San Jose Dance Theatre Staff
NICOLE HASKINS
Artistic Director
Nicole Haskins, originally from Venice Beach, California, trained at the Westside School of Ballet in Santa Monica under the direction of Yvonne Mounsey and Rosemary Valaire. She enjoyed a two-decade career as a professional dancer with Sacramento Ballet, Washington Ballet, and Smuin Contemporary Ballet where some of her favorite roles included Lucy in Michael Pink’s Dracula; Alice in Ron Cunningham’s Alice in Wonderland, Liberty Bell in George Balanchine’s Stars and Stripes; Helen Pickett’s Petal; Trey McIntyre’s Blue Until June, Micheal Smuin’s Heart’s Suite, and The SugarPlum Fairy in Ron Cunningham’s The Nutcracker.
Alongside her performing career, she simultaneously choreographed across the country including commissions for Sacramento Ballet, Richmond Ballet, Smuin Contemporary Ballet, Dayton Ballet, Oregon Ballet Theater, and Indiana University. She has participated in the New York Choreographic Institute as well as received their Commission and Fellowship Grants. Her choreography has been selected for the McCallum Theater Choreographic Competition and Los Angeles Dance Invitational and she was a winner of the OBT XX Choreographic Competition. Most recently she co-choreographed Sacramento Ballet’s brand-new production of The Nutcracker in collaboration with Colby Damon and Julia Feldman.
After retiring from the stage, Nicole became the resident choreographer for Mid-Columbia Ballet, and soon after was recruited to develop the Ballet Idaho’s Trainee Program as its inaugural Program Director. Under Nicole’s direction, trainees received professional contracts with many companies across the country including Ballet Idaho, Festival Ballet Providence, Ballet Tucson, and San Jose Dance Theatre. After moving back to the Bay Area with her husband, Nicole founded Keep Dancers Dancing, where she coaches and mentors dancers individually and through educational workshops to help them successfully navigate the career while nourishing their love of dance.
Nicole is excited to bring her experience and expertise to San Jose Dance Theatre, continuing her mission to help dancers and audiences discover and deepen their love for the beautiful art form of dance. Guided by the motto “Art is Risk Made Visible,” Nicole creates a supportive, positive, and nurturing environment where dancers feel supported and empowered to embrace challenges while developing essential lifelong skills. She looks forward to contributing to San Jose Dance Theatre’s rich legacy while building meaningful connections with its students, families, and communities.
BROOKE WERTWIJN
Faculty
Originally from Minnesota, Brooke Wertwijn trained at Ashley Ballet Arts Academy directed by Ashley Burkland. She graduated from the University of Utah School of Dance with a B.F.A. in Ballet, Ballet Studio Teaching Certificate, and Business Minor. Brooke danced with SALT Contemporary Dance’s Pre-Professional Training Company directed by Courtney Mazeika. While a Trainee at Ballet Idaho, she performed in works by Peter Anastos, George Balanchine, FLOCK, Nicole Haskins, Anne Mueller, Bruce Wells, and Quinn Wharton. Brooke received additional training at summer intensives with Alonzo King LINES Ballet, Boston Ballet, Ballet West, and the Dutch National Ballet. She has performed internationally in the Czech Republic (Character Dance Ensemble), South Korea (University of Utah), and Italy (Orsolina28 - Nunes/FLOCK).
Her choreography has been presented at the Minnesota Fringe Festival, Cathedral Dance Festival, American College Dance Association’s Northwest Conference, SHAPE Choreography Festival, and the University of Utah Ballet Showcase. She was a 2020 Women’s Artistic Leadership Initiative Fellow. Brooke is an ABT® Certified Teacher in Pre-Primary through Level 3. She has taught at Ashley Ballet Arts Academy (Minnesota), University of Utah Ballet Summer Intensive, Dance Arts Academy (Idaho), and Palo Alto Dance Connection (California). She has performed with San José Dance Theatre since 2022 and is excited to be stepping into the role of Academy Director.
