Choreographers

Reka Gyulai

Reka Gyulai received her professional training at the Hungarian Dance Academy in Budapest, Hungary. She was a finalist at the International Ballet Competition in Vienna in 2004. In 2006, she received the prestigious Elvira Vecsei Prize and a Scholarship of the Republic from the Hungarian Ministry of Education.

Gyulai has performed with the Hungarian National Ballet, Columbia Classic Ballet, Tulsa Ballet, New Jersey Ballet Company, International Ballet Company, Dance Alive National Ballet in Florida and California Ballet Company in San Diego. She toured extensively with these companies to Russia, Transylvania, Brazil and throughout the United States. Her repertoire includes principal roles in Cinderella, Wizard of Oz, Don Quixote, The Nutcracker, Walpurgis Night, Swan Lake, Phantom of the Opera, and others, as well as contemporary works by Adam Hougland, Edwaard Liang, Ashley Page, Marcello Angelini, Ma Cong, Kevin Jenkins, Jared Nelson and Septime Webre.

Reka is currently a freelancer and choreographer based in San Diego, CA. Her new work Off Beat makes its world premiere in Pointeworks’ inaugural June 20th performance at the Conrad Theater.

Melody mennite

A native of Santa Cruz, California, Melody Mennite trained at Santa Cruz Ballet Theatre under Robert Kelley and Diane McLarty and at Pacific Northwest Ballet. She attended summer programs with Suzanne Farrell, and three consecutive intensives at Houston Ballet's Ben Stevenson Academy, starting at the age of 13. She then spent one year in Houston Ballet II on full scholarship and stipend, also winning a scholarship award from Regional Dance America/Pacific. She joined the company at the age of 17 and rose through the ranks quickly, achieving Principal dancer status in 2008. In June 2024, she concludes her 22nd season with Houston ballet.

In Houston, and on tours nationally and internationally, Melody has originated many roles (designated by an asterisk) and performed all of the leading classical roles in the company’s rep including Ben Stevenson’s Giselle, Coppelia, The Sleeping Beauty, August Bournonville’s La Sylphide, John Cranko’s Onegin, and Taming of the Shrew, Sir Kenneth McMillan’s Manon, Sir Fredrick Ashton’s La Fille Mal Gardee, Stanton Welch’s Romeo and Juliet, Swan Lake, La Bayadere, Marie,* Cinderella, The Nutcracker (Sugar Plum Fairy and Clara*), Sylvia (Psyche*), Madame Buuterfly (Cio Cio San and Kate), Ronald Hynd’s The Merry Widow, Trey McIntyre’s Peter Pan, John Neumeier’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Her neoclassical and contemporary repertoire includes principal roles in ballets by Jiri Kylian, George Balanchine, Justin Peck, Jerome Robbins, William Forsythe, Christopher Bruce, Aszure Barton, Christopher Wheeldon, Trey McIntyre, Cathy Marston, Twyla Tharp, Nacho Duato, Paul Taylor, Jorma Elo, James Kudelka, Garret Smith, Mark Morris, Wayne McGregor, David Bintley, Edward Liang, and Stanton Welch. Mennite originated many roles with these choreographers.

In 2015, Mennite Co-Founded and Directed REACH - a choreographic project that curates evenings of world premieres by emerging choreographers and designates all proceeds for arts education programs in underserved schools. Following the success of REACH, Mennite and her colleagues were invited to collaboratively create a world premiere for a theatre in the round at the George R. Brown Convention Center, for Houston Ballet.

As a choreographer, Mennite has created 16 commissioned works, including Ana for Ballet Arkansas, Next of Kin for Houston Ballet Academy, Own commissioned for Kingwood Dance Theatre which won a Regional Dance America award, The 64 and 91 for Kansas City Ballet, We all are for Contingent Ballet in 2020, Nostalgia de los montañas for Houston Chamber Orchestra Festival, and You and me and the waves for Houston Ballet, among others. She was the choreographer, lead actor, and dancer in the award-winning film Self Sabotage, which was the short film category winner for the Festivus Film Festival in 2012. Melody frequently appears as a guest artist in galas and with companies nationally and internationally and as teacher and coach in both Ballet technique and somatic experiencing practices in movement for holistic wellness.

Caili Quan

Caili Quan is a New York-based choreographer who danced with BalletX from 2013 to 2020. She has created works for BalletX, Vail Dance Festival, The Juilliard School, USC Glorya Kaufman School of Dance, American Repertory Ballet, Sacramento Ballet, Stars of American Ballet, Asbury Park Dance Festival, School of American Ballet, Flight Path Dance Project, Oakland Ballet, Columbia Ballet Collaborative, and Ballet Academy East. She served as an Artistic Partnership Initiative Fellow and a Toulmin Creator at The Center for Ballet and the Arts at NYU. With BalletX she performed new works by Matthew Neenan, Nicolo Fonte, Gabrielle Lamb, Penny Saunders, Trey McIntyre, and danced at Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, Belgrade Dance Festival, and DEMO by Damian Woetzel at the Kennedy Center. Mahålang, a short documentary that wove familial conversations of her Chamorro Filipino upbringing on Guam with scenes from BalletX's Love Letter, was shown at the Hawai’i International Film Festival, CAAMFest, and the Dance on Camera Festival at Lincoln Center. She also participated in New York Choreographic Institute’s 2022 Fall Session under the direction of Adrian Danchig-Waring. Caili was a 2022 Artist-in-Residence at the Vail Dance Festival, a 2023 Artist in Residence at USC Glorya Kaufman School of Dance, and an Arnhold Creative Associate at The Juilliard School.

