(Jonathan) Teague Applegate
Jonathan Teague Applegate was born in Modesto, California. He began his training at Juline School of Dance at the age of seven. At sixteen, he was accepted into the San Francisco Ballet School, and spent a year in the school before spending two years in the professional training program under the direction of Patrick Armand. After concluding his training, he was offered an apprentice contract with the San Francisco Ballet under direction of Helgi Tomasson, and spent one year there before joining Tulsa Ballet II in 2022. He has worked with choreographers such as Alexei Ratmansky, Yuri Posshokov, and Helgi Tomasson, performing in several of their ballets while with the company.
Without the work and help of JSD, Teague says he knows his dreams never would have come to fruition, much less have even begun in the first place. Teague believes JSD continues to be a stable and mindful place to cultivate the talent in young dancers.
Anica Bottom
Anica Bottom grew up as a student at Juline School of Dance and was an inaugural company member of JRYB. Additionally, she has trained with ABT, CPYB, PNB, Ballet West, Complexions, and in the Contemporary School at Jacob's Pillow. She was nominated for the Princess Grace Foundation Dance Award, received the Prospect Hill Foundation Scholar & Professional Advancement Award from the School at Jacob's Pillow, and was a Trustee & Honors Scholar at Dominican University. In May of 2017, Miss Bottom graduated magna cum laude with a BFA from the Alonzo King LINES Ballet program at Dominican University. Currently, Anica works in NYC as a certified GYROTONIC® trainer and company artist with Tabula Rasa Dance Theater.
Naleah Dey Ryg
Naleah Dey fell in love with performing while at Juline School of Dance. She grew up living in the studio and waited every year in anticipation for The Nutcracker and Annual JSD Recital for her chance to be on stage. When she was 16 years old Naleah auditioned for the prestigious Broadway Theater Project under the direction of Ann Reinking and was accepted. Her training at JSD prepared her for the amazing opportunity to work with Ann Reinking. The Broadway Theater Project led to Naleah being cast in the national tour of “Chicago The Musical”, the European tour of Fosse (Director Ann Reinking), the Off Broadway show No Strings (Director Ann Reinking), the Broadway show The Boy From Oz (starring Hugh Jackman), as well as a number of regional theater productions of various musicals. She then left the stage and crossed over into film and television. Her credits include Kitchen Confidential (starring Bradley Cooper / FOX), Numb3ers (CBS), Entourage (HBO), and the film Pope Dreams. Naleah has also worked in a number of music videos and has appeared in a number of iPod commercials. She will always love dance, but now enjoys her art as an actor. She lives in LA with her husband and son.
Michael Driskill
Michael is from Modesto, California where he danced at Juline School of Dance. He was a part of the Juline Regional Youth Ballet until attending University of Utah and training with Christopher Alloways-Ramsey, Jay Kim, and Pablo Piantino. After a year at the University of Utah, Michael joined Ballet Idaho as a Trainee, and then in 2022 joined Ballet Idaho as an Apprentice. He has performed in ballets such as The Nutcracker, Valse Fantasies, Serenade, and Swan Lake. He has also had the pleasure of being a guest artist at Merced Academy of Dance, The New Ballet, North Coast Ballet, and Barlow Arts Academy Of Dance.
Kara Hunsinger
Kara Hunsinger is from Modesto, California and studied dance at Juline School of Dance. Kara graduated Magna Cum Laude from the University of Arizona in 2019 as a dance major. While attending college she had the honor of performing works by Christopher Wheeldon, George Balanchine, Autumn Eckman, Nacho Duato, Sam Watson, Tamara Dyke-Compton, and Alexei Ratmansky. During her senior year she danced with Hawkin’s Dance Company. After graduating, Kara joined the DanceWorks Chicago. Kara’s additional training includes Ballet West, Alonzo King LINES Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, San Francisco Conservatory of Dance, and Hubbard Street Dance Chicago.
Hillary (McGranahan) Lewis
Hillary (McGranahan) Lewis began her journey at Juline School of Dance, training there from an early age and falling in love with dance. She attended Loyola Marymount University where she got her B.A. in Dance with an emphasis in Teaching and the art of Choreography. The day after graduation, Hillary began her career at the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, dancing in her first parade. The next two years were spent performing in a variety of shows including, High School Musical!, Fantasmic!, Disney's Electrical Parade, Block Party Bash, and the Parade of Dreams. Hillary was then hired by Stiletto Entertainment for Holland America Cruise Lines, traveling the world while performing original shows and teaching dance class for the guests. Her career took her to New York City where she continued to pursue her love for dance and Musical Theatre. She performed in The Muppets: Letter to Santa (TV Special), Dance or Drop (a pilot for MTV), La Comedia's Christmas Spectacular, and various shows throughout the city. Hillary's dance training has taught her the importance of a strong and healthy body, inspiring her to get certified in teaching Pilates. Hillary, her husband Joe and daughter Molly live in Redondo Beach. Hillary owns and operates her fitness studio, Shine Studio and is currently an Instructor and Choreographer for Family Theatre, Inc.
Bethany Montalvo
Bethany Montalvo was born and raised in Modesto, California where she started ballet and tap at the age of 6 at Juline School of Dance. Having ignited her passion for dance, Bethany spent the next 12 years at JSD working through the school, pre-professional division, and Juline Regional Youth Ballet company, while also attending summers at San Francisco Ballet and Houston Ballet. She then went on to major in ballet performance at the University of Oklahoma were she graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 3 years with honors in 2023. Upon graduating, Bethany joined Nashville Ballet and is currently a Second Company dancer.
Anthony Rhee Reynoso
Born in Modesto, CA and raised in Oakdale, CA, Anthony Rhee-Reynoso began his ballet training at the age of 8 at Juline School of Dance. In 2018 he was accepted into the San Francisco Ballet School where he continued his classical studies under the direction of Artistic Director Patrick Armand, teachers Pascal Molat, Karen Gabay, Sandrine Cassini, and Dana Genshaft. Anthony attended San Francisco Ballet Summer Intensive from 2013-2018 and American Ballet Theater New York City Summer Intensive in 2019 with full merit scholarships. During his years there, he performed in a variety of productions such as The Nutcracker, Cinderella, and Midsummer Night’s Dream. He also had the opportunity to perform in the Crowden project in which he collaborated with his fellow students to be choreographed on and to have it showcased to an audience.
In 2020 Anthony joined Cincinnati Ballet where he danced several roles under the direction of Dale Shields.
Eliana (Montalvo) Swanberg
Juline School of Dance is where Eliana (Montalvo) Swanberg took her very first steps as a dancer, and she hasn’t stopped moving since! Eliana started as a young 6-year-old attending class once a week, and that commitment steadily grew to daily classes by the time she began high school. She loved that her teachers would encourage and challenge her to find better ways to perform the steps they were learning. Days at the studio helped Eliana discover and cultivate a love of dance, leading to her current pursuit of a professional ballet career.
She graduated cum laude from Butler University with a BFA in Fine Arts. While at Butler, Eliana had the privilege of performing in various ballets and contemporary works and participated in a tour across Europe during the summer of 2018. After graduating, Eliana joined State Street Ballet's Professional Track Program and joined the company the following 2021/2022 season. She currently dances at Ballet Theatre Northwest Arkansas.