High Point Ballet Competitors

Miami City Ballet is an American ballet company based in Miami Beach, Florida, and led by artistic director Gonzalo Garcia. MCB was founded in 1985 by Miami philanthropist Toby Lerner Ansin with former New York City Ballet principal dancer Edward Villella as founding artistic director. The company flourishes today as one of the world's most respected ballet companies. MCB features an international ensemble of 50 dancers hailing from the United States, Brazil, Cuba, Venezuela, China, Switzerland, France, Japan, and Germany. The company has an active repertoire of 88 ballets and performs over 100 times annually including a home season in Miami, Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach, FL. North American appearances include the Kennedy Center, the 1996 Olympic Arts Festival, Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival, the Orange County Performing Arts Center, and New York City Center; while theaters and festivals in Europe, Central America, South America, and Israel have hosted the company. Among the Company’s notable achievements have been critically-acclaimed performances in Paris and New York City, and the nationally televised PBS special Great Performances. The company operates an elite ballet training academy, the Miami City Ballet School. Approximately 375 students attend the academy during the school year, with 200 accepted to the annual Summer Intensive. In 2012, Lourdes Lopez was chosen as artistic director. Lopez was born in Havana, Cuba and raised in Miami. She was a principal dancer for New York City Ballet for 24 years under George Balanchine and Jerome Robbins. After retiring from the stage, she went on to become the executive director of The George Balanchine Foundation and co-founded the innovative dance company Morphoses. In 2014, she was appointed to the board of the Ford Foundation. Find out more about Miami City Ballet at www.miamicityballet.org.

Ballet West was established in Salt Lake City in 1963. Willam F. Christensen was the company’s first artistic director, co-founding the company together with Utah’s “First Lady of the Arts” Glenn Walker Wallace. In 1951, Christensen had established the first ballet department in an American university at The University of Utah and with the tireless assistance of Mrs. Enid Cosgriff this program grew into the Utah Civic Ballet, Ballet West’s first incarnation. But this was not the first ballet company Willam Christensen’s founded. Along with his brothers Lew and Harold, Christensen made history by establishing the oldest ballet company in the western United States, the San Francisco Ballet. There he went on to create the first full-length American productions of Coppélia, Swan Lake, and his evergreen production of The Nutcracker, which remains in Ballet West’s repertoire to this day. Since 2007, Artistic Director Adam Sklute, former dancer, Ballet Master and Associate Director of The Joffrey Ballet has further energized and expanded Ballet West’s remarkable repertoire with works by the most renowned choreographers of today such as Ulysses Dove, Jiri Kylian, Mark Morris, Twyla Tharp, and Stanton Welch. Sklute has also introduced the elegant historical masterpieces from the great Ballets Russes of the early 20th Century and continues to preserve Ballet West’s classical legacy. Sklute has further strengthened Ballet West’s heritage by introducing new creations by local, national and international choreographers. For 50 years, Willam Christensen and Ballet West have developed and influenced innumerable great artists in the ballet world. Some notable figures include Bart Cook, Finis Jhung, Jay Jolley, Victoria Morgan, Tomm Ruud, Michael Smuin, Richard Tanner, and Kent Stowell. With this eclectic and ever expanding outlook, Ballet West is truly an American pioneer in the world of dance.

Founded in 1929, Atlanta Ballet is one of the premier dance companies in the country and the official state Ballet of Georgia. Atlanta Ballet's eclectic repertoire spans ballet history, highlighted by beloved classics and inventive originals. Under the Direction of Artistic Director Gennadi Nedvigin, Atlanta Ballet continues its commitment to share and educate audiences on the empowering joy of dance. In 1996, Atlanta Ballet opened the Centre for Dance Education and is dedicated to nurturing young dancers while providing an outlet for adults to express their creativity. The Centre serves over 150,000 people in metro Atlanta each year. Atlanta Ballet's roots remain firmly grounded in the Atlanta community and continue to play a vital role in the city's cultural growth and revitalization.