December 2024—Jessica Assef was born in São Carlos, Brazil. She trained at Escola de Ballet Corpo e Arte under Jolles Salles, the Orlando Ballet School under the direction of Dierdre Miles Burger, and at Koltun Ballet Boston.
After dancing for Atlanta Ballet and Orlando Ballet, Assef joined The Sarasota Ballet as a Principal in 2023.
“I love all the roles where there is a dramatic content, where there is a story and character development,” she explains. “I love Giselle, La Sylphide from the classical repertoire—I can probably list them all.
Assef also mentions the romantic comedy of Don Quixote as Kitri and Marie in Yuri Possokhov’s The Nutcracker. “Wearing Don Quixote Kitri’s third act tutu that belonged to Tatiana Terekhova who was a star prima ballerina of Kirov Ballet, presently Mariinsky Theatre in Russia. It was an honor.”
Lead and featured roles in previous companies include: Petipa’s Giselle, Paquita, Swan Lake; Possokhov’s Don Quixote, Firebird, The Nutcracker; Kobborg’s La Sylphide; Balanchine’s Serenade, Who Cares?; Stevenson’s Three Preludes; McFall’s Nutcracker; Welch’s TuTu; Tomasson’s 7 for Eight, Morris’s Sandpaper Ballet; Amarante’s Love Fear Loss, The Premiere; Gaine’s Sum Stravinsky; Yanowsky’s AON; Scarlett’s Vespertine; Rhoden’s Sunrise Divine; Schreier’s First Impulse, Pleiades Dances; Masero’s Schubertiada; Baryshnikov’s Don Quixote; Robbins’ Fancy Free; Tharp’s Sinatra Suite; Pink’s Dracula; Caniparoli’s A Cinderella Story.
To purchase tickets to The Sarasota Ballet’s season performances, please visit sarasotaballet.org or call the box office at 941.359.0099
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