Krista Pinkerton

Krista Pinkerton began her training at the Pennsylvania Dance Institute and joined Dance Del Bello as a company member in 2011. She then continued her training at The University of the Arts in Philadelphia on Scholarship. Krista recently completed a one year Traineeship at American Repertory Ballet in Princeton, NJ and performed in their productions of "The Nutcracker", "Sleeping Beauty", and "Our Town". In 2014, Krista began the Professional Training Program at Ballet Central New Jersey where she performed in their production of "The Nutcracker" as the Sugarplum Fairy and other soloist and principal roles in their productions of "Les Sylphides", "Carmen", "Etudes", “Sleeping Beauty”, “Les Patineurs”, “Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No.1”, Paquita, and “Giselle”. Krista also competed in the Youth American Grand Prix Competition in Philadelphia.  Ms. Pinkerton currently dances professionally with Brandywine Ballet in West Chester, PA. Krista is passionate about nurturing, encouraging, and inspiring BalletCNJ's young dancers.

Tori Vinjamuri

A native of Freehold, NJ, Tori received her ballet training at Princeton Ballet School. Upon graduation, she moved to Charlotte, NC where she was a trainee and apprentice with North Carolina Dance Theatre under the direction of Jean Pierre Bonnefoux for three years.  In 2012, Tori moved back to New Jersey and danced professionally with Lustig Dance Theatre for four years. She has also danced with The Oakland Ballet in Oakland, CA for several years and with ARC Dance in Seattle, WA since 2012. Tori has been featured in many classical and contemporary works by chorographers Graham Lustig, Edwaard Liang, Alex Ketley, Gerard Theoret, Bat Abbit, Marie Chong, to name a few. In addition to professionally dancing, Tori has taught throughout New Jersey. Tori is excited to  share her knowledge and passion with the BalletCNJ dancers. 

Nicolette Peron

Originally from Branchburg, New Jersey, Nicolette Peron started dancing when she was four years old at the studio, Gotta Dance, where she trained in jazz, tap, modern, ballet, and contemporary. She furthered her studies at Somerset County Vocational Technical High School in the Gifted and Talented Honors Dance Program under the guidance of Sheila Buttermore, Maureen Glennon, Mary Lynne McAnally, and Nora Cotter. Throughout high school she attended The National High School Dance Festival at Point Park University (2016), The Big Apple Tap Festival (2015), DC Tap Festival (2014), and the Los Angeles Tap Festival (2017). Nicolette volunteered in many community service activities, teaching a creative movement class to young children, performing at nursing homes and daycares around the holiday season, and interning at Gotta Dance Studio. Through these community outreach programs and internships, her true interest in teaching sparked. She loves sharing and passing down all of her knowledge and training with younger generations. In May of 2021, Peron obtained her BFA in Dance at Shenandoah Conservatory (Winchester, VA) under the guidance of Maurice Fraga, Matthew Pardo, Shylo Martinez, and many others. Additionally, she has been involved in choreographic works by Tiffanie Carson, Jacob Brent and Erica Helm, to name a few. She has also broadened her education by taking classes in kinesiology, dance history, lighting and costuming design, composition, and methods for teaching dance. Peron has choreographed several works including, “the lives they leave behind”, “eidolon,” and “Drowning.”  She is thankful for her study abroad opportunities at SU. These include the Ekilibre Annual Contact Improvisation Festival (2018) and attending Balett Akademien’s Study Abroad Program in Gothenburg, Sweden (2019). While in Virginia, she began her teaching career at Front Royal Dance Studio (Front Royal, VA) and Shenandoah Conservatory Arts Academy (Winchester, VA) and was awarded the Robyn Hart Schroth Dance Education Scholarship. Her intent is to inspire, educate, and create for those around her, and to always have her passions coincide with her career. She is excited to be teaching BalletCNJ's youngest aspiring artists! 

Hillary Jackson

Hillary received her early training at the Princeton Ballet School and Eliot Feld’s New Ballet School (now Ballet Tech), as well as in summer intensives at the San Francisco Ballet and Joffrey Ballet schools. Hillary was a member of Princeton Ballet II where she performed in numerous productions with the Princeton Ballet, and also performed as a scholarship trainee with the Milwaukee Ballet. She was a National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts (YoungArts) awardee in ballet, as well as the recipient of a New Jersey Governor’s Award in Arts Education. Hillary’s other varied interests— including theatre production and the music industry—took her away from dancing for many years but she returned to it in the early 2000s when she discovered Simonson Technique at Dance Space Center in NYC. There she studied with master teacher Diane McCarthy and began performing Ms. McCarthy’s choreographic work in 2005. Hillary recently relocated back to New Jersey from the Hudson Valley/Catskills region where she taught ballet at the Catskill Mountain Foundation’s Orpheum Dance Program, founded by Victoria Rinaldi, as well as at Barefoot Dance Center. In addition, she has choreographed musical theatre productions for the Ellenville Central School District in Ellenville, NY. Hillary is an ABT® Certified Teacher, who has successfully completed the ABT® Teacher Training Intensive in Pre-Primary through Level 3 of the ABT® National Training Curriculum, and is currently pursuing certification in the Vaganova Method through the Ohio Conservatory of Ballet, studying with master pedagogue, Annette T. Thomas. Her dance pedagogical studies also include Laban Movement Analysis and the Simonson Method of Teacher Training. Hillary is excited to join BalletCNJ as an Open/Adult Instructor!

Elias Rosa

Elias Rosa is a New York based performing artist. He graduated from Rutgers University, Mason Gross School of The Arts with a BFA in dance in 2017. During his time at Rutgers he performed in works by Doug Elkins, Soon-ho Park, Martha Graham, Netta Yerushalmy, Jessica Lang, Ellen Cornfield, Joe Goode, and Randy James. He made his professional debut in 2017 dancing for the Bessie Award winning Choreographer Doug Elkins. Elias has danced with companies Doug Elkins Choreography Etc., Rock Dance Collective, and 10HL where he learned rep from Yin Yue, Stephen Petronio, Doug Elkins, and Randy James. In June 2019 he attended Springboard Danse Montreal where he was casted in and performed excerpts from Kidd Pivot’s Betroffenheit. In the fall of 2019 Elias was casted in Punchdrunk’s award winning and critically acclaimed immersive performance Sleep No More in NYC. 

Teresa Hartmann

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