Antonio Annecchiarico

Administrative Director

Born in Basel, Switzerland. Antonio Annecchiarico studied economics in Basel and international relations at the HSG in St. Gallen. After completeing his Master’s degree, his first  work experience was in strategic management consulting. He then transfered to strategic planning at Orange Communications in Lausanne, and was soon promoted to  management positions in marketing and product management. In 2001 he became managing director of the Pathé multiplex cinema in Dietlikon. He subsuquiently took over the management of Pathé Küchlin in Basel and shortly after became the General Manager for Pathé Cinemas in the German-speaking part of Switzerland. He was a member of the executive board of Pathé Switzerland and president of the Basel Cinema Association. At Pathé, he was extensively involved in the live broadcasts of the Bolshoi Ballet.  

After almost 10 years at Pathé, Mr. Annecchiarico founded his own business and worked as a consultant for a wide variety of companies – mainly in the childcare and hospitality sectors.  

Antonio Annecchiarico will take over the administrative direction of BTB in September 2021. His passion for dance, combined with his management skills, will usher in a new era of growth to BTB 

Mr. Annecchiarico additionally serves as managing director of the  Kinderkrippen Bläsistift, and is an independent consultant in the cinema industry. 

Luana Occhilupo

Administrative Direction Junior School / Assistant Administrative Director

Jorge García Pérez

Teacher Modern

Born in Zaragoza, Spain, Jorge García Pérez trained at the Escuela de danza Maria de Avila in Zaragoza. After completing his studies he danced with Ballet Biarritz for a season and then with the Sybaa Dance Company. In 2005 he joined the Zürich Ballett. Mr Perez is currently a soloist with Ballett Theater Basel, is a freelance choreographer and Director of the project ≪Carta Blanca≫. Over the course of his career he has worked with renowned choreographers such as Jiři Kylian, Nacho Duato, Heinz Spoerli and Ohad Naharin and has choreographed for the San Francisco Ballet.

In 2018 Mr. Perez created «Golden Insomnia», arranged by Philip Kannicht and Scott Roller, for the BTB Summer Gala. He joined the teaching faculty in 2019 as modern teacher for the professional program and is a fulltime member of the staff as of August 2021.

Arman Grigoryan

Teacher Ballet and Pas de Deux

Born in Jerevan, Armenia, Arman Grigoryan received his dance training at The Armenian National  Ballet School and in 2001 began his career with The Israeli Ballet. In 2002 Mr. Grigoryan joined the Züricher Junior Ballett, two years later advanced to the main company and in 2007 was promoted to Soloist. In 2015 he performed for one season with the Staatsballett Berlin. Over the course of his career Mr. Grigoryan won a Prize at the Prix de Lausanne and placed first for the Varna Revelation Award. In 2008 he received The Heinz Spoerli Foundation Award as well as ‚Les Étoiles Prix’ from the the magazin Ballet 2000.

After his preforming career Mr. Grigoryan assisted in the staging of Heinz Spoerli’s ‘Goldberg Variations’ at La Scala and is currently a Coach for The Prix de Lausanne.

Mr. Grigoryan joined the BTB faculty in 2019. He also teaches at the Zürcher Hochschule der Künste, TanzWerk101 and at the Yen Han Tanzzentrum. He is cofounder and a member of the dance group ‘Forceful Feelings’

Lawrence Rigg

Teacher Ballet

Raised near Oxford, England, Lawrence trained at The Royal Ballet School in London. Upon graduating with Honours in 2005, he joined the Zurich Junior Ballet under the direction of Heinz Spoerli. In 2007 he entered the Ballet du Capitole in Toulouse as a demi-soloist before dancing with Victor Ullate Ballet in Madrid for two seasons. In 2010 Lawrence joined the Béjart Ballet in Lausanne where he stayed for a decade. During his career, Lawrence travelled extensively and performed in works from Heinz Spoerli, George Balanchine, Uwe Scholtz, Jiri Kylian, Peter Martins and Maurice Béjart as well as participating in creations by Gil Roman, Alonzo King and Giorgio Madia among others.

Since leaving the stage in 2020, Lawrence has been on the faculty at the AFJD in Lausanne, guest teacher with Béjart Ballet and Rudra School in Lausanne, and is currently studying for his Diploma of Dance Teaching from the Royal Ballet School. He joins the BTB team in August 2021.

Risa Yajima-Boisnon

Teacher Ballet

Alba Carbonell Castillo

Teacher Modern

Born in Valencia, Spain, Alba Carbonell Castillo recieved her dance education at the Conservatorio Profesional de Danzade Riba-Roja del Turia Valencia. On completion of her training she joined “Teatres de la Generalitat Valenciana, where she danced for two years before moving to the Companie Nacional de Danca 2, Madrid in 2007. Ms. Castillo is currently a soloist with Ballett Theater Basel.

