Faculty
BRITTANY BUSH
Brittany was born and raised in Jamestown, NY. She received her early dance training with Monika Alch at the Chautauqua Regional Youth Ballet, as well as attending summer programs at the New York State Summer School of the Arts, BalletMet Columbus, Boston Ballet, and Jose Mateo Ballet Theatre. She went on to continue her training at the SUNY Purchase Conservatory of Dance, graduating with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in dance. While at Purchase, she danced in George Balanchineʼs Serenade, Jessica Langʼs Prayers, The Nutcracker, and an original solo work, Adrift, choreographed by Emery LeCrone. In 2013 she joined Jose Mateo Ballet Theatre as an apprentice, and was promoted to a full company member the following year. During her five seasons with the company she danced featured roles in Mateo’s original works including Covens, Over and Over, Affairs, and The Nutcracker. In addition to her performance career, Brittany has been an active teacher in and around the Boston area for the past 7 years. She teaches regularly at Jose Mateo Ballet Theatre and The Brookline Ballet School, and part time at Tufts University and Phillips Academy.
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 Production and Marketing Associate. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree from Harvard University Extension School.
CLAYTON CUNNINGHAM
Clayton Cunningham received his ballet training at the Royal Ballet School, White Lodge, and the English National Ballet School. Upon graduation, he joined the English National Ballet, where he danced until 2003. Clayton has additionally danced with the San Francisco Ballet, St. Louis Ballet, Metropolitan Ballet of Minneapolis, Omaha Theatre Ballet, and Chautauqua Ballet. Since retiring, he has served as Assistant Artistic Director of Ohio Dance Theatre in Cleveland and as a ballet master and teacher in Alaska and Utah.
ANGIE DEWOLF
Angie DeWolf is from Greenville, Pennsylvania and trained at Lake Erie Ballet. She is a graduate of
Michigan State University where she earned her Pre-Med degree. Angie has danced professionally with the Greater Lansing Ballet Company and participated in a cultural exchange program with the Vaganova Ballet of St. Petersburg. Angie joined José Mateo Ballet Theatre’s Company in 2004, where she originated and danced featured roles in many of Mateo’s works including Escape, Presage, Risk of Repetition, Affairs, Released, and she also danced as the Snow Queen and the Sugar Plum Fairy in The Nutcracker. Angie is a faculty member at JMBT in the Young Dancers Program Upper Division, where she directs YouthWorks, and in the Adult Dancers Program.
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.
SIERRA HITCHCOCK
Sierra was born and raised in Hanover, NH. She began studying ballet at the age of eight, spending seven years studying at Lebanon Ballet School in Lebanon, New Hampshire. During those years she performed with City Center Ballet in such ballets as The Sleeping Beauty,
Cinderella, Coppélia, and The Nutcracker. She then spent three years continuing her ballet training under the private tutelage of Bryan Lewis. When she was teenager, Sierra moved to Watertown, MA to attend Koltun Ballet Boston where she spent another three years studying
under former Boston Ballet principal dancers Alexandra Koltun and Alex Lapshin. At KBB, Sierra had such opportunities as performing at Jacob’s Pillow and working with international guest artists. After her graduation from KBB, Sierra spent a year in Los Angeles, CA studying Theater Arts at Loyola Marymount University before returning to the Boston area to continue dancing and teaching. Sierra has had the opportunity to perform as a soloist with José Mateo Ballet Theatre in their annual production of The Nutcracker, be a principal dancer in Greta Gerwig’s cinematic adaption Little Women, and dance in a music video for musical artist Layto. She has also found great joy in teaching the next generation of dancers and has had the pleasure of being a ballet teacher at a number of dance studios in the area. As well as being a dancer and a teacher, Sierra is also currently a student at Northeastern University in Boston where she is studying history.
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.
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.
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.
YENTHL SPINOLA
After first dancing in José Mateo Ballet Theatre’s production of The Nutcracker, Yenthl joined the JMBT’s Young Dancers Program to continue her ballet training and later performed with the school’s pre-professional group Youthworks until graduating from high school.
In addition to ballet, Yenthl has had the opportunity to perform other types of dance across New England, including Bhangra, classical West African Dance and Haitian Folkloric Dance.
Yenthl studied at the University of New Hampshire where she earned her B.S. in Biology and was an active member of the community.
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.