CHOREOGRAPHERS
Get to know the choreographers for
Momentum: A Mixed Bill
Cindy Case
Cindy Case, who trained locally with Pamela Moore, DFCCA, began her professional career with a traineeship at Richmond Ballet in 2012. After spending two years as a member of Nashville Ballet II and another as an apprentice with Charlottesville Ballet, Cindy went west to San Diego Ballet before joining Ballet Theatre of Maryland in 2019. Previous professional credits include Serenade; Myrtha in Giselle; Pas de Trois, Russian Princess, and Big Swan in Swan Lake; Snow Queen, Dew Drop Fairy, and Arabian in The Nutcracker; Princess Florine in The Sleeping Beauty; the waltz variation in Les Sylphides; Pas de Six in Napoli; and Queen of the Dryads in Don Quixote. She has danced contemporary works by Gina Patterson, Heather Maloy, Paul Vasterling, R. Colby Damon, Javier Velasco, Keith Lee, Lindsey Bell, Ashley Taylor, and Roman Mykyta; since joining BTM she has also had the pleasure of originating roles in works by fellow company members Michael West, Jr., Karissa Kralik, and Isaac Martinez.
Cindy is a Diploma Fellow of the Cecchetti Council of America as a dancer and teacher, and she holds her B.S. in Business Communication from Stevenson University. Currently, she serves BTM as the Communications Coordinator, Conservatory teacher, and Arts Integration instructor. In 2019, her choreography Infernum in 3/4 premiered in San Diego Ballet's Dance Gallery. Her first mainstage work for BTM, Flow and Ebb, appeared in 2022's Les Sylphides and Other Works.
Karen Fleming
Karen Fleming, a native of Yorktown, VA, grew up studying dance at Margie Williams Studio of Dance and Virginia Regional Ballet under the tutelage of Danile Giesy, Heidi Robitshek, William Walker, and Adelle Carpenter. Upon graduation, she chose to further her studies at the University of Richmond on full scholarship as a Richmond Artist Scholar. During her time at UR, Karen had the privilege of dancing with and serving as the Company Captain for the Department of Theatre & Dance’s resident performance company, University Dancers. She worked closely with notable faculty and guest artists including Anne Van Gelder, Eric Rivera, Starrene Foster, Francesca Harper, Charlotte Boye-Christensen, Larry Keigwin, Alexandra Damiani, and Ephrat Asherie. Karen also choreographed two fully-produced works for University Dancers, and both received awards from UR’s School of Arts & Sciences. After graduating summa cum laude with her Bachelor of Arts degree in Dance and English in 2021, Karen joined the Ballet Theatre of Maryland and has since enjoyed dancing a wide variety of classical and contemporary repertoire. Notable roles include Lead Chinese (The Nutcracker), Sapphire Fairy (The Sleeping Beauty), and Cygnets (Swan Lake). She also had the privilege of making her professional choreographic debut in 2025 with “The Yachts.”
Ellie Goods
Ellie Goods started ballet at age 3 and spent most of her Classical Ballet training at Pasadena Dance Theatre under Cynthia Young, former Principal with Ballet West. There she got to perform Young’s The Nutcracker, getting to dance in Flowers and Chinese, as well as Jessamyn Vedro’s Affirming Flame and Concerto Grosso. She attended Kirov’s Summer Intensive in 2021 and learned the Vagonova Technique for the summer. For her senior year of high school, Ellie attended the Colburn School learning the style of Balanchine, and studied directly under Dean Silas Farley, as well as Seth Belliston, Kelly Ann Sloan, and Katherine Cowgill. She also studied Cunningham under Tamsin Carlson.
After graduating high school in 2022, Ellie joined Ballet Theatre of Maryland as a Trainee, was promoted to Apprentice in 2024, and to Corps de Ballet in 2025.
Hannah Hanson
Originally from New York, Hannah began dancing at the age of 3. She started her formal ballet training at age 7 under the guidance of Darlene Myers in Saratoga Springs and Schenectady, NY. Hannah has attended summer programs at Boston Ballet, CPYB, Miami City Ballet, Ballet Academy East, and Nashville Ballet. At the age of 15, she moved to Carlisle, PA to train full-time at Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet with founding artistic director Marcia Dale Weary, as well as Darla Hoover, Nicholas Ade, and Alan Hineline. During her time at CPYB, Hannah performed leading roles in “George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker,” along with featured roles in George Balanchine’s “Serenade” and “Who Cares?”
Hannah joined BTM as an apprentice in 2020 and was promoted to Demi-Soloist in 2022. Since joining BTM, Hannah has danced roles such as Dewdrop in “The Nutcracker,” the Woodland Glade Fairy in “The Sleeping Beauty,” and one of the big swans in “Swan Lake.” In 2024 Hannah made her professional choreographic debut with the company, creating her piece, “All That Follows After.” This is her 6th season with the company.
Mimi Hardin
Mimi Hardin, a native of Colorado, began training at Colorado Ballet Academy in 2008 and joined the pre-professional program in 2017. Mimi trained in numerous intensive programs, including Alonzo King LINES Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, Ballet Austin, Boston Ballet, Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet, Complexions Contemporary Ballet, Dutch National Ballet, The Nutmeg Ballet Conservatory, and Vaganova Ballet Academy. Mimi is a part of the National Honor Society for Dance Arts and was a Youth America Grand Prix New York City Finalist in 2017 and 2018.
