The
Dancers

Born in Lewisberry, PA, USA, Heather began her ballet training at Pennsylvania Regional Ballet and later moved to Toronto to complete her education at Canada’s National Ballet School. Before joining Alberta Ballet in 2013, Heather had the opportunity to work with both Cincinnati Ballet and BalletMet in Columbus, OH. Now in her 11th season, some of her favourite roles have included Lang in Jean Grande-Maitre’s All of Us, Cinderella in Christopher Anderson’s Cinderella, and the Principal Woman in George Balanchine’s Allegro Brillante. 

Jennifer is from Toronto, ON originally, but has always called Calgary home. She trained at the Alberta Ballet School for 12 years before joining Alberta Ballet in 2009. Now in her fifteenth season with the company, she has had the opportunity to perform many notable roles including Cinderella in Christopher Anderson’s Cinderella, Helen Pickett’s Petal, and the role of Odette and Odile in Christopher Anderson’s Swan Lake.

Mariko is originally from Hiroshima, Japan, and received her ballet training at both the International Ballet Academy in Japan and Canada’s National Ballet School. Before joining Alberta Ballet, she had the opportunity to dance in Germany with Leipzig Ballet as well as with Opera Atelier in Toronto. Now in her Seventeeth season with us, Mariko has brought many wonderful roles to life on stage over the years, including Cio-Cio San in Stanton Welch’s Madame Butterfly, Giselle in Giselle, and Titania in Bruce Wells’ A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Lang is from Harbin, China, and began his classical ballet training at The School of Liaoning Ballet at the age of nine. He continued his training at both the Goh Ballet Academy in Vancouver and the Washington School of Ballet before joining Columbia Classical Ballet Company in Washington, DC. During his eight years with Alberta Ballet, Lang has danced many wonderful roles, including Prince Desire in Christopher Anderson’s The Sleeping Beauty, Puck in Bruce Wells’ A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Renfield in Ben Stevenson’s Dracula.

Luna is originally from Kanagawa, Japan, and is starting her 11th season with Alberta Ballet. Luna began her ballet training at local ballet schools in Japan. At the age of 16, she received a full scholarship to continue her training at Houston Ballet Academy, then completed her time at Boston Ballet School as a trainee before joining Alberta Ballet in 2013. She has danced many soloist and principal roles while with the company and was promoted to Principal Dancer in August 2023. Some of her favourite roles include the title role of Giselle, Juliet in Romeo & Juliet and Suzuki in Madame Butterfly. Her repertoire includes Sugar Plum Fairy and Klara in The Nutcracker, Cinderella and Spring Fairy in Cinderella, Princess Aurora, Princess Florine and Fairy of Joy in The Sleeping Beauty, Alice Liddle in Alice in Wonderland, Red Women and Pink Women in Jiří Kylián’s Forgotten Land, Cordelia in All of Us and more. She has enjoyed the opportunity of collaborating with many choreographers such as Jean Grand-Maître, Christopher Anderson, Ben Stevenson, Stanton Welch, Cathy Marston, Anne Plemondon, Annabelle Lopez Ochoa, Helen Pickett, Wen Wei Wang, Yukichi Hattori, Garrett Smith, Alysa Pires, Yin Yue and Leiland Charles.