Petra Conti
Co-Founder, Artistic Director, Principal Dancer
Petra Conti is an Italian/Polish Prima Ballerina.
She holds the title of Ambassador of the Italian Ballet around the World.
Petra is a former Principal Dancer with La Scala Ballet, Boston Ballet, Los Angeles Ballet, and a Guest Principal Dancer with Arena di Verona, the Great Russian Ballet, the National Opera of Ukraine, the Ballet Opera of Istanbul, Tirana and more.
Petra graduated at the National Academy of Dance in Rome under the coaching of legendary Maestro Zarko Prebil.
She has been invited to join the Mariinsky Ballet as a Trainee, where she was assigned to work with exceptional Prima Ballerina Elvira Tarasova (now the coach of Maria Khoreva), who taught her all the details of ballets like Giselle and Swan Lake.
Petra danced alongside ballet stars like Roberto Bolle, Ivan Vassiliev, Zachary Catazaro, Massimo Murru, Daniel Camargo, Eris Nezha, Alexander Stoyanov, Stanislav Olshanskyi, and many more.
Among the several awards she received, the 2018 Glamour Talent Awards, the 2007 and 2018 Positano Award, the 2011 Danza e Danza Award for Best Performer of the Year, the 2012 Roma in Dance Award, the 2013 Ciociaria Prize, and the 2017 Capri Award.
Her name is mentioned in numerous ballet publications and she has been featured in several TV programs and documentaries, including one on SKY Classica about her rendition of Giselle, Romeo and Juliet and Don Quixote.
Petra is still dancing. Besides that, she is also a ballet coach, a ballet judge and an artistic consultant and mentor. She has an important social media presence as a ballet icon and as a kidney cancer survivor (she's been a cancer survivor since 2016).
Petra Conti is married to international Principal Dancer Eris Nezha.
More about Petra Conti on www.petraconti.com
Eris Nezha
Co-Founder, Vice-Artistic Director, Rehearsal Director
Svetlana Zakharova and Eris Nezha. Teatro alla Scala, 2013.
Eris Nezha has been a Principal Dancer with Teatro alla Scala, Boston Ballet and Los Angeles Ballet, and a Guest Principal Dancer with the Staatsballett in Berlin, the Arena di Verona, the Ballet Opera of Kyiv, Tirana, Zagreb, Tokyo, Fukuoka, Rome, Naples, the Great Russian Ballet and more.
Born in Albania, Eris moved to Italy when he was 15, joining and later graduating from La Scala Ballet School. He has been responsible for the change of federal employment laws for non-EU dancers in Italian theaters: in 2002, La Scala Theater changed the Italian labor law that was preventing non-EU dancers from being hired, just so it could hire Eris, who was already a valued trainee with the company! After this event, all other major Italian theaters followed, giving jobs to many talented non-EU dancers who wouldn’t otherwise have the chance to work in Italy.
He has been the stage partner of some of the most famous ballet stars of our era including Svetlana Zakharova, Natalia Osipova, Sylvie Guillem, Polina Semionova, Hee Seo, Evgenia Obraztsova, Alina Somova, Anna Sophia Sheller, Misa Kuranaga, Petra Conti, Eleonora Abbagnato and many more!
He has performed on the most important stages around the world, including the Bolshoi, the Staatsballett in Berlin, the Kremlin, the Dolby Theatre, the Arena di Verona, the Opera Theaters of Muscat, Kiev, Sao Paolo, Rio de Janeiro, Ekaterinburg, Zagreb, Tirana, Rome, Naples, Tel Aviv, Tokyo, Toronto, Fukuoka and many more!
There isn’t a classical ballet that Eris hasn’t performed; but he has also performed the majority of last’ and this century’s best works by choreographers such as Balanchine, Cranko, MacMillan, Ashton, Deane, Béjart, Petit, Ratmansky, Forsythe, Neumajer, Caniparoli, Tetley, Massine, etc.