Training in New York City, Mimi studied with esteemed professionals: Karin Averty, Al Blackstone, Andy Blankenbuehler, Leslie Browne, Kurt Froman, Karen Gayle, Linda Gelinas, Heather Hawk, Chris Jarozs, Desmond Richardson, and Debbie Roshe. She joined New York Dance Project for the 18/19 season with Directors Davis Robertson and Nicole Duffy and the Steps on Broadway pre-professional program with a Director’s Merit Scholarship for the 19/20, 20/21 seasons under Pamela Levy. In 2021, Mimi joined Ballet Theatre of Maryland as a Trainee, became an Apprentice in April 2022, a Corps de Ballet member in April 2023, and a Demi-Soloist in April 2024.
Mimi’s repertoire includes roles in: Colorado Ballet’s “The Nutcracker”, “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”, Septime Webre’s “Alice in Wonderland”, “Raymonda”, “Swan Lake”, “Coppelia”, Twyla Tharp’s “Movin’ Out”, Gerald Arpino’s “Birthday Variations” and “Viva Vivaldi”, Robert Battle’s “The Hunt” and “Battlefield”, “America” from West Side Story, excerpts from George Balanchine’s “Ballo Della Regina”, “Stars and Stripes”, “The Four Temperaments”, and “Who Cares?”, and repertoire from Complexions Contemporary Ballet. At BTM, Mimi has performed in: Diana Cuatto’s “The Nutcracker”, “Coppelia”, and “Italian Symphonette”, Roman Mykyta’s “The Little Slippers” and “Elizabeth”, “Giselle”, “Les Sylphides”, “Don Quixote”, “The Firebird”, “Sleeping Beauty”, August Bournonville’s “Napoli”, Lindsey Bell’s “Smiles of a Summer Night”, and “Swan Lake”.
Outside of dance, Mimi has studied math theory at Columbia University and is pursuing an Economics degree at Purdue University.
Karissa Kralik
Karissa Kralik was raised on Long Island, New York where she trained with Mme. Valia Seiskaya until 2010 in Vaganova based ballet and character techniques. She came in second place in the senior division of the American Ballet Competition in 2010. Karissa attended the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, earning a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance Education with a Musical Theater Minor in 2014. There she continued her training under faculty including Christine Cox (BalletX), Eva Szabo, Andrew Pap, Anne White (PA Ballet), and Scott Jovovich (Joffrey Ballet). Karissa studied Modern techniques including Horton with Kim Bears-Bailey (Philadanco) and Graham with Jennifer Binford-Johnson (Martha Graham Dance Company), as well as varied styles of Jazz with Wayne St. David and Donald Lunsford (Philadanco). She enjoyed opportunities to perform works choreographed by Helen Simoneau and Douglas Becker (Frankfurt Ballet). Karissa joined Ballet Theatre of Maryland as an Apprentice in 2016, was promoted to Demi-Soloist in 2017, Soloist in 2020, and to Principal in the Fall of 2021. Karissa has enjoyed dancing the title role in Giselle, Odette/Odile in Swan Lake, Pearl in The Little Mermaid, and Mina in Dracula. Her other roles have included Clara and Snow Queen in Dianna Cuatto’s The Nutcracker, Hermia in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Aleksya in The Snow Queen. Karissa also enjoyed having the opportunity to choreograph on company dancers in Momentum 2023 with her piece By Any Other Name.
Diego Sosa
Diego Sosa is from Asuncion, Paraguay. He began his ballet training locally before earning a scholarship to the Washington School of Ballet, further honing his skills in the U.S., Brazil, Italy, Spain, and France.
Diego started his professional career with the Municipal Ballet of Asuncion. He later became a Soloist at Ballet de la Universidad del Norte, captivating audiences for a decade in roles such as Carmen, Don Quixote, Giselle, Swan Lake, and The Nutcracker. In 2015, he joined the Ballet Theatre of Maryland, quickly rising to Principal dancer in 2016, and performing notable roles including the Bluebird in Sleeping Beauty, the White Knight in Alice in Wonderland, King Lot in Excalibur, the Nutcracker Prince in The Nutcracker, Romeo in Romeo and Juliet, Aladdin in Cuatto's Aladdin, and most recent the Prince Ivan in The Firebird, among other notable roles.
As a resident guest artist with the Kintz-Mejia Academy of Ballet, Diego performed leading roles in both classical and contemporary works. He was also part of the Moveius Contemporary Ballet, showcasing his versatility from 2019 to 2023, performing a variety of new creations. Since 2018, he has been a dedicated teacher at The Falls Church School of Ballet in Virginia.
Diego Sosa's exceptional talent and extensive training have established him as a respected and accomplished dancer. He continues to inspire audiences worldwide through his performances and teaching.
Michael West Jr.
Michael West Jr. is a native of Baltimore, Maryland where his training began in Baltimore County Public Schools. Upon graduating from George Washington Carver Center for the Arts & Technology, he was invited to join Nashville Ballet’s official second company, NB2 where he trained and performed for two seasons. Michael moved on to perform as an aerialist and dancer with Nashville-based contemporary dance company FALL, and later with Suspended Gravity Circus. While in Nashville, he had the pleasure of performing at a variety of venues including the Tennessee Performing Arts Center, the Schermerhorn Symphony Center, Marathon Music Works, Cheekwood Botanical Gardens, OZ Arts Center, and many others. West has been featured in the official music videos for OBB’s “Sweater”, Humming House’s “Takin’ Over”, Front Country’s “Broken Record”, & Lauren Balthrop’s “So We Remember”. Since returning to his home state and joining BTM, Michael has performed roles such as Hilarion in Nicole Kelsch’s 2021 staging of Giselle, as well as the Lead Nomad in Don Quixote. He also had the opportunity of performing at the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra for the Winter Wonderland concert in 2022. Michael is a certified Yoga instructor and in his spare time enjoys teaching and choreographing. In his time at BTM, Michael has created and set multiple ballets on the company such as; "Ultraviolet", "Day Boy & Night Girl: the Romance of Photogen & Nycteris", and "A Midsummer Lullaby".