Ellis Broderick (she/her) was born in New York and raised in Bennington, Vermont. She spent her early years dancing at Berkshire Dance Theatre before attending Boston Ballet School’s Pre-Professional Program, where she had the opportunity to perform in productions of Balanchine’s Walpurgisnacht and Mikko Nissinen’s The Nutcracker with Boston Ballet’s main company. She then furthered her training at Ballet Academy East under Darla Hoover, performing in Bournonville’s Napoli and Balanchine’s Scherzo à la Russe. Ellis joined Ballet Austin’s trainee program and was later promoted to apprentice with the company, performing in classical renditions of Swan Lake, The Firebird, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. While living in the Bay Area, Ellis has danced with New Ballet in San Jose and eMotion Arts. This is her second Nutcracker season with Oakland Ballet!

Katie Choi (she/her) raised in San Francisco, is a recent graduate of UC Irvine’s Claire Trevor School of the Arts. Prior to college, she received her training at the San Francisco Ballet School under the direction of Patrick Armand. There, she had the opportunity to showcase her talents performing in renowned works such as Helgi Tomasson’s The Nutcracker and Coppelia as well as Liam Scarlett’s Frankenstein. She holds a B.F.A. in Dance Performance with a minor in Urban Studies. While at UC Irvine, she participated in numerous faculty and student works. Among the most notable were Giselle staged by Tong Wang, and George Balanchine’s Serenade, staged by Diane Diefenderfer and Zippora Karz. She was the recipient of the William Gillespie scholarship three years in a row. Outside of UCI, she had the opportunity to perform Tchaikovsky: The Love Letter and The White Feather alongside Tara Ghassemieh and Vitor Luiz.

Alexander Griffith (he/him) welcomes his third season with Oakland Ballet. He began his training with the Charlotte Ballet in North Carolina before joining Rochester City Ballet in New York. There he danced the role of Quint in Salvatore Aiello’s Turn of the Screw as well as featured roles in their production of The Nutcracker. Since joining Oakland Ballet, Alex has been featured as Diego in Viva la Vida, Chocolate in Graham Lustig’s The Nutcracker, and in the Dancing Moons Festival. He has appeared as a guest artist with San Jose Ballet, Ayako School of Ballet, and the Westlake School of Performing Arts. Alex finds teaching an enriching experience and has offered his expertise and training to adult and youth students in both private and group classes at various studios across the Bay Area.

Eden Magana (she/her) a Chicago native, began her dance training at the Chicago Multi Dance Center under the guidance of Homer Bryant. She spent two years at the Chicago Academy for the Arts, honing her craft with esteemed instructors Randy Duncan and Patrick Samello. Eden continued her artistic growth, spending her final two years of high school as a Conservatory student at the Joffrey Ballet, where she trained with Karin Elis-Wentz and Raul Casasoula. During her time at the Joffrey Ballet, she originated the role of the Fountain in the original production of Rita Finds Home choreographed by Amy Hall-Garner. A recent graduate of Alonzo King LINES Ballet Training Program, she was a company member of Robert Mosses Kin’s 60th Anniversary season during her second semester. Eden has had the privilege of collaborating with notable choreographers, including Nol Simonse, Aleks Perez, Christopher Marney and Erin Barnett. She has attended summer intensives at American Ballet Theatre, Ballet West, and Dance Theatre of Harlem.

Taiyo Makimura (he/they) is a transmasculine dancer from New Jersey, where he began his high school career at the UCVTS Academy for Performing Arts, and completed it at the Rock School for Dance Education in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Taiyo has performed as a trainee with BalletMet, where he could be seen as a swan in Edwaard Liang’s Swan Lake, in various roles in The Nutcracker, and in trainee productions. He later joined Louisville Ballet’s Studio Company, before moving to San Francisco in 2024 to become a member of the concluding class of the Alonzo King LINES Ballet Training Program. Taiyo now lives in Oakland, spending time playing with his cat and exploring visual arts. This is his first season with Oakland Ballet.

