Schedule

Burlesque & Drag Show - Friday, March 1 at 6:30 pm (Sheridan Opera House)
Burlesque & Drag Show - Saturday, March 2 at 6:30 pm (Sheridan Opera House)

Alberto J. Arias

Alberto J. Arias is a world-renowned freelance dancer and choreographer from Chicago who has established himself by performing for companies such as Joseph Holmes Dance Theatre, River North Dance Chicago and Principle dancer with Hubbard Street Dance Chicago. He has also served as the former Ballet Master and Rehearsal Director for Gus Giordano Jazz Dance Chicago. Alberto received a Ruth Page nomination for Outstanding Dancer and was voted Best Dancer 1992 by Chicago Dance Magazine. He has worked with and for numerous choreographers including: Margo Sappington, Twyla Tharp, Lynn Taylor-Corbett, Lou Conte, James Kadalka, Gwen Vernan, and Christopher Chadman. He was Assistant to David Bell in his rendition of the musical Fame and Choreographer for Michael Weber’s A Funny Thing Happened On the Way To the Forum and Assistant Choreographer to Randy Duncan in several works for the Joffrey Ballet and Dance For Life.

Alberto is enjoying his extensive career in the pageantry system with his company. He has choreographed over 80 winning talents in the continental system, Miss Gay America, USofA, Entertainer of the year F.I., All American Goddess and many other systems. He won overall talent in Miss Gay America 4 years in a row.

Ethan Kirschbaum

Ethan Kirschbaum is originally from Oakland, CA, and began his dance career as an apprentice with the Savage Jazz Dance Company while still in high school. Traveling to New York City to attend the Ailey School/Fordham University B.F.A. program, Ethan graduated summa cum laude with departmental honors in dance performance. While in his junior year, he joined Hubbard Street 2, dancing and teaching workshops around the globe while concurrently completing his degree. He has performed with the Santa Fe Opera, and danced internationally including Canada, Mexico, Holland, Germany, Israel, Switzerland, Luxembourg, France, and Russia. In 2011 Ethan moved to Saarbrücken, Germany to dance with Donlon Dance Company at the Saarländisches Staatstheater under the direction of Marguerite Donlon. Until its abrupt closure, he was on faculty at the Lou Conte Dance Studio since 2012 and was recently named the Scholarship Mentor, delegating scholarships to promising pre- professional and early career artists. After completing five seasons with River North Dance Chicago, Ethan is certified by the Ailey School to teach all levels of the Horton Technique and is a freelance artist performing at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, choreographing locally, and teaching nationally as a guest to dance studios and university programs alike. He is also the Artistic Associate for Cerqua Rivera Dance Theatre, Assistant Director of AJA Talent, and in charge of Modern at The Chicago Academy for the Arts. Ethan is the proud founder of Chicago Movement Collective and director of the Claire Bataille Legacy Program, continuing to provide a home for talented and passionate pre-professional dancers.

Pollux Buerger

Pollux Buerger (He/They) is a Chicago based artist, teacher, choreographer and human. With a BFA in Dance from Columbia College of Chicago they have performed with Same Planet Performance Project, Concert Dance Inc, Hedwig Dances and freelanced throughout Chicago and surrounding areas. They teach and handle administration and communication at Dance Center Evanston. Pollux joined AJA Talent in 2021 and couldn’t be happier being part of the team.

Fernando Duarte

Fernando Duarte grew up in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and received their training at the Escola Estadual de Danças Maria Olenewa. In 2008, they were awarded a full scholarship to train at The Harid Conservatory in Boca Raton, FL. With the guidance of the teachers at Harid and Franco De Vita and Raymond Lukens at the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School in New York, they were offered a traineeship with the Joffrey Academy of Dance, Official School of The Joffrey Ballet, where they danced lead roles in ballets such as Cinderella, Coppélia, and contemporary works by award-winning choreographers of the prestigious Winning Works Choreographic Competition at the Joffrey.

Since joining The Joffrey Ballet in 2013, Duarte has danced many roles in the company’s extensive repertory including the Chinese dancer in Christopher Wheeldon’s The Nutcracker, lead dancer in Chanel Da Silva’s Swing Low, Liam Scarlett’s Vespertine, and Cathy Marston’s adaptation of John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men, where they played the antagonist Curley as well as the protagonist George. In the Joffrey’s latest collaboration with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Duarte brought to life Platèe, the non-binary water nymph which was the first role to ever be danced on pointe by an assigned-at-birth male, non-binary person in a story ballet.

Duarte received the Jeannot B. Cerrone Award for excellence in dance performance, an award given to the students who most improve during an academic year at The Harid Conservatory.

Brandon Talbott

Brandon Talbott (Manassas, VA), decided to attend his first dance class at age 9 and was trained at multiple studios throughout the DMV area. Within his competitive dance years, he was fortunate enough to be featured on multiple episodes of a variety of reality dance TV shows. After finishing his senior year of high school in 2017, he attended University of North Carolina School of the Arts (UNCSA) looking to become more educated in the world of concert dance with a major in Contemporary dance. There, he worked with choreographers such as Doug Varone, Ashley Lindsey, and Stephanie Martinez. He also was lucky enough to work closely with the UNCSA Ballet department on multiple occasions and attended the Boston Ballet Summer Intensive. Graduating in 2021, he is excited to begin his professional career go into his now second season with Visceral!