Yuka Oba-Mushciana
Yuka was born in Japan where she received her training from Hitomi Takeuchi Ballet School. In 2006, Yuka attended English National Ballet School in the UK where she also danced many soloist roles, Upon graduating, Mario Radacovsky invited Yuka to join the Slovak National Ballet where she danced a variety of roles. Yuka was then invited to join the Grand Rapids Ballet in 2011, where she has since danced principal roles in ballets by Annabelle Lopez Ochoa, Olivier Wevers and Penny Saunders. Yuka has won many competitions in Japan including NBA All Japan Ballet Competition, Saitama All Japan Dance Competition, UB All Japan Ballet Union Competition, International Ballet Competition in Yokohama and others. In 2013, Yuka had the honor of performing Olivier Wever’s The Sofa at the Joyce Theatre in New York and reprised her role in Seattle, WA. Yuka performed Le Corsaire Pas de Deux in the gala at the National Theatre in Tokyo and the Pas De Deux from Le Carnaval de Venise in Fukushima. In 2014, Val Caniparoli choreographed Clara on Yuka for the world premiere of the The Nutcracker. She also Choreographed Tomorrow Never Comes on Grand Rapids Ballet for their MOVEMEDIA program in 2015.
Josue Justize
Justiz was born Santiago De Cuba. He started studying ballet at the age of 9 in his hometown. When he was 14, he entered the National Ballet School of Cuba in Havana, under the guidance of Masters Fernando Alonso and Ramona de Saa. During his time as a student of NBS he was a successful competitor in the International Ballet Competitions of Havana, winning one silver and two gold medals. After graduation he entered the National Ballet of Cuba under the direction of Prima Ballerina Assoluta Alicia Alonso. While at the company he was promoted to soloist within two years. Dancing roles such as Pas de Six in Swan Lake, The Young Gypsy, one of the Bullfighters and Pas de Deux from the 3rd Act in Don Quixote, the leading men in Jajisimo, Dialogo a 4, Theme and Variations, one of the friends in Giselle, Bakhti Pas de Deux, Le Corsaire Pas de Deux, among others. After 3 years with the company he defected to the USA on tour in Mexico. A few months later he joined the Studio Company of The Washington Ballet. In 2014, he joined the former Ballet San Jose under the direction of ballet legend Jose Manuel Carreno. At this company his repertoire expanded to works like “Fancy Free”, Twyla Tharp’s “In the Upper Room” and Ben Stevenson’s “Cinderella” among others.
