The Company
Established in 2019, Ballet Roots is Pleasanton's very own premier ballet company. Our mission is to provide the local community with professional-quality performances exhibiting both classical and contemporary ballet. While strongly rooted in a ballet foundation, our repertoire includes a variety of dance styles, showcasing our multi-talented dancers and appealing to a wide audience of all ages. We are honored to have the opportunity to share our joy of dance with the Pleasanton community!
Our Dancers
Alice Xue
Alice started dancing ballet at 6 and performed in Swan Lake, many Nutcrackers, and New York Dance Fest as a child. She took a hiatus from dance in high school and college, where she majored in Computer Science. As an adult, Alice rediscovered her passion for ballet after trying out open adult classes at Western Ballet and is now obsessed with it. She's looking forward to performing with Ballet Roots!
Carol Tsen
As a child, Carol always wanted to do ballet but instead studied classical music. From the age of 5 to 18, she dedicated her time to playing the piano, and was also a violinist for El Camino Youth Symphony throughout her teenage years. After graduating from U.C. Berkeley with a B.S. in Business Administration, she dabbled in aerial arts for a few years before returning to her childhood love of ballet. She started with online classes in 2020 and has been training under Tenaya and Talia at Vineyard Ballet Academy since 2021. Carol is grateful to dance with Ballet Roots this season!
Talia Fallis
Artistic Director
Talia began dancing at the age of 2 and has been dancing ever since. While trained in a variety of different styles of performance dance, her true passion has always been classical ballet. She trained locally under teachers such as David Fonnegra, Terrin Kelly, Derek Sakakura, Ikolo Griffin, and Lindsey Salvadalena. In addition to directing and performing with Ballet Roots, Talia has performed with various ballet companies around the greater Bay Area. She is thrilled to be bringing professional ballet right here to Pleasanton! In addition to performing, Talia teaches ballet to dancers of all ages, and in 2013, she and her sister opened their own school here in Pleasanton, Vineyard Ballet Academy, where she continues to teach today.
Tenaya Fallis
Tenaya can't remember a time when dance, especially ballet, was not a part of her life. She started out as a ladybug in a year-end production when she was only three years old, and has since danced in productions as varied as The Wizard of Oz, Alice in Wonderland, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Messiah, The Jungle Book, and of course, The Nutcracker. After graduating high school, she spent a few years dancing professionally while also teaching ballet before she and her sister opened Vineyard Ballet Academy where she continues to teach. She has also dabbled in various other styles of dance including tap, jazz, lyrical, Scottish country dance, Irish ceili, and most recently social ballroom dance. She hopes to bring a wide variety of influences to Ballet Roots while staying true to her favorite, ballet.