Our teachers and staff are a passionate team who strive to instill a love for dance in the students of Kingsport Ballet.
Artistic Leadership Team
Bertina Dew
Executive Director
Bertina Sixto Dew has been Executive Director of Kingsport Ballet since 1999. In addition to managing the school and company, she has created costumes and sets for KB productions such as Swan Lake, The Sleeping Beauty, Giselle, and Don Quixote. She implemented the DANCE CO project in 2003, which works with non-arts, after-school programs serving at-risk children to provide instruction free of charge. Ms. Dew secured a National Endowment for the Arts grant for the outreach program in 2006. In 2010 she led the renovation of Kingsport Ballet’s new 13,000-square-foot facility, which includes four dance studios, a boutique, art gallery, an arts wing subletting space to small businesses, and a wellness lounge.
Ms. Dew received the Arts Council of Greater Kingsport’s Arts Leadership award in 2010, the Tennessee Association of Dance award in Dance Advocacy in 2011, and a YWCA Tribute to Women award for Volunteerism in 2012. In 2016 she conceptualized the project and designed the costumes for the Company’s contemporary ballet, Seeds of Change, celebrating the city’s one hundredth anniversary. Ms. Dew was recognized in 2017 by the Junior League of Kingsport’s “Women of Impact” as one of 130 outstanding women who have made significant contributions to the city during its 100 years of history.
Prior to her becoming executive director at KB, she specialized in oil portraits and murals and worked in Washington, D.C., San Francisco and Augusta, GA. Ms. Dew earned a master’s degree in art therapy from the George Washington University and a bachelor’s in art education from Florida State University. She is originally from Uruguay and currently lives in Kingsport, Tennessee with her husband Michael. They have three daughters and four grandchildren.
Valeria Sinyavskaya
Former Artistic Director and Director Emeritus
Valeria Sinyavskaya served Kingsport Ballet as Artistic Director for 20 years. Her career spanned several decades as Prima Ballerina with Novosibirsk Ballet Theater, teacher and artistic director in the U.S and abroad. Ms. Valeria retired in 2021 after setting and staging the major Tchaikovsky classics with Kingsport Ballet and instilling her passion and high standards for ballet in hundreds of students. Our 2026/2027 Legacy Season is dedicated to her memory.
Erica Dew
Associate Director/Production Coordinator
Erica Dew is a Kingsport Ballet graduate and guest performer with extensive training in the Vaganova method under Valeria Sinyavskaya. Erica has performed solo and lead roles in many full-length ballets.
Erica trained at Kirov Academy of Ballet, Gelsey Kirkland Academy, later becoming a member of their Studio Company in New York, the University of Utah, and Radford University under renowned instructors such as Gelsey Kirkland, Stephen Koester, Calvin Kitten, Inessa Plekhanova, and more.
After an injury, Erica moved to Chicago, where she spent 10 years working in advertising. She has recently returned to Kingsport and is serving as Kingsport Ballet’s Associate Director and Production Coordinator, as well as Rehearsal Coach.
Adriana Dew
Director of Curriculum and Faculty Development
Adriana Dew is a Kingsport Ballet graduate, former guest performer, and instructor. She received her training in the Vaganova method from Valeria Sinyavskaya, former artistic director of Kingsport Ballet, and attended summer intensives with American Ballet Theatre, the Kirov Academy of Ballet (Washington, D.C.), and the Hungarian Ballet Academy in Budapest.
A graduate of Wake Forest University and recipient of the Presidential Scholarship for Distinguished Achievement in Dance, Adriana was awarded the Wake Forest Dance Company’s award for Outstanding Achievement in Ballet upon her graduation. Adriana began teaching at Kingsport Ballet in 2009 and had the pleasure of performing soloist and principal roles as Kingsport Ballet Company’s professional artist-in-residence until she moved to Atlanta in 2012. Some of her favorite roles include Kitri in Don Quixote, Princess Clara in The Nutcracker, and the Fascination pas de deux from Satanella. Adriana relocated to Johnson City in 2021 with her husband and two children.
She is delighted to rejoin the Kingsport Ballet faculty as the Director of Curriculum and Faculty Development and codify the school syllabus based on her tutelage under Valeria Sinyavskaya.
Raleigh Terrazas
Contemporary Program Coordinator
Raleigh Shelton is a graduate of Kingsport Ballet. As a student and company member at KB she performed various solo and lead roles including the Chinese dance in the Nutcracker, Clara, Waltz Soloist, and others. She began taking classes at the age of 3 and graduated at age 18. Upon graduation she moved to Gainesville and then Orlando, Florida where she danced in a contemporary company for several years and taught ballet classes in regional studios.
Kingsport Ballet welcomed her back during Summer Intensive 2023, where she taught contemporary dance. Raleigh joined the faculty as the contemporary teacher in the Fall of 2023. She leads Kingsport Ballet’s contemporary program, teaches all levels of ballet, and lends her professional experience as a Rehearsal Coach.
