Alexander Patrick
L. Alexander Patrick, PhD., a Louisiana native and educator in the Social Sciences, is happily in his 7th year with the Convergence Ballet. Throughout his artistic timeline, he has continued to enjoy indulging in theater and dance performing, along with his visual artistry. Dr. Patrick began his dance training with the Baton Rouge Ballet and has since danced locally and nationally for a number of companies, such as Magnolia Dance Theatre, the Cangelosi Dance Project, the Atlanta Dance Connection, Scorpius Dance Theatre, Desert Dance Theatre, and CaZo Dance Company, just to name a few. He appreciates the arts in every way and continues to work towards a shared value for the experiences of every being and uses the arts to raise awareness of various issues impacting the human experience. He enjoys a large variety of dance styles and is very thankful for all of the amazing and inspirational teachers, dancers, choreographers, family, and friends that have supported and nurtured his talents over the years.
Ashlyn Hall
Ashlyn Hall has trained in ballet for 13 years. She has studied with Kentucky Ballet Theatre, St. Louis Ballet, ARKA Ballet, and Ballet Arizona, and currently trains under the direction of Ms. Alecia Good-Boresow. This marks her second performance with Convergence Ballet Company. Ashlyn is a high school senior graduating this spring and plans to continue her dance training at the collegiate level.
David Maurice
David Maurice is a contemporary dance artist, performer, choreographer, and educator based in Los Angeles. His performance career spans over a decade and includes Ate9 Dance Company, Gallim Dance, choreographer Roderick George, and The Foundry under Alex Ketley. Maurice has also performed with Madboots Dance, Convergence Ballet, Loni Landon Dance Project, and ConDanza, appearing in festivals and venues internationally, including Jacob’s Pillow Inside/Out, Fall for Dance, the Gdańsk Solo Dance Festival, and the Prisma International Contemporary Dance Festival of Panama.
As a choreographer, Maurice has created work for independent projects, festivals, and dance companies, including Convergence Ballet, Santa Barbara Dance Theater, and the Cocodaco Dance Project, where he served as Artistic Director from 2017–2020. His creative practice explores collaborative authorship, embodied research, and contemporary performance structures.
Maurice has taught master classes and workshops nationally and internationally at NYU, the University of California, Santa Barbara, Loyola Marymount University, Northwestern University, Alonzo King LINES Ballet Training Program, and the National Ballet of Panama. His teaching integrates contemporary technique, choreographic inquiry, and mentorship practices that prepare dancers for the evolving landscape of the professional field.
Julie Zukaitis
Originally from Nebraska, Julie Rose Zukaitis began her dance training at the Omaha Academy of Ballet where she studied the ISTD ballet syllabus along with jazz, modern and tap. She continued her dance education at the University of Arizona graduating Summa Cum Laude with a Bachelor’s of Fine Arts in dance. After graduating, Julie joined American Midwest Ballet performing in Swan Lake, The Nutcracker and original works. She danced with Princess Cruises for three years traveling to over 30 countries and performing various shows including two directed by Stephen Schwartz and choreographed by Al Blackstone. Julie has danced with Convergence Ballet Company, and Scorpius Dance Theater. She teaches dance locally in both studio and collegiate settings and is certified in the ABT National Training Curriculum Pre-Primary-Level 5 and “Minding The Gap” mental health for dancers.
Katelyn Beaulieu
Katelyn Beaulieu began dancing at age 3 and completed most of her training at Studio West Dance Academy in Olympia, WA, under Stephanie Wood Ennett. At 15, she moved to train at The Ballet Clinic with David King and Ashley Baker, and the following year attended Houston Ballet Academy, performing in Claudio Muñoz’s Coppélia as the Scottish Doll and a Villager.
Some of her favorite roles include the Sugar Plum Fairy in The Nutcracker and Tinker Bell in Peter Pan, along with contemporary partnering works at Studio West.
Katelyn has attended summer intensives with SAB Young Dancer, ABT Virtual, Bolshoi NY, Nashville Ballet, Houston Ballet, Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre, San Francisco Ballet, and Ballet Arizona.
She is especially grateful to Marianna Ramsour and Gabriella Woolsey for their support. Outside of dance, Katelyn enjoys traveling, reading, and spending time with family and friends.