Kathryn Petak
Faculty
Kathryn has danced professionally with Smuin Ballets/SF, State Street Ballet, San Francisco Opera Ballet, Santa Barbara Opera and San Jose Dance Theater. She has performed all over the United States, China, Taiwan, and the Caribbean.
KIM GARDNER
Faculty: Ballet, Pre-Pointe, Pointe, Conditioning
Kim Gardner is a former ballerina and longtime ballet and Pilates instructor with over 35 years as a movement educator. She is currently on staff at San Jose Dance Theatre where she teaches ballet, Pointe, Pilates/dance conditioning and injury prevention. Kim particularly enjoys helping young dancers prepare for the unique demands of pointe work and is known for her clarity and ability to impart an experiential knowledge of the anatomy and aesthetics of ballet technique to her students.
Kim began her training at San Jose Dance Theatre under the tutelage of founding directors Paul E. Curtis and Shawn Stuart and trained on scholarship at San Francisco and Pennsylvania Ballet. At age 18 she began her professional career, first with Milwaukee Ballet where she performed many of the classics, then contemporary ballet with Margaret Wingrove Dancers and Alonzo King’s LINES, and toured the United States in Oakland Ballet’s eclectic and Diaghilev era repertory. Kim returned to SJDT to teach and coach young dancers and appeared as principal guest artist for several seasons as Sugar Plum Fairy in their Nutcracker and Beauty in Beauty and the Beast for which she received critical acclaim. All together Kim’s performing career spanned 17 years to which she credits her Pilates training.
She was first introduced to therapeutic Pilates in 1988 while rehabilitating a hip injury at Dance Medicine St. Francis Memorial Hospital in SF and went on to pursue her certification in Pilates in 1996. Kim has since combined her skills and experience as a dancer, teacher and Pilates instructor to educate and assist dancers of all ages in injury prevention, conditioning and rehabilitation. For 10 years Kim ran the Dance Medicine program at O’Connor Hospital’s Center for Sports Medicine where she developed individualized exercise programs to serve the needs of a varied patient population. She has given numerous presentations on the application of Pilates-based exercise for dance-specific rehabilitation and performance enhancement to physical therapists, athletic trainers and dance instructors. In 2011 Kim opened her own studio Align Pilates and Dance Conditioning in San Jose where she enjoys working with clients of all ages and backgrounds and provides low-cost Dance Medicine Clinics for the local professional dance community.
NICOLE KHOO
Faculty: Ballet, Pointe
Nicole moved to the Bay area in April 2022 and since then has enjoyed performing professionally with Western Ballet, San Jose Dance Theatre, Oceanica Ballet and New Ballet. Growing up in Singapore, she trained in Chinese Dance, and went on to complete vocational levels of the RAD and CSTD under Mr. Donato C. Ferrer and Mr. Antony Tay.
She joined Singapore Ballet’s pre-professional scholarship program under Mr. Janek Schergen before joining Tampa Ballet Theatre and The Georgia Ballet where she had the opportunity to perform a variety of classical and contemporary works including Paquita, Swan Lake, The Nutcracker, Carmen, and Giselle.
REBECCA NUGENT
Faculty: Ballet, Conditioning
Rebecca Nugent, an Ethiopian native, moved to Sacramento where she enrolled in dance classes at a local studio where she trained in Tap, Jazz, HIp-Hop, Contemporary, and Modern. Ultimately she fell in love with ballet. At the age of 16 Rebecca moved to Humboldt County where she trained and performed at a local ballet school. Rebecca Recieved her AA in Kinesiology, with a focus on Physical Therapy, minor in Dance.
Rebecca Moved to San Jose in 2019 to dance professionally. Throughout her dancing career, she has performed the role of Sugar Plum Fairy, Snow Queen, and Clara in the Nutcracker as well as soloist and corps de ballet roles in Sleeping beauty, Cinderella, Paquita, La Sylphide, Swan Lake, and Stars and Stripes. Rebecca holds a certification in American Ballet Theater National Training Curriculum as well as certification in The GYROTONIC Method.