Guest Faculty
Graham Barnes
Guest Faculty and Guest Rehearsal Coach
Graham Barnes is a Kingsport native who began dancing at the age of 4 with Kingsport Ballet. He trained under Valeria Sinyavskaya from 2012 to 2019. He competed in Youth America Grand Prix in 2018 and 2019, earning second place in the Junior Men’s Division Semi-Finals. He also trained with Jessica Barrett and Erika Ballard, and attended summer intensives under scholarship with the Bolshoi Ballet Academy CT, Dutch National Ballet Academy and the Royal Danish Ballet. Graham completed four years of training at the HARID Conservatory, studying under renowned faculty and receiving multiple awards in dance, including the Jeannot B. Cerrone Award for “Excellence in Dance Performance.” He studied under Victoria Shnider, Alexey Kulpin, Meelis Pakri, and Svetlana Osiyeva.
In 2023, he joined Nashville Ballet II under Maria Konrad, working with Artistic Director Nick Mullikin and coach Anais Chalendard. At NBT II, Graham danced soloist roles and company productions under the direction of Durane Verzola and Anais Chalendard, and appeared in Nashville Ballet’s Nutcracker under the direction of Paul Vasterling. Graham was recently promoted to Apprentice with Nashville Ballet’s main company. Outside of performing, Graham taught at the School of Nashville Ballet, including their adult classes and summer intensive.
Graham is currently with Nevada Ballet Company and is joining Kingsport Ballet for their 2026-2027 season as a guest faculty member and rehearsal coach.
Instructors
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Laura Harper
Adult Ballet Instructor
Jessica Barrett
Ballet Instructor | Johnson City Satellite Program
Bess Ramey
Junior Instructor
Student Teachers
Delaney Shelton
Adult Ballet Instructor
Ava Brown, Kates Greene, Isla Harker, Izzy Porter, Joanna Ramey
Erika Ballard
Substitute Ballet Instructor
Guest Artists
Katya Nechayeva
Guest Instructor
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Ekaterina Nechayeva began her formal training at International Ballet in Greenville, South Carolina. In 2014, Ekaterina started studying in Perm, Russia, at the Perm State Choreographic College (Perm Ballet School) where she graduated with a diploma with honors and danced Swanilda in the full-length ballet Coppelia. She has been a soloist at the Moscow State Academic Theatre of Classical Ballet of Kasatkina and Vasilev and the Chelyabinsk State Opera and Ballet Theatre. In 2019, Ekaterina placed second at the World Ballet Competition in Orlando, Florida. Ekaterina toured China with The Capital Ballet Company as a principal dancer. Currently, Ekaterina is a principal dancer with the Russian State Ballet and a guest principal dancer with Classical Ballet of Napoli. Throughout her career, Ekaterina has danced principal roles in Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty, Giselle, Don Quixote, The Nutcracker, La Bayadere, Cinderella, Anyuta, Carmina Burana, La Sylphide and others. She has danced soloist roles in ballets such as Raymonda, Paquita, Le Corsaire, Esmeralda, Spartacus, Romeo and Juliette, Rite of Spring, and others. Ekaterina has toured all over the world including Europe, Morocco, Thailand, Taiwan, Israel, Japan, China, Belarus, Turkey, Brazil, Kenya, and Vietnam. While growing up in South Carolina, Katya spent many summers dancing in Kingsport Ballet’s summer intensive under Valeria Sinyavskaya and other master teachers, while her mother Irina taught ballet, pointe and variations.
Brantly Shapiro
Guest Instructor
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Brantly Shapiro trained at the San Francisco Ballet School and began her career as a dancer with San Francisco Ballet under the direction of Lew Christensen. She joined the renowned Basel Ballet in Basel, Switzerland, and danced in their corps de ballet as a demi-soloist and soloist in Midsummer Night’s Dream, Giselle, Romeo and Juliet, and many other ballets. Brantly was then reunited with Lew Christensen at Pacific Northwest Ballet as a guest artist, and there she performed in Christensen’s Nutcracker. She became a principal dancer at Corpus Christi Ballet, performing the role of Cinderella; and Austin Ballet Theatre dancing the roles of Aurora and the Lilac Fairy from Sleeping Beauty, and the White Swan Pas de deux from Swan Lake. Her additional study in classical ballet reads like a Who’s Who in American dance, and includes Dame Margot Fonteyn, Mr. George Balanchine, and many other luminaries of the ballet world. Brantly began teaching in the Community Ballet program of Wake Forest University in 1984, and in 1996 became an adjunct in the Dance Program, teaching ballet technique classes. Three years later, she restaged her first ballet, Romeo and Juliet, for the Wake Forest Dance company. Since then she has staged numerous works for WFU including Delibes Suite, Don Quixote Dream Scene, Excerpts of The Underwater Kingdom, Classical Gala, Le Corsaire excerpts, Raymonda excerpts, La Bayadere, Giselle Act 1 excerpts, Sleeping Beauty Prologue – The Christening, Giselle Act II excerpts, Dream, Don Quixote, La Bayadere, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Waltz of the Flowers, Markitenka, Coppelia, Variations from Paquita, Markitenka Pas de six, Paquita Pas de Trois, Bijoux, Pas de Trois from Swan Lake Act I, Excerpts from Napoli, and Romeo and Juliet. Brantly has guest-taught at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, summer, preparatory, and college programs. She is a beloved teacher and mentor, not only to students at Wake Forest, but to students in their surrounding community.
