Magda Auñon    

Magda Auñon began her ballet training at the age of six and has since dedicated her life tothe art of dance.  Her studies began in Cuba under such famous Ballet Masters as Nikolai Yavorsky, Alexandra Denisova, and Alberto and Fernando Alonso.  In 1948, she joined the Alicia Alonso Ballet Company where she performed classical ballets with such well known dancers as Igor Youskevich, Andre Eglevsky, Melissa Hayden, & Lupe Serrano.  Moving to the United States in 1960, she continued her studies with the National Ballet of Washington.  She opened her own ballet school in Virginia and directed the Fairfax Youth Ballet until moving to Florida in 1973.  

As a member of the SERBA (South Eastern Regional Ballet Association) faculty, she has taught alongside Robert Joffrey and Richard England.  Under her direction, the Fort Lauderdale Ballet Classique has retained the status of “Honor Company” for the past 20 years.  She has also taught in summer programs such as Boston’s Children’s Workshop, Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet, Alabama Dance Theater, and the Joffrey Workshop Ballets.  She has participated in the Jackson International Ballet Competition as a judge, teacher, and coach.  In 2002, she was proud to coach her student, Courtney Clarkson (Teas), through the final round of the Junior Division in this prestigious competition.  She was also proud to see two former students, Raul Salamanca & Staisha Grosch, qualify to copete in this important event.  Magda has also served as a judge for the National Endowment of the Arts for ten years.  Her career was highlighted by her selection as “Distinguished Teacher” by the White House Commission of Presidential Scholars in 1989.  

Magda is known throughout the United States as one of the finest and most respected ballet teachers.  In 2001, 2003, and 2005, at the Youth American Ballet Grand Prix Finals in New York, Magda was named “Teacher of the Year” by Dance Magazine.  Magda Auñon’s School of Classical Ballet was also named “Best School” by Youth America Grand Prix at the regional competition held in Boca Raton.  She was also selected by Peter Martins of New York City Ballet, along with 24 other teachers/directors from all over the country, to participate in a teacher workshop.  This highly selected group of teachers were invited to attend this seminar to share their methods which have produced some of the finest ballet dancers in the country.  

Magda Auñon is honored to be able to still teach and share her deep passion of ballet with her many students.

Courtney Teas  

Courtney Teas received her early ballet training at Magda Auñon School of Ballet.  Under the coaching of Ms. Magda Auñon she attended the prestigious USA International Ballet Competition in 2002 & was the youngest competitor to make it to the finals. From there she attended the University of the North Carolina School of the Arts as a high school student where she majored in Ballet.  There she received the highest merit scholarship awarded to dance students.  During this time she spent several summers in New York City training with the American Ballet Theater as a full tuition National Training Scholar, as well as at the Pacific Northwest Ballet in Seattle, WA.  Upon graduation, Courtney joined the San Francisco Ballet where she danced as a corps de ballet member for five years.  With the SF Ballet, Courtney performed various roles in full-length ballets such as Giselle, Don Quixote, Swan Lake, Romeo & Juliet and Fire Bird, and had the opportunity to tour around the world.  She also performed soloist roles in The Nutcracker, Swan Lake, and Four Temperaments.  She has worked with renowned choreographers and performed in a variety of other pieces of dance including works by George Balanchine, Lew Christensen, Christopher Wheeldon, Mark Morris, Stanton Welch, Yuri Possokhov, James Kudelka, and Helgi Tomasson.

Courtney completed her BA in Performing Arts at Saint Mary’s College of CA in 2009.  She moved back to Florida about 6 years ago & greatly enjoys sharing her knowledge & passion of ballet with her students. Courtney lives in Parkland with her husband & 2 children.

Joanna Gustinelli  

A native of Florida, Joanna began her ballet training at age eight at Miami City Ballet School & Magda Auñon School of Classical Ballet.  She has trained at many prestigious summer intensives including Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet, Boston Ballet, and American Ballet Theater.  During her training, Joanna had the opportunity to perform at the International Ballet Competition Gala in Jackson, Mississippi.  Upon graduation, she was offered a scholarship to attend Ecole Superieure de Danse du Quebec in Montreal.  Soon after, she began performing professionally with Le Jeune Ballet de Quebec, Ballet Ouest de Montreal, and White Birch Ballet Company before continuing to work as a freelance dancer in Canada.  Joanna was invited to work with several renowned choreographers such as Mario Radakovsky, Gioconda Barbuto, and Joshua Beamish.  Joanna has choreographed contemporary pieces that received superior awards at the American Dance Competition.  She is entering her fifth year as a choreographer and teacher for Saint Andrew’s School.  This will be her fifth year teaching for Magda Auñon as well.   

