Ballet Tucson
Professional ballet company in the Tucson, Arizona
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ballet Tucson is a professional ballet company based in Tucson, Arizona.[1]
| Ballet Tucson | |
|---|---|
| General information | |
| Name | Ballet Tucson |
| Year founded | 1986 |
| Founder | Mary Beth Cabana |
| Website | ballettucson |
| Artistic staff | |
| Artistic Director | Margaret Mullin |
| Other | |
| Official school | School of Ballet Tucson |
As of June 2023, the company has 4 principal dancers, 5 soloists, 4 demi-soloists, and 8 members of the corps de ballet. They also have 9 apprentices.[2]
History
Ballet Tucson, previously known as Ballet Arts Foundation, was established in 1986 by Mary Beth Cabana, who was previously a principal dancer with Cleveland Ballet, Ballet Oklahoma, Arizona Dance Theatre, and San Diego Ballet.[3][4] The goal of creating Ballet Tucson was to create a world-class professional ballet company as well as a ballet school that would help young dancers in Southern Arizona pursue a career in dance.
In 1987, the Children's Ensemble gave a preview performance at Centennial Hall (Tucson, Arizona) in Tucson, and received positive reviews. Additional performances that year also received positive reviews.
In 1994, Ballet Tucson premiered their own full-length version of The Nutcracker, which had five sold-out performances.
In 2004, the professional ballet company debuted, and since that time has established itself as Tucson's resident professional ballet company.[5]
In 2022, Ballet Tucson began a partnership with the Tucson Symphony Orchestra for their performances of The Nutcracker.[6][7]
Current company
Artistic team & staff
Margaret Mullin joined as the Artistic Director in spring 2022.[8] She was previously a soloist with Pacific Northwest Ballet.[9][10][11]
Chieko Imada is the Associate Artistic Director & Resident Choreographer. She was previously a soloist with Inoue Ballet of Tokyo, and a former principal dancer for Ballet Tucson.[12]
School of Ballet Tucson
The School of Ballet Tucson is the official school of Ballet Tucson. It has provided training to students since 1986.[13]
