Archives: Guest Artists

Carlos Hopuy is a trained ballet dancer from Havana, Cuba. He started to study ballet at 9 years old, at the School of the National Ballet of Cuba. In 1999 he started taking part in various international dance competitions all over the world. In Cuba he won the Gold Medal and Best Talent in 1999, 2000 and 2002. He also won the Gold Medal at the 2002 International Ballet Competition in Nayoga, Japan. Carlos graduated at the Cuban National Ballet School in 2002, and soon, at only 18 years old, he became Principal Dancer at the National Ballet of Cuba. In 2004 he moved to Costa Rica, where he danced as a Principal Dancer for 3 years for the National Contemporary Dance Company. In 2008 he won the award Best Dancer of the Year in Costa Rica. In 2009 he moved to the USA and was soon hired as a Principal Dancer at Ballet San Antonio in Texas. Since 2012 Carlos dances as Principal Dancer with the Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo. With them he’s traveled all over the world getting inspired and dancing on beautiful important theaters in Italy, France, Spain, UK, Ireland, Israel, Sweden, Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, Serbia, Canada, Japan, and of course all over the US.

NEW YORK TIMES: “Carlos Hopuy, whose rendering of the pas de deux from Le Corsaire was… exemplary.”

Photo credit: Genevieve Parker

Judy Jacob, Artistic Associate and Chairman of Faculty at the School of Richmond Ballet, is from Detroit, where she studied ballet with Evelyn Smith.  She trained in London, England, with Anne Heaton, John Field, and Valerie Taylor, and at Butler University (B.A.) and Indiana University (M.S.) with George Verdak, William Glenn, Peggy Dorsey, Anton Dolin, and Kenneth Melville.  After graduation, Ms. Jacob danced professionally with Memphis Ballet, performing principal roles such as the Sugar Plum Fairy (The Nutcracker), Swanhilda (Coppélia), and the title role in Cinderella.  She also created roles in ballets by choreographers Ron Cunningham, Jill Eathorne Bahr, Norbert Vesak, Robert Kelley, and Philip Jerry.  Ms. Jacob was the Associate Artistic Director of Fort Wayne Ballet prior to joining Richmond Ballet in 1995.  She was Assistant Ballet Master of the Richmond Ballet professional company for two years.  Named Richmond Ballet Artistic Associate in 1998 and serving as School Director 1998-2021, Ms. Jacob now oversees ballet curriculum for the School, teaching, and directing the Richmond Ballet Trainee Program.

Photo Credit: Sarah Ferguson

Jim Smithson began his music career in 1972 as the New River Valley Symphony Orchestra’s pianist and harpsichordist. Shortly thereafter, he received a B.S. in Mathematics with minors in Music and Physics and a B.A. in English Literature with a minor in French from Virginia Tech University. From 1977-1979, he attended Virginia Commonwealth University’s graduate program in Statistics, supporting his career as a Banking Analyst and Vice President of Suntrust/Truist Bank for 40 years. During that time, Smithson continued to foster his love of music. For 25 years, he was the pianist for the chamber music group, “The Windsor Trio”.  Since the mid-70s, Smithson also fostered his talents and growing interests as a dance accompaniment. In the early years, he served as an accompanist for Virginia Ballet Theater, Dance Limited and occasionally at VCU. Since the mid-80s, he has been a longstanding accompanist for the Richmond Ballet and in more recent years, Smithson is the Staff Accompanist for the University of Richmond’s Department of Theater and Dance.