Nezha has produced many shows, including ballets like Swan Lake, Giselle, Nutcracker, Cinderella, as well as the Petra Conti Show at the Colburn Theatre, in collaboration with the Dream Orchestra and Maestro Daniel Suk.
Eris travels around the world as a performer and also as a Guest Ballet Master and Ballet Coach; in 2014 he was invited to be the ballet master at the Roberto Bolle and Friends Summer Tour, where he taught class to ballet stars like Julie Kent, Polina Semionova, Roberto Bolle, Hee Seo and Skylar Brandt.
Eris Nezha’s choreography Time has been highly praised at the All Stars Ballet Gala 2019 in Kyiv (Ukraine).
Eris Nezha is married to Prima Ballerina Petra Conti and together they make one of the most appreciated ballet couples by fans and critics.
More about Eris Nezha at www.erisnezha.net
Adam M. Greenwald
Fundraising Consultant
Currently serving as Fundraising Consultant for Hollywood Ballet, Adam M. Greenwald, MBA, has more than 25 years experience in nonprofit management and development. He has a proven track record of identifying, cultivating, soliciting, and stewarding individual, foundation, and corporate donors, as well as securing volunteers to support agency initiatives.
As the former Vice President of Development at Aviva Family and Children's Services, he oversaw all activities related to fundraising for the agency, which provides vital programs and services to children and families in need. Previous arts and culture fundraising includes work at the Autry Museum of the American West in Los Angeles and the Meadows School of the Arts and Museum at SMU in Dallas, TX.
He is a proud graduate of Brandeis University and he holds a MBA from Arizona State University and a Certificate in Fundraising from New York University. Adam completed a professional mentoring program in major gifts training. Outside of work, he enjoys spending time with his fiancé and grown children, exploring Southern California, and supporting the Dodgers.
Adam is joining the Hollywood Ballet team as Fundraising Consultant where he focuses on identifying and soliciting monetary gifts to support the company’s mission.
For fundraising related questions and to learn how you can have an impact, please contact Adam M. Greenwald, MBA, at adam@hollywoodballet.org.
Jennifer Solomon-Baum
Chief Marketing Officer, Chief Operational Officer
Jennifer Solomon-Baum, known as JSB, is a Global Marketing Executive with a stellar record of building formidable teams, driving authentic culture, and crafting breakthrough strategies that resonate on an international stage. Her most recent role was leading the marketing strategy for the Americas at Microsoft Advertising. She now consults with growing brands across the globe.
Originally from Belgium, she has lived and worked in New York, Abu Dhabi, and Los Angeles where she has planted roots with her family. Navigating diverse cultures through these experiences has given her "multicultural fluency” and an inclusive management style to usher a spirit of collaboration. With a well-rounded background in marketing and digital strategy, she has designed strategic partnerships and marketing strategies with global agencies and Fortune 100 brands.
Before she pivoted her career into Marketing and Advertising, she was a professional ballet dancer in Belgium where she danced across the country. She joined a small neo-classic company called “Ballet Theatre l’Ensemble” based in Castiglioncello, Italy. She danced at the Scala de Milan and performed the Dante Symphony in the open-air arenas in Ravenna, under the direction of Misha Van Hoecke, a former dancer at “Les Ballets du XX siècle”, under the direction of visionary choreographer Maurice Bejart. She trained at the Conservatoire de la Danse in Brussels and did many summer intensives at the Joffrey Ballet School in New York. Her love for dance has never faltered, and she still takes classes at Westside School of Ballet and Artistico School of Dance in Los Angeles.
“Jennifer brings a unicorn-like level of left and right brain thinking to any business problem. Deeply strategic and creative, she also heavily places reliance on data to scope an opportunity and determine the most efficient and effective course of action.”
Jennifer is joining the Hollywood Ballet team as Chief Marketing Officer where she will focus on brand building and corporate sponsorships.
For marketing related questions and corporate sponsorships, please contact Jennifer Solomon-Baum at jsb@hollywoodballet.org