Magdalena Maury  

Bio Coming soon…

Douglas Gawriljuk  

Born in Brazil Mr. Gawriljuk was trained by his father Ruslan Gawriljuk, and also took the exams of the Royal Academy of Dancing (RAD ) in London, England, where he graduated with honors in September 1986. Later that year he received the Gold Medal at the “Conselho Brasileiro de Danca” in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, was a Silver Medalist at the “ Seventh Concurso Internacional de Ballet” in Trujillo, Peru, and won the first prize in 1994 at the, XII Festival de Danca in Joinville, Brazil. From 1988 through 1990 attended the School of American Ballet, New York, with a full scholarship.

As professional dancer Mr. Gawriljuk started his career in 1990 with Ballet Du Nord in France under the direction of Alfonso Cata. In 1991 he joined The Basel Ballet in Switzerland as a soloist, directed by Youri Vamos. Mr. Gawriljuk joined Miami City Ballet as a principal dancer from 1993 – 1998 and later in 1999 directed by Edward Villella. His special performances with MCB include tours to The Spoleto Festival, The Edinburgh Festival, The 1996 Olympics in Atlanta – Georgia, The Kennedy Center, The Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, Wolftrap’s 25th anniversary and appeared at the gala The Next Step (Career Transition for Dancer in New York 1997). From 1998 – 1999 Mr. Gawriljuk moved to Pennsylvania to join The Pittsburgh Ballet Theater as a principal dancer, directed by Terrence S. Orr, where he excelled at interpreting many of the big classical ballets. In May 2000 through 2005 he joined Maximum Dance Company in South Florida as a principal dancer and where he also worked as a Ballet Master under the Artistic Direction of Yanis Pikieris and David Palmer, working with many international choreographers such as Daniel Rosseel, Jean Christophe Blavier, KT Nelson among others. In 2003-2004 he was nominated the best male dancer in South Florida by the Sun Post. From 2006 – 2009 he danced for Ballet Florida under the artistic direction of Marie Hale where he retired from his dancing career.
As Ballet Teacher he was part of the faculty at Palm Beach Ballet Center and is frequently invited as guest teacher in different schools around the country such as, Douglas Andersen School of Arts in Jacksonville FL, Ballet Pacifica in California, The School of Dulce Anaya in Jacksonville FL, Southern Dance Theater in Boynton Beach FL, Gulfshore Ballet in Fort Myers FL, as well as Ballet Ruslan in Sao Paulo Brazil, and most recently, Virginia School of the Arts. 
In the fall of 2009 Mr. Gawriljuk worked as guest ballet teacher at the UNCSA where he was invited back to be part of their summer program 2010. From 2010 to 2012 he joined the dance faculty at UNCSA. During his time Mr. Gawriljuk taught Ballet to all levels, ballet partnering, character and variations. He also served as Ballet Master for The Nutcracker, and also performed the role of “Herr Drosselmeyer” in 2010, served as the Artistic Supervisor over this production since 2011 where he continued to supervise. He also was part of co-directing Swan Lake Act II production for the final UNCSA School of Dance spring concert which was also televised at UNCTV, and co-directed the UNCSA summer program in 2011 for the School of Dance and for the 2012 UNCSA Comprehensive Dance Intensive. 
Since the end of Summer 2012 he moved back with his family to Florida, where he works as a guest teacher, choreographer. In 2013 he started his own Summer Program in New Orleans for the New Orleans Ballet Theatre Summer Intensive. Recently he was invited to teach company classes and coach rehearsals for the Royal New Zealand Ballet under the artistic Direction of Ethan Stiefel. 

