LOUISVILLE BALLET STUDIO COMPANY

Jill Marlow Krutzkamp began her professional ballet career at the age of 20 at Cincinnati Ballet for their 2002-2003 season. The following year she accepted a Corps de Ballet contract with Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre and danced the roles of Sugar Plum Fairy, Hermia in George Balanchine’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Balanchine’s Divertimento No. 15, and featured contemporary roles.

Jill returned to Cincinnati Ballet to dance her next eight seasons as a company staple, inspiring wide-ranging Cincinnati audiences. Her notable classical roles included Titania in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Lilac Fairy in Sleeping Beauty, Sugar Plum Fairy in The Nutcracker, Fairy Godmother in Cinderella, Juliet in Victoria Morgan’s Romeo and Juliet ‘Balcony Pas de Deux,’ and Pas de Trois in Swan Lake and Giselle. There she also performed the Waltz female in Balanchine’s Serenade and in Balanchine ballets including Theme and Variations and Chaconne (with Suzanne Farrell at the Kennedy Center).

She joined the Kansas City Ballet in 2011 and danced lead roles in Carmina Burana, Lynn Taylor Corbett’s Mercury, Jerome Robbins’ Fancy Free, the principal in Balanchine’s Allegro Brilliante, Four Temperaments, and the Sugar Plum Fairy. Her contemporary roles flourished and she danced works by Trey McIntyre, Adam Hougland, Twyla Tharp, Ma Cong, Val Caniparoli, Jessica Lang, Luca Veggetti, and Jody Gates. She performed as a guest artist in Michigan, Ohio, West Virginia, New York, California, Alaska, Florida, Tennessee, Colorado, and at ballet festivals around the country.

As General Manager and Co-Founder of the Kansas City Dance Festival (now known as Moving Arts) from 2013-2021, she co-opened a Performance Rehab Physical Therapy/Pilates clinic, specializing in dance medicine in Kansas City. She served as adjunct instructor for the dance division of UMKC conservatory and has taught and managed at Nephesh Pilates in Sacramento, California. In 2020, Jill founded Movehealthier, a Pilates & Wellness business.

Most recently, Krutzkamp served as Director of the Second Company at Sacramento Ballet, where she oversaw all artistic and operational aspects of the program. During her tenure, she expanded the Second Company from 13 to 30 dancers, achieving geographic diversity across 19 states and three continents. She curated, choreographed, restaged, and produced performances for public audiences and education programs while leading dancer training, rehearsals, community engagements, and events.

Krutzkamp also designed and executed outreach initiatives at prominent venues including the Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento Zoo, and regional schools, strengthening community engagement and organizational visibility. Her leadership reflects a strong commitment to developing adaptable, confident artists prepared for the demands of professional ballet careers.

Artistic Director

Anthony Krutzkamp is the former Artistic and Executive Director of Sacramento Ballet, where he led a dynamic revitalization of the company. Under his leadership, Sacramento Ballet achieved record-breaking ticket sales, launched a groundbreaking Second Company, and awarded more than $125,000 annually in student scholarships. He expanded the repertoire to include works by George Balanchine, Alejandro Cerrudo, Penny Saunders, Ihsan Rustem, and others, while also creating acclaimed productions of Swan Lake and The Nutcracker.

In 2023, Krutzkamp brought the company to perform at the Bremerhaven International
Summer Gala in Germany, marking Sacramento Ballet as the only American troupe to participate. His tenure has also seen the development of the company’s first endowment and the production of a new Sacramento’s Nutcracker, reflecting his
blend of visionary leadership and financial acumen.

A former principal dancer with Cincinnati Ballet and Kansas City Ballet, Krutzkamp performed leading roles in both classical and contemporary works, from Romeo and Juliet to Balanchine’s Concerto Barocco. He co-founded the Kansas City Dance Festival and Moving Arts, fostering national and international collaborations, and directed Kansas City Ballet’s Second Company. Recognized as a visionary leader, Krutzkamp blended artistry, community engagement, and strategic growth to position Sacramento Ballet as a vibrant cultural force. A Kentucky native, he is also a husband and father of two girls.

