The Ballet Department at the University of Utah has a history of excellence dating from 1951. In this groundbreaking year, Willam F. Christensen -- noted dancer, teacher, and founder of the San Francisco Ballet Company -- returned to his native Utah and founded one of the first ballet programs in an American university.
Faculty and graduates of the University of Utah's Ballet Department were fundamental in the formation and growth of Ballet West, one of three major professional dance companies in Salt Lake City. Through the excellence and professional success of our faculty, students, and alumni, the Department of Ballet continues to attract a cosmopolitan enrollment of students from all 50 states and abroad. Many alumni are currently dancing professionally, or working as dance teachers and administrators in colleges, universities and other educational and professional organizations throughout the world.
- Fall 2008 - Our Department is now NASD accredited.
The Ballet Department at the University of Utah hosted the Berlin State Ballet School with a Master Class presented byOlof Hofer.
The Berlin State Ballet School students also performed at the Marriott Center for Dance in October and November of 2009.
Utah Ballet will take place in April of 2010. Tickets are available through Kingsbury Hall. You may contact them at 801-581-7100 or on-line at www.kingsburyhall.org
For more details on the performance please see "Calendar" on this site.
- Our Building
The Ballet Department is housed in the Alice Sheets Marriott Center for Dance, built in 1989. This center is a beautiful and outstanding facility built specifically for dance. The Center joins the Marriott Library as a lasting monument to the generosity of the J. Willard Marriott family.
Alice Sheets Marriott's legacy is one of honesty and hard work. She and her husband J. Willard Marriott started out with a nine-seat root beer stand and nurtured their corporation into an international leader in lodging and food service with operations in 50 states and 26 countries. She was a consistent patron of the arts. Mrs. Marriott was a member of the board of trustees of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Art and served on its executive and finance committees. She also served as the chair of the President's Advisory Committee on the Arts for the Kennedy Center. She was a member of the National Symphony Orchestra.
Additionally, she served on the board of directors of many organizations including the National Ballet Society and the Goodwill Industries Guild. She was a member of the Republican National Committee from 1959 to 1976. She also served as Vice Chairman of the 1969 Inaugural Committee.
Two institutions of higher learning have awarded her with honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degrees: The University of Utah in 1974, and Mount Vernon College in 1980.
- Curriculum
Opportunities abound for personal development at the University of Utah through intensive daily technique classes, pointe, variations, and men's classes tailored to the student's technique level. The department also offers vital experiences for students to develop artistically and creatively through numerous performances and choreographic opportunities.
The faculty is committed to teaching a wide spectrum of courses; and the department offers a curriculum designed to develop dancers who are versatile, technically articulate, and well prepared for their futures.
To accomplish this level of expertise, the curriculum includes courses in repertory and performance skills; partnering; pedagogy; music; character dance; ballet history; choreography; modern dance; kinesiology; dance conditioning; and technical theatre/lighting. While professional preparation and training is the main focus of undergraduate study, students also receive an excellent general education from exceptional teachers at the University of Utah in the physical sciences, social and behavioral sciences, fine arts, and humanities. Contributing to a rich inner life are collaborative arts experiences within the college, and opportunities for internships and outreach activities.
- Scholarships
Many of our students are assisted with their tuition through scholarships made possible by the generous donations of businesses, community, and individuals. We would like to thank all those who have contributed funding to our program however large or small. We would like to give special recognition to some of our donors who have set up endowments or donated in memory of a family member, which provide yearly scholarship support to our students. They include: The Herbert I and Elsa B. Michael Foundation in memory of Elsa B. Michael; Mrs. Walter (Enid) E. Cosgriff in the name of her husband, Walter E. Cosgriff; Emerson Sturdevant; Frederick J. Lebrizzi in memory of Joseph M Lebrizzi; Dolores Dore' Eccles; Olga V. Alexandria Logan; Alice Walton Call; John H. Morgan; Justheim Petroleum; The Castle Foundation; Julie Hansen Jensen; Etta Keith Eskridge; The Harriet D. Travis Foundation; Gordon Paxman; Alice Sheets Marriott; Marilyn Evans Knowles; Lisa Lamanna Rickman; and anonymous donors who have given to the Friends of Utah Ballet and our Character Dance Ensemble funds.
- Production Support
The ballet department has excellent production support that includes an outstanding technical production faculty and staff to oversee and facilitate performances, create stunning costumes for three-act classical ballets and contemporary works, and maintain the 330-seat Hayes-Christensen Theater and a fully equipped costume shop.
- Alumni (1989 to present)
The Ballet Department Alumni who have been accepted into companies include: Katie Dehler, Aspen Santa Fe Ballet; Sam Chittenden, Aspen Santa Fe Ballet; Brooke Klinger, Aspen Santa Fe Ballet; Jessica Coleman, Cedar Lakes Ballet; Jessica Tong, Hubbard Street Dance; Michael Bearden, Ballet West (principal dancer); Annie Breneman, Ballet West (soloist); Megan Searfoss Furse, Ballet West (corps de ballet); Alexandra Freeman, Nevada Ballet Theatre; Lauren Suflita, Bodiography Contemorary Ballet; Eunice Kim, Festival Ballet of Rhode Island; Holly Schmidt, Ballet West and Oklahoma School of Dance; Carolyn Chamberlain, Festival Ballet of Rhode Island; Mark Harootian, Festival Ballet of Rhode Island; Stefan Novacovich, Ballet West and Ririe Woodbury Dance Company; Christopher Peddecord, Repertory Dance Theatre; Annette Bressie, Joffrey Ballet; Jenny Hill Barlow, Radio City Rockettes; Chris Bender, Ballet Austin; Jennifer Cardenas Hansen, Utah Regional Ballet; Rachel Meyer, Utah Regional Ballet; Elizabeth Miller, Utah Regional Ballet; Justine Marie Miller, Minnesota Dance Theatre; Victoria Morgan, Cincinnati Ballet (artistic director); Jamie Johnson, Boulder Ballet; Katelyn Burgess, Boulder Ballet; Melanie Hawkes, Columbia City Ballet; Jennifer Deckert, University of Wyoming (dance faculty); Alexis (Rea) Risi, City Ballet of San Diego; Kristy Cirillo, San Diego Ballet; Kalise Child, Brigham Young University (dance faculty); Ann Van Gelder, (assistant director) University of Richmond, Erin Malan, Joffrey Academy, Chicago (dance faculty). Jennifer Castaneda, Performing Arts Conservatory of Texas (Dance Faculty); Elizabeth Ewer, Disney World; Sarah Solomon, Disney World; Katie Staszkow, Bodyvox; Holly Shaw, Bodyvox; Anna Marra, Bodyvox; Sayoko Knode, Idaho Dance Theater; Alanna Fisher, Ballet Fantastique; Bashaun Williams, Ririe Woodbury Company; Victoria Norman, Georgia Ballet; Kirstin Riehl, Assistant Professor of Dance in the Theatre and Dance Program at Northwestern State University in Natchitoches Louisiana.
