate taught ballet at several schools in New York and Connecticut. MaryKate danced professionally with Peggy Spina Tap Company and in various contemporary dance festivals. In 2022, MaryKate moved to Boston to be closer to her family and is thrilled to be teaching at José Mateo Ballet Theatre.
NASHAYA WORNUM
NaShaya is a female artist of the African diaspora whose distinct combination of techniques of dance communicates humanity through storytelling. NaShaya began her dance career in Hip Hop and African Dance. She danced locally with her community already immersed in the culture, learning the significance of carrying on tradition. She began her formal training in ballet and modern dance at 4 Star Dance studio. From there, she went on to train at Boston Arts Academy where she furthered her knowledge of modern and ballet. Using a blend of learned techniques and forms, NaShaya strives to unite people in a global understanding that transcends race, gender, and class.