Owner and Artistic Director

Gabriela began her classical ballet training at age 12 in Tampa, Florida, with Peter Stark, Ivonne Lemus, and Melissa Stafford at the Next Generation Ballet, a pre-professional full-day program. NGB performed in the 2,600-seat Morsani Hall at the Straz Center where Gabriela performed leading roles in faculty versions of The Nutcracker, Swan Lake, Cinderella, and The Little Mermaid and had a featured principal dancing role in Opera Tampa’s Un Ballo in Maschera. Her first competition at 14 was Youth America Grand Prix, the start of her exposure to the professional ballet world. Gabriela broadened her training with summer intensives at the School of American Ballet, Pacific Northwest Ballet, Boston Ballet, Exploring Ballet with Suzanne Farrell, and Chautauqua (NY) School of Dance, where former Principal Dancers of the New York City Ballet, Patricia McBride and Jean-Pierre Bonnefoux, awarded Gabriela the Artistic Director Award for Artist Merit. 

At 16, Gabriela was invited to attend the School of American Ballet’s year-round Winter Term in New York City on scholarship. There she was intensively trained in the George Balanchine technique by many of his former principal dancers, Peter Martins, Kay Mazzo, Suki Schorer, Darci Kistler, Jock Soto, and other notables, including Susan Pilare, Katrina Killian, and Jonathan Stafford. While attending SAB, Gabriela performed leading roles in Balanchine’s Raymonda, Sleeping Beauty, Swan Lake, Theme and Variations, Agon and in Jerome Robbins' Fanfare.

During her studies in New York, Gabriela was selected to teach ballet technique to the students in SAB’s Children’s Division, under Balanchine’s final muse, Darci Kistler. This experience ignited her true passion for teaching. 

Upon graduation from SAB, Gabriela auditioned with 200+ dancers for the Boston Ballet. She was the only female dancer from her audition offered a professional contract by Artistic Director Mikko Nissinen. Instruction from internationally renowned faculty (Russell Kaiser, Larissa Ponomarenko, Anthony Randazzo, Shannon Parsley, Margaret Tracey, Peter Stark, Nilas Martins), many celebrated guest teachers, and choreographers (William Forsythe, Jorma Elo, Yury Yanowsky, Jillian Johnson) enhanced her Boston experience. During Gabriela’s professional career, she has performed leading roles in Balanchine’s Stars and Stripes and Christopher Wheeldon’s The American. She has also appeared in Mikko Nissinen’s The Nutcracker, William Forsythe’s Artifact, Marius Petipa’s Sleeping Beauty, John Cranko’s Romeo and Juliet, August Bournonville’s La Sylphide, and Balanchine’s Chaconne. Boston’s mixed repertoire rounded out Gabriela’s classical, Balanchine, and contemporary ballet training and performance experiences.

Gabriela moved to Utah in 2018 to pursue her passion for teaching. As Ballet Director at Utah Dance Artists, she expanded the Varsity Dance Program (ages 6-18) into a competitive ballet program for students interested in a professional ballet career. Gabriela introduced a classical and Balanchine-based ballet curriculum enhanced with cross training, set and rehearsed variations for dancers, choreographed solo and ensemble ballet pieces, and elevated the interest, skill, and performance levels of her students. Ballet West’s Principal Rehearsal Director Jane Victorine Wood and Demi-Soloist Vinicius Limi were frequently engaged as master class instructors and judges for competition pieces, providing valuable critiques. At UDA, Gabriela prepared students for summer intensive programs, ballet company auditions, and college dance degree programs.

In 2022, Gabriela joined her new husband in Washington state where he completed his military career as an Army Ranger. Gabriela taught beginning, intermediate, and advanced students at Studio West Dance Academy in Olympia. She also introduced partnering classes to the curriculum and expanded her private lessons to prepare students to compete in Youth America Grand Prix and the Youth International Ballet Competition. Gabriela co-directed and performed in Studio West’s version of The Nutcracker and co-directed and choreographed the school’s performances of Peter Pan. Studio West provided a new opportunity for collaboration with fellow professional dancers who brought the discipline and dimensions of their ballet experience to their teaching and performance standards. Her experiences in Utah and Washington solidified Gabriela’s vision for her own studio. In 2025, she and her husband moved back to Utah to establish their home, family, and careers. 

Gabriela’s students have been accepted to the following companies and schools: American Ballet Theatre, San Francisco Ballet, Boston Ballet, Miami City Ballet, Pacific Northwest Ballet, School of American Ballet, Ballet West, Ballet Arizona, Orlando Ballet, Kansas City Ballet, Ballet Austin, Sacramento Ballet, Oregon Ballet Theatre, Ellison Ballet, John Cranko School, The Juilliard School, Rock School, The University of Arizona, The University of Utah, and Utah Valley University. Gabriela's choreography has merited Best Judges Choice awards for Best Showmanship, Technique, and Overall Choice.