Marife Gimenez  Marife Gimenez is a multi-versatile dance artist born in Venezuela. Ms. Gimenez started her ballet studies in 1982 at the Fanny Montiel School of Ballet in Caracas. Ms. Gimenez repertoire includes the classics, Balanchine, and contemporary works by today’s leading choreographers.  Her professional career began at the age of fourteen with The National Ballet of Caracas under the Artistic Direction of Vicente Nebrada where she worked her way to a principal dancer performing many of the classics and Vicente Nebrada’s repertoire and winning several awards like, Casa Del Artista, for her work as a classical ballerina and the Jose Felix Rivas medal from the Venezuelan Government for her outstanding artistic achievements. In 1995 she moved to Miami Florida to join the Miami City Ballet as a principal dancer directed by Edward Villella. She has also worked for Maximum Dance Company under the direction of Yanis Pikieris and David Palmer. From 2006-2009 she danced for Ballet Florida under the artistic direction Marie Hale where she retired from her dancing career. Some of the Ms. Gimenez special performances include tours to The Edinburgh Festival, The Kennedy Center Honors, The 1996 Olympics in Atlanta – Georgia, Wolftrap’s 25th Anniversary, appeared at the gala The Next Step (Career Transition for Dancer) in October 1997 in New York, international dance projects such as Dolomytica in Europe and Casablanca The Dance in China and guest artist appearances with different companies capturing the attention of the international press. In 2010 and 2011 Ms Gimenez was invited to teach for the UNCSA School of Dance summer intensive, where she also choreographed two pieces for the Workshop performances. (Handell Suites, and Dream Scene from Don Quixote Act II). Since the Summer 2012 Ms. Gimenez moved back with her family to Florida. Where she works as a guest teacher, choreographer for various schools and around the US. She is also on faculty for the New Orleans Ballet Theatre Summer Intensive since 2013.     Lillian Hill Lillian has been dancing since the age of six. She began her training at Pro-Am Dance Studio studying ballet, jazz, tap, lyrical, and hip-hop. She furthered her classical ballet training with Magda Aunon at Fort Lauderdale Ballet Classique for four years. While attending Dillard Canter for the Performing Arts as a dance major, she worked as an apprentice with Jubilee Dance Theater and completed summer intensives at Orlando and Joffrey Ballet. Upon graduation she joined the Richmond Ballet and began working towards a BFA in dance at Virginia Commonwealth University. In 2011 she became a member Arts Ballet Theater of Florida and has performed lead roles in Vladimir Issaev’s Fairy Doll, The Nutcracker, and El Encuentro, to name a few. While continuing to perform and tour with the company, she has also taught at various dance schools in South Florida and furthers her education every summer by partaking in teacher seminars such as Pennsylvania Academy of Ballet Society’s Vaganova Seminar and Finis Jhung Teacher Workshop. She is thrilled to give back to the studio that initiated her career and to share her knowledge and professional experience with the students at Magda Aunon’s Fort Lauderdale Ballet Classique this year.   Gabriela Contreras   Gabriela Contreras began her ballet training at the age of 6, at Magda Auñon School of Ballet (formerly Fort Lauderdale Ballet Classique). Under the instruction of the Artistic Director, Magda Auñon, she participated in the American Dance Competition in 2013 and won the 3rd place in the Duo/Trio Category. As a member of FLBC Company, Gaby has performed in the yearly Nutcracker performance as well as a spring performances. While at the company, she performed principal and soloist roles in Don Quixote, Paquita, Le Corsaire, La Bayadere, Mary Poppins, The Nutcracker, Enchanted Fairy Tales, Tarantella, and Sleeping Beauty. During her high school years at Calvary Christian Academy, she earned Dance Technique Awards and lead roles while dancing ballet, tap, contemporary, lyrical and jazz pieces.   She currently teaches Creative Movement through Level 2 at Magda Auñon School of Ballet.   Gaby has earned merit scholarships and attended summer intensive programs such as Saratoga Springs Dance Intensive, Next Generation Ballet, and Arts Ballet Theatre of Florida. She has also been accepted to other summer programs, some with professional consideration like, Nashville Ballet,  Joffrey Academy Chicago, Houston Ballet, Pittsburgh Ballet, Miami City Ballet, Ballet West, and Austin Ballet.  Gabriela is currently completing a Bachelor in Exercise Science at Florida Atlantic University to then continue pursuing a Doctorate in Physical Therapy with a minor in Dance.