Summer is from New Salem, Pennsylvania. She studied a wide range of dance disciplines in her teens, winning top awards and perfect scores at Regional and National competitions. Summer went on to focus her study in the classical Vaganova Ballet Method and Contemporary Dance, performing professionally for the Kentucky Ballet Theatre, Grand Rapids Ballet & Ballet Fantastique. Summer is honored with invitations to perform as an International Guest Artist. Most recently, she was one of 50 international applicants selected to perform at the prestigious “Grand Audition” in Barcelona, Spain! She has danced under the direction of top teachers and choreographers such as Nikoloz Makhaetli, Norbe Risco, Patricia Barker, Gina Patterson, Sagi Gross, and Val Caniparoli. Summer is President and Primary Teacher of Little Mozarts Performing Arts Non-Profit Organization. Her students have won top awards at YAGP, as well as scholarships to conventions and summer programs, including Bolshoi Ballet, CPYB, Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre, and Joffery Ballet. Little Mozarts mission is to help develop students into gracious, confident, expressive dancers who will enhance the professional dance world and continue to share the art of ballet & dance to other local communities in the future!

Mr. Makhateli was a principal dancer for 26 years with the National Opera and Ballet Theater of Georgia USSR! As a guest teacher, coach, and in his residencies with ballet schools around the world, he has trained dancers who have competed in and won prestigious competitions in the US, Canada, and Europe. His most famous students are his very own children, Maia Makhateli; Principal Dancer with the Dutch National Ballet and David Makhateli, former Principal Dancer with the Royal Ballet.

Nikoloz Makhateli was Principal Dancer for 26 years with the National Opera and Ballet Theater of Georgia USSR. He was trained at the State Choreographic Institute of Georgia. There as a protégé of famed Kirov dancer Vakhtang Chabukiani, he studied the complete eight-year Vaganova syllabus. From 1970-75 he studied at the Tbilisi State College of Theatrical Arts receiving his masters degree in ballet instruction, coaching, and choreography.

He later studied choreography in St. Petersburg at the Vaganova Ballet Academy, learning the entire Petipa repertoire under Oleg Vinogradov former Artistic Director of the Kirov (Mariinsky) Ballet. Nikoloz Makhateli was appointed Ballet Master of Maurice Bejart' school MUDRA Afrique created by Maurice Bejart, President Leopold Sedar Senghor and the UNESCO.

In 1983 Mr. Makhateli was named an Honored Artist of the Georgian Republic, in 2000 Mr. Makhateli was named the recipient of the “Order of the Mark of Distinction“ the highest order of the Georgian Republic, as a principal dancer and ballet professor. He spent nine years as chairman of the Choreography Department of The Fine Arts College of Georgia. During his time in the United States, he has been on the faculty of the New Orleans Center of Cultural Arts,

Kirov Ballet Academy, and is the Artistic Director of the Michigan Ballet Academy. He is in demand as a guest teachernationally and internationally, and has coached many award-winning young dancers throughout America.

Prior to joining KAB’s faculty, Mr. Makhateli spent the last five years as a ballet instructor for the New Orleans Center of Cultural Arts. Mr. Makhateli and his wife Marina are the proud parents of former Royal Ballet principal David Makhateli and Dutch National Ballet principal Maia Makhateli, both of whom began their training with their parents at the State Choreographic Institute in Tbilisi, Georgia.

Elaine Martinez was born and raised in Matanzas, Cuba. She received her training from the Vocational School of Art in Matanzas, Cuba, and the National Ballet School in Havana, Cuba, where she thrived as a student while also earning the respect of classmates and professors with her perseverance, work ethic, and talent. She danced a year in the National Ballet of Cuba under the direction of Alicia Alonso, where she had the opportunity to share the stage with great figures of the international ballet world such as Maximiliano Guerra, Julio Boca, Natalia Osipova, Vladimir Vasiliev, Tamara Rojo, and Carlos Acosta, to name a few. In 2007, Elaine made the life-changing decision to leave the company, her family, and her country. She was able to continue with their professional careers when she joined the Columbia Classical Ballet, under the direction of Radenko Pavlovich and the Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre under the direction of Terrence Orr. She has been teaching full time in the Pittsburgh area for the last 4 years, as well as averaging approximately fourteen shows a year as guest artist with different ballet schools and companies throughout the United States. Elaine has developed a great passion for teaching Ballet, and embraces her memories both as a student and a professional dancer to bring excellent experiences for her students to every class. Her goal is to have every student remember her as someone who gave her all to help them become better dancers, and to fill their minds with great memories like the ones she has about her stellar Cuban professors.

KELSEY VAN TINE was born in Naples, Florida, and trained at the Naples Dance Conservatory under the direction of Abdelazis Roque. In 2009, Ms. Van Tine joined Kentucky Ballet Theatre as an apprentice and was promoted to company dancer within her first season. At the end of the 2012-13 season, she was promoted to principal dancer by Artistic Director Norbe Risco. During her time at Kentucky Ballet Theatre, Ms. Van Tine performed not only the entire Kentucky Ballet Theatre repertoire but a wide range of roles in many classical, neoclassical and contemporary works, as well. Some of her favorite roles include Paquita, Le Corsaire, Norbe Risco’s The Wizard of Oz & Carmen, as well as Kirt Hathaway’s Calles de Tango. Upon joining Atlanta Ballet in 2021, Ms. Van Tine performed Marie in Yuri Possokhov’s The Nutcracker, The Princess in Yuri Possokhov’s The Firebird, as well as Peasant Pas De Deux in Giselle. This is her second season with Atlanta Ballet. Ms. Van Tine is proud to have worked with coaches/choreographers Anna Patsfall, Roberto Sifontes, Kirt Hathaway, Andres Arambula, world renowned “Cuban Jewel” Aurora Bosch and Alla Osipenko, to name a few. In 2017, by invitation, Ms. Van Tine traveled to Cancun, Mexico to perform at the 7th Annual International Encounter of Dance Festival. Also in 2017, she traveled to Camaguey, Cuba for Ballet de Camaguey’s 50th Anniversary Gala and has since returned to Cuba annually to perform with Ballet de Camaguey as a principal guest artist.