Krutzkamp holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Management with high honors from Northeastern University and a certificate from Cornell University. His rare combination of artistic excellence, strategic planning, and community-centered leadership continues to shape the future of American ballet.

Senior Rehearsal Director

Born in Lexington, Kentucky, Mikelle Bruzina is a graduate of The Royal Winnipeg Ballet. In her fifteen years as a Louisville Ballet Company Artist, she performed soloist and principal roles and was recognized for her diversity in classical, modern, and contemporary ballets. As a dancer, stager, and rehearsal assistant, she has worked with choreographers such as Val Caniparoli, Mark Godden, Adam Hougland, Ronald Hynd, Lucas Jervies, Alun Jones, Ben Needham-Wood, Helen Pickett, Andre Prokovsky, Brandon Ragland, Domy Reiter-Soffer, Andrea Schermoly, Ching Ching Wong, and many others. Mikelle has choreographed works for Louisville Ballet including Gloria, Harmony of Contrasts, Life Rhythms, continuum, Sansei, and Tinjy Wits. She has also created ballets for Memphis Ballet, Boca Ballet Theatre, Lexington Ballet, Milwaukee Ballet, and The Louisville Ballet School.

Mikelle began teaching in Japan in 1991 under the guidance of Emi Okajima. Having worked under the direction of Alun Jones, Bruce Simpson and Robert Curran, she carries a vast experience in teaching, staging and coaching in classical, modern and contemporary styles of dance.

Mikelle was Ballet Mistress for thirteen seasons, Artistic Director for two seasons, and is the former Co-Artistic Director of the Louisville Ballet Studio Company. This marks her 30th year with Louisville Ballet.

Principal Repetiteur + Senior Rehearsal Director

Originally from Baton Rouge, Helen Daigle began her training at Decatur School of Ballet in Decatur, Georgia. Upon her family’s return to Louisiana, she continued her training at Dancer’s Workshop under the tutelage of Molly Buchmann and Sharon Mathews. She has also studied at Joffrey Ballet School and School of American Ballet. She started performing with Baton Rouge Ballet Theatre junior and senior companies and began her professional career with Feld Ballets/New York. She has also danced with Ballet Hispanico and Miami City Ballet.

Helen joined Louisville Ballet in 1998 and enjoyed 20 wonderfully fulfilling seasons. She performed featured roles in a range of works including Lark Ascending, In the Glow of the Night, Who Cares?, Serenade, Lamberena, Scheherazade, Company B, Etesian and Cold Virtues. She has performed principal roles in full length ballets such as The Magic Flute, Don Quixote, Giselle, Nutcracker, Swan Lake, The Sleeping Beauty, La Sylphide and A Cinderella Story.

She has originated roles in ballets choreographed by Val Caniparoli, Amy Siewert, Helen Pickett and Adam Hougland. Helen has had the pleasure of staging Hougland’s Rite of Spring, Cold Virtues, and Fragile Stasis on companies such as Louisville Ballet, Cincinnati Ballet, Tulsa Ballet, Kansas City Ballet and Smuin Ballet. She was thrilled to work as Adam Hougland’s rehearsal assistant as he created Ten Beautiful Objects for Louisville Ballet in 2013 and for his re-imagined Petrouchka in 2016.

Helen took on the role of Cast Manager for the Children’s Cast of Val Caniparoli’s The Brown-Forman Nutcracker and has been a member of the Louisville Ballet School Faculty since 2005, teaching students from age eight to adult. She has taught at summer intensives in Shreveport, Monroe, and Baton Rouge, Louisiana; Baltimore, Maryland; and Louisville, Kentucky. Helen was honored to be a part of the faculty for the RDA Southwest Dance Festival 2016.

She is happy to call Louisville home, where she lives with her husband Brad and their two children, Keiran and Iris, and is thrilled to continue working for Louisville Ballet as Principal Repetiteur + Senior Rehearsal Director.