In 2012 Ms. Castillo began her choreographic career with the work “Bipolar Skin“, a creative collaboration with Jorge García Perez. This piece reached the finals of the International Choreographic Competition Hannover, received second prize at Certamen Internacional de Coreografía Burgos & New York and won the audience prize at the 5. International  Choreographiewettbewerb in Copenhagen. In 2018 Ms. Castillo was nominated for the „PREMIOS MAX de las artes escenicas“and was awarded second prize by the “Synodales – Concours Chorégraphique Contemporain“ for her work “The Breathing Room“. In 2019 her creation “Before You Land“ won the gold medal and was nominated as best choreography at the 5. Beijing Ballet and Choreography Competition.

In 2019 Ms. Castillo created “All that is left” for the BTB Summer Gala and joined the teaching faculty as modern teacher for the professional program.

Sol Bilbao

Teacher 

Born in La Linea de la Concepción, Spain. Sol studied dance since the age of 5 and finished her formation in Madrid with Carmina Ocaña and later at the Real Conservatorio Profesional de Danza Mariemma. Afterwards, in the middle of her professional career, she studied choreography at the Conservatorio Superior de Danza María de Ávila (Madrid).

She has danced professionally since 2003, starting in Introdans, Holland, and later in Ballet Basel. She has worked with choreographers such as Jiri Kylian, Ohad Naharin, Mats Ek, Imbal Pinto, Angelin Prejlocaj, Richard Werlock, Alexander Ekman, Stijn Cellis, Sharon Fridman, Nacho Duato, Johan Inger, among others.

Since 2007 she has created various dance performances and collaborated with other artists in various interdisciplinary projects in Switzerland and abroad.

Her works have been shown at Museum der Kulturen Basel, Theater Roxy Birsfelden, Theater Basel, Neues Theater Dornach, Interdans Festival Belgium, Burgos-New York Spain, Landesmuseum Zürich, Neu Bad Luzern and Unternehmen Mitte Basel. In 2016 she founded together with other two choreographers a collective under the name Loop Tanz. She obtains a Master of Arts from the Hochschule Der Künste Bern. She teaches Classical Ballet, Contemporary dance, History of dance and guided improvisations in the city of Basel and abroad.

Guillaume Musset

Yoga

Born in Montemarcy, France, Guillaume Musset completed a Master of Fine Arts at the Haute école des arts du Rhin in Strasbourg, France and the Zürcher Hochschule der Künste in Switzerland. Later Mr Musset completed the 300-hour Jivamukti Yoga Teacher Training Course in India and began teaching in Basel. In 2018, he completed the first part of a training with his mentor HaChi Yu in California, where he discovered the ROAM method. Since then, Guillaume has created classes that are influenced by both methods. Guillaume has been a faculty member of the Senior Professional School since January 2018.

Silvia Rossetto 

Principal Teacher Junior School

Born in Padua, Italy, Silvia Rossetto completed her training at Centro Studi Danza Classica, Padua with Honors. She remained in her birthplace as a Soloist with Veneto Balletto before going on to dance with the Theater Turin, Europa Ballett, Theater La Fenice di Venezia and the Rome Opera Ballet.  In 1993 Ms. Rossetto received a contract from the Oldenburgischen Staatstheater, where she was a Soloist until she ended her active dance career in 1999. She has gone on to become a well-respected dance pedagogue, teaching and choreographing in Bad Krozingen, Bad Säckingen, Padua, Mantova und Genova. Ms. Rossetto is an American Ballet Theatre National Curriculum Certified Teacher and has been a member of the BTB teaching staff since 2013.

Stefanie Arndt 

Guest Senior Professional / EFZ Diploma Division

In 2019/20 the students of the BTB Professional program will have the honor of working with Stefanie Arndt for a period of four weeks. Ms. Arndt studied at the Ballettschule des Hamburg Ballett. In 1983 she was a Prize winner at the Prix de Lausanne and subsequently joined the Hamburg Ballet Company under the direction of John Neumeier. There she rose to the rank of  Principal Dancer, performing all the lead roles in the classical and contemporary repertoire.

In 1994 Ms. Arndt joined the Ballett Frankfurt as a Soloist. She worked in close collaboration with William Forsythe, performing in all his major works. From 2002 to this day Ms. Arndt teaches Forsythe technique and stages the works of William Forsythe worldwide.

Stefanie Arndt is a regular guest Ballet Mistress with the Semperoper Ballett Dresden and works internationally as a highly regarded teacher and coach.