Devon Martirez y McFarland (he/him) was born in San Francisco and raised in the East Bay, where he began his dance training at the age of 12. He studied at Berkeley Ballet Theatre and Idyllwild Arts Academy, developing a solid technical foundation and a broad artistic sensibility. In July 2025, Devon graduated with a BA in Modern Ballet from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. During his studies, he trained extensively in classical and contemporary techniques and worked with a range of distinguished artists. In his final year, he toured with Scottish Ballet as part of the 2024/25 production of The Nutcracker, gaining valuable professional performance experience. Devon has performed works by established choreographers including Krzysztof Pastor, Christopher Bruce, Christopher Hampson, and others. His work reflects a strong commitment to versatility and he continues to pursue opportunities that challenge him artistically and professionally. He is excited for the 2026 spring season of Oakland Ballet.

Jazmine Quezada (she/her) is from Ventura County, California where she began her ballet training at age 11 with Ventura County Ballet and was the first to receive the Ron Noblin Full Scholarship Award. Jazmine attended American Ballet Theater’s New York summer intensive in 2011 followed by the Joffrey Chicago International summer dance intensive on full scholarship. In 2016 she moved to San Francisco to continue her training on scholarship at the San Francisco Ballet School. There she performed with the San Francisco Ballet in The Nutcracker, Sleeping Beauty, and in the leading role of Grace in Helgi Tomasson’s Meisten Mozart. Since joining the Oakland Ballet in 2018, she has performed the role of Luna in Luna Mexicana, the Sugar Plum Fairy in Graham Lustig’s The Nutcracker, Frida Kahlo in Viva la Vida, Elaine Kudo’s Duet and Phil Chan’s Quartet from Exquisite Corpse, created roles in works by Caili Quan, and Megan and Shannon Kurashige, and appeared in the dance films Brief Encounter, In Plain Sight, and What I See. When not dancing at Oakland Ballet, you can find Jazmine at her ballet school, Tutu School Union City, twirling with her dancers.

Ashley Thopiah (they/she/he) is a multidisciplinary dance artist with a BFA in Dance Performance from Butler University. At Butler, they performed a wide range of repertory, dancing corps, soloist, and principal roles in productions including Swan Lake, The Nutcracker, Giselle, La Bayadère, Cinderella, and George Balanchine’s The Four Temperaments. As a choreographer, Ashley developed original works for the Butler Ballet, most notably Jyoti and Ekta, which blend modern dance with Bharatanatyam to explore themes of duality and identity. In 2018, Ektawas performed at the National Opera House in Warsaw, Poland, and toured Prague, Kraków, Poznań, and Bratislava. Since joining Oakland Ballet in 2019, Ashley has performed in works by Graham Lustig, Caili Quan, Alyah Baker, and Seyong Kim, among others. They originated the role of Coffee in Lustig’s The Nutcracker and have contributed choreography to the company’s Angel Island Project—a production centered on the immigrant experience, which premiered in 2025. The project features collaboration with artists Natasha Adorée, Ye Feng, Elaine Kudo, Phil Chan, and Wei Wang.

Alyssa Viray (she/her) began her training at Westlake School for the Performing Arts where she performed the Sugar Plum Fairy, Princess Flora, and the Snow Queen in The Nutcracker, as well as Odile in Swan Lake. She received her BFA in Dance from the Alonzo King LINES Ballet Program at Dominican University of California. During her time there she performed works by Gregory Dawson, Dexandro Montalvo, Kara Davis, Liv Schaffer, and Jay Carlon. She furthered her training at Orsolina’28 Nunes/Flock Intensive, BalletX Winter Intensive, and Modus Operandi Summer Intensive. Most recently, Alyssa danced with DawsonDanceSF, under the direction of Gregory Dawson where she performed the world premiere of The Joy Protocol in collaboration with Richard Howell and The Middle Period for the Tannery Winter Dance Festival and Black Choreographer’s Festival. Since joining the Oakland Ballet Company in 2024, she has performed in Luna Mexicana, Graham Lustig’s The Nutcracker, and the Dancing Moons Festival: Angel Island Project. This is her second season with Oakland Ballet.