Photo Credit - Christopher Duggan, Vail Dance Festival

Andrea Yorita

Andrea Yorita is a stager for Caili Quan’s ballets.

Andrea Yorita is from Irvine California, where she received her classical ballet training at Academy of Dance, under the direction of Merle Sepel, Rebecca Tsivkin, and Mignon Furman. In 2012, she graduated as a Gillespie Scholar with a BFA in Dance Performance from the University of California, Irvine, where she studied under Jodie Gates, Molly Lynch, and Donald McKayle. Originally trained under the R.A.D. syllabus, Andrea has completed all Vocational R.A.D. exams with Distinction, as well as received the Solo Seal Award. In 2008, Andrea competed as a finalist in the Genee International Ballet Competition in Toronto, Canada. She has participated in the National Choreographers Initiative, as an apprentice, and the Traverse City Dance Project. Andrea was a 2016 Dance Finalist for the Clive Barnes Award. She joined BalletX in 2012 and spent 11 seasons with the company, touring nationally and internationally while working with a multitude of choreographers. She is now an Adjunct Associate Professor at the University of the Arts and freelance artist.

Yorita came to Pointeworks in June to stage Caili Quan's thrilling work, "Press Play".

Nicole Von Enck

Nicole Von Enck, an emerging choreographer and seasoned principal dancer in her 13th season with Texas Ballet Theater, brings her premiere “Familiar Reflections” to Pointeworks’ stage. Her new take on a classical romantic pas de deux, weaves together the beauty of Debussy’s music with the nuances of her melodic movement. 

Originally from Cleveland, Ohio, Von Enck began her professional training with Joanne Hughes Morscher at the Royal School of Ballet. In 2008, she joined North Carolina Dance Theatre for 2 years, and in 2010 embarked on her career with Texas Ballet Theater. Her career highlights include featured roles curated by Ben Stevenson in 3 Preludes, Swan Lake, Cinderella, Esmeralda, Dracula, leads in Balanchine’s Rubies, Serenade, Who Care’s, the Prima Ballerina in Ètudes by Harald Lander, Third Pas de Deux in Christopher Wheeldon’s DGV©: Danse à Grande Vitesse, and Petite Mort by Jiri Kylian.


Heather Nichols

Heather Nichols began her training at West End Academy of Dance in Richmond, Virginia. In 2009, Nichols joined the Richmond Ballet. From 2011 to 2015, Nichols attended Butler University and received her BS in Dance Pedagogy and Pre-Physical Therapy. After graduating, she accepted a contract with Ballet San Antonio. In 2019, Nichols joined Kansas City Ballet followed by joining Ballet RI in 2021. In 2022, she danced with the National Choreographers Initiative. Her featured roles have included works by Gerald Arpino, George Balanchine, Devon Carney, Annabelle Lopez Ochoa, Edwaard Liang, Helen Pickett, Michael Pink, Willy Shives, Ben Stevenson, Bruce Wells, Yury Yanowsky, among others.

Heather's choreographic works include “Meraki” for Kansas City Ballet and “Eau d’Effervescence” for Ballet RI. “Meraki”, making its west coast premiere with Pointeworks, weaves a poetic pas de deux connecting the all facets of the dance; the dancers, the music, and the rich choreography.

LEILAND CHARLES

LEILAND CHARLES, a dancer and choreographer rapidly gaining new acclaim, was born in Baltimore, Maryland. He first stepped into a dance studio at the age of three with the Howard County Ballet in Ellicott City under the direction of Kathi Ferguson. Leiland furthered his artistic training at The Juilliard School under the direction of Lawrence Rhodes, graduating with a BFA in 2014. While at Juilliard, he performed works by Nacho Duato, William Forsythe, Twyla Tharp, Alexander Ekman, and many others.

Upon graduation, Leiland joined Alberta Ballet in Calgary, Canada for three seasons, where he danced roles such as Benvolio in Jean Grand-Maître’s Romeo and Juliet and Red Couple in Jiří Kylián’s Forgotten Land. In his six seasons at BalletMet, Leiland has enjoyed performing numerous works including In Creases by Justin Peck and Cacti by Alexander Ekman.

Leiland’s original choreography includes Passages for Alberta Ballet, Togetherness for BalletMet 2, Figurines & Decisions, Decisions for BalletMet, and The Tides, created for the 2022 National Choreographer’s Initiative and later set for Pointeworks. His choreographic approach involves tailoring musically-inspired movement to individual strengths. Rapport with the artists is instrumental to Leiland’s process, building a studio atmosphere of supportive collaboration that results in rich connections appearing onstage. Leiland continues to perform with BalletMet while choreographing and teaching dance in the Columbus community.