Featured Guest Dancer Irek Muchalski
Guest Principal Dancer Tobias Parsons
Guest Principal Dancer  Jessica Marguerite Stibick
Principal Dancer Julianna Takacs, I.S.T.D.
Principal Dancer Rachael Fraser, I.S.T.D.
Principal Dancer Mary Schnepf, I.S.T.D.		 Duet2

  Irek Muchalsi Tobias ParsonsJessica Stibick Julianna Takacs  Rachel Fraser  Mary Schnepf 



Irek Muchalski

Featured Principal Dancer

Irek Muchalski demonstrates compelling stage presence with extraordinary strength and spirit that is sure to excite audiences as he dances the roles of Cavalier and Nutcracker Prince. Trained at Harbour Dance Center in Vancouver, B.C., Canada and at the State School of Ballet in Paznan, Poland, Mr. Muchalski was awarded a Professional Ballet Diploma and Matriculation Diploma in 1984. He resides in Toronto. Mr. Muchalski has danced with renowned companies throughout Poland, Canada, and the United States in such ballet classics as Giselle, Firebird, and The Nutcracker. He has danced the principal role of Faust in the Metropolitan Repertory Ballet Company's performance of the ballet/opera Faust, and in the Panda Dance Theater's original work Butterfly Lovers. He has also performed with the Greater Niagara Ballet Company's production of Degas. Mr. Muchalski was also a principal dancer with the Empire State Ballet and the Buffalo City Ballet. He currently teaches the Vaganova technique in the greater Buffalo area.

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 Tobias Parsons

Guest Principal Dancer

Tobias Parsons moved to New York City from his native New Zealand where he studied under Val Deakin. Since departing for the United States Tobias has danced for Gliech Dance Company, Dance Imprints, the Greater Niagara Ballet Company, Melrose Youth Ballet, and Burklyn Ballet Theatre, from which he builds a diverse repertoire of classical and contemporary roles. Currently he is dancing for the New York Theatre Ballet under the directorship of Diana Byer, performing such classics as Cinderella and The Nutcracker as well as works by James Sutton, Sallie Wilson, Kieth Michaels, Donald Mahler, Dagmar Spain and other contemporary choreographers.

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 Jessica Marguerite Stibick

Guest Principal Dancer
The Greater Niagara Ballet Company is pleased to welcome Jessica to the 2007 season of The Nutcracker. Jessica’s elegant stage presence is sure to captivate audiences as she is featured in the roles of Sugar Plum Fairy and Snow Queen. Jessica joins us as a current member of the National Ballet Company of Annapolis, Maryland, under Artistic Director, Pamela Moore. Her ability to portray different characters is clearly demonstrated in the many roles in which she has performed. Some of these roles include principal female dancer in Memories of the Green and Ga Trong Con, both choreographed by Pamela Moore, and in Act III of Coppelia. Jessica’s soloist roles in ballets include The Nutcracker (Spanish, Arabian, Snow Queen), Coppelia (Prayer, Friends, Spanish Doll), Pas de Quatre (Lucile Grahn, Marie Taglioni) and ballets choreographed by the artistic director Pamela Moore, including Bolero, Capriccio Espagnol, Divertimento, Tribute to Mr. B, Flatland and The Duke Ellington Nutcracker.  Jessica currently trains with the National Ballet School in Annapolis, Maryland. She has earned Cecchetti exams Grade I through Advanced. Additionally, Jessica was awarded two scholarships to the Cecchetti Council of America International Summer School in Michigan. In 2005 Jessica graduated Magna Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Anthropology from College Park, Maryland. Jessica’s ethereal beauty and delicate stage presences adds a unique sparkle to this year's production.

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Julianna Takacs, I.S.T.D.

Principal Dancer

We eagerly welcome Julianna's lyrical quality and her delicate musicality as she reprises her featured role of Snow Queen for the fourth season. A member of the Greater Niagara Ballet Company for fifteen seasons, Julianna's repertoire includes the featured roles of dancer in Degas, Alice in The Madhatter's Tea Party, Duck in Peter and the Wolf, and various roles in The Nutcracker including Clara and the Dew Drop Fairy. She has also performed in the GNBC productions of Kaleidoscope, Clowns, Dochas, Les Patineurs, and Swan Lake. Additionally, Julianna has performed with the National Ballet of Canada in their Artpark productions of Taming of the Shrew and Romeo and Juliet.

Miss Takacs has studied ballet with Beverley Feder since the age of four and holds an Advanced Certificate in the Cecchetti Method from the Imperial Society of Teachers of Dance, London, England. She has also taken ballet classes at the Purchase College Conservatory of Dance, the Summer Cecchetti Program in Toronto, and has attended several intensive ballet training seminars in Lake Placid, New York. Julianna currently dances at various studios in the New York City area including Dance Space in Manhattan. A resident of Lewiston, Julianna is a cum laude graduate of the School of Art and Design at Purchase College in White Plains, NY with a BFA in Visual Arts. After spending last summer in Western Europe, Julianna had her first art showing this past September at the Niagara Arts and Cultural Center consisting of a video and sculpture installation based on the events of September 11th. Julianna volunteers at a NYC Open Center, a holistic health center where she hopes to pursue further education in holistic art therapy.

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Rachael Fraser, I. S. T. D.

Principal Dancer

Rachael's elegant stage presence is sure to enchant audiences once again as she debuts in the role of Sugar Plum Fairy with this production of The Nutcracker. In addition, she will perform in Waltz of the Flowers, Snow, Harlequin Doll, and the mysterious Arabian Princess. This is Miss Fraser's sixth season with the Greater Niagara Ballet Company, and she has previously studied tap, jazz and ballet for an additional seven years. Her repertoire includes Peter and the Wolf, Degas, Kaleidoscope, Alice in Wonderland, Dochas, Les Patineurs, and Pas de Quatre. She is currently studying ballet with Beverley Feder at the Feder School of Ballet where she is working on her Advanced Ceccetti Certificate. Rachael has attended various workshops in Toronto at the National Ballet School and classes at Steps in New York City. Miss Fraser is a freshman at Buffalo State College working toward her degree in Elementary Education.

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Mary Schnepf, I. S. T. D.

Principal Dancer


It is Mary Schnepf's dramatic creativity that will again excite her audiences as she is once again featured as the Spanish Senõrita. In this, her thirteenth production of The Nutcracker, she will also perform the roles of Arabian Princess, Harlequin Doll, Lead Russian, Snow, and in Waltz of the Flowers. While studying with Beverley Feder at the Feder School of Classical Ballet, Mary has also attended several workshops with the National Ballet of Canada, where she performed in their productions of Romeo and Juliet and The Taming of the Shrew. Her repertoire with the Greater Niagara Ballet Company includes Skating Party and Pas de Quatre, Kaleidoscope, Degas, Dochas, and Peter and the Wolf.

A 2002 summa cum laude graduate of Buffalo State College with a degree in Theater Design, Miss Schnepf was set and costume designer for Alice in Wonderland and Little Shop of Horrors at the college. She studied dance there with Janet Reed and Daphne Finnegan. Her most recent project was as design assistant on an original Matthew Hubbard play in New York City titled The Sacred.

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