David Wilcox – Artistic Director
Artistic Director Born and raised in the Los Angeles area, David Wilcox began studying the Royal Academy of Dance syllabus at the age of eleven. Having successfully completed all exams through the Advanced level, he continued his studies in London and at the age of nineteen began his professional career in Germany. He spent seven years dancing with the Berlin Ballet, the Nuremberg Ballet, and the Heidelberg Ballet. Returning home in 1978, he co-founded Long Beach Ballet and formed a professional company which became Southern California’s most successful ballet company for 15 years. Mr. Wilcox has coached several of his students for international ballet competitions and many have gone on to join such companies as San Francisco Ballet, Hamburg Ballet, National Ballet of Canada, Milwaukee Ballet, Pacific Northwest Ballet, Kansas City Ballet, Oregon Ballet Theatre, and others. Over the past several years he has produced and directed eight ballet tours to Asia and has staged three full-length ballets for the Classical Ballet of Guangzhou, China: The Nutcracker, La Bayadere and Cinderella. He is a prolific choreographer and has created numerous full-length ballets for the school and the company. He lives with his wife and daughters in Long Beach.
Ellen Bigelow
Ellen Bigelow received her initial training from Palos Verdes Ballet. At age 12 she was encouraged by Alaine Haubert to audition for ABT’s televised version of Le Corsaire and landed a role as one of the garland girls in the “jardin anime” scene. In 2003, she placed in the top 12 at Youth America Grand Prix, performing Aurora’s third act variation from Sleeping Beauty. In 2008 Ellen earned her B.F.A. in dance from the University of Cincinnati where she danced for such choreographers and teachers as Vivi Flindt, Qi Jiang, Victoria Morgan, and Marat Daukayev. She danced professionally with Nevada Ballet Theater and Eugene Ballet before returning home to Southern California. In 2012 she was invited to teach master ballet classes for the Palos Verdes High dance team as well as West High School.
Shani Englert
Ms. Englert began her training with Audrey Share at the age of five and continued her training with David Wilcox at Long Beach Ballet Arts Center. She was featured as Gretel in the school’s first production of Hansel and Gretel and as Clara in Long Beach Ballet’s The Nutcracker. After continuing her ballet training, Ms. Englert performed with the Long Beach Ballet and Los Angeles Classical Ballet under the direction of David Wilcox. She received her Bachelor’s Degree in Business and Marketing at California State University Long Beach while continuing her ballet training with Rebecca Wright and Colleen O’Callahan, both former dancers with American Ballet Theatre. Besides a member of Long Beach Ballet Academy’s teaching faculty, Ms. Englert is the ballet mistress and administrative production manager for the school’s productions and performing company.
Gillian Finley
Ms. Finley comes to Long Beach Ballet with over 22 years of teaching experience. She began her dance training in La Canada with Joyce Johnson and went on to train in Orange County with Judith Aaen, Richard Adama and Kristen Potts. Ms. Finley danced professionally with Ballet Pacifica, Nevada Dance Theatre and Eugene Ballet. She holds a B.A. in Dance from UCI and an M.A. in Arts Management from American University and, for ten years, she served as the director of Ballet Pacifica’s elite Conservatory program under company director, Molly Lynch. Ms. Finley is also a certified Stott Pilates instructor. She has been a long-time admirer of David Wilcox and Long Beach Ballet and is delighted to be a member of the LBB faculty.
Jessica Stone
Ms. Stone began her training at Fallbrook Civic Ballet at the age of ten before studying with Linda Yorth at American Ballet School in San Diego. She earned a full scholarship at Pacific Northwest Ballet to dance in the prestigious professional division. As a student, she had the opportunity to perform in PNB’s Nutcracker and Romeo and Juliet. At age eighteen, Ms. Stone accepted a professional contract to dance with Eugene Ballet and Ballet Idaho under the artistic direction of Toni Pimble. During her seven years with Eugene Ballet and Ballet Idaho, she toured throughout the United States and Canada performing an extensive array of productions of both classical and contemporary ballet.
Megan Wilcox
Megan Wilcox began studying at Long Beach Ballet Academy at age five. She has performed the roles of Clara, Snow Queen and Dewdrop in The Nutcracker, Jasmine in Aladdin, and Odette in Swan Lake. She was awarded first place in the classical & contemporary divisions of the Youth America Grand Prix in Los Angeles and competed at the YAGP New York Finals for five years. She competed at the Prix de Lausanne in Switzerland, the USA International Ballet Competition in Jackson, and joined the SemperOper Ballet in Dresden Germany in 2014. After one year in Germany, she returned to the U.S. and began teaching and dancing with California Ballet in San Diego.
Jacie Zhong
Ms. Zhong started dancing at a very young age and continued her ballet training with Long Beach Ballet. She performed the roles Gretel in Hansel and Gretel, Clara in The Nutcracker, Snow Queen in The Nutcracker, Cinderella in Cinderella and Aurora in Sleeping Beauty. She placed Top 12 in the Youth America Grand Prix and performed at the Regional Dance America Festival. After graduating from high school, she moved to Portland to dance with Oregon Ballet Theater. With OBT she performed corps and principal roles in ballets such as a soloist in George Balanchine’s Who Cares? and Divertimento 15, a Willis in Lola de Avila’s Giselle and a swan in Christopher Stowell’s Swan Lake. She has toured throughout China as Odette in Swan Lake and to South Korea as Marzipan in George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker.
Johnny Zhong
Mr. Zhong graduated from the Shen Yang Arts Institute in China and performed for seven years as a soloist with the Classical Ballet of Guangzhou. He was featured as the Golden Idol in La Bayadere Cupid in Don Quixote, the Court Jester in Swan Lake, and Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet, as well as many other leading roles. His father is a well-known Chinese choreographer and Mr. Zhong has continued in his father’s footsteps by choreographing for and competing in several international ballet competitions, finishing in 8th place at the Shanghai International Ballet Competition in 2005. He recently immigrated to the U.S. as a free-lance ballet dancer and joined the faculty of the Long Beach Ballet.