ANTON PANKEVICH
Faculty: Ballet, Pointe
Anton Pankevich is a current Professor at Stanford University. He received his ballet training at the Vaganova Ballet Academy in Russia and later on went to study at School of American Ballet and San Francisco Ballet School. Has worked as a ballet master and a guest teacher with: English National Ballet, National Ballet of Canada, Wiesbaden Ballet, Stuttgart Ballet and Leipzig Ballet.
HOLLIE RUDOLPH
Faculty: Ballet
Hollie Rudolph began her training at Laguna Dance Theatre under the direction of Sherry Gilbert. Later, she continued her formal training at the New American Youth Ballet and Conservatory. Hollie then pursued higher education at Butler University where she received her BFA in Dance Performance. In 2020, she moved to the Bay Area and has since danced professionally with several companies in the area including San Jose Dance Theatre, Opera San Jose, Peninsula Ballet and Oceanica Ballet. Along with dancing Hollie also teaches ballet to a number of students throughout the Bay and especially enjoys teaching adult students. This will be Hollie’s fourth year with SJDT.
SYDNEY STRONG
Faculty: Ballet, Jazz
Sydney Strong received her formal ballet training at Tarrant County College in Hurst, Texas under the direction of Dr. Kihyoung Choi. There she danced with Dr.Choi’s semi-professional company, Movers Unlimited Dance Company. Sydney apprenticed for Dallas Neoclassical Ballet (now American Neoclassical Ballet) for one season before deciding to further her dance education at The Joffrey Ballet School in New York City, where she graduated in 2020. Post graduation, Sydney joined San Jose Dance Theatre as a Trainee, during which time she had the opportunity to choreograph two short ballets as well as dance in soloist roles in their production of “The Nutcracker".
Alexandra Gutman
Faculty: Ballet
Alexandra "Sasha" Gutman, originally from Austin, Texas, is an award-winning choreographer and a graduate of the Bolshoi Ballet Academy in Moscow, Russia. She began her competition dance training at age 7 in Texas and later studied at the Indiana Ballet Conservatory and Nutmeg Ballet Conservatory, working with prominent teachers such as Alexei Tchernichov, Eleanor D’antuono, Victoria Mazzarelli, Joan Kunsch, Tim Melody, Kirk Peterson,and Denise Limoli. At 16, she was selected to join the Bolshoi Ballet Academy and, after completing her first year, was invited to skip two years and advanced to the graduating class.
Monica Rivera
Faculty: Jazz
Originally from Honduras, Monica moved to the United States when she was 6 years old. She fell in love with dance when she attended public schools in rural North Carolina. Her high school had a robust dance program. She studied jazz, modern, and ballet. She went on to study Dance Education at Meredith College, where she was a member of the modern dance company, Meredith Dance Theater. While at Meredith, she trained in modern, jazz, and ballet. She choreographed many works, interned at the American Dance Festival, and received the dance department award upon graduating.
ELIZABETH SWEENEY
Executive Director
Elizabeth Sweeney began her dance training under the Royal Academy of Dance. She then began training under Paul Curtis and Shawn Stuart at San Jose Dance Theatre. With their guidance she performed in their Nutcracker from the age of eight to seventeen. While dancing at San Jose Dance Theatre under Robert Kelleys’ direction she was given the opportunity to participate in Regional Dance America.
She then danced at the former San Jose Cleveland Ballet School under the direction of Denis Nahat before continuing to University. Elizabeth Graduated from California State University Long Beach with a BA in Dance. She is grateful to her professors Keith Johnson, Susan McLain, and Doug Neilsen for introducing her to the world of modern dance. Elizabeth is TESOL cer fied and taught English in Beijing China before returning home to become an Insurance professional. She sat on the board of directors for SJDT since 2011 and is happy to lend her talent as Executive Director of San Jose Dance Theatre.