Guest Dancers

Born in Laguna Beach, California, Skylar Campbell trained with Victor and Tatiana Kasatsky. He joined The National Ballet of Canada in 2009 and was promoted to Principal Dancer in 2018. In 2022, he joined Houston Ballet as a Principal Dancer, performing with the company until embarking on new artistic projects in 2025.

Campbell is especially noted for the title role in John Neumeier’s Nijinsky, has danced Crown Prince Rudolf in MacMillan’s Mayerling, and originated the title roles in Guillaume Côté’s Le Petit Prince and Will Tuckett’s Pinocchio. Over his career, he has performed dozens of principal and soloist roles, working directly with and appearing in ballets by Christopher Wheeldon, Alexei Ratmansky, John Neumeier, William Forsythe, Crystal Pite, Wayne McGregor, James Kudelka, Stanton Welch, Ronald Hynd, Jorma Elo, Dwight Rhoden, Ben Stevenson, Alex Ekman, Aszure Barton, Will Tuckett, Guillaume Côté, Julia Adam, Robert Binet, Kevin O’Day, Christopher Stowell, David Allan, and others. His repertoire also includes principal and soloist roles in iconic works by George Balanchine, Frederick Ashton, John Cranko, Jiří Kylián, Marco Goecke, Justin Peck, Sir Peter Wright, Sir Kenneth MacMillan, Rudolf Nureyev, Jerome Robbins, and August Bournonville.

He has appeared on leading stages worldwide, from the David H. Koch Theater in New York to Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris, Mariinsky-2 in St. Petersburg, Staatsoper Hamburg, the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., San Francisco’s War Memorial Opera House, and the Los Angeles Music Center. A finalist at the Prix de Lausanne, he also won Bronze at the Youth America Grand Prix and received the William Marrié Award for Dramatic Excellence. In 2015, Dance Magazine named him one of its “Top 25 to Watch,” and in 2025 he served as a member of the Jury at the Prix de Lausanne. In 2019, Campbell founded the Skylar Campbell Dance Collective, a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting artists across North America through performance, curation, and collaboration. 

Born in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, Jackie Oakley trained at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, Boston Ballet School, and The Royal Danish Ballet, with additional summer study at The School of American Ballet and Pacific Northwest Ballet. 

She joined The National Ballet of Canada in 2009 as an Apprentice and was promoted to the Corps de Ballet in 2010. Over the next 13 years, Jackie performed an extensive range of roles across the company’s rich and diverse repertoire. In 2017, she was honoured with the Patron Award of Merit, recognizing her excellence and growth within the Corps de Ballet. In 2022, Jackie joined Houston Ballet, where she continued to expand her repertoire and istic experience until pursuing new artistic projects in 2025. 

During her career, Jackie has worked directly with and appeared in ballets by Christopher Wheeldon, Alexei Ratmansky, John Neumeier, Crystal Pite, Wayne McGregor, James Kudelka, Stanton Welch, Ronald Hynd, Ben Stevenson, Will Tuckett, Guillaume Côté, Julia Adam, Robert Binet, Christopher Stowell, Annabelle Lopez Ochoa, David Allan, and others. 

Jackie’s range of repertoire also includes works by world renowned choreographers, George Balanchine, Sir Frederick Ashton, John Cranko, Sir Peter Wright, Sir Kenneth MacMillan, Rudolf Nureyev, Jerome Robbins, and August Bournonville.

Her featured roles include Sweet Fairy in Rudolph Nureyev’s The Sleeping Beauty, Tall Swans in James Kudelka’s Swan Lake, Tall Woman in Kenneth MacMillan’s Elite Syncopations, Helene Vetsera in Sir Kenneth MacMillan’s Mayerling, White Cat in Ben Stevenson’s The Sleeping Beauty, and Marigold Nanny in Stanton Welch’s Raymonda. 

Jackie has performed on major stages around the world, in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Paris, Tokyo, Hamburg, Panama City, Toronto, Vancouver, New York City, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Washington D.C., and Houston.

Additionally, Jackie has performed with Canada’s Ballet Jörgen, Skylar Campbell Dance Collective, Julia Adam Dance, Intuitv Artship, and Ballet Project OC.