Madeline Coury
Maddie Coury is a dancer with a foundation in classical and contemporary dance. She began her training in Prescott, studying a variety of dance styles that developed both her technical versatility and artistic range. During high school, Maddie focused primarily on ballet, training at the Joffrey Ballet School in New York and the Kirov Academy of Ballet in Washington, D.C. She later graduated from the Alonzo King LINES Ballet Training Program in San Francisco. Her professional performance experience includes work with Océanica Ballet, the SF Jazz Symphony, Desert Dance Theatre, and Convergence Ballet. Maddie also works as a freelance dancer, performing in projects throughout Arizona.
Mary Jane Girard
An Arizona native, Mary Jane grew up dancing with Ballet Etudes before joining Ballet Arizona’s Studio Company and performing with the main company in 2023. Her repertoire expands countless classical ballets, works by Balanchine, and original contemporary and neoclassical pieces where she has had the opportunity to work with a number of amazing choreographers. She has also had great fun infiltrating the theater world by guesting at Hale Theater in their production of Anastasia.
Matthew Mendez
Matthew Mendez is originally from Phoenix, Arizona where he started his dance training at the age of 14. He briefly trained with Nicole Olson, Jennifer Cafarella Betts, and Frances Cohen Smith until he began to attend the University of Arizona’s School of Dance. While there, Matthew trained with the UA dance faculty to hone his skills in Ballet, Modern, and Jazz technique and graduated with a BFA in dance in 2022. Since then, Matthew has danced internationally with Royal Caribbean Cruises, recently completing his 4th contract with the company. Matthew is excited to begin his journey with Convergence Ballet this spring.
Natalia Rengifo Chacón
Natalia Rengifo Chacón is an accomplished dancer originally from Cali, Colombia. She is a graduate of Incolballet, where she performed the principal role in Paquita for her graduation. Natalia refined her technique through rigorous training at the Kansas School of Classical Ballet and Ballet Arizona. She placed in the top three for both classical and contemporary variations at the Youth America Grand Prix semi-finals, leading to the New York Finals in 2019. Natalia joined Convergence in 2025.
Natasha Rader
Natasha grew up in Coos Bay, Oregon, where she began her training under her mother, Christine Rader. She continued her studies at Marin Dance Theatre, Orlando Ballet School, and Alberta Ballet School before joining the Studio Company at Texas Ballet Theater.
During her time at Texas Ballet Theater, Natasha performed in works by Ben Stevenson, including The Nutcracker and Alice in Wonderland, and collaborated directly with Stevenson to originate a role in his ballet Requiem. She later joined Golden State Ballet, where she performed works by Norbert De La Cruz III, Gabrielle Lamb, Raul Salamanca and Nathan Madden. It was there that she premiered her first choreographic work, Thoughtscape, as part of the company’s inaugural Crafted program. The work was selected for presentation in the triple bill The Four Seasons, alongside ballets by George Balanchine and Houston Thomas.
In addition to her performance and choreographic work, Natasha is a comprehensively trained Stott Pilates instructor and enjoys helping dancers and everyday movers improve their physical well-being. She is currently based in Southern California and has worked with Ballet Collective San Diego, Golden State Ballet, San Diego Dance Theatre, and Convergence Ballet Company.
Samantha Gray
Samantha received her ballet training from New Jersey School of Ballet. At age 15, she became a member of the New Jersey Ballet Junior Company, where she performed and toured nationally with the New Jersey Ballet Company. There, she danced corps de ballet roles in Giselle, Sleeping Beauty, Esmeralda, & soloist roles in The Nutcracker. Samantha graduated with honors from Alonzo King's LINES Ballet BFA program at Dominican University of California, where she performed original contemporary ballet works by Alonzo King, Maurya Kerr, and Gregory Dawson. Upon graduation, she moved to Arizona and joined Terpsicore Dance Company for three seasons, where she performed in contemporary works and classical works, including principal roles in The Nutcracker and Paquita. Samantha joined Convergence Ballet Company in 2023 and has since danced various classical and contemporary roles, most notably Diamond Fairy in The Sleeping Beauty & Sugar Plum Fairy in The Nutcracker.
Sunny Hsieh
Sunny Hsieh was raised in Toronto, Ontario, Canada Sunny began training seriously under Evelyn Hart and later joined Orlando Ballet School as a Trainee. Sunny has danced professionally for Ballet Palm Beach, Ballet Des Moines, Ballet Spartanburg, and Colorado West Performing Arts Company. Sunny has been with Canyon Concert Ballet for the past three seasons under artistic director Michael Pappalardo. Sunny has performed a wide variety of roles such as Romeo and Benvolio in Romeo and Juliet, Harker in Dracula, Peter Pan, and Albrecht in Giselle. Sunny is very excited to take part in Convergence Ballet's program.