BBT Announces Guest Artistic Directors for 2023 Advanced Summer Performance Workshop
Boca Ballet Theatre is proud to announce the guest artistic directors who will be attending our 2023 Advanced Summer Performance Workshop! Hailing from top dance companies from across the country, these directors will teach the dancers at our summer workshop and provide their insights on the professional dance world at our “Meet the Director” lecture series. Learn more about this year’s directors below, and be sure to register for BBT’s Advanced Summer Workshop today!
Week 1 (June 26 – July 29)
Michael Pink of Milwaukee Ballet
Week 2 (July 3 – July 6)
Peter Boal of Pacific Northwest Ballet
Week 3 (July 10 – July 13)
Melissa Barak of L.A. Ballet
Week 4 (July 17 – July 20)
Adam Sklute of Ballet West
Meet our guest artistic directors
Michael Pink is the longest serving Artistic Director in Milwaukee Ballet history. He trained as a classical dancer at The Royal Ballet School and danced with English National Ballet from 1975 to 1985. His early choreographic work won him first place in the Frederick Ashton and the Royal Society of Arts Choreographic Competitions. Pink was the founding director of Ballet Central in London. He also served as associate artistic director of Northern Ballet.
Peter Boal is the Artistic Director of Pacific Northwest Ballet. At the age of nine, he began studying ballet at the School of American Ballet, the official school of New York City Ballet. Boal became a member of NYCB’s corps de ballet in 1983 and became a principal dancer in 1989. In 2005, he retired from NYCB after a 22-year career with the company. Boal was a full-time faculty member at the School of American Ballet from 1997 to 2005. In 2003, he founded Peter Boal and Company, a critically acclaimed chamber ensemble.
Melissa Barak is the Artistic Director of Los Angeles Ballet. She trained at the School of American Ballet and was invited to join New York City Ballet in 1998. She’s choreographed new works for New York City Ballet, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Richmond Ballet, Dayton Ballet, American Repertory Ballet, Sacramento Ballet, Los Angeles Ballet, and Barak Ballet, an LA-based contemporary ballet company she founded in 2013. She was the inaugural recipient of NYU’s Virginia B. Toulmin Fellowship for Women Choreographers.
Adam Sklute is the Artistic Director of Ballet West. He trained with The Joffrey Ballet for twenty-three years, one of the last two artists personally chosen by Robert Joffrey for his company. He became Ballet Master in 1995 and then Associate Director in 2004. Since becoming the artistic director of Ballet West in 2016, the company has toured to major venues across the country and has staged works by new and renowned contemporary choreographers like Jennifer Archibald, David Bintley, Ulysses Dove, and many more.
Advanced Summer Performance Workshop
Boca Ballet Theatre’s Advanced Summer Performance Workshop has earned a reputation for being the most thorough and rewarding dance experience a student can have during the summer, and many use it as a launching pad for a professional career in dance. Under the supervision of BBT’s Co-Artistic Directors Dan Guin and Jane Tyree, the program offers top quality teachers and master guest Artistic Directors from top conservatories and companies around the country. The workshop culminates in a full-length performance of a classic, modern, or contemporary work featuring guest artists from renowned professional dance companies.
Students will take classes in ballet technique, pointe technique, variations, jazz, and modern. Dancers will use their ballet classes as an opportunity to audition for the visiting artistic directors. The program also includes dance enrichment sessions, Q&A’s with the guest artistic directors, and discussions of resume design and audition skills.
We are now accepting video auditions! Live auditions will take place on March 4th, 2023. More information in the link below!