Our Instructors
Claudia Rudolf Barrett
Founder, Director
Claudia Rudolf Barrett received her initial training at the College Conservatory of Music (CCM), and earned her BAS and MFA from CCM. As an original dancer, soloist and Ballet Mistress of the Cincinnati Ballet Company from 1963 until 1990, Ms Barrett worked under five artistic directors and with teachers and choreographers from major companies around the world. In 1993 Claudia opened her school, ballet tech® of ohio, bringing many instructors of world renown to inspire her students.
Rodrigo Almarales
InSTRUCTOR
Rodrigo Almarales trained with National Ballet Schools in Cuba, Mexico, and Canada, and Hamburg Ballet School. Rodrigo performed as a soloist from 2007 to 2009 with the Deutsche Oper am Rhein in Germany and was a top-seven finalist on Italian television show “Amici” in 2009. He spent the 2010-2011 season with Boston Ballet before joining Cincinnati Ballet in 2011. Rodrigo’s extensive performance experience includes full-length ballets such as The Nutcracker, Giselle, Swan Lake, Cinderella, Don Quixote, and more. Rodrigo retired from performing in 2018 to focus on his business ventures. He continues to teach and choreograph around the world.
Rebecca Rodriguez-Hodory
InSTRUCTOR
Rebecca is a former principal dancer and guest Ballet Mistress with Cincinnati Ballet. She returned to Cincinnati after 19 years with BalletMet Columbus, the last 10 years of which she worked as Ballet Mistress. She first came to Cincinnati after dancing as a soloist with the Dallas Ballet for Vivi and Flemming Flindt of the Royal Danish Ballet. Born in Manila, she received her training from Eduardo Elejar of the Cultural Center of the Philippines. She continued on to the Philippine High School for the Arts, the University of the Philippines, after which she gained entrance to the prestigious San Francisco Ballet School on scholarship.
Sergey Pakharev
InSTRUCTOR
A native of St. Petersburg, Russia, Sergey Pakharev trained at the Academy of Russian Ballet and The School of the Kirov Ballet. Upon graduation, he danced as a Soloist at the Maryinsky Theater. Since coming to the United States, Mr. Pakharev danced as a Soloist with the Fort Worth/Dallas Ballet. Mr. Pakharev was with Cincinnati Ballet in 2003-2008 and has performed lead roles in Coppelia, Swan Lake, Balanchine’s “Who Cares? and “Prodigal Son and the Tchaikovsky pas de deux. Sergey has taught and performed with BTO for many years.
Cervilio Amador
InSTRUCTOR
Cervilio Miguel Amador received his education and training from the Vocational Ballet School in Camagüey, Cuba and the National Ballet School of Cuba. He danced with the National Ballet of Cuba before joining Cincinnati Ballet in 2004 as a Soloist and then Principal Dancer in 2006, becoming one of the youngest in the company’s history. He now serves as a rehearsal director for Cincinnati Ballet, and has taught at BTO for more than a decade.
Gema Diaz
InSTRUCTOR
Born in Pinar del Rio, Cuba and raised in Havana, Diaz has been dancing since the age of three. She trained with The National Ballet School in Havana and The Vocational Ballet School in Santa Clara, dancing with Ballet Nacional de Cuba for three years. Diaz won a silver medal in the International Ballet Competition of Cuba in 1999, and has toured all over the world. Gema performed with the Cincinnati Ballet for 10 years before retiring as a senior soloist in 2015.
Valery Lantratov
Guest InSTRUCTOR
A graduate of the Moscow Academic Choreographic College, Mr. Lantratov was selected as a first soloist with the Moscow Stanislavski Ballet. With the theater, he danced principal roles in such ballets as Don Quixote, Copellia and Romeo and Juliet. In 1993, Lantratov began working for the Kremlin Ballet. This same year, he formed the Russian National Ballet Foundation. He has toured as a solo guest artist in such countries as Japan, Germany, Italy, Greece, France, Portugal, Spain and the United States. In 1997, Russian president Boris Yeltsin named Valery Lantratov “ People’s Artist of Russia,” the Russian Federation’s highest artistic honor.
Alvin Tovstogray
InSTRUCTOR
Mr. Tovstogray is from Dnipro, Ukraine where he graduated from Dnipro State Choreographic School in 2008. Later he studied at San Francisco Ballet School, and then spent two seasons with The Washington Ballet’s Studio Company. After joining Oklahoma City Ballet in 2012, Mr. Tovstogray was promoted to soloist in 2014 and then to Principal Dancer in 2015. He now dances with BalletMet. Alvin is an American Ballet Theatre® National Training Curriculum Certified Teacher.
SIERRA ABELARDO
GUEST InSTRUCTOR
Originally from California, Sierra Abelardo received her initial training in Cincinnati at Claudia Rudolf Barrett’s ballet tech of ohio. In 2019, Sierra was accepted into Ellison Ballet in New York City, where she furthered her dance education. Upon graduation in 2022, Sierra joined the Corps of The Sarasota Ballet. She was promoted to Coryphée in 2023 and to Soloist, and First Soloist in 2024.
SAMUEL GEST
GUEST InSTRUCTOR
Samuel Gest began his ballet training at the age of 11 in Evansville, IN and, by 14, had moved on to further his studies at the Indiana Ballet Conservatory. In 2016, he competed in the Youth America Grand Prix (YAGP), where he earned a silver medal at the New York City finals. That same year, he was offered a place at Canada’s National Ballet School, where he trained from 2016 to 2018.
In 2018, Samuel was accepted into The Royal Ballet School in London and graduated there in 2020. Upon graduation, he joined the National Theatre of Belgrade in Serbia. The following year, in August 2021, he became a company dancer with The Sarasota Ballet. He was promoted to Coryphée in 2023 and will be a Soloist for the 25/26 season.
ROSA COMPOSTELLA
INSTRUCTOR
Rosa Compostella was born in Verona, Italy, and graduated as a Ballet Teacher from the Accademia Nazionale di Danza (National Dance Academy) in Rome in 1987. She began her teaching career at various ballet schools in the Verona area before moving to the United States with her family in 1993. After obtaining her Permanent Residency in 1997, Rosa resumed teaching in Mason, Ohio, and went on to join the faculty of Ballet Tech Ohio, where she taught for eleven years.
From 2009 to 2024, Rosa was a dedicated member of the faculty at the Cincinnati Ballet Otto M. Budig Academy. There, she taught and substituted classes across multiple levels, including adult students. With over three decades of teaching experience, Rosa is known for her deep passion for classical ballet and her meticulous focus on foundational technique and proper posture.