Faculty

SERENA CHU (Faculty) was born in Long Beach, New York, where she received her early training at the School of American Ballet, performed in numerous productions with the New York City Ballet, and danced in the 1990 Workshop performance of Puss In Boots by Robert LaFosse. After attending the Bolshoi Ballet program in Vail, Colorado, Chu went on to study as a scholarship student with the Bolshoi Ballet Academy in Moscow, Russia, and was one of the first Americans to graduate from the school. She was a member of Sarasota Ballet before joining Tulsa Ballet, where she danced many featured rolls in works from renowned choreographers such as N. Duato, G. Balanchine, J. Kylián, W. Forsythe, V. Caniparoli, B. Stevenson, A. DeMille, P. Taylor, T. Tharp, C. Wheeldon and S. Welch. Some favorite ballets in Chu’s repertoire include Arenal, Without Words, Lambarena, Company B, Serenade, Nine Sinatra Songs, Remansos, Por Vos Muero, and SeAthrough, a piece created on her by Tony Fabre. Chu was a guest principal with Ballet Des Moines during its inaugural years and helped build a new regional company in the U.S. Chu has been seen in Dance Magazine, The New York Times, Newsday, and the covers of the Tulsa World and DM magazine. She is a YoungArts award winner and was featured on “CBS Sunday Morning”. In addition to performing leading roles on the stages of the Joyce Theater in New York City, and the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C., Chu has taught in many notable schools around the country, including Tulsa, Oklahoma; Salt Lake City, Utah; Des Moines, Iowa; Las Vegas, Nevada; and now in Atlanta, Georgia, where she has staged works with Atlanta Ballet 2, including their family ballets of Beauty and the Beast, The Swan Princess and Snow White.

ASHLEY GIBSON (Faculty) began her dance training at the age of five at Academy of Dance Arts in Canton, GA. She is a graduate of Kennesaw State University, where she received a Bachelor of Arts in dance with a concentration in classical ballet. During her time at KSU, she performed in a variety of classical and contemporary ballet works with the KSU Dance Company. As a dance instructor in the Atlanta area for the past nine years, Ashley has discovered an immense passion for dance pedagogy and working with kids of all ages. Ashley is now in her fifth season as an Atlanta Ballet faculty member. In 2021, Ashley premiered a new work, Châdash: REnew, REpair, REbuild, in the Spring for Spring Dance Festival. When she’s not dancing or teaching, Ashley enjoys hiking and being outdoors. She is also a freelance journalist and dance critic in the local Atlanta area.

ANNA PENNY (Faculty) was born in St. Petersburg, Russia, and at 10 years old was accepted into the Belarusian State Choreography College, where studied classical, character, modern and other styles of dance. During this time, Anna traveled with the college through Eastern and Western Europe and Asia. She performed in international competitions and Prix De Lausanne representing the country of Belarus. Anna performed in classical ballets, such as Swan Lake, Nutcracker, Corsair, Sleeping Beauty, Don Quixote and Raymonda. She performed for the Queen of the Netherlands and for Chelsea Clinton. Anna participated in the movie Russian Arc, which made the “Guinness Book of World Records” for non-stop taping in the Hermitage in St. Petersburg, Russia. She danced for a movie, A Parent’s Guide to Ballet. While in United States, Anna performed at Carolina Ballet and was also teaching ballet to children at Cary Ballet Conservatory, Florida Southern College, Florida Dance Theater and many more. During this time, Anna was Children’s Ballet Mistress, staged many classical ballets, choreographed original ballets, character dances and contemporary pieces for all age groups. She had the opportunity to coach and take students to YAGP. Some of Anna’s students now perform on stages such as NYC Ballet, Atlanta Ballet, Carolina Ballet, Los Angeles Ballet and many others.

ABIGAIL TAN-GAMINO (Faculty) began her classical training at the Halili Cruz School of Dance in the Philippines, before continuing her studies at the Cultural Center of the Philippines Dance School on full scholarship. She quickly rose through the ranks at Philippine Ballet Theatre (PBT) to principal artist. Leading roles included Kitri in Don Quixote; Odette/Odile in Swan Lake; Nikya in La Bayadère; title character in Giselle; Cio Cio San in Tom Pazik’s Madame Butterfly; Sugar Plum Fairy in The Nutcracker; Principal Woman in Tschaikovsky Pas de Deux, Who Cares? and Concerto Barocco; and Russian Girl and Waltz Girl in Serenade. During this time, Ms. Tan-Gamino won first place in the senior division of the NAMCYA ballet competition. She later joined American Repertory Ballet under the direction of Graham Lustig for one year before dancing with Atlanta Ballet until retiring from the stage in 2014. Ms. Tan-Gamino worked with and performed the works of world-acclaimed choreographers such as Twyla Tharp, Gina Patterson, Helen Pickett, Juel Lane, Jorden Morris, Michael Pink, Annabelle Lopez Ochoa, Christopher Wheeldon, Alexei Ratmansky, David Bintley, Val Cariparoli and Ohad Naharin. Upon retirement, she joined Atlanta Ballet Centre for Dance Education as a faculty member and currently teaches in the Academy. She also serves as rehearsal master for Atlanta Ballet’s productions of The Nutcracker, which included assisting choreographer Yuri Possokhov with his 2018 world premiere, and the Atlanta Ballet 2 annual family ballet production. She is a certified Progressing Ballet Technique instructor and is working towards certification as an instructor of the Bolshoi Ballet Academy of Moscow. In 2018, Ms. Tan-Gamino was included in the second edition of the Cultural Center of the Philippines’s CCP Encyclopedia of Philippine Art. Ms. Tan-Gamino holds a Bachelor of Arts in communications and arts from Angelicum College.

NATALYA VYASHENKO (Faculty) born in Russia, began her professional performing career as a dancer with the Bolshoi Theatre of Opera and Ballet of Tashkent after graduating from the National Academy. Natalya was accepted into Tashkent University in 2002, where she earned a degree in Classical Ballet Choreography and Pedagogy. Natalya began her teaching career in 2002, when she was hired as a classical ballet and character dance pedagogue at the Tashkent National Academy. Natalya relocated to Ohio in 2005 and was named artistic director of the Ohio Youth Ballet in 2007. Natalya then started a ballet school, which she and her husband, Nurzhan, ran for 10 years. In 2017, Natalya became an ABT fellow instructor, and in 2019, she joined the ABT NTC team, as a certification examination proctor. Natalya and her husband, Nurzhan, were invited to join the Fort Wayne Ballet in 2019. Natalya joined Atlanta Ballet Centre for Dance Education’s Academy faculty in the fall of 2021, and she could not be more excited!