Sara Lourenco

Guest Senior Professional / EFZ Diploma Division

Michael Langeneckert

Guest Senior Professional / EFZ Diploma Division

Denise Welten

Guest Senior Professional / EFZ Diploma Division

Bruno Raco

Pianist

Born in Savona, Italy, Bruno Raco began studying music at the age of eleven, graduating from the Savona Conservatory. He has been a classical pianist and musical accompanist in Italy and abroad since 1999. He also studied electronic Sound Design for two years in Germany. Mr Raco is a successful freelance composer and a guest pianist for many ballet competitions and workshops. He joined Ballettschule Theater Basel in 2012.

Maxime Georges

Pianist

Born in 1980 in Laxou, France. After a complete training at the Conservatoire de Nancy, MAxime Georges in 2002 the National Conservatory of Music and Dance in Paris (CNSMDP) in the class of Brigitte Engerer and Emmanuel Mercier. In 2006, he wins the first Conservatory Piano Prize and the Pierre Bourgeois Prize from the Fondation de France. At the same time, he pursues concert activities in solo piano and chamber music. He is specialised in the accompaniment of dance as he is from  2007 a member of the Ballet de l’Opera National du Rhin (ONR) where he works with prestigious professors like Egon Madsen, Piotr Nardelli, Sylviane Bayard, Monique Loudieres, Marc Ribault among many others. He also accompanies the different dance classes of the Conservatoire de Mulhouse. In 2009, he  performs in Jo Stromgren’s Suite (Rameau) and Jiri Kylian’s Overgrown Path (Janacek) in 2010. He plays a character musician and plays for Mathieu Guilhaumon in Dreams of a summer night in 2011 and in Peer Gynt in 2013. Since 2014 he accompanies each edition of Cabaret Dance and Coussins Bébés. In 2014, he participates in “? From Miao Zong in the Genesis program and since collaborates with him for The Arts East Association Art Culture Association. In May and June 2018, he play « Bless-ainsi soit-Il » (choreography Bruno Bouché) in which he  Bach’s Chaconne in D minor (transcription Ferrucio Busoni) during the evening Danser Bach in the 21st century. In September 2018 he plays for The green Table by Kurt Jooss. In August 2019 he was invited to the Archi-Tanz studio in Tokyo to work with Giovanni di Palma.He regularly plays alongside the OSM or OPS for the productions of the OnR Ballet.

Giuseppe Stilo

Pianist

Born in Varese, Italy, Giuseppe Stilo studied piano at the Conservatory F.Cilea in Calabria, graduating at the top of his class receiving an Honorary Citation from the Minister of Education.

He studied composition and conducting at the V. Bellini Conservatory in Palermo and attended Choirmaster courses at the international school of conductors ‚Milano Choral Academy’. Mr. Stilo has been a chamber orchestra pianist, keyboard player in jazz bands, teacher in state and private schools in Italy and Switzerland. He is a graduate of “Accademia del teatro alla Scala” Milan, where he attended ‘Advanced Level Courses’ in dance accompaniment improvisation and played for the most renowned teachers of the La Scala Dance Academy. Graduating as ‘Best of his Year, Mr Stilo was nominated, along with the 100 highest achieving students in Europe, for the “Roche-Kontinente” Salzburg. He has worked for the AIDA Academy of Dance in Milan, the Ilaria Purcelli Dance school and joined BTB in 2019.

Monika Linge

Head of Housing

Born in Germany, Monika Linge successfully completed her studies in industrial commerce and went on to work for the Technische Textilien Lörrach AG, Vitrashop Weil / Rhein, Wybert GmbH Lörrach, Dr. Osypka GmbH Rheinfelden-Herten and Tex4Tec Lörrach GmbH Lörrach-Brombach. Ms Linge has been Head of Student Housing since February 2013.

Iulia-Andreea Smeu

Housing

Born in Bucharest, Romania. Iulia-Andreea Smeu was trained as a classical violinist, with an MA degree in Bern, at the University of the Arts. She has worked with renowned ensembles such as Musique des Lumières (Switzerland), Al Bustan Festival Orchestra (Beirut, Lebanon), George Enescu Philharmonic and Royal Chamber Orchestra (Bucharest, Romania). In 2017 she won a position at the Bucharest National Opera as part of the first violin section. Since August 2019 she lives in Basel, Switzerland, where she is following an MA in Improvisation.
Iulia’s artistic practice covers a wide range of styles, from historical performance practice and improvisation to multidisciplinary projects and technology-based performance.
Finally, Iulia holds a certificate for postgraduate studies in Psychology for Musicians from the University of Sheffield, UK, and is currently a distance student in Psychology at the Titu Maiorescu University in Bucharest, Romania.
Iulia has been working at BTB as a child carer and supervisor since October 2019.