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Alberta Ballet Announces Kirk Peterson Will Join Company as Associate Artistic Director for 2009-2010 Season

Alberta Ballet is proud to announce the appointment of renowned choreographer Kirk Peterson as Associate Artistic Director. Peterson will join Alberta Ballet while Artistic Director Jean Grand-Maître is in Vancouver as the Choreography Director of the 2010 Olympic Winter Games.

Peterson will be responsible for such duties as teaching and rehearsing the Company's dancers and overseeing all aspects of the company's performances.

For 17 years, Peterson had a distinguished career with American Ballet Theater as principal dancer, choreographer, Artistic Director of ABTII, Ballet Master, principal character artist and as a Master Teaching Associate. Peterson was also Artistic Director of the Hartford Ballet for five years. During this time, Peterson created or re-staged nearly 20 works including Reinin' in the Hurricane and new versions of The Firebird, Le Sacre du Printemps and L'Apres Midi d'un Faune. His choreography has been seen with San Francisco Ballet, Pacific Northwest Ballet, Pennsylvania Ballet, Washington Ballet, Cincinnati Ballet, Atlanta Ballet, BalletMet, San Francisco Opera and The Royal Ballet School.

Peterson began his ballet studies at the age of three in his native New Orleans, where he studied for fifteen years with Lelia Haller, a distinguished pedagogue from the Paris Opera Ballet. His first choreography was premiered at the age of 16 while still a student of Haller and to date Peterson has choreographed over 50 ballets. His varied and challenging works, such as his trilogy of ballets to the music of Philip Glass, The Eyes That Gently Touch, Vortex and Amazed in Burning Dreams, have received consistently high acclaim. He also staged all ballet classroom segments for the feature film Center Stage.

Peterson is a specialist in re-staging the full-length classical repertoire such as Giselle and Don Quixote and has had a particular success with his The Sleeping Beauty. He has also created original versions of Coppélia and The Nutcracker. He has also collaborated on two Broadway productions.

In the 2007-2008 season, Peterson choreographed four new works including Othello for Alberta Ballet, for which he was nominated for the prestigious Prix Benois de la Danse. Peterson has been resident choreographer for Cincinatti Ballet for six years.

Based on his extraordinary memory for choreography and use of archival films and notes, American Ballet Theater entrusted Peterson with recreating George Balanchine's original version of Theme and Variations, as well as Michael Fokine's final and definitive version of his masterpiece Les Sylphides. Peterson is also a repetiteur for the Antony Tudor Ballet Trust.

"It was wonderful to work with Alberta Ballet when I created their production of Othello. I am very excited to return to their studios next season" says Peterson.

About Alberta Ballet:
Alberta Ballet, a not-for-profit organization, is Canada's third-largest ballet company. Since its formation in 1966, with its cutting-edge repertoire and talent led by Artistic Director Jean Grand-Maître and Darryl Lindenbach, Executive Director, Alberta Ballet has remained at the forefront of the national and international arts scene. One of the only arts organizations in Canada to call two cities home, Alberta Ballet is proud to be a community leader both on and off the stage.

Media contact:

Samantha Garner, Marketing & Communications Coordinator
P: 403-245-4222 ext. 529 | E: samanthag@albertaballet.com