Sam Shapiro
Guest Instructor
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Sam Shapiro, a native of Winston-Salem, North Carolina, began his ballet training at Wake Forest University under the guidance of his mother, Brantly Shapiro. At the age of 11, he was accepted into the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, where he trained with esteemed faculty including Duncan Noble, Nina Danilova, and Gyula Pandi. At 17, Shapiro joined The Royal Ballet Upper School in London, where he trained for three years and graduated with commendation. During his time there, he performed in productions with The Royal Ballet, including Cinderella, La Fille mal gardée, Firebird, La Valse, and Manon. He later joined Boston Ballet II and went on to perform with Boston Ballet in works such as Giselle and Romeo and Juliet. Shapiro continued his professional career with the North Carolina Dance Theatre, where he spent two seasons performing a diverse repertoire of classical and contemporary works. Among his favorite roles were those in Dwight Rhoden’s Broken Fantasies and Mark Godden’s Dracula. He subsequently worked as a freelance artist, touring and performing with Tulsa Ballet, Fort Wayne Ballet, and Ballet Nacional de Panamá. Shapiro joined the Royal New Zealand Ballet, performing works by choreographers including Larry Keigwin, Benjamin Millepied, and Ethan Stiefel. From 2013, he has appeared as a guest artist with various companies while also developing his voice as a dance educator. Over the past ten years, Shapiro has collaborated closely with director James Darrah and choreographer Gustavo Ramírez Sansano, performing in Opera Omaha’s Semele, Medea, and Proving Up, as well as in the San Francisco Symphony’s Das Klagende Lied and SoundBox series, Iris at Bard Summerscape, and site-specific works for the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. Shapiro currently serves on the dance faculty at Wake Forest University and continues to teach workshops and masterclasses across the United States.
Irina Ushakova
Guest Instructor
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Irina Ushakova was born in Chelyabinsk, Russia, and trained at the Perm State Choreographic College. Upon receiving her Diploma with Honors she became a soloist with Chelyabinsk State Opera and Ballet Theatre (Russia). Shortly after joining the company, she danced the roles of Maria (Fountain of Bakhchisarai), Aysha (Gayane), and Giselle (Giselle) before being promoted to principal dancer. She was awarded the Best Role of the Season prize for the role of Juliet in Romeo and Juliet. In 1986 and 1988, she became a bronze and silver medalist at the International Ballet Competition “Arabesque” in Perm, Russia. In 1989, she toured the United States with the Donetsk Ballet, followed by a tour of Israel and Turkey with the Bolshoi Ballet. She was invited to join the Donetsk State Opera and Ballet Theatre (Ukraine) as a principal dancer in 1989. Ms. Ushakova was a finalist in the 1990 International Ballet Competition held in Jackson, Mississippi. Since her arrival in the United States in 1990, Ms. Ushakova has been a principal dancer with both Ballet Mississippi and Tulsa Ballet. She has performed leading roles in many classical ballets such as Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty, Don Quixote, Nutcracker, Coppelia, La Sylphide, and others, as well as neoclassical works such as Andre Prokovsky’s Anna Karenina, Val Caniparoli’s Lady of the Camellias, Ronald Hynd’s Rosalinda, George Balanchine’s Theme and Variations, Four Temperaments, Concerto Barocco, and Who Cares? She also has danced contemporary and modern works. In 1997, she returned to Russia as a guest artist to dance the role of Anyuta in Vladimir Vasiliev’s Anyuta with the Chelyabinsk State Opera and Ballet Theatre. Since 2002, Ms. Ushakova has been a faculty member of the Dance Department at the South Carolina Governor’s School for the Arts and Humanities in Greenville, South Carolina as well as the International Ballet of Greenville, SC. Ms. Ushakova teaches A & B Ballet Technique, Pointe, Senior Ladies Ballet Variation, Historical Dance & Character, Repertoire, Methodology, is an Audition Preparation and Senior Showcase Mentor, and the National Honor Society for Dance Arts Coordinator. She has been a guest artist with Kingsport Ballet in the past on several occasions, both as a performer and instructor.