Charles Askegard
has had a long and distinguished career as a dancer,
director and choreographer. He joined the American Ballet Theatre under
the tutelage of Mikhail Baryshnikov, where he performed leading roles in
major full-length ballets and worked with legendary choreographers Twyla
Tharp, Glen Tetley, Natalia Makarova, and Agnes de Mille to name a few.
After ten years with ABT, he joined the New York City Ballet to further
his artistic goals. He performed there as a Principal Dancer for
fourteen years where he had the opportunity to work under Jerome Robbins
and Peter Martins and dance a large number of the classic Balanchine
ballets in the repertory. Upon leaving the New York City Ballet, he
formed a company, Ballet Next, whose mission focused on producing new
work. While there, his work was seen at The Joyce Theatre, BAM Fishman,
Vassar College and the British Virgin Islands. He is now currently
employed with the Philadelphia Ballet as Rehearsal Director where he has
choreographed for both the Philadelphia Ballet, and the Philadelphia
Ballet II. Most recently, he has been named the Dance Artist in
Residence of the Performance Garage in Philadelphia for the 2025 season,
which is a choreographic position. His work has been presented by
companies, Universities, summer festivals, schools and ballet galas,
across the nation and also in the movie John Wick III.
Cherice Barton, an accomplished choreographer, director, and educator,
currently resides in Los Angeles, California. Following a decade-long
tenure as a contemporary ballet dancer, Cherice rose to prominence as
the resident choreographer for Franco Dragone's Le Rêve Cirque spectacle
in Las Vegas, Nevada. In the years following, Cherice followed her
curiosity which led her to develop a choreographic portfolio spanning a
diverse array of projects, boasting collaborations with Aspen Santa Fe
Ballet, The Grammy Awards, America's Got Talent, Lucasfilm Animation,
Dancebreak Broadway Showcase, Rosin Box Project, and Spotlight Grand
Finale at the Music Center LA, among others. As an educator, Cherice has
been sought after to speak and conduct masterclasses at various
institutions such as the Juilliard School, USC Glorya Kaufman School of
Dance and Marymount Manhattan College, to name a few. Her dedication to
education is exemplified by the establishment of Axis Connect, a
non-profit, bi-coastal educational platform she co-founded with her
sister Charissa. This initiative serves as a crucial link between
aspiring dancers and the professional dance industry, fostering a
supportive community where artists can explore diverse career options.
Currently, Cherice is the recipient of the Dancers Transition Center's
retraining grant, with a focused effort on advancing her expertise in
live and televised entertainment as a Creative Director. A multifaceted
force in the creative arts, Cherice Barton continues to inspire and
uplift, leaving an enduring legacy in the realms of entertainment, dance
and education.
DaYoung Jung, a former Principal Dancer and current Rehearsal Director at
Oklahoma City Ballet, is from South Korea. Jung trained at Moscow’s
Bolshoi Ballet Academy and graduated with honors from a master's degree in
Ballet Pedagogy. Throughout her career, Jung performed the title roles of
many of the great classics, such as Giselle, Romeo and Juliet, Swan Lake,
and The Sleeping Beauty, as well as works by George Balanchine, Jirí
Kylián, Septime Webre, Twyla Tharp, Michael Pink, Robert Mills, and many
others.
Donna Salgado is a dancer and choreographer working in New York City,
and is the founder and directing artist of Continuum
Contemporary/Ballet. Donna’s formal ballet training began under Tatiana
Akinfieva-Smith and continued as a member of the Eastern Shore Ballet
Theatre. She holds a BFA in Dance Performance from Towson University and
an MFA in Dance from SUNY Purchase, and spent summers training at ABT,
CPYB, NYSSSA Ballet, and Lines Ballet. As a performing artist, she’s
worked with the José Mateo Ballet Theatre, Eglevsky Ballet, Connecticut
Ballet, Rebecca Kelly Ballet, Sierra Nevada Ballet, Thomas/Ortiz Dance,
David Fernandez’s Some Dance Company, Deborah Lohse’s ad Hoc Ballet, and
Marika Brussel, among others, and has danced in works by George
Balanchine, Paul Taylor, Geoffrey Holder, Edwaard Liang, Gabrielle Lamb,
and Juanjo Arques. Continuum Contemporary/Ballet aims to expand the role
of creativity in ballet by engaging in processes that encompass
experimentation, collaboration, new vocabularies, and design. Donna’s
choreography has been presented and/or commissioned by the Jacob’s
Pillow Dance Festival (3 seasons), Bryant Park, Columbia Ballet
Collaborative, Counterpointe Festival for Women Choreographers, Latin
Choreographers Festival, 92nd Street Y, Newport Dance Festival, Brooklyn
Ballet, Nacre Dance Group, Princeton University Ballet, Harvard Ballet
Company, and the Ballet on the Beach Festival. She’s participated in
creative residencies at Sky Hill Farm Studio, Windhover, and, in 2024,
Kaatsbaan Cultural Park.
Hannah Andersen is a costume coordinator, theatre technician, and
recent college graduate, receiving her BA in Theatre Technology from
Chapman University in 2021. Some recent projects she has had the joy
of working on are Freaky Friday the Musical, Zanna Don’t!,
Native Gardens, Our Town, and Tartuffe as the costume
shop liaison and wardrobe supervisor at Chapman University,
Million Dollar Quartet and American Mariachi as a hair
and makeup technician at South Coast Repertory Theatre, The
Nether as the costume designer at The Wayward Artist, The
Feast as a hair and makeup technician with Long Beach Opera,
and Newsies as a dresser and stitcher at 3D Theatricals.
She loves working with all things costume, hair, and makeup within
the performing arts and entertainment industry and is delighted to
be on board this project as a costume coordinator for NCI
